Home The Washington Diplomat July 2018 Films – July 2018

Films – July 2018

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Languages

Cantonese

Hebrew

English

Icelandic

Spanish

French

Japanese

German

Swedish

 

Cantonese

Colour of the Game

Directed by Kam Ka-wai
(Hong Kong, 2017, 104 min.)

Simon Yam stars in this underworld drama as Wallace, a veteran gang member given the job of bumping off the spoiled son of a mob patriarch. When Wallace and his gang are ambushed during the job, he realizes that the whole thing was a setup and sets out to find the mole who betrayed him.

Freer Gallery of Art
Sun., July 15, 2 p.m.


Concerto of the Butterfly

Directed by Fung Chih-Chiang
(Hong Kong, 2017, 95 min.)

A street punk kidnaps the girlfriend of a rising pop star — only to discover that she is the one and only Hit Girl, an internet singing sensation. Captive on a remote fishing boat, she tries to pass the time and calm her captor through music lessons.

Freer Gallery of Art
Sun., July 22, 2 p.m.


Our Time Will Come

Directed by Ann Hui
(China/Hong Kong, 2017, 130 min.)

One of “China’s cinematic treasures” (The New York Times), this award-winning film brings to life the resistance movement that arose when Japan occupied the island during World War II. Its story centers on legendary revolutionary Fang Lan, as she changes from humble schoolteacher to a leader in the movement (Cantonese and Japanese).

Freer Gallery of Art
Sun., July 29, 2 p.m.

Paradox

Directed by Wilson Yip
(Hong Kong/China, 2017, 99 min.)

Louis Koo plays a widower battling his way through the Thai underworld to find his kidnapped daughter. His ferocious fight scenes take full advantage of the film’s seedy seaside locale (Cantonese, English and Thai).

Freer Gallery of Art
Fri., July 20, 7 p.m.

Shock Wave

Directed by Herman Yau
(Hong Kong/China, 2017, 118 min.)

In one of 2017’s biggest hits in Hong Kong, Andy Lau stars as JS Cheung, a bomb disposal expert who is thrown into the biggest job of his career when a maniac wires the city’s massive Cross-Harbour Tunnel to explode — an attempt to avenge his brother’s imprisonment at JS’s hands years before.

Freer Gallery of Art
Fri., July 13, 7 p.m.

Zombiology: Enjoy Yourself Tonight

Directed by Alan Lo
(Hong Kong, 2017, 107 min.)

Inspired by a cult novel, this film sets a pack of ne’er-do-wells and slackers against hordes of hungry undead, created by a giant stuffed chicken whose eggs cause people’s head to explode.

Freer Gallery of Art
Fri., July 27, 7 p.m.

 

English

American Animals

Directed by Bart Layton
(U.K./U.S., 2018, 116 min.)

“American Animals” is the unbelievable but entirely true story of four young men who attempt to execute one of the most audacious art heists in U.S. history.

Landmark’s Bethesda Row Cinema
Landmark’s E Street Cinema

Book Club

Directed by Bill Holderman
(U.S., 2018, 104 min.)

Four lifelong friends have their lives forever changed after reading “50 Shades of Grey” in their monthly book club.

Landmark’s Bethesda Row Cinema


Damsel

Directed by David and Nathan Zeller
(U.S., 2018, 113 min.)

In the Wild West, an affluent pioneer ventures across the American frontier to marry the love of his life. As his group traverses the west, the once-simple journey grows treacherous, blurring the lines between hero, villain and damsel.

Landmark’s E Street Cinema


Dark Money

Directed by Kimberly Reed
(U.S., 2018, 99 min.)

This political thriller examines one of the greatest present threats to American democracy: the influence of untraceable corporate money on our elections and elected officials. The film takes viewers to Montana — a frontline in the fight to preserve fair elections nationwide — to follow an intrepid local journalist working to expose the real-life impacts of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision.

Landmark’s Theatres
Opens Fri., July 20

The Death of Stalin

Directed by Armando Iannucci
(U.K./Canada/France/Belgium, 2018, 107 min.)

Moscow, 1953: when tyrannical dictator Joseph Stalin drops dead, his parasitic cronies square off in a frantic power struggle to be the next Soviet leader in this uproarious, wickedly irreverent satire.

West End Cinema

Eating Animals

Directed by Christopher Dillon Quinn
(U.K./India/Germany/China/U.S., 2018, 94 min.)

