Best Film Screenings in the North (16-22 Sep)
The best film events happening in Manchester, Liverpool and Leeds this week, including early Pedro Almodóvar films at HOME, Manchester and anime classic Akira at FACT, Liverpool
Early Almodóvar: Law of Desire & Woman on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
Two of the early films from Pedro Almodóvar that really turned the world on to his genius. First there’s gay love triangle thriller Law of Desire, which features an intense turn by Antonio Banderas as the jealous lover of a porn director who’s heart belongs to another man. As good as Banderas is, the film is stolen from him by the wonderful Carmen Maura, who plays the porn director’s larger than life transsexual sister.
Maura and Banderas also turn up in Woman on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, an effervescent farce following a highly-strung actress (Maura) who’s been unceremoniously dumped by her older lover and, as the title suggests, she’s not taking it well. Read about our ardour for these early Almodovar films here.
Law of Desire, 17 Sep, HOME, Manchester, 8.40pm / Woman on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, 19 Sep, HOME, 6.20pm
A Nightmare on Elm Street & Invasion of the Body Snatchers (on 35mm)
A brilliant bit of programming this: a double bill featuring two great movies about being scared to fall asleep in case something horrible happens to you. First up is Wes Craven’s chilling tale of a group of teens who are being pursued in their dreams by a badly burned bogeyman with a glove of razors on his right hand. The film is at its absolute best during its terrifying nightmare sequences, where the seemingly real world will go thrillingly surreal as carpets turns to quicksand and a harmless basement becomes a labyrinthian furnace.
Next in AMC's double, the pod people are back in Philip Kaufman's chilling take on Don Siegel's sci-fi classic. The cast is stellar – Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Leonard Nimoy and a brilliantly nervy Jeff Goldblum – and Kaufman really knows how to build up paranoia.
This is Not a Cartoon 6
Curated by Skwigly Online Animation Magazine, the This is Not a Cartoon programmes are always a treat. As ever, the eclectic lineup features a variety of animation techniques by filmmakers from around the world. We love the sound of Ed, from Iran-born, Canada-based filmmaker Taha Neyestani, about a quiet man who truly comes to life when he sets foot onstage as a nude figure drawing model. Shuangshuang Hao’s Gerascophobia, animated in a rough pencil style and about a boy who’s terrified of growing old, also looks great. If stop-motion is more your thing, there’s Erik van Schaaik’s Under the Apple Tree, a fun little horror about family, apples, worms and death.
18 Sep, HOME, Manchester, 3.30pm
Valerie and her Week of Wonders
A brilliant bit of surrealism from the Czech New Wave, Jaromil Jires’s knockout film follows the titular 13-year-old heroine as she slips into a sensual fantasyland of vampires, witchcraft and other malevolent creatures. The colors are vibrant, the compositions stunning. You might not have a clue what’s going on, but who cares when you have a fairy tale this sumptuous?
20 Sep, Hyde Park Picture House, Leeds, 6.40pm
Akira
Katsuhiro Otomo’s berserk anime is still stunning 28 years on from blowing the minds of movie-fans back in the late 80s. Set in the metropolis of Neo-Tokyo three decades after an atomic bomb has been dropped on the Japanese capital, it follows a gang of cyberpunk biker teens who get embroiled with a group of telekinetic sages. File with Blade Runner, Terminator and The Thing as one of the sci-fi classics of its era.
21 Sep, FACT, Liverpool, 8.40pm
If you've a film event you'd like us to know about, send details to jamie@theskinny.co.uk