Featured Film:

Peppa Celebrates Chinese New Year at the Meridian and Parkway Plaza

Tuesday marks the start of Lunar New Year, and this most holiest of seasons for Chinese film gets a robust start on Seattle Screens this week. The Pacific Place has the new Pang Ho-cheung romantic comedy, Missbehavior, which promises more of the same from the director of Love in a Puff and Women Who Know How to Flirt are the Luckiest. The Grand Illusion concludes the Hong Kong Kung Fu series they presented jointly with the NWFF with a couple of Sammo Hung movies, 1993’s Blade of Fury and 1989’s Pedicab Driver, one of his very best (it continues into next week as well). The Varsity and the Admiral have Chen Kaige’s Legend of the Demon Cat, which originally premiered in 2017 but was greeted quite positively at the Toronto Film Festival this past fall in a supposed “Director’s Cut.” I haven’t been able to find out which version is playing here. But the most exciting Lunar New Year film of the week has got to be Peppa Celebrates Chinese New Year, a Chinese film in which the beloved animated pig learns all about the holiday. My kids love Peppa almost as much as my wife and I do, and we’re taking them to see it even though we’ll have to read the subtitles for them.

Playing This Week:

Admiral Theatre:

Legend of the Demon Cat (Chen Kaige) Tues Only 

AMC Alderwood:

Extreme Job (Lee Byung-heon) Fri-Thurs 
The Gandhi Murder (Karim Traïdia) Fri-Thurs 
Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi (Kangana Ranaut & Krish) Fri-Thurs 
URI (Aditya Dhar) Fri-Thurs 

Ark Lodge Cinemas:

Afghan Cycles (Sarah Menzies) Tues Only 

Central Cinema:

Groundhog Day (Harold Ramis, 1993) Fri, Sat, Mon, Tues
The Last Boy Scout (Tony Scott, 1991) Fri-Tues 
The Fellowship of the Ring (Peter Jackson, 2001) Weds Only 

Crest Cinema Centre:

Roma (Alfonso Cuarón) Fri-Thurs  
Shoplifters (Kore-eda Hirokazu) Fri-Thurs 

SIFF Egyptian:

Cold War (Pawel Pawlikowski) Fri-Thurs 

Century Federal Way:

Kaake Da Viyah (Rai Yuvraj Bains) Fri-Thurs 
Uda Aida (Ksshitij Chaudhary) Fri-Thurs 
The Wizard of Oz (Victor Fleming, 1939) Sun, & Tues Only 

Grand Cinema:

Piercing (Nicolas Pesce) Sat Only 
A Private War (Matthew Heineman) Tues Only 

Grand Illusion Cinema:

Genesis 2.0 (Christian Frei, Maxim Arbugaev) Fri-Thurs  
Blade of Fury (Sammo Hung, 1993) Fri & Sun Only
Shoplifters (Kore-eda Hirokazu) Sat-Tues & Thurs 
Saturday Secret Matinee Sat Only 16mm
Pedicab Driver (Sammo Hung, 1989) Weds and Next Fri, Sun & Thurs Only Our Review Our Podcast

Cinemark Lincoln Square:

Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga (Shelly Chopra Dhar) Fri-Thurs 
Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi (Kangana Ranaut & Krish) Fri-Thurs 
Sarvam Thaala Mayam (Rajiv Menon) Fri-Thurs 
The Gandhi Murder (Karim Traïdia) Fri-Thurs 
F2-Fun and Frustration (Anil Ravipudi) Fri-Thurs
URI (Aditya Dhar) Fri-Thurs
Vandha Rajavathaan Varuven (Sundar C.) Fri-Thurs Tamil with No Subtitles
K.G.F. Chapter 1 (Prashanth Neel) Sat & Sun Only 
The Wizard of Oz (Victor Fleming, 1939) Sun & Tues Only 

Regal Meridian:

Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga (Shelly Chopra Dhar) Fri-Thurs 
Peppa Celebrates Chinese New Year (Zhang Dapeng) Tues Only 

Northwest Film Forum:

Children’s Film Festival Fri-Sun  
The Worlds of Ursula K. LeGuin (Arwen Curry) Fri Only 
Wings of Desire (Wim Wenders, 1987) Starts Weds 

AMC Pacific Place:

Miss Behavior (Pang Ho-cheung) Fri-Thurs 

Regal Parkway Plaza:

The Gandhi Murder (Karim Traïdia) Fri-Thurs 
Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga (Shelly Chopra Dhar) Fri-Thurs 
Peppa Celebrates Chinese New Year (Zhang Dapeng) Starts Tues 

Seattle Art Museum:

