Well, the Oscars have (finally) come and gone for another year, putting to rest an especially contentious, compressed, largely unpredictable, and altogether exhausting awards season.
But that doesn’t mean that now’s the time to take a break from the theater or to turn down the volume to save your ears for the explosions of the summer blockbuster season.
On the contrary, now’s the time to dive into a surprisingly rich selection of music-filled movies and events in OKC theaters all month long, offering hard rock history, hushed folky introspection, Euro musical deconstruction, and even a local showcase for our own homegrown musicians and their locally produced videos.
So if you’re feeling starved for another movie theater singalong, or if you’re just trying to wash all the songs from “Emilia Perez” out of your brain, here’s a handful of music films to get your head bobbing.
‘Becoming Led Zeppelin’ – Now Playing
Inarguably one of the greatest bands in the history of bands, the almighty four-headed monster that is Led Zeppelin still commands crowds and demands respect across the full scope of the musical world.
They defined big guitar/big drum arena rock, helped to mold the sound of heavy metal, and have dominated charts, hearts, and radios for generations.
And now, 56 years on from their earth-shaking debut, they’re the subject of a massive-scale, IMAX-ready documentary blending the requisite interviews and archival footage with mammoth-sized live cuts and blasting movie theater sound.
Is there anything new to be gleaned about the band or about the history that’s already been picked clean for decades? No, surely not. But that’s not really what this is about.
“Becoming Led Zeppelin” is a way for younger fans to see and hear the band’s story and a way for older fans to rejoice in the music played as loudly as it demands to be.
For showtimes, tickets, and more information, visit harkins.com and amc.com.
‘Once’ – Rodeo Cinema Stockyards – Saturday, March 15th & Sunday, March 16th
Let me be clear here: If you’ve never seen “Once,” go see “Once.”
One of the quietest, simplest, most starkly real, and straightforward music films ever made may also genuinely be one of the very best, if not the best.
And I mean that.
This story of a working-class Irish folk singer and a Czech singer/songwriter and the week or so in which they meet, connect and make some music together is so real, so effortlessly affecting, and so warmly and carefully understanding of the street-level musician experience.
There’s no big drama. There’s no grand musical numbers or dancing or melodramatic emotionalism.
There are just two people and the simmering bond they form while trading, tackling, and tracking some songs in a Dublin winter.
Starring real singers Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova and featuring songs they wrote together as their indie-folk duo The Swell Season, “Once” was so powerful and so refreshingly honest in its songwriting that it even won Best Original Song at the Oscars, beating some major Hollywood contenders.
For showtimes, tickets, and more information, visit rodeocinema.org.
‘A Woman is a Woman’ – Oklahoma City Museum of Art – Friday, March 21st through Sunday, March 23rd
French New Wave giant Jean-Luc Godard was always a cinematic deconstructionist, breaking down the rules and mechanics of filmic storytelling and rearranging and re-examining them in increasingly creative and subversive ways.
But even though his fingerprints are most famously found in the noir genre, he also applied his same singular mind to the musical with his colorful, energetic “A Woman is a Woman” in 1961.
Following a young exotic dancer who’s obsessed with having a child – whether with her boyfriend or with his best bud – Godard imbues the whole film with the sweeping score, whimsical cinematography, and full cinematic language of the grand Hollywood musical.
But not with the songs.
Godard’s deconstructionist tendencies come through in his application of all the elements and filmmaking tropes of the musical genre atop a largely straightforward and characteristically “neo-real” little city tale about the deliriousness and humor of confused, madcap youth in 60s France.
For showtimes, tickets, and more information, visit okcmoa.com.
Local music video showcase – Rodeo Cinema Stockyards – Thursday, March 27th
Rodeo Cinema’s brand new managers are settling into the scene now, and they’ve been hitting the ground running with a slew of singalong-ready music offerings on their historic screen, from the Aretha Franklin biopic “Respect ” to the legendary concert film “Monterrey Pop” to the aforementioned “Once.”
But they’ll be getting some locals in on all the high-volume fun as well.
March 27th is set to see a full evening showcase of locally produced music videos culled from across the state’s own music scene and from across a wide swath of its wildly diverse styles and sounds.
What artists will be featured? Will it become a recurring event? Will dancing in the aisles be allowed?
The answers to all of those questions will be revealed when more details about the event drop later this week (but I’m willing to bet that dancing will be encouraged.)
For showtimes, tickets, and more information, visit rodeocinema.org.
Catch Brett Fieldcamp’s film column weekly for information and insights into the world of film in the Oklahoma City metro and Oklahoma. | Brought to you by the Oklahoma City Museum of Art.
Brett Fieldcamp has been covering arts, entertainment, news, housing, and culture in Oklahoma for nearly 15 years, writing for several local and state publications. He’s also a musician and songwriter and holds a certification as Specialist of Spirits from The Society of Wine Educators.