Don’t let the good weather fool you: there are plenty of great films playing in Dublin’s various cinemas this weekend to help you beat the heat.
This week’s big Hollywood release is Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes, which we have heard is good, but we would vouch for the new Josh O’Connor film La Chimera.
O’Connor, who has seen his stock soar following his terrific performance in Challengers (a movie we swear we are not on commission with, it’s really that good!) stars as a British archaeologist on the search for the woman he lost.
Films like Planet Of The Apes are fine, but auteur-driven films like La Chimera rarely get a cinema release; be sure to catch this one in the IFI or the Lighthouse.
Speaking of the IFI, a fun Dublin People drinking game is taking a shot every time one of our arts articles mentions the films of Powell and Pressburger.
We did an entire article about Michael Powell’s 1945 visit to Lambay Island earlier this year, and none other than the iconic Martin Scorsese has produced a documentary about the duo’s timeless work.
Scorsese is known as a cinephile to end all cinephiles, and he is using his clout to produce and narrate a documentary about the best directors to ever come out of the UK.
Scorsese’s long-time editor Thelma Schoonmaker was of course married to Michael Powell until his death, and Scorsese’s Film Foundation financed the 4k restoration of Powell’s controversial 1960 classic Peeping Tom last year.
Made In England: The Films Of Powell and Pressburger plays at the IFI all across this weekend and should be appointment viewing for film fans of all stripes.
Our bi-annual monthly suggestion of Stop Making Sense makes a return to this column, with the Lighthouse showing it on Saturday evening.
We can not recommend it enough; seeing this film with a group of dancing strangers should be prescribed as therapy.
The Stella’s Spielberg season continues, with the jewel of the crown being Raiders Of The Lost Ark showing on Sunday.
The film was a summer release in the United States back in 1981; why not replicate the experience of seeing Harrison Ford save the day on a lovely summer day like so many people did back in the day?
And finally, the IFI are taking people all the way back to 1923 with a screening of the Harold Lloyd film Safety Last! on Sunday.
In the era of Chaplin and Keaton, Lloyd was the Johnny Knoxville of his day.
Defying death and putting himself in harms way for our entertainment, Safety Last! is a great display of how movie stars used to risk life and limb.
The film will be accompanied by a live score by pianist Stephen Horne who has been the house pianist at the BFI in London for many years.
And who said film was lowbrow? We want names!