The Passion of Anna (Ingmar Bergman, 1969) Thurs Only 

AMC Seattle:

Shoplifters (Kore-eda Hirokazu) Fri-Thurs 
Destroyer (Karyn Kusama) Fri-Thurs 

SIFF Film Center:

The Heiresses (Marcelo Martinessi) Fri-Thurs  

Regal Thornton Place:

The Wizard of Oz (Victor Fleming, 1939) Sun, Tues & Weds Only 

SIFF Uptown:

Shoplifters (Kore-eda Hirokazu) Fri-Thurs 
Joni 75: A Birthday Celebration (Martyn Atkins) Thurs Only 

Varsity Theatre:

A Breath Away (Daniel Roby) Fri-Thurs 
Piercing (Nicolas Pesce) Fri-Thurs 
Legend of the Demon Cat (Chen Kaige) Tues Only 

Featured Film:

Blackkklansman at A Few Multiplexes

In a futile attempt to get my hopes up, the Academy this week nominated Spike Lee’s Blackkklansman for a bunch of awards, including Best Director and Best Picture. I thought after I first saw it this summer, that this would probably be Spike’s best chance to win the Best Picture Oscar that has eluded him for so long, and the narrative of him beating Green Book, after Do the Right Thing didn’t even get nominated the year Driving Miss Daisy (Green Book‘s closest cinematic analogue) won is irresistible. But it’s probably not going to happen. But maybe? It’s playing this week for a handful of shows at the AMC Seattle (formerly the Metro) and the AMC Alderwood, along with the Regals in Auburn and Lakewood. I never wrote about it here, but I did write a blurb for it a couple weeks ago as part of InReview Online’s Best Films of 2018 round-up, wherein I claim it’s Spike Lee’s Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.

Playing This Week:

AMC Alderwood:

Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi (Kangana Ranaut & Krish) Fri-Thurs 
URI (Aditya Dhar) Fri-Thurs 

Central Cinema:

Akira (Katsuhiro Otomo, 1988) Fri-Sun, Tues
Fantastic Mr. Fox (Wes Anderson, 2009) Fri-Sun 
Real Genius (Martha Coolidge, 1985) Weds Only 

Crest Cinema Centre:

Roma (Alfonso Cuarón) Fri-Thurs  
Free Solo (Jimmy Chin & Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi) Fri-Thurs

SIFF Egyptian:

Cold War (Pawel Pawlikowski) Fri-Thurs 

Century Federal Way:

The Wizard of Oz (Victor Fleming, 1939) Sun, Tues & Weds Only 

Grand Cinema:

Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982) Sat Only Final Cut
Mademoiselle Paradis (Barbara Albert) Tues Only 

Grand Illusion Cinema:

Shoplifters (Kore-eda Hirokazu) Fri-Sun, Tues & Thurs  
Sicilian Ghost Story (Fabio Grassadonia & Antonio Piazza) Sat-Mon, Weds
Saturday Secret Matinee Sat Only 16mm
Blade of Fury (Sammo Hung, 1993) Weds and Next Fri & Sun Only

Cinemark Lincoln Square:

Petta (Karthik Subbaraj G.) Fri-Thurs 
Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi (Kangana Ranaut & Krish) Fri-Thurs 
Thackeray (Abhijit Panse) Fri-Thurs 
Mr. Majnu (Venky Atluri) Fri-Thurs
F2-Fun and Frustration (Anil Ravipudi) Fri-Thurs
URI (Aditya Dhar) Fri-Thurs
Mikhael (Haneef Adeni) Sat & Sun Only
The Wizard of Oz (Victor Fleming, 1939) Sun, & Weds Only 

Northwest Film Forum:

Children’s Film Festival Fri-Sun  
The Worlds of Ursula K. LeGuin (Arwen Curry) Fri, Weds & Thurs 

AMC Pacific Place:

Destroyer (Karyn Kusama) Fri-Thurs 

Regal Parkway Plaza:

Simmba (Rohit Shetty) Fri-Thurs 

Seattle Art Museum:

Shame (Ingmar Bergman, 1968) Thurs Only 

AMC Seattle:

Shoplifters (Kore-eda Hirokazu) Fri-Thurs  

SIFF Film Center:

Mirai (Mamoru Hosada) Fri-Sun Our Review Our Other Review

Regal Thornton Place:

The Wizard of Oz (Victor Fleming, 1939) Sun, Tues & Weds Only 

SIFF Uptown:

Shoplifters (Kore-eda Hirokazu) Fri-Thurs 

Varsity Theatre:

An Acceptable Loss (Joe Chappelle) Fri-Thurs 
The Wizard of Oz (Victor Fleming, 1939) Weds Only 

Featured Film:

