Every week, Kristopher Pollard from Milwaukee Film and Radio Milwaukee’s Dori Zori talk about movies — because that’s what you do when you’re Cinebuds.
Get ready to lean into the darkness!
For this episode, we invited a special guest to help us celebrate the most wonderful (and miserable) time of the year: Bleak Week.
Running from June 21-27 at the Oriental Theatre, the latest series from Milwaukee Film adapts an international phenomenon featuring some of the greatest, saddest and most soul-crushing films from around the world. This year, the series delves into the theme of work, exploring how our jobs and labor can be a primary source of bleakness in our daily lives.
Milwaukee Film programming director Kerstin Larson is back in the studio as we dive into the Bleak Week lineup, starting with a special Father’s Day screening of Béla Tarr’s The Turin Horse. We also discuss the high-stakes tension of Sorcerer, the psychological paranoia of the anime classic Perfect Blue and the minimum-wage struggles depicted in American Job, which includes a live Q&A with local lead actor Randy Russell.
Whether it’s the gritty detective work of Se7en or the poignant social commentary of Black Girl, there's a flavor of misery for every cinephile to enjoy together in the beautiful, air-conditioned gloom of the theater. After all, misery loves company.
Bleak Week movies
The Turin Horse
Sunday, June 21 | 3:30 p.m.
A monumental windstorm and an abused horse's refusal to work or eat signal the beginning of the end for a poor farmer and his daughter.
Sorcerer
Monday, June 22 | 7 p.m.
Four men from different parts of the globe, all hiding from their pasts in the same remote South American town, agree to risk their lives transporting several cases of dynamite (which is so old that it is dripping unstable nitroglycerin) across dangerous jungle terrain.
Se7en
Tuesday, June 23 | 7 p.m.
Two homicide detectives are on a desperate hunt for a serial killer whose crimes are based on the "seven deadly sins" in this dark and haunting film that takes viewers from the tortured remains of one victim to the next. The seasoned Det. Somerset researches each sin in an effort to get inside the killer's mind, while his novice partner, Mills, scoffs at his efforts to unravel the case.
Perfect Blue
Wednesday, June 24 | 7 p.m.
Rising pop star Mima quits singing to pursue a career as an actress. After she takes up a role on a popular detective show, her handlers and collaborators begin turning up murdered. Harboring feelings of guilt and haunted by visions of her former self, Mima's reality and fantasy meld into a frenzied paranoia.
Black Girl
Thursday, June 25 | 7 p.m.
Eager to find a better life abroad, a Senegalese woman becomes a mere governess to a family in southern France, suffering from discrimination and marginalization. This screening is accompanied by the short film Borom Sarret.
American Job
Friday, June 26 | 7 p.m.
This screening, which includes a Q&A with lead actor Randy Russell, centers on a narrative film about Randy Scott, a youth caught in the dismal confusion of living and working in the world of minimum wage. The film follows Randy through a number of low-paying, menial jobs, including fast-food dishwasher, custodian, telemarketer and factory worker. It highlights the sheer boredom of minimum wage work and is a slightly comical and occasionally depressing look at what life is like in the U.S. minimum-wage arena.
Beau Travai
Saturday, June 27 | 3 p.m.
Foreign Legion officer Galoup recalls his once glorious life, training troops in the Gulf of Djibouti. His existence there was happy, strict and regimented, until the arrival of a promising young recruit, Sentain, plants the seeds of jealousy in Galoup's mind.
