*recommended
THE ADVENTURES OF FELIX
France, 2000. Directors: Olivier Ducastel, Jacques Martineau
Sat., June 2, 6:30 p.m., Harvard Exit Mon., June 11, 7:15 p.m., Pacific Place SIFF SEZ From the makers of Jeanne and the Perfect Guy comes the droll story of a gay man who decides to walk the length of France from Dieppe, in the north, to Marseilles, where he hopes to meet the father he never knew. During a series of strange and comic yet poignant vignettes, Felix creates an imaginary family from a host of colorful characters.
*ALI ZAOUA
Morocco, 2000. Director: Nabil Ayouch
Cast: Sa鸞Taghmaoui
Sun., May 27, 9:30 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
Mon., May 28, 4:00 p.m., Harvard Exit
This is why we have film festivals. You take an unheralded little movie from Morocco, cast it with real street kids out of Los Olvidados, kill the most sympathetic character five minutes in, add some whimsical animation sequences, and you’ve got what may prove to be the best picture at SIFF this year. Among the filthy, feral, glue-sniffing waifs near Casablanca’s harbor, three children try to give their deceased pal a decent funeral. “We won’t let him be buried like shit!” they resolve, yet they lack the money. Worse, the freaky deaf-mute leader of their old gang could beat and sodomize them at any moment. Then they have to tell their dead friend’s mother the bad news—but she’s a hooker in a disapproving Islamic society. Too much pathos, you ask? Maybe, but you might be a preteen glue-sniffer, too, facing the real-life poverty that inspired Ali‘s script. Not to be missed. Brian Miller
ALL OVER THE GUY
U.S.A., 2001. Director: Julie Davis
Fri., May 25, 7:15 p.m., Egyptian
Sun., May 27, 1:45 p.m., Pacific Place
SIFF SEZ A contemporary romantic comedy, All Over explores the universal saga of searching for the love of one’s life. When two gay 20-somethings are thrown together in an unlikely pairing by their straight friends, they do everything NOT to fall in love. Can these endearing guys overcome all obstacles and surrender to their hearts? (See Amy’s Orgasm.)
AMERICAN ASTRONAUT
U.S.A., 2001. Director: Cory McAbee
Thurs., June 7, 9:30 p.m., Harvard Exit
Fri., June 1, 10:00 p.m.,Valley Drive-In
We’re so desperate to stamp out the derivative that too many points are given for pushing envelopes—not for actually tearing them open. Maverick visions are rarely regarded as both original AND entirely awful. This film unabashedly is. Astronaut delivers an onslaught of surreal images and ideas that momentarily ensnares the senses, only to flitter away seconds later, forever lost. The title character (director McAbee) is a mutton-chopped smuggler who trades phone sex tapes bound for Mars—populated entirely by male virgins—but has compunctions about delivering a naive Adonis to a legion of sex-starved, man-eating babes on Venus. This could be done with levity and irony, considering the intentional C-movie/Ed Wood vibe, but McAbee’s yen for incessant repetition and inability to invent a single funny or unique setting make this a low-budget catastrophe proportional to Hollywood’s most inept dreck. Andrew Bonazelli
AMY’S ORGASM
U.S.A., 2000. Director: Julie Davis
Sat., May 26, 6:30 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
Sun., May 27, 4:00 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
SIFF SEZ A smart, funny romp through the perils of modern relationships, Amy’s Orgasm follows a 29-year-old, Ivy League-educated, self-help author as she grudgingly falls for a sexy shock-jock radio host with a reputation for hitting on his bimbo guests. This second feature film from director, writer, producer, editor, and actor Julie Davis deservedly won the Santa Barbara International Film Festival Audience Choice Award.(See All Over the Guy.)