Cold War at the SIFF Egyptian

It’s been four year since we launched Seattle Screen Scene, and if there’s one thing I hope we’ve established over that time, it’s that there are a great many more Asian films, specifically films from China, Korea, and India, playing around town than anyone ever seems to notice, and that quite a few of them are very good. If there’s one other thing, it would be that European cinema, at least for the last several decades, has been a vast wasteland of drab, dull, self-important, ugly, and overrated movies. European cinema has been, in my opinion of course and with notable exceptions, for lack of a better word, dead. So I was as surprised as anyone when I watched Pawel Pawlikowski’s follow-up to his Oscar-winning Ida at VIFF last fall and absolutely loved it. A vibrant, breathless, decadently romantic love story set against the sweep of mid-20th Century history, anchored by two fine performances, excellent music and lustrous black and white cinematography that ranks with the best Europe has ever produced (by which I mean Luchino Visconti’s White Nights), it was almost enough to make me rethink my sweeping condemnation of the cinema of an entire continent. Almost.

Playing This Week:

AMC Alderwood:

The Secret Mission (Eom Yu-na) Fri-Thurs 
URI (Aditya Dhar) Fri-Thurs 
Petta (Karthik Subbaraj G.) Fri-Thurs 
Perfect Strangers (Manolo Caro) Fri-Thurs 

Central Cinema:

The Warriors (Walter Hill, 1979) Fri-Weds
The Muppets Take Manhattan (Frank Oz, 1984) Fri-Tues 

SIFF Egyptian:

Cold War (Pawel Pawlikowski) Fri-Thurs 
The Muppet Movie (James Frawley, 1979) Thurs Only 

Century Federal Way:

Kaka Ji (Mandeep Benipal) Fri-Thurs 

Crest Cinema Centre:

Roma (Alfonso Cuarón) Fri-Thurs  
Free Solo (Jimmy Chin & Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi) Fri-Thurs

Grand Cinema:

Ponyo (Hayao Miyazaki, 2008) Sat Only Free Screening
The Princess Bride (Rob Reiner, 1987) Sat Only 
Border (Ali Abbasi) Tues Only

Grand Illusion Cinema:

Andrei Rublev (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1966) Fri-Mon, Weds  
Solaris (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1972) Sat-Sun & Thurs Only  
Saturday Secret Matinee Sat Only 16mm

Cinemark Lincoln Square:

Petta (Karthik Subbaraj G.) Fri-Thurs 
NTR: Kathanayakudu (Krish) Fri-Thurs
Accidental Prime Minister (Vijay Gutte) Fri-Thurs
F2-Fun and Frustration (Anil Ravipudi) Fri-Thurs
URI (Aditya Dhar) Fri-Thurs
Ente Ummante Peru (Jose Sebastian) Sat & Sun Only
Viswasam(Siva) Fri-Thurs 

Regal Meridian:

Petta (Karthik Subbaraj G.) Fri-Thurs 

Northwest Film Forum:

2018 Sundance Film Festival Short Film Tour Fri-Sun  
All that Passes by through a Window that Doesn’t Open (Martin Diciccio) Fri-Sun
Hale County This Morning, This Evening (RaMell Ross) Sat & Sun Only Our Review 
The Rattlesnake (Raúl Araiza, 1977) Sun Only 
The Worlds of Ursula K. LeGuin (Arwen Curry) Starts Tues 
The One-Armed Swordsman (Chang Cheh, 1967) Weds Only Our Review 

AMC Pacific Place:

Destroyer (Karyn Kusama) Fri-Thurs 

Regal Parkway Plaza:

Aurora (Yam Laranas) Fri-Thurs 
Simmba (Rohit Shetty) Fri-Thurs 

Seattle Art Museum:

Hour of the Wolf (Ingmar Bergman, 1968) Thurs Only 

AMC Seattle:

Shoplifters (Kore-eda Hirokazu) Fri-Thurs  

SIFF Film Center:

Detour (Edgar G. Ulmer, 1945) Fri-Sun
Elvis, Evergreens, and Umbrellas: 50 Years of Seattle on the Big Screen Sat Only 

AMC Southcenter:

Perfect Strangers (Manolo Caro) Fri-Thurs 

SIFF Uptown:

Shoplifters (Kore-eda Hirokazu) Fri-Thurs 
The Bruce McMouse Show (Barry Chattington, 1977) Mon Only 

Varsity Theatre:

Adult Life Skills (Rachel Tunnard, 2016) Fri-Thurs 

Featured Film:

2018 Documentaries at the Pacific Place

I said I’d do my best not to name whichever film was playing in the Northwest Film Forum’s Shaw Brothers series as our Featured Film every week, so I’m definitely not picking Come Drink With Me, the King Hu classic that started it all, which is playing Wednesday night only. Instead I’m going with the AMC Pacific Place, which is playing 15 of the best documentaries of the year (the ones shortlisted for the Academy Awards nomination) for a couple of shows each over the course of this week. The ones not to miss are: Shirkers, which has otherwise only be available on Netflix, Minding the Gap, and Hale County This Morning, This Evening, each of which had unfortunately brief runs here in Seattle. This might be your last chance to ever see them in a theatre.

