Events: Film

Vivere all’Italiana Contemporary Movies

Next date: May 22, 2018 - click here for time schedule - English

The Consulate General of Italy in Miami presents four unique contemporary Italian films on May 21-24, 2018. Mario Martone's Il giovane favoloso tells the story of the short but fruitful life of illness-racked Italian poet and philosopher Giacomo Leopardi. The film was nominated for the Golden Lion at the 71st Venice International Film Festival and screened during the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival. In Paolo Benvenuti and Paola Baroni's Puccini e la fanciulla, the great Italian composer Giacomo Puccini provides the basis for this historical drama. While Puccini is totally engrossed with the composition of his opera La fanciulla del West, sexual intrigue swirls around him. Fausto Brizzi's comedy Pazze di me follows the life of Andrea, who is tired of losing girlfriends after they meet his family, so he pretends to be an orphan when he meets Giulia. And in the final film in the series, Nicole will discover an unbearable truth as she struggles against obscure threats menacing her little girl in Giuseppe Petitto's latest thriller Occhi Chiusi.

Dream Girls (2006)

Wednesday, May 23, 2018 various times - English

The FREE Citi Cinema Series at SoundScape is held at SoundScape Park at the New World Center. Movies begin at 8:00 PM, RAIN OR SHINE unless otherwise noted. Text MBFILM to 91011 for weekly reminders and updates. PLEASE NOTE: The SoundScape Cinema Series is curated and presented by the City of Miami Beach. Titles subject to change.

Westworld

Saturday, May 26, 2018 at 11:30 PM - English

Years before cloned dinosaurs ran amok on Isla Nublar, Michael Crichton unleashed killer robots, led by a frightening Yul Brynner (The Magnificent Seven), in a Western-themed amusement park called Westworld. For $1000, guests can indulge any of their desires, from pleasures of the flesh (read: robot sex) to a (simulated) fight to the death. The androids populating the park have one key directive: never harm the customers. But soon their programming falls apart and the faux danger turns real. Best known for his novels, Crichton both penned and directed Westworld, his theatrical debut, and is the first film to feature digital image processing. It’s a classic 70’s sci-fi flick that’s been given much more complex facelift thanks to Jonathan Nolan and HBO’s television series.

Rio Bravo

Tuesday, May 29, 2018 at 6:30 PM - English

John Wayne, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, and Walter Brennan hole up in a sheriff’s office, there to protect a prisoner from a band of hired guns outside. The stylized setting soon becomes an arena for a moral battle, as the characters discover and test their resources of trust, skill, and courage, values poised against encroaching chaos. Howard Hawks’ western is American filmmaking at its finest - clean, clear, and direct -and it’s also the most optimistic masterpiece on film, valiantly shoring fragments against human ruin with exquisite subtlety, comedy and tenderness. After The Searchers, Rio Bravo was the second highest-ranked western in the 2012 Sight & Sound critics’ poll of the greatest films ever made. In his 2003 book about Rio Bravo for the British Film Institute, Robin Wood makes the argument that the movie may well be the finest American film. He writes: “Rio Bravo remains, beyond politics, as an argument as to why we should all want to go on living and fighting.”

Wizard of Oz (1939)

Wednesday, May 30, 2018 various times - English

The FREE Citi Cinema Series at SoundScape is held at SoundScape Park at the New World Center. Movies begin at 8:00 PM, RAIN OR SHINE unless otherwise noted. Text MBFILM to 91011 for weekly reminders and updates. PLEASE NOTE: The SoundScape Cinema Series is curated and presented by the City of Miami Beach. Titles subject to change.

The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness

Thursday, May 31, 2018 at 8:30 PM - English

Granted near-unfettered access to the notoriously insular Studio Ghibli, director Mami Sunada follows the three men who are the lifeblood of Ghibli – the eminent director Hayao Miyazaki, the producer Toshio Suzuki, and the elusive and influential “other director” Isao Takahata – over the course of a year as the studio rushes to complete two films, Miyazaki’s The Wind Rises and Takahata’s The Tale of The Princess Kaguya. The result is a rare “fly on the wall” glimpse of the inner workings of one of the world’s most celebrated animation studios, and an insight into the dreams, passion and singular dedication of these remarkable creators.

