Sat., June 4 at 7: The Measure of a Man

Our little handmade cinema has "new" seats, new aisle lighting. new counter tops; and we are not stopping there. With the help of our friends, supporters, partners, and volunteers we are striving to make the Strand as comfortable and cool as possible. We're upgrading some of our video equipment, so the picture should be noticeably better this weekend as well, so come see this week's offering:

The Measure of a Man Saturday, June 4  at 7 PM According to Mike D'Angelo's review for A.V. Club:  The Measure Of A Man’s beating heart is Vincent Lindon’s performance, for which he deservedly won Best Actor at Cannes last year (and, earlier this year, the César in the same category).

He plays Thierry, a man who has lost his job, and who must submit to a series of quietly humiliating ordeals in his search for work. Futile retraining courses that lead to dead ends, interviews via Skype, an interview-coaching workshop critique of his self-presentation by fellow jobseekers; all are mechanisms that seek to break him down and strip him of identity and self-respect in the name of reengineering of a workforce fit for a neoliberal technocratic system. Nothing if not determinist, Stéphane Brizé film dispassionately monitors the progress of its stoic protagonist until at last he lands a job on the front line in the surveillance and control of his fellow man and finally faces one too many moral dilemmas. A powerful and deeply troubling vision of the realities of our new economic order. We're proud to present this film to our Vicksburg audience. It is currently in theaters in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, San Diego...and here at the Strand. Year: 2015 Running Time: 93 Color Type: Color Country: France Language: French Genres: Drama Cast Thierry Taugourdeau............................................Vincent Lindon Employment Agency Counselor.....................................Yves Ory Thierry's Wife....................................................Karine de Mirbeck Thierry's Son.......................................................Matthieu Schaller Crew Directed by......................................................Stéphane Brizé Written by.............................. Stéphane Brizé, Olivier Gorce Watch the trailer: After the show, join us at Martin's at Midtown for supper, conversation, and libations.

Saturday, May 28 - Kurosawa's Ran

Saturday, May 28 at 7 PM - Akira Kurosawa's epic Ran

Kurosawa's acclaimed adaptation of Shakespeare's King Lear returns after 30 years in a stunning new restoration.

Academy Awards (1986) • Winner, 
Best Costume Design • Nominated, 
Best Director • Nominated, 
Best Cinematography • Nominated, 
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration

Yes, it is 2 1/2 hours long, but well worth it, and our "new" comfortable seats will certainly help.

“SPECTACULAR! Among the most thrilling movie experiences a viewer can have!” – Terrence Rafferty, The New York Times

“★★★★★! CRITICS' PICK! KUROSAWA'S MAGISTERIAL EPIC DEMANDS VIEWING ON THE BIG SCREEN!” – Time Out New York

"They don't make them like Akira Kurosawa's magisterial Ran anymore, but the truth is, they didn't really make them like this regal epic back then either. " – Kenneth Turan, LA Times

“Kurosawa’s late-period masterpiece, transposing King Lear to period Japan, is one of the most exquisite spectacles ever made, a color-coordinated epic tragedy of carnage and betrayal—passionate, somber, and profound.” – New York Magazine

“AWE INSPIRING! Takes its place among the major screen versions of Shakespeare. The battle scenes are horrifying, yet extraordinarily beautiful.” – Elliott Stein, The Village Voice

“The most intimate of epics or the most epic of chamber pieces.” – The L Magazine

“Spectacular... The wide-screen, color-coordinated battle scenes will blow your mind, and must be seen in a theater. Don't ever think of watching Ran on a DVD or cellphone!” – V.A. Musetto, New York Post

“KUROSAWA'S SPECTACLE TO END ALL SWEEPING J-SPECTACLES! Like all of Kurosawa’s work, the human pulse is what drives the drama. Only this time, it’s also the drumbeat of an elegy.” – Time Out New York “Kurosawa's Mount Fuji of a Film!” – LA Weekly

“More than the brilliant set pieces (the first big battle scene, an orgy of bloodletting played in almost total silence) or the stunning images (a single figure in a sea of grass and rock; a battalion on horseback galloping along the shore, their herky-jerky movement the effect of shooting with an ultra-long lens), it’s the shapeliness of the whole that impresses, as if Kurosawa had held the entire 160 minutes, like a painting, in his mind’s eye.” – Amy Taubin, The Village Voice

“A Lear for our age, and for all time. The shift and sway of a nation divided is vast, the chaos terrible, the battle scenes the most ghastly ever filmed, and the outcome is even bleaker than Shakespeare’s. Indeed the only note of optimism resides in the nobility of the film itself: a huge, tormented canvas, in which Kurosawa even contrives to command the elements to obey his vision. The results are all that one could possibly dream of.” – Time Out (London)

“A tragedy fed by Shakespeare, Noh, and the samurai epic… a film that shows human brutality, warfare, and suffering as if from the eye of a dispassionate God, seated far above the world’s terror. … a great metaphor of the apocalypse, a world in flames whose chaos is made strangely beautiful.” – Michael Wilmington


“Kurosawa's magisterial epic combines grand and intimate elements.” – San Francisco Examiner 

Watch the trailer: 

Advance tickets available at Highway 61 Coffeehouse for $5 / $7 at the door.

Sat., May 14: Sweet Bean -

From Japan

Sweet Bean

Sweet Bean is a delicious red bean paste, the sweet heart of the dorayaki pancakes that Sentaro (Masatoshi Nagase) sells from his little bakery to a small but loyal clientele. Absorbed in sad memories and distant thoughts, Sentaro cooks with skill but without enthusiasm. When seventy-six-year-old Tokue (Kirin Kiki) responds to his ad for an assistant and cheerfully offers to work for a ridiculously low wage, Sentaro is skeptical about the eccentric old lady's ability to endure the long hours. But when she shows up early one morning and reveals to him the secret to the perfect sweet bean paste, Sentaro agrees to take her on. With Tokue's new home cooked sweet bean paste recipe, Sentaro's business begins to flourish, but Tokue is afflicted with an illness that, once revealed, drives her into isolation once again.

Watch the trailer:


Crew
Directed by Naomi Kawase

Cast
Masatoshi Nagase
Etsuko Ichihara
Miyoko Asada
Kyara Uchida
Kirin Kik

Release Year: 2015
Running Time: 113
Color Type: Color
Country: France, Germany, Japan
Language: Japanese [audio]
Genres: World Cinema, Health and Healing, Food & Wine, Drama, Culture


$5 advance tickets available at Highway 61 Coffehouse
$7 at the door