Special events featuring documentaries galore and Japanese classics return to the film scene this week. Also today: Agnes Varda and two new releases.
A major showcase for the diverse world of nonfiction cinema, the San Francisco Documentary Film Festival, aka SF DocFest, screens more than 80 films in its 25th edition, an 11-day event opening Thursday at the Roxie Theater, Vogue Theatre and Artists’ Television Access, and streaming as well.
“Summer Tour,” director Mischa Richter’s celebration of the Deadhead community which follows two fans traveling across the country for the final Dead & Company tour, opens the festival at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Roxie; it’s followed at 8:30 p.m. by James Buddy Day’s “40 Years of F***in’ Up,” which profiles the punk band NOFX. The centerpiece feature at 6:30 p.m. Sunday at the Roxie is “#WhileBlack,” a compelling doc about viral cellphone videos, including the video of George Floyd’s murder. “Anarchy in High Heels,” screening Saturday and June 4 at the Roxie, profiles Les Nickelettes, the 1970s feminist satirical San Francisco performance collective. Another local story unfolds in “Wood Street,” screening Sunday at the Roxie, which features two unhoused men who become community organizers to address displacement and other urgent problems. Additional highlights include “Seized,” on Thursday at the Roxie, which details the unconstitutional August 2023 police raid on the Marion County Record, a small-town Kansas newspaper; “Human Shield,” on June 1 at the Vogue, about escorts who accompany abortion-clinic patients as they walk into clinics in atmospheres of antagonism; “From Gaza With Love,” streaming only, which captures the lives of children living in the Gaza nightmare; and “Blood & Guts,” on Friday at the Roxie, a moving as well as entertaining portrait of a family that makes very independent horror films. SF DocFest is presented by SF IndieFest. Visit sfindie.com
Nippon Vibes, a series showing movies from Japan in Japantown, hosts it second edition this weekend at New People Cinema, with four films. On Saturday, look for “Rashomon” (1950), Akira Kurosawa’s groundbreaking psychological drama; and “Monster” (2023), Hirokazu Kore-eda’s coming-of-age tale and psychological mystery thriller. On Sunday, animated features make up the bill: Hayao Miyazaki’s “The Boy and the Heron” (2023), and a 20th-anniversary 4K restoration of “Tekkonkinkreet” (2006), Michael Arias’ adaptation of Taiyo Matsumoto’s manga. Nippon Vibes is presented in collaboration with the Roxie Theater. Visit newpeopleworld.com.
“The Tuner,” the narrative filmmaking debut of documentarian Daniel Roher (“Navalny”) opening Friday in Bay Area theaters, is a sometimes contrived but consistently engrossing heist thriller and romantic drama with a protagonist that audiences haven’t seen before. Niki (Leo Woodall) is a 20-something former music prodigy with a hypersensitive hearing condition that derailed his musician aspirations. When introduced by Roher and cowriter Robert Ramsey, Niki is an apprentice for his late father’s piano-tuner friend Harry (Dustin Hoffman). It turns out that the condition that makes Niki a great piano tuner also makes him an ace safecracker. When a sleazy security contractor (Lior Raz) offers him lucrative safecracking gigs, Niki, wanting to pay off Harry’s medical debts, gets involved. The situation threatens Niki’s romantic relationship with Ruthie (Havana Rose Liu), a talented composition student. As Niki vacillates between a future with Ruthie and a life of crime, he lands in familiar and predictable thriller territory. As such entertainment goes, “Tuner” excels. It’s full of suspense, humane, and has a satisfying climax. The charismatic Woodall holds his own against the colorful Hoffman; the young British star and Hollywood veteran make an endearingly mismatched pair. The factual piano-tuning material further enriches the picture, and Niki’s perfect pitch, which Ruthie subjects to a test, makes for a cute romantic moment.
L-R: Sade (Naomi Ackie), Mariah (Taylour Paige) and Corvette (Keke Palmer) are out for revenge in “I Love Boosters.” (Neon via Bay City News)
A 115-minute blast of creative chaos, Boots Riley’s maximalist, anticapitalist and totally wacky “I Love Boosters,” currently in Bay Area theaters, follows three career shoplifters — leader and aspiring fashion designer Corvette (Keke Palmer) and cohorts Sade (Naomi Ackie) and Mariah (Taylour Paige) — who steal designer clothes from high-end establishments and sell them on the street for bargain prices. Their new target is the obscenely rich, despotic fashion mogul Christie Smith (Demi Moore), who stole one of Corvette’s designs. The revenge mission is a raucous, surreal wild ride through Oakland and thereabouts, with global reverberations. Subjects range from worker exploitation and cultural appropriation to a pyramid scheme and teleportation devices. Riley also supplies chase sequences, stop-motion animation and off-the-wall turns from LaKeith Stanfield, Don Cheadle and Will Poulter. While not every comic moment triumphs, the film is funny enough to embrace and too original to dismiss.
The 4-Star Theater showcases Agnes Varda — the influential filmmaker and delightful spirit whose career stretched from the French New Wave era to 2019 — this weekend. On the bill are “The Gleaners and I” (2000), screening on Saturday at 1 and 5:30 p.m.; “Jane B. par Agnes V.” (1988), screening Saturday at 3 p.m. and Sunday at 4 p.m.; and “Cleo From 5 to 7” (1962), screening Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 1:30 p.m. Visit 4-star-movies.com.