#mini-themes arc

[bill-millions-movies]

NEPTUNE FROST

"The drum is nothing without the drummer."

EARTH ARC movie 5

NEPTUNE FROST (2022)

May 10, 2026

This movie is an exploded kaleidoscope of colors and ideas, a dense, visually rich afro-futuristic dream, with every moment popping off the screen. It feels like a small miracle that it exists. Shot in Burundi by the American musician Saul Williams and Rwandan actress/playwright Anisia Uzeyman, it's an anti-colonialist, anti-capitalist, anti-technology fantasia that has a bold, unwavering confidence from the first frame. I really could have included this movie in any of the three arcs of this movie club season, so in a way, it's the perfect distillation of our themes, but somehow the Earth arc works well, matching the grounded loamy richness of its vision, and reflecting the importance of the land in these people's lives.

It's also billed as a musical, but if you are afraid of musicals, don't let that put you off. The music is galvanizing and seems so naturally a part of this community. It's nothing like a Broadway scene breaking into song over a plate of pancakes. It just adds to the otherworldly abstractness of this chaotic movie that is more about sparkling beads of connected scenes than a traditionally linear plot. I watched this at home in late 2022 and can't wait to see it again.

"This isn’t the kind of work you can sleepwalk through. It pushes the viewer. There are no wasted plot points, no unnecessary pieces of dialogue or needless landscapes. Every texture contains a million little stories. It is humbling to see two filmmakers so curious, and so creatively playful as to invite messiness and brilliance. In all its so muchness, Neptune Frost is a reminder of cinema’s infinite storytelling possibilities." -RogerEbert.com

"The plot of Neptune Frost is loose and suggestive. This isn’t a tight, tidy allegory of capitalism and colonialism so much as a collage of vivid images, sounds and words that punch the movie’s themes like hashtags. Williams and Uzeyman marry anarchist politics with anarchist aesthetics, making something that feels both handmade and high-tech, digital and analog, poetic and punk rock... The hackers’ all-purpose greeting and slogan is “unanimous gold mine.” I don’t know how the phrase sounds in Kinyarwanda or Kirundi (two of the languages spoken in the film), but in English it invokes both collective ownership of wealth and all-purpose optimism. Somehow, it captures the unsentimental, exuberant energy of the film, which is a treasury of ideas and provocations — a pocket full of possibilities." -New York Times

7:30 trailers 7:35 - 9:20 Neptune Frost

[Want to watch at home instead? Neptune Frost is available on Kanopy or rent for $2.99 on your favorite streaming service]

[bill-millions-movies]

AFTER LIFE

"Most people don't leave anything good behind."

JOY ARC movie 5

AFTER LIFE (1998)

April 26, 2026

When I saw the Palme d'or-winning Shoplifters (which we watched last September in our Anti-Capitalism arc) in the theater in 2018, I had no clue that its director Hirokazu Kore-eda had been making movies in Japan for well over two decades. With Shoplifters (still the only Kore-eda movie I've seen) I thought the director was pleasingly un-showy and exceedingly adept at balance: a premise which could be cute on the surface was spiked with the right amount of pathos and moral ambiguity, and undergirded with beautiful, naturalistic performances and subtly perfectly-constructed shots.

After Life was Kore-eda's second feature film (of 16 and counting), made two full decades before Shoplifters. I haven't seen it yet, but its endorsement by the Criterion collection bolsters my optimism about it. The movie is set in a post-death realm (as you may have guessed from the title) where the recently deceased must choose a single favorite memory of their life which will be recreated to carry them into the next world. A documentary-style approach was informed by hundreds of interviews of regular Japanese citizens. We'll be watching this on the Criterion blu-ray so if we want we can sample some bonus material after the movie too.

