From Jared Hess, the offbeat mind behind Napoleon Dynamite, comes the legendary story of a Mexican monk who moonlighted as a luchador — Nacho Libre!

Jack Black stars as Ignacio, a monastery cook with big dreams of wrestling glory. By day, he tends to orphans with meager meals and modest means, but by night, he dons a homemade mask and cape to become “Nacho” – a bumbling yet big-hearted fighter who enters the chaotic world of Lucha Libre. Teaming up Esqueleto (Héctor Jiménez), a wiry street thief with zero wrestling skills but plenty of scrappy determination (and a firm belief in science), Nacho must balance his secret life in the ring with his devotion to the children he cares for, all while chasing respect, redemption, and the heart of the beautiful Sister Encarnación (Ana de la Reguera).

Wildly silly yet surprisingly sincere, Nacho Libre is a raucous underdog tale full of slapstick humor, colorful characters, and Jack Black at his most gloriously unhinged.

Arthouse 101: Japanese Cinema enters the 80’s with Jûzô Itami’s acclaimed Tampopo (original Japanese title: Tanpopo), an award-winning 1985 film that is truly like no other in our series – or in movie history, really. This deliriously inventive comedy follows a widowed ramen shop owner who, with the help of a mysterious trucker (a stoic parody of Clint Eastwood), sets out to create the perfect bowl of noodles. Along the way, we meet an ensemble of eccentric characters whose lives revolve – sometimes absurdly, sometimes erotically – around food.

Nominated for the Best Screenplay and Best Director awards by the National Society of Film Critics, Tampopo is billed as the first “ramen western,” Tampopo is both a genre spoof and a soulful tribute to Japanese cuisine and community. It’s a movie about perfection, pleasure, and the strange, spiritual rituals we attach to what we eat.

Arthouse 101: Japanese Cinema is a curated 12-film trip through the evolution of Japan—from the quiet post-war resilience of the 1940s all the way to the radical reinventions of the 1990s. This July-October, we will explore a new facet of this incredible nation’s cinematic journey throughout the 20th century. All films will be presented in their original Japanese language with English subtitles, at a reduced ticket price of $8.

Come see Paul Thomas Anderson’s elegant masterpiece, Phantom Thread, as it was meant to be seen: on the big screen!

Set in the haute-couture world of 1950s London and wrapped in lace and poisonous glances, Phantom Thread  is a love story—though maybe not the kind you bring home to mother. Daniel Day-Lewis (always brilliant) is Reynolds Woodcock, a genius dressmaker obsessed with beauty, routine, and control. Enter Alma (Vicky Krieps), a quiet waitress who upends his world—not with chaos, but with her own willpower, as graceful and unrelenting as his.

What begins as muse and artist becomes something far more unsettling—a power struggle played out through fashion, food, and the sharp edge of devotion. Jonny Greenwood’s lush, aching score swells like a secret, and Anderson’s camera moves like hands through fabric.

The penultimate film in our Arthouse 101: Japanese Cinema series is Isao Takahata’s Grave Of The Fireflies!

In the final days of World War II, two siblings—teenaged Seita and his little sister Setsuko—struggle to survive in firebombed Kobe after losing their home, their parents, and eventually, their place in a society that has collapsed around them. What follows is not just a war story, but a story of love, resilience, and unbearable loss.

Rendered with breathtaking beauty by the legendary animators at Studio Ghibli, Grave of the Fireflies is often called one of the greatest animated films ever made. It is also one of the most emotionally shattering anti-war films of any kind—haunting not because of spectacle, but because of its heartbreaking truth.

Arthouse 101: Japanese Cinema is a curated 12-film trip through the evolution of Japan—from the quiet post-war resilience of the 1940s all the way to the radical reinventions of the 1990s. Each Monday this July-September, we will explore a new facet of this incredible nation’s cinematic journey throughout the 20th century! All films will be presented in their original Japanese language with English subtitles!

Taking our Arthouse 101: Japanese Cinema series into the 90’s is Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s heart-pounding 1997 thriller Cure, widely regarded as one of the best, most original, and most influential psychological horror films of the decade. 

A detective investigates a string of grisly murders—each victim killed in the same ritualistic manner, each murderer caught at the scene, unable to explain why they did it. The only connection? A mysterious drifter who seems to erase people’s memories—and unlock something buried deep inside them.

With icy precision and a creeping sense of dread, Cure is not just a murder mystery—it’s a meditation on identity and unraveling. Shot in long, haunting takes and drained colors, the film moves like a fog over post-economic-boom Japan: quiet and uncertain.

Arthouse 101: Japanese Cinema is a curated 12-film trip through the evolution of Japan—from the quiet post-war resilience of the 1940s all the way to the radical reinventions of the 1990s. This July-October, we will explore a new facet of this incredible nation’s cinematic journey throughout the 20th century. All films will be presented in their original Japanese language with English subtitles, at a reduced ticket price of $8.