Essential Arthouse 2025

Essential Arthouse 2025 @ Moxie Cinema
This monthly series showcases Essential Arthouse films everyone should see on the big screen. Arthouse is a film genre which encompasses films where the content and style – often artistic or experimental – adhere with as little compromise as possible to the filmmakers’ personal artistic vision. This series is Free for Moxie Members.

Tickets are $11/Adults, $9/Students & Seniors, and Free for Moxie Members
305 S. Campbell (@ McDaniel) Downtown Springfield, MO

The Essential Arthouse 2025 series at Moxie Cinema is an exploration of cinema that transcends conventional storytelling, offering films that represent the epitome of artistic vision and the power of uncompromising creativity. Kicking off with The Red Shoes (1948), a visually stunning and emotionally stirring narrative from Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, the series offers a masterclass in color and movement. Over the following months, we journey through the lyrical and haunting world of Julie Dash’s Daughters of the Dust (1991), which traces the lives of Gullah women in the South, exploring cultural identity, memory, and ancestral ties. The series also delves into Agnès Varda’s Vagabond (1985), a gritty portrayal of an itinerant woman living on the fringes of society, and Wong Kar-wai’s Chungking Express (1994), a dreamy, fragmented meditation on love and loneliness in bustling Hong Kong.

Each selection in the series provides an opportunity to engage with the ways filmmakers challenge narrative structures, aesthetics, and cultural conventions. The Color of Pomegranates (1969) by Sergei Parajanov defies linear storytelling in favor of symbolic imagery, while Gus Van Sant’s My Own Private Idaho (1991) explores themes of identity and alienation through the lens of queer cinema. Ingmar Bergman’s Persona (1966) presents a psychological dissection of identity, and Mathieu Kassovitz’s La Haine (1995) offers a raw and electrifying portrait of life in the Parisian suburbs. Paul Schrader’s Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985) offers an introspective study of the controversial life of Japanese writer Yukio Mishima, while Kaneto Shindo’s Onibaba (1964) immerses viewers in a chilling and atmospheric exploration of fear and desire. François Truffaut’s The 400 Blows (1959) captures the anguish and rebellion of adolescence, and Federico Fellini’s La Strada (1954) is a poignant tale of a young woman’s struggle for personal dignity in a harsh world. Together, these films offer a rich tapestry of cinematic artistry, reflecting a spectrum of human experience and the enduring power of the medium.