AAVCLUB @ AFS Cinema

*$4 off with code: AAAFF$4

Applicable for additional showtimes of the films listed below as well. Check AFS Cinema schedule for most updated showtimes.

School in Crosshairs

Directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi | Japan
1981, 1h 30min, DCP, In Japanese with English Subtitles

Series: Nobuhiko Obayashi: Kadokawa Superstar

Jul. 4, 5 | When a psychic schoolgirl (pop star Hiroko Yakushimaru) is thrust into the crosshairs of an extraterrestrial plot to take over Earth, she fights back with every ounce of her power. A bonkers, genre-defying odyssey from Obayashi. Pure sci-fi spectacle.

The girl who leapt through time

Directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi | Japan
1983, 1h 44min, DCP, In Japanese with English Subtitles

Series: Nobuhiko Obayashi: Kadokawa Superstar

Jul. 11, 12 | Tomoyo Harada tumbles through time, reshaping love, regret, and destiny — only to learn that some moments aren’t meant to be altered. Obayashi’s heartfelt take on the coming-of-age classic by Yasutaka Tsutsui.

the island closest to heaven

Directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi | Japan
1984, 1h 42min, DCP, In Japanese with English Subtitles

Series: Nobuhiko Obayashi: Kadokawa Superstar

Jul. 18, 19, 20 |A distant shore, a quiet dream. In the wake of loss, a girl sets sail for paradise, chasing something she can’t quite name on an island that may exist only in her heart. A tender reverie from Obayashi.

The hidden fortress

Directed by Akira Kurosawa | Japan
1958, 2h 19min, DCP, In Japanese with English Subtitles

New 4K remasters of Japanese master Akira Kurosawa’s greatest films

Jul. 25, 27, 29 | Akira Kurosawa’s adventure epic may be best known today as the blueprint for George Lucas’ STAR WARS, but there’s far more to the film than that. This is masterful storytelling with exciting action and a rousing performance from Toshiro Mifune as an undercover general. One of the master’s greatest works.

His motorbike, her island

Directed by Akira Kurosawa | Japan
1986, 1h 30min, DCP, In Japanese with English Subtitles

New 4K remasters of Japanese master Akira Kurosawa’s greatest films

Jul. 25, 26 | When a rebellious motorcyclist (future DEAD OR ALIVE star Riki Takeuchi) and a carefree island girl (Noriko Watanabe) cross paths, their collision sparks a romance as fleeting as it is intoxicating. Shifting gears between poppy color and lush monochrome, this is a heady rush of speed from Obayashi.

Stray Dog

Directed by Akira Kurosawa| Japan
1949, 2h 2min, DCP, In Japanese with English Subtitles

New 4K remasters of Japanese master Akira Kurosawa’s greatest films

“The excitement you feel when you watch the movie today: it’s the thrill of seeing a great filmmaker come of age.”
—The Current

“The greatest living example of all that an author of the cinema should be.”
—Federico Fellini on Akira Kurosawa

Jul. 26, 28 | Toshiro Mifune stars as a young cop whose pistol is stolen by a pickpocket on a streetcar and who spends the film in a state of high agitation trying to recover the gun as it makes a deadly transit through the underworld in Akira Kurosawa’s white-knuckle thriller.

Cloud

Directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa | Japan
2024, 2h 3min, DCP, In Japanese with English subtitles

“Almost too mundane to care about until it becomes impossible to stop watching for much the same reason, this riveting and highly unusual shoot-em-up finds Kurosawa returning to his roots.”
—David Ehrlich, Indiewire

“Unfolding at a hauntingly subdued register before unleashing its pent-up tension during its final act, director Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s CLOUD skewers the anonymity that characterizes our presence in online spaces.”
—Zachary Lee, Chicago Reader

Jul. 21, Aug. 1 | A stylish, subversive thriller from suspense-maverick Kiyoshi Kurosawa (CURE, PULSE) concerning Yoshii, an ambitious-yet-directionless young factory worker from Tokyo who side hustles in the murky realm of black-market reselling, cheating buyers and sellers alike. After swindling his way into loads of cash, he becomes slowly disconnected from humanity, moving out of the city, shunning his girlfriend, and hiring a devoted assistant. But after a series of mysterious, sinister incidents occur, he begins to suspect his former victims could be plotting the ultimate revenge. A master of carefully simmering tension to a bloody crescendo, Kurosawa delivers a searing portrait of digital greed and vengeance.

yojimbo

Directed by Akira Kurosawa | Japan
1961, 1h 50min, DCP, In Japanese with English Subtitles

New 4K remasters of Japanese master Akira Kurosawa’s greatest films

Aug. 1, 3, 4, 7 | The dynamic duo of director Akira Kurosawa and star Toshiro Mifune make their special magic in this exciting story of a samurai-for-hire who contracts himself out to two warring factions with the aim of destroying both. A practical blueprint for the modern action film.

