Before there was Star Wars, or The Magnificent Seven, or A Bug’s Life, or Django Unchained, there was Akira Kurosawa's masterpiece, Seven Samurai. Kurosawa is worshiped as a filmmaker by filmmaking greats like Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, and Martin Scorsese, who described “the shock of that level of mastery” upon first encountering Kurosawa’s work, and Seven Samurai itself is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential films ever made. It is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year, and its distributor, Janus, has given us the glorious opportunity to see it on the big screen in new, gorgeously restored form. 

Seven Samurai is an epic in every sense of the word -- epic action, epic characters, epic vision, and epic length at 207 minutes. And it is such a gorgeously rendered narrative that, much like RRR (which so many of you loved when we showed it last year), the time flies by. We’ll be offering a 10-minute intermission, in any case, to ensure everyone is fully equipped with refreshments. 

We’ve got a showing every day this week, with evening showtimes and matinees available on various days, so don’t miss the chance to see it!

I’ve been waiting a while to get Robot Dreams, an utterly delightful, funny and moving, Oscar-nominated animated film on screen, and it's finally here!  Robot Dreams follows the story of Dog, who is so lonely, he decides to order a robot companion, and, thus, Robot enters Dog's life. The two become inseparable, joyous friends. A day at the beach, however, becomes a disaster, when, like the Tin Woodman in The Wizard of Oz, Robot's joints freeze; there's no oil-can in sight; Dog cannot carry his robot friend home; the beach closes for the summer season, locking Dog out; and Robot is left on the beach.  The film then follows the two friends' lives as Dog counts off the days until the beach opens again. 

The film, which is essentially wordless, is light, funny, warm, and accessible, making it a delight for the youngest of viewers (Common Sense Media recommends 8 and up), but its beautifully depicted themes will resonate deeply for adults as those themes are penetratingly insightful. The themes match the complexities of a film like Past Lives, and the two films would, in fact, make a beautiful double feature. It is one of those rare films that, while not “made for children,” children can watch and love; Dog and Robot’s adventures are irresistible. And adults, whose life experiences and histories are broader, will find the film a movingly profound meditation on life and a tribute to friendship. It is an animated film -- for everyone.

Ghostlight is a new film from co-directors Kelly O’Sullivan and Alex Thompson, working together again after their terrific 2019 feature, Saint Francis (written by O’Sullivan and directed by Thompson). Ghostlight itself, flying under the radar in terms of wide national marketing, is the kind of gem of an indie film that is inspiring passionate, beautifully written reviews from critics, eager to share a film they love with an audience who may not have heard of it. And for those audiences who do find it, they’re falling in love, too. (Ghostlight has a rare 100% from critics and 97% from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes.)  

The story follows a family of three, Dan, Sharon, and their teen daughter, Daisy, who are harboring a shared grief, the source of which is initially hidden from us as audience members. Dan, becoming more and more distant from his wife and daughter and unable or unwilling to process his grief, stumbles one day upon a community theater group led by Rita (Dolly De Leon), a group that is putting together a production of Romeo and Juliet. Dan, a construction worker, is the most unlikely of people to join a drama ensemble, with no experience and no previous interest, but he is slowly drawn in, and it is in this world of the performing arts and narrative fiction that he finds the space to confront the realities of his pain. 

It is a profoundly moving film, gently and beautifully realized through the narrative and through the performances of the whole cast, particularly Keith Kupferer (Dan), Tara Mallen (Sharon), Katherine Mallen Kupferer (Daisy, and the real life daughter of Keith Kupferer and Tara Mallen), and Dolly De Leon, whom you may remember from her brilliant performance in the Triangle of Sadness. And it culminates in a catharsis that only the best drama can provide (you may want to bring some tissues for happy-sad tears!). 

And hurrah! The first of our special events this week marks the beginning of our signature Pickford summer series: Rooftop Cinema! The brainchild of our very own Executive Director, Susie Purves, Rooftop Cinema is a free, outdoor, cinema series held every summer on the roof of the Commercial St. parking garage. Rooftop made a triumphant post-pandemic return with Summer of Swayze in 2022 with the films Dirty Dancing, Point Break, and Roadhouse, and then we followed it up in 2023 with Hot Girl Summer, showing Legally Blonde, Fargo, and Mad Max: Fury Road. This year, we’re celebrating the hilarious, movie-lovers’ Cornetto trilogy directed by Edgar Wright and starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, and kicking it off with Shaun of the Dead, the horror-comedy that functions both as a loving, hilarious spoof of zombie genre and as a genuinely great zombie movie of its own. You can find out more about our Rooftop series and this summer’s series on a recent edition of KMRE’s Arts and Entertainment Spotlight, where host Margaret Bikman interviews Gray Gordon, Pickford’s own Marketing Manager. 

