Film Seminars | Discussions | Intros

In the summer of 1949, at the height of the Cold War, Nobel Prize-winning writer Thomas Mann (Hanns Zischler) and his daughter Erika (Sandra Hüller) embark on a challenging and emotional road trip across a Germany in ruin — returning home after 16 years of exile in the U.S. As with prior films IDA and COLD WAR, director Paweł Pawlikowski constructs memorable setpieces as little cathedrals in luminous black-and-white.

Part of Staff Picks and programmed by Tony, who says: “I find UtSL to be the rare puzzle box movie, which yields new insights and interpretations with every watch. The film loves old Hollywood, classic cinema, puzzles and ciphers, and the paranoid-soaked works of Phillip K. Dick and Robert Anton Wilson as much as I do. Will you help me break the code?”

The iconic gender-exploding rock sensation and enduring cult classic big-screen adaptation of John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask’s stage musical about an “internationally ignored” but divinely talented rock diva, characterized by Mitchell as inhabiting a “beautiful gender of one.” Film screening followed by Q&A and an acoustic set with John Cameron Mitchell.

Los Javis’ ambitious and captivating homage to Federico García Lorca sees the lives of three men intertwined in love and loss across eras. Combined with stunning cinematography and a grand score, the seamlessly converging storylines make for a sweeping and operatic romantic drama that delicately balances collective memory with deeply emotional personal histories.

FBI agent Sean Archer (John Travolta) must assume the identity (and face) of terrorist Castor Troy (Nicolas Cage) in order to foil a plot to set off a bomb in a populated area of Los Angeles in Hong Kong action maestro John Woo's phenomenally underrated big-budget Hollywood thriller. See also: John Woo’s ONCE A THIEF (Fri, Dec 4 at 9:35pm | Sun, Dec 6 at 2:25pm)

The ultimate ‘90s Hong Kong action sleazefest by bullet balletmaster Ringo Lam. Chow Yun-Fat steps into the most gleefully tasteless shoot-em-up of his storied career. Queer arms dealers, fields of exploding automobiles, harsh neon greens and blues, madness with butterfly knives, biker punk chic, ripping donuts on motorbikes, and heaping helpings of horniness, oh my!

It is 1971, and journalist Raoul Duke barrels toward Las Vegas—accompanied by a trunkful of contraband and his slightly unhinged Samoan attorney, Dr. Gonzo—to cover a motorcycle race. What should be a cut-and-dried journalistic assignment quickly descends into a feverish psychedelic odyssey.

Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski doesn't want any drama in his life. But he must embark on a quest with his bowling buddies after his rug is destroyed in a twisted case of mistaken identity.

Part of Staff Picks and programmed by Evan, who says: “F FOR FAKE is the medium at its most incorrigible and a must see for all who know the appeal of a good lie."