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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 top five…
1. ‘Repo Man’ + ‘They Live’
In any week, this terrific double bill of satirical sci-fi would make our top ten. But in the wake of iconic wrestler and ‘They Live’ star ‘Rowdy’ Roddy Piper’s death, it’s particularly pertinent. ‘Repo Man’ is, of course, British director Alex Cox’s outsider’s look at a near-future LA overrun by punks and car-crazies. But ‘They Live’ is the main draw here, a film that seems to grow more relevant with each passing year. Skeletal aliens have invaded earth, hogging the best jobs and placing subliminal messages on hoardings, which instruct the man on the street to 'Obey', 'Submit', 'Marry and Reproduce'. Piper plays a homeless veteran who attempts to infiltrate the media and expose the conspiracy and ends up delivering the single greatest line of dialogue in cinema history (see clip above).
Prince Charles Cinema, 7 Leicester Place, WC2H 7BP. Mon Aug 17, 6.45pm. £7.50, £5 concs.
2. Tufnell Park Film Club: ‘Plein Soleil’
The perfect film for a summer’s evening.In 1960, French filmmaker René Clément was the first to adapt Patricia Highsmith’s 1955 novel ‘The Talented Mr Ripley’ for cinema, with the roles of Tom Ripley and Dickie Greenleaf played by Alain Delon and Maurice Ronet. Set in Italy, this sun-bleached, louche thriller tells how Ripley arrives from the US as an envoy of Greenleaf’s father, charged with bringing the rich, dissolute son back home. Clément changes the ending so it’s less satisfactory than the novel, but he succeeds in making his film as beautiful on the surface and strange and sinister below deck as Ripley himself.
The Lord Palmerston, 33 Dartmouth Park Hill, NW5 1HU. Tue Aug 11, 8pm. £15 m’ship.
3. Sci-fi Theatre: ‘Contagion’ + talk
This screening of Steven Soderbergh’s disease-based disaster movie will follow a talk from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine scientist Adam Kucharski on real-world epidemic control. The film itself is a sober, engrossing thriller about the hysteria surrounding the worldwide outbreak of a disease that makes bird flu look like nappy rash. Moving from country to country with the vigour of the outbreak, Soderbergh extracts a strong ensemble effort from Matt Damon, Kate Winslet, Marion Cotillard, Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow, none of whom outshine the real stars of the story: rabid death and blind panic.
The Victoria, 451 Queensbridge Rd, E8 3AS. Mon Aug 17, 7.30pm. £5.
4. Amy Grimehouse: Rosannadu
Film-club-cabaret-costume-theatrical-etc. provocateurs Amy Grimehouse present a tribute to one of the all-time great TV comedians, Roseanne Barr. Turn up in your best shoulder pads and big hair for the costume competition, toot along to the harmonica theme tune, enjoy the stand-up antics of Drag Jackie or just settle in for clips from the original TV show presented with enthusiastic commentary and interactive elements.
Hackney Picturehouse, 270 Mare St, E8 1HE. Fri Aug 14, 7pm. £10.
5. The Luna Cinema: 'Some Like it Hot'
Billy Wilder’s 1959 comedy is still perfect after all these years. Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis star as musicians who flee the mob in Chicago disguised as women in an all-girl band. Curtis romances Marilyn Monroe, the ukulele player, while pretending to be a millionaire. Lemmon is wined and dined by the genuine article, a dopey oil magnate. Monroe drove everyone nuts making the film, always late and often forgetting lines. But as Wilder put it: ‘If I wanted someone to be on time, to know the lines perfectly, I’ve got an old aunt in Vienna who’s going to be there at five in the morning and never miss a word. But who wants to see her?’
Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, NW1 4NU.
Sun Aug 16, 7pm. £18, £16 concs.
For the full list, go to Time Out’s film events page.