Get Your Reps In: Usher in December With a Viewing of “Elf”

Will Ferrell stars as Buddy, a human raised by Santa’s elves who travels from the North Pole to New York City on a quest to find his curmudgeonly long-lost father.

Elf (New Line Cinema)

I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)

In this teen scream staple, a group of high schoolers are targeted by a hook-wielding killer who knows what they did, specifically, last summer. This screening, part of the Hollywood’s Queer Horror bimonthly series, will be hosted by Portland’s premier drag clown Carla Rossi and opens with a summer flashback drag show. Hollywood, Dec. 2.

Nostalghia (1983)

Slow cinema master Andrei Tarkovsky directs this philosophical drama (his first non-Soviet film) about a Russian writer visiting Italy to research an 18th century composer. Soon, he unearths latent personal dilemmas in regards to homesickness, soul and memory, and the untranslatability of art and culture. 5th Avenue, Dec. 3-5.

Elf (2003)

Will Ferrell stars as Buddy, a human raised by Santa’s elves who travels from the North Pole to New York City on a quest to find his curmudgeonly long-lost father (James Caan). Zooey Deschanel plays an unenthusiastic retail worker who is somehow attracted to the childlike, elf suit-wearing Buddy. Academy, Dec. 3-9.

Miss Congeniality (2000)

An unfeminine FBI agent (Sandra Bullock) goes undercover as a beauty queen to stop a terrorist threat at the Miss United States pageant in this hit comedy. Co-hosted by Elizabeth Teets and Anthony Hudson, this screening (part of the Hollywood’s Isn’t She Great series) will open with L.A. standup comedian Ella Gale. Hollywood, Dec. 4.

Tokyo Godfathers (2003)

Directed by Satoshi Kon of Perfect Blue (1997), this anime tragicomedy adventure follows three unhoused Tokyo residents (a teen runaway, a trans woman and a middle-aged alcoholic) who find a newborn baby in the trash on Christmas Eve. With a bag containing clues to the baby’s parents’ identities, the motley crew sets out to find them. Clinton, Dec. 7.

ALSO PLAYING:

Academy: Gun Crazy (1950), Dec. 1-2. Sunset Boulevard (1950), Dec. 1-2. Scrooged (1988), Dec. 3-9. Clinton: Rapsodia Satanica (1917) and The Faun (1917), Dec. 1. Crazy Mama (1975), Dec. 3. Mountain Miracle—An Unexpected Friendship (2017), Dec. 5. Hollywood: Chess of the Wind (1976), Dec. 3. Remember the Night (1940), Dec. 4-5. Golgo 13: The Professional (1983), Dec. 5. The Perfect Weapon (1991), Dec. 7.

Mia  Vicino

Mia Vicino moved to Portland at the tender age of 11 months. She spent her teen years dancing to alt-rock bands at the Crystal Ballroom, but has since moved on to fawning over 70mm film screenings at the Hollywood Theatre.

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