Goings On: Hou, Carpenter, and More

New York. A new restoration of Hou Hsiao-hsien’s Daughter of the Nile (1987) opens at the Quad tomorrow. In the New York Times,J. Hoberman notes that it was “produced by a music company as a vehicle for the Taiwanese singer Yang Lin” and resembles “an Ozu film in its precise camera placement, use of repeated images (mainly cityscapes) as punctuation and preference for movement within the frame. . . . But Mr. Hou, now 70, is closer to Robert Bresson in his oblique narrative style. Transitional shots are few; empty interiors are introduced before (or held after) being animated by human activity. Like Bresson’s actors, Mr. Hou’s are less performers than physical presences. The movie begins with a lengthy close-up of Ms. Yang that is practically a Warhol screen test.”

“This month Spectacle runs three Alex Cox films to mark the New York premiere of his latest, Tombstone Rashomon, which has its final screening at 10:00 pm tonight,” writes Jon Dieringer at Screen Slate. “It’s preceded at 7:30 pm by Three Businessmen [1998], which, although not nearly as well-known as his Criterion-canonized works Repo Man,Sid & Nancy, and Walker, is generally regarded by the director’s most ardent fans as one of his best.”

MoMA’s “set the initial lineup for The Contenders, its annual screenings of awards-season buzzmagnets, opening the series in November with Martin McDonagh’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and continuing with spotlight screenings of talked-about titles Call Me by Your Name,Mudbound,Wonder Woman,Get Out, and mother!” Variety’s got the list.

Meantime, the Metrograph’s retrospective, Philippe Garrel: Part 1, wraps tonight.

Los Angeles. AFI Fest, whose 2017 edition runs from November 9 through 16, has announced to more rounds of lineups. First, Special Screenings, Cinema’s Legacy, and Shorts; plus, World Cinema, Midnight, and Youth & Family Programming.

Austin. “Scaring is caring,” writes Richard Whittaker in the Chronicle. “When the inaugural Death By Festival splatters the walls and shakes the foundations at the North Door this weekend, this hybrid horror film/heavy music festival will raise funds for Austin Pets Alive! and the Greater Houston Community Foundation. But make no mistake, that big heart is still full of entertaining evil.”

Cambridge. “Back in 1989, I went to see John Carpenter’s Prince of Darkness all by myself at downtown Recife’s Art-Palacio cinema, a 1,300-seat palace built in 1938.” Writing for Grasshopper Film, Kleber Mendonça Filho shares “a strange and powerful filmgoing memory.” As it happens, the Brattle is presenting a 35 mm print of Prince of Darkness (1987) on Halloween. Justin LaLiberty notes that “where The Thing [1982] and In the Mouth of Madness [1995] rely on an apocalypse brought about from within man, either than manifested in an organism transmitted via blood or one man’s (mis)understanding of reality, the apocalypse of Prince of Darkness is far more epic—and theological—in nature.”

Toronto.Johnnie To: Expect the Unexpected is on at TIFF Cinematheque through December 28 and, for the Notebook, Adam Cook talks with curator Shelly Kraicer about “the series and our mutual appreciation for Johnnie To.” For Rice Paper, Nick Stember talks with Kraicer, too, about the state of Chinese cinema. It’s deep dive; here’s the second part.

UK. For the BFI, Georgia Korossi previews Film Africa 2017, opening tomorrow and running through November 5. “Taking place over ten days at six venues—Rich Mix, BFI Southbank, Ritzy Brixton, Ciné Lumière, Bernie Grant Arts Centre and the South London Gallery—Film Africa 2017 celebrates brave new voices with the latest and best feature, documentary, experimental and short films from twenty-one African countries.”

Liverpool.Under Cinema, an exhibition of work by Wu Tsang, is on view at FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology) through February 18.

Thessaloniki. “Focusing on the concept of ‘The Need for Roots,’ the 58th Thessaloniki International Film Festival (TIFF) has unveiled its full line-up,” reports Vassilis Economou for Cineuropa. “The fourteen feature films that are competing for the Golden Alexander also follow the core ideas behind Simone Weil’s book of the same name, which focuses on both the concept of uprootedness and the re-establishment of roots.” The festival runs from November 2 through 12.

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