Films – May 2016

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Languages

Danish

French

Korean

Dutch

Hindi

Mandarin

English

Italian

Spanish

Farsi

Japanese

Danish

Men & Chicken

Directed by Anders Thomas Jensen

(Denmark/Germany, 2016, 100 min.)

A pair of socially challenged siblings discover they are adopted half­ brothers in their late father’s will. Their journey in search of their true father takes them to a small, insular Danish island, where they stumble upon three additional half­brothers—each also sporting hereditary harelips and lunatic tendencies.

Landmark’s E Street Cinema

Opens Fri., May 6

 

Dutch

Ben Ali Libi, Magician

Directed by Dirk Jan Roeleven

(Netherlands, 2015, 54 min.)

Trace the larger story of the Holocaust through this heartfelt search for magician Ben Ali Libi, the main character in an iconic poem of the Dutch poet Willem Wilmink.

Washington DCJCC

Tue., May 24, 7:30 p.m.

 

English

The 33

Directed by Patricia Riggen

(U.S./Chile, 2015, 127 min.)

I n 2010, 33 Chilean miners were buried alive by the catastrophic explosion and collapse of a century-old gold and copper mine. Over the next 69 days, an international team worked around the clock in a desperate attempt to rescue the trapped men as their families and friends, and millions around the world, watched anxiously for any sign of hope. Two hundred stories beneath the surface, in the suffocating heat and with tensions rising, provisions — and time — were quickly running out (English and Spanish).

AFI Silver Theatre

Mon., May 2, 7 p.m.

 

A Bigger Splash

Directed by Luca Guadagnino

(Italy/France, 2016, 124 min.)

The vacation of a famous rock star and a filmmaker is disrupted by the unexpected visit of an old friend and his daughter.

Angelika Mosaic

Landmark’s E Street Cinema

Opens Fri., May 13

 

Dark Horse

Directed by Louise Osmond

(U.K., 2016, 85 min.)

Set in a former mining village in Wales, “Dark Horse” is the inspirational true story of a group of friends from a working men’s club who decide to take on the elite “sport of kings” and breed themselves a racehorse.

Landmark’s E Street Cinema

Opens Fri., May 13

 

Dough

Directed by John Goldschmidt

(U.K./Hungary, 2016, 94 min.)

An old Jewish baker takes on a young Muslim apprentice to save his failing London kosher bakery. When his apprentice’s marijuana stash accidentally falls in the mixing dough, the challah starts flying off the shelves.

Landmark’s E Street Cinema

 

Eye in the Sky

Directed by Gavin Hood

(U.K., 2016, 102 min.)

Col. Katherine Powell, a military officer in command of an operation to capture terrorists in Kenya, sees her mission escalate when a girl enters the kill zone and triggers an international dispute over the implications of modern warfare.

Angelika Mosaic

 

High-Rise

Directed by Ben Wheatley

(U.K./Ireland/Belgium, 2016, 119 min.)

Dr. Robert Laing is the newest resident of a luxurious apartment in a high-tech concrete skyscraper whose lofty location places him amongst the upper class. But as power outages become more frequent and building flaws emerge, particularly on the lower floors, the regimented social strata begins to crumble and the building becomes a battlefield in a literal class war.

Landmark’s E Street Cinema

Opens Fri., May 13

 

A Hologram for the King

Directed by Tom Tykwer

(U.K./France/Germany/U.S., 2016, 97 min.)

In recession-ravaged 2010, an American businessman, depressed and freshly divorced, arrives in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia to sell a state-of-the-art holographic teleconferencing system to the Saudi government. After a rough start, cultural barriers break down and he begins to contemplate the possibility of a fresh start in a land where tradition and modernity meet in perplexing ways.

Angelika Mosaic

Landmark’s E Street Cinema

 

The Lobster

Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos

(Ireland/U.K./Greece/France/Netherlands/U.S., 2016, 118 min.)

In a dystopian near future, single people, according to the laws of The City, are taken to The Hotel, where they are obliged to find a romantic partner in forty-five days or are transformed into beasts and sent off into The Woods.

Landmark’s E Street Cinema

Opens Fri., May 13

 

Love & Friendship

Directed by Whit Stillman

(Ireland/Netherlands/France/U.S., 2016, 92 min.)

Lady Susan Vernon takes up temporary residence at her in-laws’ estate and, while there, is determined to be a matchmaker for her daughter Frederica — and herself too, naturally.

Angelika Mosaic

Opens Fri., May 20

 

The Man Who Knew Infinity

Directed by Matt Brown

(U.K., 2016, 108 min.)

Growing up poor in Madras, India, Srinivasa Ramanujan Iyengar earns admittance to Cambridge University during World War I, where he becomes a pioneer in mathematical theories with the guidance of his professor, G.H. Hardy (English and Tamil).

