Featured Film:
Ran at the SIFF Uptown
Shakespeare is in the air this spring on Seattle Screens. With the First Folio’s arrival at the Seattle Public Library and the upcoming episode of The Frances Farmer Show on Peter Greenaway’s Prospero’s Books and Matías Piñeiro’s The Princess of France, SIFF this week is presenting the latest restoration of Akira Kurosawa’s final masterpiece, his 1985 King Lear adaptation Ran. Tatsuya Nakadai stars as the aged king who unwisely splits his realm among his sons, disinheriting the truly loyal one. A bleak vision of a chaotic universe, colored by brilliant production design, a mournful score by Toru Takemitsu and as much influence from classical Noh drama as Elizabethan theatre, it remains one of the most powerful and original of all Shakespeare films. We discussed it in the second part of our They Shot Pictures podcast series on Akira Kurosawa back in 2013. In conjunction, the SIFF Film Center is playing the great film essayist Chris Marker’s documentary about the making of Ran and Kurosawa himself, A. K. Japanese film scholar Donald Richie wrote that all his life, whenever Kurosawa was asked to pick his favorite from among his own films, he’d always say “the next one.” After 1985, he’d answer, “Ran“.
Playing This Week:
The Wizard of Oz (Victor Fleming, 1939) Fri-Tues
Silence of the Lambs (Jonathan Demme, 1991) Fri-Tues
Ambarsariya (Mandeep Kumar) Fri-Thurs
Spirits Homecoming (Cho Jung-rae) Fri-Thurs
Love Punjab (Rajiv Dhingra) Fri-Thurs
Raiders of the Lost Ark (Stephen Spielberg, 1981) Sun & Weds Only
Embrace of the Serpent (Ciro Guerra) Fri-Thurs
The Mermaid (Stephen Chow) Fri-Thurs Our Review
Trapped (Dawn Porter) Fri-Thurs
Emelie (Michael Thelin) Fri & Sat Only
Theeb (Naji Abu Nowar) Tues Only
Smoke Signals (Chris Eyre) Weds Only Free Screening
Requiem for the American Dream (Peter D. Hutchison, Kelly Nyks & Jared P. Scott ) Fri, Mon-Thurs Only Our Review
City of Women (Federico Fellini, 1981) Fri-Thurs
The Sprocket Society presents Saturday Secret Matinees Sat Only
Birthright with Darktown Revue (Oscar Micheaux, 1939 & 1931) Sun Only
UFO Night with Intergalactic Space Busk & Teenagers from Outer Space (Ian Volpi, Tom Graeff, 2016 & 1959) Mon Only Video
Hello My Name is Doris (Michael Showalter) Fri-Thurs
Oopiri (Vamsi Paidipally) Fri-Thurs In Telugu
Thozha (Vamsi Paidipally) Fri-Thurs In Tamil
Kapoor & Sons – Since 1921 (Shakun Batra) Fri-Thurs
Hello My Name is Doris (Michael Showalter) Fri-Thurs
Raiders of the Lost Ark (Stephen Spielberg, 1981) Sun & Weds Only
Hello My Name is Doris (Michael Showalter) Fri-Thurs
Songs My Brother Taught Me (Chloe Zhao) Fri-Sun Only
I Knew Her Well (Antonio Pietrangeli, 1965) Fri-Mon Only
Trapped (Dawn Porter) Fri-Thurs
The Lost Arcade (Kurt Vincent) Sun Only
Sex & Broadcasting (Tim K Smith, 2014) Weds Only
Festival of (In)Appropriation (Jaimie Baron, Lauren Berliner & Greg Cohen) Weds Only
Until the End of the World (Wim Wenders, 1991) Thurs Only Director’s Cut
The Mermaid (Stephen Chow) Fri-Thurs Our Review
Kapoor & Sons – Since 1921 (Shakun Batra) Fri-Thurs
Ardaas (Gippy Grewal) Fri-Thurs
Hello My Name is Doris (Michael Showalter) Fri-Thurs
Love is Blind (Jason Paul Laxamana) Fri-Thurs
Scarecrow Video Screening Room:
Sci-Fi Commons Secret Movie Fri Only
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Philip Kaufman, 1978) Sat Only
Young Cassidy (Jack Cardiff & John Ford, 1965) Sun Only
The Future (Miranda July, 2011) Sun Only
2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (Jean-Luc Godard, 1967) Mon Only
In Cold Blood (Richard Brooks, 1967) Tues Only
Lust for Life (Vincente Minnelli, 1956) Weds Only
3 Women (Robert Altman, 1977) Thurs Only
Antoine and Antoinette (Jacques Becker, 1947) Thurs Only
City of Gold (Laura Gabbert) Fri-Thurs
A.K. (Chris Marker, 1985) Fri-Sun
Aferim! (Radu Jude) Fri-Sun, Tues-Thurs
Cemetery of Splendour (Apichatpong Weerasethakul) Mon Only
Buena Vista Social Club (Wim Wenders, 1999) Weds Only
Ran (Akira Kurosawa, 1985) Fri-Thurs Our Podcast
Embrace of the Serpent (Ciro Guerra) Fri-Thurs
Pina (In 3D) (Wim Wenders, 2011) Weds Only
Krisha (Trey Edward Shults) Fri-Thurs
Get a Job (Dylan Kidd) Fri-Thurs
The Confirmation (Bob Nelson) Fri-Thurs
Fastball (Jonathan Hock) Fri-Thurs
In Wide Release:
Seattle Screen Scene 
