While plenty of Miami theaters are still running Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” at full sail, many other cinematic options are available this month for those who have completed their journey back to Ithaca. This month’s selections include repertory classics, experimental Caribbean short films, local interest documentaries, and a Miami-made Florida tale. Here are the best movies to see in Miami this August:

Lebanon’s official submission to the 2025 Oscars is a sweeping saga of love and loss in a war-torn country. Director Cyril Aris drew on his own coming of age in Lebanon to tell the story of a couple driven to extremes amid constant invasions and external conflict. Given the current state of affairs in the country amid renewed Israeli strikes, “A Sad and Beautiful World” serves as an unfortunately timely reminder that war is far from abstract for those who live in the Middle East. Through Thursday, August 20, at Coral Gables Art Cinema, 260 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables; 786-472-2249; gablescinema.com. Tickets cost $10 to $11.75.

Willem Dafoe and Greta Lee star in this funny and touching comedy set in contemporary New York, directed by filmmaker and critic Kent Jones. 

Our Take: Manhattan postal worker Ed Saxberger (Dafoe), a survivor of an earlier, grittier era of New York cultural life, thinks he’s suddenly been rediscovered when a troupe of younger, wannabe-Bohemians invites him into the clique. But between the authenticity of Ed’s lived experience, the barely-concealed poshness of his dorky, Dimes Square-esque friends, and the actual charisma of their muse, self-proclaimed actress Gloria (Lee), the entire situation seems like a fatal mismatch. Carried by the empathy of Dafoe’s great lead performance, “Late Fame” is a charming, wistful meditation on being an artist in a place as unforgiving and ever-changing as New York. Friday, August 21, through Thursday, August 27, at Coral Gables Art Cinema, 260 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables; 786-472-2249; gablescinema.com. Tickets cost $10 to $11.75.

Following last month’s Peruvian cinema showcase, we’re moving further down the Andes with a film from Bolivia. Alberto Sciamma’s magical-realist adventure “Cielo” follows a young girl as she treks across the Altiplano, having strange encounters as she makes a personal journey to a heavenly realm. O Cinema’s Sunday morning screening of the film, part of its “Awake and Aware” series, features a post-film discussion and an optional brunch for those interested in waking up and heading straight to the movies. 11 a.m. Saturday, August 22, at O Cinema South Beach, 1130 Washington Ave. #200, Miami Beach; 786-471-3269; o-cinema.org. Tickets cost $15 to $30 via o-cinema.org.

Tied in with the sports-themed art show “Get in the Game: Sports, Art, Culture,” the Pérez Art Museum Miami is teaming up with AV Club to host a 16mm double feature. “Overtime” will start with director Billy Jackson’s 1989 documentary short film “Didn’t We Ramble On,” which examines African musical influences on marching bands and is narrated by legendary jazz musician Dizzy Gillespie. That’s followed by the full-length 1989 fiction film “Twice as Nice,” following two female college basketball players trying to find success in the difficult pre-WNBA landscape. The movie is the second and final feature from director Jessie Maple, a pioneering Black woman in film. A panel discussion featuring University of Miami professor Dr. Terri Francis and artist Bernardo Wade will follow the screening. 2 p.m. Saturday, August 22, at Pérez Art Museum Miami, 1103 Biscayne Blvd., Miami; 305-375-3000; pamm.org. Admission is free with RSVP via pamm.org.

Coral Gables Art Cinema’s After Hours series hosts a classic yakuza flick that inspired Quentin Tarantino.

Our Take: Japanese director Seijun Suzuki famously declared that he made “films that make no sense and make no money.” The cult filmmaker certainly sells himself short with this self-assessment: Suzuki’s filmography ranges from lurid dramas following postwar sex workers (“Gate of Flesh”) to historical biopics of famous Japanese artists (“Yumeji”), all imbued with incredible stylishness and a bold eye for color. His yakuza films are undoubtedly his most famous works and the apex of his style-over-substance approach. “Tokyo Drifter,” one of the most well-known thanks to its influence on Tarantino’s “Kill Bill,” cribs from American cowboy westerns to tell a story of gangland vengeance, following notorious hitman Tetsu (Tetsuya Watari) as he attempts to mete out justice against a rival clan. The plot is…not straightforward, but the visuals are outstanding, replete with vivid set design and costuming, and other avant-garde gestures. Skillfully blending genre trappings with wild style, “Tokyo Drifter” is a triumph of pop filmmaking at its weirdest and most wonderful. 10 p.m. Saturday, August 22, at Coral Gables Art Cinema, 260 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables; 786-472-2249; gablescinema.com. Tickets cost $10 to $11.75.

If you’re a fan of Florida-centric crime capers like “Spring Breakers” and “Zola,” this low-budget, high-intensity indie might be worth your while. “Jit” follows a pair of brothers fresh out of jail with one aspiration: Get the fuck out of Florida. Their plans are put on hold when one of them disappears – could the menacing boomers lurking in a nearby trailer park be responsible? Co-director Jorge Rodriguez will stay for a Q&A following the screening. 6:15 p.m. Saturday, August 29, at O Cinema South Beach, 1130 Washington Ave. #200, Miami Beach; 786-471-3269; o-cinema.org. Tickets cost $10 to $12.50.