How much do you know about the food that’s on your plate? Based on the bestselling book by Jonathan Safran Foer and narrated by co-producer Natalie Portman, “Eating Animals” is an urgent, eye-opening look at the environmental, economic and public health consequences of factory farming.

Landmark’s Bethesda Row Cinema
Landmark’s E Street Cinema

First Reformed

Directed by Paul Schrader
(U.S., 2018, 108 min.)

Reverend Ernst Toller is a solitary, middle-aged parish pastor at a small Dutch Reform church in upstate New York on the cusp of celebrating its 250th anniversary. When a pregnant parishioner asks him to counsel her husband, a radical environmentalist, the clergyman finds himself plunged into his own tormented past, and equally despairing future, until he finds redemption in an act of grandiose violence.

Landmark’s Bethesda Row Cinema
Landmark’s E Street Cinema

Generation Wealth

Directed by Lauren Greenfield
(U.S., 2018, 106 min.)

Acclaimed photographer and filmmaker Lauren Greenfield puts the pieces of her life’s work together for in an incendiary investigation into the pathologies that have created the richest society the world has ever seen.

Landmark’s Cinema
Opens Fri., July 27

Isle of Dogs

Directed by Wes Anderson
(U.S./Germany, 2018, 101 min.)

This animated adventure follows Atari Kobayashi, a 12-year-old ward to corrupt Mayor Kobayashi. When, by executive decree, all the canine pets of Megasaki City are exiled to a vast garbage-dump called Trash Island, Atari sets off alone in a miniature Junior-Turbo Prop and flies across the river in search of his bodyguard-dog.

West End Cinema

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

Directed by J.A. Bayona
(Spain/U.S., 2018, 128 min.)

It’s been three years since theme park and luxury resort Jurassic World was destroyed by dinosaurs out of containment. When the island’s dormant volcano begins roaring to life, Owen and Claire reunite to mount a campaign to rescue the remaining dinosaurs from this extinction-level event.

Angelika Mosaic
Angelika Pop-U
Atlantic Plumbing Cinema

Leave No Trace

Directed by Debra Granik
(U.S., 2018, 109 min.)

A father and his 13-year-old daughter are living in an ideal existence in a vast urban park in Portland, Oregon, when a small mistake derails their lives forever.

Angelika Mosaic
Opens Fri., July 6

McQueen

Directed by Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui
(U.K., 2018, 111 min.)

Alexander McQueen’s rags-to-riches story is a modern-day fairy tale, laced with the gothic. Mirroring the savage beauty, boldness and vivacity of his design, this documentary is an intimate revelation of his McQueen’s own world, both tortured and inspired.

Angelika Mosaic
Opens Fri., July 27

Nancy

Directed by Christina Choe
(U.S., 2018, 87 min.)

A lonely 35-year-old becomes increasingly convinced she was kidnapped as a child. When she meets a couple whose daughter went missing 30 years ago, reasonable doubts give way to willful belief.

Landmark’s E Street Cinema

Ocean’s 8

Directed by Gary Ross
(U.S., 2018, 105 min.)

Every con has its pros. Debbie Ocean (Sandra Bullock) gathers a crew of eight women to attempt an impossible heist at New York City’s yearly Met Gala in this suspenseful and humorous criminal adventure.

Angelika Mosaic
Angelika Pop-U
Atlantic Plumbing Cinema
Landmark’s Bethesda Row Cinema

RBG

Directed by Julie Cohen and Betsy West
(U.S., 2018, 97 min.)

At the age of 84, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has developed a breathtaking legal legacy while becoming an unexpected pop culture icon. But without a definitive Ginsburg biography, the unique personal journey of this diminutive, quiet warrior’s rise to the nation’s highest court has been largely unknown, even to some of her biggest fans—until now.

Angelika Mosaic
Landmark’s Bethesda Row Cinem
Landmark’s E Street Cinema

Sicario: Day of the Soldado

Directed by Stefano Sollima
(U.S./Italy, 2018, 122 min.)

In the drug war, there are no rules — and as the cartels have begun trafficking terrorists across the U.S. border, federal agent Matt Graver calls on the mysterious Alejandro, whose family was murdered by a cartel kingpin, to escalate the war in nefarious ways.

Angelika Mosaic
Atlantic Plumbing Cinema

Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist

Directed by Lorna Tucker
(U.K., 2018, 83 min.)

