The sun is high and hot, but the calendar points toward Labor Day and the end of playtime. These are the dog days of summer, even in the fog belt. The late-August urge to indulge in solar-powered lethargy while deferring responsibilities just a little while longer is as American as, well, registering to vote. (Election Day is Nov. 6, by the way, with in-person voting at City Hall beginning Oct. 9.)
The pun-loving Sundown Cinema has taken the dog days theme and run with it like a Labrador after a Frisbee, adopting Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy’s well-groomed, endearingly disobedient 2000 parody Best in Show for its Aug. 23 show at Duboce Park. The free screening is BYOD, with sign-ups starting at 6pm for the Doggy Fashion Show before the movie.
Best in Show features Levy and Guest performing their repertoire of tricks alongside cute-and-cuddly favorites Fred Willard, Catherine O’Hara, Michael McKean, Parker Posey and Bob Balaban. But rest assured this is a movie with a message, namely that every dog has his or her day.
For another heaping helping of howling at the moon, mark your calendar for the singalong Grease at the Jerry Garcia Amphitheater in John McLaren Park on Sept. 28—the fourth and final flick in the 2018 Sundown Cinema season organized by SF Parks Alliance, Do the Bay and Alamo Drafthouse.
