With International Workers’ Day ushering in the next month, we’ll be turning our attention to the cinema of contemporary China, and to a duo of English-language films depicting two real-life figures on the Soviet side of the Cold War. Beginning with the world’s most exciting national cinema, as we near the end of the 2010s, Museum Films is exceptionally proud to present two brilliant, award-winning first films, Hu Bo’s An Elephant Sitting Still and Qiu Sheng’s Suburban Birds; and a staggering step-forward in Bi Gan’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night. There’s nowhere else today where so many young filmmakers are making such original examples of cinematic art—even if we have already lost Hu following the completion of what might be the best film of the past year.
Moving from China to the former Soviet Union, May also brings New German Cinema and oddball documentary icon Werner Herzog’s compelling new biography, Meeting Gorbachev, which traces the life of the world-famous leader from the farmlands of rural Russia to the present day (with Mr. Gorbachev sitting for a series of interviews). OKCMOA will also be hosting the local premiere of Red Joan, the amazing true story of a Soviet spy played in old age by legendary “dame” Judi Dench.
Speaking of twentieth-century history, this month also marks a special weekend engagement of documentary blockbuster They Shall Not Grow Old, Peter Jackson’s amazing color re-mastering of never-before-seen World War I documentary footage.
Three engaging new art films from France, Italy and South Korea round out our May schedule. Beginning in France, Museum Films welcomes back the familiar face of Juliette Binoche in Olivier Assayas’s (Personal Shopper) wry and slyly seductive tale of sex, lies and literature, Non-Fiction; and from Italy comes that country’s selection for the Best Foreign Film Oscar, the scintillating crime-thriller Dogman, by the acclaimed director of Gomorrah, Matteo Garrone.
Last but not least is Grass, the enchanting new film from Korean art-house superman, Hong Sang-soo, which happens to also be the fifth new release by the director to open at the Noble Theater since January 2018. There are few filmmakers in the world who manage to be so productive, and even fewer who make films as accomplished as Hong’s. Don’t miss this chance to see the final film for a while—by his standards, at least—from one of the world’s current best.
Click to view and print the May 2019 Film Schedule + Calendar. Printed film schedules will also be available in the theater lobby.