Valerie Fowler’s “Entanglements” & Benné Rockett’s “Grown in Darkness”

Through August 10, Lydia Street Gallery

It’s a pleasure to see Austin’s bevy of talented working artists grow and change over the years, exploring new material and thematic fixations. Valerie Fowler is one such mainstay of the scene, and her new summer show at Lydia Street Gallery finds her meditating on the interconnectedness of nature and humanity with signature meticulous attention to detail. In “Entanglements: You Too Are Part of This,” she renders birds’ nests and vines in dazzling Technicolor. Under the same roof, Benné Rockett, an Austin art therapist who’s spent the better part of a decade between Mérida, Yucatan, and her hometown of New Orleans, offers mixed-media encaustic works that render flora and fauna in three dimensions. Watch these works interact with one another starting Saturday, May 24, through to August 10.   – Lina Fisher

Written on the Wind

Monday 26, Alamo Drafthouse Mueller

If you’re predisposed to thinking a film from 1956 must be all kinds of buttoned-up, then you haven’t met Douglas Sirk, arguably Hollywood’s greatest melodramatist. The Texas-set Written on the Wind brings Real Housewives-levels of dysfunction to its tale of an alcoholic oil scion (Robert Stack) and his slutty sister (Dorothy Malone), who’s in love with his best friend (Rock Hudson, Sirk’s most defining leading man), who’s in love with his wife (Lauren Bacall). That they’re all heading for tragedy is preordained; it’s the getting there that’s the good stuff   – Kimberley Jones

Valley Girl

Monday 26 & Friday 30 – Sunday 1, AFS Cinema

Way back in 1983, Nicolas Cage had only one prior film credit in Fast Times at Ridgemont High – as Nicolas Coppola. A bold statement by AFS Cinema, then, that by his first starring role he “had achieved his final form already.” His Cage-ness is undeniable in this engaging Romeo & Juliet tale of a city punk enamored with a Valley girl (Deborah Foreman of Real Genius, April Fool’s Day), but was his final form really achieved four decades ago? See if you agree.   – Kat McNevins

Bike Story Night

Tuesday 27, Yellow Bike Project

Hot on the heels of Bike to Work Day last Friday, Yellow Bike Project invites two-wheeled travelers to share road stories. This nonprofit dedicated to bike education will host several featured storytellers as well as a couple of wild cards, plus a section for “Community Plugs” wherein you’ll learn about various orgs or initiatives in the cycling community. Hop online to get details about group rides to the function with Ghisallo Cycling, starting from Austin City Hall and East Side Pedal Pushers. Four Corners Brewery brings the suds and various donors bring door prizes. Wheels up!   – Kat McNevins

Pop Up Library Stops

Tuesday 27 – Wednesday 28, multiple locations

Amidst the multitudinous resources our local libraries offer in their brick-and-mortars, Austin Public Library also goes on the road! Throughout every month, APL packs up their stuff into a van and drives around town to various places. A visit to one of these mobile van pop-ups gives anyone the opportunity to sign up for a library card, check out books, put in item requests, and even return rented reads. This week’s upcoming stops include Anderson Mill Senior Activity Center (May 27, 11am), Marshalling Yard Emergency Shelter (May 28, 9am), and the Esperanza Community (May 28, 2pm). Head to library.austintexas.gov/events to see future pop-ups in your area.   – James Scott

Switchblade Sisters

Tuesday 27 – Wednesday 28, Alamo South Lamar & Lakeline

Given the dishonor of a double Siskel and Ebert thumbs-down, this Jack Hill-directed exploitation action flick survives thanks to schlock savant Quentin Tarantino re-releasing it on his personal label Rolling Thunder Pictures. All the hallmarks of a foul film make an appearance: prison lesbians; sexual assault as revenge; and the director citing The Fountainhead as an inspiration. However, a seamy scene or two of girl gang violence – or an entire runtime of 91 minutes’ worth – is just the right amount of poison to keep the cinephile mind from getting too respectable. Drafthouse screens the Arrow Video and AGFA restoration as part of their Time Capsule series, currently focused on the year 1975.   – James Scott

