Join fellow movie lovers for five stunning films and popcorn at Claremont Branch Library. This month's movies celebrate Asian American Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage month. Wednesdays in May at 5:30pm. Join us early for popcorn while it lasts.
May1, 5:30p, Minari (PG-13)- The story of a Korean American family that relocates to Arkansas to begin a new life as farmers and must reestablish home dynamics when their loving but sly grandmother comes to stay. Amidst the instability and challenges of this new life in the rugged Ozarks, the film shows the undeniable resilience of family and what really makes a home. Based on writer/director Lee Isaac Chung's experience, Minari won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize and supporting actress Youn Yuh-jung became the second Asian American woman to win an acting Oscar for her performance as Soonja.
May 8, 5:30p, Columbus (NR)- While living with her mother in Columbus, Indiana, Casey meets Jin, a translator who is in town caring for dying father. Burdened by the future, they find respite in one another and the architecture that surrounds them. Starring Haley Lu Richardson and Jon Cho, Columbus was nominated for multiple awards, David Lewis described the film in the San Francisco Chronical as "quietly stirring, exquisitely photographed ...an art house gem that beautifully illuminates not only the architecture of a small Indiana town, but also the characters who inhabit it."
May 15, 5:30p, Everything Everywhere All at Once (R)- Evelyn Wang (Michelle Yeoh), a flustered immigrant mother, is contacted from a parallel universe and told that only she can save the world. She must learn to channel her newfound powers and fight through the splintering timelines of the multiverse to save her home, her family, and herself in this big-hearted and irreverent adventure which won seven Oscars including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Actress for Yeoh
May 22, 5:30p, Next Goal Wins (PG-13)- Due to a change in his employment status, Dutch-American football coach Thomas Rongen was forced to undertake a coaching role he had difficulty accepting. He flew to American Samoa to coach their national football team to become eligible for the 2001 FIFA World Cup. The main challenge, though, is that the team is touted as one of the weakest in the world. Directed by Taika Waititi and based on the 2014 documentary with the same title, this sports comedy-drama features the real-life travails of Thomas Rongen.
May 29, 5:30p, The Paper Tigers (PG-13)- Three martial artists—notorious in their prime as “the three tigers”—have grown into middle-aged men one kick from a pulled muscle. But after their teacher’s murder, they must juggle dead-end jobs, dad duties, and old grudges to avenge him. Directed by Tran Quoc Bao and starring Alain Uy, Jae Suh Park and Mykel Shannon Jenkins, Paper Tigers received the 2020 Grand Jury Award prize for Best Feature Film at the Seattle Asian American Film Festival and the Audience Award for Best Narrative Film at the 2020 Boston Asian American Film Festival.