Playing This Week:

AMC Alderwood:

Swing Kids (Kang Hyeong-cheol) Fri-Thurs 
Take Point (Kim Byung-woo) Fri-Thurs 

Central Cinema:

Labyrinth (Jim Henson, 1986) Fri-Tues
Pan’s Labyrinth (Guillermo del Toro, 2006) Fri-Mon, Weds

Century Federal Way:

Swing Kids (Kang Hyeong-cheol) Fri-Thurs 
Take Point (Kim Byung-woo) Fri-Thurs 

Crest Cinema Centre:

Roma (Alfonso Cuarón) Fri-Thurs  
Free Solo (Jimmy Chin & Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi) Fri-Thurs

Grand Cinema:

Shoplifters (Kore-eda Hirokazu) Fri-Thurs 
Suspiria (Luca Guadagnino) Sat Only
Supa Modo (Likarion Wainaina) Tues Only

Grand Illusion Cinema:

The House that Jack Built (Lars von Trier) Fri-Thurs
Sicilian Ghost Story (Fabio Grassadonia & Antonio Piazza) Fri-Thurs
Saturday Secret Matinee Sat Only 16mm

Cinemark Lincoln Square:

On the Basis of Sex (Mimi Leder) Fri-Thurs
Njan Prakashan (Sathyan Anthikad) Fri-Thurs
Simmba (Rohit Shetty) Fri-Thurs 
Bhai Vyakti Valli Purvardh (Mahesh Manjrekar) Fri-Thurs

Regal Meridian:

Simmba (Rohit Shetty) Fri-Thurs 

Northwest Film Forum:

On Her Shoulders (Alexandria Bombach) Fri-Thurs
The Trouble with Wolves (Collin Monda) Fri-Sun
Seattle Arabian Nights Festival 2019 Sat Only
Come Drink With Me (King Hu, 1966) Weds Only Our Review
Divide and Conquer: The Story of Roger Ailes (Alexis Bloom) Thurs & Next Fri Only

AMC Pacific Place:

Mojin: The Worm Valley (Fei Xing) Fri-Thurs Our Review
Ben is Back (Peter Hedges) Fri-Thurs 
On the Basis of Sex (Mimi Leder) Fri-Thurs
Charm City (Marilyn Ness) Fri & Mon Only
Crime + Punishment (Stephen Maing) Fri & Thurs Only
Free Solo (Jimmy Chin & Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi) Fri & Mon Only
Communion (Anna Zamecka) Fri & Mon Only  
The Silence of Others (Almudena Carracedo & Robert Bahar) Fri & Mon Only
RBG (Betsy West, Julie Cohen Sat & Tues Only
Three Identical Strangers (Tim Wardle) Sat & Thurs Only
Minding the Gap (Bing Liu) Sat & Tues Only  
The Distant Barking of Dogs (Simon Lereng Wilmont) Sat & Tues Only  
Won’t You Be My Neighbor? (Morgan Neville) Sun & Weds Only  
Dark Money (Kimberly Reed) Sun & Thurs Only  Our Review
Hale County This Morning, This Evening (RaMell Ross) Sun & Weds Only  Our Review
Of Fathers and Sons (Talal Derki) Sun & Weds Only  
Shirkers (Sandi Tan) Sun & Weds Only  

Regal Parkway Plaza:

Zero (Anand L. Rai) Fri-Thurs
Simmba (Rohit Shetty) Fri-Thurs 

Seattle Art Museum:

Sawdust and Tinsel (Ingmar Bergman, 1953) Thurs Only

AMC Seattle:

Shoplifters (Kore-eda Hirokazu) Fri-Thurs  
Free Solo (Jimmy Chin & Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi) Fri-Thurs  

SIFF Film Center:

Garry Winogrand: All Things are Photographable (Sasha Waters Freyer) Fri-Sun

Regal Thornton Place:

On the Basis of Sex (Mimi Leder) Fri-Thurs

SIFF Uptown:

Shoplifters (Kore-eda Hirokazu) Fri-Thurs 

Featured Film:

If Beale Street Could Talk at the Uptown and the Meridian

It figures of course that the finest American film of the year would only be released on a handful of screens in the final days of 2018. Barry Jenkins more than follows through on the promise of Moonlight with this dreamy, yet scathing, look at life and romance under structural racism in the USA. Though based on the mid-century novel by James Baldwin, there’s nothing antiquated about its story of young love struggling to endure against all odds, while Jenkins’s style marks the most successful yet attempt to adapt Hou Hsiao-hsien to the Hollywood mainstream.