Princess Mononoke

Jun 1, 2018 to Jun 3, 2018 - click here for time schedule - English

Princess Mononoke is a landmark of animation and a film of unsurpassed power and beauty. While defending his village from a demonic boar-god, the young warrior Ashitaka becomes afflicted with a curse that grants him super-human power in battle but will eventually take his life. Traveling west to find a cure or meet his destiny, he journeys deep into sacred depths of the Great Forest where he meets San (Princess Mononoke), a girl raised by wolf-gods who is waging battle against the human outpost of Iron Town, on the edge of the forest. The girl is a force of nature – with blood smeared lips, riding bareback on a great white wolf, doing battle with both gods and humans, San is as iconic a figure as any from film, literature, or opera.

The Wind Rises

Jun 1, 2018 to Jun 3, 2018 - click here for time schedule - English

Jiro dreams of flying and designing beautiful airplanes, inspired by the famous Italian aeronautical designer Caproni. Nearsighted and unable to be a pilot, he becomes one of the world’s most accomplished airplane designers, experiencing key historical events in an epic tale of love, perseverance and the challenges of living and making choices in a turbulent world. Hayao Miyazaki, a pacifist, courted controversy with The Wind Rises for featuring a protagonist who designed warplanes (Jiro Horikoshi was the chief engineer behind the infamous Zero used in World War II). To Miyazaki’s credit, he was inspired by a quote from Horikoshi that clearly resonated with the animator: “All I wanted to do was to make something beautiful.” In another unusual move, Miyazaki cast Hideaki Anno, the creator of the acclaimed and also controversial anime TV series Neon Genesis Evangelion, as the voice of Horikoshi. Though not a voice actor, Anno’s casting had a poetic ring to it as he got his start as an animator on Miyazaki’s debut, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. A few months after The Wind Rises was released, Miyazaki announced his retirement, ending an unparalleled 30+ year career in animation – although today, he is back in the studio and working on a new film.

My Neighbors the Yamadas

Saturday, Jun 2, 2018 at 2:00 PM - English

In a break from the frequently mythical storytelling of Studio Ghibli, studio co-founder Isao Takahata wryly tweaks the everyday activities of family life with his hilarious depiction of the irresponsible, slovenly, and lazy Yamada family and their unassuming way of life. With cartoon-like characters and visual design unlike anything else in the Studio Ghibli canon, the film is illustrated in a series of rough sketches and outlines, which are then filled with soft colors that evoke watercolor painting. My Neighbors the Yamadas consists of four vignettes that follows the daily lives of the titular family: Matsuko and Takashi (mom and dad); Shige (the grandmother); Noboru and Nonoko (son and daughter); and Pochi (the family dog).

Tampopo

Saturday, Jun 2, 2018 at 11:30 PM - English

Juzo Itami’s rapturous “ramen western” returns to U.S. screens for the first time in decades, in a new 4K restoration. The tale of an enigmatic band of ramen ronin who guide the widow of a noodle shop owner on her quest for the perfect recipe, Tampopo serves up a savory broth of culinary adventure seasoned with off-beat comedy sketches and the erotic exploits of a gastronome gangster. Sweet, sexy, surreal, and mouthwatering, Tampopo remains one of the most delectable examples of food on film. But it is not really about noodles. It’s about life. Food is life and Tampopo is about living to the fullest, finding the absurdity and humor in the quest to master life.

The Secret World of Arrietty

Sunday, Jun 3, 2018 at 1:00 PM - English

The directorial debut of Hiromasa Yonebayashi (When Marnie Was There), The Secret World of Arrietty is a gorgeous adaptation of The Borrowers, one of the most popular children’s books of all time. In a secret world hidden beneath the floorboards, little people called Borrowers live quietly among us. But when tenacious and tiny Arrietty is discovered by Shawn, a human boy, their secret and forbidden friendship blossoms into an extraordinary adventure.

