Cinema

While students prepare to survive final exams and end-of-semester projects over the next few weeks, two underrated films dealing with more extreme types of survival just came out on Blu-ray this April 5 and 19.

A British film released in the U.S. in 1955, “The Purple Plain” (1954) is a well-produced and often-moving J. Arthur Rank production starring Gregory Peck as a Canadian pilot serving with the British in Burma during World War II. None of his fellow flyers want to fly with him…

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At the Sundance Film Festival, writer-director Todd Solondz described drawing his inspiration for “Wiener-Dog” from an unlikely pair of cinematic hallmarks: Robert Bresson’s “Au Hasard Balthazar” (1966) and Joe Camp’s “Benji” (1974). Solondz’s movie, as dark, hilarious, and observant as any of the features in his deeply impressive filmography, does indeed borrow from those two movies, aligning with Bresson’s unflinching examination of life’s cruelties and Camp’s…

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Following its Locarno Film Festival premiere in August of 2015, the great Chantal Akerman’s final work, “No Home Movie,” now makes its way to limited theatrical release and digital platforms in the United States.

Currently viewable on Fandor – a fitting small-screen residence – the nonfiction meditation featuring Akerman’s mother Natalia in her twilight takes on new shades of meaning and acute pangs of melancholy in light of Akerman’s October 2015 suicide. Natalia died in…

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For those who were unable to make it to this year’s Fargo Film Festival, two movies released to Blu-ray March 8 by Kino-Lorber Video should prove satisfying. Both had little theatrical play beyond the rounds of film festivals last year.

Sebastian Schipper’s rather audacious slice-of-life heist thriller “Victoria” is most impressive for its concept, the logistics needed to carry it out, and its sustained performances without a single cut. It hopes to involve the viewer as a…

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Werner Herzog shares another meditation on humanity in “Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World.” Lit with the master filmmaker’s blazing curiosity, the fascinating documentary ponders a wide variety of digital-era conundrums and curiosities via ten chapters.

Bouncing from topic to topic, “Lo and Behold” accomplishes the showman’s trick that leaves the audience salivating for more – many of the sections could sustain feature-length examinations on their own.

From…

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At 63 years of age, Paul Reubens completes a minor miracle with the return of beloved, iconic manchild Pee-wee Herman, the eccentric creation whose appeal to grown-ups and children hit the bullseye in Tim Burton’s feature directorial debut “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure” and on television in “Pee-wee’s Playhouse.”

“Pee-wee’s Big Holiday” fails to top the 1980s incarnation of the character, but longtime fans will smile at several of the movie’s colorful gags. Produced by…

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Sports fans of the Upper Midwest may have special interest in a classic film released to Blu­ray this month, since the title is “The Vikings” and one of the sequences features fighting hawks. The Norse setting also depicts the ancient heritage and culture of many North Dakota-Minnesota­-Wisconsin families.

Serious analysts might identify some interesting subtext in the 1958 film “The Vikings,” dealing with class, gender, religion, and tribal/cultural relationships to compare…

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Craig Cobb, the white supremacist who purchased properties in Leith, North Dakota as part of a warped plan to establish a community for like‐minded racial separatists, takes center stage in “Welcome to Leith,” recipient of the Bill Snyder Award for Documentary Filmmaking at the 2016 Fargo Film Festival.

Principally examining the period during which Cobb’s actions and publicity‐seeking behavior ran afoul of the townspeople (depending how you count, not more than two dozen souls)…

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by Greg Carlson

Producer Matt Myers and writer‐director Joe Maggio, along with many cast and crewmembers from “Supermoto” will attend the Fargo Film Festival for a special screening of the narrative feature. “Supermoto” will be shown on Saturday, March 19 at 3:15 p.m. at the Fargo Theatre. HPR’s Greg Carlson talked to Myers about the film.

HPR: Tell me a little bit about “Supermoto.”

Matt Myers: “Supermoto” is Joe Maggio’s sixth feature film. It’s about a young woman…

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Filmmakers, actors, award-winning works, more than 100 films

by Kaley Sievert

It’s that time again, when the Fargo Theatre attracts flocks of moviegoers and a variety of directors and actors who have submitted their films to the 16th annual Fargo Film Festival.

Pounds of popcorn will be munched as film fans come to enjoy the beautiful stories that adorn the theatre’s screen. Laughter, sniffles, crunching and applause will come from the darkened auditorium as the movies capture the…

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