For Miami cinephiles, this is the biggest event of the season. Below, we've picked out our most anticipated films at Gems, a few of which I saw at this year's New York Film Festival. See you at the movies!
All We Imagine As Light
People move to the big city for many reasons — work, romance, the glamour of being somewhere important — and more often than not, they find loneliness and struggle instead. Such is life for Prabha (Kani Kusruti) and Anu (Divya Prabha), two nurses living in Mumbai and hailing from the southern Indian state of Kerala, in Payal Kapadia's Cannes Grand Prix-winning All We Imagine As Light. Each has issues with their partners that stem from India's tradition of arranged marriage. Prabha, slightly older and more modest, has lost contact with her husband, who lives and works in Germany and has not spoken to her in years, while teenage Anu is in love with a Muslim boy who would never win her parents' approval. Along the way, they help a co-worker, Parvaty (Chhaya Kadam), who is fighting eviction from her home by a greedy developer who is taking advantage of her lack of papers.Director Kapadia has become a leading figure in the fight against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party's Hindu Nationalist political project — her last film, the nonfiction A Night of Knowing Nothing, documented the government's crackdown on student protests — and her political concerns, including the rights of workers, the plight of Indian women, and the protection of minorities such as Indian Muslims, are clearly and skillfully articulated here. But it's the more magical elements of All We Imagine As Light, felt in the mysterious depths of Kerala and the wistful scenes of Mumbai in twilight and early morning, that make the film truly luminous. Despite being the first film from India to screen in competition at Cannes in 30 years, the country will sadly not submit the film to the Oscars, likely due to politics. Even so, it's a worthy, empathetic film that plenty will adore. 2 p.m. Sunday, November 3, at Coral Gables Art Cinema, 260 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables.
A Real Pain
Two anxious Jewish cousins, unemployed slacker Benji (Kieran Culkin) and gainfully employed family man David (Jesse Eisenberg), take a heritage trip to Poland — what could possibly go wrong? As it turns out, quite a lot. From getting off at the wrong train stop to making things awkward with the locals, this odd couple has as many humorous scrapes as they do heartfelt moments on the way to making sense of their family's history and their own personal issues. The closing night film at this year's edition of Gems, A Real Pain, directed by and starring Eisenberg, is a comedy about an identity suffused with tragedy, a film that reminds us that Jewish culture is rooted in hardship and harrowing suffering. It's also a lovely travelogue through the picturesque nation of Poland that will make you want to book a flight to Warsaw faster than you can say mishpocha. 8 p.m. Sunday, November 3, at Regal South Beach, 1120 Lincoln Rd., Miami Beach.
Blitz
Few artists have taken on the history of their home country quite like British director Steve McQueen. The London-raised video artist cut his teeth with the film Hunger, a devastating, unconventional biopic of IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands, and later produced the excellent anthology Small Axe to tell stories of Black Brits living in London during the reggae generation of the 1960s and '70s. He's even taken on other countries' history with 12 Years a Slave and his last film, the Amsterdam-set Holocaust documentary Occupied City. Now, he's taking on possibly the most important, mythologized event in the last 100 years of British history: the Battle of Britain. Blitz, starring Saoirse Ronan as a young mother searching for her missing son during the Nazi bombardment of London, is expected to be an epic, inclusive retelling of a moment that defined the UK's national conscience. It's also going straight to Apple TV+ after a limited theatrical run, meaning Gems may be your only chance to see it the way it was meant to be seen. 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, October 30, at Silverspot Cinema Downtown, 300 NE Third St., Ste. 100, Miami.
The Brutalist
You would think a nearly four-hour — with an intermission — historical drama about a modernist architect who survived the Holocaust would be a hard watch, but The Brutalist, actor-turned-director Brady Corbet's latest American epic that won the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival, is gripping from start to finish. Reminiscent of similar decades-spanning character studies such as Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood and The Master, the film stars Adrian Brody as László Toth, a Bauhaus-trained architect who is newly arrived in Pennsylvania after fleeing Nazi-occupied Hungary. His quest to rebuild his life and find sanctuary for himself and his family in America changes immeasurably when he meets Harrison Lee Van Buren (Guy Pearce), a brash, WASPy industrialist who's desperate to paint himself as a patron of the arts. But when Van Buren commissions Toth to build a massive cultural center in his tiny town, the two men's perspectives on life and art clash irrevocably in ways that are as disturbing as they are enlightening. A staggering work channeling the immigrant experience, the hatred that lurks underneath the surface of American culture, and the drive of artists to express themselves, whatever the cost, The Brutalist is not to be missed. The film also will be presented in glorious 70mm at Gems. 6 p.m. Saturday, November 2, at Coral Gables Art Cinema, 260 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables.
The Color Within comes from veteran director Naoko Yamada.
Science Saru/Story/Toho/JR Kikaku/Lawson Entertainment
The Colors Within
One of the few animated films screening at this year's Gems is this beguiling feature from veteran director Naoko Yamada, famed for her work with Kyoto Animation on beloved shows like K-On! and A Silent Voice. Her new film, The Colors Within, sees her working with the fast-rising studio Science Saru (DanDaDan, Scott Pilgrim Takes Off) on a story about a girl who can see colors. Catholic school student Totsuko has synesthesia, giving her the ability to visualize another person's unique hue. When she encounters the color of her classmate Kimi, she's inspired enough to start a band. Filled with lovely visuals and catchy indie-pop jams, this is one film you'll probably like the color of. 5:15 p.m. Sunday, November 3, at Silverspot Cinema Downtown, 300 NE Third St., Ste. 100, Miami.
