Get Your Reps In: “Pulp Fiction” Screens at the Academy

What to see at Portland’s repertory theaters.

Pulp Fiction (Miramax)
By Mia Vicino

Pulp Fiction (1994)

Weaving several gritty vignettes together—the most memorable of which centers on a gangster (John Travolta) tasked with entertaining a restless mob wife (Uma Thurman)—this hard-boiled odyssey through Los Angeles is widely referred to as Quentin Tarantino’s masterpiece (even though Inglourious Basterds exists). Academy, Nov. 23-24.

Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008)

Cut from the same gothic cloth as a My Chemical Romance music video, this genre-bending dystopian rock opera is set in a future where organ failures and transplants are commonplace—and Repo Men, assassins who reclaim the organs of those who can’t pay up, are a terrifying threat. Screens in 35 mm! Clinton, Nov. 26.

Touch of Evil (1958)

Orson Welles writes, directs and stars alongside a stacked cast (Janet Leigh, Charlton Heston, Marlene Dietrich, Zsa Zsa Gabor) in this acclaimed noir. The 1998 restored version screens as part of Cinema 21′s “Film Noir in the 50s” series, hosted by film programmer Elliot Lavine. Cinema 21, Nov. 26.

The Beyond (1981)

After a woman inherits a hotel in rural Louisiana that was the scene of a brutal murder (never an auspicious start), she stumbles upon what just may be a gateway to Hell. This 4K restoration features nearly double the music heard in the original, thanks to composer Fabio Frizzi’s 2015 rediscovery of his original score in a Roman recording studio. Hollywood, Nov. 26-27.

Solomon King (1974)

A priceless document of early ‘70s Black culture in Oakland, Jack Bomay and Sal Watts’ long-lost independent crime film follows an ex-Green Beret (Watts) seeking revenge on the hit man who killed his former lover. Finally available thanks to a new restoration by UCLA Film Archive. Hollywood, Nov. 29.

ALSO PLAYING:

Academy: The Big Clock (1948), Nov. 23-24. This Gun for Hire (1942), Nov. 23-24. ParaNorman (2012), Nov. 25-Dec. 1. The Night of the Hunter (1955), Nov. 25-Dec. 1. Cinema 21: The Room (2003), Nov. 25. Clinton: Mannequin in Red (1958), Nov. 23. Derby (1971), Nov. 28. 5th Ave.: The Traveler (1974), Nov. 25-27. Hollywood: Blood Rage (1987), Nov. 25. Nosferatu (1922), Nov. 26. Les Blank Celebration, Nov. 27.

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