“Fargo” (1996), directed by Joel & Ethan Coen, Film Forum, through January 28It’s strange to think that “Fargo,” the snowbound crime thriller directed by the Coen Brothers, was released two decades ago. The images of quiet white horizons, the accents, the, well, extremely violent ending involving a wood-chipper, have all entered our shared filmic language. It’s instantly recognizable. This is why the film could effortlessly become a television show, assuming the same name and same general location without any relationship to the original story or characters, and succeed. As soon as the words “you betcha” come out of a character’s mouth, or red and blue police lights reflect off the untouched snow, we know the world we’re watching. The film is screening in a new 4K DCP restoration and kicks off a retrospective dedicated to the work of the most famous filmmaking brothers, running January 29 through February 4.An Evening with Jane Birkin and Charlotte Gainsbourg, Film Society of Lincoln Center, January 29Kicking off “Jane and Charlotte Forever,” a new series dedicated to the work of Jane Birkin and her daughter Charlotte Gainsbourg, is this double bill featuring Lars von Trier’s “Antichrist” (2009) and Jacques Doillon’s “La Pirate” (1984). Each film is devastating in its own way, featuring what might be the best, or at least most intense, performances each has given in a film. And any chance to see a film by Doillon, especially if it’s screening in 35mm, is a reason to buy a ticket. Added bonus: Both Birkin and Gainsbourg will be on hand for a conversation between the films.“Weirded Out and Blown Away” (1986), directed by Sharon Greytak, Light Industry, January 26A rare 16mm screening of Greytak’s landmark documentary, which features the New York-based filmmaker — who has been bound to a wheelchair since she was 7 years old — interviewing four subjects, all creative professionals with disabilities. Far from a traditional portrait, Greytak’s film considers not just the stories of her interview subjects but how we tell those stories, and how the camera can be put to use in achieving a better understanding of their lives, as well as her own. The screening will be followed by a conversation between Greytak and the writer Carolyn Lazard.“In Jackson Heights” (2015), directed by Frederick Wiseman, Museum of the Moving Image, through January 31.Frederick Wiseman’s latest documentary is also one of his best, a dense portrait of the richly diverse Jackson Heights neighborhood in Queens. Anybody who reads this column regularly knows that “In Jackson Heights” has been on this list before, but it’s that good, and is worth seeing that much. (Read my interview with Wiseman, about his film “National Gallery,” here.)“Son of Saul” (2015), directed by László Nemes, Film Forum, ongoingMany of the films I’ve seen in January have been films that came out last year, a process I’ve detailed in my past few columns. Another one I missed and that I managed to catch last week before the snow obliterated any idea of leaving your apartment if you live in New York City is “Son of Saul.” Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2015, as well as the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Film just a few weeks ago (and nominated for the Academy Award in the same category), this intense drama focuses on a member of a Sonderkommando unit, a group of Hungarian Jewish prisoners in Auschwitz who were forced to lead their own people into the gas chambers, and his struggle to give a child a proper burial. Nemes keeps his camera uncomfortably close to his main character’s face for most of the film, which means we experience the atrocities surrounding him not exactly through his eyes but through his hardened expression.
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