"Kore-eda, with this film and the 1997 masterpiece Maborosi, has earned the right to be considered with Kurosawa, Bergman and other great humanists of the cinema... After Life considers the kind of delicate material that could be destroyed by schmaltz. It’s the kind of film that Hollywood likes to remake with vulgar, paint-by-the-numbers sentimentality. It is like a transcendent version of Ghost, evoking the same emotions, but deserving them. Knowing that his premise is supernatural and fantastical, Kore-eda makes everything else in the film quietly pragmatic." -Roger Ebert [4 stars]

"After Life is as much a movie about filmmaking as it is about memory. For what are movies, after all, but larger-than-life dream images projected on celluloid? In its modest attitude about the ability of movies to replicate dreams, After Life is the opposite of bombastic Hollywood kitsch like What Dreams May Come... A striking aspect of After Life is its utter lack of grandiosity. Visually the film doesn't try to ''poeticize'' any of the memories with glossy travel brochure images or romantic music: life and death may be serious matters, but they are also business as usual. Yet After Life has its own austere beauty in beautifully composed shots of silhouetted figures in bright doorways and other images that subtly portray the office as a metaphysical portal." -New York Times

7:30 trailers 7:35 - 9:23 After Life

[Want to watch at home instead? After Life is available to rent for $2.99 on your favorite streaming service]

[bill-millions-movies]

A HERO

"The reputation of all of us is at stake"

ANTI-CAPITALISM ARC movie 5

A HERO (2021)

April 5, 2026

We'll celebrate this Easter in movie club in the most traditional fashion: by watching a compelling Iranian morality drama by Asghar Farhadi. I first became aware of Farhadi when I saw the brilliant A Separation in the theater in 2011. This tale of middle class divorce in Tehran became the first Iranian movie to win the Oscar for best foreign language film (a feat which he repeated with 2016's equally brilliant The Salesman); we watched it in movie club in 2014 in the Regret arc. Iran has an incredibly rich film tradition of which we get to taste only the tiniest droplets in the West, but luckily Farhadi's movies keep making their way here.

In A Hero, Farhadi yet again manages to turn a seemingly simple Persian-language domestic drama into a suspenseful thriller using a symphony of taut dialogue, great performances, and the force of authentic truth. This is the story of a middle class man, just released from debtor's prison, whose good samaritan moment comes under community suspicion. I promise it will grip you.

"Farhadi is less interested in the essence of who people are than in the causes and results of what they do... he makes films with the discipline and insight of a first-rate novelist. A Hero is as anxious and swift as a thriller, with the density and observational acuity of a 19th-century three-decker. Even incidental characters are vivid and complicated, and in every household, office and storefront you’re aware of the impinging presence of untold stories. (You are also, not incidentally, in the presence of an absolutely first-rate ensemble of actors.)" -New York Times

"Farhadi plays to his strengths with A Hero as he takes a classic premise and spins it around and around and around with enough centrifugal force to keep you rooted in place even as your sympathies fly in every conceivable direction. By the time this expertly constructed ethical clusterfuck finally slows to a stop, the simplest film that Farhadi has made since his international breakthrough 10 years ago has somehow becomes the most ambivalent, and also the best (although making such a pronouncement with certainty seems almost antithetical to the spirit of a movie that obliviates your judgement at every turn)." -IndieWire

7:30 trailers 7:35 - 9:42 A Hero

[Want to watch at home instead? You can stream A Hero for free on Prime or rent it on your favorite streaming service]

[bill-millions-movies]

KAJILLIONAIRE

"She learned to counterfeit before she learned to write. To be honest, that's how she learned to write."

ANTI-CAPITALISM ARC movie 4

KAJILLIONAIRE (2020)

March 22, 2026

We just read the wildly unpredictable and deeply emotionally honest Miranda July novel All Fours in my book club, so I've been really looking forward to revisiting her third and most recent movie, 2020's Kajillionaire. The story of two low-stakes con artists training their daughter in the "family business," this strange comedy feels at times like it will be overwhelmed by its quirkiness, but I remember seeing it in the theater and being gradually won over both by its humor and its pathos.

Richard Jenkins, Debra Winger (where has she been?), Gina Rodriguez and Evan Rachel Wood fully commit to (former Portland riot grrrl) July's vision, and sell both the laughs and the redemption arc of the emotionally stunted Old Dolio (yes, that the name of Wood's character). This feels like an offbeat companion piece to the excellent Kore-eda movie Shoplifters, which we watched last year in this same arc. It's a unique delight, hope you can make time to watch it.

