Special Presentations
THE ADVENTURES OF BUCKAROO BANZAI ACROSS THE EIGHTH DIMENSION
This season’s Special Presentations include the fantasy comedy classic Here Comes Mr. Jordan and the acclaimed neo-noir The Last Seduction, both shown on 35mm film, plus sci-fi & horror cult favorites Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932) and The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai shown on new 4K DCPs! Plus, newly restored DCPs of two contemporary classics from Asia, Farewell, My Concubine, shown in its full-length international version, and Lee Chang-Dong’s Poetry. Werner Herzog’s Fitzcarraldo is back, as well as a new 4K restoration of Les Blank’s Burden of Dreams, the much heralded documentary about the making of Fitzcarraldo.
- Sat., Sep. 7 | 7:00 PM4070 Vilas Hall
Pulled from a plummeting plane moments before impact, professional prizefighter, part-time-saxophonist, and hobbyist pilot Joe Pendleton (Montgomery, in an Oscar-nominated performance), finds himself at the gates of heaven fifty years before schedule. Complications ensue when the celestial Mr. Jordan (a debonair Rains) tries to set things right by temporarily placing Joe within the body of a millionaire. With a brilliantly funny, Oscar-winning screenplay from Sidney Buchman and Seton I. Miller and stellar supporting turns from Edward Everett Horton and a sublime James Gleason, Jordan (adapted from the play Heaven Can Wait and remade with that title decades later starring Warren Beatty) is a screwball fantasy delight. (BR)
- Sat., Sep. 14 | 7:00 PM4070 Vilas Hall
One of the most acclaimed Chinese films of all time spans 50 years from the beginning of the 20th Century to the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s. At the Peking Opera Academy Cheng Dieyi (Leslie Cheung) and Duan Xiaolou (Zhang Fengyi) endure harsh training, developing complementary talents as they mature, with Dieyi playing female roles and Xiaolou playing male warlords. Dieyi's unreciprocated love for Xiaolou, who marries a courtesan named Juxian (Gong Li), creates a perilous, jealousy-filled romantic triangle. This recently restored version brings back 20 minutes never before seen by North American movie audiences. Presented with the support of the Center for East Asian Studies at UW-Madison.
- Fri., Oct. 4 | 7:00 PM4070 Vilas Hall
16-year-old Hayoung (Ji-young Yoo, star of Amazon Prime Video’s Expats) seeks distraction from her complicated family life by trying to fit in with her more affluent cram school peers. With the delicate exploration of generational conflict, class, and the model minority myth in LA’s Korean American community, it is clear why writer-director So Young Shelly Yo earned the Tribeca Festival’s Untold Stories award to finance this feature debut. Presented as part of the 2024 Asian American Spotlight, with the support of Asian American Studies at UW-Madison. (ZF)
- Sat., Oct. 5 | 7:00 PM4070 Vilas Hall
Chaperone offers a character-driven portrait of complacent loner Misha (Mitzi Akaha), who is approaching her 30th birthday with few prospects in life. When a local high school senior unknowingly invites the older woman to a beach hangout, Misha chooses not to disclose the large age gap. Set in picturesque Hilo, Hawaii, Eisenberg's solo directorial debut captures the nuances of a flawed protagonist thanks to a dynamic visual style and Akaha’s fearless lead performance. Presented as part of the 2024 Asian American Spotlight, with the support of Asian American Studies at UW-Madison. The screening will be presented with open English captions. (ZF)
- Fri., Oct. 11 | 7:00 PM4070 Vilas Hall
Turkish immigrant Husseyin (Sayyad) endures a monotonous existence as a "guest worker" in '70s West Berlin, sharing a cramped apartment and toiling in a factory. Despite saving diligently with dreams of returning to Turkey, he faces relentless racism and failed romances, finding solace only in his immigrant housemates. Directed by Shahid-Saless during his own pivotal transition from Iran to Berlin, Far from Home is a masterful, poignant depiction of the immigrant experience, rich in restraint and deeply resonant in its portrayal of everyday life. Largely unseen for decades, a newly restored 4K DCP will be screened. Presented with the support of the Kemal H. Karpat Center for Turkish Studies at UW-Madison.
- Sat., Oct. 12 | 7:00 PM4070 Vilas Hall
Still considered the finest movie adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s tale of horror, Mamoulian’s version features an Oscar-winning Fredric March in the title roles of a kindly doctor transformed by experimental drugs into his alter ego: a sadistic and amoral beast. Hopkins’ sexually-charged performance as bar singer Ivy is just one of many aspects of this production that demonstrate the freedoms Hollywood enjoyed in the era before the Production Code was enforced. A recently restored 4K DCP of the uncensored, original release version will be shown.