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

Jun 4, 2018 & Jun 5, 2018 - click here for time schedule - English

This is where it all began: the debut feature from master animator Hayao Miyazaki. Set in a devastated future world decimated by atmospheric poisons and swarming with gigantic insects, Nausicaä is the story of a young princess, both brave and innocent, whose love for all living things and passionate determination to understand the processes of nature lead her into terrible danger, sacrifice, and eventual triumph. Throughout the film, Miyazaki’s animation is awe-inspiring: from the transcendent beauty of the poisoned forest to the giant, Dune-esque worms and the thrilling flying sequences. Though released before the founding of Studio Ghibli, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind feels as part of the canon as any of the official films. Co-founder Isao Takahata served as producer and marks the first collaboration between Miyazaki and renowned Japanese composer Jose Hisaishi.

Howl's Moving Castle

Jun 6, 2018 & Jun 7, 2018 - click here for time schedule - English

Sophie, an average teenage girl working in a hat shop, finds her life thrown into turmoil when she is literally swept off her feet by a handsome but mysterious wizard named Howl. But after this chance meeting, the young girl is turned into a 90-year old woman by the vain and conniving Witch of the Waste. Embarking on an incredible adventure to lift the curse, she finds refuge in Howl’s magical moving castle. As the true power of Howl’s wizardry is revealed, and his relationship with Sophie deepens, our young grey heroine finds herself fighting to protect them both from a dangerous war of sorcery that threatens their world. Fueled by Hayao Miyazaki’s opposition to the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, Howl’s Moving Castle is a strongly anti-war film whose deep-rooted message of compassion resonates across all ages. It was the second Studio Ghibli film (after Spirited Away) to be nominated for Best animated Feature at the Academy Awards.

The Tale of the Princess Kaguya

Jun 8, 2018 to Jun 10, 2018 - click here for time schedule - English

Fourteen years after his last film (Pom Poko), Isao Takahata revisits Japan’s most famous folktale in this gorgeous, hand-drawn masterwork, decades in the making. Found inside a shining stalk of bamboo by an old bamboo cutter and his wife, a tiny girl grows rapidly into an exquisite young lady. The mysterious young princess enthralls all who encounter her – but ultimately she must confront her fate, the punishment for her crime. Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and boasting a perfect 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes, The Tale of the Princess Kaguya is a powerful and sweeping epic that redefines the limits of animated storytelling and marks a triumphant highpoint within an extraordinary career in filmmaking for Takahata.

Castle in the Sky

Jun 9, 2018 & Jun 10, 2018 - at 3:45 PM - English

Studio Ghibli’s very first film, Castle in the Sky, is an imaginative and ornately detailed vision that mixes Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels with an environmentally-conscious theme that presaged later Miyazaki films like Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away. A young girl with a mysterious crystal pendant falls out of the sky and into the arms and life of young Pazu. Together they search for a floating island in the sky, site of a long-dead civilization promising enormous wealth and power to those who can unlock its secrets.

Dark City

Saturday, Jun 9, 2018 at 11:30 PM - English

John Murdoch (Rufus Sewell) wakes up in a world where night never ends. Suffering from amnesia, he’s sought after by a mysterious group of men dubbed the ‘Strangers’ who suspect him of murder. Seeking to clear his name, Murdoch is aided by Inspector Frank Bumstead (William Hurt) and discovers he has psychokinesis and can alter reality – powers only the Strangers possess. Alex Proyas’ follow-up to The Crow is a mind-bending mélange of noir, sci-fi, and visionary imagination that deals with the weighty themes of memory and the nature of reality. Though often compared to The Matrix (both films utilized some of the same sets in Australia), Dark City predates the Wachowski’s cyberpunk hit and draws a direct lineage to Fritz Lang’s 1927 opus, Metropolis. As Roger Ebert noted in his review, “Both films are about false worlds created to fabricate ideal societies…both are parables in which a dangerous weapon attacks the order of things … but Dark City contains a threat more terrible than any of the horrors in Metropolis.”