"Funny, poignant and ultimately triumphant, "Kajillionaire" is a precarious balancing act, one that July pulls off with astute writing, careful staging and trust in her actors." -Washington Post [4 stars]

"Bit by bit, line by line, [July] nudges you onto her characters' wavelength, navigating their world with matter-of-fact drollery and tethering even her weirdest flights of fancy to clear, accessible emotions." -Los Angeles Times

7:30 trailers 7:35 - 9:19 Kajillionaire

[Want to watch at home instead? You can stream Kajillionaire for free on the Peacock or rent it on your favorite streaming service]

[bill-millions-movies]

ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT

"You have to believe the illusion, or else you'll go mad."

JOY ARC movie 4

ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT (2024)

March 8, 2026

In movie club's Joy Arc, I'm enjoying exploring stories of characters that are often filled with sadness or longing, but whose moments of joy can shine through like woven silver thread. This humanist movie about three working class women exploring dreams and desires in sprawling Mumbai is a quiet and subtle stunner, a story of sisterhood which immerses you deeply in the lives of people in a richly vibrant modern world that yet feels so distant from our existence. We know these people exist, but rarely are we shown this kind of intimate window into this place.

All We Imagine As Light feels both as poetic as its title, and also quietly simple and stripped down. I've always been fascinated by India; I know movies about real Indian lives must be being created in the most populous nation in the world, but in the West we so often just are fed pop action movies or Bollywood (and, to be clear, I'm fully on board with those as well). The first Indian film selected to even compete at Cannes since 1994 (!), it became the first Indian film ever to win the Grand Prix (the second prize in the competition after the Palme d'or).

This incredibly assured and mature work is somehow the debut fictional feature of director Payal Kapadia (following one feature documentary in 2021) and she makes everything feel effortless. I put off seeing it for a while as I expected it to be slow and mostly admirable, but I was quickly engrossed. You won't regret your time invested in these characters and their stories.

"There is a freshness and emotional clarity in Kapadia’s Cannes competition selection, an enriching humanity and gentleness which coexist with fervent, languorous eroticism and finally something epiphanic in the later scenes and mysterious final moments... It is both dreamlike and like waking up from a dream. This is a glorious film." -Guardian (UK)

"There are a million stories in the naked city, and Kapadia is about to show you three of them in the most delicate, moving way possible. She’s also about to mount a quiet, sneak attack on your soul." -Rolling Stone

"All We Imagine as Light is the kind of movie one experiences in solitude even when sharing it with others. As with dwellers in a great metropolis, it makes strangers and accomplices of us all." -Washington Post

7:30 trailers 7:35 - 9:33 All We Imagine As Light

[Want to watch at home instead? You can stream All We Imagine As Light for free on the Criterion Channel or rent it on your favorite streaming service]

[bill-millions-movies]

ANNIHILATION

"It's not destroying. It's making something new."

EARTH ARC movie 4

ANNIHILATION (2018)

February 22, 2026

When we read Jeff VanderMeer's 2014 sci-fi novel Annihilation in my book club, we universally complained about how badly it was written. But many of us still went on to read the last two books in the trilogy, because somehow we were still drawn in enough by the haunting and unique vision of VenderMeer's invention. If only he'd used a ghost writer. I remember talking, in that meeting, about how much I would like to see the book as a movie, instead.

Fast forward a few years and, thanks to director Andrew Garland (whose fascinating Ex Machina we watched in the A.I. arc in movie club in 2016), my dream became a reality (I'm sure he did it especially for me). Unfortunately, due to a poor test screening, the film's studios Skydance and Paramount essentially abandoned any marketing support for this movie upon its release, so, though it received critical acclaim, it barely had a chance to make an impact in theaters, and plans to complete the trilogy on film were abandoned.

What a shame, because Garland managed to effectively bring the book's weirdness to colorful and often mesmerizing life. This female-centric movie, even with all of its action film trappings, and its quite competent Hollywood cast (Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tessa Thompson, Oscar Isaac) is a dense and shimmering fever dream with moments of transcendence, as well as a chilling and trippy mind-bender. You should really come over and check it out.