Playing This Week:

AMC Alderwood:

Zero (Anand L. Rai) Fri-Thurs 

Central Cinema:

The Sound of Music (Robert Wise, 1965) Fri-Sun Our Podcast 

Crest Cinema Centre:

Roma (Alfonso Cuarón) Fri-Thurs  

Grand Cinema:

Shoplifters (Kore-eda Hirokazu) Fri-Thurs 
The House that Jack Built (Lars von Trier) Sat Only

Grand Illusion Cinema:

The House that Jack Built (Lars von Trier) Fri-Sun, Tues-Thurs

Cinemark Lincoln Square:

On the Basis of Sex (Mimi Leder) Fri-Thurs
Zero (Anand L. Rai) Fri-Thurs   
K.G.F. Chapter 1 (Prashanth Neel) Fri-Thurs
Simmba (Rohit Shetty) Fri-Thurs 

Regal Meridian:

If Beale Street Could Talk (Barry Jenkins) Fri-Thurs
Simmba (Rohit Shetty) Fri-Thurs 

AMC Pacific Place:

Kill Mobile (Miao Yu) Fri-Thurs 
Ben is Back (Peter Hedges) Fri-Thurs 
On the Basis of Sex (Mimi Leder) Starts Mon

Regal Parkway Plaza:

Zero (Anand L. Rai) Fri-Thurs
Simmba (Rohit Shetty) Fri-Thurs 

AMC Seattle:

Shoplifters (Kore-eda Hirokazu) Fri-Thurs  

Regal Thornton Place:

On the Basis of Sex (Mimi Leder) Fri-Thurs

SIFF Uptown:

If Beale Street Could Talk (Barry Jenkins) Starts Tues
Shoplifters (Kore-eda Hirokazu) Fri-Thurs 
Moulin Rouge! (Baz Luhrmann, 2001) Mon Only Sing-along

Featured Film:

Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan at the Northwest Film Forum

Yeah, I know, it’s awards season and the theatres are packed with the respectable products of Hollywood and the international festival circuit. You got your Lanthimoses and Cuarón’s and Kore-eda’s, your respectable actors doing biopics and whatever it is Natalie Portman is up to in Vox Lux. Well, you can have all that if you want, for me, the undisputed highlight on Seattle Screens this week is a 45 year old rape-revenge film by Chor Yuen, the Shaw Brothers answer to Josef von Sternberg. Intimate Confessions kicks off what is to be a series of Hong Kong films over the next month, splitting between the Film Forum (who will be playing Come Drink with Me, Golden Swallow, and The One-Armed Swordsman in coming weeks) and the Grand Illusion (who have a pair of Sammo Hung movies: Pedicab Driver and Blade of Fury). I will do my best not to name them the Featured Film every week. But no promises.

Playing This Week:

AMC Alderwood:

The Favourite (Yorgos Lanthimos) Fri-Thurs 
Vox Lux (Brady Corbet) Fri-Thurs 
At Eternity’s Gate (Julian Schnabel) Fri-Thurs 
Anna and the Apocalypse (John McPhail) Fri-Thurs  

Central Cinema:

Die Hard (John McTiernan, 1988) Fri-Tues 
Elf (Jon Favreau, 2003) Fri-Tues 

Cinerama:

Roma (Alfonso Cuarón) Fri-Thurs  

Crest Cinema Centre:

Roma (Alfonso Cuarón) Fri-Thurs  
The Wife (Björn Runge) Fri-Thurs 

SIFF Egyptian:

The Favourite (Yorgos Lanthimos) Fri-Thurs 

Century Federal Way:

Bhajjo Veero Ve (Amberdeep Singh) Fri-Thurs 

Grand Cinema:

Roma (Alfonso Cuarón) Fri-Thurs  
The Favourite (Yorgos Lanthimos) Fri-Thurs 
At Eternity’s Gate (Julian Schnabel) Fri-Thurs 
A Christmas Story (Bob Clark, 1983) Sat Only Free Screening
Rare Exports (Jalmari Helander, 2010) Sat Only 
Heavy Trip (Juuso Laatio & Jukka Vidgren) Sat Only 
Life and Nothing More (Antonio Mendez Esparza) Tues Only 
Bell, Book and Candle (Richard Quine, 1958) Weds Only 

