Arts & Entertainment
Family fare, Oscar bait, franchises pepper holiday ’19 movie season
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With Thanksgiving coming so late this year, the holiday movie release schedule is especially crowded. LGBT cinephiles have plenty of great films to choose from.
Currently on screen is Elizabeth Banks’ stylish and suspenseful reboot of the “Charlie’s Angels” franchise. Despite a great cast, including Kristen Stewart as a queer crimefighter, the movie unfortunately failed to catch fire at the box office. It’s worth a look, especially as a fun break from holiday preparations.
Also on screen is “Parasite,” by South Korean director Bong Joon Ho (“Snowpiercer” and “Okja”). A contemporary fable about class warfare, the movie has already been generating a lot of awards buzz.
Opening Nov. 22 is “Waves” by acclaimed director Trey Edward Shults (“Krishna” and “It Comes at Night”). The moving drama about a suburban African-American family stars Sterling K. Brown (“This Is Us”), Kelvin Harrison Jr., Taylor Russell, Lucas Hedges and Renée Elise Goldberry (“Hamilton”).
“A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” stars Tom Hanks as the legendary Mr. Rogers, but the focus of the movie is really on cynical journalist Tom Junod (Matthew Rhys) whose life gets turned around when he’s assigned to do a profile of the legendary children’s television host. Viewers be warned: this is not a movie for the whole family.
This week’s family-friendly opening is Walt Disney’s “Frozen II,” the continued adventures of Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, Sven and Olaf. The confusing sequel lacks the charm (and narrative coherence) of the original, but still packs a significant visual and emotional punch.
Opening in time for the Thanksgiving holiday (Nov. 27) is the delightful family crime caper “Knives Out.” Directed by Silver Spring native Rian Johnson (“The Last Jedi”), the all-star cast includes Daniel Craig, Christopher Plummer, Jaime Lee Curtis, Don Johnson, Michael Shannon, LaKeith Stanfield, Toni Colette and Chris Evans. It’s a great way to spend quality time with your own family.
Queer filmmaker Todd Haynes (“Carol,” “Far from Heaven” and “Velvet Goldmine”) branches out in a very different direction with “Dark Waters.” The true crime drama stars Mark Ruffalo, Anne Hathaway, Tim Robbins, Bill Pullman and out actor Victor Garber.
Also opening for the holiday weekend is “Queen & Slim.” Written by queer authors Lena Waithe and James Frey, the movie stars Daniel Kaluuya (“Get Out”) and newcomer Jodie Turner-Smith in a tale of a first date gone horribly wrong.
In the meantime, following the critical and popular success of “Roma,” Netflix is again pursuing a hybrid release strategy for three of its prestige projects: they’ll receive a theatrical release before they start streaming. Loosely based on Shakespeare’s history plays, “The King” stars Timothée Chalamet as the future Henry V. Martin Scorsese’s epic crime drama (with a running time of three-and-a-half hours) “The Irishman” stars Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci and Anna Paquin. “Marriage Story” stars Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson as a couple facing the break-up of their marriage.
More traditional holiday offerings at Netflix include the animated tale “Klaus” with the voice talents of Joan Cusack, Rashida Jones and J.K. Simmons and “Let It Snow,” a story about a small-town Christmas that includes an LGBT storyline. On a less seasonal note, Netflix is also streaming “I’m With the Band: Nasty Cherry” about a fledging all-female rock band that includes an openly lesbian musician.
Amazon Studios is also trying a hybrid release strategy with “The Report.” Screening in theaters now and streaming on Amazon Prime on Nov. 29, the inside-the-Beltway tale stars Adam Driver as a Senate staffer investigating the CIA’s post 9-11 Detention and Interrogation Program and features Annette Bening as Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
Fans of the Christmas favorite “Love Actually” can enjoy the film and a special holiday party on Thursday, Dec. 5 at the Warner Bros. Theater at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History (si.edu/imax/movie/love-actually).
New releases continue pouring into theaters in December. On Dec. 6, there’s the Cannes favorite “Little Joe,” a horticultural thriller with Emily Beecham and out actor Ben Whishaw; “The Aeronauts,” which reunites Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones from “The Theory of Everything;” and the stunning “Two Popes” starring Jonathan Pryce as Pope Francis and Anthony Hopkins as Pope Emeritus Benedict.
On Thursday, Dec. 12, Reel Affirmations will commemorate World AIDS Day with a special screening of “Crystal City,” a hard-hitting look at crystal meth addiction, another public health crisis facing LGBT people. The second half of the evening’s double feature will be “José,” a coming-of-age story about a young gay man living in Guatemala City. Tickets are available at thedccenter.org/events.
On Dec. 13, acclaimed director Clint Eastwood returns with “Richard Jewell,” a drama about the man falsely accused of planting a bomb at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.
Three of the year’s most highly anticipated movies will be released Dec. 20: Tom Hooper’s all-star adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Cats”; “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,” the ninth and final installment in the Skywalker saga; and “Bombshell,” the sordid star-studded saga of sexual harassment at Fox News with Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman, Margot Robbie and John Lithgow.
Last but hardly least, two stories about life during wartime will be released on Christmas Day, Dec. 25. Directed by Sam Mendes (“Skyfall” and “American Beauty”), “1917” stars Andrew Scott and Benedict Cumberbatch in a gripping World War I drama.
Directed by Greta Gerwig (“Lady Bird”), the latest adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s Civil War saga “Little Women” stars Saoirse Ronan and an all-star cast and is already generating significant Oscar buzz.