*ANGELS OF THE UNIVERSE
Iceland, 2000. Director: Fridrik Th�ridriksson
Sat., June 2, 9:30 p.m., Harvard Exit
Mon., June 4, 9:30 p.m., Pacific Place
How much depression can you stand? Think you’re tough? Think you can take 97 unrelenting minutes of one man’s irrevocable descent into schizophrenia? C’mon—you like Bergman, dontcha? An unrelenting study of mental illness, Angels is like One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest without Jack Nicholson or Girl, Interrupted without Angelina Jolie. Rendered in stark primary colors from what looks like the ’70s onward, the film simply follows poor Paul’s downward trajectory as he frightens his well-meaning family and makes a few friends in the asylum to which he’s periodically committed. He narrates his sad tale in the past tense (how far past we ultimately learn), blaming “the merciless onslaught of reality” for his condition. Still, Cold Fever director Fridriksson refuses to sensationalize or overdramatize the demons behind Paul’s perpetually furrowed brow. It’s a bummer, but Angel is also fascinating to watch. B.R.M.
*ANIMAL
Argentina, 2000. Director: Sergio Bizzio
Wed., June 13, 7:15 p.m., Pacific Place
Thurs., June 14, 2:30 p.m., Pacific Place
Not to be confused with the forthcoming Rob Schneider vehicle, Animal actually shares a theme with that summer comedy—bestiality, not implied but realized. Idle, rich, middle-aged ranch owner Alberto isn’t obviously dissatisfied with his wife and life until he spies Fanny (as he comes to call her), who is one good-looking ewe! Don’t fear that their affair is graphic—it isn’t—or that Animal is really about sex. Instead, it’s a black comedy about doomed passion with lots of little Bu� touches, grace notes of droll depravity set against an inanely sunny, cheerful backdrop. “I feel great, full of energy!” Alberto exults after consummation, although he’s soon required to defend his forbidden love by murderous means. In essence, Animal is a retelling of Lolita, not so polished or literary, but pretty damn funny for all its wooly imperfections. World premiere. B.R.M.
ANITA TAKES A CHANCE
Spain, 2000. Director: Ventura Pons
Fri., June 1, 7:15 p.m., Harvard Exit
Mon., June 4, 5:00 p.m., Harvard Exit
A woman of a certain age who’s spent 34 very contented years as a ticket taker at a local movie house is devastated when she is fired and her workplace demolished—both the victim of younger, fresher faces. By force of habit, as well as lack of anything better to do, Anita returns daily to the old site where a new theater is being constructed, and her ritualistic visits become increasingly more involved—eventually leading to an affair with one of the workers. Whether or not you enjoy this movie depends heavily on how you feel about Rosa Maria Sardଠwho seems to subscribe to the old silent-era acting school of pantomiming the majority of her lines. Anita also indulges in that particular kind of willful quirkiness most successfully used by Almod�. That, too, is an acquired taste. Leah Greenblatt
THE ANNIVERSARY PARTY
U.S.A., 2001. Directors: Alan Cumming, Jennifer Jason Leigh
Cast: Alan Cumming, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jennifer Beals, Parker Posey, Phoebe Cates, Kevin Kline
Thurs., May 24, 7:30 p.m., 5th Avenue Theatre
Those shelling out the big bucks for SIFF’s opening night gala will certainly get their money’s worth where acting talent is concerned. The ensemble cast provides plenty of laughs, groans, and moments of recognition, with the showbiz fete for a fragile couple (Cumming and Leigh) serving as a pretext for the melodramatics. Elements of both The Big Chill and soap operas—bad marriages, career pressures, unwanted children, secret abortions, near-fatal accidents, adulterous longings, lost dogs—receive a millennial twist: Everyone takes ecstasy about 90 minutes into Party (just when you’re looking at your watch). Full of capital-T thespianism, it’s a flick that will resonate with Gen-Xers uneasily assuming—or shirking—adult responsibilities. Party feels improvised, like an acting workshop, which provides several nice scenes. Leigh’s her usual glum self; Cumming does his fey-volatile shtick; Posey’s underutilized (although briefly topless); Kline’s fine; but the big surprise is Cates, who’s the best thing about the movie. U.S. premiere. B.R.M.
