The 47th Denver Film Festival wraps Nov. 10 with a slate of seven movies at the Sie FilmCenter, home base for the Denver Film Society.
But before we get there, we still have a full weekend of movies playing venues all across the Mile High City. Here are three not to miss.
The Order
7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 8, Ellie Caulkins Opera House
On June 18, 1984, KOA radio host Alan Berg was gunned down in the driveway of his Congress Park townhome. Years later, Kevin Flynn and Gary Gerhardt, the two Rocky Mountain News reporters assigned to cover the murder, emerged with the story of an Aryan Nation splinter group in the Pacific Northwest stockpiling for the revolution.
Flynn and Gerhardt’s book, The Silent Brotherhood: Inside America’s Racist Underground, forms the basis for The Order, written by Zach Baylin and Gerhardt and directed by Justin Kurzel. Jude Law plays Terry Husk, the out-of-town FBI Agent trying to untangle the strings leading back to the unassuming radical Bob Mathews (Nicholas Hoult), Tye Sheridan plays the local officer helping Husk and Marc Maron plays the ill-fated KOA deejay.
The Order is a deeply satisfying cat-and-mouse narrative. Baylin and Gerhardt’s script locks itself to the time period, allowing the audience to relax and enjoy the proceedings before revealing the ongoing legacy of the splinter group in the movie’s chilling conclusion.
Oh, Canada
6:15 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 9, Sie FilmCenter
You have to hand it to filmmaker Paul Schrader: The man refuses to make the movie you think he will. After decades of wild, violent cinema, he made three movies in a row, each significantly quieter, albeit still bloody. Now, he adapts Russell Banks’ novel about a man coming to grips with the sins of his life while his acolytes reap the benefit.
Richard Gere plays Leonard Fife, a renowned documentarian nearing the end of his life. Fife wants to set the record straight by allowing his former students, Malcolm (Michael Imperioli) and Diana (Victoria Hill), to film his recollections and confessions — which Schrader depicts in flashback with Jacob Elordi playing the young Fife.
Fife’s wife, Emma (Uma Thurman), isn’t on board with the project because Fife’s condition has deteriorated to the point that he may be confused. Schrader further complicates this by using Gere in certain flashbacks where Elordi should be. Can these images, these recollections, be taken as fact? And shouldn’t Malcolm and Diana prioritize the hidden truth behind Fife’s words rather than just whatever comes out?
Would that it were so simple. Even at 78, Schrader is still telling provocative stories.
Nocturnes
3:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 10, Sie FilmCenter
We’ll close with a nature documentary perfect for anyone looking for a soothing time and some rich ASMR.
Deep in the jungles of the Eastern Himalayas, ecologist Mansi hangs a large cloth and fires up a lamp in the middle of the night to attract moths. The moths land on the cloth, which has an intricate grid printed on it, and Mansi and her team photograph the moths. There are many, many moths.
Why, I’ll leave to the doc. But if you’re thinking it has something to do with climate change, you’re spot on.
What makes Nocturnes work is how patient Anupama Srinivasan and Anirban Dutta are with their subjects. Their ability to place viewers under the calm and hypnotic beating sounds of the moth wings is almost immediate, making Nocturnes’ 80-plus minute runtime more like meditation than viewing.
Movies like The Order work because they bring your heart rate up and engage you through obvious stimulation. It’s a lot of fun. But so is the soothing spell that Nocturnes can put you under.
ON SCREEN: The Denver Film Festival continues through Nov. 10. Tickets and information at denverfilmfestival.eventive.com.