Grand Illusion Cinema:

It’s a Wonderful Life (Frank Capra, 1946) Fri-Thurs 
Dial Code Santa Claus (René Manzor, 1989) Fri & Thurs Only  
The Great Buster (Peter Bogdanovich) Sat & Sun Only 
Best of VHSXMAS Sat Only VHS

Cinemark Lincoln Square:

The Favourite (Yorgos Lanthimos) Fri-Thurs  
Mary Queen of Scots (Josie Rourke) Fri-Thurs 
Vox Lux (Brady Corbet) Fri-Thurs 
2.0 (S. Shankar) Fri-Thurs 
Anna and the Apocalypse (John McPhail) Fri-Thurs 
Kedarnath (Abhishek Kapoor) Fri-Thurs 
Hushaaru (Sree Harsha Konuganti) Fri-Thurs 
Odiyan (V. A. Shrikumar Menon) Fri-Thurs 
Thuppaki Munai (Dinesh Selvaraj) Fri-Thurs 

Regal Meridian:

Mary Queen of Scots (Josie Rourke) Fri-Thurs 
Anna and the Apocalypse (John McPhail) Fri-Thurs 
Christmas Vacation (Jeremiah S. Chechik, 1989) Sat Only 
They Shall Not Grow Old (Peter Jackson) Mon Only 

Northwest Film Forum:

Burning (Lee Changdong) Fri, Mon-Thurs 
People’s Republic of Desire (Hao Wu) Fri-Sun Our Review 
Impulso (Emilio Belmonte) Fri-Thurs 
In the Soup (Alexandre Rockwell, 1992) Sat Only
The Other Virginity (Juan Manuel Torres, 1974) Sun Only 
Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan (Chor Yuen, 1972) Weds Only Our Review

AMC Oak Tree:

The Favourite (Yorgos Lanthimos) Fri-Thurs 
Vox Lux (Brady Corbet) Fri-Thurs 

AMC Pacific Place:

A Cool Fish (Rao Xiaozhi) Fri-Thurs 
Vox Lux (Brady Corbet) Fri-Thurs 

Regal Parkway Plaza:

Kedarnath (Abhishek Kapoor) Fri-Thurs 

AMC Seattle:

Vox Lux (Brady Corbet) Fri-Thurs 

SIFF Film Center:

Blades of Glory (Josh Gordon & Will Speck, 2007) Fri & Sat Only 
Goon (Michael Dowse, 2011) Sat Only 
King Curling (Ole Endresen, 2011) Sat Only 
Miracle (Gavin O’Connor, 2004) Sun Only 

AMC Southcenter:

Vox Lux (Brady Corbet) Fri-Thurs 

Regal Thornton Place:

Christmas Vacation (Jeremiah S. Chechik, 1989) Sat Only 
They Shall Not Grow Old (Peter Jackson) Mon Only 

SIFF Uptown:

At Eternity’s Gate (Julian Schnabel) Fri-Thurs
Shoplifters (Kore-eda Hirokazu) Fri-Thurs 

Varsity Theatre:

Bathtubs Over Broadway (Dava Whisenant) Fri-Thurs 
Maria by Callas (Tom Volf) Fri-Thurs 

Featured Film:

Burning at the Northwest Film Forum

There are a lot of films of interest out this week, including award-hopefuls The Favorite and At Eternity’s Gate, both of which aren’t bad at all, and Peter Bogdanovich’s fine Buster Keaton doc The Great Buster, which continues into a second week at the Grand Illusion. And Roma, of course, Alfonso Cuarón’s Netflix movie has a decent shot at being the first true foreign language film to win the Best Picture Oscar, and it’s playing at the Cinerama and, of all places, the Crest. I haven’t seen Roma yet (it’s planned for later tonight), so if I had to pick one essential movie to see on Seattle Screens this week (and I do, that’s what this space is for), it’d be Lee Changdong’s Burning, playing exclusively at the Northwest Film Forum.

I’m not even sure if Burning is a very good movie. It’s made with exceptional craft though, a slow-ahem-burning psychological thriller about a disaffected young man who comes to believe that a rich guy (Steven Yeun, in a performance sure to get plenty of deserved award recognition in coming weeks) is both an arsonist and has done something to the woman the young man loves. Based on a Haruki Murakami short story, with lots of added Murakami in-jokes and shades of William Faulkner, it’s the most diabolically engrossing film of the year.