AGFADrome Presents Terminating Mystery Movie

Tuesday 27 – Wednesday 28, Alamo South Lamar & Lakeline

Normally mystery movies are, you know, mysterious, but when film preservation freaks the American Genre Film Archive tease “a neon-soaked, cyber-robotic salute to plagiarism, lasers, and crotch violence against men” that hails from Southeast Asia, it’s not hard for fans of a certain 1989 Indonesian supernatural horror starring Barbara Anne Constable to know what they’re implying. Unless this is a grand bait-and-switch, newcomers should brace themselves for high-quality mullets, machine gun massacres, eye lasers, and snakes where snakes shouldn’t be.   – Richard Whittaker

The Edge of Seventeen

Wednesday 28, Hyperreal Film Club

First off, no, this isn’t a Stevie Nicks biopic. But I promise: You won’t be too disappointed. Before Hailee Steinfeld’s fangtastic Sinners turn made audiences long for her to just spit in their mouths already, she tackled a very different metamorphosis: the tricky, volatile transformation from grumpy teendom into semi-functioning adulthood. When Nadine (Steinfeld) finds her annoyingly perfect brother (Blake Jenner) in bed with her best and only friend (a pre-White Lotus Haley Lu Richardson), an already looming nervous breakdown crashes into existence. Add a dash of Kyra Sedgwick as the mother that just doesn’t understand, and a giant heaping of Woody Harrelson’s hip English teacher mentor, and BOOM. You’ve got a perfect coming-of-age flick.   – Cat McCarrey

Yiddish Songs of Resistance with Mazel Tov Kocktail Hour

Wednesday 28, Terrazas Branch Library

“Brothers and sisters in work and in need/ all who are scattered far and wide.” So goes “The Oath,” the official anthem of the General Jewish Labour Bund, one of the first groups to truly recognize the menace of the rising Nazi party and Stalinist authoritarianism. In prewar Europe, Yiddish quickly became the language of resistance, and Austin’s preeminent Klezmer revivalists Mazel Tov Kocktail Hour celebrate that tradition with a night of songs to reinvigorate the spirit of defiance. Now, sing along: “Brider un shvester fun arbet un noyt, Ale vos zaynen tsezeyt un tseshpreyt!”   – Richard Whittaker

American Graffiti

Wednesday 28 – Sunday 1, Doc’s Drive-In

One of the biggest myths in Hollywood is that George Lucas became a big deal with Star Wars. Well, only if you don’t count the massive critical and commercial success of his five-time Oscar-nominated ode to the teenage California car culture in which he grew up, all set to a diegetic soundtrack of the best of early Sixties American pop. Its seemingly aimless anti-structure, set across one night in Modesto, was a precursor to Slacker, and it matches Dazed and Confused for a packed cast of future stars, including Richard Dreyfuss, Harrison Ford, Suzanne Somers, Joe Spano, and Ron Howard in his first major “grownup” role after growing up onscreen in The Andy Griffith Show. But beyond the revving engines and that soundtrack, relayed to the world by legendary DJ Wolfman Jack, it’s Lucas’ most touching eulogy for the dying American dream.   – Richard Whittaker

Art Night

Wednesday 28, Monkeywrench Books

Ah: To create is to live, wouldn’t you say? How about you live it up on North Loop, then, and join lefty hangout Monkeywrench for their weekly art night. Bring your own supplies, or partake of their provided creation collection – including button-making supplies, markers, and collage ephemera – if you’re a little light on materials. Whatever you do, just make something that makes you happy. That’s what this whole life is all about.   – James Scott

2025 Mr/Ms/Mx/Elite Austin Pride Pageant

Wednesday 28, Rain on 4th

Come to think of it, my faithful Chronicle reader, I don’t see a ton of difference between the cutthroat competitions on Toddlers & Tiaras and this year’s Pride pageant. There’ll be wigs, fake tans, and sequins galore; all that’s changed is these haute hopefuls are old enough to buy their own flippers. Wednesday’s competitors vie for one of four titles – the masculine Mr. Pride, the feminine Ms. Pride, the non-binary Mx. Pride, and the over-40 category of Elite. Who will embody this year’s theme of Queer Icon best? You’ll have to attend to find out!   – James Scott

