**Joel's Venue Picks — Week of September 28**
📍 Lexington Venue, 1794 Mass Ave, Lexington
A weekly guide to what's playing at Lexington's own independent movie theater, from your neighbor Joel.
Lexington Venue isn't chasing blockbusters. It leans into documentaries, foreign and independent film, and National Theatre Live broadcasts — programmed by people who actually love movies, not an algorithm optimizing for opening weekend. Comfortable seats, real popcorn, a clean, well-run house. Owner Peter Siy and general manager Ken Hastings have kept it alive through some genuinely hard years for independent theaters, streaming included, and it shows in how carefully the place is run. It's won a Best of Boston award, which around here is basically a knighthood.
🏆 **Pick of the week: The Misanthrope — National Theatre Live** (1h46m) — Sandra Oh (*Killing Eve*) plays Alice, a brilliant novelist who's simply had it with the polite lies everyone else has agreed to live by — and pays dearly for saying so out loud, which, if you've ever spoken an inconvenient truth at a dinner party, you'll recognize immediately. It's a razor-sharp modern take on Molière, adapted by Martin Crimp (also behind the acclaimed *Cyrano de Bergerac*) and directed by Indhu Rubasingham, filmed live at London's National Theatre. Normally seeing this means a $900 flight and jet lag; here it just means finding parking. (https://lexingtonvenue.com/shows/theatre-comedy/the-misanthrope-national-theatre-live-2026/202606111909168797)
**Also playing:**
- **Primetime** (R, 1h50m) — a showbiz drama built around Chris Hansen's *To Catch a Predator*, for anyone nostalgic for "why don't you have a seat right there."
- **Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom** (PG, 1h21m) — Aardman claymation. On Halloween Eve at Mossy Bottom Farm, a ruined pumpkin patch and a wild beast in the woods send Shaun scrambling to set things right. The rare movie your grandkids will enjoy more than you'll pretend not to.
**New this week:**
- **Tue, Sept 30 — Palestine '36** (2h) — a return engagement by popular demand, so apparently I wasn't the only one paying attention the first time around. Set during the 1936 Palestinian revolt against British colonial rule, it follows Yusuf navigating between Jerusalem and his rural home as unrest escalates. Heavy, well-made, zero popcorn-movie pretensions.
- **Thu, Oct 2 — Digger** (R, 2h8m) — a dark political comedy in which the most powerful man in the world embarks on a frantic mission to prove he's humanity's savior. Whether that premise strikes you as absurd or eerily plausible probably says more about your news diet than the film.
**The practical stuff:** Free evening street parking in the Center, plus a lot right behind the theater — in decades of going, I've never once struggled to find a spot. They take cards. Full schedule and tickets at lexingtonvenue.com, or call (781) 861-6161 — online ticketing isn't available for every showing, so call ahead unless you enjoy gambling with your Friday night.
Hope to see some of you there. I'll be the one two seats over, wide awake, I promise. And if you catch something playing that I should've mentioned, tell me — I'm always happy to be tipped off for next week.
—Joel Bernstein, Lexington
An avid gardener who writes this column for free, simply because he likes movies, the Venue, and can't garden when the weather turns.