Museum of the Moving Image will present two acclaimed new films in limited theatrical engagements this September and October. From September 3 through 11, the Museum will present Kaili Blues, the stunning directorial debut from Chinese poet Bi Gan, in an exclusive New York return engagement after its successful Metrograph run. From September 23 through October 1, the Museum will present Chronic, directed by Michel Franco and starring Tim Roth in a role The Guardian has called “what may well be the performance of his career.” This will be a New York premiere engagement (Chronic also screens at Cinema Village).
Kaili Blues
Dir. Bi Gan. 2015, 113 mins. Digital projection. With Chen Yongzhong, Zhao Daqing. In Mandarin and Kaili dialect with English subtitles. Chinese poet and first-time filmmaker Bi Gan has made an astonishing debut film that is at once mesmerizing and enigmatic, a dreamlike cinematic tour de force. The elusive narrative revolves around the journey of a doctor from the rain-drenched city of Kaili to look for his brother’s abandoned child. As J. Hoberman writes in The New York Review of Books, “[Bi’s] full-throttle filmmaking manages to evoke Resnais, Tarkovsky, Hou Hsiao-hsien without ever seeming derivative.” A Grasshopper Film release. Event link
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 3:00 P.M. AND 6:00 P.M.
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 3:00 P.M. AND 6:00 P.M.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2:00 P.M. AND 5:00 PM
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 5:00 P.M.
Chronic
Dir. Michel Franco. 2015, 107 mins. Digital projection. With Tim Roth. In one of his most riveting performances, Tim Roth (Reservoir Dogs, Lie to Me) plays David, an in-home nurse who works with terminally ill patients, developing strong, even intimate, relationships with each person he cares for. But outside of his work, David is ineffectual, awkward, and reserved—effects of his chronic depression—and he needs each patient as much as they need him. Having long carried a burden of guilt and remorse, David must face his past in order to heal. Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian wrote that Tim Roth “gives what may well be the performance of his career—calm, studied, mysteriously impassive.” A Monument Releasing release. Event link
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 7:30 P.M. With director Michel Franco in person
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2:00 P.M. AND 6:30 P.M.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2:00 P.M.
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2, 3:00 P.M. AND 6:00 P.M.
Tickets are $12 ($6 for select Museum membership levels). Advance tickets are available online at http://movingimage.us. Ticket purchase may be applied toward same-day admission to the Museum’s galleries.
All screenings take place in the Celeste and Armand Bartos Screening Room at Museum of the Moving Image, 36-01 35 Avenue in Astoria, Queens, New York.