Thinking Outside the Multiplex in Indiana (May 25, 2012)
by HELEN GEIB
If you’re looking forward to seeing The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, then you’re in luck because it’s expanded to a number of theaters around the state, representing most of our multiplex chains, and consequently moved beyond the scope of this column. The schedule is on the light side this week due to the holiday weekend, but the well-reviewed dance documentary First Position opens at the KAC and the ongoing repertory cinema programs contribute their usual variety to the listings.
My Top Pick for the Week
I highly recommend Richard Linklater’s Bernie, which is holding over this week at the Keystone Art Cinema in Indianapolis. With elements of drama, comedy, true crime, and docudrama, it’s a tough one to categorize. It’s also very entertaining and has some interesting things to say about crime, punishment, and small town life. Jack Black gives a really great performance as Bernie. If you live outside the Indy metro area, hold the thought; this strikes me as a title that will make its way to Bloomington and Fort Wayne, and possibly beyond.
Note: For trailers, cast and crew, and suchlike follow the title link to the movie’s official website. For showtimes and directions for the non-multiplex venues, follow the links under “Outside the Multiplex” in the sidebar.
OPENING THIS WEEK IN LIMITED RELEASE
First Position- “Bess Kargman’s award-winning documentary and feature film debut, First Position, follows six young dancers as they prepare for a chance to enter the world of professional ballet, struggling through bloodied feet, near exhaustion and debilitating injuries, all while navigating the drama of adolescence.” First Position starts today at the Landmark Keystone Art Cinema in Indianapolis.
THEATRICAL HOLDOVERS (AND “RE-OPENINGS”)
Bernie- In director Richard Linklater’s black comedy, Jack Black stars as a funeral home director and pillar of his community who may also be the murderer of a very unpopular old lady (Shirley MacLaine). Bernie, which I really enjoyed and which features a really good seriocomic performance by Black, holds over at the Landmark Keystone Art Cinema in Indianapolis.
Blue Like Jazz- A coming of age story based on Donald Miller’s semi-autobiographical novel, Blue Like Jazz is better known as a movie funded through the Kickstarter website. It starts today at the Cinema Center in Fort Wayne (no shows Monday or Tuesday this week).
Bully- This documentary about school bullying is playing this week at reduced showtimes at the AMC Indianapolis 17, AMC Schererville 12, and Regal Shiloh Crossing 18 in Avon.
Chico and Rita- One of the Oscar-nominated animated feature films for 2011, Chico and Rita charts the course of a tempestuous love affair between a musician and a singer. This Spanish film is set in the 1940s and ’50s. It holds over at the Cinema Center in Fort Wayne (no shows Monday or Tuesday this week).
FESTIVALS, REPERTORY SCREENINGS, AND MORE
Indianapolis and Central Indiana
Indulge your nostalgia for the ‘eighties with The Goonies at the Artcraft today and tomorrow.
If you work in downtown Indy you can spend your lunch hour watching three short films at the Earth House, courtesy of Indy Film Fest’s monthly Nooner series; admission is free.
Southern Indiana
The IU Cinema’s weekend movie is documentary The Island President; tonight and tomorrow at 7. Next weekend’s movie, playing Thursday through Saturday at 7, is Marcel Carne’s Children of Paradise (1945), hailed as one of the greatest French films.
Tonight is the monthly Friday Night Frights at the Strand; this installment is a double feature of Tormented and Screaming Skull.
Monsieur Lazhar, Keyhole, and We Have a Pope are the week’s movies in the Ryder film series in Bloomington.
Northern Indiana
The Cinema Center’s free series showcasing great Hollywood leading ladies (scroll to the end of the page for the full lineup) continues with Doris Day in Pillow Talk; Tuesday at 7:30.
On Wednesday at Purdue, the Cinematheque for All repertory film series continues with one of last year’s best films, Pedro Almodovar’s The Skin I Live In starring Antonio Banderas as a mad doctor.
NEXT WEEK AND BEYOND
Manoranjan has added Akshay Kumar’s new comedy Rowdy Rathore to the schedule for next Friday.
Darling Companion has been pushed back to June 1 on the KAC’s coming soon list. The theater’s midnight movie series starts next Friday with Se7en; shows on Friday and Saturday nights through June and July (the full lineup here- jump to the end of the page).
The IMA starts a series of documentaries on contemporary art and artists on Sunday, June 3 at 2 with a showing of Gregory Crewdson: Brief Encounters; admission is free. The Summer Nights series of movies on the terrace starts Friday with What Ever Happened to Baby Jane.
The Strand will have several shows next weekend of a new biopic of Hank Williams called The Last Ride.
Films and events scheduled for next Friday:
Se7en in the KAC’s midnight movie series
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane at the IMA
Children of Paradise at the IU Cinema
Monsieur Lazhar, Bonsai, and We Have a Pope at the Ryder
The Last Ride at the Strand
Bernie also started Friday at the Metropolis 18 in Plainfied.
And in case anyone saw AMC’s page for Indy over the last few days and thought that something called Red Neck County would open yesterday at the Showplace Washington Square 12- well, it didn’t. It seems to have been a glitch with AMC’s site, which now says that Bully is showing in those once-daily slots in which the site had (until yesterday) scheduled Red Neck County. I should have known better- we just don’t get regional/indie horror films in theaters before the rest of the country (if we ever get them at all) these days….