Old favorites, new classics, and a film festival — oh my! No, we’re not in Kansas; we’re in Miami for one of the best months to be a cinephile in South Florida. Take a look below to find what we’re seeing in Miami this April.
Miroirs No. 3 at Coral Gables Art Cinema
The latest chamber drama from leading German auteur Christian Petzold debuts at Coral Gables Art Cinema on Friday, April 3.
Our Take: Not everything is as it seems in Miroirs No. 3. When a conservatory piano student (Paula Beer) survives a horrific car accident in rural Germany, a local woman (Barbara Auer) offers her home as a place to recuperate. The two soon develop a perhaps-too-close relationship, but family secrets revealed by the woman’s estranged husband (Matthias Brandt) and son (Enno Trebs) threaten to upend the dynamic. With a jaw-dropping third act twist and an incredible Frankie Valli needle drop, Petzold’s latest once again proves he’s one of current cinema’s most effective dramatists, dissecting contemporary concerns and portraying human perversities with an empathetic eye. Opens Friday, April 3 at Coral Gables Art Cinema, 260 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables; 786-472-2249; gablescinema.com. Tickets cost $12.75.
The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly at Cosford Cinema
Carve out a few hours of your Saturday to watch the epic conclusion to Sergio Leone’s Dollars Trilogy at UM’s Cosford Cinema this weekend. Widely considered one of the greatest westerns of all time, The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly pits three gunslingers — Clint Eastwood’s Man With No Name (The Good), Lee Van Cleef’s amoral Angel Eyes (The Bad), and Eli Wallach’s wily Tuco Ramirez (The Ugly) — against each other in a hunt for buried gold. The final confrontation, an unbearably tense standoff in a lonesome cemetery soundtracked by Ennio Morricone’s soaring score, is the very definition of iconic. 3 p.m. Saturday, April 4, at Bill Cosford Cinema, 5030 Brunson Dr., Ste. 255, Coral Gables; 305-284-9838; cosfordcinema.com. Admission is free.
Destroy All Monsters at Main Library
It’s a monster-sized ending for AV Club’s “Golden Age of Japanese Cinema” series with a screening of one of Godzilla’s greatest adventures, 1968’s Destroy All Monsters. As the title suggests, every one of the kaiju king’s former foes (except King Kong) will join forces to defend planet Earth against a new, villainous force from outer space and its secret weapon: A resurgent King Ghidorah! 2 p.m. Saturday, April 4, at Main Library, 101 W. Flagler St., Miami; 305-375-2665; mdpls.org. Admission is free.
Maddie’s Secret screens as part of the Miami Film Festival this month.
Miami Film Festival
Taking over venues citywide, the Miami Film Festival is back again this month from Thursday, April 9, through Wednesday, April 22. Along with special events such as a live orchestral screening of Whiplash and an 80th birthday celebration for the Pope of Trash himself, John Waters, plenty of great movies are screening that might not be seen again in Miami theaters. We’ve rounded up some of our favorites below.
Erupcja
Charli XCX’s adventures in movie acting continue with this romantic comedy from new director Pete Ohs. The 365 party girl plays a British tourist on a bad vacation in Warsaw with a boyfriend (Will Madden) she’s less than crazy about. She quickly ditches the guy to track down a long-lost friend (Lena Góra) and live it up in the Polish capital, but complications soon emerge. Shot in secret during the pop star’s 2024 tour, this could be the long-lost slice of Brat Summer we’ve all been hoping for. 6:30 p.m. Friday, April 10, at Silverspot Cinema, 300 SE Third St., Miami; 305-536-5000; silverspot.net. Tickets cost $18.03 via miamifilmfestival.com.
The Christophers
Steven Soderbergh is a director who should send any self-respecting cinephile rushing to the theater, and while his upcoming film The Christophers isn’t exactly far away from a wide release, this sneak preview is still a worthy way to spend an evening. Set in the art world, the film follows a down-and-out painter (Michaela Coel) hired to infiltrate the home of a much more famous artist (Ian McKellen) and forge a copy of his secret, unreleased masterpiece. 6:15 p.m. Friday, April 10, at Silverspot Cinema, 300 SE Third St., Miami; 305-536-5000; silverspot.net. Tickets cost $18.03 via miamifilmfestival.com.
