Cemetery of Splendor
There is a world of cinema to see, and so few options in our city to see it. Yes, there are the blockbuster palaces on the edges of Madison, but the old downtown art houses have closed or transformed into concert venues. Sundance offers two or three of its screens for independent films, but the remainder go to Hollywood fare.
For filmgoers who crave variety, there is the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art’s annual Spotlight Cinema series, which gives us an idea of what’s going on beyond the usual multiplex fare. Each Wednesday night through Nov. 18, Spotlight features documentaries and foreign films in MMoCA’s lecture hall, with selections from Iran, Taiwan, Thailand, Europe and the United States.
Michael King, who has curated the series with Tom Yoshikami since 2010, says their goal is “to provide a very up-to-the-minute snapshot of the best of international cinema.” A recent coup was their Oct. 7 screening of Jafar Panahi’s Taxi. One of 2015’s most acclaimed films, it played Madison just days after premiering in New York City. According to King, the film is “still weeks away from opening in Chicago, Philadelphia and Boston.”
For most viewers, this will be the only chance to see this crop of movies on the big screen — and in some cases to see them at all, unless one plans to do some major spelunking on the Internet. Unfortunately, MMoCA does not have the resources for multiple showings.
Limited screening schedules are becoming more of the norm in Madison, but King sees an upside to this trend: making movie-going into an event again. “You don’t get four chances a day, like the old days,” he says. “Seeing an art film in Madison has become like seeing a band that comes through town — you make plans to see them the night they’re here. Nobody complains when the bands don’t hunker down for weeklong residencies, but it is a shift in expectations for filmgoers.”
The Wisconsin Film Festival and UW’s Cinematheque are proof that Madison has a hunger for these types of films and that it is — for now — open to appointment viewing. King says the format can fuel excitement and produce “an energy in the room due to everyone coming at once and experiencing the film together.”
Spotlight Cinema tickets go on sale in the museum lobby at 6:30 p.m. the night of the performance; $7 for the general public and free for MMoCA members.
For those craving to see what lies beyond Hollywood and Madison, here is a look at the five remaining movies in this year’s series.
Fidelio: Alice’s Odyssey
Oct. 21, 7 pm
Lucie Borleteau’s drama tells the story of a woman who is working in a man’s world as the engineer on a cargo ship. She tries to deal with her past while figuring out her future.
The Assassin
Oct. 28, 7 pm
Hou Hsiao-Hsien, one of Taiwan’s most respected directors and a leading figure in its New Wave cinema movement, spent nearly a decade crafting his first wuxia (medieval martial hero) epic. This would be like Stanley Kubrick trying his hand at a western, a concept as unexpected as it is intriguing. For his efforts, Hou won the Best Director award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. “He didn’t design The Assassin to be viewed anywhere but in a theater,” King says. “You simply won’t get the same experience at home, no matter how big the screen.”
(T)ERROR
Nov. 4, 7 pm
This is a documentary that looks into the life of an FBI informant and the suspected terrorist who is being tracked. That short description makes the movie seem impossible on so many levels. How many real-life curtains can one movie pull back? But pulled back they are, according to King. “This is the rare documentary that truly feels dangerous.”
The Wonders
Nov. 11, 7 pm
Sofia Coppola recently called Alice Rohrwacher’s strange drama about an isolated Italian family’s struggle with tradition and modernity her “new favorite film.” It is anything but typical: There’s beekeeping, reality TV and ancient Etruscan culture.
Cemetery of Splendor
Nov. 18, 7 pm
In this Thai drama, a clairvoyant enters the dreams of various soldiers who in their sleep fight the battles of Thailand’s past. It promises to be unlike anything you have ever seen before, unless you somehow have access to director Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s own dreams.
