Featured Film:

Liz and the Blue Bird at the Grand Illusion

2018 has been a terrific year for under-the-radar anime on Seattle screens, with a pair of Masaaki Yuasa films (Lu Over the Wall and Night is Short, Walk on Girl), Hiromasa Yonebayashi’s Ghibli-lite Mary and the Witch’s Flower, and Mamoru Hosada’s Mirai (which opens on a few screens around town next week). But the best of them all, and one of my favorite films of the year, animated or otherwise, is also the most fleeting. Liz and the Blue Bird played for only three days two weeks ago, but the Grand Illusion is bringing it back this weekend, Saturday and Sunday only. A romance/coming of age story set in and among a group of girls in a high school band, director Naoko Yamada’s film is as attuned to the smallest, and most expressive, movements and gestures as any acclaimed festival film. It’s slice-of-life anime, perfected.

Playing This Week:

Admiral Theater:

Superman (Richard Donner, 1978) Weds Only

Central Cinema:

Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1942) Fri-Tues
Enter the Dragon (Robert Clouse, 1973) Fri-Tues

SIFF Egyptian:

Border (Ali Abbasi) Fri-Weds

Century Federal Way:

Rang Punjab (Rakesh Mehta) Fri-Thurs
2.0 (S. Shankar) Weds Only

Grand Cinema:

Suspiria (Dario Argento, 1977) Sat Only
Inventing Tomorrow (Laura Nix) Tues Only
Alternate Endings, Activist Risings (Various) Weds Only Free screening
The Trans List (Timothy Greenfield-Sanders) Thurs Only Free screening

Grand Illusion Cinema:

Liz and the Blue Bird (Naoko Yamada) Sat & Sun Only Our Review
Searching for Ingmar Bergman (Felix Moeller, Margarethe von Trotta & Bettina Böhler) Fri-Thurs
Best of Cinekink 2018 (Various) Sat Only
The House that Jack Built (Lars von Trier) Weds Only

Cinemark Lincoln Square:

24 Kisses (Kumar Krishnamsetty) Fri & Sat Only
Varathan (Amal Neerad) Sat & Sun Only
Taxiwaala (Rahul Sankrityan) Fri-Thurs
2.0 (S. Shankar) Weds Only

Northwest Film Forum:

Museo (Alonso Ruizpalacios) Fri-Thurs
Charm City (Marilyn Ness) Fri-Sun
Cat People (Paul Schrader, 1982) Sat Only Our Podcast
Call Her Ganda (PJ Raval) Sun Only Free Event
The Passion of Berenice (Jaime Humberto Hermosillo) Sun Only
Black Panther (Ryan Coogler) Tues Only Our Review Free screening
Short Circuit Pacific Rim Film Festival #PNW Tour 2018 Weds Only
Donna Haraway: Story Telling for Earthly Survival (Fabrizio Terranova) Starts Thurs

AMC Pacific Place:

A Cool Fish (Rao Xiaozhi) Fri-Thurs
Maria by Callas (Tom Volf) Fri-Thurs

Regal Parkway Plaza:

Thugs of Hindustan (Vijay Krishna Acharya) Fri-Thurs
2.0 (S. Shankar) Weds & Thurs Only

Seattle Art Museum:

Lilith (Robert Rossen, 1964) Thurs Only 35mm

SIFF Film Center:

Slap Shot (George Roy Hill, 1977) Fri Only
The Mighty Ducks (Stephen Herek, 1992) Sat Only
Ice Castles (Donald Wrye, 1978) Sat  Only
I, Tonya (Craig Gillespie) Sat Only
Mystery, Alaska (Jay Roach, 1999) Sun Only
King Curling (Ole Endresen, 2011) Sun Only

Regal Thornton Place:

Superman (Richard Donner, 1978) Sun & Tues Only

SIFF Uptown:

Suspiria (Luca Guadagnino) Fri-Thurs
The House that Jack Built (Lars von Trier) Weds Only

Varsity Theatre:

Superman (Richard Donner, 1978) Weds Only