Everyone Is Lying to You For Money
Once an actor and cast member of the hit mid-2000s teen drama The O.C., Ben McKenzie has reinvented himself as a sworn enemy of cryptocurrency, literally writing the book on the shadowy subject with his nonfiction volume Easy Money. Now comes the documentary version, the aptly-titled Everyone is Lying to You For Money. With Miami having been something of an epicenter of the crypto craze in recent years, it seems fitting that McKenzie should make an appearance at MFF, giving a Q&A moderated by fellow documentarian Billy Corben. 2:30 p.m. Saturday, April 11, at the Olympia Theater, 174 E. Flagler St., Miami; 305-443-2424; preservingolympia.org. Tickets cost $27.81 via miamifilmfestival.com.
Romería heads from Cannes to the Miami Film Festival this month.
Romería
Spanish director Carla Simon’s latest is a nostalgic early-2000s period piece that screened in competition at Cannes and earned six Goya Award nominations.
Our Take: A sun-dappled vacation visiting long-lost family in the northeastern Spanish city of Vigo forms the backdrop for teenager Marina’s (Llúcia Garcia) exploration into her Gen X parents’ wild lives and untimely deaths. Dramatizing events in her own life, Simón elegantly pays tribute to the post-Franco generation’s reckless embrace of freedom and the difficulties of never having known one’s family. Think of it as a Spanish answer to Aftersun. 6 p.m Sunday, April 12, at the Koubek Center, 2705 SW Third St., Miami; 305-237-7750; koubekcenter.org. Tickets cost $18.03 via miamifilmfestival.com.
I Want Your Sex
Hot on the heels of a long-awaited career revival, ‘90s indie provocateur Gregg Araki returned to Sundance earlier this year with his first film in 12 years. Depicting a wild romance between a libertine artist (Olivia Wilde) and her younger assistant (Cooper Hoffman), critics have called the film Araki’s message to a neurotic, repressed younger generation — that message, specifically, is “Please get over yourselves and have sex, you fucking losers.” 9 p.m. Monday, April 13, at Silverspot Cinema, 300 SE Third St., Miami; 305-536-5000; silverspot.net. Tickets cost $18.03 via miamifilmfestival.com.
Director Sophy Romvari’s semi-autobiographical Blue Heron screens at MFF in April.
Blue Heron
An award-winner at Locarno and Toronto, Canadian director Sophy Romvari’s semi-autobiographical first feature has earned considerable acclaim.
Our Take: Trouble lurks in the background of Sasha’s (Eylul Guven) childhood memories of an idyllic Vancouver Island summer as the mental illness of her teenage half-brother Jeremy (Edik Beddoes) threatens the safety and serenity of their Hungarian immigrant family. Years after their parents make an unbearable, perhaps unforgivable choice about the boy’s fate, Sasha continues to look for answers as to what went wrong. Both a lyrical period piece and a film that plays with audience expectations and perspectives, Blue Heron is as affecting as it is disturbing. 9 p.m. Tuesday, April 14, at Coral Gables Art Cinema, 260 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables; 786-472-2249; gablescinema.com. Tickets cost $18.03 via miamifilmfestival.com.
Maddie’s Secret
The premise of this film sounds like a pretty amusing, if dark, joke: Per IMDb, “A food influencer struggles with bulimia.” It sounds like a sketch-comedy bit, but imagine it stretched out for an entire movie. Directed by and starring Stress Positions breakout John Early as the titular foodie, Maddie’s Secret features a cast of contemporary comedy leading lights, including Kate Berlant, Eric Rahill, and king of insane, malevolent parody TikToks, Connor O’Malley. 6:30 p.m. Friday, April 17, at O Cinema South Beach, 1130 Washington Ave., Miami Beach; 786-471-3269; o-cinema.org. Tickets cost $18.03 via miamifilmfestival.com.
Silent Friend
There is one actor on earth that can make any film a must-see simply by being in it, and it’s not Timothée Chalamet. Legendary Hong Kong actor Tony Leung Chiu-wai’s presence may be the primary draw of Hungarian director Ildikó Enyedi’s latest film, Silent Friend, but the premise, following a single Ginkgo tree across three distinct eras, sounds intriguing all on its own. The film is pitched as a follow-up to Enyedi’s Golden Bear-winning film On Body and Soul from 2017 and also stars the great Léa Seydoux. 2:45 p.m. Saturday, April 18, at O Cinema South Beach, 1130 Washington Ave., Miami Beach; 786-471-3269; o-cinema.org. Tickets cost $18.03 via miamifilmfestival.com.