September 13, 2024

WIFF’S WEEKEND WATCH LIST — 9/13

Check out our recommendations of what to watch this weekend.

if you love a great concert

the last waltz

Vincent Georgie: Last week, we announced that the new docuseries The Tragically Hip: No Dress Rehearsal will be featured at WIFF 2024 with very special guests in attendance. If you want to have a great concert experience at home this weekend, look no further than Martin Scorsese’s legendary film. The footage and access are incredible.

Synopsis: Seventeen years after joining forces as the backing band for rockabilly cult hero Ronnie Hawkins, Canadian roots rockers The Band call it quits with a lavish farewell show at San Francisco’s Winterland Ballroom on Nov. 25, 1976. Filmed by Martin Scorsese, this documentary features standout performances by rock legends such as Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Eric Clapton, Joni Mitchell and Muddy Waters, as well as interviews tracing the group’s history and discussing road life.

Available on Apple TV and Amazon Prime.

if you want something visionary

2046

Vincent Georgie: Leave it to master Chinese filmmaker Wong Kar-wai to give us an exceptional Science-Fiction / Romance. The film is celebrating its 20th Anniversary this year. The visuals and score are tremendous, as expected.

Synopsis: A train in a futuristic landscape takes passengers to a place where they can recapture their memories, a place from which no one has ever returned. This is the premise of a novel by the womanizing sci-fi writer Chow (Tony Leung Chiu Wai), who engages in passionate affairs with a series of intriguing women he meets at the Oriental Hotel in Hong Kong. As Chow’s lovers offer him inspiration for his writing, reality blends with fiction, and the past commingles with the future.

Available on YouTube.

if you want an appealing 80s romance

some kind of wonderful

Vincent Georgie: Come for the hairstyles, but stay for John Hughes’ perceptive script, his unflashy directing and his tremendously engaging cast.

Synopsis: Keith Nelson (Eric Stoltz), an artsy high school outcast, tries to land a date with popular girl Amanda Jones (Lea Thompson) with some help from his tomboy best friend, Watts (Mary Stuart Masterson). However, his advances draw the ire of Amanda’s snobby ex-boyfriend, Hardy Jenns (Craig Sheffer), who makes plans to get even. Matters are further complicated when Watts realizes she likes Keith as more than just a friend and tries to convince him to stop pursuing Amanda.

Available on Apple TV, Amazon Prime and Paramount+.

DOUBLE FEATURE

all hail, gene hackman!

Vincent Georgie: He might be solidly retired from acting, but Gene Hackman clearly has no reason to have regrets. If we are going to cherry pick in his filmography, we can take a peak at his Oscar-winning performance in the first film, or at the masterful craft on display in the second film (celebrating its 50th Anniversary). If you want top-quality films, look no further.

the french connection

New York Detective “Popeye” Doyle (Gene Hackman) and his partner (Roy Scheider) chase a French heroin smuggler.

Available on Disney+, Apple TV and Amazon Prime.

the conversation

Surveillance expert Harry Caul (Gene Hackman) is hired by a mysterious client’s brusque aide (Harrison Ford) to tail a young couple, Mark (Frederic Forrest) and Ann (Cindy Williams). Tracking the pair through San Francisco’s Union Square, Caul and his associate Stan (John Cazale) manage to record a cryptic conversation between them. Tormented by memories of a previous case that ended badly, Caul becomes obsessed with the resulting tape, trying to determine if the couple are in danger.