Dracula (1931)

WHO: Tod Browning directed this.

WHAT: An otherwise-excellent scholarly article by Elisabeth Bronfen (pdf) repeats the common misconception that Dracula was the "first sound film of the horror genre", over looking the fact that Universal Pictures followed up silent horror hits like The Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Phantom of the Opera with early talkies The Last Warning and The Last Performance in 1929 and The Cat Creeps in 1930. But Dracula was the first to become a real popular sensation, followed shortly by Frankenstein, The Mummy, The Invisible Man and a host of sequels and spin-offs. It remains a classic today, though in-cinema screenings have become rare.

WHERE/WHEN: 7:30 tonight only at the Castro Theatre.

WHY: This is only one of the horror and Halloween-related screenings this month announced since my last round-up devoted to the season. Here are some others:

through Thursday, Oct. 17 at the Rafael and Roxie: Escape From Tomorrow.
Thursday, Oct. 17 at Oddball Films: Halloween-themed show including fantastiques from Georges Méliès, digest prints of Universal Horror classics, Winter of the Witch and more.
Friday, Oct. 18 at the Castro & Roxie: MiDNiTES FOR MANiACS dual venue triple-bill of The Blair Witch Project, Ringu, and Dario Argento's Demons. 
Saturday, Oct. 19 at Artists Television Access: Other Cinema presentation of Room 237 with director Rodney Ascher in person.
Friday, Oct. 25-Monday, Oct. 28 at the Rafael: 1953 House of Wax in digital 3D.
Friday, Oct. 25-Thursday, Oct. 31 at the Rafael: a supposed "final cut" of The Wicker Man.
Saturday, Oct. 26 at Artists Television Access: Other Cinema presents Spine Tingler: the William Castle Story and more.
Tuesday, Oct. 29 at the Castro: I Am A Ghost with director H.P. Mendoza and cast in person.
Tuesday, Oct. 29 at the Rafael: a tribute to Creature Features and the history of local TV horror hosts.
Wednesday, Oct. 30 & Thursday, Oct. 31 at the Rafael: the 1922 Nosferatu.

HOW: Dracula screens on a 35mm double bill with Bride of Frankenstein

Gravity (2013)

WHO: Emmanuel Lubezski was director of photography for this, and is already being called a "lock" or near to one to earn his first Best Cinematography Oscar for it. I agree with Nathaniel Rogers that this indicates serious trouble in this category. I hope the cinematographers resist pundit and fan pressure and decline to nominate Lubeszki for this- perhaps they can pick him for To The Wonder instead. Because it makes more sense to me for Gravity to be an Animated Feature Oscar nominee than a Cinematography nominee.

WHAT: All that said, I really liked Gravity even if it came up far short of films like 2001: A Space Odyssey or Solaris in conveying more than just thrills on a heightened scale. Then again, it may be unfair to compare this film to science-fiction, which it is not. I recommend Eric Henderson's review.

WHERE/WHEN: Screens multiple times daily into the foreseeable future at nearly half the cinemas on Frisco Bay.

WHY: I haven't usually featured the so-called "movie of the moment" on this blog this year but that's because I rarely find that movie both intriguing to see for a reason other than just being part of a current pop-culture conversation, and worth recommending. But Gravity is certainly well worth a look if you keep you expectations in check. And its box office success makes the Castro's booking of space-set Alien and Dark Star for October 23rd seem very prescient.

HOW: Here's where it gets complicated. I saw Gravity in digital 3D on the Metreon's IMAX screen, but though this is the largest screen in the Bay Area, it was not the IMAX experience (a title card shown before the film started even stated so), as the entire screen was not filled and a wide aspect ratio was maintained. I understand other IMAX screens show it the same way. Yet the full IMAX 3D price was charged. If I revisit the film I will certainly not go with IMAX, and will instead find a cheaper digital 3D screening. I'll admit I'm curious about the multidimensional sound options available through Dolby Atmos, and unavailable at any IMAX showings.

If you're the sort who cannot or does not appreciate 3D for any reason, there are also 2D screenings of Gravity as well, including a 35mm booking at the Balboa

Tokyo Family (2013)

WHO: Yoji Yamada directed and co-wrote the screenplay for this film, based on the classic Tokyo Story directed by Yasujiro Ozu and written by Ozu and Koga Noda.

