Ooooh, Witchy Woman

Love, evolution, isolation and talking cats in Kiki’s Delivery Service

Though most anime fans will likely cite the flashier Spirited Away or the bucolic My Neighbor Totoro as pinnacle moments in famed Studio Ghibli auteur Hayao Miyazaki’s illustrious career, 1989′s Kiki’s Delivery Service feels like a cheat sheet primer for the European aesthetic meets Japanese culture thing for which the filmmaker has become so well-known.

The tale of a young witch who, like all other witches in her universe, must strike out on her own upon turning 13, Kiki’s Delivery Service cuts deep into concepts of loneliness, coming of age, community and growth. Like most Miyazaki films, a young heroine must adapt to new environs when she is perhaps too young. But whereas the Disney filmic model often boils down to its leads waiting for some dude to come along and become the answer to literally everything, Miyazaki here showcases a young woman’s resolute trudge toward capability through the lens of isolation. Like his other films, the principal character is allowed to summon strength from within, grappling with various stakes and situations and working them out at her own pace. It’s the sort of thing that might read as slow for those more accustomed to flashing lights and endless peril, but which becomes endlessly satisfying for anyone who can recall being 13—when most everything felt like life and death, small though the issues may have been.

Studio Ghibli films often wend their way back to theaters these days, though Kiki’s perhaps not as often. Kudos to Violet Crown, too, for offering both subbed and dubbed versions of the film this week; not everyone loves subtitles, sure, but casting the late, great comic Phil Hartman as Kiki’s talking cat Jiji in the English language version still feels bizarre. In other words? Try to catch it in the original Japanese if your kids can hang. (Alex De Vore)

Kiki’s Delivery Service: 4 pm Sunday, June 11 (dubbed version) and 7 pm Monday, June 12 (subtitled version). $15. Violet Crown Cinema, 1606 Alcaldesa St., (505) 216-5678

Kardemember It

Forget everything you think you know about the kantele. Naw, just kidding—most of us are likely just hearing about the Finnish national instrument right this second, but our lives, we hear, will change for the better because of it. While you’re becoming aware of things, meet Kardemimmit, a Finnish four-piece with members who’ve all become masters of the -zither-esque stringed kantele. Word is, Anna Wegelius, Leeni Wegelius, Jutta Rahmel and Maija Pokela have seamlessly merged Finnish tradition with Eastern European style, culling Baltic method with improvisational acumen and an almost ancient sea of sounds from which to pull. Expect oodles of kanteles on stage; expect to broaden those horizons. (ADV)

Kardemimmit: 7:30 pm Saturday, June 10. $25-$30. San Miguel Mission, 401 Old Santa Fe Trail, ampconcerts.org

Video Liberation

All hail Video Library’s Lisa Harris—that stalwart proprietor of the oldest video rental joint in the USA (second oldest on Earth), the Video Library! Longtime members of the Vid Lib surely know Harris as an encyclopedia of cinematic knowledge, and the biz itself has become a wealth of hard or nigh-impossible-to-find delights ready to take home and change lives. For Harris’ next trick, she’s partnered with the Jean Cocteau Cinema for an ongoing series of screenings dubbed Video Library Club. Each Monday, Harris selects a film from her staggering collection to pop on the big screen for your viewing pleasure. Recent events have included Galaxy Quest, Chinatown and Suspiria. What might the future hold? You’ll have to head to the JCC come Monday and find out. (ADV)

Video Library Club: Tk time Monday, June 12. Free. Jean Cocteau Cinema, 418 Montezuma Ave. (505) 466-5528

Thai One On

As yet another SFR reader reaches out to SFR’s food writer(s) to ask about scoring a good Thai meal in Santa Fe, notable local chef and writer Johnny Vee prepares for his upcoming Spring & Summer Thai cooking class at Las Cosas Kitchen Shoppe. Even those who aren’t intimately familiar with Vee’s food and classes, take note—dude’s the real deal and offering up three hours of Thai cooking wisdom at this thing. Should you attend, you’ll learn to prepare Thai-style lettuce cups, deviled eggs, fish cakes with sauce and, delectably, grilled beef; plus shrimp served with coconut milk and, perhaps the most enticing of all, black sticky rice with pineapple ice cream. Vee’s class is a real hands-on affair, the kind of education you can take home and with which you can forever serve up something sumptuous. (ADV)

Spring & Summer Thai Cooking Class: 6-9 pm Tuesday, June 13. $99. Las Cosas Kitchen Shoppe, 181 Paseo de Peralta (DeVaras Center), (505) 988-3394