- Fri., Oct. 25 | 7:00 PM4070 Vilas Hall
Employing a “found footage” device that predates The Blair Witch Project by 20 years, Cannibal Holocaust tells of four documentary filmmakers who meet a brutal end at the hands of a savage South American tribe of cannibals. Director Deodato’s approach to this material is so intensely graphic and realistic that he and the film’s producer were arrested upon its release, and the film was seized. Film scholar Nathan Wardinski, author of Dissecting Cannibal Holocaust, will join us for a post-screening discussion and Q&A. Viewer discretion advised.
- Sat., Oct. 26 | 6:00 PM4070 Vilas Hall
In 1962, teenage boys in a small, Midwestern farm town compete to defeat Sawtooth Jack, a deadly, candy-filled demon who annually rises from a corn patch on Halloween to wreak havoc. But the parents know more about this creepy tradition than they’re letting on and it’s up to rebellious teens Richie and Kelly to uncover the truth. Adapting a novel by Norman Partridge, director Slade (30 Days of Night, Hard Candy) and screenwriter Michael Gilio (Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves) have conjured up an imaginative, allegorical horror tale that combines elements of Halloween III: Season of the Witch and Shirley Jackson’s short story, “The Lottery.” “Buckets of gore and exceptional creature design - Dark Harvest delivers October ickiness with a crooked smile” (Matt Donato, Paste Magazine). Michael Gilio will be on hand to introduce and talk about Dark Harvest after the screening.
- Sat., Oct. 26 | 8:30 PM4070 Vilas Hall
A cadaverous toy manufacturer (O’Herlihy) hatches an evil plot to destroy trick-or-treating children through the manufacturing of diabolical rubber masks. It’s up to our divorced doctor hero (Atkins) to stop the madman’s plan. This is the one film in the Halloween franchise that does not feature the stalking killer Michael Myers, though series creator John Carpenter did return as producer and co-composer of the cool synth score. Original and creepy, this cult favorite will be introduced by one of its superfans, screenwriter Michael Gilio (Dark Harvest).
- Sat., Nov. 2 | 7:00 PM4070 Vilas Hall
The oddest of all 80s cult classics, Buckaroo Banzai follows the exploits of the title character (Robocop’s Weller), a nuclear scientist and rock star. Buckaroo and his team of brainiac musicians use their Oscillation Overthruster to thwart madman Dr. Emilio Lizardo (Lithgow at his most wonderfully strange) and hostile Red Lectoids from the Planet 10. This smart sendup of sci-fi is kept afloat by a straight-faced cast that also includes Jeff Goldblum and Christopher Lloyd. A newly restored 4K DCP will be screened.
- Sat., Nov. 9 | 7:00 PM4070 Vilas Hall
Kind-hearted Mija (Yun Jung-hee) is raising her troubled teenage grandson Jong-wook while coping with the early stages of Alzheimer's and studying poetry at a local cultural center. Initially inspired by nature, Mija's journey takes a darker turn when Jong-wook becomes embroiled in a shocking scandal. Winner of two prizes at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, Lee Chang-Dong’s most acclaimed effort presents an “extraordinary vision of human empathy” (The New York Times). Presented with the support of the Center for East Asian Studies at UW-Madison.
- Fri., Nov. 15 | 7:00 PM4070 Vilas Hall
Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald (Kinski) is a music lover determined to bring opera to the jungles of Peru. His plan includes hauling a huge riverboat over a mountain with the help of the natives. Director Herzog, who actually did haul a boat over a mountain for this epic masterpiece, proves the perfect filmmaker to tell the story of Fitzgerald’s grand folly. The legendary Cardinale co-stars as Fitzgerald’s girlfriend, Molly.
- Fri., Nov. 22 | 7:00 PM4070 Vilas Hall
The chaotic history of the making of Werner Herzog’s Fitzcarraldo is the subject of Blank’s acclaimed documentary. The extremely revealing footage of Herzog shows an obsessed artist constantly battling to capture his vision on film. Burden of Dreams also includes a glimpse at the ultimately discarded performances of Jason Robards and Mick Jagger, actors who were eventually replaced by the unhinged Klaus Kinski. This new 4K restoration will be preceded by Blank’s short film, Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe (1980, 22 min.).
- Sat., Nov. 23 | 7:00 PM4070 Vilas Hall
Fiorentino gives the performance of her career as one of the cinema’s most memorably merciless femme fatales in this devilishly twisty neo noir. Wrapping every man in sight around her finger and playing them against one another, she stops at nothing in her quest to be rich and rid of them. Director Dahl’s followup to his cult favorite Red Rock West is another wicked blast. “Four stars. Not only ingenious and entertaining, but liberating, because we can sense the story isn't going to be twisted into conformity with some stupid formula” (Roger Ebert). 35mm print courtesy of the Sundance Collection at the UCLA Film & Television Archive.
- Sat., Dec. 14 | 7:00 PMMarquee
Highlighting works produced in Communication Arts Media Production courses at UW Madison, this program is curated by the instructors of documentary and narrative production courses and gives new filmmakers the opportunity to present their films on screen for the first time.