Landmark’s E Street Cinema

Opens Fri., May 6

 

The Meddler

Directed by Lorene Scafaria

(U.S., 2016, 100 min.)

After the death of her husband, Marnie (Susan Sarandon) has happily relocated from New Jersey to Los Angeles to be near her daughter Lori (Rose Byrne), a successful (but still single) screenwriter, and smother her with motherly love. But when Lori draws strict personal boundaries, Marnie finds ways to channel her eternal optimism and forceful generosity to change the lives of others.

Angelika Mosaic

Landmark’s E Street Cinema

 

Presenting Princess Shaw

Directed by Ido Haar

(Israel, 2015, 80 min.)

By day, Samantha Montgomery cares for the elderly in one of New Orleans’s toughest neighborhoods. By night, she writes and sings her own songs as Princess Shaw on her confessional YouTube channel. Across the globe in Israel, Ophir Kutiel creates video mash ups of amateur Youtube performers. These two strangers, almost 7,000 miles apart, begin to build a song (English and Hebrew).

Washington DCJCC

Tue., May 31, 7:30 p.m.

 

Rio, I Love You

Multiple directors

(Brazil/U.S., 2014, 110 min.)

The third episode of the “Cities of Love” franchise, following “New York, I Love You” and “Paris, Je T’aime,” is an anthology of love stories created by ten visionary directors from across the globe. The storyline of each segment focuses on an encounter of love in a different neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro, demonstrating the distinctive qualities and character of that location (English, Portuguese, French and Spanish).

Landmark’s E Street Cinema

 

Sembene!

Directed by Samba Gadjigo and Jason Silverman

(Senegal/U.S., 2015, 86 min.)

In fable-like fashion, “Sembène!” traces the course of pivotal Senegalese filmmaker Ousman Sembène’s life from his youth on the shores of the rural Casamance River, to his years as a manual laborer and then as celebrated novelist and filmmaker. At the same time, it tells the story of Samba Gadjigo (one of the movie’s directors) who was motivated by Sembène’s work.

National Gallery of Art

Sun., May 8, 4 p.m.

 

Sherpa

Directed by Jennifer Peedom

(Australia/U.K., 2015, 96 min.)

Mount Everest inspires numerous stories that put foreign climbers at the peak of attention. “Sherpa” shifts the focus to the Himalayan locals who do most of the heavy lifting on the mountain they call Chomolungma (English and Nepali).

AFI Silver Theatre

Mon., May 9, 7:15 p.m.

 

Sing Street

Directed by John Carney

(Ireland/U.K./U.S., 2016, 106 min.)

Dublin in the 1980s is seen through the eyes of a 14-year-old boy who is looking for a break from a home strained by his parents’ relationship and money troubles, while trying to adjust to his new inner-city public school where the kids are rough and the teachers are rougher. Trying to impress a beautiful classmate, he forms a band with a few lads, and the group pours their heart into writing lyrics and shooting videos.

Angelika Mosaic

Landmark’s E Street Cinema

 

Suffragette

Directed by Sarah Gavron

(U.K., 2015, 106 min.)

In the story of London laundry worker Maud “Suffragette” reveals the working women whose actions for social justice were the foundation for the early feminist movement. Having seen peaceful protest achieve nothing, the workers were radicalized and turned to violence in their quest for voting rights.

AFI Silver Theatre

Wed., May 4, 7 p.m.

 

Farsi

Fireworks Wednesday

(Chaharshanbe-soori)

Directed by Asghar Farhadi

(Iran, 2016, 104 min.)

A betrothed woman who works for a local housekeeping agency accepts an assignment cleaning the home of an affluent married couple about to leave on vacation. Soon, this newcomer to the household is sucked into a virulent nuptial conflict of deceit, treachery, and vitriol that challenges all of her presuppositions about the nature of married life.

Landmark’s E Street Cinema

 

French

Xala

Directed by Ousman Sembène

(Senegal, 1977, 123 min.)

A scathing look at the pretentions of the upper classes in post-colonial Africa, “Xala” tells the tale a nouveau-riche official abruptly afflicted with the curse of “xala” (impotence) when he takes his third wife (French and Wolof).

National Gallery of Art

Sun., May 15, 4 p.m.

 

Hindi

Haider

Directed by Vishal Bhardwaj

(India, 2014, 162 min.)

The final and most ambitious of Vishal Bhardwaj’s Shakespeare adaptations sets “Hamlet” against the backdrop of the 1995 insurgency in Kashmir, the volatile border region between India and Pakistan (Hindi and Urdu).

AFI Silver Theatre

Sat., May 21, 1:30 p.m.

 

Maqbool

Directed by Vishal Bhardwaj

(India, 2003, 132 min.)