THE ATTIC EXPEDITIONS
U.S.A., 2000. Director: Jeremy Kasten
Cast: Stephen Donovan, Seth Green
Thurs., June 14, 9:30 p.m., Harvard Exit
Sat., June 16, 4:00 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
SIFF SEZ A talented cast rocks in this twisted psychological thriller. Awakening from a coma, poor Trevor is haunted by images of an occult tome and a dark ritual. As he convalesces in a weird halfway house for recovering psychotics, his fellow residents start turning up dead and Trevor becomes the prime suspect. The question is: What’s real and what’s hallucination in this life-or-death, sane-or-crazy puzzle? U.S. premiere.
BAISE-MOI (RAPE ME)
France, 2000. Director: Virginie Despentes Coralie
Wed., June 13, 9:30 p.m., Egyptian
Sat., June 16, 12:00 a.m., Egyptian
A more existential Thelma & Louise made as cruddy-looking hardcore, Baise-Moi has its two porn-star heroines, Manu and Nadine, engage in a mad rondo of senseless fucking and sucking and robbing and killing—all the while criticizing their own lack of imagination. Scarcely the worst film at last fall’s Toronto film fest, Baise-Moi at least reproaches the coyness of most contemporary movies dealing with women’s angry sexuality. Shot on digital video, the film was actually banned in free-lovin’ France, where the two lead actresses work in the adult film industry. J. Hoberman
BANG RAJAN
Thailand, 2001. Director: Thanit Jiynukul
Sat., June 9, 9:30 p.m., Pacific Place
Mon., June 11, 12:00 p.m., Cinerama
SIFF SEZ The epic recounting of a famous Thai battle against Burmese invaders, analogous to our Remember the Alamo, with vastly outnumbered villagers standing up again and again to repeated assaults. Winner of more than half of the Tukkata Thong awards (the Thai Oscar equivalent) and one of Thailand’s highest-grossing films, Bang Rajan combines visual grandeur and exhilarating scenes of heroism. U.S. premiere.
BANGKOK: DANGEROUS
Thailand, 2000. Directors: Oxide Pang, Danny Pang
Sat., June 16, 4:00 p.m., Egyptian
Wed., June 13, 9:30 p.m., Cinerama
SIFF SEZ Honor, love, and redemption are the themes that fire up this Hong Kong-inspired gangster movie. A hit man who has been mute since childhood, Kong roams the gritty streets of Bangkok carrying out assassinations with cool efficiency. Then he meets a beautiful pharmacy assistant, whose promise of decency and hope inspires him to quit the business, making him a marked man. Pulsing with gorgeous visual bravado, Bangkok honors yet transcends the conventions of the gangster genre. U.S. premiere.
A BANQUET AT TETLAPAYAC
Mexico, 1999-2000. Director: Olivier Debroise
Wed., May 30, 5:00 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
Que Viva Mexico! is one of those lost, butchered, half-completed classics of the silent era. Directed by Sergei Eisenstein (Potemkin) during a 1931-32 sojourn through Mexico—then enjoying a postrevolutionary vogue with the U.S.S.R.—the anthology film was restored in ’79 to show his typically fabulous black-and-white compositions and love for strong, evocative peasant faces. Not strictly a documentary about Eisenstein’s activities in the hacienda town of Tetlapayac, Banquet also reenacts scenes from the film and invites a bunch of intellectuals to discourse upon the movie, the director, and the stereotypical images of Mexico. Snippets of original footage will only make you want to see the original Que Viva; time spent with contemporary commentators will mostly have you tearing your hair with boredom. Interestingly, Katherine Anne Porter based her short story “Hacienda” on incidents—including a murder—during Eisenstein’s visit; Upton Sinclair, Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, and other ’30s notables also figure in the fray. U.S. premiere. B.R.M.