Finally, the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in downtown Silver Spring is always a splendid place to celebrate the cinema of the season. AFI’s delightfully eclectic offerings typically range from the classic (“It’s A Wonderful Life” and the Alastair Sims’ “A Christmas Carol”) to the contemporary (“Die Hard” and “Krampus”). For this year’s schedule, go to afisilver.afi.com.
Theater
José Zayas brings ‘The House of Bernarda Alba’ to GALA Hispanic Theatre
Gay Spanish playwright Federico García Lorca wrote masterpiece before 1936 execution
‘The House of Bernarda Alba’
Through March 1
GALA Hispanic Theatre
3333 14th St., N.W.
$27-$52
Galatheatre.org
In Federico García Lorca’s “The House of Bernarda Alba,” now at GALA Hispanic Theatre in Columbia Heights, an impossibly oppressive domestic situation serves, in short, as an allegory for the repressive, patriarchal, and fascist atmosphere of 1930s Spain
The gay playwright completed his final and arguably best work in 1936, just months before he was executed by a right-wing firing squad. “Bernarda Alba” is set in the same year, sometime during a hot summer in rural Andalusia, the heart of “España profunda” (the deep Spain), where traditions are deeply rooted and mores seldom challenged.
At Bernarda’s house, the atmosphere, already stifling, is about to get worse.
On the day of her second husband’s funeral, Bernarda Alba (superbly played by Luz Nicolás), a sixtyish woman accustomed to calling the shots, gathers her five unmarried daughters (ages ranging from 20 to 39) and matter-of-factly explain what’s to happen next.
She says, “Through the eight years of mourning not a breeze shall enter this house. Consider the doors and windows as sealed with bricks. That’s how it was in my father’s house and my grandfather’s. Meanwhile, you can embroider your trousseaux.”
It’s not an altogether sunny plan. While Angustias (María del Mar Rodríguez), Bernarda’s daughter from her first marriage and heiress to a fortune, is betrothed to a much younger catch, Pepe el Romano, who never appears on stage, the remaining four stand little chance of finding suitable matches. Not only are they dowry-less, but no men, eligible or otherwise, are admitted into their mother’s house.
Lorca is a literary hero known for his mastery of both lyrical poetry and visceral drama; still, “Bernarda Alba’s” plotline might suit a telenovela. Despotic mother heads a house of adult daughters. Said daughters are churning with passions and jealousies. When sneaky Martirio (Giselle Gonzáles) steals the photo of Angustias’s fiancé all heck kicks off. Lots of infighting and high drama ensue. There’s even a batty grandmother (Alicia Kaplan) in the wings for bleak comic relief.
At GALA, the modern classic is lovingly staged by José Zayas. The New York-based out director has assembled a committed cast and creative team who’ve manifested an extraordinarily timely 90-minute production performed in Spanish with English subtitles easily ready seen on multiple screens.
In Lorca’s stage directions, he describes the set as an inner room in Bernarda’s house; it’s bright white with thick walls. At GALA, scenic designer Grisele Gonzáles continues the one-color theme with bright red walls and floor and closed doors. There are no props.
In the airless room, women sit on straight back chairs sewing. They think of men, still. Two are fixated on their oldest siter’s hunky betrothed. Only Magdelena (Anna Malavé), the one sister who truly mourns their dead father, has given up on marriage entirely.
The severity of the place is alleviated by men’s distant voices, Koki Lortkipanidze’s original music, movement (stir crazy sisters scratching walls), and even a precisely executed beatdown choreographed by Lorraine Ressegger-Slone.
In a short yet telling scene, Bernarda’s youngest daughter Adela (María Coral) proves she will serve as the rebellion to Bernarda’s dictatorship. Reluctant to mourn, Adela admires her reflection. She has traded her black togs for a seafoam green party dress. It’s a dreamily lit moment (compliments of lighting designer Hailey Laroe.)
But there’s no mistaking who’s in charge. Dressed in unflattering widow weeds, her face locked in a disapproving sneer, Bernarda rules with an iron fist; and despite ramrod posture, she uses a cane (though mostly as a weapon during one of her frequent rages.)
Bernarda’s countenance softens only when sharing a bit of gossip with Poncia, her longtime servant convincingly played by Evelyn Rosario Vega.
Nicolás has appeared in “Bernarda Alba” before, first as daughter Martirio in Madrid, and recently as the mother in an English language production at Carnegie Melon University in Pittsburgh. And now in D.C. where her Bernarda is dictatorial, prone to violence, and scarily pro-patriarchy.
Words and phrases echo throughout Lorca’s play, all likely to signal a tightening oppression: “mourning,” “my house,” “honor,” and finally “silence.”
As a queer artist sympathetic to left wing causes, Lorca knew of what he wrote. He understood the provinces, the dangers of tyranny, and the dimming of democracy. Early in Spain’s Civil War, Lorca was dragged to the the woods and murdered by Franco’s thugs. Presumably buried in a mass grave, his remains have never been found.
Cupid’s Undie Run, an annual fundraiser for neurofibromatosis (NF) research, was held at Union Stage and at The Wharf DC on Saturday, Feb. 21.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
Sweat DC is officially expanding to Shaw, opening a new location at 1818 7th St., N.W., on Saturday, March 28 — and they’re kicking things off with a high-energy, community-first launch event.
To celebrate, Sweat DC is hosting Sweat Fest, a free community workout and social on Saturday, March 14, at 10 a.m. at the historic Howard Theatre. The event features a group fitness class, live DJ, local food and wellness partners, and a mission-driven partnership with the Open Goal Project, which works to expand access to youth soccer for players from marginalized communities.
For more details, visit Sweat DC’s website and reserve a spot on Eventbrite.
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