BRATTLEBORO — Four powerful recent films that might have slipped beneath your radar - and are worth seeing - are featured in the Latchis' inaugural Off the Beaten Path series, which runs Saturdays and Sundays from July 12 through Aug. 3.
Organizers call the series “an antidote for a summer cinema season dominated by blockbusters.” It comes as the suggestion of loyal Latchis audience members who wanted more diverse cinema offerings.
“We love our big-budget blockbusters here, but many people told us they want something more … films with substance as well as style, and we've assembled a lineup that fits the bill,” said Latchis Executive Director Jon Potter.
The series opens Saturday and Sunday, July 12-13, with “Locke” (2013, R), a minimalist thriller/drama, which the Chicago Sun-Times hailed as “a mesmerizing jewel of a film.” Steven Knight, directs; Tim Hardy stars.
The series continues July 19-20 with “Only Lovers Left Alive” (2013, R), a quirky drama-horror-romance-comedy by Jim Jarmusch, which the Village Voice called “silly and deeply serious at once … an elegy with a light touch and more than a dash of hope.”
July 26-27 brings the powerful new documentary “Fed Up” (PG), directed by Stephanie Soechtig. An exposé of the food industry, this film is what the New York Times called “a fast, coolly incensed investigation into why people are getting fatter.”
The series wraps Aug. 2-3 with “Ida” (PG-13), director Pawel Pawlikowski's compelling new drama that the Chicago Sun-Times called a gem. Set in Poland, 1962, the film introduces us to Anna, an 18-year-old novitiate nun who discovers a dark family secret dating back to the years of Nazi occupation.