*BARAKA
U.S.A., 1992. Director: Ron Fricke
Sun., June 3, 9:30 p.m., Egyptian
No words, no plot, just crisp, brilliant footage in wide-screen 70mm glory that conveys the grand sweep of man on the earth. In his “guided meditation,” Koyaanisqatsi cinematographer Ron Fricke jumps dizzily among 24 countries, grouping scenes by theme. Its title derived from a Sufi word meaning essence or breath, Baraka makes us breathless as when—in a segment on worship—we visit Buddhist monks in Nepal, Jerusalem’s wailing wall, the Ganges river, Hagia Sophia, and Angkor Wat—sometimes within the same minute. Kayapo Indian children in ceremonial pigment stare back; who’s watching whom? The 97-minute game of “where is that?” is glorious yet troubling; ripping sacred rituals from context reduces them to eye-candy. Fricke’s technical achievements with his custom-built, computer-controlled camera astound. (Check out that time-lapse pan through Grand Central Station!) This rich confection is worth seeing, and Philip Glass’ original score worth hearing, even if Baraka leaves us hungry for a hearty meal. Gianni Truzzi
BARKING DOGS NEVER BITE
South Korea, 2000. Director: Bong Joon-Hu
Sun., May 27, 6:30 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
Mon., May 28, 11:30 a.m., Egyptian
Like Amores Perros, this not-so-black comedy includes a disclaimer that no dogs were harmed in its filming. Things begin innocuously enough in a giant, anonymous apartment complex where a bored, frustrated grad student becomes irritated by a yapping pooch. His solution? Dognapping and rooftop disposal. (Those curs that slip through his fingers fall to a different fate; dog meat is, after all, a delicacy in South Korea.) No less unhappy in her life is a secretary at the same complex; she takes it upon herself to find the missing dogs—hoping for some daring and bravado in her dull existence. Pursuer and pursued are then bound together more by whimsy and accident than suspense. Dogs‘ eccentric little details and observations sometimes recall Jacques Tati. At the same time, it’s a veiled social satire. “Nobody in this country keeps the rules,” complains the student, who needs to pay a bribe for a professorship—if he can first change his dog-thievin’ ways. B.R.M.
*BARTLEBY
U.S.A., 2001. Director: Jonathan Parker
Cast: David Paymer, Crispin Glover, Glenne Headly, Joe Piscopo, Seymour Cassel
Thurs., May 31, 9:30 p.m., Egyptian
Sun., June 3, 1:45 p.m., Harvard Exit
Crispin Glover fans rejoice! He’s baaack! And perfectly cast, too. Here, the real star of Back to the Future uncannily embodies Melville’s passive-aggressive 1853 scrivener, now a file clerk in contemporary L.A. He’s hired to work in a sitcomlike office, all pastels and fluorescent lights, staffed by various freaks—but Bartleby, of course, is the freakiest of the bunch, eventually refusing to do any work. “I would prefer not to,” goes his mantra, exasperating his boss (State & Main‘s Paymer). Such refusal amounts to an act of will and rebellion in the absurdist anomie Bartleby paints like one of those old FedEx commercials. The deadpan comic tone is perfectly maintained, even if the movie—already short at 83 minutes—reaches and begins to repeat its crux dilemma less than halfway home. No matter. No matter how slight, Bartleby nicely achieves its modest aims, refusing to overreach, refusing to explain its oddly tragic hero. B.R.M.
*BATTLE ROYALE
Japan, 2000. Director: Kinji Fukasaku
Tues., June 12, 7:15 p.m., Cinerama
Fri., June 15, 12:00 a.m., Egyptian
If there’s one must-see, blood-soaked, carnage-ridden spectacular at SIFF, this is it. Veteran director Fukasaku is kind of like the Japanese Peckinpah, only here we have 9th-graders, not cowboys, battling to the death. The nutty premise that has these sweet-faced, uniformed schoolkids confined to an island until one survivor’s alive naturally recalls Survivor and Lord of the Flies, but entertainment isn’t the point. There are no cameras to relay the allegiances, betrayals, and gore to an imaginary viewing audience; instead, the blood sport is meant as a cautionary, punitive example for disobedient youngsters. On hand as a gruff teacher is “Beat” Takeshi Kitano (see Brother), who jeers, “So today’s lesson is—you kill each other off!” Even if it lacks a coherent ending, the black comedic Battle brilliantly escalates the hair-trigger volatility of adolescent emotion to its illogical conclusion. B.R.M.
