Get Your Reps In: David Cronenberg’s “Videodrome” Is Back to Melt Your Mind

What to see at Portland’s repertory theaters.

Videodrome (Universal Pictures)

Videodrome (1983)

Body horror master David Cronenberg directs this techno sci-fi film about a skeezy TV executive (real-life slimeball James Woods) who discovers and broadcasts a show called Videodrome that depicts people being tortured. But when his girlfriend (Debbie Harry) auditions for the show and never returns, he comes to find that the program’s violence is all too real. Academy, Sept. 21-22.

Belle de Jour (1967)

In Spanish surrealist Luis Buñuel’s acclaimed erotic drama, the luminescent Catherine Deneuve stars as an alienated young housewife who spends her nights unable to be physically intimate with her doctor husband and her midweek afternoons working at a high-class brothel. Screens in 35 mm. Free for Hollywood Theatre and Movie Madness members. Hollywood, Sept. 22.

Melancholia (2011)

It’s the end of the world as Kirsten Dunst knows it, and she feels fine! Lars von Trier’s arthouse sci-fi film explores human reactions to impending doom—and stars Dunst as a depressed bride-to-be who couldn’t care less that a rogue planet is about to crash into Earth (relatable!). Meanwhile, her sister (Charlotte Gainsbourg), who represents anxiety, freaks the hell out (relatable!). Clinton, Sept. 23.

The American Friend (1977)

Adapted from one of Patricia Highsmith’s homoerotic Tom Ripley novels, this neo-noir by Wim Wenders stars Dennis Hopper as the slippery American Ripley (later played by Matt Damon in The Talented Mr. Ripley). This time, he’s living in Hamburg, where he schemes to coerce a terminally ill picture framer (Bruno Ganz) into becoming an assassin. Living Room, Sept. 23.

The Maltese Falcon (1941)

Humphrey Bogart stars as private detective Sam Spade in this film noir classic about the dangerous search for the titular coveted jewel-encrusted statuette. Legendary director John Huston’s impressive feature debut screens as part one of Cinema 21′s Bogart on the Big Screen series (and features an intro by film programmer Elliot Lavine). Cinema 21, Sept. 24.

ALSO PLAYING:

Academy: The Breakfast Club (1985), Sept. 21-22. There Will Be Blood (2007), Sept. 21-22. Hollywood: Carrie (1976), Sept. 21. The Third Man (1949), Sept. 23. Metropolis (1927), Sept. 24. Paris, Texas (1984), Sept. 24. A*P*E (1976), Sept. 25. Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), Sept. 26. They Live (1988), Sept. 27. PAM CUT: Aggie (2020), Sept. 23.

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