Arthouse and indie are in the spotlight this month! (Although the world’s favourite unlikely duo, Barbie and Oppenheimer, will still be playing, too.)
From an intense family drama set against the glamour of 1970s Rome (L'Immensità), to an exhilarating Sundance award-winning documentary (Kokomo City) here’s what’s playing at the cinema this month…
SHABU plays on Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 August
Shabu is the life of the party - but unfortunately for him, he’s got to spend his summer working to pay for his grandma’s car, after he ‘borrowed’ it and crashed it. After giving boring odd jobs a go for a while, Shabu eventually devises a plan to both showcase his rap skills and raise funds through a street party. From director Shamira Raphaela and filmed in Rotterdam’s Peperklip estate, Shabu is an upbeat documentary snapshot of summer in the city. Or, to quote Mariana Ashioti writing for Little White Lies: ‘Vivid! Fun! Uplifting! Light!’
KOKOMO CITY opens on Friday 11 August at The Lexi.
A taboo-smashing documentary and sundance favourite, Kokomo City follows four Black transgender sex workers in NYC and Georgia, USA - as they recount and reconstruct their experiences which range from the amusingly inane, to violent, near-death encounters.. Directed by acclaimed music producer D. Smith - who injects her musical sensibilities into the documentary with an electrifying soundtrack - this is a groundbreaking collective portrait.
L’IMMENSITÀ is showing from Friday 18 August.
In the poignant L'Immensità, Penélope Cruz dazzles in her role as a mother trying to shield her children from the collateral damage of her troubled marriage. Set against a vibrant 1970s Rome, Clara finds solace through her children. When her eldest child begins presenting as a boy and adopts the name Adri, he’s rejected by his peers and father. But Clara is determined to support her child, despite lacking the words - or even concepts - to fully understand him. Loosely based on director Emanuele Crialese’s own adolescence, it’s an evocative and rich portrait of intergenerational discontent. ‘The force of Cruz’s charisma — she’s like a cross between Sophia Loren and a solar flare’, says Wendy Ide, writing for Screen International.
SCREEN SONICS: Dick Cuthell and Bill Daggs join us for a listening event on Thursday 24 August!
Screen Sonics is a new audio collaboration between arts charity Metroland Cultures and The Lexi. We’re excited to be hosting legendary multi-instrumentalist Dick Cuthell of The Specials (and also known for his work with Madness and Eurythmics) and his son, visual artist Bill Daggs, whose work draws on the aural landscape and rhythms around him. Part listening session, with both artists sharing the music that’s inspired them through their careers, and part conversation between Bill and Dick.
We’re also continuing to show our Family Fun titles throughout August, so there's still time to catch one of the latest family movies during the summer holidays. All tickets are £8 - and you can catch Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, Elemental, and Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken. (From teenage turtles to animated puddles, it’s a real spectrum of supernatural entities).
As ever, we’re continuing to run Relaxed screenings and subtitled Hard of Hearing screenings, to ensure that all families are catered for during the school holidays.
Lexi Updates
We’ll be closing for one week between 28 August - 3 September! We’ll be back and better than ever on 4 September, and you never know, the Lexi film nerds may return in September with a bit of a tan!
All in all, we’ve had a busy summer of community programming: we’ve welcome four community groups and counting through our doors for screenings, including our longstanding community partner and local refugee charity Salusbury World, who watched Elemental with us this month. We’ve had a great time hosting them!
Gen Sandle
Lexi Marketing and Comms