Playing This Week:

AMC Alderwood:

2.0 (S. Shankar) Fri-Thurs 
The Wife (Björn Runge) Fri-Thurs 
Elf (Jon Favreau, 2003) Fri-Thurs 
Kedarnath (Abhishek Kapoor) Fri-Thurs 
Schindler’s List (Steven Spielberg, 1993) Fri-Thurs 
Default (Choi Kook-hee) Fri-Thurs 

Ark Lodge Cinemas:

Roll with Me (Lisa France) Weds Only

Central Cinema:

The Nightmare Before Christmas (Henry Sellick, 1993) Sat-Tues 
Krampus (Michael Dougherty, 2015) Sat-Tues 

Cinerama:

Roma (Alfonso Cuarón) Fri-Sun 
Holiday Film Series Mon-Weds Full Program

Crest Cinema Centre:

Roma (Alfonso Cuarón) Fri-Thurs  
Mowgli (Andy Serkis) Fri-Thurs 

SIFF Egyptian:

The Favourite (Yorgos Lanthimos) Fri-Thurs 

Century Federal Way:

Banjara (Mushtaq Pasha) Fri-Thurs
2.0 (S. Shankar) Fri-Thurs
White Christmas (Michael Curtiz, 1954) Sun & Weds Only

Grand Cinema:

Liyana (Aaron Kopp & Amanda Kopp) Fri-Thurs 
Maria by Callas (Tom Volf) Fri-Thurs 
Gremlins (Joe Dante, 1984) Sat Only 
The Mercy (James Marsh) Tues Only 
It’s a Wonderful Life (Frank Capra, 1946) Weds Only 
Cat Video Fest 2018 Thurs Only 

Grand Illusion Cinema:

The Great Buster (Peter Bogdanovich) Fri-Thurs 
It’s a Wonderful Life (Frank Capra, 1946) Fri-Thurs 
Mikey (Dennis Dimster, 1992) Sat Only VHS  
Dial Code Santa Claus (René Manzor, 1989) Tues, Next Fri & Thurs Only   
It’s a Wonderful Life (Frank Capra, 1946) Fri-Thurs  

Cinemark Lincoln Square:

The Favourite (Yorgos Lanthimos) Fri-Thurs  
2.0 (S. Shankar) Fri-Thurs 
Mirai (Mamoru Hosada) Sat Only Our Review Our Other Review Dubbed
Kedarnath (Abhishek Kapoor) Fri-Thurs 
Schindler’s List (Steven Spielberg, 1993) Fri-Thurs 
Subramanyapuram (santhossh jagarlaupdi) Fri-Tues In Telugu with No Subtitles 
Johny Johny Yes Appa (Marthandan) Sat & Sun Only 
Mumbai Pune Mumbai 3 (Satish Rajwade) Sat & Sun Only 
Naal (Sudhakar Reddy Yakkanti) Sat & Sun Only 
White Christmas (Michael Curtiz, 1954) Sun & Weds Only

Regal Meridian:

The Wife (Björn Runge) Fri-Thurs 
2.0 (S. Shankar) Fri-Thurs 
Anna and the Apocalypse (John McPhail) Fri Sun & Mon Only 

Northwest Film Forum:

Burning (Lee Changdong) Fri-Thurs 
In the Soup (Alexandre Rockwell, 1992) Fri & Next Sat Only
The Apology (Tiffany Hsiung) Sat Only Free Event
I am Evidence (Trish Adlesic & Geeta Gandbhir) Sun Only Free Event
From the West (Juliane Henrich) Tues Only Filmmaker in Attendance
Wobble Palace (Eugene Kotlyarenko) Weds Only 

AMC Oak Tree:

The Favourite (Yorgos Lanthimos) Fri-Thurs 

AMC Pacific Place:

A Cool Fish (Rao Xiaozhi) Fri-Thurs 
Schindler’s List (Steven Spielberg, 1993) Fri-Thurs 
The Tag-Along: Devil Fish (David Chuang) Fri-Thurs 

Regal Parkway Plaza:

2.0 (S. Shankar) Fri-Thurs 
Kedarnath (Abhishek Kapoor) Fri-Thurs 
The Wife (Björn Runge) Fri-Thurs 
Three Words to Forever (Cathy Garcia-Molina) Fri-Thurs 

AMC Seattle:

The Wife (Björn Runge) Fri-Thurs 

SIFF Film Center:

Goon (Michael Dowse, 2011) Fri Only
The Cutting Edge (Paul Michael Glaser, 1992) Sat Only
Youngblood (Peter Markle, 1986) Sat Only
I, Tonya (Craig Gillespie) Sun Only 
Mystery, Alaska (Jay Roach, 1999) Sun Only 

AMC Southcenter:

Elf (Jon Favreau, 2003) Fri-Thurs 
Return to Seattle (Brock Mullins) Fri-Thurs 
Schindler’s List (Steven Spielberg, 1993) Fri-Thurs 

