THIS WEEK AT THE CINEMATHEQUE

By Dianna Braginton-Smith

ESSENTIAL ARTHOUSE
The Spirit of the Beehive
Directed by Victor Erice/Spain/1973. With Ana Torrent, Isabel Tellería, Fernando Fernán Gómez

“The Spirit of the Beehive” (“El Espíritu de la Colmena”) is widely regarded as the greatest Spanish film of the 1970s. In a small Castilian village in 1940, in the wake of the country’s devastating civil war, 6-year-old Ana attends a traveling movie showing of “Frankenstein” and becomes possessed by the memory of it. Produced as Franco’s long regime was nearing its end, this San Sebastian Film Festival grand prize winner is a bewitching portrait of a child’s haunted inner life and one of the most visually arresting movies ever made. In Spanish with English subtitles.

Thursday, Aug. 13 at 8:30 p.m.

Departures
Directed by Yojiro Takita/Japan/2009. With Masahiro Motoki, Riyoko Hirosue, Tsutomu Yamakazi.

Academy Award winner for Best Foreign Language Film, “Departures” ("Okuribito") is a delightful journey into the heartland of Japan, as well an astonishingly beautiful look at a sacred part of Japan’s cultural heritage. The film follows Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Motoki), a devoted cellist in an orchestra who is suddenly left jobless. He answers a classified ad which reads “departures,” only to discover that the job is actually for a “nokanshi,” a person who prepares deceased bodies for burial. The film exposes Kobayashi’s profound, and sometimes comical, discovery of death as he uncovers the wonder, joy and meaning of life and living. In Japanese with English subtitles.

Friday, Aug. 14; Saturday, Aug. 15; and Sunday, Aug. 16 at 7 p.m.  

In the Loop
Directed by Armando Iannucci/UK/2009. With James Gandolfini, Mimi Kennedy, Peter Capaldi, Tom Hollander

“In The Loop” is a smart comedy and Sundance Film Festival hit from the acclaimed team who created the award-winning BBC TV comedy series “The Thick of It.” With razor-sharp, truly laugh-out-loud dialogue, the film pokes fun at the absurdity and ineptitude of our highest leaders. With everyone looking out for number one, and the fate of the free world at stake, the hilarious ensemble cast bumbles its way through Machiavellian political dealings, across continents, and toward comic resolutions that are unforeseeable.

Friday, Aug. 14; Saturday, Aug. 15; and Sunday, Aug. 16 at 9:15 p.m.  

GLOBAL LENS SERIES
The Photograph  
Directed by Nan Achnas /Indonesia/2007. With Lim Kay Tong, Shanty, Lukman Sardi

Sita is a spirited young woman working to support her family as a singer and prostitute in a local brothel. Always short of funds and bullied by her pimp, she convinces an elderly portrait photographer, Mr. Johan, to rent her a room. The unlikely bond that develops between Sita and Johan is the basis of writer–director Nan Achnas’s visually brilliant and poignant human drama about the profound effect one life can have on another. In Indonesian with English subtitles.

Wednesday, Aug. 19 and Wednesday, Aug. 26 at 8:30 p.m.

The Miami Beach Cinematheque is located at 512 Espanola Way, Miami Beach. For more information call 305-673-4567 or visit mbcinema.com.

comments@theleadmiamibeach.com