Charles Burnett at Coral Gables Art Cinema and Cosford Cinema
This month, Miami theaters are feeling the Burn, and it's not just because of the heat. Coral Gables Art Cinema is screening director Charles Burnett's rarely-seen landmark of Black independent cinema, Killer of Sheep, newly restored in 4K, on the eve of Juneteenth. Originally made as the director's thesis film at UCLA, the film's grounded portrayal of the life and community of a slaughterhouse worker in Watts, Los Angeles, has influenced generations of filmmakers, including Barry Jenkins (Moonlight) and RaMell Ross (Nickel Boys). A virtual Q&A with director Burnett will directly follow the screening. 6:45 p.m. Wednesday, June 18 at Coral Gables Art Cinema, 260 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables; 786-472-2249; gablescinema.com. Tickets cost $10 to $11.75.Still Burn-ing for more? You're in luck: Later in the month, UM's Cosford Cinema is screening Burnett's 1990 film, To Sleep With Anger, starring Danny Glover as a mysterious drifter from the South whose visit to an ordinary South Central L.A. family causes irreparable change. 1 p.m. Sunday, June 29 at Cosford Cinema, 5030 Brunson Dr., Coral Gables; 305-284-9838; cosfordcinema.com. Tickets cost $6.
Club Sinema at the Bass
Club Sinema, the movie screening series hosted by the Black Queer Caribbean nightlife collective Masisi returns for Juneteenth, taking over the Bass for a Pride night of film and freakiness. The collective will screen its first-ever feature film, BOYG1RLMUS1C, about a group of artists encountering a sentient supercomputer. The evening will also feature a screening of Of Men and Gods, a documentary focusing on LGBTQ+ folks in Haiti; DJ sets from Masisi Radio residents; and music from the Rice and Peas Quartet. Be sure to wear your most dapper attire — the dress code for the evening is "Dandy." 6 p.m. Thursday, June 19, at the Bass Museum of Art, 2100 Collins Ave., Miami Beach; 305-673-7560. Admission is free with RSVP at thebass.org.AV Club at Main Library
Speaking of our beloved critic, Juan Barquin curates a special Pride edition of AV Club at the Main Library this month, featuring some unconventional queer short films from the Miami-Dade Public Library film collection. The program is anchored by Lucy Winer's 1985 documentary, Silent Pioneers, featuring interviews with queer elders discussing their struggles to survive in a hostile society. Meanwhile, Lavender (1972) depicts a conversation between two lesbians as they detail their hopes and dreams, while David Roche Talks To You About Love (1985) is a filmed version of performance artist Roche's eponymous monologue discussing his romantic trials and tribulations. 3 p.m. Saturday, June 21, at Miami-Dade County Main Library, 101 W Flagler St., Miami; 305-375-2665; mdpls.org. Admission is free.Showgirls 4K Restoration at Coral Gables Art Cinema
Coral Gables Art Cinema's Pride-themed After Hours lineup includes screenings of The Birdcage, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, and To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything! Julie Newmar. The series wraps up with a 4K restoration of Showgirls, Paul Verhoeven's lurid, Vegas-set satire of American culture, on Thursday, June 26. Put on your "Versayce" and leave the kids at home for this one — it's rated NC-17.Our Take: '90s America just wasn't ready for Showgirls. Audiences weren't prepared to stare into the cracked mirror Verhoeven and screenwriter Joe Eszterhas were holding up to the country — it was simply too wild, too provocative, too raunchy and shameless. Since then, a game show host winning the presidency, a reckoning over Hollywood sexual misconduct, and a Best Picture Oscar winner about a stripper with a heart of gold have made the film seem ahead of its time. In telling the story of ambitious, aspirant dancer Nomi (Elizabeth Berkley) as she grinds her way to the top on a quest to conquer the Las Vegas showbiz world, Verhoeven and Eszterhas' satire manages to be much more frank about the ruthlessness of American society, from its tastelessness and love of excess to its tendencies toward violent misogyny. And Berkley herself, a Saved By The Bell vet lambasted for her performance upon the film's release, perfectly syncs to the film's tone of hostility, reflecting the rage and "me-first" resentment that animates the American psyche. 9 p.m. Thursday, June 26, at Coral Gables Art Cinema, 260 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables; 786-472-2249; gablescinema.com. Tickets cost $10 to $11.75.
Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande star in Jon M. Chu's film adaptation of the stage musical Wicked.
Photo by Giles Keyte/Universal Pictures
Past June screenings:
Paris is Burning at Savor Cinema
Savor Cinema's June programming includes a '90s Pride retrospective composed of both narrative features like My Own Private Idaho and the movie adaptation of Rent, to documentaries like The Celluloid Closet and, the crown jewel of the lineup, Paris is Burning, Jennie Livingston's classic 1991 examination of ballroom culture in New York. Our Take: Drag Race, Pose, Vogueing, half the slang you use — Paris is Burning influenced all these and more, emerging as one of the most important films of the last half-century. With bold, didactic intertitles and provocative interviews, the film takes us on a crash course through the ballroom community in New York City, a purposely clandestine scene wherein gay and transgender New Yorkers practice "passing" as regular (i.e., straight) members of society. Queer representation has come a long way since, and partially because of Paris is Burning. The film popularized drag culture, certainly, but it also offered one of the first sympathetic — and crucially, popular, even at the peak of the AIDS crisis — portrayals of a group that was, and still is in many cases, unjustly hated and feared. It remains a sensitive, fascinating, and wildly entertaining benchmark in documentary filmmaking and LGBTQIA+ culture, and hopefully serves as a reminder of how far society has come in its treatment of queer people, and how far we still have to go. 7 p.m. Thursday, June 5 at Savor Cinema, 503 SE Sixth St., Fort Lauderdale; 954-525-3456; fliff.com. Tickets cost $10 to $12.
Local Hero at Coral Gables Art Cinema
Books & Books founders Steven Krams and Mitchell Kaplan selected this fish-out-of-water comedy to screen at Coral Gables Art Cinema as part of their Movies We Love! series.Our Take: Mac (Peter Riegert), an ambitious yuppie oil executive, is sent from Houston to the Scottish highlands to convince a coastal village to sell off their town to make way for an oil refinery. But rather than put up a fight, the locals are more than happy to cash in, and he finds himself enchanted by the otherworldly beauty of this rough-hewn little corner of the world. With inspired supporting performances from Hollywood legend Burt Lancaster, a baby-faced Peter Capaldi, and a whole flock of silly Scots, Bill Forsyth's BAFTA-winner about the unexpected pleasures of disconnecting from modern life is as charming and revelatory as ever. Noon Sunday, June 8, at Coral Gables Art Cinema, 260 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables; 786-472-2249; gablescinema.com. Tickets cost $10 to $11.75.
