Chaplin at the Strand - Sat., June 11, 2016 at 7 PM

City Lights, the most cherished film by Charlie Chaplin, is also his ultimate Little Tramp chronicle. The writer-director-star achieved new levels of grace, in both physical comedy and dramatic poignancy, with this silent tale of a lovable vagrant falling for a young blind woman who sells flowers on the street (a magical Virginia Cherrill) and mistakes him for a millionaire. Though this Depression-era smash was made after the advent of sound, Chaplin remained steadfast in his love for the expressive beauty of the pre-talkie form. The result was the epitome of his art and the crowning achievement of silent comedy.

Watch the trailer

$5 Advance tickets available at Highway 61 Coffeehouse

$7 at the door

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

"Love" & "Doubt" at the Strand this weekend

It's a movie on Thursday & live theatre on Friday & Saturday

Join us at the Strand on the eve of Earth Day 2016 for a new film:

Love Thy Nature

Thursday, April 21 at 7 PM

Narrated by Liam Neeson, Love Thy Nature is a cinematic immersion into the beauty and intimacy of our relationship with the natural world. With mesmerizing artistry and fascinating details, the film explores how nature nourishes us.

Neeson is the voice of Homo Sapiens – our collective humankind – who, in the past few thousand years, has come to believe that we are separate from nature. This mind-set has caused us to disrupt billions of years of evolution, causing a mass extinction of species and threatening the survival of the human race.

Love Thy Nature shows that a new era of connectedness with the natural world is key to ensuring our species’ future. This era might just be dawning: A new science called biomimicry taps into nature’s four billion years of R&D for some of the most brilliant cutting edge inventions, pointing to a new highly advanced technological age: The Biological Revolution.

In the medical field, doctors are unveiling new findings on the role of nature to sustain and heal the human body. And experts have discovered that just spending time in nature promotes healing, emotional stability, connectedness, and even neurological health in children.

Through Sapiens’ journey, the film reveals how a relationship with nature ignites a sense of meaning and wonder so profound that it touches us at the very core of what it means to be human. Traversing the globe, Love Thy Nature shares the dazzling spectacles of our planet while revealing how a deeper connection with nature transforms us as people and communities. And that transformation inspires us not only to restore our ecosystems, but also our human family, and ourselves.
See the trailer:

Discount Advance tickets for the film are available at Highway 61 Coffeehouse

And onstage...John Patrick Shanley's 

Doubt: a Parable

Friday & Saturday, April 22 & 23 at 7:30 PM

The production features a talented local cast: 

Linda Hadala as Sister Aloysius Beauvier, 

Matt Mitchell as Father Flynn, 

Kimberly Madsen-Thomas as Sister James, 

Cathy Sanford as Mrs. Muller.

Discount advance tickets for Doubt are available at Highway 61 Coffeehouse for $10. Tickets at the door: $15.

Lee H. & the Boone Brothers Free - Sunday, April 17 at 5 PM

When Riverfest is over, there's still one more party. There's music and food, and it's free. Join us at The Strand for a party and concert featuring Lee. H & the Boone Brothers.

Join us in remembering Buddy Hallberg, a great inspiration to the Westside Theatre Foundation.

Sunday, April 10 at 2:30 PM: Tales of Hoffmann

Powell & Pressburger's 1951 followup to their classic The Red Shoes is the Tales of Hoffmann. It's a film of an opera about a poet's stories presented as a ballet. The writing/directing duo long had an ideal of a "composed film." Tales of Hoffman came closest to fulfilling that dream.

Moira Shearer and all the other principal dancers from the Red Shoes are in the film lip syncing their roles. The orchestra is conducted by the legendary Sir Thomas Beecham. Opera singer Robert Rounseville portrays E.T.A. Hoffman who is "unlucky in love" in the three stories presented. But the interventions of a singular villain belie the role of luck.

 For the lover of film, dance, opera, costume design, and theater in general, this film is a must see.

Click to see the trailer...

After the film, Jay Parmegiani has invited our audience over to the Rooftop at Ten South across the street for a complimentary drink.

Advance discount tickets are available at Highway 61 Coffeehouse for only $5.