"David Lynch: The Return" at Coral Gables Art Cinema
A few months have gone by since David Lynch passed away, and while plenty of tributes to the beloved and massively important director have rolled through locally and around the world, at least one Miami theater isn't done yet. Just two months after Coral Gables Art Cinema screened Lynch's most popular and celebrated features, the theater is getting ready to play the rest. Every Saturday night in May, "David Lynch: The Return" will feature the director's most bizarre, difficult, and alienating films (and that's saying something). The program kicks off Saturday, May 3, with The Elephant Man, based on the true story of John Merrick (John Hurt), a Victorian Englishman whose deformities made him a societal pariah, and the doctor (Anthony Hopkins) who finally treated him like a human being. This more conventional film is followed by Lynch's most surreal and disturbing visions: Inland Empire on May 10 and Lost Highway on May 17. The theater will also show a program of Lynch's short films on May 24. The series wraps up with the director's underappreciated adaptation of Dune (which he hated so much he refused to let it be released with his name on it) on May 31. Our Take: The Elephant Man is pretty atypical for Lynch: It's a straight biopic with very little of the surreal or transcendent. It was only his second film and a sort of Hollywood try-out before he moved on to bigger projects like the disastrous Dune and more personal work like Blue Velvet. But he manages to tell a profoundly moving story about a man tragically defined not only by his body but by the intolerance of his time. Hurt is a revelation as John "Elephant Man" Merrick, an educated, kind gentleman whose deformed, growth-ridden body sees him thrown into a literal circus freak show like an animal. He's rescued by Dr. Frederick Treves (Hopkins), who realizes Merrick is not a monster and does all he can to treat his condition and offer him dignity. Lynch shoots the film in beautiful black and white and manages to imbue it with his dreamlike sensibility. The film earned eight Oscar nominations.
Meanwhile, two other surreal works on this program are also worth seeking out. Lost Highway is a paranoid, grunge-tinted thriller of doppelgangers and dangerous liaisons. The plot involves a jazz musician framed for murder who suddenly shifts into a new identity and body, but that matters less than the dreamlike imagery and logic; it's a film meant to be felt rather than understood. The same is true for Inland Empire, Lynch's last feature film and by far his most experimental and difficult. With its nebulous plot about "A Woman in Trouble" (Laura Dern) and grainy digital cinematography, it's the closest he ever got to truly reproducing a dream in waking life — or in this case, a nightmare. Throughout May at Coral Gables Art Cinema, 260 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables; 786-472-2249; gablescinema.com. Tickets cost $10 to $11.75.
Blue Sun Palace was selected for Critics' Week at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. It's not screening at Coral Gables Art Cinema.
Big Buddha Pictures & Field Trip Media photo
Blue Sun Palace at Coral Gables Art Cinema
This moody immigrant story set in New York City opens at Coral Gables Art Cinema on Friday, May 9. The film was selected for Critics' Week at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.Our Take: Thousands of miles from home, Chinese immigrants Didi (Haipeng Xu) and Amy (Ke-Xi Wu) make the most of their lives working at a massage parlor in Flushing, Queens. But when a tragic incident robs one of the other, those left behind, including Didi's middle-aged boyfriend Chueng (legendary Chinese actor Lee Kang-sheng), are left to deal with grief and other struggles. Drawing on her own life as a child of immigrants, director Constance Tsang sketches an intimate, empathetic view of the lonely lives of working-class first-generation Americans that resonates deeply in divisive times. For those who have chased the American Dream and stumbled on the way, this one's for you. Friday, May 9, through Thursday, May 15, at Coral Gables Art Cinema, 260 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables; 786-472-2249; gablescinema.com. Tickets cost $10 to $11.75.
