The best movie screenings in NYC this week
Every week, we round up the best movie events happening outside New York’s multiplexes, from major international film festivals (such as Sundance, the Toronto International Film Festival and the Tribeca Film Festival) and revivals at Film Forum and BAM to one-off movie screenings and in-person Q&As with stars, filmmakers and experts. New York also has a thriving film scene in galleries and pop-up venues, and in the summer months, you’ll find a wealth of outdoor screenings in NYC parks and gardens across the city.
Movie screenings and events in NYC
“Trilogies” at Film Forum
For the next month, our favorite Greenwich Village cinema commits itself to the best three-parters ever lensed. Make time to revisit Juliette Binoche’s grief-torn performance in Three Colors: Blue.
Film Forum, Greenwich Village (filmforum.org). Now playing through May 16 at various times; $15.
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Are these not the most euphoric 12 opening minutes of any movie? Raiders may still be Steven Spielberg’s greatest triumph simply for unearthing the pleasure of the chase, extending the kinetic magic for a perfect two hours and then hiding away the Ark in a dusty warehouse as if to say: Go find your own adventure. Don’t pass up the chance to catch it on a huge screen, as it was intended.
Museum of the Moving Image, Astoria (movingimage.us). Fri 19 at 7pm, Sat 20 at 6:30pm; $15.
Female Trouble
John Waters may be known as trash-cinema royalty, but there’s a surprising layer of feminist empathy hidden under his work’s dark humor. This film places Divine at the center of a truly epic criminal tale; the fabulously brazen drag icon wins our sympathies in Waters’s Manson-inflected world.
Museum of Modern Art, Midtown (moma.org). Sat 20 at 4:30pm; $12.
eXistenZ
Released a month after The Matrix, David Cronenberg’s surreal take on virtual reality and video games is roughly 10 times more sophisticated. It’s definitely worth seeing on a big screen, if only to soak up the domineering presence of “game-pod goddess” Jennifer Jason Leigh.
Nitehawk Cinema, Williamsburg (nitehawkcinema.com). Fri 19, Sat 20 midnight; $13.
Seven Samurai
Arguably Akira Kurosawa’s most impressive film and inarguably his most beloved, this samurai Western has inspired everything from The Magnificent Seven to Pixar’s animated A Bug’s Life.
Museum of the Moving Image, Astoria (movingimage.us). Sun 21 at 2:30pm; $15.
Fight Club
Say, what are the first and second rules of Fight Club again? Risking a punch to the face, we’ll say that David Fincher’s black comedy—his arrival as a major Hollywood voice—has only gotten more subversive 20 years later. Ow!
IFC Center, Greenwich Village (ifccenter.com). Fri 19, Sat 20 midnight; $16.
Betty
Alcoholic divorcée Marie Trintignant befriends fellow drinker Stéphane Audran, then proceeds to seduce her new pal’s boyfriend. Classy.
Quad Cinema, Greenwich Village (quadcinema.com). Fri 19–Thu 25 at various times; $16.
The Warped Ones
A budding criminal goes on a sex-and-thievery rampage after being released from juvenile hall. The movie is a high point of Japan’s radical New Wave of the late ’50s.
Japan Society, Midtown East (japansociety.org). Sat 20 at 7pm; $14.
Looking for more of the best in film?
Check out the 100 best thrillers of all time
Dirty cops, femme fatales, grinning killers and bone-deep paranoia: Welcome to our ranked list of classic thrillers