New Times combed through the lineup and picked the most-anticipated films screening throughout the festival's four-day run.
American Fiction
First-time director Cord Jefferson pulls from his experience in the writers' rooms — the racial mythologizing of Watchmen, the upper-class lampoon of Succession — for his film debut. Jeffrey Wright plays Thelonious "Monk" Ellison, a college professor and struggling writer whose nuanced literary explorations of the Black experience go ignored by liberal white tastemakers — until, that is, he decides to play a little joke. He invents a new pen name, writes the most stereotypical, simplistic novel he can, and sends it off to publishers — who adore it. The book gives Monk the most success he's ever had, but he soon finds himself doing whatever he can to keep the lie going. While the premise recalls films such as Spike Lee's satirical Bamboozled, where a Black sketch comedy show wins rave reviews for a literal minstrel show, as well as the polite racism at the heart of Get Out, American Fiction may go in even more surprising directions. 7:30 p.m. Friday, November 3, at Silverspot Cinema, 300 SE Third St., Miami. Tickets cost $20. Douglas Markowitz
The Boy and the Heron
A new film from Hayao Miyazaki is the animation equivalent of Beethoven returning for a tenth symphony. The legendary anime director, who gives the likes of Martin Scorsese a run for his money as the greatest living filmmaker, has been threatening retirement for decades. Yet, to everyone's great pleasure, he can't seem to stop from making movies. This time around, however, there's an increasing sense of urgency. Miyazaki is 82 years old. His Studio Ghibli directing partner, Isao Takahata, has already died, and the firm sold to Nippon TV a month ago. Though he has discussed returning for another film, his advanced age means this new symphony could be his last. That alone should get you in the door. Beyond that, let's not say much else. When the film debuted in Japan earlier this year, Ghibli instituted a blackout on marketing, providing few, if any, details on what happens in the film. The setting is wartime Japan. The main character is a boy. He meets a heron. Magic ensues. That's all you need to know. 4:30 p.m. Saturday, November 4, at Silverspot Cinema, 300 SE Third St., Miami. Sold out. Douglas Markowitz
Dream Scenario
Ever dream of Nicolas Cage? If so, Gems has just the movie for you. In what Variety calls a career-best performance, the legendary actor stars in Kristoffer Borgli's clever social satire as a mild-mannered professor who suddenly appears in the dreams of everyone on Earth. Instantly, Paul Matthews becomes a global celebrity, but as he quickly learns, being famous isn't all it's cracked up to be. That goes double when Paul's presence in people's dreams goes from innocuous to threatening. After skewering "main character syndrome" in his 2022 film Sick of Myself, Borgli goes to strange new places in Dream Scenario, reminding us all that if there's anything we're less in control of than our subconscious minds, it's other people. 8 p.m. Friday, November 3, at Silverspot Cinema, 300 SE Third St., Miami. Tickets cost $12 to $13. Douglas Markowitz
Evil Does Not Exist
Ryusuke Hamaguchi has emerged as one of Japan's most accomplished new filmmakers. He won the Oscar for "Best International Picture" in 2021 for Drive My Car, an unbelievably great adaptation of a Haruki Murakami short story, but his original films such as Asako I & II and Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy are also satisfying, cataloguing a myriad of human relationships in a way that's quietly enthralling and somewhat literary in execution. While his previous films tended to revolve around the personal problems of various urban dwellers in Tokyo and other cities, this time, the city slickers are the ones causing problems for a rural village where a certain company wants to build a glamping site. When two public relations reps from the firm arrive to smooth things over with the locals, they get the last thing they need when one local man, Takumi, raises concerns about what the project will do to the town's water supply. Things spiral from there until the film reaches a shocking climax. Could it be that evil does exist after all? Only one way to find out. 1:45 p.m. Sunday, November 5, at Silverspot Cinema, 300 SE Third St., Miami. Tickets cost $12 to $13. Douglas Markowitz
La Chimera
One of the most enthralling and curious filmmakers to come out of Italy in a long time, Alice Rohrwacher feels like the heir apparent to Federico Fellini. Her latest film, La Chimera, only strengthens the comparison and argues that she is one of our greatest contemporary directors. Recently released from jail, Arthur, a crumpled English archeologist — think a downtrodden Indiana Jones — is haunted by his long-lost love, Beniamina, while staying afloat by robbing Etruscan tombs. He is aided by a rag-tag team of tombaroli (tomb raiders) who feel ripped out of a Fellini film. Rohrwacher continues to mine the collision of past and present, rural and urban, and vulgarity and divinity to create bewildering and intoxicating films. In addition to the aforementioned performances, the film is rounded out with supporting performances by the icon Isabella Rossellini and Alba Rohrwacher, the director's sister. If you enjoy a dirty brand of magical realism, you should get a ticket to La Chimera. 5 p.m. Saturday, November 4, at Silverspot Cinema, 300 SE Third St., Miami. Tickets cost $12 to $13. Trae DeLellis