Tales from Earthsea

Saturday, Jun 9, 2018 at 1:15 PM - English

The directorial debut of Hayao Miyazaki’s son, Goro Miyazaki, Tales from Earthsea is based on the four novels in legendary sci-fi and fantasy writer Ursula K. LeGuin’s (whose passing earlier this year marked the end of a prolific career) Earthsea cycle. As crops dwindle and dragons reappear, mankind stands on the verge of total chaos. Lord Archmage Sparrowhawk, a powerful wizard, and Arren, a troubled young prince, search for the force behind this mysterious imbalance that threatens to destroy the land of Earthsea, in a tale of redemption and self-discovery that will take your breath away.

Whisper of the Heart

Saturday, Jun 9, 2018 at 12:00 AM - English

Young book-worm Shizuki Tsukishima spends her last summer vacation before high school reading and translating foreign music into Japanese. She notices that the name Seiji appears on every book she borrows from the library. Through a magical encounter with a mysterious cat, she ends up meeting and falling in love with Seiji – who dreams of becoming a famous violinmaker in Italy, while Shizuki aspires to become a writer. As their life goals pull them in different directions, the young lovers are determined to remain true to their feelings for one another. Whisper of the Heart was the first and only feature by Hayao Miyazaki’s protégé Yoshifumi Kondō before his sudden death at the young age of 47. An emotional and heartfelt story about finding one’s passion in life, the film was a critical and commercial success that spawned a spin-off based on the magical cat called The Cat Returns. This film is appropriate for ages 10+

Ocean Waves / Ghiblies

Sunday, Jun 10, 2018 at 1:00 PM - English

Rarely seen outside of Japan, Ocean Waves is a subtle, poignant and wonderfully detailed story of adolescence and teenage isolation. Taku and his best friend Yutaka are headed back to school for what looks like another uneventful year. But they soon find their friendship tested by the arrival of Rikako, a beautiful new transfer student from Tokyo whose attitude vacillates wildly from flirty and flippant to melancholic. When Taku joins Rikako on a trip to Tokyo, the school erupts with rumors, and the three friends are forced to come to terms with their changing relationships. Ocean Waves was the first Studio Ghibli film directed by someone other than studio founders Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata, as director Tomomi Mochizuki led a talented staff of younger employees in an adaptation of Saeko Himuro’s best-selling novel. Full of shots bathed in a palette of pleasingly soft pastel colors and rich in the unexpected visual details typical of Studio Ghibli’s most revered works, Ocean Waves is an accomplished teenage drama and a true discovery.

The Cat Returns

Sunday, Jun 10, 2018 various times - English

In this sequel to Whisper of the Heart, the King of Cats visits quiet suburban schoolgirl Haru after she saves his son from certain death. Showering her with gifts – including a large supply of individually wrapped live mice – the King decrees Haru shall marry the cat prince and come to live as a princess in the secret Kingdom of Cats. Pitched into this fantastical feline world, Haru must find her inner strength to make her way back home. This film is appropriate for ages 6+

Pom Poko

Jun 11, 2018 & Jun 12, 2018 - click here for time schedule - English

In this brilliant and often overlooked film from Isao Takahata, the forests are filled with groups of magical tanuki, mischievous raccoon dogs from Japanese folklore that are capable of shape-shifting from their standard form to practically any object. The tanuki spend their days playing idly in the hillsides and squabbling over food – until the construction of a huge new Tokyo suburb clears the nearby forest and threatens their way of life. In an effort to defend their home, the tanuki learn to transform into humans and start playing tricks to make the workers think the construction site is haunted, ending in a spectacular night-time spirit parade, with thousands of ghosts, dragons and other magical creatures descending on the city — in an abundance of fantastical characters that would not be matched on screen by Studio Ghibli until Spirited Away.

