Oddball Cinema

The story follows the typical arc of a cross-cultural romance, but as it does so it winds through a mystical labyrinth. The title character is a woman who was abducted years ago by bandits that attacked her village in India. When she escaped, she found her way to a wise woman who taught her the magic of spices. In the present, she operates a spice shop in San Francisco where the spices themselves enforce strict rules of conduct: the woman must never leave the shop, never use the magic to satisfy her own desires, and never make contact with another person’s skin. It’s a practice that provides amazing benefits for her customers until a handsome man, not of Indian descent, appears at her door.

■ Title — The Mistress of Spices
■ Director — Paul Mayeda Berges
■ Cast — Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Dylan McDermott, Nitin Ganatra
■ Rating — PG-13
■ ©2005 | 1h 32m | Drama, Romance

■ Watch it free with ads on Fawesome:
https://fawesome.tv/movies/10493484/the-mistress-of-spices
■ Available free without ads to Hoopla subscribers:
https://www.hoopladigital.com/title/15380299

■ As with most of our online features, you can watch this one whenever you like. Members who watch at the scheduled time may enjoy exchanging comments with other members on this page. If you post a comment before the show, please avoid spoilers. Comments posted after the show may contain any content, but Oddball Cinema encourages members to always avoid spoilers unless there’s some particularly important details you need to mention.

■ Many of the movies on our online events from as far back as March 2020 are still available for viewing. However, titles sometimes move from one streaming service to another. If you find that the links on an old event no longer work, you can search for the current providers of any title here: https://justwatch.com

As high-school prom and graduation season approaches, Oddball Cinema presents a story that begins with typical teenage hijinks and angst during senior year. Then – without warning or apparent cause – one student explodes. Everyone at the school is traumatized, the government sends a team to investigate, and counselors try to help students and faculty get past the horrific event. Parents, teachers, clergy, and politicians offer thoughts and prayers galore. Then another student explodes. It won’t be long before the viewer realizes that the story isn’t really about exploding students: it’s about fear, grief, and life decisions made in an environment where people fear they may be the next to die and can do nothing to predict or stop the effect.

Caution: the effects are restrained, but if you’re prone to faint at the sight of blood, this may not be the movie for you.

■ Title — Spontaneous
■ Director — Brian Duffield
■ Cast — Katherine Langford, Charlie Plummer, Yvonne Orji
■ Rated R for violence, language, and teenage drug use
■ ©2020 | 1h 41m | Comedy, Drama, Horror
■ Distributed by Paramount Pictures
■ Licensed for showing in Alexandria libraries by MPLC

This movie may be Portugal’s answer to Eraserhead. Yes, it’s that weird. The title character is the world’s premier soccer star; he’s not very bright, but he devotes his limited brainpower to his sport. When he’s “in the zone,” he hallucinates, and what appears onscreen is bizarre and amusing. However, the day before the world championship, he meets some desperate migrants from Africa. The encounter disturbs his concentration, and he continues to fixate on the migrants’ plight during the match, causing him to miss a key goal and lose the match. Meanwhile, his twin sisters and a local (possibly mad) doctor have their own plans for him.

■ Title — Diamantino
■ Directors — Gabriel Abrantes, Daniel Schmidt
■ Cast — Carloto Cotta, Cleo Tavares, Anabela Moreira
■ Unrated, suitable for teens and adults
■ ©2018 | 1h 36m | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Sport
■ Portuguese dialogue with English subtitles

■ Available free without ads to Kanopy subscribers (details below):
https://www.kanopy.com/en/product/11188195
■ Available free without ads to Hoopla subscribers:
https://www.hoopladigital.com/title/17616054

Kanopy streaming service provides free online movies to anyone with a library card from the District of Columbia, Arlington County, or Loudoun County (residents of many nearby jurisdictions are eligible to receive these cards). Holders of Loudoun County library cards may only use them to stream movies through Kanopy if they reside, work, or study in the county; you may need to visit a branch in the county to confirm your eligibility. If you have an eligible card but haven’t signed up with Kanopy yet, or if you have a card from another library and want to check if it offers Kanopy service, click here: https://kanopy.com/signup

You can obtain a free library card from your local branch, or you can obtain one online which will give you access to Kanopy and other digital services. Apply for one here:
District of Columbia: https://dclibrary.org/getacard
Arlington County: https://libcat.arlingtonva.us/MyAccount/SelfReg
Loudoun County: https://account.library.loudoun.gov/obr/

■ As with most of our online features, you can watch this one whenever you like. Members who watch at the scheduled time may enjoy exchanging comments with other members on this page. If you post a comment before the show, please avoid spoilers. Comments posted after the show may contain any content, but Oddball Cinema encourages members to always avoid spoilers unless there’s some particularly important details you need to mention.

■ Many of the movies on our online events from as far back as March 2020 are still available for viewing. However, titles sometimes move from one streaming service to another. If you find that the links on an old event no longer work, you can search for the current providers of any title here: https://justwatch.com

Jesse Eisenberg stars as a meek, self-conscious, socially awkward worker in an unnamed bureaucracy. He’s infatuated with a pretty co-worker but can’t seem to initiate a relationship with her, and he seems perpetually beset by Murphy’s Law: malfunctioning machines and draconian departmental policies constantly complicate his existence. One day a new employee arrives, physically his exact double but with an outgoing personality and an ability to effortlessly navigate the office environment. Based on Dostoevsky’s novel of the same name (Двойник in Russian), the plot turns sinister as the newcomer gradually takes over the original’s life both at work and at home. Early scenes may remind the viewer of 1984 or Terry Gilliam’s Brazil, but the story quickly takes off in its own memorably weird direction.

■ Title — The Double
■ Director — Richard Ayoade
■ Cast — Jesse Eisenberg, Mia Wasikowska, Wallace Shawn
■ Rating — R
■ ©2013 | 1h 33m | Comedy, Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller

■ Watch it free with ads on Plex:
https://watch.plex.tv/movie/the-double-2014-1
■ Watch it free with ads on Pluto:
https://pluto.tv/on-demand/movies/the-double-1-1
■ Watch it free with ads on Tubi:
https://tubitv.com/movies/456402/the-double
■ Watch it free with ads on Fandango (formerly Vudu):
https://athome.fandango.com/content/browse/details/The-Double/524498
■ Available free without ads to Hoopla subscribers:
https://www.hoopladigital.com/title/11674101
■ Available free without ads to Amazon Prime subscribers:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/amzn1.dv.gti.84af505c-e9e6-7743-e31c-022da56067ac

■ As with most of our online features, you can watch this one whenever you like. Members who watch at the scheduled time may enjoy exchanging comments with other members on this page. If you post a comment before the show, please avoid spoilers. Comments posted after the show may contain any content, but Oddball Cinema encourages members to always avoid spoilers unless there’s some particularly important details you need to mention.

■ Many of the movies on our online events from as far back as March 2020 are still available for viewing. However, titles sometimes move from one streaming service to another. If you find that the links on an old event no longer work, you can search for the current providers of any title here: https://justwatch.com