BEFORE THE STORM
Sweden, 2000. Director: Reza Parsa
Tues., May 29, 9:30 p.m., Egyptian
Thurs., May 31, 5:00 p.m., Pacific Place
What would you do for someone you loved? This debut feature by an Iranian-born director asks that familiar question in both Swedish and Arabic. But, refreshingly, it’s not just another romantic love story. Instead, Storm concerns the love of parents for children, of children for parents, of man for country, and of boy for crush. One plot follows an Arab immigrant cab driver, Ali, with an adoring Swedish wife and two beloved daughters. Then a woman from his radical past shows up to blackmail him back into the old violent cause. A parallel plot involves a young boy, in love with one of Ali’s daughters, who faces up to his school bully with tragic consequences. While Storm‘s effort to mesh the two stories is a little forced, such life-and-death decisions make for wrenching drama. Audrey Van Buskirk
BETTER THAN SEX
Australia/France, 2000. Director: Jonathan Teplitzky
Cast: David Wenham, Susie Porter
Sun., June 10, 6:30 p.m., Pacific Place
Wed., June 13, 5:00 p.m., Pacific Place
A more claustrophobic, yet far more charming Aussie About Last Night. Cin and Josh are two typical young Sydney singles whose drunken post-party roll in the hay becomes an epic four-day ascent into something decidedly uncasual. As the two play out a physically and emotionally intense mating dance almost entirely within the confines of Cin’s apartment, scenes are intercut with the pair’s respective friends ruminating on everything from true love to blow job etiquette. While not strictly a comedy, Better has plenty of endearing and humorous moments; overall, though, it’s a po-mo love story, where the usual chronology of love and sex is disarmingly out of order. A slight but pleasing film, this should appeal to the many singletons who didn’t quite see themselves in the caricature of Bridget Jones. L.G.
BETTY BLUE
U.S.A., 1986. Director: Jean-Jacques Beineix
Fri., June 8, 4 p.m., Harvard Exit
Part of SIFF’s Jean-Jacques Beineix retrospective, his 1986 second feature certainly gets your attention with its audacious opening shot: Five minutes of pure, unrepentant, blue-lit fucking. Considered merely as a character study or portrait of a relationship-gone-bad, Betty has some considerable gaps and inconsistencies, but also some outstanding scenes. The theme of the tragic muse who inspires a male artist is hackneyed at best, yet Beineix gives it his all. This is purportedly the three-hour director’s cut—the curse of the DVD age!–so brace yourself for a marathon of obsessive, doomed love. Free! B.R.M.
*THE BIG ANIMAL
Poland, 2000. Director: Jerzy Stuhr
Sat., May 26, 1:45 p.m., Harvard Exit
Working from a script by the late, great Krzysztof Kieslowski (Blue, White, Red), this fleet Polish feature tells the story of Sawicki, a simple village clerk (Stuhr himself) whose life is revitalized by his love for a deserted circus camel. “They can do us no harm because we’re together,” he promises the creature, yet the envious community becomes fearful and suspicious. (The town council even demands he sully his happiness through merchandizing.) Kieslowski’s sentiments get a trifle obvious—the local orchestra’s conductor accuses Sawicki of “playing different notes”—but Stuhr, both as actor and director, keeps the piece in place, steadfastly moving his hump-backed metaphor along until the little man’s emancipation feels as important as it is unusual. Steve Wiecking
BLINK
U.S.A., 1999. Director: Elizabeth Thompson
Fri., June 8, 5:00 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
Sun., June 10, 9:30 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
You can see why a documentary-maker would gravitate to Greg Withrow, an affable, red-haired Californian who just happened to be a Nazi—then renounced his racist beliefs. Everyone loves a conversion narrative, even a stale one. In this case, Withrow joined the Aryan Nations organization in the early ’80s, gaining notoriety with Donahue show appearances. Neo-Nazis gave the troubled Sacramento kid a sense of family until his friendship with an older Jewish woman—never clearly defined—caused a breach. Withrow’s obviously an attention hound, having returned to the talk-show circuit after his 1986 rejection of and subsequent beating by former Aryan Nations colleagues. Parts of his story appear questionable, although his present-day liberalism seems genuine (“I’m still poor and white,” he says humbly). Blink embraces his recovery platitudes too readily and lacks the craft of even second-rate television (with experts to suit), but usefully depicts the social conditions dramatized in American History X. B.R.M.
