September Update | The Lexi Blog
This September, our programme is a genre-hopping cinematic Smörgåsbord - from a documentary about the radio show which gave a platform to hip hop royalty (Stretch and Bobbito: Radio that Changed Lives), to a bittersweet drama about fated connection (Past Lives) from playwright-turned-director Celine Song.
Here are some September highlights…
SCRAPPER continues from Friday 8 September
An incredible feature debut from writer and director Charlotte Regan, Scrapper is an infectiously joyful comedy-drama following an unexpected father-daughter reunion. After her mum dies, 12-year-old Georgie (played by newcomer Lola Campbell) lives alone in their London flat - filling the space with magic from her boundless imagination; playing with her best friend Ali; and occasionally nicking bikes. When her dad (Triangle of Sadness’ Harrison Dickinson) turns up unexpectedly looking for a place to live after trying to make it big in Ibiza, the pair cautiously begin to embrace their new-found connection. It’s a sunny, hopeful watch. ‘I like joyful films. My favourite cinema experiences are like ones where I leave feeling happier than when I went in,’ director Charlotte Regan told The Guardian in an interview about her debut.
PASSAGES arrives Friday 8 September
Award-winning indie director Ira Sachs’ latest film, Passages, is a turbulent, steamy and intense study of modern love. Tomas - a deeply charismatic but narcissistic filmmaker - lives in Paris with his husband, visual artist Martin. Though their marriage is ostensibly open, it begins to implode when Tomas begins a passionate affair with a young woman, Agathe, while trying to keep Martin in his grip, leaving a trail of bitterness and destruction in his wake. Tomas’ toxic charm is subtly portrayed by the soft-spoken Franz Rogowski (Great Freedom), alongside Ben Whishaw (Women Talking) and Adèle Exarchopoulos (Blue Is the Warmest Colour) as his two lovers.
PAST LIVES opens Friday 15 September
A poetic feature debut from director Celine Song, Past Lives is a meditation on the mystery of human connection, anchored by the strange sadness of longing for something that could have been. A childhood romance between Nora (Greta Lee) and Hae Sung (Teo Yoo), is cut short when Nora's family emigrates to Canada. As adults, they reconnect by chance not once, but twice. Over the course of a few fateful days in New York, Nora and Hae Sung - now firmly embedded in adult lives and relationships - contemplate the meaning of their seemingly unshakable connection.
STRETCH AND BOBBITO: RADIO THAT CHANGED LIVES screens on Thursday 14 September.
This year marks 50 years since hip hop first emerged in New York City, when DJ Kool Herc invented the genre one summer night in The Bronx. While Kensal Rise isn’t quite the same as the Big Apple, we’re nonetheless celebrating with three rarely screened docs on the multifaceted genre, and kicking things off with Stretch and Bobbito: Radio That Changed Lives. The Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito Show amplified the voices of some of the greatest hip hop artists of all time. Mind-blowing freestyles, interviews with legends: this is the story of the radio show which changed music forever.
OTTO BAXTER: NOT A F**CKING HORROR STORY screens on Monday 18 September.
Screening as part of Unlikely Lives - our occasional documentary strand from Lexi doc programmer Carin Von Drehle - Otto Baxter: Not a F**cking Horror Story is an uplifting and entertaining watch from occasional drag artist, role model for individuals with Down Syndrome, and now fully-fledged filmmaker Otto Baxter. Baxter rose to fame after starring in the infamous doc ‘Otto: Love, Lust and Las Vegas’. Otto Baxter: Not a F**cking Horror Story follows Otto as he joins forces once again with Fletcher and Beard, as they set out to make a gothic horror musical inspired by Baxter’s life.
After this screening, we’ll be showing Otto Baxter’s short film The Puppet Asylum, followed by a live Q&A with documentary directors Bruce Fletcher and Peter Beard.
A HAUNTING IN VENICE arrives Friday 22 September
Kenneth Branagh reprises his role as Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot in A Haunting in Venice. In post-war Venice, the retired detective lives a leisurely existence, finally free of all those Brits who can’t stop murdering each other at dinner parties. But when an old friend and mystery writer Ariadne Oliver (Tina Fey) request Poirot’s assistance in debunking a clairvoyant, he must once again put his little grey cells to use when a guest at a seance is found murdered. Based on Agatha Christie’s “Hallowe’en Party”, this is a spooky mystery tinged by the occult, boasting an incredible ensemble cast that includes Michelle Yeoh, Kelly Reilly, and Jamie Dornan.
Lexi Updates
We’re taking part in Open House! Come along to The Lexi on Saturday 9, 10, and 16 September to learn more about The Lexi’s amazing history, from its Edwardian origins to its contemporary extension by Rise Design Studio. Rise’s brilliant architects will be hosting guided tours of the space, so drop in and learn more about your favourite neighbourhood cinema. For more information, visit Open House’s website here.
Gen Sandle
Lexi Marketing and Comms
