Today is Day 3 of the 2014 Milwaukee Film Festival, which runs September 25 – October 9. Want to talk movies and/or stalk us? Here’s where we’ll be.
“State of Cinema” lecture with Wesley Morris (noon, Prospect Ave. Colectivo)
Second to watching films is talking about films, an activity Milwaukee Film encourages with a series of informal Conversations accompanying select films. Of special note in the talk department is the annual “State of Cinema” address. Last year found the staff of The Dissolve holding forth on the health (or lack thereof) of modern movies; this year features Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Wesley Morris tackling the same subject.
Code Unknown: Incomplete Tales Of Several Journeys (4:15 p.m., Oriental)
Following Morris’ talk, the Grantland writer will present this unsung Michael Haneke film from 2000. Code Unknown features distinct and occasionally intersecting storylines (and a typically winning performance from Juliette Binoche), as well as Haneke’s beloved long takes and real-time aesthetics. Morris will conduct a Q&A immediately after the screening.
Hamlet A.D.D. (9:45 p.m., Oriental)
Scholars estimate that Shakespeare penned Hamlet sometime between 1599 and 1602. Future scholars will note that Milwaukee’s Andrew Swant and Bobby Ciraldo filmed their wonky take on the moody masterpiece, Hamlet A.D.D., sometime between 2004 and 2014. The film, which reimagines the prince as a time-hopping anti-hero navigating his way through various green-screen-created locales, will finally see its decade-long production come to a close at tonight’s screening. (Due to technical issues, a screening in May featured a still-not-final cut. Go figure.) Swant and Ciraldo—best known for William Shatner’s Gonzo Ballet and the video for Samwell’s “What What (In The Butt)”—called on an appropriately surreal group of actors to bring their long-in-the-works vision to life. Along with local characters like American Movie’s Mark Borchardt and Mike Schank, Hamlet A.D.D. boasts appearances from Neil Hamburger, Dustin Diamond, Kumar Pallana, and Samwell; and the voices of Star Trek’s Majel Barret Roddenberry and Mystery Science Theater’s Trace Beaulieau and Kevin Murphy (as the robots, natch).
Witching And Bitching (midnight, Oriental)
Yeah, witches are all the rage (again) these days, but it’s hard to find a good witch movie, you know? (We’re looking at you, last season of American Horror Story.) Happily, this Cinema Hooligante selection looks to be the real deal, telling the tale of a group of robbers who get more than they bargained for when they hole up in the infamous Spanish town of Zugarramurdi. Expect blood, sex, gore, and plenty of midnight-movie awesomeness.