South Korea/2003—directed by Park Chan-wook

In this influential, unclassifiable film from director Park Chan-wook (Lady Vengeance, Decision to Leave), the main character Oh Dae-Su is suddenly, inexplicably released after being kidnapped and held captive for 15 years.

Desperate to understand the reason for his ordeal, he sets out to track down his tormentors, only to find himself in a cat-and-mouse game that leaves him five days to retrace his past, track down his captors, and, above all, seek violent revenge.

The result is a thriller that’s been an inspiration to filmmakers (Spike Lee did a 2013 remake), and is now returning to the big screen to celebrate its 20th anniversary and stunning new restoration. (120 minutes) 

Directed by Mikko Niskanen / 1972

This long unsung landmark of Finnish cinema, inspired by an actual 1969 event, is the magnum opus of the virtually unknown (in the U.S.) writer-producer-director-actor Mikko Niskanen. He delivers a shattering performance as Pasi, a farmer who struggles to support his family through occasional odd jobs and who seeks aid and comfort in alcohol—making it, selling it, drinking it—which creates for his family, brings him into conflict with the law, and leads him on a gradual slide toward oblivion.

Presented here in its original four-chapter format as made for Finnish television in 1972, this monumental vision of human endurance is the rare, great epic woven from the fabric of ordinary life. Restored by Martin Scorsese’s Film Foundation, with funding by the Lucas Family Foundation, it will be screened once only in its entirety.

In Finnish with English subtitles. (5 hours 16 minutes, plus intermission) Crystal Gallery Café will be open during intermission.

“The crowning achievement of Finnish filmmaking and one of the masterpieces of European cinema.” –Aki Kaurismäki

Directed by Manuela Martelli / 2022

In this much-awarded movie, all seems fine in the comfortable Chilean bourgeois world of Carmen (played by Aline Kuppenheim) and her family. She has a summer house she’s renovating, and performs charitable works through her church. But when the family priest asks her to take care of an injured young man he has been sheltering in secret, Carmen is unwittingly drawn into the world of Chilean politics—with potentially disastrous consequences for her family.

Building convincingly from quiet character study to gripping Hitchcockian thriller, Chile ’76 explores one woman’s precarious flirtation with political realities during the early days of the Pinochet dictatorship. In Spanish with English subtitles. (95 minutes)

“A period thriller of beguiling power, energized by its portrait of one woman’s heroism.” —Nick Schager, The Daily Beast

Directed by Federico Fellini, 1953 | 1 hour 44 minutes

Fellini's first international success, based on memories of his youth, focuses on five layabouts in a sleepy seaside town during the winter off-season. Skirt-chaser Franco Fabrizi is forced into marriage but has eyes for his boss’s wife; would-be poet Leopoldo Trieste (later Signor Roberto in The Godfather Part II) gets to read his poetry to the actor he idolizes, with an unwelcome result, and Fellini's brother Ricardo Fellini emcees at a seedy beauty pageant. Only the youngest, Shoeshine’s Franco Interlenghi, will get out.

Winner of the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival and recipient of a rare Academy Award® nomination for a foreign-language screenplay, I Vitelloni features the second and possibly greatest of composer Nino Rota’s 16 Fellini film scores. An inspiration in style and story for films from as George Lucas’s American Graffiti and Martin Scorsese’s Mean Streets, this Fellini masterwork is now available in a glorious 4K restoration. In Italian with English subtitles.

“Captures the bittersweet emotions of a moment that eventually comes for everyone: the moment you realize you can either grow up, or stay forever a child.” —Martin Scorsese

France/1939—directed by Jean Renoir |106 minutes

Considered one of the greatest movies ever made. The plot—a weekend gathering at a chateau where a group of guests come together ostensibly for a pleasant getaway—is a subtle, scathing portrayal of class and social hypocrisy, as well as a groundbreaking visual masterpiece. François Truffaut called The Rules of the Game “the film of films.” 

In French with English subtitles. 

“As fresh, funny and poignant as it ever was, and even more mysterious. How did Renoir do it?” –J. Hoberman, The New York Times
 

Directed by Basil Twist / 2019 

Created for the theater in 1998, Twist’s now-legendary underwater puppet production Symphonie Fantastique is set to composer Hector Berlioz’s signature work and performed in a 1,000-gallon fish tank where seven unseen puppeteers manipulate hundreds of fabrics, feathers, forms, colors, and shapes into a visual extravaganza. 

All ages, but best suited for children 8 and up and adults. 90 min. 

Presented in partnership with Cinema Lamont and the Detroit Puppet Company as part of the 2023 Puppet Film Series. 

This program is supported through the generous support of the Dr. Audley M. Grossman and Paul McPharlin Puppetry Funds. 
 

Directed by Hlynur Pálmason / 2022

In the late nineteenth century, a casually arrogant Danish priest Lucas (Elliott Crosset Hove) makes the perilous trek to Iceland’s sparsely populated southeastern coast with the intention of establishing a church. There, amid the magnificent landscapes and glorious nature, Lucas finds his resolve and self-control tested as he confronts harsh terrain, temptations of the flesh, and the reality of being an intruder in an unforgiving, if beautiful, place.

“Absolutely breathtaking—the camera captures the unassuming beauty of Iceland, but also does not hide its frigid nature, both terrifying and beautiful.” –Jenny Nulf, Austin Chronicle

In Icelandic and Danish with English subtitles. (2 hours 23 min) 

Directed by Laura Citarella / 2022

In her enormously enjoyable multi-part tale, Laura Citarella takes viewers on a journey set in and around the Argentinean city of Trenque Lauquen (“Round Lake”) and centered on the disappearance of Laura, a local academic. Through initial inquiries by two colleagues, we learn about her recent discoveries, including a new, unclassified species of flower and a trove of letters hidden at the local library. As anecdotes pile up, we—and the film’s investigators—begin to realize this mystery is vaster and stranger than we could have imagined. 

All 12 chapters of Trenque Lauquen will be presented at this special, one-time-only screening. Crystal Gallery Café will be open during intermission. Run time is four hours, plus intermission.

“Once you lose yourself in the thickets of Trenque Lauquen, you won’t want to be found.” –Devika Girish, The New York Times

Directed by Pierre Földes / 2022

A giant talking frog and an elusive cat help a bank employee, his wife, and a lonely accountant find meaning in their lives—and possibly save Tokyo from catastrophe—in this remarkable animated film. Composer and animator Pierre Földes weaves and layers several short stories by best-selling Japanese author Haruki Murakami into one fascinating narrative, set among characters all responding in different ways to the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.

“Elegantly surreal, Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman is an impressive achievement, a piece of storytelling which balances whimsy against existential questions.” –Wendy Ide, Screen International

In English. 110 min.

Germany/2023—directed by Christian Petzold | 102 minutes

The neurotic Leon (Thomas Schubert) and his laidback friend Felix (Langston Uibel) are on their way to a peaceful stay at a  tranquil seaside summer house. Halfway there, the car breaks down—a sign of things to come, in this new film from director Christian Petzold. They arrive to find Nadja (Paula Beer), a surprise roommate. Personalities clash, tempers flare, resentments emerge, and forest fires in the distance turn the skies orange. The Hollywood Reporter called it “… a deceptively simple and straightforward but emotionally layered film, nicely acted by the tight ensemble.” In German with English subtitles.