Bookgroup Discussion: Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto

Thursday 2, Bookwoman

Her pen name chosen as a tribute to banana flowers, its androgyny and “cute” factor isn’t lost on Banana Yoshimoto. While personally I’ve only dug into her short stories, Bookwoman’s monthly discussion group tackles the Japanese author’s 1988 novella, written during her time as a waitress. That background features heavily, as the book follows one Mikage Sakurai as she navigates through love, loss, and food. Though the novella receives acclaim for Yoshimoto’s grounded storytelling, her introduction of a trans woman character stands as particularly progressive given the precarious place transgender people occupy in Japan. Whether or not the presentation is “good” representation given the character’s ultimate fate – no spoilers! – is up to y’all at the book group to discuss.   – James Scott

Once Upon a Time in the West

Friday 3 & Sunday 5, AFS Cinema

Sergio Leone became king of the spaghetti Western by casting handsome Americans in top-notch Italian oaters with a sleazy twist. But 1968’s Once Upon a Time in the West was different, a morbid epic of gunslingers and vengeance that takes its time to remind you that the frontier was hell. With both America’s eternal hero, Henry Fonda, and the pugnacious Charles Bronson playing against type, it was Leone’s ultimate statement on the vile, vile West, and the movie that changed him from a B-movie master to a true legend of cinema.   – Richard Whittaker

Quackin’ Jokes

Friday 3, Captain Quackenbush’s SoundSpace

You’ve got a lotta options when deciding how to spend your laughs around town, but why not lay down those guffaws where you can also get a really good cupcake? Hosted by Katie Felton & Austen Silver in the stage space attached to the South Austin bakery, you can enjoy local funny folks while also munching Quack’s gustatory delights. Sweetening the deal is Soundspace’s bitty bar, where spirited sips help lubricate your laugh muscles. What a loverly way to see the new year start!   – James Scott

Y’all We Asian: MeditAsian

Friday 3, Fallout Theater

Move over David Lynch: There’s a new megaforce in the meditation space. Austin and Texas’ first and foremost all-Asian improv troupe achieves enlightenment – or at least something like that – in their focused funny show. While they can promise laughs and world-class improv antics, the comedic crew containing Attiya Ali, Nick Fung, Sunny Huang, Jane Lee, G-Su Paek, Ananya Roy, Virgil Shelby, Norman Tran, Mary Vo, Uday Waghmere, and Kish Yu adds a very, very important caveat to their show description: “Inner peace not guaranteed.”   – James Scott

The New Year’s 5K Relay & Kids’ Mile

Saturday 4, Pease Park

I cannot pretend I understand the runner’s mindset, though working with one – aka News Editor Maggie Quinlan – has made me sympathetic to y’all’s particular speedy sickness. Go ahead and treat these urges within by participating in this, as the organizers call it, “quintessentially Austin race.” Adults can get into teams of three for a relay that stretches over the Shoal Creek Trail, while kids can join either a 1-mile elementary jaunt, a 500-meter run for the pre-K set, or a wee 25-meter toddler trot. Registration fees – $10-105 depending on the race and date you register – all go toward funding the David Phillips Foundation’s free afterschool physical recreation programming.   – James Scott

Bronco Pard’ner Dance

Saturday 4, Sagebrush

This is Texas, but there’s still no need to “hold ’em” as Beyoncé once sang. Put your cards on the table at Country Fried Dance’s paired dancing lessons, where you and a cutie can boot-scoot the night away. For the low, low price of $10 cash, Austin’s queers can steer ’emselves with fancy footwork taught by experts and tunes spun by Neon Rainbows DJ Boi Orbison. Yeehaw; ride ’em cowpoke; peas-in-a-can pie; you know – Tex-ass-style business!   – James Scott

Pulsing Cinema: Confessions of a Serial Killer

Saturday 4, We Luv Video

Bastardized. Abandoned. Mutilated. The second-greatest horror film ever made in Austin (after, of course, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre) barely saw a release after it was made in the fetid, sweaty summer of 1985. But with a new restoration, the film’s finally getting the appreciation it deserves for its brutal, devastatingly honest depiction of a lightly fictionalized version of true-life serial killer Henry Lee Lucas. Few performances are as searingly chilling as that of Chain Saw art director Bob Burns as the eponymous serial killer.   – Richard Whittaker

Persona (1966)

Saturday 4 & Monday 6, Alamo Village and South Lamar

Fifty-eight years on, and cinema can’t let go of Persona. Ingmar Bergman’s psychological thriller on identity remains elemental to every genre, including this year’s oozing addition The Substance. Bibi Andersson plays nurse to a catatonic actress (Bergman frequent Liv Ullmann), whom she travels with to a secluded second location for ye olde rest & relaxation. Instead of a speechless cure, the two find themselves melding in unexpected ways until separation of self becomes near impossible. This week’s screening of the film comes courtesy of Bergman stan Pedro Almodóvar, whose first English-language film sits beside it on the schedule: The Room Next Door, whose star Tilda Swinton co-signed the reco.   – James Scott

Slide in the DMs

Saturday 4, Fallout Theater

She goes by many titles, but perhaps none fit so well in the context of this comedy show as Best of Austin nominee and Slide host Angelina Martin’s self-description as the “hot jock of Austin comedy.” Martin utilizes her jockular style to lead a hilarious monologuer-centric show where local stand-ups reveal their most embarrassing DMs – both incoming and outgoing – as fodder for improvised skits. Whether you’ve been the one shooting your shot or the one trying to fend off suitors, there’s a little cringe for everyone to chuckle at in this show.   – James Scott

