‘Museum Hours,’ directed by Jem Cohen, coming to L.A. in August

“Museum Hours,” the latest feature by Jem Cohen, has already impressed critics on the film festival circuit and in New York, and is now set to come to Los Angeles. The ultra-indie movie about a friendship between a tourist and a guard at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna is scheduled open Aug. 16.

The official website for “Museum Hours” says the movie will open at the Laemmle Royal, which is in West L.A., but the theater’s site doesn’t list the title.

In the movie, a foreign visitor (Mary Margaret O’Hara) develops a friendship with a security guard (Bobby Sommer) at the historic Vienna art museum. The two strike up a conversation that includes discussion about art -- the works of Flemish Renaissance painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder figure prominently -- and the ups and downs of life.

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Cohen is a filmmaker whose experimental works include documentaries, short films and music videos. His 2004 feature “Chain” told the story of a Japanese businesswoman and an American transient set against anonymous suburban mall-scapes and business parks. The director also shot some of the striking sky footage in Michael Almereyda’s 2000 movie “Hamlet,” with Ethan Hawke.

Here’s the trailer of “Museum Hours.” In 2011, the Los Angeles Times interviewed security guards who worked at the some of the largest museums in L.A: the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

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