One of the pleasant quirks about the film scene in the Pioneer Valley is that a great many movies are screening in unusual, unexpected, or out of the way places. Sometimes, as with Pleasant Street’s 40-odd seat Little Theater, that place is even in a proper movie house. But say you’ve already seen the film at Pleasant Street, what then?
A bit of digging can turn up some gems. A Northampton-based anti-war group hosts free Friday night screenings in a space on Masonic Street; for a time, a semi-underground film series flourished above a Main Street storefront. In Florence, former Pleasant Street honcho Bob Lawton has been known to put on a tantalizing night of film and performance at his cavernous Artifacts 20th Century space. Once area colleges are in session, one can often find themed film series hosted by foreign language departments (the German programs at UMass and Amherst College are particularly productive), and the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst occasionally provides some rich fare. Mix in a smattering of cafes with digital projectors, and it’s hard to imagine an empty night.
The daytime hours, though, can present a somewhat less diverse range of choices, especially for parents with children in tow. A few cinemas provide baby-friendly screenings during the week, but the films shown are usually the theater’s regular fare; that heady erotic thriller from France might not be the best choice if you’ve got a six-year-old along for the ride.
What a joy, then, to discover that the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art—founded by the famous children’s book author/illustrator and his wife Barbara—runs a thriving film series, with movies screening almost every day of the week. Dedicated to celebrating “the art we know first,” the museum’s film lineup in September includes Carle’s own The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Other Stories, James Marshall’s Cinderella, and Getting to Know Mo Willems, a short documentary about another local children’s book scribe. All films are free with museum admission; for a full schedule, visit Carlemuseum.org.
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Also this week: Pleasant Street Theater is giving filmgoers the world tour with a trio of films. First up is Cairo Time, director Ruba Nadda’s story about an American in Egypt. Patricia Clarkson stars as Juliette, a magazine editor on a trip to visit her husband, a U.N. official working abroad. When he can’t get away, his friend and bodyguard Tareq is placed on escort duty, and while the press for the film states that “the last thing anyone expects is that they will fall in love,” that’s pretty much exactly what you should expect.
The theater is also screening The American, a new film from Anton Corbijn, a director known mostly for his work making music videos for bands like U2 and Depeche Mode. George Clooney stars as Jack, a thoughtful assassin on an extended hiatus in the Italian countryside. There, he strikes up a friendship with the local padre, embarks on an affair with local beauty Clara, and generally gets far too comfortable for someone in his line of work. Whether or not Corbijn has the goods to make it all work is an open question, but having Clooney on board is a good start for a continental lark.
Finally, Pleasant Street also hosts Soul Kitchen, a new comedy from director Fatih Akin (The Edge of Heaven). Akin’s co-writer Adam Bousdoukos stars as Zinos, a restaurateur who loses his girlfriend and his restaurant in short order. Zinos teams with his ex-con brother Illias in an effort to get his business back, but finds that working with family has its own problems. Set to a rousing soundtrack, the film finds Akin stepping out of his usual mode of dramatic intensity for something more charmingly convivial.
Jack Brown can be reached at cinemadope@gmail.com.