March 22-28, 2024

Hello, everyone!

Audience favorites Dune: Part 2 and American Fiction continue this week, and we’ve added to our screens one of my own favorite movies of the last year, one that has slipped under the radar for many: The Promised Land   

The Promised Land, Denmark's submission to the Oscars this year, stars the great Mads Mikkelsen, and it is truly epic in every sense of the word, a sweeping 18th century historical-biographical period drama (loosely based on real events), utterly ravishing on the big screen, and with a central character to love and root for, and a villain who is so diabolical that it's a visceral joy to hate him. Mikkelsen plays Captain Ludvig Kahlen, the poor, illegitimate son of a nobleman, who becomes a war hero and who thus earns the chance to try to farm on land that is otherwise uninhabitable and on which the Danish king has, until then, forbidden anyone to live. But as Kahlen sets out and begins to farm the land--quite literally with his bare hands--the neighboring wealthy landowner, the pompous Frederik De Schinkel (a delicious name for a villain), decides he doesn't want Kahlen on that land and does everything to prevent his success. 

It’s a story of the poor vs. the rich, of expansive vistas, of romance and battles, and of the very best kind of melodrama, a kind of film that we, sadly, rarely see in cinemas anymore. Critic Odie Henderson observed the film evokes the glorious epic dramas of John Ford or David Lean, and I’d also note that it vibrantly echoes the best of the Leone Westerns, even down to Mikkelsen's character, which Mikkelsen plays as a sort of strong, silent, charismatic, and ruggedly beautiful Man with No Name. 

The film has had a rather small and limited release, which is a shame, because it deserved to be seen on all the big screens around the country and enjoyed by all who love movies. It’s one of those rare films where critics and audiences agree about just how phenomenal it is, receiving 96% from film critics and 95% from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes. It’s simply epic, in every sense of the word. 

We also have several special events this week: 

First up is God & Country, which is, unfortunately, very timely in this election year. God & Country is a documentary that examines the rise of the extremist ethno-religious political movement, Christian nationalism and its growing power on the national stage. The film is produced by Rob Reiner, and it features prominent figures -- historians, sociologists, writers, journalists, pastors, and others -- many of whom identify as Christian themselves, who've been raising alarm bells about Christian nationalism for some time as a threat to a multiracial pluralistic democracy. It’s a deeply sobering film, and one that speaks both to faith groups who are concerned that their faith is being used as a political tool of oppression and bigotry and to all who care about the preservation of democracy in the face of right-wing extremism. We have two screenings of the film, Saturday, 4:00 pm (tickets are going fast for this showing), and Monday, 2:45 pm.

Finally, Hundreds of Beavers might just be the zaniest film we screen this year, and it is a true indie film -- the kind we love to celebrate at the Pickford -- made on a slim $150,000 budget. In true indie fashion, the film has slowly been gaining ground as more and more people discover it, and it has been making the rounds in the film community, with individual screenings selling out around the country. More recently, it got a wonderful write-up in the New York Times: "If You See One Beaver Movie This Year" 

But how to describe Hundreds of Beavers? It's an ode to comic silent films, by way of Looney Tunes, but with a particularly Midwest flair, and the gags are a mile a minute. The story hardly matters, as with most slapstick, but our main character is an orchard owner who makes cider, and his happy dream of a cider-soused life all comes to ruin when he encounters -- you guessed it -- hundreds of beavers. And antics ensue. And then ensue some more. The beavers, in this case, are human actors dressed in unrealistic beaver suits, but that's, of course, part of the hilarious gag of the whole thing. The film is, quite simply, incredibly inventive, and the fun of it also stems from its mixed-media approach to filmmaking, using live action, animation, and lots of delightful practical effects. 

We're partnering with the wonderful Lost Giants Cider Co. to bring Hundreds of Beavers to you on Thursday, March 28, 7:45 pm. Woodland creature-attire and raccoon hats are encouraged.  

See you at the movies, friends! 

Melissa