Join us this Friday for Rooftop and for Shaun of the Dead’s 20th anniversary! Party starts at 7 pm, movie starts at dusk. 

We’ve also got the next entry in our Kid Pickford classic Pixar series, Cars, playing Saturday afternoon, Sunday morning, and Wednesday morning.  Showcasing Pixar’s gorgeous animation and the voicework of Owen Wilson, Paul Newman, and Bonnie Hunt, Cars is, as Peter Travers noted, delightfully “Fueled with plenty of humor, action, heartfelt drama, and amazing . . . technical feats and a high octane delight for moviegoers of all ages.” Critics at the time were slightly more mixed on Cars than on earlier Pixar films, but it is one of those films that children were instantly passionately devoted to, playing it on repeat in their houses (if they were lucky as to have the DVD) and making its characters the subjects of endless hours of play. And so, as is often the case, it is the audience who gives the film its beloved status, and it remains a true Pixar classic.   Our screening of Be Kind Rewind this week is in support of our friends at Scarecrow Video in Seattle:  “Scarecrow Video is a beloved community space and video store currently in jeopardy of closing its doors. Right now, they're running a capital campaign to ensure that they can stay in their current location, provide existing staff with living wages, hire a permanent leadership team, and more. You can read their entire pitch here.  “Be Kind Rewind’s celebration of VHS tapes and DIY filmmaking techniques underscores the enduring importance of preserving physical media and places like Scarecrow, especially as streaming platforms increasingly control access to cinematic content. It invites viewers to appreciate the artistry and community spirit that physical media still fosters today, urging us to remember and cherish the physical artifacts that have shaped our collective cinematic memory.”  Opportunities to help support Scarecrow will be available at this event, and we'll have a special guest from Scarecrow to talk to us about their situation. Join us on Tuesday at 7:45 pm! If, like me, you watched John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight June 27 episode on the UK Elections, one of the things that may have been on your mind was the disastrous, years-long gutting of the NHS (National Health Service) by the Conservative government. The NHS has long been a service Brits are rightly proud of (and I, as an American, have often been jealous of!). As you may recall, the opening ceremonies of the 2012 Olympic Games in London was, in part, a tribute to the NHS, so its fall is grievous. This month’s National Theatre Live (NTL), Nye is thus a welcome celebration of the story of the man credited with the creation of the NHS, Nye Bevan. Featuring a brilliant performance from Michael Sheen as Nye, the story follows “Nye Bevan in a surreal and spectacular journey through the life and legacy of the man who transformed Britain’s welfare state and created the NHS. Confronted with death, Aneurin ‘Nye’ Bevan’s deepest memories lead him on a mind-bending journey back through his life; from childhood to mining underground, Parliament and fights with Churchill. Written by Tim Price and directed by Rufus Norris, this epic new Welsh fantasia will be broadcast live from the National Theatre.” Join us on Wednesday at 7:15 (or the following week, July 28 at 10:30 am) for another of the best of London’s theatrical productions. And finally, Nine from the 90’s, our weekly summer series, brings us Four Weddings and a Funeral, starring Andie MacDowell and Hugh Grant. I have a deep and abiding affection for this classic rom-com (the sort they just don’t make anymore) for any number of reasons--the comic timing of Hugh Grant, who made British befuddlement a household name; the lovably terrible line delivery, “Is it raining? I hadn’t noticed”; the screenplay from Richard Curtis, whose wit and narrative skill are in their full powers here--but allow me to name just two more reasons I adore it: 1) The ensemble cast. Grant and MacDowell are the nominal stars, but the film finds its depth, humor, and heart in the stories and performances of James Fleet, Simon Callow, John Hannah, Kristin Scott Thomas, Charlotte Coleman, Rowan Atkinson, Anna Chancellor and others. All unforgettable and all unbelievably great. 2) The funeral scene. It never fails to make me sob, perhaps because its sudden, profound grief in the middle of a comedy is so unexpected but so perfect, or perhaps because I cannot resist a great actor reciting, with such stark truth, the work of the great poet W.H. Auden. Whatever the reason, when I reach that scene, I reach for the tissues. And I love the film for it.  Join us for the laughs (and the tears) at Four Weddings and a Funeral, Thursday evening at 8:15.  See you at the movies, friends!  Melissa