Science on Screen: The Botany of Desire at Real Art Ways

“Brendan Fraser gives the performance of a lifetime.” – Time Out

“The humanity of his performance will floor you.” – The Hollywood Reporter

“Will melt your heart” – BBC

“A performance for the ages.” – Variety 

Synopsis:

A reclusive English teacher suffering from severe obesity attempts to reconnect with his estranged teenage daughter for one last chance at redemption.

Oscar Nominations

Actor in a Leading Role – Brendan Fraser

Actress in a Supporting Role – Hong Chau

Makeup and Hairstyling

“This wise and moving drama is an existential journey that celebrates learning how to live life, in all its fleeting beauty.” – AARP Movies for Grownups 

“It’s a film that steps back to consider the rituals and routines we perpetuate, the ways we’ve changed since the last break. And the ways we haven’t.” – New York Times

“An absolutely gorgeous, heartbreaking piece of work.” – Rolling Stone

“Stars Bill Nighy in a role for which he will be remembered.” – Deadline

95% on Rotten Tomatoes

Synopsis:

Living is the story of an ordinary man, reduced by years of oppressive office routine to a shadow existence, who at the eleventh hour makes a supreme effort to turn his dull life into something wonderful.

Oscar Nominations

Best Actor – Bill Nighy

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

“One of the cinematic events of the year.” – IndieWire

“Extraordinary emotional force.” – Los Angeles Times 

“A remarkable ensemble cast.” – The New York Times

“A powerful, moving tribute to quiet strength – and, unexpectedly, to hope.” – Seattle Times 

“An honest, raging, caring experience.” – Time Out

90% on Rotten Tomatoes

Synopsis:

Do nothing. Stay and fight. Or leave. In 2010, the women of an isolated religious community grapple with reconciling a brutal reality with their faith.

Starring Frances McDormand, Claire Foy, Rooney Mara, and Jessie Buckley.

Directed by Sarah Polley

“The year’s best movie…you won’t forget this classic.” – ABC News

“Spielberg’s marvel coming-of-age story and one of his most personal.” – Chicago Reader 

“Reckons with the idea that cinema – like any art form – can be powerful and revealing and magical.” – Filmspotting 

“Best movie of the year” – The Times

“One of the most impressive, enlightening, vital things [Spielberg’s] ever done.” – Rolling Stone

91% on Rotten Tomatoes

Synopsis:

Young Sammy Fabelman falls in love with movies after his parents take him to see “The Greatest Show on Earth.” Armed with a camera, Sammy starts to make his own films at home, much to the delight of his supportive mother. Part memoir, part ode to the power of the movies, The Fabelmans finds Steven Spielberg digging at the family roots that helped make him a beloved filmmaker — and proves he hasn’t lost his magic touch.

Directed by Steven Spielberg.

Oscar Nominations

Best Picture

Best Director – Steven Spielberg

Actor in a Supporting Role – Judd Hirsch

Actress in a Leading Role – Michelle Williams

Music (Original Score)

Production Design

Writing (Original Screenplay)

“Earnest and engrossing.” – Times (UK)

“An irresistible kaleidoscope of music and good fellowship.” – Seattle Times 

“This film offers an inspiring look at creative people from very different walks of life who nonetheless communicate beautifully with one another. They don’t need to speak a common language: Their dazzling music says it all.” – Washington Post

Synopsis:

Filmmaker Morgan Neville profiles cellist Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble, an eclectic group of musicians who tour worldwide.

“Pavarotti paints a simple picture of a complicated man, but it hits the high notes: the performances, the cheers, the adulation. Consider it a greatest hits.” – Detroit News

“An engaging film, filled with vintage snapshots, interviews with friends and former colleagues, and, most of all, that marvelously distinctive voice, with all of the emotion that it could convey.” – St. Louis Post-Dispatch 

“There’s a lot to smile at here.” – New York Times 

Synopsis:

Featuring never-before-seen footage, concert performances and intimate interviews, filmmaker Ron Howard examines the life and career of famed opera tenor Luciano Pavarotti.

“The Band’s music has such intrinsic strength and resilience that it can’t help but break through those self-imposed barriers and set itself and the audience free.” – Washington Post 

“The greatest rock concert movie ever made – and maybe the best rock movie, period.” – Chicago Tribune 

“One of the greatest movie experiences.” – Detroit Free Press

98% on Rotten Tomatoes

Synopsis:

Seventeen years after joining forces as the backing band for rockabilly cult hero Ronnie Hawkins, Canadian roots rockers The Band call it quits with a lavish farewell show at San Francisco’s Winterland Ballroom on Nov. 25, 1976. Filmed by Martin Scorsese, this documentary features standout performances by rock legends such as Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Eric Clapton, Joni Mitchell and Muddy Waters, as well as interviews tracing the group’s history and discussing road life.

“A piercingly self-aware portrait of an artist who is not afraid to depict himself and his craft as aloof or insular.” – Observer (UK)

“Has an urgency all of its own.” – London Evening Standard 

“The more you think about it, the more layers there seem to be and the more you realize how much this film has to say about lives made small by restrictions that can, and do, result in tragedy.” – The Spectator

Listed on New York Times’ Top 10 Movies of the Year

100% on Rotten Tomatoes

Synopsis:

Jafar Panahi is an Iranian film director, screenwriter, and film editor, commonly identified with the Iranian New Wave film movement. His films are known for their humanistic perspective on life in Iran, focusing on the hardships of children, the impoverished, and women.

