This month, we’re showing what’s been described by some critics as the greatest sci-fi movie ever made (that’s Dune Part Two, if you’ve somehow missed the hype), Hirokazu Kore-Eda’s latest masterpiece, Monster, and a host of other unmissable titles. Here’s what’s coming up:
DUNE: PART TWO is now playing at The Lexi Cinema
It’s time to venture back to the desert planet of Arrakis, where intergalactic worms reign supreme, and Timothee Chalamet and Zendaya stare moodily into the middle distance as shimmering sands lay before them. That’s right, Dune Part Two is finally here, and it’s an epic sequel which has already drawn numerous five star reviews. Helmed once again by Denis Villeneuve, and boasting an outstanding ensemble cast including Austin Butler, Rebecca Ferguson and Javier Bardem, this is a spectacular tale of vengeance and psychic visions as Paul Atreides fights to bring down the warlords who destroyed his family. Oh, and you can rest easy in the knowledge that we categorically will not be serving our popcorn in any unsettling Dune-themed buckets. View showtimes.
PERFECT DAYS arrives Friday 8 March
With the life-enhancing Perfect Days, Wim Wenders has produced ‘his best and most winning fiction film since Wings of Desire’ (Sight and Sound). It’s a tranquil, oscar-nominated portrait of Hirayama, a man in his 60s at peace with his simple life. Cleaning toilets for the Tokyo Toilet Project - which is behind 17 ultra-modern, artist-designed public toilets in Tokyo’s Shibuya district - Hirayama has a routine that carefully balances his work with his manifold passions: for literature, music, and photography. Enamoured with even the smallest of life’s pleasures, Hirayama’s is an existence that’s well and truly Zen, at least until some unexpected encounters from his past threaten to disrupt the gentle rhythm of his daily life… A truly gorgeous, meditative film that’ll leave you contemplating the small wonders of simply being alive long after the credits have rolled. View showtimes.
FOUR DAUGHTERS screens at The Lexi from Friday 8 March
In this remarkable, Oscar-nominated blend of documentary and fiction, filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania introduces us to a Tunisian mother, Olfa. Two of Olfa’s four daughters have disappeared after radicalisation. Ben Hania calls on two professional actors to fill in for the women in their absence, and what follows is a film like no other, as absence and loss, sisterhood and motherhood, and trauma and reconciliation are intimately explored. View showtimes.
BANEL & ADAMA arrives Friday 8 Match at The Lexi
Banel & Adama is the debut feature from award-winning filmmaker Ramata-Toulaye Sy, which follows the fated romance between Banel and Adama, who live in a sleepy and remote village in Northern Senegal. The weight of expectation weighs heavily on Adama’s shoulders as future chief, but the young lovers dream of carving out a simple life together. When drought strikes the village, everything changes, and Banel and Adama find themselves on a collision course with their community. A lyrical, dreamy debut which blends realism with poetic, profound symbolism. View showtimes.
RED ISLAND shows from Friday 8 March
At the beginning of the 70s, Madagascar is home to one of the few remaining French military bases abroad. During these final, dying years of French colonialism, 8-year-old Thomas’ father is stationed on the island nation, and his unfolding childhood is an idyllic one, the island a gorgeous, palm tree-shaded playground. Innately curious, Thomas is inspired by his favourite comic book heroine, and embarks on daily quests for new knowledge. As he roams his neighbourhood, his eyes gradually open to a new reality, and he comes to discover the role his family plays in the racist power dynamics so firmly embedded in his Madagascan paradise. Inspired by director Robin Campillo’s (120 BPM) own childhood, Red Island is a atmospheric account of a newly decolonised nation, scrutinised through the eyes of a spirited young child. View showtimes.
MONSTER arrives Friday 22 March
From master filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda (Broker, Shoplifters), Monster is a mesmerising curiosity of a film, presenting us with a central mystery examined from three different perspectives. Set in a suburban lakeside town, when Saori’s son Minato begins acting strangely, she’s understandably disturbed. But when she storms to his school to confront the teacher she suspects is to blame, an intricate, multi-layered picture emerges of a more complex truth. Winning best screenplay at Cannes, Kore-eda has crafted what the LA Times describes as ‘a delicate web of compassion and embattlement’, as parental anxieties and the inner lives of children are deftly explored. View showtimes.
LE BONHEUR screens on Tuesday 26 March
Our Year With Agnès season continues with Le Bonheur (1965), introduced by Rosie, our Cinema Director. Tickets are selling fast for the third film in our year-long love-in with Varda so if you were planning on joining us, be sure to snap your tickets up soon. Le Bonheur is a fixture on 'best films of the 20th Century' lists and we can’t wait to bring it to the big screen. View showtimes.
NOWRUZ: SHAYDA & THE HOUSE IS BLACK both screen on Friday 22 March
Don’t miss our Persian New Year - Nowruz - celebrations on Friday 22 March, hosted by award-winning journalist and documentary producer and Lexi regular, Leila Lak. Leila’s body of work includes films for Channel 4, Netflix, Al Jazeera, and the BBC. Growing up in the UK she went back to Iran and made several documentaries before being banned from working there. We present a very rare screening of The House is Black (1962), a 21 minute film by Forough Farrokhzad, often referred to as Iran’s Sylvia Plath, followed by an incredible panel. This will be followed by an exclusive preview of Shayda (not hitting UK cinema screens until this summer) the debut film from Noora Niasari, a contemporary drama set at the time of Nowruz celebrations. View showtimes.
Gen Sandle
Lexi Marketing & Comms
