Our seaside horror Hallucinations mini series continues with a brand new 4K restoration of the 1961 gem Night Tide!
Night Tide presents a world in which undefined realms float around, blurring boundaries between reality and fantasy. Dennis Hopper is profoundly charming in his portrayal of Johnny, a young sailor who is spellbound by Mora, an enigmatic woman who performs as a mermaid at the Santa Monica Pier carnival.
Set near the water in Santa Monica and Venice Beach, Night Tide dives into the purgatory domain of dreamy love, which is cursed by doomed imagination, like a beautiful nightmare underwater.
Hosted by Polygon’s editor-in-chief Chris Plante, Hallucinations is a monthly event that spotlights movies that challenge our expectations of story, style, and “good taste”. We invite guests to bond over films that change what we expect from the medium, the world, and themselves. So come early, stay late, make friends, and watch something strange, surprising, or just shamelessly sick.
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Join us on Saturday night, February 28th, as we screen Grease 2, the Michelle Pfeiffer star-making sequel to the iconic 1978 musical.
It’s 1961, two years after the original Grease gang graduated, and there’s a new crop of seniors and new members of the coolest cliques on campus, the Pink Ladies and T-Birds. Michael Carrington is the new kid in school…but he’s been branded a brainiac. Can he fix up an old motorcycle, don a leather jacket, avoid a rumble with the leader of the T-Birds, and win the heart of Pink Lady Stephanie?
Grease 2 isn’t Grease. We get it. But we love it because it’s louder and messier, two adjectives used to throw it under the bus upon its initial release. But what was once a punchline has become a midnight movie favorite: a sequel that failed on release but succeeded, decades later, as gloriously ridiculous cult entertainment. The music and feeling go on forever!
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Just added: Robert Daniels, the Associate Editor at RogerEbert.com, will be giving a pre-recorded introduction before each screening of The Annihilation Of Fish!
Robert has also written for the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Reverse Shot, Screen Daily, and the Criterion Collection. He has covered film festivals ranging from Cannes to Sundance to Toronto to the Berlinale and Locarno. He lives in Chicago, and is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association
The final film in our Three By Charles Burnett series is his charming 1999 drama The Annihilation Of Fish, now restored in a beautiful 4K restoration!
Lynn Redgrave plays Poinsettia, a former housewife with an imagined lover in the form of 19th-century composer Giacomo Puccini. She moves into a Los Angeles boarding house with an energetic landlady (Margot Kidder) where she meets a Jamaican widower, Fish (James Earl Jones), who has recently been released from a mental institution despite his continued battles against unseen demons. In the face of personal challenges and differences, the couple grows together and begins to discover new things about themselves and the nuances of love and happiness.
Released in partnership with Milestone Films, restoration by UCLA Film & Television Archive and The Film Foundation with funding provided by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation.
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William Wyler’s 1939 adaptation of Wuthering Heights is coming to The Frida Cinema as part of our Page To Screen series!
Based on Emily Brontë’s 1847 novel, the timeless story follows orphan Heathcliff, as he is adopted by the wealthy Earnshaw family and moves into their estate, Wuthering Heights. Soon, the new resident falls for his compassionate foster sister, Cathy. The two share a remarkable bond that seems unbreakable until Cathy, feeling the pressure of social convention, suppresses her feelings and marries Edgar Linton, a man of means who befits her stature. Heathcliff vows to win her back.
This adaptation remains one of the definitive screen versions of Brontë’s novel and a landmark of Golden Age Hollywood romantic drama, admired for its visual poetry and enduring performances from Merle Oberon and Laurence Olivier.
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Just added: Frida Board Member/Trivia Night host Atalia Lopez (Chapman University) and Porter Gilberg (Frida Director of Development) will join us Monday 2/9 at 8:00PM for a pre-screening presentation on the film’s literary history and cinematic influences. An interactive discussion will take place immediately following the film.
Celebrate 40 years since the release of Donna Deitch’s swooning and sensual first film, Desert Hearts!
Groundbreaking upon its 1986 release, the 1959-set film, an adaptation of a beloved novel by Jane Rule, stars straitlaced East Coast professor Vivian Bell (Helen Shaver), who arrives in Reno to file for divorce, but winds up catching the eye of someone new, the younger free spirit Cay (Patricia Charbonneau). From there, the movie becomes a touching and slow seduction that unfolds against the breathtaking desert landscape.