WHAT: I have not seen this film, but as a big Ozu admirer I'm terribly curious about a remake helmed by Yamada, the beginnings of whose career at the Shochiku Studio overlapped with the final years of the great master's. Mark Schilling's review is mixed but that doesn't deter me.

WHERE/WHEN: 1:30 PM this afternoon only at the Lark Theater in Larkspur, presented by the Mill Valley Film Festival.

WHY: Aside from last Thursday and Friday's revival screenings of Raoul Peck's Lumumba, Tokyo Family is the only MVFF title this year to be screening in 35mm. I was unaware that the Lark had even retained the ability to project film when they installed their 4K DCP technology- I hear that most theatres can get better financial deals on the latest digital projection equipment if they remove their 35mm projectors from the booth. I'm hoping to visit the venue for the first time today, and to see a print that is very unlikely to wind its way back to Frisco Bay.

HOW: 35mm.

The Missing Picture (2013)

WHO: Cambodia's great documentarian Rithy Panh co-wrote, co-edited and directed this,

WHAT: As a fan of Panh's films since seeing Land of the Wandering Souls back in 2001, I jumped on the chance to see his newest, and perhaps already most acclaimed film, a soulfully autobiographical account of his days as a youth experiencing the horrors of Pol Pot's regime told using poetic narration, hand-carved figurines, and the propaganda footage created by the Khmer Rouge. The latter became the only motion picture record of that terrible time in the nation's history, as a relatively thriving film industry was completely obliterated, its practitioners often killed or at least driven to disguise their affiliation with what was seen as a damningly modern and intellectual pursuit.

There's a "hold review" on The Missing Picture until its local commercial release (date TBA, but hopefully before the end of the year), so I'll just say I was not disappointed in The Missing Picture as a Rithy Panh fan, and link to Jordan Cronk's excellent review, which fruitfully contrasts the film against others by the director, as well as The Act of Killing.

WHERE?WHEN: Screens today at 4:45 at the Lark Theatre and 5:30 tomorrow at the Rafael Film Center, presented by the Mill Valley Film Festival.

WHY: MVFF only has a couple more days left in it, but the majority of the films I'm most interested in seeing, whether at the festival or upon general release, are packed into these final days. Unfortunately a large number of showings are at Rush status which means braving lines and hoping for luck, but not all are. This afternoon's screening of The Missing Picture, tomorrow's 5@5 shorts showcase featuring Black Angel and three other favorites, and the last screening of the only 35mm print of a new film in the entire festival, Yoji Yamada's Tokyo Family, are among those that still appear to have available tickets. Of course, waiting in a rush line may require less patience than waiting to see a film like top Cannes prize-winner Blue is the Warmest Color when it arrives on local screens. (That one is currently set to come to the Embarcadero November 1st, presuming that theatre's remodeling and reopening goes according to schedule.)

HOW: The Missing Picture screens digitally.

Gods of the Plague (1970)

WHO: Rainer Werner Fassbinder wrote, produced and directed this, his third feature film, released shortly after he turned 25.

WHAT: Jim Clark, builder of a website with a near-exhaustive section devoted to Fassbinder, notes in his review of Gods of the Plague that it remained one of the director's favorites of his own films. I have not yet seen it myself.

WHERE/WHEN: Tonight only at the Pacific Film Archive at 8:50.

WHY: If you've missed any (or all) of the Fassbinder films screenings that happened at the Roxie over the past week, you have a second chance to see all the films at the PFA, starting tomorrow with perhaps his most accessible, if devastating, masterpiece The Marriage of Maria Braun. Likewise, you have a second shot at the three films screened at the PFA thus far starting this Thursday when Yerba Buena Center For the Arts launches its own ten-title selection of his films with Ali: Fear Eats the Soul.

However, if you want to see all twenty-four of the Fassbinder prints coming to Frisco Bay this Fall, you're going to have to be aware of the seven films screening only at the PFA and not in San Francisco. This septet begins tonight with The Katzelmacher and Gods of the Plague, continues Sunday with I Only Want You To Love Me, and is rounded out with Beware of a Holy Whore, Chinese Roulette, the epic World On A Wire and finally Despair starring Dirk Bogarde. I collected a full list of Fassbinder films screening in local venues here, in case you missed it last week.

HOW: All Fassbinder films in this season screen from 35mm prints. (UPDATE 10/12/2013: in fact The Katzelmacher was screened from a DVD last night due to print damage, and I Only Want You To Love Me will screen via Blu-Ray, as has been planned from the series announcement. I regret the error.)