Two exceptional documentaries about struggles for liberation are coming to Bay Area theaters, with accompanying filmmaker appearances.
In “2000 Meters to Andriivka,” Ukrainian filmmaker Mstyslav Chernov focuses on soldiers, not civilians, in his intense, disquieting follow-up to his Oscar-winning “20 Days in Mariupol.”
During an unsuccessful counteroffensive in 2023, Chernov and colleague Alex Babenko follow a volunteer brigade of Ukrainian soldiers who must make their way through 1.24 miles of heavily fortified forestland. Their goal is to reach and liberate the Russia-occupied village of Andriivka in eastern Ukraine.
With body-cam footage, drone shots and material he filmed himself, Chernov takes viewers into the trenches and the mine-lined forest. A man dies. Audiences watch the soldiers as they advance toward their war-destroyed destination, where a frightened cat is all there is to save.
In voice-over passages, Chernov periodically update the status of the situation. He doesn’t believe that the world truly cares about Ukraine. He doesn’t see an end to the ugly war.
This documentary is a harrowing personal picture of war’s human toll.
Opens Aug. 1 at the Rialto Elmwood in Berkeley. Screenings with Q&As with Chernov are at 5:45 p.m. Aug. 2 at the Roxie in San Francisco; 2:45 p.m. Aug. 3 at the Rialto in Berkeley; and 4:30 p.m. Aug. 3. at the Smith Rafael Film Center in San Rafael.
In “Heightened Scrutiny,” American Civil Liberties Union attorney Chase Strangio—the first openly transgender person to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court —fights for the overturning of a Tennessee law that prevents trans youths from receiving gender-affirming care.
Director Sam Feder (“Disclosure”) follows Strangio as he nervously prepares for his Supreme Court appearance. He notes that the judges’ ruling could affect additional body-autonomy laws, including those involving access to reproductive health care.
Adding insights are actor-activist Laverne Cox and journalists Jelani Cobb and Lydia Polgreen. But most impressive is a 13-year-old transgender girl named Mila, who articulately discusses how gender-affirming care (the film focuses on puberty blockers and hormone therapy) has benefited her emotional well-being.
Feder also examines biased and poorly researched media coverage—especially by outlets like the Atlantic and the New York Times—and how it has influenced public opinion and legal decisions in ways unfriendly to transgender rights.
Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 18 decision to uphold the Tennessee law, Feder’s film remains an inspiring presentation of Strangio’s valiant fight.
San Francisco’s Roxie theater will donate 10 percent of ticket proceeds to the LYRIC Center for LGBTQQ+ Youth.
Screens on July 31 (with Q&A sessions) and Aug. 2 at the Roxie.
In “Cloud,” Japanese auteur Kiyoshi Kurosawa (“Pulse,” “Tokyo Sonata”) affirms his status as a premier maker of stylish, discomforting genre entertainment with a violent, cynical psychothriller, crime drama and contemporary Western about greed and disconnection in the digital age.
Ryosuke Yoshii (Masaki Suda, excellent), an ordinary sort, quits his factory job and expands his sideline career—selling black-market goods online — into a 24/7 obsession. The underground enterprise, which involves deceiving customers about the value of the products they’re buying, proves lucrative. But Yoshii becomes disagreeable and emotionally detached from everyone, including his girlfriend and his assistant.
The terror begins when some buyers he has swindled band together (on social media, of course) and decide to do Yoshii in. A vicious vigilante offensive ensues.
Kurosawa goes full-out genre-extreme in the final act, which features intensely bloody shootouts and a horrific torture episode, which the perpetrators hope to live-stream.
The film suffers from violence overload; the brutality, while directed with style and verve by Kurosawa, lasts too long to sustain its grip.
But this is no soulless revenge flick or mere shoot-’em-up actioner. Often throwing the rulebook out the window, Kurosawa, who has cited Sam Peckinpah and Yasujiro Ozu as influences, has made a serious as well as entertaining movie with lots to say, below its adroitly paved surfaces, about what technology is doing to humanity.
Opens Aug. 1 at the Roxie.
The Stanford Theatre Summer Festival, running through Sept. 28, is perfect for fans of old movies, and those forever in love with the moviegoing experience. Presented by the Stanford Theatre Foundation, the event presents films from Hollywood’s Golden Age in the way they were made to be seen: in a theater, on an enormous screen.
More than 30 films are on the bill; screenings run Thursdays through Sundays.
“Gone With the Wind” is coming up on July 31. Sixteen programs of double bills follow, beginning with a pairing of the 1950s Humphrey Bogart vehicles “In a Lonely Place,” directed by Nicholas Ray, and “Beat the Devil,” from John Huston on Aug. 7-8.
Born during Hollywood’s silent era, the 100-year-old Stanford Theatre, was, for decades, a prime venue for now-classic Hollywood releases. Its first feature attraction was 1925’s “I’ll Show You the Town” directed by Harry A. Pollard and starring Reginald Denny. A grand-opening speech by Palo Alto’s Mayor Edward Cottrell preceded the screening.
Visit stanfordtheatre.org for details.
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