Videodrome

TUESDAY, JUNE 2, 7:30pm, — 
Taradrome presents AFTER LIFE (1998). 

Our now-beloved director Hirokuzu Kore-Eda (SHOPLIFTERS, STILL WALKING) released his tender and wildly imaginative first fictional film, AFTER LIFE, the same year that Videodrome opened, and we've been recommending it ever since. It's appropriate to finish our current series, Liminal Loss & Love, with a movie that takes place entirely in the most iconic of liminal spaces: purgatory. Some like it there, most have to leave, and a few can't decide…

If you could choose only one memory to hold on to for eternity, what would it be? That’s the question at the heart of Hirokazu Kore-eda’s revelatory international breakthrough, a bittersweet fantasia in which the recently deceased find themselves in a limbo realm where they must select a single cherished moment from their life to be recreated on film for them to take into the next world. 

AFTER LIFE’s high-concept premise is grounded in Kore eda’s documentary-like approach to the material, which he shaped through interviews with hundreds of Japanese citizens. What emerges is a panoramic vision of the human experience—its ephemeral joys and lingering regrets—and a quietly profound meditation on memory, our interconnectedness, and the amberlike power of cinema to freeze time.

Recommended if you like Michel Gondry, Powell & Pressburger, Spike Jonze… 

Join us for this Videodrome favorite on the big screen! 

-eda

Plazadrome presents THE AMERICAN ASTRONAUT, Thursday 5/21 9pm at !

Ticket link in bio

Simply put, The American Astronaut is the best “semi-autobiographical musical space western” that you’ll ever see. It’s true that this is not an especially crowded field, but even if there were hundreds of semi-autobiographical musical space westerns, this would still be the best one.

Join space cowboy Samuel Curtis as he ping-pongs between planets to deliver a new human stud to Venus, a planet populated only by women. The American Astronaut was written, directed, and starring Cory McAbee — three of many hats he wore in this singular, otherworldly adventure.

It’s the kind of movie that video stores were made for. A passion project that only gets better with age. A long-tail oddity that grows through word-of-mouth, converting skeptical audiences into hooting and hollering galactic cowpokes by the time credits roll.

Never released on blu-ray and long out-of-print on DVD, this screening is a rare opportunity to see one of the best American independent films of this (or any) generation. Even if you think you don’t like semi-autobiographical musical space westerns, that’s just because you haven’t seen The American Astronaut yet.

Thursday Night! Plazadrome Presents a new 4K restoration of LINDA LINDA LINDA- 4/16 9pm at .

Ticket link in bio

For Kei, Kyoko, and Nozomi, their dream of playing the final high school concert together is dashed when their lead vocalist quits the band. Desperate, they recruit the very first person they see: Korean exchange student Son, played by Doona Bae (THE HOST,BROKER), whose comprehension of Japanese is limited at best. It’s a race against time as the group struggles to learn three songs in three days for the festival’s rock concert.

LINDA LINDA LINDA is an effervescent, tenderhearted snapshot of youth about the unparalleled joy of jamming out with your friends. The soundtrack fuses bangers from iconic Japanese bands The Blue Hearts and Base Ball Bear with original music composed by James Iha of the Smashing Pumpkins. The beloved classic from Nobuhiro Yamash*ta (GHOST CAT ANZU) is acknowledged by many as one of the greatest Japanese films of the 21st century. In celebration of its 20th anniversary, the utterly charming and timeless classic returns with an all-new 4K restoration.