Regal Thornton Place:

Schindler’s List (Steven Spielberg, 1993) Fri-Thurs 
Mirai (Mamoru Hosada) Sat Only Our Review Our Other Review 
White Christmas (Michael Curtiz, 1954) Sun & Weds Only 

SIFF Uptown:

At Eternity’s Gate (Julian Schnabel) Fri-Thurs
Border (Ali Abbasi) Fri-Thurs

Varsity Theatre:

Bathtubs Over Broadway (Dava Whisenant) Fri-Thurs 
Maria by Callas (Tom Volf) Fri-Thurs 
Moomins and The Winter Wonderland (Ira Carpelan & Jakub Wronski) Tues Only 
White Christmas (Michael Curtiz, 1954) Weds Only

Featured Film:

Mirai at Various Regal Cinemas

It’s getting into awards season and you know what that means: Seattle Screen Scene recommends you go out and watch anime. Last week it was Liz and the Blue Bird, which criminally only played for a handful of shows around town. This week, it’s Mamoru Hosada’s Mirai, which is playing sporadically at various multiplexes in the area, mostly Regal but also at the Cinemark in Bellevue. Much like the other truly great anime from this year, Night is Short Walk on Girl, it’s playing as part of some kind of specialty release program (targeted at, I don’t know, Cruchyroll subscribers?) rather than getting proper theatrical distribution. I don’t know why but it’s too bad, because in a just world Mirai and these other films would be getting the kind of art house rollout even the most mediocre (or outright bad) Oscar hopeful gets this time of year. Anyway, Mirai is very good. Like Hosada’s best film, Wolf Children, it’s a deceptively wise look at growing up, this time from the perspective of a child who comes to see themself as a part of a wider continuity through time and space. With a light touch and moments of striking beauty, it’s one of the very best films from what has been an exceptional year for (non-American) animation.

Playing This Week:

AMC Alderwood:

2.0 (S. Shankar) Fri-Thurs
Default (Choi Kook-hee) Fri-Thurs
Unstoppable (Kim Min-ho) Fri-Thurs

Central Cinema:

Gremlins (Joe Dante, 1984) Fri-Tues
Home Alone (Chris Columbus, 1990) Fri-Mon

SIFF Egyptian:

Border (Ali Abbasi) Fri-Thurs
The Favourite (Yorgos Lanthimos) Weds & Thurs Only

Century Federal Way:

Default (Choi Kook-hee) Fri-Thurs
2.0 (S. Shankar) Fri-Thurs
Sleepless in Seattle (Nora Ephron, 1993) Fri-Thurs

Grand Cinema:

American Psycho (Mary Harron, 2000) Sat Only
The Great Buster (Peter Bogdanovich) Tues Only
Cat Video Fest 2018 Weds Only
The Mercy (James Marsh) Thurs Only

Grand Illusion Cinema:

The Great Buster (Peter Bogdanovich) Fri-Thurs

Cinemark Lincoln Square:

Mirai (Mamoru Hosada) Fri & Weds Only Our Review Our Other Review Subtitled
2.0 (S. Shankar) Fri-Thurs
Oru Kuprasidha Payyan (Madhupal) Sat & Sun Only

Regal Meridian:

Mirai (Mamoru Hosada) Fri Sun & Mon Only Our Review Our Other Review Subtitled
2.0 (S. Shankar) Fri-Thurs

Northwest Film Forum:

Donna Haraway: Story Telling for Earthly Survival (Fabrizio Terranova) Fri-Sun
Memoir of War (Emmanuel Finkiel) Fri-Thurs
In the Soup (Alexandre Rockwell, 1992) Weds & Next Fri & Sat Only

AMC Pacific Place:

A Cool Fish (Rao Xiaozhi) Fri-Thurs

Regal Parkway Plaza:

2.0 (S. Shankar) Fri-Thurs

Seattle Art Museum:

Heat (Michael Mann, 1995) Thurs Only

SIFF Film Center:

The Cutting Edge (Paul Michael Glaser, 1992) Fri Only
Slap Shot (George Roy Hill, 1977) Sat Only
The Mighty Ducks (Stephen Herek, 1992) Sat Only
Ice Castles (Donald Wrye, 1978) Sun Only

Regal Thornton Place:

Mirai (Mamoru Hosada) Fri Sun, Mon & Weds Only Our Review Our Other Review Subtitled

SIFF Uptown:

Suspiria (Luca Guadagnino) Fri-Thurs
Prospect (Chris Caldwell & Zeek Earl) Thurs Only Directors in Attendance

Varsity Theatre:

Maria by Callas (Tom Volf) Fri-Thurs

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