Nathaniel BellSunday, Sept. 23
Sept. 23 is National Art House Theater Day, a custom dating back to 2016. This year, the American Cinematheque's Egyptian Theatre celebrates with a rarely screened print of Chung Kuo — China, Michelangelo Antonioni's 1972 documentary culled from the Italian director's visits to the country following the Cultural Revolution. The discursive 3½-hour travelogue was rejected under Mao's regime, and has scarcely been seen since. Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood; Sun., Sept. 23, 7:30 p.m.; $12. (323) 466-3456, americancinemathequecalendar.com.
Roger Daltrey in Lisztomania; Credit: Warner Bros.
At the Aero, the American Cinematheque salutes National Art House Theater Day with a screening of Lisztomania, Ken Russell's blithely vulgar fantasia on the life of Franz Liszt — depicted by Roger Daltrey as a rock star avant la lettre. (Sample dialogue: “Piss off, Brahms!”) Kooky and crass, it may not be everyone's idea of art house cinema at its noblest, but it captures something of the celebratory spirit in which the unofficial holiday was conceived. Aero Theatre, 1328 Montana Ave., Santa Monica; Sun., Sept. 23, 7:30 p.m.; $12. (323) 466-3456, americancinemathequecalendar.com.
Napalm; Credit: Paname Distribution
Monday, Sept. 24
Napalm, Claude Lanzmann's new documentary, chronicles the director's return to North Korea after a 60-year hiatus. Filming clandestinely, the footage he came back with tells not only his own story of an encounter with a nurse during the Korean War but of two eternally embattled cultures. Lanzmann, the legendary director of Shoah, died in July. Los Angeles Filmforum and Acropolis Cinema present this, his final film. Downtown Independent, 251 S. Main St., downtown; Mon., Sept. 24, 8 p.m.; $12. (323) 466-3456, lafilmforum.org.
Cher and Nicolas Cage in Moonstruck; Credit: MGM
Tuesday, Sept. 25
Cher's Oscar-winning performance emits a warm, steady glow in Moonstruck, the last of LACMA's Tuesday Matinees tributes to the singer-actor. John Patrick Shanley's screenplay is a comedic gem, allowing plenty of elbow room for broad ethnic humor (of the Italian-American kind) in between sentimental ruminations on the nature of amore. LACMA, 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Mid-Wilshire; Tue., Sept. 25, 1 p.m.; $4. (323) 857-6000, lacma.org.
Salesman; Credit: Wikimedia COmmons
Thursday, Sept. 27
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences presents a screening of Salesman in partnership with the International Documentary Association's “Getting Real '18” Conference. Albert and David Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin — champions of the cinéma vérité movement — crafted this haunting 1969 portrait of door-to-door Bible salesmen. These real-life Willy Loman types are fascinating subjects in their own right, accumulating our sympathy all the way to the devastating conclusion. Rebekah Maysles, daughter of the late Albert Maysles, will be the special guest at this presentation of a recent 35mm restoration. Linwood Dunn Theater, 1313 Vine St., Hollywood; Thu., Sept. 27, 7:30 p.m.; $5. (310) 247-3600, www.oscars.org. —Nathaniel Bell
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