April on MUBI UK sees the UK debut of the BAFTA winning and Oscar nominated Drive My Car, an acclaimed Mexican drama, two Verhoeven flicks, The Souvenir Part II and more.
Drive My Car
The masterful, moving and multi award-winning new film from Ryusuke Hamaguchi (Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy), Drive My Car (2021) arrives exclusively on MUBI this month, fresh from its BAFTA win for Film Not in the English Language.
Based on the short story of the same name by international bestselling author Haruki Murakami, the film follows stage actor and director Yusuke Kafuku (Hidetoshi Nishijima), whose wife Oto (Reika Kirishima) suddenly passes away leaving behind a secret.
Two years later, Kafuku, still unable to fully cope with the loss of his wife, receives an offer to direct a play at a theatre festival in Hiroshima. There, he meets Misaki (Toko Miura), a reticent woman assigned to be his chauffeur. As they spend time together, Kafuku confronts the mystery of his wife that quietly haunts him.
Prayers for the Stolen
From the producers of Roma (2018), Prayers for the Stolen (2021) is the debut feature from established Mexican-El Salvadoran filmmaker Tatiana Huezo (The Tiniest Place, Tempestad).
Loosely adapted from Jennifer Clement’s 2014 novel, it follows the lives of three girls in Guerrero whose childhoods are overshadowed by the forceful and violent presence of the local cartel. Trained by their mothers to flee at any moment and forced into extreme measures to evade capture, these young women must learn to abandon their femininity in order to navigate their harsh surroundings.
As much a damning indictment of the hidden evils of an unjust war as it is a sensitive depiction of women living in the crossfire of gang warfare, this is an unforgettable story of friendship, family and survival uniquely told from a child’s-eye-view perspective.
Songs for Drella
Long after The Velvet Underground had broken up, Lou Reed and John Cale reunited to perform their album “Songs for Drella” dedicated to Andy Warhol in this evocative concert film by legendary cinematographer Ed Lachman – playing exclusively on MUBI. Written and recorded three years after Warhol’s death, the album reflects their complicated memories of their late collaborator, ‘‘Drella’’ – Warhol’s nickname – a synthesis of Dracula and Cinderella.
Intimate and minimalist, Lachman’s camerawork reflects the elemental, stripped-down qualities of the album, with close-ups beautifully conveying the deep, fractious history between Reed and Cale. Long considered lost, the original negatives were rediscovered by Lachman while researching Todd Haynes’s The Velvet Underground (2021).
The Souvenir: Part II
This month MUBI presents Joanna Hogg’s follow up to the critically adored The Souvenir (2019), The Souvenir: Part II (2021), streaming exclusively on MUBI. Named by Sight & Sound as the best film of 2021, the sequel picks up in the aftermath of Julie’s tumultuous relationship with Anthony following his tragic death. Using her graduation film to reflect on their complicated love, Julie creates a meta-fiction piece, as Hogg similarly does, untangling her own story from elaborately constructed fiction.
Joachim Trier: The Oslo Trilogy
To celebrate the release of Joachim Trier’s Oscar- and BAFTA- nominated The Worst Person in the World (2021) in cinemas on 25 March and on MUBI from 13 May, MUBI presents the other two titles from Trier’s unofficial Oslo Trilogy: Reprise (2006), the story of best friends Erik and Philip navigating the literary world as their young dreams clash with reality, and Oslo, August 31st (2011), which charts a day in the life of a a young recovering drug addict.
The series consists of compelling portraits of the city of Oslo and its inhabitants characterised by Trier’s perceptive portrayal of relationships, existential exploration of human behaviour and identity, anchored by a powerful set of performances from the Norwegian actor, doctor and musician Anders Danielsen Lie.
In The Worst Person In The World, Danielsen Lie stars alongside Renate Reinsve, who received the Award for Best Actress for the role in Cannes and a BAFTA Nomination for Leading Actress.
The Living and the Damned: Three Films by Béla Tarr
This month MUBI shines a spotlight on Hungarian director Béla Tarr, hailed as one of the masters of slow cinema. Known for his long takes, slow tracking shots and his melancholic representation of a hopeless world, Tarr captures the dreary and desolate with sarcastic and ironic humour. This director focus includes the titles: Autumn Almanac (1984) a chamber piece inspired by the existential play ‘No Exit’ by Jean-Paul Sartre, Sátántangó (1994) a 7-hour epic about the decline of Communism in Eastern Europe restored and presented in 4k, and The Turin Horse (2011) self-proclaimed as the director’s final oeuvre.
Showgirls: A Double Bill
To celebrate the theatrical release of Paul Verhoeven’s latest provocation Benedetta (2021) on 15 April, MUBI will be exploring the phenomenon behind his '90s cult classic Showgirls (1995). Initially dismissed and considered a complete box office flop, Showgirls has been rediscovered by new generations and applauded as a satire of the American dream. Jefferey McHale’s documentary You Don’t Nomi (2019) breaks down and traces the film’s redemptive journey from notorious flop to cult classic breathing new life to the once disregarded film.
My Fat Arse and I
Director Yelyzaveta Pysmak confidently and empathetically addresses issues around beauty norms, body images and anorexia in her refreshingly tongue and cheek tale My Fat Arse and I (2020). One morning a girl tries on a pair of new pants, yet they don’t quite fit her. When she decides to go on a strict diet, the Angel of United Bitches of Slimbuttlandia comes to her with an invitation to join a royal ceremony. The animated short combines bold and brassy hand drawn animation with video game aesthetics.
White Building
In Kavich Neang’s fiction debut White Building (2021), aspiring dancer Samnang and his family find their lives suddenly shattered by the news of their home’s impending demolition in Phnom Penh, to make way for a new development. Contemplative and visually arresting, it is a triumph of economic and inventive storytelling, and a powerful hymn of resistance to urban displacement and gentrification. Starring Piseth Chhun, who won the Venice Horizons’ Best Actor award for his central performance.
The Tale of King Crab
The Tale of King Crab (2021) is a bold, visually-striking fiction debut from former documentary filmmakers Alessio de Righi and Matteo Zoppis. This engrossing, bifurcated folktale follows the improbable adventures of Luciano, a village outcast in 19th-century Italy. In the film’s first half, Luciano’s life is undone by alcohol, forbidden love and a quarrel with a local aristocrat; in the second, he is in Argentina’s Tierra del Fuego in search of a mythic treasure with the help of a compass-like crab.