Porco Rosso

Jun 11, 2018 & Jun 12, 2018 - click here for time schedule - English

Hayao Miyazaki fans will be familiar with the maestro’s fascination with flight; in Porco Rosso, he indulges his passion to the fullest. Set in a mid-war Italy swept by fascism, the film follows the life of Marco, a world-weary flying ace turned bounty hunter who plies his trade above the waters of the Adriatic. Somewhere along the way a curse has transformed Marco’s head into the head of a pig, reflecting his loss of faith in humanity. Marco meets his polar opposite in the innocent and energetic 17-year-old Fio, an aspiring airplane designer, and the two are catapulted into an airborne adventure pursued by air pirates, the Italian army, and an egotistical American flying ace. An avid aviation buff, Miyazaki’s airplane designs conform scrupulously to the technology of the period. But most impressive are the exhilarating aerial scenes: sweeping panoramas of wind, cloud, smoke and water and the breathtaking feeling of soaring though the air in an open cockpit.

From Up on Poppy Hill

Jun 13, 2018 & Jun 14, 2018 - at 6:30 PM - English

Yokohama, 1963. Japan is picking itself up from the devastation of World War II and preparing to host the Olympics. Against this backdrop of hope and change, a friendship begins to blossom between high school students Umi and Shun – but a buried secret from their past emerges to cast a shadow on the future and pull them apart. The Ghibli legacy continues in the second directorial outing from Goro Miyazaki, From Up on Poppy Hill, a gentle and nostalgic film that highlights the trauma of war and the importance of confronting the past in order to move past it.

Kiki's Delivery Service

Jun 13, 2018 & Jun 14, 2018 - click here for time schedule - English

It is tradition for all young witches to leave their families on the night of a full moon and set out into the wide world to learn their craft. When that night comes for Kiki, she embarks on her life journey with her chatty black cat, Jiji, landing the next morning in a sea-side village, where a bakery owner hires her to make deliveries. The resourceful young witch uses her broom for the delivery service, only to lose her gift of flight in a moment of self-doubt. Rarely has Miyazaki’s art been so brilliantly rendered as in this delightfully imaginative film – a beautiful and timeless story of a young girl finding her way in the world.

Macbeth

Jun 15, 2018 to Jun 17, 2018 - at 12:00 PM - English

Shakespeare’s most intense and terrifying tragedy, directed by Rufus Norris (The Threepenny Opera, London Road), will see Rory Kinnear (Young Marx, Othello) and Anne-Marie Duff (Oil, Suffragette) return to the National Theatre to play Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. The ruined aftermath of a bloody civil war. Ruthlessly fighting to survive, the Macbeths are propelled towards the crown by forces of elemental darkness.

The Sandlot

Saturday, Jun 16, 2018 at 11:30 PM - English

Scotty Smalls is the new kid in town, desperately trying to fit in. When the leader of the neighborhood team recruits him to play on the nearby sandlot field – even though Scott cannot throw a ball to save his life – it's the beginning of a magical summer of baseball, wild adventures, first kisses and fearsome confrontations with the dreaded beast and its owner (James Earl Jones) who live behind the left field fence. A beloved cult classic, The Sandlot is a testament to just how fun it is to be a kid. Just take Roger Ebert’s word for it: “There was a moment in the film when [Benny] hit a line drive directly at the pitcher's mound, and I ducked and held up my mitt, and then I realized I didn't have a mitt, and it was then I also realized how completely this movie had seduced me with its memories of what really matters when you are 12.”

Won't You Be My Neighbor?

Jun 22, 2018 to Jun 28, 2018 - various times - English

Academy Award-winning filmmaker Morgan Neville’s (Twenty Feet From Stardom, Best of Enemies) latest documentary takes an intimate look at America’s favorite neighbor: Mister Fred Rogers. A portrait of a man whom we all think we know, Won’t You Be My Neighbor? is an emotional and moving film that takes you beyond zip-up cardigans and the land of make-believe, and into the heart of a creative genius who inspired generations of children with compassion and limitless imagination.

