The best movie screenings in NYC this week
Each week, our seasoned film critics bring you the very best of New York City's alternative movie screenings and events
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
Casino
A retread of Martin Scorsese’s past glories, this is still an electrifying reminder that few filmmakers are better at pairing period pop songs with the perfect imagery. The scene scored to the Rolling Stones’ “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking” ranks as a career high point. Critic Matt Zoller Seitz will have a discussion with co-screenwriter Nicholas Pileggi afterward.
IFC Center, Greenwich Village (ifccenter.com). Thu 26 at 7pm; $16.
Dancer in the Dark
Formally audacious and unapologetically melodramatic, Lars von Trier’s musical is no La La Land—it looks cruel on paper. The director gets the last laugh, however, as he’s fashioned an uncommonly moving film from inspired elements (including Björk, whose songs are stellar).
Alamo Drafthouse, Downtown Brooklyn (drafthouse.com). Mon 23 at 7pm; $12.
Nashville
When people refer to a multicharacter movie as “Altmanesque,” it’s generally this masterful mosaic they’re thinking of: 24 major characters (mainly denizens of the country-music scene) vie for screen time, and all, incredibly, make a lasting impression.
Film Forum, Greenwich Village (filmforum.org). Fri 20–Thu 26 at various times; $15.
L'Atalante
This 1934 tale about two kids traveling the Seine on a barge is a romantic mix of naturalism and fantasy. The director died after completing it, at the age of 29; who knows what the man might have accomplished had he lived to, say, 30?
Metrograph, Lower East Side (metrograph.com). Fri 20 at 4pm, Sun 22 at 1pm; $15.
Boyz n the Hood
Pay your respects to the recently departed South Central native and USC grad John Singleton—a director who BAM will be celebrating with a September series called “Purpose and Passion.” In his sobering coming-of-age classic Boyz n the Hood, Singleton gave his own soul-crushing update to the tame delinquency of white-bread classics like American Graffiti. Here, cruising doesn’t lead to pickups but to hit jobs, and getting into college isn’t as important as getting out of Compton.
BAM Film, Fort Greene (bam.org). Thu 19, Fri 20 at various times; $16.
Ugestu
This haunting ghost story from Japan is one of the most ravishing films ever made. It’s unnerving, too, weirdly so for a movie that’s 66 years old.
Museum of the Moving Image, Astoria (movingimage.us). Fri 20 at 7pm. $15.
The Virgin Suicides
Teenage life is full of insiders and outsiders, of people staring into the aquarium and those drowning inside. Sofia Coppola’s debut takes Jeffrey Eugenides’s 1993 novel and fills it with the details of ’70s American girlhood: stickers, hair braiding and a doomed hush.
Nitehawk Cinema, Williamsburg (nitehawkcinema.com). Sat 21, Sun 22 at 10:45am; $13.
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