Posted on February 11, 2025
The nationwide Science on Screen® program returns to The Frida with Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, which will open with live presentation “Oppenheimer, Quantum Mechanics, and the Structure of Reality” presented by Dr. Jacob Barandes, philosopher of science and mathematical physicist at Harvard.
Read MoreJames Ashcroft’s The Rule of Jenny Pen is a psychological horror film set in the unsettling confines of a retirement home where the lines between reality and delusion blur.
The story follows Judge Stefan Mortensen (Geoffrey Rush), a once-powerful legal mind now weakened by a stroke and struggling to adjust to life in the facility. There, he encounters Dave Crealy (John Lithgow), a seemingly harmless resident who uses a hand puppet named Jenny Pen to exert a disturbing influence over the other inhabitants. As Mortensen begins to suspect that Crealy’s antics are more sinister than they appear, he faces skepticism from staff and fellow residents, forcing him into a desperate battle to uncover the truth before he too falls under Jenny Pen’s rule.
Read MoreDelight in Jean-Luc Godard’s A Woman Is a Woman, a playful and unconventional homage to the American musical and a bold experiment in the language of cinema presented in a new 4K restoration!
The film follows Angela (Anna Karina), a vivacious Parisian striptease artist who desperately wants to have a child. However, her boyfriend Émile (Jean-Claude Brialy) is reluctant, leading Angela to flirt with his best friend Alfred (Jean-Paul Belmondo) in an attempt to provoke jealousy and perhaps find a willing father. Blending humor, romance, and self-aware cinematic tricks, Godard deconstructs genre conventions with his signature jump cuts, bold color compositions, and fourth-wall-breaking dialogue.
Read MoreWitness the dramatic side of dance with Bob Fosse’s All That Jazz, a semi-autobiographical musical drama that blurs the line between reality and fantasy in a dazzling, feverish spectacle, screening for The Frida Zinema in anticipation of their Musical March Madness issue! Copies will be available for purchase in the lobby.
The film follows Joe Gideon (Roy Scheider), a brilliant yet self-destructive Broadway director and choreographer, as he juggles his demanding career, multiple relationships, and an increasing dependence on drugs and alcohol. As he edits his latest film by day and rehearses a new stage production by night, his health deteriorates, leading him into a surreal, hallucinatory journey where he confronts his own mortality.
Read MoreOur Hallucinations series continues with Isao Fujisawa’s Bye Bye Love, a poignant Japanese road movie that captures the spirit of youthful rebellion and existential searching.
The film follows Utamaro, a disillusioned young drifter, who crosses paths with Giko, a mysterious and gender-fluid wanderer. Together, they embark on a journey across Japan, engaging in petty crimes and forging an intense, complicated relationship as they attempt to escape both the law and the constraints of societal expectations. As their journey unfolds, Utamaro is forced to confront his own notions of identity, love, and freedom, leading to moments of deep introspection and emotional reckoning.
Read MoreWe continue to celebrate the legendary work of actor Gene Hackman, with Wes Anderson’s offbeat portrait of a particularly dysfunctional family, The Royal Tenenbaums, as her film programming pick.
The Tenenbaum siblings – Chas (Ben Stiller), Richie (Luke Wilson), and Margot (Gwyneth Paltrow) – are all former child prodigies whose lives have unraveled into disappointment and dysfunction. Their estranged father, Royal Tenenbaum (the late, great Gene Hackman), a charming but deeply flawed man, announces he has a terminal illness in a desperate bid to reconnect with his family, forcing the Tenenbaums to reckon with their shared past and unresolved wounds under the same roof.
Nominated for Best Original Screenplay at the Academy Awards, the film remains one of Anderson’s most beloved works; a richly detailed tragicomedy that captures the beauty and absurdity of lost potential, and another iconic performance by two-time Oscar-winner Gene Hackman.
Read More1940’s Dance, Girl, Dance, directed by Dorothy Arzner, is a groundbreaking and feminist-tinged drama that explores the struggles of women in the entertainment industry.
The film follows Judy O’Brien (Maureen O’Hara), a classically trained ballet dancer with dreams of artistic success, who finds herself working alongside the bold and ambitious Bubbles (Lucille Ball), a brassy burlesque performer. As their careers take divergent paths — Judy yearning for legitimacy while Bubbles embraces the spotlight — the two women become rivals in both dance and love, particularly over the affections of a wealthy playboy (Louis Hayward).
Read MoreJust added! The director of The Accidental Getaway Driver, Sing Lee, will be joining us for an-person Q&A after the Sunday, March 9th screening at 12:00PM!
Drive out for Sing J. Lee’s The Accidental Getaway Driver, a tense and emotionally charged crime thriller based on a true story. These screenings are presented by our friends from VAALA !
The film follows Long Ma, an elderly Vietnamese taxi driver in Southern California who unwittingly picks up three escaped convicts in the dead of night. What begins as a routine fare spirals into a harrowing hostage situation as Long finds himself caught between fear and an unlikely connection with the group’s conflicted leader. As the night unfolds, tensions rise, past traumas resurface, and Long must navigate both physical and psychological survival in an environment where trust is a dangerous gamble.
VAALA was founded in 1991 by a group of Vietnamese American journalists, artists, and friends to fill a void in the community and provide a space for newly resettled immigrant artists to express themselves. VAALA’s mission is to connect and enrich communities through Vietnamese art and culture. Historically run entirely by volunteers, VAALA is a community-based non-profit organization. Over the years, VAALA has collaborated with diverse community partners to organize numerous cultural and artistic events. VAALA’s four core programs include the annual Viet Film Fest and Viet Book Fest, the Gallery Beyond Walls program featuring art exhibitions, and free art and film workshops for youth, such as Youth in Motion: A Filmmaking Workshop for Emerging Filmmakers.
Read MoreJust added: after the screening on Wednesday, March 12th at 8:00PM, the star of Nickel Boys, Ethan Herisse, will be joining us for an in-person Q&A moderated by our Film Membership Coordinator Bobby Thornson!
RaMell Ross’s Oscar-nominated Nickel Boys, based on Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, is finally coming to The Frida Cinema!
The film follows Elwood Curtis (Ethan Herisse), an idealistic young man inspired by the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., whose dreams are shattered when he is unjustly sentenced to the school. There, he befriends Turner (Brandon Wilson), a more cynical and pragmatic boy who teaches him the hard truths about survival in an institution rife with corruption, racism, and violence. As the two navigate the horrors of Nickel Academy, their clashing philosophies on resistance and endurance lead them down paths that will forever shape their fates.
Read MoreJoin us for a one-night-only screening of 2018 neo-noir crime thriller Destroyer, followed by an in-person discussion with the director of the film, Karyn Kusama (Jennifer’s Body, The Invitation, Girlfight) and author Marya E Gates (Cinema Her Way: Visionary Female Directors in Their Own Words)!
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