Wolfwalkers at Coral Gables Art Cinema
This column doesn't typically recommend films made specifically with children in mind, but we're happy to make an exception for the work of Irish director Tom Moore and studio Cartoon Saloon. The final installment of his Irish Folklore Trilogy, along with The Secret of Kells and Song of the Sea, Wolfwalkers tells the tale of a young huntress who befriends a girl her age whose tribe is rumored to have lycanthropic tendencies – werewolves, in layman's terms. Released during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the film is underseen, having undergone a limited theatrical release in 2021 and an under-promoted streaming run on the fledgling Apple TV+ service, making its theatrical screening at Coral Gables Art Cinema a rare treat for families and fans of animation alike. 11 a.m. Saturday, May 10 and Sunday, May 11 at Coral Gables Art Cinema, 260 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables; 786-472-2249; gablescinema.com. Tickets cost $10 to $11.75.South Florida Palestine Film Festival
This new festival aims to honor Palestinian film and culture amid the ongoing bombing of Gaza by Israeli armed forces, with all proceeds going to humanitarian aid for Gaza. It will take place across two days at two separate sites, Saturday, May 24, in Miami and Sunday, May 25, in Coral Springs. The festival comprises 11 short films and four feature films, including the Macklemore-backed The Encampments, which documents the pro-Palestinian student protest movement — and the backlash against it — at Columbia University and other U.S. universities. The event is supported by the activist association Al-Awda, and registration is currently open. Saturday, May 24, and Sunday, May 25, at various locations. Tickets cost $40 for one-day passes and $60 for two-day passes via sfpalestinefilmfestival.com.Maya and the Wave at O Cinema South Beach
O Cinema is marking Arthouse Theater Day on May 28 with a screening of Maya and the Wave, director Stephanie Johnes' 2022 documentary about pro surfer Maya Gabeira. The film follows the athlete as she fights sexism and devastating injuries on a quest to surf the notorious giant wave of Praia do Norte in Nazare, Portugal, eventually becoming the first woman to do so and earning a Guinness World Record in the process. A post-screening virtual Q&A with Gabeira, Johnes, and actor Rashida Jones, the film's executive producer, follows the screening. 7 p.m. Wednesday, May 28 at O Cinema South Beach, 1130 Washington Ave., Miami; o-cinema.org. Tickets cost $11.60 to $14.10 via o-cinema.org.
Evangelion Double Feature at Coral Gables Art Cinema
Last year, one of the most significant works of animation ever made finally arrived on North American shores. Director Hideaki Anno's The End of Evangelion, a theatrical series finale for the groundbreaking TV anime Neon Genesis Evangelion and a masterpiece in its own right, finally saw a North American theatrical release. Now, for those that missed the film in theaters the first time, Coral Gables Art Cinema is rerunning the anime masterpiece, screening the movie in a double feature with Evangelion Death (True)^2, a compilation film designed to recap the events of the TV show, running in front. The screening celebrates the 30th anniversary of Evangelion, which debuted on Japanese TV in 1995.Our Take: New Times covered The End of Evangelion upon its North American premiere last year: "A shocking work of unprecedented, unrivaled artistry, The End of Evangelion is one of the greatest films of all time, let alone one of the best works of animation ever completed." 9 p.m. Friday, May 30 at Coral Gables Art Cinema, 260 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables; 786-472-2249; gablescinema.com. Tickets cost $10 to $11.75.
Third Horizon Film Festival
Without a doubt the most interesting film festival in South Florida, Third Horizon, is back this month. Focusing on nonfiction and experimental film from the Caribbean and its diaspora, the festival will host film screenings, panels, parties, and other events throughout the last weekend of May. The festival kicks off Thursday, May 29, with an opening night event at the Pérez Art Museum Miami, featuring a screening of Koutkekout (At All Costs), a documentary on Haiti's Festival Quatre Chemins being held amid the country's ongoing societal crisis. Further programming will be hosted at the Koubek Center in Little Havana Friday through Sunday, which means you can spend the entire weekend exploring adventurous shorts and feature films. And keep an eye out for the very strong retrospective program, featuring a slate of Caribbean activist films from the late '70s and early '80s from Jamaica, Suriname, Haiti, and elsewhere. That program is anchored by director Med Hondo's restored musical West Indies: The Fugitive Slaves of Liberty, which will close the festival on Sunday. Thursday, May 29 through Sunday, June 1, multiple locations; thirdhorizonfilmfestival.com. Prices for individual film tickets TBD; all access passes cost $150 to $200 via eventive.org.
A still from director Med Hondo's West Indies: The Fugitive Sons of Liberty screening at Third Horizon Film Festival 2025
Janus Films photo
