Board Picks
The Music Room (1958)
Satyajit Ray · 100m · DCP
A feudal lord in 1920s Bengal depletes his coffers by hosting lavish public concerts in his music room, competing with an ill-mannered moneylender. Whereas his competitor’s events are decidedly modern, the lord’s concerts have a visceral yet fleeting passion for music. Satyajit Ray’s cinematography becomes as ornate as the film’s titular music room, filming evocative dance scenes with elaborate crane shots; the music of commercial Indian cinema meets Ray’s lyrical style.
Sunday, April 5 4:00 PM
Cars (2006)
John Lasseter · 117m · DCP
After nearly twenty years, Cars rolls on back to Doc Films, the only Doc worthy of sharing a name with the great Cars character Doc Hudson. Lightning McQueen’s race from fame to fellowship remains a hymn to adventure and friendship, with his best friend Tow Mater faithfully riding shotgun and tipping tractors through it all. This one really auto be seen on the big screen, and we can promise the experience will be wheelie good. Kachow!
Saturday, April 11 9:30 PM
Blow-Up (1966)
Michelangelo Antonioni · 111m · 35mm
After photographing a couple in a park, fashion photographer Thomas (David Hemings) discovers he may have captured a murder in the background. Even more curious, the woman shows up demanding to see the photos. Both a psychological mystery based off a surrealist short story by Julio Cortázar, and a time capsule of Swinging Sixties London, Blow-Up is bursting with mod fashion and music, complete with performances from Vanessa Redgrave and a young Jane Birkin.
Friday, April 24 9:45 PM · Saturday, April 25 9:45 PM
24 Hour Party People (2002)
Michael Winterbottom · 117m · 35mm
The “Madchester” music scene – from the raw intensity of Joy Division to the drug-fueled euphoria of the Happy Mondays – finds its idiosyncratic guide in Tony Wilson. Portrayed with manic energy by Steve Coogan, Wilson navigates Michael Winterbottom’s kinetic, fourth-wall-breaking romp as it playfully blurs the line between history and hearsay. By preferring the legend over literal truth, 24 Hour Party People captures an era too good to be entirely real.
Saturday, May 2 9:30 PM
Spirited Away (2001)
Hayao Miyazaki · 125m · DCP
Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away tells the story of ten-year-old Chihiro as she is separated from her parents and has to navigate her way through a new world filled with spirits and monsters. A movie that will have you taking away different lessons as you watch it at different points in your life, Spirited Away can be as simple as a beautifully animated children’s movie, or as complicated as a commentary on greed, capitalism, and loss of identity.
Friday, May 8 9:30 PM
Free Solo (2018)
Jimmy Chin, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi · 100m · DCP
In arguably the greatest athletic feat of all time, rock climber Alex Honnold summited Yosemite’s 3,000-foot-tall El Capitan in under four hours – all without any ropes. Free Solo follows his journey and the moral dilemmas faced by the film crew trying to film such a dangerous mission, combining stunning views of one of America’s most beautiful national parks with snippets from Alex’s real life.
Friday, May 15 9:30 PM
WALL-E (2008)
Andrew Stanton · 98m · DCP
WALL-E imagines a future where humanity has fled its own mess, leaving the titular lonely robot to sort through the rubble. When a sleek new robot named EVE arrives, WALL-E falls hopelessly in love, proving that even seven hundred years of solitude cannot extinguish the longing for connection and adventure. Much like UChicago students, WALL-E is a hopeless romantic living in solitude, reaching for some real and beautiful connection. A masterpiece of storytelling and animation.
Saturday, May 16 9:30 PM
Privilege (1967)
Peter Watkins · 103m · DCP
Pop music is an instrument of mass control in the late Peter Watkins’s tale of national idol Steven Shorter. Shorter’s image, maintained by a team of government officials and corporations in order to pacify England’s youth, slowly unravels as he interacts with a young artist commissioned to paint his portrait. Watkins’s work is an incisive look at stardom and a culture willing to trade freedom for entertainment.
