Despite the rising temperatures, we continue our bi-monthly mission to offer you different recommendations for a well spent weekend at the cinema or at home, regardless of age or film preferences.

Here is what we can watch in movie theatres in Bucharest this hot weekend:

1. Spider-Man: Homecoming (dir: Jon Watts; action, SF). Homework can wait. The city can’t. Thrilled by the experience of fighting together with The Avengers, Peter Parker (Tom Holland) returns home to his old routine. Tony Stark instructed him to deal with all the neighbourhood problems: saving cats and dogs from trees, helping old women to cross the street or to catch pocket thieves, nothing too dangerous. But when Spider-Man finds the high-tech munitions, he has to develop and use new abilities and powers.

As you were already expecting, here are three fun facts to convince you to go to cinemas:

• The film crew says that Spider-Man is the most popular comic character in history and the “crown jeweller” for Marvel comics. It now returns in a new version produced by Marvel Studios. The film brings together Peter Parker and heroes of the Marvel Universe Cinema for the first time on the screen.
• Director Jon Watts has revealed that Peter Parker’s character is 15 years old in the film. The actor Tom Holland was around 19-20 years when they shot the film.
• Peter’s homemade Spider-Man costume is very similar to Ben Reilly’s first Spider-Man costume from the comics: a red jumpsuit with a blue sleeveless hoodie, with the belt and web shooters added on the exterior of the costume.

The film had its premiere in Romania on July 7. It can be seen this weekend at Happy Cinema Liberty Mall on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Click here for details and tickets.

2. Petrila Planet (dir: Andrei Dăscălescu; documentary). In a mine city from Transilvania, called Petrila, a former digger now artist and activist uses art and absurdity to stop the local authorities to demolish historical buildings of the oldest mine in the country. His aim is not only to save the history and the identity of his hometown, but also to find new ways to prevent the disintegration of the local community.

The film is screened at Elvire Popescu Cinema on Saturday, July 15, at 4:00 PM. You can buy tickets here.

3. Aloys (dir: Tobias Nölle; drama, fantastic). Aloys Adorn is a middle aged private detective who lives and works with his father. He experiences life from a safe distance, through a video camera, recording 24 hours a day. But when his father dies, Aloys is left on his own and his sheltered existence begins to fall apart. After a night of heavy drinking, Aloys wakes up on a public bus and realises that his camera and precious observation tapes have been stolen. Soon after, a mysterious woman calls to blackmail him. She offers to return the tapes if Aloys will try an obscure Japanese invention called ‘telephone walking’ with her, using the imagination as their only connection.

The film can be seen on Friday (July 14), at 8:00 PM and Sunday (July 15), at 6:30 PM at Elvire Popesco Cinema. The tickets can be purchased here.

Bonus:

4. Ma vie de courgette (dir: Claude Barras; animation) is a French-Swiss short animation suited both for children and adults. After his mother’s disappearance, Courgette becomes friends with Raymond, the police officer who accompanies him to his new life in a foster home. Firstly, our hero will struggle to find his place in this new and sometimes hostile environment. Yet with Raymond’s help and his new friends, Courgette eventually learns to trust people. The film won Best Animation Film Prize at the 2016 European Film Awards. The film was also nominated at the 2017 Oscars, 2017 Golden Globes and 2016 Cannes.

The movie can be seen on July 15 (Saturday) at 11:00 AM at Elvire Popescu Cinema. You can buy the tickets by clicking here.

Here is what we can watch at home:

1. Self-portrait of a Dutiful Daughter (dir: Ana Lungu; drama). We will take a short break together with our friends from Cinepub, who will be on vacation until October. But, we still have to celebrate one new feature that was added to their online film platform. The film is the directing debut of Ana Lungu, a strong female debut which can be compared with the New Wave’s successes. Cristina is 30 and comes from a good family. She spends her time on the PhD in seismic engineering, on discussions with her two close friends, Alex and Michelle, and on the rare but long-expected meetings with a married man with whom she has a relationship. After her parents move out from the 3-bedroom apartment, she decides to buy a dog.

