[title]
Each week, we round up the most exciting film events happening in London over the coming week, from pop-ups and one-offs to regular film clubs, outdoor screenings and festivals. Here’s this week’s Bowie-heavy top five…
The Stars Look Very Different Today: A David Bowie Tribute
He revolutionised fashion, performance and of course music, but David Bowie made an earth-shattering impact on cinema too. So it’s hardly surprising that several London cinemas have chosen to mark his passing by hosting special screenings of his finest work on film. Top pick has to be this double bill pairing two of his most mind-warping cinematic excursions plus live music, DJs and burlesque. The films are ‘The Man Who Fell to Earth’, in which Bowie gives perhaps his greatest performance as a visiting alien unable to come to terms with life on Earth, and ‘The Hunger’, which sees him giving another spectral turn, this time as an impeccably dressed vampire preying on the citizens of New York. All proceeds will go to Cancer Research.
Genesis Cinema, 93–95 Mile End Rd, E1 4UJ. Sat Jan 23, 6pm. £6.
Labyrinth Masquerade Ball
If you’re in the mood to savour the lighter side of Bowie, several venues including Hackney Picturehouse and the Prince Charles Cinema will also be revisiting his most beloved film, Jim Henson’s whacked-out fantasy in which the starman appears – sneering, hugely bewigged and impressively courgette-trousered – as the villainous Goblin King. At the PCC they’ll also be screening a string of classic Bowie music videos, with 25 percent of the proceeds going to Macmillan Cancer Research. All together now: ‘You remind me of the babe!’
Prince Charles Cinema, 7 Leicester Place, WC2H 7BP. Sun Jan 24, 6.15pm. £13.50, £11 concs.
Audition
Seven years after losing his wife to cancer, video producer Aoyama finds the new bride of his dreams at a casting call for a non-existent movie. Asami is modest, polite, sexy, a trained dancer – and, apparently, available. As Aoyama nervously begins dating her, the film slips into nightmare. Is his paranoia and guilt causing him to imagine the worst, or is Asami really a woman physically and mentally damaged by men since her childhood and out for revenge?
Regent Street Cinema, 309 Regent St, W1B 2UW. Wed Jan 20, 8.30pm. £11, £10 concs.
Quentin Tarantino season: ‘Grindhouse’
An epic exercise in cultural necrophilia that’s rarely shown in UK cinemas in this original form, Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino’s remembrance of cheap thrills past attempts to re-create a B-movie double feature. No one can say that the duo’s affection isn’t genuine; both spare no expense in resurrecting a bargain-basement rush complete with missing reels and sputtering prints that look like they’ve been marinating in hobo urine. You could argue, though, that the film’s fake two-minute trailers work better than the features.
BFI Southbank, Belvedere Rd, SE1 8XT. Fri Jan 22, 6.30pm. £16, £12 concs.
BURN Film Night
Cabaret expert and occasional Time Out Film writer Ben Walters returns with his regular evening of queer performance and community. This month, he’ll be screening a number of his short films featuring performances and reminiscences from some of London’s leading cabaret artists, featuring everyone from ‘irrepressible postpunk homocore legend’ Vaginal Davis to gender revolutionary Tricity Vogue. There’ll also be a Q&A discussing the cultural links between cabaret and cinema.
Royal Vauxhall Tavern, 372 Kennington Ln, SE11 5HY. Tue Jan 19, 8.30pm. £5, £3 concs.
For the full list, go to Time Out’s film events page.