September 22, 2023

WIFF’S WEEKEND WATCH LIST — 9/22

Check out our recommendations of what to watch this weekend.

if you want to lick the screen

ottolenghi and the cakes of versailles

Vincent Georgie: Be warned, if you have a sweet tooth, you will want to avoid. Welcome to a sumptuous documentary that is stunning, intelligent and a cut above any random food series. This one is a cut above the rest.

Synopsis: Celebrity chef Yotam Ottolenghi assembles a star-studded team of the world’s most innovative pastry chefs to put on a Versailles-themed culinary gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

Available on iTunes and YouTube.

if you want a high-quality film

hearts of darkness

Vincent Georgie: Eleanor Coppola made what many critics felt was the very best film of 1991, her incredibly considered documentary on the making of her husband’s masterpiece Apocalypse Now. The film’s production was a trainwreck, and Eleanor Coppola covers it in a fascinating, nuanced and even dangerous way. The film is a wow.

Synopsis: In the late 1970s, as renegade filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola struggles to complete an epic allegory of the Vietnam War, Apocalypse Now, his wife, Eleanor, films his daily travails with a camera of her own. The documentary based on her footage details the difficulties of the large production — from weather-related delays in the Philippines to star Martin Sheen’s heart attack while filming — and it provides unprecedented behind-the-scenes clips of one of Hollywood’s most acclaimed films.

Watch the trailer.

if you want outstanding performances

alice doesn’t live here anymore

Vincent Georgie: Eventually developed into the popular 1970s television series “Alice”, this film was the blueprint for the hit show but, more importantly, showed new promise from a great young director named Martin Scorsese. How did the film turn out? Star Ellen Burstyn won the Best Actress Oscar for her performance.

Synopsis: After her husband dies, Alice and her son, Tommy, leave their small New Mexico town for California, where Alice hopes to make it as a singer. Money problems force them to settle in Arizona instead, where Alice takes a job as a waitress in a small diner. She intends to stay in Arizona just long enough to make the money needed to head back out on the road, but her plans change when she begins to fall for a rancher named David.

Available on iTunes, Amazon Prime and YouTube.

DOUBLE FEATURE

oscar wilde on-screen

Explore Oscar Wilde two ways, both in an on-screen dramatization of his life (with a perfectly cast Stephen Fry and an even-better Jude Law), as well as a starry and enjoyable adaptation of one of his best plays (again, with a perfectly cast lead in Rupert Everett).

wilde

Oscar Wilde is a married writer who has occasionally indulged his weakness for male suitors. After much toil, Wilde debuts a stage comedy in London, and a chat at the theatre with Lord Alfred “Bosie” Douglas leads to a full-on romance. Wilde ends up in a legal dispute with Lord Alfred’s father, the Marquess of Queensberry and, given the anti-gay local laws, is sent to jail. Wilde’s vast intellect helps him survive until he regains his freedom.

Available on iTunes and YouTube.

an ideal husband

A prominent politician prepares to expose a financial scandal, but a woman who has invested heavily in the shady venture threatens to uncover a damaging secret in the politician’s past if he exposes the speculation as a fraud.