Widely considered one of the greatest films of all time, Terrence Malick’s 1978 classic “Days of Heaven” is screening at Coral Gables Art Cinema on Sunday, August 2. 

Our Take: Set on a Texas wheat farm where secrets outnumber amber waves of grain, the film tells of a love triangle between two lovers, a factory worker on the run, his girlfriend who pretends to be his sister, and the farm’s illness-stricken proprietor who rules the land from a Victorian mansion that feels more like a European manor. Their lives all come to ruin in the film’s unforgettable climax, a natural disaster that resembles a biblical plague in its dramatic impact and devastating consequences. A number of Hollywood legends would be defined by “Days of Heaven” — it was Richard Gere’s debut as a leading man while Sam Shepard (the farmer) would go on to star in “The Right Stuff” and co-write “Paris, Texas” for Wim Wenders. And then there was Malick, whose mythical status was so solid that he was able to take a 20-year break from directing, eventually returning with “The Thin Red Line” in 1998. Even if he had never made another film after this, “Days of Heaven” would have still secured his status as one of American cinema’s most distinctive auteurs. The film marks a coalescence of a number of trends that defined New Hollywood and the cinema of the 1970s: It’s a revisionist western like “Heaven’s Gate” and “McCabe and Ms. Miller,” a period film incorporating labor politics like “Reds,” and its pastoral aesthetic, location shooting, and use of natural light in its cinematography makes it a peer of “Barry Lyndon,” “Picnic at Hanging Rock,” and even “The Godfather.” But no other film really feels like “Days of Heaven,” a movie that’s more like a dream or a faded memory. Noon Sunday, August 2, at Coral Gables Art Cinema, 260 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables; 786-472-2249; gablescinema.com. Tickets cost $10 to $11.75. 

It’s certainly valid to feel a bit squeamish about the ongoing commodification of Anthony Bourdain. Since the chef, writer, TV host, and legendary traveler died by suicide in 2018, his life story has been told in unauthorized biographies, a documentary that used AI to generate his voice, and, now, a fictionalized biopic adapting one segment of his famous memoir “Kitchen Confidential.” However, there is reason to believe that A24’s new film “Tony” isn’t some cash-grab destined to tarnish the man’s legacy. The director is Matt Johnson, of “Nirvanna the Band the Show” fame, who managed to make a movie about the founding of BlackBerry entertaining. The cast features the likes of Antonio Banderas, lauded comedian Stavros Halkias, and “The Leftovers” breakout Dominic Sessa as a young Bourdain spending a formative summer working at a greasy spoon in Provincetown on Cape Cod. Thankfully, you won’t have to wait very long to get a taste of “Tony”: Miami Film Festival’s CineClub membership program is hosting a free preview screening on Monday, August 3, two weeks before it goes national on August 21. 7:30 p.m. Monday, August 3, at AMC Aventura 24, 19501 Biscayne Blvd. #3001, Aventura. Admission is free with membership via miamifilmfestival.com. 

Before Miami’s iconic Freedom Tower became the city’s own Ellis Island in the years following the Cuban Revolution, it was the headquarters for the city’s other daily newspaper, The Miami News. In fact, the historical landmark was built by the newspaper, which operated out of the building until 1966, when it moved in with the Miami Herald. When the News finally closed in 1988, it printed its own obituary in the final issue. Now, years later, the paper is returning to its former home for one night only as the Museum of Art and Design at Miami Dade College hosts a free screening of “The Last Days of the Miami News,” a documentary shot during the final weeks of the paper’s operation and a time capsule of journalism in the pre-digital era. AV Club founder Katherine Labuda will host the screening and a Q&A with director Mel Kiser. Fans of journalism and local history (presumably, if you’re even reading this, that means you!) will not want to miss this. 6:30 p.m. Thursday, August 6, at the Freedom Tower, 600 Biscayne Blvd., Miami; 305-237-7700; moadmdc.org. Admission is free with RSVP via eventbrite.com. 

Third Horizon Film Festival is sadly taking the year off in 2026, but that hasn’t stopped it from screening high-quality Caribbean cinema in Miami. To that end, it’s collaborating with the Pérez Art Museum Miami’s Caribbean Cultural Institute on a combination screening and workshop hosted by filmmaker Samuel Suffren. The director will discuss his creative practice, which draws on Haitian art and culture, before screening a trio of short films blending fiction and documentary. Those interested in the filmmaking process, the Haitian immigrant experience, or both, will enjoy this engaging event. 3 p.m. Thursday, August 13, at Pérez Art Museum Miami, 1103 Biscayne Blvd., Miami; 305-375-3000; pamm.org. Admission is free with RSVP at pamm.org.