Los Angeles Top 5 (3/15/13–3/21/13)

L.A. is the greatest place on earth to watch movies. Here are this week’s best picks.

1) Beyond The Hills at Laemmle Theaters (starts FRIDAY 3/15, RUNS ALL WEEK)

Coming off his startling, deeply unsettling film 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, Romanian filmmaker Cristian Mungiu’s newest film Beyond The Hills opens in L.A. this weekend. Screening at two Laemmle locations, Beyond The Hills takes place at an Orthodox convent in Romanian, isolated from the small, modern town below. The film examines the community within the convent, its rules and hierarchies, its secrets and superstitions. It’s based on the true case of a suspected demon possession that took place in 2005. But far from exploitative horror, Mungiu’s film is starkly meditative, a gripping examination of how societies form and law and order is enacted. Buy your tickets here.

2) Spring Breakers at Arclight Hollywood (SATURDAY 3/16, 8:30PM)

This special screening of Harmony Korine’s latest features a Q&A with the director. Perhaps the most buzzed-about film of 2013, Spring Breakers casts Disney tween idols as bikini-clad law-breakers in a brilliant bit of stunt promotion. So far, Korine’s success as a director has been amongst the cinephile elite and lovers of oddball cult classic type films, but with its mainstream cast (James Franco in cornrows!), Korine’s newest seems set to have cross-over appeal with the masses–and guaranteed to leave those masses stunned and wondering what the hell they just watched. Buy your tickets here.

3) The Quiet Man at The Aero (SUNDAY 3/17, 7:30PM)

Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day the right way with John Ford’s masterpiece The Quiet Man this Sunday in Santa Monica. In this brand new DCP version, the film will look better than it ever has on DVD and more clear than many film prints currently circulating. I can only imagine how green the verdant Irish hills will look in this digital restoration. Remember to wear green, so you don’t get pinched! Buy your tickets here.

4) Touch of Evil at LACMA (TUESDAY 3/19, 1PM)

This week’s ditch-your-job pick of the week is Orson Welles’ seminal Touch of Evil. The film whose baroque excess and revelry in squalid perversions sounded the death knell for film noir is more than worth taking a long lunch for. The film that famously cast Charleton Heston as a Mexican also features stellar performances from Welles and a blistering cameo appearance from an aging but still stunning Marlene Dietrich. And with a ticket price of only $4, how can you not go? Tickets sold at the door.

5) La Strada at the Egyptian (THURSDAY 3/21, 7:30PM)

Simultaneously the most charming/heart-warming and depressing film in cinema history, La Strada is entirely propelled by the emotions of its lead actors, Giulietta Masina and Anthony Quinn. Quinn plays a brutish circus sideshow strongman who buys Masina from her mother to perform as a clown in his traveling act. Masina’s Gelsomina is a gentle simpleton, with the naivete and humor of a child. She follows Quinn’s gruff Zampano around like a little, lost puppy, no matter how much he abuses her. Theirs is a strange and warped love story, but one brimming with warmth, humor and truth, as well as heartache. Fellini’s film is a masterpiece and a must-see. “La Strada” means “the road” in Italian, so it’s only fitting the American Cinematheque is screening it as part of their month-long series On The Road: Cinematic Journeys. Screened in 35mm. Buy your tickets here.

If you make it out to any of these screenings, let us know how it went in the comments section. Happy viewing, Los Angeles!