Cinema Usher is a new Scout column dedicated to detailing some of the best films playing in theatres with the when, where and why you should give a damn. Presented by Ken Tsui.

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THE WAILING

June 25th, 10pm | The Vancity Theatre, 1181 Seymour St. | DETAILS
South Korean filmmakers have the police and supernatural genres down to a glossy science, so it was hardly a surprise that mashing them up for The Wailing would make for a home run. After making waves at Cannes this year, the Na Hong-Jin film is being touted as one of the most gripping horror movie experiences of the year. It tells the tale of a schlubby, small-town policeman desperately trying to solve a series of violent murders triggered by a bizarre sickness plaguing the town, as well as the arrival of a mysterious stranger. With a plot destined to be celebrated as a Midnite Movie classic, The Wailing plays at The Vancouver Film Centre for one night only, rather appropriately at 10pm.

UNDER THE CHERRY MOON

June 30th, 9:45PM | The Rio Theatre, 1660 East Broadway | DETAILS
Many of us still haven’t let go of Prince yet, present company included. The Rio is temporarily assuaging our broken hearts with a rare screening of Under the Cherry Moon. The movie marks the directorial debut of The Purple One himself as a gender-eschewing hustler swindling wealthy debutantes for their riches before inevitably falling in love with one of them. It’s a cheeky pastiche of the Roaring Twenties backed by Prince’s eighth studio record, Parade, as the soundtrack featuring hits like Kiss and Sometimes It Snows in April. While it wasn’t necessarily the runaway box office hit of 1986 that Top Gun was, this might be the last chance to catch it on the big screen for all you die-hard Prince completists. Assemble your crew. I’ll be seeing you there.

RAN

July 7th – 9th, 7pm | The Cinematheque, 1311 Howe Street | DETAILS
The word “Epic” was coined specifically for movies like Akira Kurosawa’s Ran. Simply described as a lurid re-working of Shakespeare’s King Lear set in 16th century Japan, it’s celebrated as one of the legendary auteur’s greatest achievements and a visual goliath that could trounce any modern summer blockbuster with story and substance. Forget CGI, the grandeur of Kurosawa’s painstakingly crafted vistas of clashing soldiers in eye-popping swathes of colour are as real as it gets. Presented at The Cinematheque in the glory of a pristine, newly restored 4K print, there’s no better time to experience Ran the in the way it was intended to be seen.