Disclaimer*
Where has Alfonso Cuarón been all this time? Apparently, the Mexican auteur has been cooking up something for Apple TV+ with Cate Blanchett, his first project since the multiple Oscar-winning Roma and her first major role since her memorable portrayal of canceled conductor Lydia Tár. In this seven-episode psychological thriller, Blanchett plays an investigative journalist who suddenly comes under the microscope herself when she becomes the victim of a conspiracy to destroy her life and family. Not only will Gems be showing the entire series in a marathon screening, but Cuarón himself will also appear in person to give a Q&A and receive the festival's Precious Gem Award. Gems will also host a mini-retrospective of Cuarón with screenings of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (November 6), Children of Men (November 7), and Y Tu Mama Tambien (November 8). Noon Saturday, November 9, at Silverspot Cinema Downtown, 300 NE Third St., Ste. 100, Miami.
Maria
Who was Maria Callas? An opera singer? A notorious diva? A woman who advanced well beyond her station in life only to fade into obscurity and die tragically young? Or all of the above? Maria is the latest in a biopic trilogy focusing on the 20th Century's most famous women by Chilean director Pablo Larraín, but unlike Jackie Kennedy or Princess Diana, Callas was neither royalty nor a president's wife. Born into humble circumstances, she survived World War II in Greece and emerged as one of the most unique voices in opera, arguably the last diva to reach any measure of international celebrity. Dramatizing the singer's last days in Paris as she attempts to reclaim her famous voice after a period of decline, the film stars Angelina Jolie, playing the singer as a prideful yet sorrowful artist who senses the end is near and attempts to make arrangements in her own way. It's one of the best performances Jolie has ever given, transmitting her usually icy demeanor into something much more complicated and sad. A centerpiece screening at Gems, this may be your only chance to catch Maria in a theatrical setting. It's going to Netflix on November 27. 6:30 p.m. Friday, November 1, at Silverspot Cinema Downtown, 300 NE Third St., Ste. 100, Miami.
Men of War
Mere weeks after elections in Venezuela ended with a disputed result and a crackdown on dissent from the Maduro government, the Cocaine Cowboys team of Billy Corbin and Jen Gatien are about to enter the fray with their latest documentary about a man who tried to overthrow that very regime. Men of War sketches a portrait of former Green Beret Jordan Goudreau, whose quixotic attempt to lead a Bay of Pigs-style mercenary invasion of the South American nation — supported by Miami-based dissidents — ends in disaster. Following up on recent current events-focused projects from the Rakontur crew, including looks at Jerry Falwell Jr. (God Forbid) and Lev Parnas (From Russia With Lev), it doesn't get more "ripped from the headlines" than this. 7 p.m. Friday, November 1, at Regal South Beach, 1120 Lincoln Rd., Miami Beach.
The Room Next Door
Until last year's short film Strange Way of Life, famed Spanish director Pedro Almodovar had never made a movie in English. It seems he was testing out his expertise with the language. His latest film, The Room Next Door, is also in English, but this time, it's feature-length, marking his true debut with the language. Swapping sunny Madrid for snowy New York, the film stars Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore as a sick woman and her caretaker daughter. As the recipient of the Golden Lion, the top prize at the Venice Film Festival, Almodovar's feature will serve as the opening-night screening at Gems. 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, October 30, at Koubek Center, 2705 SW Third St., Miami.
Universal Language
Picture Winnipeg: Cold, forbidding, covered in snow most of the year, and full of grim concrete buildings. Now, picture the same place, but Persian? Imagining an alternate-history version of Canada where French and Farsi, rather than English, are the languages of the majority and Tim Hortons serves chai instead of coffee, Universal Language is a funny, magical little movie inspired by director Matthew Rankin's adoration of classic Iranian films from the likes of Abbas Kiarostami and Jafar Panahi, with a dose of Guy Maddin-style deadpan thrown in for good measure. (Tourists wander dead malls in lieu of actual tourist sites, and children get lost in the "grey district" when they should be in the "beige district.") It's a film that proves that cinema is a border-defying art form and that no matter what language is spoken there, Winnipeg will always be a comically awful place to live. 2:30 p.m. Saturday, November 2, at Silverspot Cinema Downtown, 300 NE Third St., Ste. 100, Miami.The Full Film Lineup for Miami Film Festival Gems 2024
- A Real Pain (Closing Night)
- All We Imagine As Light
- Better Man
- Bird
- Blitz
- Bob Trevino Likes It
- Boca Chica
- The Brutalist
- ¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor!
- The Colors Within
- The Count of Monte-Cristo
- Dig! XX
- Disclaimer*
- Emilia Pérez (Centerpiece)
- Hard Truths
- Heavenly Creatures (Retrospective)
- How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies
- I'm Still Here
- La Cocina
- Marco, The Invented Truth
- Maria
- Memoir of a Snail
- Men of War
- Mistress Dispeller
- Nightbitch
- The Room Next Door (Opening Night)
- Saturn Return
- The Seed of the Sacred Fig
- September 5
- Universal Language
- Unstoppable