Memory
One of the festival's more mysterious titles comes from Mexican provocateur Michel Franco, who shocked international cinema with his 2020 film New Order. Since that film, Franco has worked on the English-language production Sundown with Tim Roth and Charlotte Gainsbourg. His latest film, Memory, debuted at the Venice Film Festival and won Peter Sarsgaard the "Best Actor" prize. In Memory, Sylvia (Jessica Chastain), a social worker, is followed home from her high school reunion by Saul (Sarsgaard) in a surprise encounter with overwhelming ramifications on both their lives. This should not be missed if you are interested in the complexity and messiness of being human. 7 p.m. Saturday, November 4, at Silverspot Cinema, 300 SE Third St., Miami. Tickets cost $20. Trae DeLellis
Monster
After expanding geographically to France and Korea, filmmaker Hirokazu Koreeda returns to Japan for his latest feature film, Monster. He continues to bring his masterful humanist filmmaking to this film which won the Queer Palm at the Cannes Film Festival this year. A tale of multiple perspectives, best intentions, and unavoidable misunderstandings, Monster ranks among the director's best films. Each narrative shift excites as a new piece of the puzzle is revealed until you finally see the complete image. The film follows drama at a school where a teacher may be abusing a child, and Koreeda takes equal care, telling everyone's side of the story: the mother, the teacher, and the child. The triptych storytelling has been easily compared to Rashomon, but Koreeda takes the idea of multiple perspectives somewhere fresh for his latest film. If you enjoy subtle edge-of-your-seat humanist tales, Monster should be on your list to see. 8 p.m. Saturday, November 4, at Silverspot Cinema, 300 SE Third St., Miami. Tickets cost $12 to $13. Trae DeLellis
Perfect Days
A movie about a janitor may not sound like the most compelling way to spend time at the cinema, but you may do a double-take when you see who's involved. Perfect Days marks a return to the narrative filmmaking form for Wim Wenders, the legend of new German cinema responsible for Criterion Collection-approved masterpieces such as Paris, Texas and Wings of Desire, as well as documentaries like Buena Vista Social Club. It also marks a return to Japan, a subject the director last visited in his documentary Tokyo-Ga. The film stars Koji Yakusho, famed for his star turn in Kiyoshi Kurosawa's supernatural crime drama Cure, who won "Best Actor" at Cannes portraying Hirayama, a custodian living out a peaceful life on the outskirts of the city. We watch him go through his daily routine, appreciate moments of quotidian beauty, and not much else. What more do you need? Coming after Wenders' documentaries on everyone from artist Anselm Kiefer to Pope Francis, it's refreshing to see the director come down to Earth for a film about the art of living quietly and modestly. 2 p.m. Saturday, November 4, at Silverspot Cinema, 300 SE Third St., Miami. Tickets cost $12 to $13. Douglas Markowitz
Saltburn
The follow-up to Emerald Fennel's Oscar-winning Promising Young Woman, Saltburn has divided critics and audiences since its debut at the Telluride Film Festival. What can be agreed on is that this is go-for-broke filmmaking. It's set during a wild summer when Oxford outcast Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan) joins the alluring and aristocratic Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi) at his family's sprawling estate, Saltburn. One of the award season's buzziest titles, Saltburn combines debauchery with dry wit to examine the English aristocracy. Appearing as a mash-up of The Great Gatsby and The Talented Mr. Ripley, the film contains a decadent and dark queer edge sold by the chemistry between Oscar nominee Keoghan and Priscilla and Euphoria star Elordi. The two are joined by a bevy of Oscar nominees, including Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl), Richard E. Grant (Can You Ever Forgive Me?), and Carey Mulligan (Promising Young Woman). If you like brash, bold, and electric filmmaking, Saltburn might be to your taste. 7:30 p.m. Saturday, November 4, at Silverspot Cinema, 300 SE Third St., Miami. Tickets cost $20. Trae DeLellis
The Taste of Things
Set in 19th-century France, Trân Anh Hùng's The Taste of Things is a sense-heightening meditation on both professional and personal passion. The film stars former real-life couple Juliette Binoche and Benoît Magimel on screen as chefs who, after 20 years of working side by side, cannot deny their mutual romantic feelings. Aside from exquisite performances and mouth-watering cinematography, the film is the perfect pairing for the Miami Film Festival's culinary collaboration. The Taste of Things won the "Best Director" award at the Cannes Film Festival and was selected as the French submission for this year's Oscars after it somewhat controversially edged out Anatomy of a Fall. If you are hankering for sublime cinema, The Taste of Things is the perfect dish. 2:30 p.m. Saturday, November 4, at Koubek Center, 2705 SW Third St., Miami. Tickets cost $13 to $263. Trae DeLellisFor the full Gems lineup and schedule, visit gems2023.eventive.org.