The Garbage Pail Kids Movie

Wednesday 28, Alamo South Lamar

Drafthouse’s Weird Wednesday series invites characters like Barfin’ Barbara, Nat Nerd, and Ali Gator to the screen this week. Eighties kids probably recognize those names from the Garbage Pail trading cards craze that was made into a live-action film. For some reason the grotesque effects and the crude jokes did not go over well with critics? Were they wrong? Only one way to find out. Even if you agree that this isn’t great cinema, you can still find some weird, freaky joy in this bonkers obscurity.   – Blake Leschber

Since We’ve No Place to Go

Through June 1, the Rosette

Bandwagon Arts first set this story on stage back in February, where attendees helped fund this play’s full production through ticket sales. All produced and ready to perform, cast members Chanse Solis, Talya Hammerman, Madison Powell, Bryan Headrick, Amelia Hobson, and Caleb Clemons take on Benajah T. Baskin and Talya Hammerman’s tale of grief, change, and moving on with shows starting this Thursday, May 29. Catch this “unseasonably chilly tragedy” before it blows away with the last bit of nice Austin weather.   – James Scott

Perfect Days

Thursday 29, Hyperreal Film Club

Wim Wenders’ films, through wildly different settings and characters, tend to focus on similar existential questions: How do we deal with loneliness? What does love provide us? How to find joy in a senseless world? But his 2023 character study of a Japanese toilet cleaner seems to posit an answer rather than a question: Hirayama, though spending most of his days alone doing an unglamorous job, seems content finding meaning in being present for the small pleasures of living. It’s an ancient answer owed to Zen Buddhism, but Perfect Days has reinvigorated it for a generation of productivity-obsessed dissociative phone-zombies. If what you seek is a harmonious existence, there may be nothing you can do to achieve it – you might just have to choose to see it.   – Lina Fisher

Popcorn

Thursday 29, Violet Crown Cinema

As pop culture historian Joe Bob Briggs sagely proclaimed, the drive-in will never die – and neither will the late-night horror host. So it’s time to welcome High Priestess of Horror, Roxy Midnite, back from the crypt as the Roxy Horror Picture Show comes to its new home at the Violent Crown. Grab your popcorn as she unreels Mark Herrier’s 1991 tribute to the work of exploitation pioneer William G. Castle. You know, the guy that put buzzers under seats and flew ghosts around the theatre? Now, imagine if those stunts were a real killer…   – Richard Whittaker

ATX TV Festival

Thursday 29 – Sunday 1, multiple locations

As the small screen continues to get bigger and bigger, the ATX TV Festival keeps its finger on the pulse with its 14th fest. The weekend-long event brings premiere screenings, cast reunions, informative panels, and more so you can learn all about your favorite TV moments. Highlights include a chat with late-night host Seth Meyers, Brett Goldstein taking about writing for Shrinking, a reunion of The Leftovers cast and creators, and much more.   – Blake Leschber

No Idea Festival Vernacular Residency with Ken Vandermark & Mabel Kwan

Thursday 29 – Friday 30, Monks Jazz

Anchored by Chicago saxophonist Ken Vandermark and Austin native Mabel Kwan, Chris Cogburn’s No Idea Festival emerges from the shadows with the Vernacular Residency. Night one features a film screening of Vandermark doc Musician, a Vandermark/Kwan duo set, and a panel discussion. Night two includes a Vandermark master class, the Mabel Kwan/Juan García duo, the saxophonist’s Texas Ensemble (with various Young Mothers and former Sons of Hercules drummer Kory Cook), and a set of music by founding AACM member Fred Anderson and Dallas avant trumpet pioneer Dennis González, whose son Stefan co-leads the band with Vandermark. Heaven for musical improv junkies.   – Michael Toland

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Want to see all of our listings broken down by day? Go to austinchronicle.com/calendar and see what’s happening now or in the coming week.