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When it comes to this month’s local film events, there’s GEMS, and then there’s everything else. Miami Film Festival’s awards-season mini-fest is back with all of the year’s biggest films and stars, and we’ll have a full roundup of the highlights later this month, so watch this space. For now, check out the rest of the best screenings happening in Miami throughout October.
“The History of Concrete” at Coral Gables Art Cinema
The latest project from HBO documentarian John Wilson is playing for three days at Coral Gables Art Cinema, and yes, it’s about concrete. The film almost completely sold out its first weekend in New York, screening exclusively at the IFC Center and nearly beating the theater’s first-weekend gross record held by “Parasite,” so something interesting is clearly going on here.
Our Take: As host of “How to with John Wilson” and a frequent collaborator with Nathan Fielder, John Wilson is used to finding creative (and funny) ways to explore banal, quotidian topics. And there’s nothing more banal and quotidian than concrete, the most abundant material on earth other than water. As Wilson considers the ubiquity of concrete in our lives between projects, he takes us to completely unexpected and bizarre places: Roman ruins, film sets, parties with Dwayne Wade and Kim Kardashian, and even the surprisingly bleak offices of the Hallmark Channel. Defined by Wilson’s dry, awkward comedy and kooky man-on-the-street interviews, “The History of Concrete” is a funny, insightful, engrossing experience that may just blow your mind. Opens Friday, October 2, at Coral Gables Art Cinema, 260 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables; 786-472-2249. Tickets cost $11.75 via gablescinema.com.
“Rashomon” at Morikami Museum and Gardens
AV Club will follow up its Golden Age of Japanese Cinema series this month with a pair of Akira Kurosawa films in a fitting setting: The Morikami Museum and Gardens, South Florida’s largest Japanese-style garden. Hosted by New Times film critic Doug Markowitz (the guy writing this), the museum will screen Kurosawa’s masterwork of dueling perspectives, “Rashomon,” on Friday, October 9, at 6:30 p.m., followed by “Throne of Blood” on Friday, October 23, at the same time. Both will screen on 16mm prints from the Miami-Dade County Library collection.
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Our Take: “Rashomon” is the film that put Japanese cinema on the world stage when it won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1950. Famously influential, the samurai crime thriller’s chief plot conceit — four witnesses to a killing relate four radically different perspectives on what really happened — has been remade and parodied in everything from “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and “The X-Files” to “Frasier” and “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.” Yet as far as the “Rashomon Plot” has traveled, it’s still hard to match the original film, defined by Kurosawa’s skillful direction and landmark performances from Toshiro Mifune as the criminal and Machiko Kyō as the widow of the murdered samurai. At Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens, 4000 Morikami Park Road, Delray Beach; 561-495-0233. Admission is free with RSVP via morikami.org.
“Howl’s Moving Castle” at Coral Gables Art Cinema
Celebrating its 20th anniversary, Hayao Miyazaki’s classic of magic and romance for any age comes to Coral Gables Art Cinema for family day on Saturday, October 10 (in Japanese with English subtitles), and Sunday, October 11 (English dub).
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Our Take: Cursed with premature old age by a nefarious witch, hatmaker Sophie enters the wilderness to search for the wizard Howl and find a cure. Against the backdrop of a senseless war that Howl resists being drafted into, the two must find a way to save him from fighting, reverse her curse, and deal with their blooming feelings for each other. Sumptuously animated by Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli, “Howl’s Moving Castle” marries gorgeous anime visuals with a strong anti-war message influenced by the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003; the fact that this aspect of the film remains relevant 20 years later is as sad as the movie is brilliant at expressing the stupidity and evil of those who wage war. The dub version, starring Christian Bale as Howl, Emily Mortimer as Sophie, and Billy Crystal and Lauren Bacall in supporting roles, is outstanding. 11 a.m. Saturday, October 10, and Sunday, October 11 at Coral Gables Art Cinema, 260 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables; 786-472-2249; gablescinema.com. Tickets cost $11.75.
GEMS Preview Night: “Fjord” at Silverspot Cinema
While the main GEMS program won’t arrive until October 29, you can get a taste of the slate with this preview screening of Romanian director Cristian Mungiu’s controversial Palme d’Or winner “Fjord,” starring Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve, on Wednesday, October 14. The film also screens two days later at Coral Gables Art Cinema on Friday, October 16.
Our Take: The film follows an evangelical Christian family — Romanian father Mihai (Stan), Norwegian mother Lisbet (Reinsve), and their five (count ‘em!) children — as they integrate into a small rural village in Norway. Things are already tense as the family’s hardline values clash with the locals’ more liberal ways. But they take a turn for the worse when one of the kids shows up at school with bruises, and an innocent admission leads to child abuse allegations that spiral into an international incident. “Fjord” is far from a perfect film. Though well-acted by Stan and Reinsve, its characters are simplistic and clumsily written, and it’s all over the place tonally. Pulling in discourse about religious rights, migration, and ethnic tension, Mungiu certainly seeks to court controversy and start conversations. Whether he says anything substantive in the film is another question entirely. 7 p.m. Wednesday, October 14, at Silverspot Cinema Downtown Miami, 300 SE Third St. #100, Miami; 305-536-5000; silverspot.net. Tickets cost $14.42 via miamifilmfestival.com.
Horror Shorts Program at Soundscape Park
Spend your Mischief Night at the movies with two terrifying short film screenings in Miami Beach’s Soundscape Park on Friday, October 30. “Geeks,” from local FX artist Eric Corbin of Corbin’s Creatures fame, takes us into a family-oriented tale of maritime mayhem, while “Sqwuid,” from Michigan-born filmmakers Courtlan Gordon and Ryan Becker, combines Midwest sci-fi spirit with Miami style. Funded by Fangoria Pictures and locally-based production house WEG Films, the shorts were made on location in Miami Beach as part of the Class of 2026 Horror Shorts Program, designed to bring more filmmaking to South Florida. And both films put strong emphasis on practical effects — no AI here. 7 p.m. Friday, October 30, at SoundScape Park, 400 17th St., Miami Beach; events.miamibeach.gov. Admission is free.