Self-portrait of a Dutiful Daughter won in 2015 the prize for Best Film at Bucharest International Film Festival and Elena Popa was nominated for her role in the film for Best Leading Actress Prize at the 2016 Gopo Awards.

The feature film can be watched and analysed on Cinepub.

2. The Revenant (dir: Alejandro González Iñárritu; drama, western)

The recommendation comes for those who want to watch or to see again the film for which Leonardo di Caprio received in 2016, after a long waiting, the Oscar Prize. Also, we recommend it for those who want to watch another cinematographic masterpiece of the director Iñárritu and of the DOP Emmanuel Lubezki. The Revenant is inspired from Michael Punke’s novel which is based on true facts. Even though it doesn’t need any introduction, we have to say that the action takes place in North America back in 1823 and follows a member of an expedition in the Rockies, Hugh Glass (Dicaprio). There takes place the already famous meeting of the actor with the grizzly bear after which Hugh is seriously injured. The group captain leaves behind three team members to keep him company and to dig his grave, but because of the fear of being caught by the Indians, they take away Glass’s equipment and weapons and they run away.

Here are the most interesting five facts about one of the most debated production of last year:

• Leonardo DiCaprio chose to devour a raw slab of bison’s liver, even though he is vegetarian. He also had to learn to shoot a musket, build a fire, speak two Native American languages (Pawnee and Arikara), and study with a doctor who specializes in ancient healing techniques. DiCaprio calls it the hardest performance of his career.
• According to cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki the film was shot with natural light only, but with one single exception: a campfire sequence at night where the wind was causing the fire to pulse in a distracting way. Lubezki tells Variety magazine that they had to add a bunch of light bulbs around the fire to create a light aura around it.
• The Revenant had 80 shooting days during nine months. This unusually long production time was due to the cold weather conditions, the remoteness of the locations and the aesthetic plan to shoot only with natural light for maximum realism. Only a few shooting hours were available every day and had to be carefully planned in advance.
• The real Hugh Glass did not have a son and there is no record that he was ever married.
• Alejandro González Iñárritu originally planned to make this film earlier, but Leonardo DiCaprio was busy shooting The Wold of Wall Street (2013). The director decided then to make the Oscar awarded Birdman (2014).

In 2016, The Revenant was nominated for nine awards and received three Oscars, three Golden Globes and five BAFTA prizes. You can watch it on Saturday, July 15, at 8:30 PM on HBO 2 and HBO 2 HD.

3. Ana (dir: Visarion Alexa, drama) tells a story about an old man, a young woman who as a result of an unfortunate situation became a prostitute in Italy, and a teenager. They are all struggling in life and manage to communicate using Manole the Builder’s legend. The film casts great actors such as Răzvan Vasilescu, Mircea Albulescu, Dorina Lazăr, Andras Demeter etc.

The film is broadcasted on Friday, July 14, on National 24 Plus, at 8:00 PM.

Bonus:

4. Monster House (dir: Gil Kenan; animation). Three kids (the newcomers Mitchel Musso, Sam Lerner and Spencer Locke) cross the street to reveal a mystery and they live the biggest adventure of their life. The child across the street, DJ, has a plan. The new arrived, Jenny is intelligent. But DJ’s best friend Chowder has no idea what he is doing.

During the Halloween Eve, DJ and Chowder have an unpleasant meeting with mister Nebbercracker after their ball reaches his garden and it is mysteriously attracted by the house. After the house tries to steal their friend Jenny and no one believes their frightened calls, saying that in the house happen strange things, they decide that is their duty to investigate the mystery.

The movie can be watched on HBO and HBO HD on Saturday, July 15, at 6:25 PM and on Sunday, July 16, at 9:20 AM.

Romina Banu

Photographer and editor; she co-founded Dissolved Magazine together with Melissa. For Films in Frame she gathers film and TV series recommendations for lazy weekends and she writes about interesting projects from the film industry. Other than that, she likes traveling, chilling with her cats and sleeping.