The greatest tragedy of filmmaker Charles Burnett is that he’s always been ahead of his time. The second greatest tragedy is a knack of accidental self-sabotage. Yet, in a way, these two failures make his films greater. His debut film, vérité drama Killer of Sheep, was denied a real release because clearing the music rights for the loaded soundtrack was basically impossible. When it was finally released in 2007, 29 years after Burnett finished the film as his master’s thesis at the UCLA School of Film, audiences truly appreciated its bleak insight into blue-collar life in Watts. So maybe, after only 26 years of languishing in the archives, it’s time to reappraise Burnett’s unlikely meet-cute rom-com that was just too odd for 1999 audiences. Starring Lynn Redgrave and James Earl Jones as two kooky no-longer-kids, can true love triumph when she’s being stalked by the ghost of Puccini, while he must wrestle an invisible man called Hank? More importantly, is it finally time to fall in love with another of Burnett’s wildly idiosyncratic works? – Richard Whittaker
Feb. 15 & 17