After several years of conflict with the Iranian government over the content of his films, Panahi was arrested in March 2010 and later charged with propaganda against the Iranian government. He served a six year jail sentence and a 20-year ban on making films. His most recent films were smuggled out of Iran and were shown internationally, including at Real Art Ways.

He was again arrested and sentenced to six years in prison in July of 2022 amid an intensifying government crackdown of the film industry. He was among three directors arrested. Panahi was recently released from prison in Iran.

This film bears witness to Panahi’s incisive filmmaking, while urging viewers to examine the complex layers of a deceptively simple story: a man oppressed and suppressed by his country.

In Persian with English subtitles.

“Makes clear that it’s subject’s images still have a lot to show us” – New York Times 

100% on Rotten Tomatoes

Synopsis:

Few figures have played such a seminal role in our moving picture history as the revolutionary photographer Eadweard Muybridge. His unprecedented images of running horses instantly transformed the camera into a machine of unmatched powers of perception and persuasion, and set the course for the birth of cinema. Muybridge was a complicated man whose personal story was imbued with ambition, success, loss, and even cold-blooded murder. He directly inspired numerous artists from Francis Bacon to David Hockney to Gary Oldman, whose passionate contribution to this documentary is exceptional.

“Maliciously entertaining.” – Observer (UK) 

“Delectably unhinged.” – ABC News

“Bizarre, original, and loaded with revelatory surprises with every turn of the page.” – Observer 

“Perfectly executed meal of a movie.” – Financial Times 

Synopsis:

A couple (Anya Taylor-Joy and Nicholas Hoult) travels to a coastal island to eat at an exclusive restaurant where the chef (Ralph Fiennes) has prepared a lavish menu, with some shocking surprises.

“A powerful tale of survival.” – The Hollywood Reporter

“A gentle and superbly shot film.” – Guardian 

“Equally stunning and devastating.” – San Jose Mercury News 

“Meditative and deeply romantic.” – RogerEbert.com

95% on Rotten Tomatoes

Synopsis:

In the arid Bolivian highlands, an elderly Quechua couple has been living a tranquil life for years. While he takes their small herd of llamas out to graze, she keeps house and walks for miles with the other local women to fetch precious water. When an uncommonly long drought threatens everything they know, Virginio and Sisa must decide whether to stay and maintain their traditional way of life or admit defeat and move in with family members in the city. Their dilemma is precipitated by the arrival of their grandson Clever, who comes to visit with news. The three of them must face, each in their own way, the effects of a changing environment, the importance of tradition, and the meaning of life itself. This visually jaw-dropping debut feature by photographer-turned-filmmaker Alejandro Loayza Grisi is lensed by award-winning cinematographer Barbara Alvarez (Lucrecia Martel’s The Headless Woman) and won the Grand Jury Prize (World Cinema Dramatic) at the Sundance Film Festival.

In Quechua and Spanish with English subtitles.

“A blunt, most effective portrait of someone pushed and pulled into a state of permanent imbalance.” – TheWrap 

“A powerful cry from the heart.” – Time Out 

“A gripping story of dislocation and belonging.” The Hollywood Reporter 

Synopsis:

You Resemble Me tells the true story of Hasna Ait Boulahcen, a woman who was falsely accused of being Europe’s first female suicide bomber. Cultural and intergenerational trauma erupt in this story about two sisters on the outskirts of Paris. After the siblings are torn apart, the eldest, Hasna, struggles to find her identity, leading to a choice that shocks the world. Director Dina Amer takes on one of the darkest issues of our time and deconstructs it in an intimate story about family, love, sisterhood, and belonging.

In French with English subtitles.

“An astonishment…wild, boldly expressionistic.” – The New York Times

“Hypnotic. Bold in a way few contemporary films truly are.” – Sight and Sound 

98% on Rotten Tomatoes

Synopsis:

The world is a mysterious place when seen through the eyes of an animal. EO, a grey donkey with melancholic eyes, meets good and bad people on his life’s path, experiences joy and pain, endures the wheel of fortune randomly turn his luck into disaster and his despair into unexpected bliss. But not even for a moment does he lose his innocence.

In Polish with English subtitles.

2023 Oscar Nominee for Best International Film

“The sweet, solemn music of George Harrison…has rarely sounded more majestic than in the sweeping performances of the enlarged star-studded band that gathered in London at the Royal Albert Hall on November 29.” – The New York Times

Synopsis:

On November 29, 2002, one year after the passing of George Harrison, Olivia Harrison and longtime friend Eric Clapton organized a performance tribute in his honor. Held at London’s Royal Albert Hall, the momentous evening featured George’s songs, and music that he loved, performed by a lineup that included Clapton, Joe Brown, Dhani Harrison, Jools Holland, Jeff Lynne, Paul McCartney, Monty Python, Tom Petty, Billy Preston, Ravi and Anoushka Shankar, Ringo Starr, and many more.

One night only showing.

“Simply perfect.” – The Times

“Cinematic and visually ravishing.” – The Playlist

“One of the best movies of the year.” – ABC News 

“Visually stunning and consistently witty…It is proper art.” – Times

Synopsis

Set on a remote island off the west coast of Ireland, The Banshees of Inisherin follows lifelong friends Pádraic and Colm, who find themselves at an impasse when Colm unexpectedly puts an end to their friendship. A stunned Pádraic, aided by his sister Siobhán and troubled young islander Dominic, endeavours to repair the relationship, refusing to take no for an answer. But Pádraic’s repeated efforts only strengthen his former friend’s resolve and when Colm delivers a desperate ultimatum, events swiftly escalate, with shocking consequences.

97% on Rotten Tomatoes