High and Low

Directed by Akira Kurosawa | Japan
1963, 2h 2min, DCP, In Japanese with English Subtitles

New 4K remasters of Japanese master Akira Kurosawa’s greatest films

““A thriller flush with needle-spiking tensions and bullet-train exhilarations.”
—Chuck Stephens

“Pure film pleasure.”
—The Washington Post

“From the very beginning of my career, I was influenced by Kurosawa.”
—Spike Lee, director of HIGHEST 2 LOWEST

Aug. 6, 9 | Based on an American crime novel, HIGH AND LOW stars Toshiro Mifune as an intensely driven industrial executive whose ambitious plans are derailed by a kidnapping plot. The second half of the film is a rivetingly tense police procedural and criminal pursuit wrapped up in human drama.

Shanghai Blues

Directed by Tsui Hark | Hong Kong
1984, 1h 43min, DCP, In Mandarin and Cantonese with English subtitles

“It’s impossible not to be carried along by the delirious rush of silliness in this knockabout screwball comedy.”
—The Guardian

“It’s old-school Hollywood filmmaking — comparisons to Lubitsch or Paul Fejos’ LONESOME are not unwarranted — a bittersweet look at the lunacy of a world turned upside down by decades of war and chaos. Chang’s melancholy and soulful performance is the film’s heart, the core around which Yeh and Bee’s crazier antics swirl.”
—Mubi

Aug. 6, 9 | In the chaos of war, a soldier and a young woman promise to reunite — but ten years later, fate plays tricks. Mistaken identities, romantic mix-ups, and screwball hijinks fill the screen in this dazzling tribute to classic comedies.

throne of blood

Directed by Akira Kurosawa | Japan
1957, 1h 50min, DCP, In Japanese with English Subtitles

New 4K remasters of Japanese master Akira Kurosawa’s greatest films

“The finest Shakespearean adaptation ever committed to the screen.”
—The Guardian

Aug. 8, 10 | Kurosawa and Shakespeare are two great flavors that taste great together, and THRONE OF BLOOD is one of Kurosawa’s defining epics. The story of Macbeth is transposed from medieval Scotland to feudal Japan without (and from) Shakespeare’s blank verse to Kurosawa’s visually predominant storytelling style without a hitch. The finale is a deservedly acclaimed tour de force.

Us and the night

Directed by Audrey Lam | Australia
2024, 1h 7min, DCP, English

“A love story which builds over the course of the 60 minutes plays out with all the mystery and magic of any Rivette film.”
—In Review

Aug. 10 | Two library workers map their adventures through books left for each other, weaving stories within the library’s rhythms. Audrey Lam captures their journey on lush 16mm film, layering references to Calvino, Bishop, Rhys, and Dickinson. A bookish love story, written in the margins, open and closed at both ends.

Featuring a post-film discussion and a pop-up shop on Sunday, August 10. The works of Italo Calvino are available for purchase at Alienated Majesty Books, in-person or online here.

Ikiru

Directed by Akira Kurosawa | Japan
1952, 2h 23min, DCP, In Japanese with English Subtitles

“One of the few movies that might actually be able to inspire someone to lead their life a little differently.”
—Roger Ebert

Aug. 11, 14 | In this early Kurosawa drama, an aging Tokyo salaryman, approaching retirement, contemplates the meaning of life — and more specifically, the meaning of his life — as he weighs the good he has done in the world and finds it wanting. He hurries to make amends as his life approaches its twilight. Free Member Monday — free admission for all AFS members on Monday, August 11.

SanjUro

Directed by Akira Kurosawa | Japan
1962, 1h 35min, DCP, In Japanese with English Subtitles

New 4K remasters of Japanese master Akira Kurosawa’s greatest films

“Samurai action of the highest order.”
— Empire Magazine

“Let me say it simply, Kurosawa was my master.”
—Martin Scorsese

Aug. 16, 17, 18 |Toshiro Mifune returns as an iconoclastic samurai in this follow-up to the iconic YOJIMBO. This time, the comedy is a bit more pronounced, and the whole enterprise is a celebration of Mifune’s incredible star appeal and physicality.