"Writer-director Alex Garland has made an atom bomb of a movie, fiery and all-consuming and quite unnatural. It fills every inch of our heads with its beautiful terrors." -NPR

"A lavish, magnificently unnerving visual feast threaded through with well-earned jump scares and real metaphysical force." -Entertainment Weekly (grade: A-)

7:30 trailers 7:35 - 9:30 Annihilation

[Want to watch at home instead? You can stream Annihilation for free on Paramount+]

[bill-millions-movies]

THE FLORIDA PROJECT

"Yeah, Mom, you're a disgrace."

ANTI-CAPITALISM ARC movie 3

THE FLORIDA PROJECT (2017)

January 25, 2026

Director Sean Baker has been making movies about marginalized people for 25 years, but 2015’s Tangerine (which was shot entirely on iPhone 5s’s) really brought him into the orbit of critics, and then, of course, 2024’s Oscar Winning Anora took him to an even broader public’s stratosphere. The Florida Project, Baker’s follow up to Tangerine, is the story of an unemployed mother and her 6-year old daughter living in a budget motel in Orlando and desperately trying to avoid slipping into homelessness. Though a significant portion of the cast were appearing in their first film, Baker landed Willem Dafoe for the major supporting role, and his performance brought the movie attention by garnering nominations for best supporting actor from all of the major award bequeathers (did I just make up that word?).

The Florida Project really sings in its exquisite balancing act between the ramping desperation we feel for the mother’s seemingly hopeless situation, and the unbridled wonder that a child’s eye and imagination can bring to even an ugly situation, without having a different example for comparison. In another director’s hands, some of this could have come off as too cute, but Baker is always nobly aimed at seeing his subjects as meaningful and worthwhile. And somehow he pulls authentic performances from all of the child actors, especially the 6-year-old lead Brooklynn Prince, who won a Critic’s Choice Award for Best Young Performer. The Florida Project was my first introduction to Sean Baker (who has become one of my favorite filmmakers) and I was absolutely drawn in by its vivid and vibrant characters and story. 

"The Florida Project further cements Baker's status as one of the most innovative American directors working today, but he's also an essential advocate for the stories this country often doesn't get to see." -IndieWire

"To balance joy and desperation as gracefully as Mr. Baker does - to interweave giddiness and heartbreak - is no easy feat." -New York Times

7:30 trailers 7:35 - 9:26 The Florida Project

[Want to watch at home instead? You can rent The Florida Project for $3.99 at your favorite digital provider]

[bill-millions-movies]

THE APARTMENT

"I was jinxed from the word go. The first time I was ever kissed was in a cemetery."

ANTI-CAPITALISM ARC movie 2 [HOLIDAY SPECIAL]

THE APARTMENT (1960)

December 7, 2025

The legendary Billy Wilder didn't get a best picture nomination for the now-beloved Some Like It Hot, but he won three Oscars, Best Director, Screenplay, and Picture, for The Apartment, his follow-up, and perhaps last great film. Jack Lemmon is the classic lonely guy in the Christmas season, who often can’t even go home because he loans out his apartment to executives at his company for their affairs. He gets up the nerve to ask out one of the "elevator girls" (Shirley MacLaine), but she is involved in one of those clandestine trysts. 

The movie also garnered nominations for three performances, including for both leads. For MacLaine, this was a key career role, showing that she could take on weightier parts than the light comedies for which she was known. She and Lemmon would star together in Wilder's next movie, Irma la Douce, as well. Roger Ebert says the screenplay is executed as "a precise balance between farce and sadness." I've seen (and loved) a half-dozen Wilder films, but somehow never The Apartment, so I'm looking forward to this one.

"The great Wilder pictures don’t play as period pieces but look us straight in the eye. Some Like It Hot is still funny, Sunset Boulevard is still a masterful gothic character comedy, and The Apartment is still tougher and more poignant than the material might have permitted. The valuable element in Wilder is his adult sensibility; his characters can’t take flight with formula plots, because they are weighted down with the trials and responsibilities of working for a living. In many movies, the characters hardly even seem to have jobs, but in The Apartment they have to be reminded that they have anything else." -Roger Ebert [4/4 stars]

"This is the perfect rom-com, not because it’s light but because it’s dark... gritty material is infused with Wilder’s compassion and defined by two towering central performances" -The Times (UK) [5/5 stars]

7:30 trailers 7:35 - 9:40 The Apartment

[Want to watch at home instead? You can rent it at your favorite streamer for $3.99]