The Holdovers
Director Alexander Payne is a devoted cinephile who loves the style of intimate, wryly funny, character-driven films that were plentiful 50 years ago but are now nearly extinct. Payne’s films honor this bygone era of storytelling in welcome ways, including his newest work, The Holdovers. Set in 1970, the reliable Paul Giamatti stars as a miserable New England boarding school teacher who forges unlikely bonds with a student (Dominic Sessa) and the school’s chief cook (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) while they’re stuck together over Christmas break. Based on extensive positive buzz, The Holdovers looks very promising. (October 28, The Paramount Theater)
Immediate Family
Denny Tedesco’s excellent 2008 documentary The Wrecking Crew shone a spotlight on some of the 1960s pop music industry’s greatest unsung session musicians. In Immediate Family, Tedesco continues his coverage of extraordinary studio players into the 1970s singer-songwriter movement. Tedesco’s interviewees include these backing musicians, professionally nicknamed “The Immediate Family,” and many of the musical superstars whose sound they contributed (largely anonymously) to, like Stevie Nicks, Neil Young, Carole King, James Taylor, and Linda Ronstadt. (October 27, Violet Crown 3)
Maestro
Director and star Bradley Cooper’s biopic Maestro explores composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein’s (Cooper) complex relationship with his wife, actress Felicia Montealegre (Carey Mulligan). Bernstein’s extraordinary career and his romantic life are definitely rich material to work with, and the initial consensus is that Cooper has noticeably matured as a director since his acclaimed A Star is Born. (October 25, The Paramount Theater)
Robot Dreams
Spanish animator Pablo Berger’s Robot Dreams, based on Sara Varon’s graphic novel, looks to be the kind of thoughtful, challenging animated feature that rarely gets made or released in America anymore. Sadly, ambitious productions like this usually get ground under by big studios’ animated spectacles. Grab your chance to see this film about a lonely anthropomorphic dog and his robot companion in 1980s New York while you can. (October 28, Violet Crown 1 & 2)
They Shot the Piano Player
Directors Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal filmed They Shot the Piano Player in stylized “limited” animation built on Trueba’s research into the 1976 disappearance of bossa nova pianist Francisco Tenório, Jr. Jeff Goldblum voices Trueba’s on-screen stand-in, a fictional reporter seeking closure to this gifted musician’s story. Audio from actual interviews with Tenório’s family and peers are interwoven in animated form throughout this visually and musically vibrant film. (October 27, Violet Crown 6 & 7)