Nathaniel BellWelcome to L.A. Weekly’s Movie Guide, your look at the hottest films in Los Angeles theaters this week — from indie art house gems and classics to popcorn-perfect blockbusters and new movies garnering buzz. Check here every week before you make your big screen plans.
Limited/art-house
Friday, June 21
Sandi Tan shot to fame with last year’s documentary Shirkers, her feature film debut. (If you haven’t seen it, you are depriving yourself of a stunner.) UCLA has invited her to guest-curate a program of films that inspired her to pick up a camera and shoot a movie with her friends in Singapore more than 25 years ago. The Young and the Reckless: A Weekend with Sandi Tan will showcase four films hand-picked from the UCLA vault. Friday night’s double feature begins with Pola X, Leos Carax’s 1999 study of erotic obsession, and River’s Edge, Neal Jimenez’s nihilistic teen drama from 1986. Tan and actress Ione Skye will appear for a discussion before River’s Edge.
UCLA’s Billy Wilder Theater, 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Westwood; Fri., June 21, 7:30 p.m.; $10. (310) 206-8013, cinema.ucla.edu.
Tarnation; Courtesy Wellspring Media
Saturday, June 22
UCLA’s weekend program, The Young and the Reckless: A Weekend with Sandi Tan, concludes with a double feature consisting of Tarnation and Goodbye South, Goodbye. The former, a no-budget digital indie by Jonathan Caouette, made headlines in 2003 for its unsparing autobiographical soul-searching. The latter is Taiwanese master Hou Hsiao-hsien’s fearfully beautiful, one-of-a-kind gangster film from 1996. Caouette will appear in discussion with Tan between shows. The series is inspired by Tan’s recent success with Shirkers, a Netflix documentary that hauntingly revisits a film she attempted to make as a teenager.
UCLA’s Billy Wilder Theater, 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Westwood; Sat., June 22, 7:30 p.m.; $10. (310)
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