Weekly Wednesday Update, October 27, 2021

When DELICATESSEN was first released in 1991, I had to travel to Denver to see it. A few months later, as a student at C.U., I revisited it at the IFS where it played to a packed house. It's a dark comedy about cannibalism that's perfect for Halloween and yet lightened considerably by romantic and whimsical touches that co-directors Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet would later heighten to great effect in AMÉLIE. While AMÉLIE was nominated for five Academy Awards, DELICATESSEN, for me, remains the true gem. It's the kind of movie only a boring milquetoast would disparage whereas it's easily enjoyed by people who know how to have fun. (Wednesday, 10/27, at 7:30 pm, regular admission.)

This IFS weekend belongs to David Lynch. On Friday, six new 2K digital restorations of Lynch's short films: Six Men Getting Sick (1967), The Alphabet (1968), The Grandmother (1970), The Amputee — Version 1 and Version 2 (1974), and Premonitions Following an Evil Deed (1995). (10/29, at 7:30 pm, FREE.)

And on Saturday, we have an archive print of one of the most famous midnight movies of all time: ERASERHEAD. Mesmerizing B&W photography and an elaborate sound design help make this an enduring cult sensation. I'll never forget my first screening of ERASERHEAD at the Art Cinema on the Pearl Street Mall. Clearly, Bruce McCulloch from New Kids In the Hall felt the same way (10/30, at 7:30 pm, regular admission).

The Sunday matinee will be another 35mm print screening, this time of MULHOLLAND DR. This haunting allegory of the L.A. dream factory was one of Roger Ebert's more memorable selections for his CWA Cinema Interruptus. Bonus: this matinee slot gives viewers plenty of time to settle back home in time to meet your Halloween trick-or-treaters at dusk. (10/31, 2 pm, regular admission.)