Featured Film:

Everything, I guess

Each week in this space I pick a movie or series to highlight one of the necessary film events of the week on Seattle Screens, but this week it’s simply impossible to choose. There is an embarrassment of greatness in theatres this week, more than I’ve seen in the year and a half history of this website. The Northwest Film Forum not only has Kaili Blues, one of the very best films of 2015, an audacious debt from Chinese director Bi Gan, and Touki Bouki, a classic of African cinema, but also a 35mm print of John Cassavetes’s The Killing of a Chinese Bookie. SIFF not only has a mini-retrospective of some of Brian De Palma’s greatest films to accompany their presentation of the new documentary about him, but they’re also playing the greatest Shakespeare film ever made, Orson Welles’s Chimes at Midnight. The Grand Illusion is bringing back Belladonna of Sadness, The Grand has a two nights only show of King Hu’s Dragon Gate Inn, the Central Cinema is playing ET and Aliens and, oh yeah, the Pacific Place has the premiere of Johnnie To’s latest Three. And there’s more: from Raman Raghav 2.0 to Willy Wonka to last year’s Palme d’Or winning Dheepan to continuing runs of The Lobster and Love & Friendship. My best advice to you is to take the week off work and just watch some movies.

Playing This Week:

AMC Alderwood:

Proof of Innocence (Kwon Jong-kwan) Fri-Thurs

Central Cinema:

ET: The Extra-Terrestrial (Steven Spielberg, 1982) Fri-Mon
Aliens (James Cameron, 1986) Fri-Mon

Century Federal Way:

Udta Punjab (Abhishek Chaubey) Fri-Thurs
Sardaarji 2 (Rohit Jugraj Chauhan) Fri-Thurs
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (Mel Stuart, 1971) Sun & Weds Only

Grand Cinema:

Love & Friendship (Whit Stillman) Fri-Thurs Our Review
The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos) Fri-Thurs
Maggie’s Plan (Rebecca Miller) Fri-Thurs
Dark Horse (Louise Osmond) Fri-Thurs
Dragon Gate Inn (King Hu, 1967) Fri & Sat Only Our Review 
Hockney (Randall Wright) Tues Only
We the People 2.0 (Leila Conners) Weds Only

Grand Illusion Cinema:

Belladonna of Sadness (Eiichi Yamamoto, 1973) Fri-Thurs Our Review 
Lady Battle Cop (Akihisa Okamoto, 1990) Sat Only VHS
Convergence and Cacophony: Experimental Documents from Dustin Zemel Tues Only
Re-Sounding: Imagining Within and Beyond the Sonic Sphere Weds Only

Landmark Guild 45th:

Dheepan (Jacques Audiard) Fri-Thurs
Weiner (Josh Kriegman) Fri-Thurs

Cinemark Lincoln Square:

Oka Manasu (Ramaraju Gottimukkala) Fri-Thurs
Raman Raghav 2.0 (Anurag Kashyap) Fri-Thurs
Te3n (Ribhu Dasgupta) Fri-Thurs
Udta Punjab (Abhishek Chaubey) Fri-Thurs
Gentleman (Mohan Krishna Indraganti) Fri-Thurs
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (Mel Stuart, 1971) Sun & Weds Only

Regal Meridian:

Love & Friendship (Whit Stillman) Fri-Thurs Our Review 
The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos) Fri-Thurs
Genius (Michael Grandage) Fri-Thurs

Northwest Film Forum:

Touki Bouki (Djibril Diop Mambéty, 1973) Fri-Sun
Kaili Blues (Bi Gan) Fri-Sun
School’s Out Screening of Best of Children’s Film Festival Seattle 2016 Sun Only
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (John Cassavetes, 1976) Weds Only 35mm
And When I Die, I Won’t Stay Dead (Billy Woodberry) Starts Weds
Eurovision: Iconic Song Performances Thurs Only

AMC Pacific Place:

Three (Johnnie To) Fri-Thurs Our Review

Paramount Theatre:

Why Be Good? (William A. Seiter, 1929) Mon Only

Regal Parkway Plaza:

Love & Friendship (Whit Stillman) Fri-Thurs Our Review
The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos) Fri-Thurs

Landmark Seven Gables:

Genius (Michael Grandage) Fri-Thurs

SIFF Film Center:

Obsessions: Classic De Palma Fri-Thurs Full Program Discounted Admission

Sundance Cinemas:

Love & Friendship (Whit Stillman) Fri-Thurs Our Review 
The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos) Fri-Thurs
Maggie’s Plan (Rebecca Miller) Fri-Thurs
The Duel (Kieran Darcy-Smith) Fri-Thurs
The Idol (Hany Abu-Assad) Fri-Thurs
Music of Strangers (Morgan Neville) Fri-Thurs

SIFF Cinema Uptown:

Chimes at Midnight (Orson Welles, 1965) Fri-Thurs Our Review 
De Palma (Noah Baumbach & Jake Paltrow) Fri-Thurs Our Review 
Music of Strangers (Morgan Neville) Fri-Thurs
The Dog Film Festival Sun Only

Varsity Theatre:

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (Mel Stuart, 1971) Weds Only