With smoldering chemistry between its two leads, an evocative jukebox soundtrack, and vivid cinematography by Robert Elswit, Desert Hearts beautifully exudes a sense of tender yearning and emotional candor.
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A stylish and seductive submersion into the techno-scored neon nightlife of Taipei, Hou Hsiao-hsien’s marvel Millenium Mambo is coming back to The Frida as a Volunteer Of The Month pick courtesy of the amazing Shreshta!
Thee film stars Shu Qi (The Assassin) as an aimless bar hostess drifting away from her blowhard boyfriend and towards Jack Kao’s suave, sensitive gangster. Structured as a flashback to the then-present from the then-future of 2011, it’s a transfixing trance-out of a movie, drenched in club lights, ecstatic endorphin-rush exhilaration, and a nagging undercurrent of ennui.
Thank you to our friends at Kino Lorber for the stunning 4K restoration of this evocative portrayal of youth and Taipei at the turn of the millennium.
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You sold it out, so we’re bringing it back! Join us for a couple additional screenings of the Drew Barrymore-starring Cinderella adaptation: Ever After.
Danielle, a vibrant young woman, was forced into servitude after the death of her father when she was a young girl. Danielle’s stepmother, Rodmilla, is a heartless woman who forces Danielle to do the cooking and cleaning, while she tries to marry off the eldest of her two daughters to the prince. But Danielle’s life takes a wonderful turn when, under the guise of a visiting royal, she meets the charming Prince Henry.
Over the past 25 years, Ever After has earned a reputation as the definitive grounded, feminist retelling of Cinderella. Many viewers, especially our beloved Millenial moviegoers, consider it the best non-animated version of the fairy tale ever put to screen.
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On February 19th, our friends at Flickrhappy invite you to experience the unforgettable romantic fantasy Somewhere in Time on the big screen.
Starring the iconic duo of Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour, the film follows a modern playwright who becomes obsessed with a mysterious woman from the past, and attempts an extraordinary experiment to reach her across time.
Elegantly shot at Michigan’s historic Grand Hotel and featuring a sweeping, iconic score by John Barry, Somewhere in Time blends romance and speculative fiction into a uniquely haunting experience. A beloved cult classic, the film rewards viewers with one of cinema’s most enduring themes: whether love can truly transcend time.
Just added: as a fun bonus, Flickrhappy is making this screening completely FREE for Frida Cinema Film Club members!
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Our Page To Screen series kicks off in the new year with the Drew Barrymore-starring Cinderella adaptation: Ever After.
Danielle, a vibrant young woman, was forced into servitude after the death of her father when she was a young girl. Danielle’s stepmother, Rodmilla, is a heartless woman who forces Danielle to do the cooking and cleaning, while she tries to marry off the eldest of her two daughters to the prince. But Danielle’s life takes a wonderful turn when, under the guise of a visiting royal, she meets the charming Prince Henry.
Over the past 25 years, Ever After has earned a reputation as the definitive grounded, feminist retelling of Cinderella. Many viewers, especially our beloved Millenial moviegoers, consider it the best non-animated version of the fairy tale ever put to screen.
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As we continue to honor the extraordinary legacy of Rob Reiner, we get to the film that reshaped modern romantic comedy and set the gold standard for everything that followed: When Harry Met Sally….
Sex always gets in the way of friendships between men and women. At least, that’s what Harry Burns believes. So when Harry meets Sally Albright and a deep friendship blossoms between them, Harry’s determined not to let his attraction to Sally destroy it. But when a night of weakness ends in a morning of panic, can the pair avoid succumbing to Harry’s fears by remaining friends and admitting they just might be the perfect match for each other?
Released in 1989 and still unmatched, When Harry Met Sally… remains a masterclass in how to tell a love story. It’s a movie about two people growing up together without realizing they’re growing toward each other, guided by Reiner’s warm, observant direction and Nora Ephron’s flawless screenplay.
Few filmmakers moved so effortlessly between genres as Rob Reiner. From coming-of-age classics to sharp-edged comedy to pulse-pounding thrillers, his filmography is a tour of American movie magic. All tickets to the Remembering Ron Reiner are all discounted to $9.
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