Sunday Night Film Club – Boston

Two sisters join the first female professional baseball league and struggle to help it succeed amidst their own growing rivalry.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is a darkly comedic drama from Academy Award(r) winner Martin McDonagh (In Bruges).

After months have passed without a culprit in her daughter’s murder case, Mildred Hayes (Academy Award(r) winner Frances McDormand) makes a bold move, commissioning three signs leading into her town with a controversial message directed at William Willoughby (Academy Award(r) nominee Woody Harrelson), the town’s revered chief of police. When his second-in-command Officer Dixon (Sam Rockwell), an immature mother’s boy with a penchant for violence, gets involved, the battle between Mildred and Ebbing’s law enforcement is only exacerbated.

From Ruben Ostlund, writer/director of Golden Globe nominee Force Majeure, comes another unnerving and provocative satire, The Square, winner of the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Christian (Claes Bang) is the handsome, sophisticated and somewhat smug curator of a contemporary art museum, a divorced but devoted father of two who drives an electric car and supports good causes. His next show is “The Square,” an installation which invites passersby to altruism, reminding them of their role as responsible fellow human beings. But sometimes it is difficult to live up to your own ideals: Christian’s foolish over-reaction to the theft of his phone drags him into shameful situations. Meanwhile, the museum’s PR agency has created an unexpected campaign for “The Square.” The response is overblown and sends Christian, as well as the museum, into an existential crisis. Also starring Elisabeth Moss (“The Handmaid’s Tale”), Dominic West (“The Affair”) and “animal” actor Terry Notary. Sweden’s Official Selection for Best Foreign Language Film consideration at the 90th Academy Awards. (Partially subtitled)

A fatherless teen insinuates himself into the lives of a “perfect” family in this suspenseful thriller filled with unsettling humor and Hitchcockian psychodrama.

Note: This is opening night of the IFFBoston Fall Focus. You should definitely purchase tickets in advance.

Christine McPherson (Saoirse Ronan)–affectionately known and self-proclaimed as Lady Bird–is an ambitious, bright, and precocious high school senior. Longing to break free of suburban Sacramento, she dreams of a different life full of east coast skyscrapers, Ivy League universities, and cosmopolitan culture.

With modest grades and no alumni connections to speak of, Lady Bird needs extracurriculars to beef up her college applications. Joining the drama club leads to new friends (sometimes at the expense of old ones), first loves, and a social life in full swing. Dealing with her critical mother and succeeding at math do not come as easily. With her dad recently laid off, her mom working double shifts as a nurse, and her brother and his girlfriend–Berkeley grads–working at the supermarket, she is keenly aware that post-high school life is no walk in the park. Old enough to appreciate what she has, but not always mature enough to show it, sometimes she just wants to go shopping for her prom dress rather than putting her clothes away.

Navigating the awkward space between adolescence and adulthood, Lady Bird, splendidly brought to life by Ronan, is a character to whom we can all relate. With her solo directorial debut, Greta Gerwig continues the charm and wit of her previous screenwriting work–think FRANCES HA and MISTRESS AMERICA but with a more sophisticated approach to character and interpersonal relationships. Incredibly personal and immensely relatable, LADY BIRD is sure to be one of the defining coming-of-age films of its generation.

The true story of the 1973 tennis match between World number one Billie Jean King and ex-champ and serial hustler Bobby Riggs.

Note: The host, Sean, will be sitting in Row D.

A young blade runner’s discovery of a long-buried secret leads him to track down former blade runner Rick Deckard, who’s been missing for thirty years.

Note: This is opening weekend and a reserved seating theatre, so it is recommended that you purchase tickets in advance.

In a fin-de-siecle Transylvanian village, a doctor arrives to investigate a young maid’s mysterious death, only to learn the legend of a deceased girl whose ball-bouncing ghost may be driving the locals to suicide… With its hallucinatory colors and sinister moods, this is the pinnacle of Gothic Euro-horror, an influence on Scorsese, Lynch, Fellini, Argento, del Toro, and countless others. – Quad Cinema

Stronger is the inspiring real life story of Jeff Bauman, an ordinary man who captured the hearts of his city and the world to become a symbol of hope following the infamous 2013 Boston Marathon bombing.