Bend reality with these eclectic films in theaters across OKC

Last Updated on September 20, 2023, 8:46 PM | Published: September 20, 2023

Let’s face it, sometimes the real world, with all its rules and laws and wholly un-fun realism just doesn’t cut it.

Sometimes all we want is the ability to bend the world around us to our own liking, to reshape history, to make ourselves the center of the story, or even just to daydream awhile in the middle of the stark reality of our lives.

In fact, that’s pretty much why filmmaking exists in the first place. Its endless cinematic possibilities can slough off the real world’s rules and regulations and replace them all with the kind of wonder and magic that our minds can only dream of, even in the context of something we know to be real.

A few of the upcoming selections at Oklahoma City theaters playfully blur the lines between what we know – or think we know – is real and the kind of surreality that only great cinema can capture.

‘The Inventor’ – ICON Cinema Oklahoma City – Now Playing

Nothing says “real” like history, but just tracking through the bullet points and covering the important dates and events isn’t enough to really understand the importance of our world’s greatest or most imaginative figures.

And who could be more imaginative than Leonardo da Vinci?

Enter director, animator, and “Ratatouille” co-writer Jim Capobianco to take the reins on da Vinci’s life and steer the story into the rich, colorful, and always wondrous world of his mind, spotlighting his infinite creative energies and inventiveness rather than the textbook facts of his life.

Along the way, of course, the realism so often expected in a biographical portrait falls by the wayside, as the enchanting combination of stop-motion and hand-drawn animations dissolve the lines between da Vinci’s real life and the imagined adventures of an irrepressible artist and mechanical genius.

Oh, and da Vinci is voiced by none other than Stephen Fry, surely one of the modern world’s most insightful and brilliant thinkers. There might be no one better suited to bringing Leonardo to life inside this dreamlike, gorgeously executed animated fable.

For showtimes, tickets, and more, visit iconcinemas.com.

‘Scrapper’ – Oklahoma City Museum of Art – September 22nd through 24th

The most important time in any life for letting one’s dreams and imagination run wild is that chaotic, creative stretch of adolescence.

Especially for a child dealing with trauma.

Writer/director Charlotte Regan explores the power of a troubled young mind’s imagination in her feature-length debut, “Scrapper,” following a 12 year-old girl struggling to cope with the sudden appearance of her previously absent father following her mother’s death.

While slowly opening up her life to her father, she spends most of her time letting her imagination run wild, dreaming up wild scenarios, picturing the world around her in vivid color and fantasy, and of course trading stolen scrap metal for money.

It could all be dour and melodramatic, but the sprinkling of surrealist touches brings a welcome whimsy, with random characters speaking to the camera and flights of childlike fancy popping in and out of the stark, impoverished London streetscape.

For showtimes, tickets, and more information, visit okcmoa.com.

‘The Truman Show’ – Harkins Theatres Bricktown – September 26th

Never has there been a better cinematic exploration of the fear of being watched by the world than this modern classic drama.

In the first role to really showcase Jim Carrey’s full performative range, everyman Truman Burbank comes slowly to the realization that his entire life is a carefully orchestrated play for television audiences, with his mild-mannered life at the center and every moment since birth broadcast worldwide.

For a film released shortly before the constant live streaming and social media overload of the modern world, directing legend Peter Weir beautifully captures the paranoia and weight of feeling that your every move is watched and your entire reality is manufactured.

Even 25 years later, “The Truman Show” is still a beautiful, emotional, and brilliantly realized film, and if you can see it and not immediately start looking over your shoulder for hidden cameras everywhere, then you’re clearly much more comfortable than most.

For showtimes, tickets, and more information, visit harkins.com.

‘Stop Making Sense’ – Rodeo Cinema – September 29th; Moore Warren IMAX – September 22nd through 28th 

Simply a feature-length concert film by weirdo post-punk legends Talking Heads, “Stop Making Sense” quickly rose to the reputation of the greatest concert film ever made, largely because of how cleverly and creatively the staging and filmmaking skews your perception of reality.

From the famous “big suit” appearing to shrink and swallow singer David Byrne to the stage gradually building itself and morphing unnoticed into an all-black, anti-reflective void to the eventual army of musicians on stage, there’s arguably never been another concert that so deftly plays with your expectations of reality.

With a full 4K restoration overseen by the band, the landmark film is returning to theaters with a special, one-night stop at OKC’s Rodeo Cinema.

But if you want to experience the magic on a scale rarely reserved for something like a musical concert movie, Regal’s Warren Theatre in Moore is presenting the full, newly restored, and reinvigorated film on their world-class IMAX screen for a full week.

For showtimes, tickets, and more information, visit rodeocinema.org and regmovies.com.

---