The “Scottish Play” moves to Mumbai in this reimagining of Shakespeare’s “Macbeth,” set in India’s criminal underworld. When Maqbool begins an affair with the boss’s mistress, she eggs him into a plot to take over the gang, while two corrupt, wisecracking cops replace the famous three witches of the play (Hindi and Urdu).

AFI Silver Theatre

Sun., May 8, 3:30 p.m.

 

Omkara

Directed by Vishal Bhardwaj

(India, 2006, 155 min.)

“Omkara” sets Shakespeare’s “Othello” amid the seedy, intertwined worlds of organized crime and politics in Vishal Bhardwaj’s native Uttar Pradesh. Bollywood superstar Ajay Devgan plays the title role — a violent gang enforcer who becomes increasingly convinced that his wife is cheating on him (Hindi and Khariboli).

AFI Silver Theatre

Sun., May 15, 1:30 p.m.

 

Italian

The Working Class Goes to Heaven

(La Classe Operaia va in Paradiso)

Directed by Elio Petri

(Italy, 1971, 126 min.)

An overachieving auto worker is a superstar on the factory floor, the darling of his employers and the envy of his fellow workers due to the ease of his production. But after he loses a finger in a work accident, he begins to question what it’s all about and begins a strange journey.

AFI Silver Theatre

Sun., May 22, 3:15 p.m.

 

Japanese

Late Spring

Directed by Yasujiro Ozu

(Japan, 1949, 108 min.)

One of the most powerful of Yasujiro Ozu’s family portraits, “Late Spring” tells the story of a widowed father who feels compelled to marry off his beloved only daughter.

Avalon Theatre

Tue., May 17, 10:30 a.m.

 

Korean

Gangnam Blues

Directed by Yoo Ha

(South Korea, 2015, 135 min.)

Immortalized by K-pop star Psy’s song “Gangnam Style,” Seoul’s most exclusive neighborhood was nothing but farmland a few short decades ago. Set in 1970, this epic drama tells the story of how this millionaire’s playground was built by politicians, gangsters and the armies of ruffians they hired to do their dirty work, implicitly implying that Korea’s economic miracle has its roots in corruption and thuggery.

AFI Silver Theatre

Thu., May 19, 7:15 p.m.

Cinema Arts Theatres

Thu., May 26, 7 p.m.

 

My Love, Don’t Cross the River

Directed by Jin Mo-young

(South Korea, 2014, 85 min.)

This tender, tremendously moving documentary became the highest-grossing independent movie in Korean history. Beautifully filmed over the changing seasons in the countryside, it follows a husband and wife, who have been married for 76 years and are clearly as in love as they were when they married. Their joy in each other’s company is tempered by the bittersweet knowledge that their time on earth is growing shorter.

National Museum of American History

Sun., May 22, 3:30 p.m.

 

Right Now, Wrong Then

Directed by Hong Sang-soo

(South Korea, 2015, 121 min.)

A respected filmmaker who travels to the town of Suwon, where he meets a female artist. During a long drinking bout, a relationship rises and falls. Then, the film begins again, with variations that show what might have been.

National Museum of American History

Sun., May 22, 1 p.m.

Mandarin

Dragon Inn

Directed by King Hu

(Taiwan, 1967, 111 min.)

During the Ming dynasty, the emperor’s minister of defense is framed by a powerful court eunuch and executed, and his family is pursued by secret police. In the ensuing chase, a mysterious band of strangers begins to gather at the remote Dragon Gate Inn, where paths (and swords) will cross.

Landmark’s E Street Cinema

Opens Fri., May 20

Spanish

A Monster with a Thousand Heads

(Un monstruo de mil cabezas)

Directed by Rodrigo Plá

(Mexico, 2016, 74 min.)

When Sonia receives the news that her husband’s cancer has progressed to a terminal stage, she races to secure the insurance company approval for the care that can help him. Met with indifference and negligence at every turn, Sonia’s desperation triggers a primal survival instinct as a series of increasingly violent confrontations unfold.

Landmark’s E Street Cinema

Opens Fri., May 27

 

Redes

Directed by Emilio Gómez Muriel and Fred Zinnemann

(Mexico, 1936, 65 min.)

In this vivid, documentary-like dramatization of the daily grind of men struggling to make a living by fishing in the Gulf of Mexico (mostly played by real-life fishermen), one worker’s terrible loss instigates a political awakening among his fellow laborers.

AFI Silver Theatre

Sat., May 14, 3:30 p.m.

 

Viva

Directed by Paddy Breathnach

(Ireland/Cuba, 2016, 100 min.)

A young hairdresser working at a Havana nightclub that showcases drag performers dreams of being a performer himself. Encouraged by his mentor, he finally gets his chance to take the stage, but when his estranged father abruptly reenters his life, his world is quickly turned upside down.

Landmark’s E Street Cinema

Opens Fri., May 20