This intimate and inspiring portrait showcases Dame Vivienne Westwood — punk rock’s Grande Dame, agent provocateur, doyenne of British fashion, eco-activist and one of the most influential cultural originators in recent history.

Landmark’s E Street Cinema

Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

Directed by Morgan Neville
(U.S., 2018, 94 min.)

For over 30 years, Fred Rogers, an unassuming minister, puppeteer, writer and producer, was beamed daily into homes across America. In his beloved television program, “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” Fred and his cast of puppets and friends spoke directly to young children about some of life’s weightiest issues, in a simple, direct fashion.

AFI Silver Theatre
Angelika Mosaic
Landmark’s Bethesda Row Cinema
Landmark’s E Street Cinema

The Worker’s Cup

Directed by Adam Sobel
(Qatar, 2018, 92 min.)

Inside Qatar’s labor camps, African and Asian migrant workers building the facilities of the 2022 World Cup compete in a football tournament of their own.

Angelika Pop-Up

The Yakuza

Directed by Sydney Pollack
(U.S./Japan, 1974, 112 min.)

Former private-eye Harry Kilmer (Robert Mitchum) knows a lot about Japan — and the gangsters who keep an iron grip on its gambling, prostitution and protection rackets. And he knows there’s one thing powerful mobsters respect: greater power.

AFI Silver Theatre
Tue., July 3, 4:45 p.m.,
Wed., July 4, 4:45 p.m.

French

Le Cercle Rouge
(The Red Circle)

Directed by Jean-Pierre Melville
(France/Italy, 1970, 140 min.)

The random trajectories of three men takes on the weight of existential fate as Alain Delon, just out of the slammer, starts settling scores; prisoner Gian Maria Volontè escapes custody of a police officer and makes a daring escape from a moving train; and alcoholic ex-cop Yves Montand momentarily regains his pride and sobriety when called upon to perform as a professional, even if this time it’s in a criminal enterprise.

AFI Silver Theatre
Mon., July 2, 2 p.m.,
Tue., July 3, 2 p.m.

Un Flic
(A Cop)

Directed by Jean-Pierre Melville
(France/Italy, 1972, 98 min.)

Richard Crenna is a Parisian nightclub proprietor with a booming sideline in robbery and gangsterism. Alain Delon is a police detective who frequents Crenna’s night spot, to keep tabs on the suspicious coming and goings, and to make time with Crenna’s alluring mistress, Catherine Deneuve.

AFI Silver Theatre
Mon., July 2, 7 p.m.,
Thu., July 5, 7 p.m.

The Guardians

Directed by Xavier Beauvois
(Switzerland/France, 2018, 138 min.)

An affecting human drama of love, loss and resilience unfolds against the backdrop of World War I as the women of the Paridier farm, under the deft hand of Hortense, the family’s matriarch, must grapple with the workload while the men, including two sons, are off at the front.

West End Cinema

 

German

A German Youth
(Une Jeunesse Allemande)

Directed by Jean-Gabriel Périot
(France/Switzerland/Germany, 2015, 93 min.)

In the 1960s, the conflict between the state and the Red Army Faction caused major turmoil in Germany. It not only led to an increase of violence in the population, but also to a war in media coverage. In his first feature-length film, the French director Jean-Gabriel Périot shows the different perspectives of the film scene of the era by placing archival material in a cinematic montage alongside clips from movies and documentaries (German, French and English).

Goethe-Institut
Wed., July 11, 6:30 p.m.

My Name Is Victoria

Directed by Sebastian Schipper
(Germany, 2014-15, 140 min.)

“My Name Is Victoria” pulls viewers into a unique adventure. In a single take, a group of would-be tough guys and a young Spanish woman wind their way through a long Berlin night.

Goethe-Institut
Fri., July 27, 6:30 p.m.

Hebrew

The Cakemaker

Directed by Ofir Raul Graizer
(Israel/Germany, 2017, 104 min.)

Thomas, a young and talented German baker, is having an affair with Oren, an Israeli married man who dies in a car crash. Thomas travels to Jerusalem seeking answers. Keeping his secret for himself, he starts working for Anat, his lover’s widow, who owns a small café. Although not fully kosher and despised by the religious, his delicious cakes turn the place into a city attraction (Hebrew, German and English).

Landmark’s Theatres
Opens Fri., July 6

 

Icelandic

Under the Tree

Directed by Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson
(Iceland/France, 2018, 89 min.)

