Austin is a unique and exciting city for cinema, and as such there’s lots of films and cinema-related events to choose from. These weekly posts will cut through the mainstream releases to highlight the Top 5 cinematic events to check out each week.
Mondo & Big Screen Classics Present: Taxi Driver
Mondo and the Alamo Drafthouse have teamed up to bring not one, but TWO back to back screenings of a film that I’d call one of top ten greatest films ever made, and they’ll be debuting an incredible new poster by Martin Ansin at the event. Admission guarantees you one poster per person, and while the event is currently sold out, it never hurts to check and get in the standby line. If you didn’t get into the Mondo-sponsored screening, fear not! You can still catch the film on Thursday, just without getting a poster. So come out to the Ritz theatre to watch the 4K restoration of Martin Scorsese’s masterpiece, hopefully you already have your ticket, and get a great piece of movie art on your way out!
Wednesday, March 20, 7pm & 10pm, & Thursday, March 21, 7:30pm, Alamo Ritz
Drafthouse Recommends: Spring Breakers
Harmony Korine’s films have never been my thing. He just operates on a different wavelength, but one that obviously works for people. But his latest film, Spring Breakers, seems like the kind of thing that could make me a fan. A neon-lit nightmare perversion of the American Dream, Korine’s subversive hit will open in Austin this weekend, and if you go to the Alamo Drafthouse, a couple of hours before midnight. After playing at SXSW and ending up a perfect marriage of festival and film, you owe it to yourself to see what is likely to be one of the most talked about films of the year.
Opens Thursday, March 21, 10pm, Alamo Ritz
Stoker opens in Austin
Park-Chan-Wook, the legendary director of Oldboy, finally gets to bring his first film in the English language to Austin this weekend, and it was worth the wait. A twisted gothic thriller about loss of innocence and a family that makes your supposedly crazy relatives look like the Brady Bunch, this stylish and haunting piece of work will leave you unraveling the tapestry for a long time.
Violet Crown Cinema & Regal Arbor, Friday, March 22.
Like Someone in Love
This one is a week late due to SXSW happening last week, but it’s always worth noting when a new Abbas Kiarostami film comes to town. A deeply romantic and dense case of mistaken identities and complex relationships, nothing is really as it seems here, but that’s always the case in Kiarostami’s films. Any self-respecting lover of cinema should make a point to see the latest film by one of our master storytellers.
Violet Crown Cinema
The Gatekeepers opens in Austin
The last in a week of new releases completely spoiling our fair city, this documentary by Dror Moreh has him interviewing the six surviving heads of Shin Bet, the Israeli security & intelligence agency established in 1949. As timely as ever, given the current political climate of the region, this Oscar-nominated documentary is an incredibly important piece of filmmaking, one well worth your time.
Violet Crown Cinema, Friday, March 22.
What will you be seeing this week?