Mad Max: Fury Road

Saturday 4 – Sunday 5, Alamo Slaughter Lane, Lakeline, and Mueller

Last year’s – god, 2024 is last year already – addition to the Mad Max canon proved itself worthy with stellar performances from Chris Hemsworth in his first Australian picture as well as steely queen Anya Taylor-Joy as the titular Furiosa. Yet it made a fatal mistake! The credits play out over footage from its predecessor, whose bombastic action and colorful splash only served to remind the audience that, oh yeah, this isn’t as good as Fury Road. Unfair comparison I’d say, so let 2015’s George Miller masterpiece stand away from its prequel – just as insane as you remember it.   – James Scott

A Clockwork Orange

Sunday 5 – Tuesday 7, Alamo Lakeline, Mueller, Slaughter Lane, Village

They say this cine be too much for your poogly Baboochka, that they send the rozz-van and make you all purple-wurple with their shlaga. But she’ll find radosty and smeck you on the goober, guffing at this tale of the uilraviolence and the old in-out, in-out. Was Kubrick right, that it privodeet to you become a little prestoopnik? Yarbles, I says.   – Richard Whittaker

BIPOC Improv Jam

Sunday 5, Hideout Theatre

Cringe is for everyone, which is why it’s important to make improv comedy inclusive. Congress’ best coffee/comedy house opens its doors to all those within the BIPOC community for this “safe space for people of color to engage and embrace improv.” All experience levels may join, from the longtime Herald team member to the office worker looking to up their small-talk game. Whatever you’re looking for in the often-cringey but always-fun world of improv, Hideout’s sure to have it for you here.   – James Scott

Sarah Silverman: Postmortem

Sunday 5, ACL Live at the Moody Theater

As someone who recently lost my mom, I was intrigued by the title of this new show by an old favorite. As someone who loves to laugh, I’m dying for a way to find death funny. Norm MacDonald did it best in my opinion, but his frequent colleague Sarah Silverman is certainly up to the task as someone who never shies from tough topics (bedwetting, racism, the Holocaust). In 2023, she lost both parents, with mom Janice dying from pancreatic cancer (just like mine), followed two weeks later by her dad, Donald. No pressure or anything, but my very laughs depend on finding a way to make that hilarious! I think she can do it.   – Kat McNevins

80s Nite: David Bowie Edition!

Sunday 5, Elysium

The longstanding tradition of sweating it out on the dance floor to a mix of Eighties classics and deeper (often darker) cuts continues at Austin’s premier goth destination. No need to go heavy on the mascara to fit in though, as all synth-lovers and safety-dancers are welcome. However, you might want to keep the face paint close as this specific Sunday celebrates the Thin White Duke/Ziggy Stardust/Aladdin Sane with a focus on his hits. If you’re not ready to go crazy when “Let’s Dance” drops, then you might as well stay home.   – James Renovitch

Satanic Community January Social

Sunday 5, Mister Tramps Sports Pub

Recall, if you will, the letter we received after the last Satanic Temple social I wrote up for our Calendar. Upset feelings from our Christian readers aside – though that’s really only a small slice of y’all, and an even smaller slice of those folks who even feel the need to write about how any support of the Satanic Temple implies I am “vulnerable or dark” – the group still exists and deserves to have their events listed like everyone else. This month’s meetup emphasizes leaning on community, with a panel held to discuss the topic as well as a social hour afterward. Bring your open mind and compassion, and leave the horns at home.   – James Scott

Mirror

Sunday 5, Alamo South Lamar

For his adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s award-winning novel, Nickel Boys, director RaMell Ross was influenced by Andrei Tarkovsky’s Mirror. After all, its cinematic language of nonlinear time resonates with the back-and-forth nature of Whitehead’s tale of lingering childhood trauma. Yet Tarkovsky went further in the fractured dream-logic of this auto/biography – a memoir of sorts for the filmmaker and also a history of the Soviet Union – that Ross has chosen as part of the Alamo’s Guest Selects series.   – Richard Whittaker

Sustainable Sculpting Workshop: Cow vs. Dalmatian

Sunday 5, Austin Creative Reuse

Animals who come out in natural monochrome are among our cutest, and our resourceful friends at Austin Creative Reuse acknowledge this fact. They also acknowledge that while all those trinkets you received over the holiday season might be nice, the best gifts are the ones you make yourself – and for yourself! Choose between making a cute cow or a delightful dalmatian dog using polymer clay and everyday objects at this beginner-friendly lesson. ACR promises you’ll leave with not only new sculpting skills and thoughtful sustainability basics but also a treasure that once baked will be around for years and years and years.   – James Scott

Speed Racer

Sunday 5 – Monday 6, Alamo Mueller, Slaughter Lane, and Lakeline

In 1996, Speed Racer changed the world – by endorsing a Volkswagen. With a commercial running where the titular driver gave his iconic thumbs-up to the German automaker’s newest GTI model, Speed Racer was the first animated action figure to hawk a vehicle, making way for later icons such as the Kia Soul hamsters. Such a trailblazer was young Speed, whose anime was the medium’s first big stomp onto American soil with its simultaneous airing in Japan and the U.S. during the late Sixties. Then his series changed the game again when the Wachowski Sisters and producer Joel Silver took over the long-gestating film adaptation and created a candy-colored portent of blockbusters to come. It’s incredible sincerity and heart, however, has yet to be replicated.   – James Scott

Walking Shadow Shakespeare Presents Hamlet

Through January 21, Sterling Stage Austin

To see or not to see… honestly, it’s not even a question. Whether ’tis nobler of the viewer to select a standard seat, or to take up thy courage and immerse oneself in an onstage table. To dine with characters, or even to take up arms with bit parts during the show. To watch, to play; aye, there’s the rub. For in this tale of woe, revenge, and heartache, what inspirations might come may spur the heart and set the mind to thinking. Oh, ’tis a result dearly to be wished!   – Cat McCarrey

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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.