A man accused of adultery and forced to move in with his parents. While he fights for custody of his 4-year-old daughter, he is gradually sucked into a dispute between his parents and their neighbors over an old and beautiful tree. What starts as a typical spat between suburban neighbors unexpectedly and violently reaches a boiling point, soon spiraling out of control.

West End Cinema
Opens Fri., July 13


Japanese

Sansho the Bailiff

Directed by Kenji Mizoguchi
(Japan, 1954, 124 min.)

When an idealistic governor disobeys the reigning feudal lord, he is cast into exile, and his wife and children are left to fend for themselves in this monumental, empathetic expression of human resilience in the face of evil.

Freer Gallery of Art
Wed., July 11, 2 p.m.


Swedish

Crisis

Directed by Ingmar Bergman
(Sweden, 1945, 93 min.)

A small-town piano teacher is shocked by the arrival of her foster daughter’s real mother, whose young lover soon follows and causes further disruption.

National Gallery of Art
Sat., July 7, 2:30 p.m.

Frenzy (Torment)

Directed by Alf Sjöberg
(Sweden, 1944, 101 min.)

This film charts the ill-fated romance between painfully adolescent Jan-Erik and older, alcoholic widow-turned-hooker Bertha, whose lover is Jan-Erik’s sadistic Latin teacher “Caligula” (Swedish and Latin).

National Gallery of Art
Sat., July 7, 12:30 p.m.

To Joy

Directed by Ingmar Bergman
(Sweden, 1950, 98 min.)

Two violinists playing in the same orchestra fall in love and get married, but they fail to synchronize in real life.

National Gallery of Art
Sat., July 28, 2 p.m.

Music in Darkness

Directed by Ingmar Bergman
(Sweden, 1963, 87 min.)

When aspiring pianist Bengt is blinded in an accident, he loses the familiar comforts of his life. Despite his anguish, music restores him, bringing him closer to the lower-class Ingrid.

National Gallery of Art
Sat., July 14, 4 p.m.

Port of Call

Directed by Ingmar Bergman
(Sweden, 1963, 100 min.)

A suicidal factory girl out of reformatory school, anxious to escape her overbearing mother, falls in love with a sailor who can’t forgive her past (Swedish and German).

National Gallery of Art
Sun., July 15, 4 p.m.

Prison

Directed by Ingmar Bergman
(Sweden, 1949, 79 min.)

A movie director is approached by his old math teacher with a great movie idea: the Devil declares that the Earth is hell. The director rejects the idea, but subsequent events in the life of a writer and a young prostitute he loves seem to prove the math teacher’s idea (screens with “Thirst”).

National Gallery of Art
Sun., July 22, 4 p.m.

It Rains on Our Love

Directed by Ingmar Bergman
(Sweden, 1946, 95 min.)

Two strangers with troubled pasts meet in a train station, spend a night together, and decide to start a new life, but their idyll is interrupted when they are forced to confront the coldly repressive society around them.

National Gallery of Art
Sat., July 7, 4:30 p.m.

Secrets of Women (Waiting Women)

Directed by Ingmar Bergman
(Sweden, 1961, 107 min.)

n a summer house in the Stockholm archipelago, three wives recount an adventure from their marriages while awaiting their husbands’ return (Swedish and French).

National Gallery of Art
Sun., July 29, 4 p.m.

A Ship to India

Directed by Ingmar Bergman
(Sweden, 1949, 98 min.)

Sailor Johannes Blom returns to his homeport, after seven years at sea, to find that Sally, the girl he has been thinking of while away, is completely despondent in this fractured ménage à quatre.

National Gallery of Art
Sat., July 14, 2 p.m.

Summer Interlude

Directed by Ingmar Bergman
(Sweden, 1954, 96 min.)

A ballet dancer recalls a relationship she once had during an idyllic Swedish summer and the poignant aftermath of her loss of this love.

National Gallery of Art
Sat., July 28, 4 p.m.

Thirst (Three Strange Loves)

Directed by Ingmar Bergman
(Sweden, 1949, 88 min.)

The rarely screened “Thirst,” an early Bergman milestone, was one of the first works to demonstrate his trademark delving into the human spirit. Adapted from short stories by actress Birgit Tengroth, the plot follows a failing marriage but focuses principally on the inner torments of a trio of female characters damaged by past liaisons (screens with “Prison”).

National Gallery of Art
Sun., July 22, 4 p.m.

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