Hot Fuzz

Saturday, Jun 23, 2018 at 11:30 PM - English

After watching pretty much every action film there is, director Edgar Wright and writer Simon Pegg concocted the brilliant Hot Fuzz, a mash-up of genre conventions that honors the works it borrows from and ends up being more than the sum of its parts. Pegg plays an over-achieving London cop transferred to a quiet village after his perfect record puts his entire department to shame. There, he’s partnered with an oafish constable (Nick Frost) and soon uncovers a series of suspicious accidents and events that lead to honest-to-goodness crime.

Scarface

Saturday, Jun 30, 2018 at 11:30 PM - English

Meet Tony Montana (Oscar-winner Al Pacino), a Cuban refugee newly arrived in Miami courtesy of the Mariel boatlift. Together with friend Manny Ribera (Steven Bauer), Tony turns to criminal acts to make ends meet. As they dive into the world of cocaine, their graphically violent criminal enterprise quickly grows, as does Tony’s insatiable appetite for drugs, money, power, and the woman he can’t have. Roger Ebert notes, “Scarface is one of those special movies, like The Godfather, that is willing to take a flawed, evil man and allow him to be human.” The film’s downward spiral of self-destruction and excess still resonates 35 years later.

2001: A Space Odyssey

Jul 6, 2018 to Jul 12, 2018 - click here for time schedule - English

CGAC presents a brand new 70mm print of 2001: A Space Odyssey to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Stanley Kubrick's landmark film. Overseen by Christopher Nolan, "this 70mm print was struck from new printing elements made from the original camera negative. This is a true photochemical film recreation. There are no digital tricks, remastered effects, or revisionist edits. This is the unrestored film - that recreates the cinematic event that audiences experienced fifty years ago."

Beginning with the dawn of man millions of years ago, 2001: A Space Odyssey charts an epic journey across the vastness of human history – and beyond. Co-written by Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke, the 1968 masterpiece tackles lofty themes including human evolution, the search for extraterrestrial life, advancements in artificial intelligence, and the often conflicting uses of technology. Fifty years later, the film has not lost a speck of awe or relevance thanks to a tight, poetic narrative and Academy Award-winning special effects created by a director known for his perfectionism. It’s a film full of wonder in every single frame and the kind that you don’t simply watch but experience. As Alexander Walker, noted film critic for London’s Evening Standard, pointed out: "I shall go and see it again as soon as possible, for one thing is clear. Man has shrunk space, but director Stanley Kubrick has expanded the cinema."

Spirited Away

Jul 8, 2018 to Jul 10, 2018 - click here for time schedule - English

Wandering through an abandoned carnival site, ten-year-old Chichiro is separated from her parents and stumbles into a dream-like spirit world where she is put to work in a bathhouse for the gods, a place where all kinds of nonhuman beings come to refresh, relax and recharge. Here she encounters a vast menagerie of impossibly inventive characters – shape-shifting phantoms and spirits, some friendly, some less so – and must find the inner strength to outsmart her captors and return to her family. Combining Japanese mythology with Through the Looking Glass-type whimsy, Spirited Away cemented Miyazaki’s reputation as an icon of inspired animation and wondrous, lyrical storytelling. It became – and still is – the highest grossing film of all time in Japan and holds the distinction of being the only hand-drawn (and non-English!) animated film to win the Oscar for Best Animated Feature.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

Jul 20, 2018 to Jul 22, 2018 - at 12:00 PM - English

Captured live from the National Theatre in London, this critically acclaimed production directed by Marianne Elliot (Angels in America, War Horse) has astonished audiences around the world and has received seven Olivier and five Tony Awards. Christopher, fifteen years old, stands beside Mrs. Shears’ dead dog. It has been speared with a garden fork, it is seven minutes after midnight and Christopher is under suspicion. He records each fact in the book he is writing to solve the mystery of who murdered Wellington. He has an extraordinary brain, exceptional at maths while ill-equipped to interpret everyday life. He has never ventured alone beyond the end of his road, he detests being touched and he distrusts strangers. But his detective work, forbidden by his father, takes him on a frightening journey that upturns his world.