*THE BLUE DINER
U.S.A., 2000. Director: Jan Egleson
Wed., May 30, 7:15 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
Fri., June 1, 5:00 p.m., Pacific Place
Something a lot stranger than a cat has got Elena’s tongue. She’s the lovely Puerto Rican casket saleswoman (really) at the center of this bilingual romantic comedy. She feels pulled by two thriving cultures in Latino Boston. On the one hand, she’s got a successful Anglo boyfriend of whom her demanding Spanish-speaking mother approves. On the other, she maintains a soft spot for her sort-of ex, Tito, an aspiring—read starving—artist without a green card. During an especially grueling fight with her long-suffering, museum janitor mom, she loses her ability to speak and understand Spanish. Humorous misunderstandings ensue; love conquers all. A.V.B.
BODY AND SOUL
U.S.A., 1925. Director: Oscar Micheaux
Sun., May 27, 1:45 p.m., Egyptian
SIFF SEZ Produced in Harlem, this classic silent film is considered one of the best works produced by pioneering African-American director Micheaux. The magnificent Paul Robeson debuted in dual roles as a corrupt reverend and his virtuous twin brother. Noted for having an entirely African-American cast (except for one white in a minor role), the film was originally distributed only in segregated black communities.
BORN IN ABSURDISTAN
Austria, 1999. Director: Houchang Allahyari
Mon., May 28, 9:30 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
Tues., May 29, 5:00 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
SIFF SEZ A sly satire of Austrian immigration policy and cultural mores, Absurdistan follows the fortunes of two families, initially at xenophobic odds, brought together through a twist of fate (or the machinations of an angelic nun!). Turkish immigrants Emre and Emine’s newborn is accidentally switched with that of Austrians Marion and Stefan. When the switch is discovered, the Austrian couple must pursue the Turkish parents, now deported, back to Turkey, where all manner of mad and wonderful adventures occur.
BORN ROMANTIC
Great Britain, 2000. Director: David Kane
Cast: Ian Hart, Adrian Lester, Catherine McCormack, Olivia Williams, Jane Horrocks
Sun., June 3, 6:30 p.m., Egyptian
Wed., June 6, 5:00 p.m., Harvard Exit
SIFF SEZ Three men, three women, and a salsa club provide the grist for this lighthearted comedy about London thirtysomethings on the prowl for love. Two minicab drivers (Ian Hart and John Thompson) provide tasty philosophical commentary on sex and romance while shuttling six endearing oddballs about town. Featuring a super cast of young comers, with Olivia Williams’ (The Sixth Sense) grandly chilly performance a particular standout.
BORSTAL BOY
Ireland/Great Britain, 2001. Director: Peter Sheridan
Cast: Shawn Hatosy, Danny Dyer, Michael York
Sat., June 2, 6:30 p.m., Egyptian
Sun., June 3, 4:00 p.m., Egyptian
Inspired by (a.k.a. “loosely based” upon) Brendan Behan’s eponymous autobiography, Borstal delivers fairly typical coming-of-age fare. That the film is so unremarkable is especially disappointing given the possibilities offered by its plot: Sixteen-year-old Brendan—a loyal Irish republican—is arrested carrying explosives in WWII-era England and sentenced to a reform school (or “borstal”). There he encounters a diverse assortment of delinquents, his own sexuality, death, and the power of the arts. Aside from the poignant handling of Brendan’s friendship with a closeted homosexual friend, none of his other relationships—particularly a superfluous romance with the headmaster’s daughter—are given the chance to sufficiently develop. The ripe political overtones are also left begging for more than the cursory attention they’re accorded. In the end, Brendan learns that love is more powerful than hate; the closing speech that bludgeons this point home typifies the awkward shortcuts that Borstal applies to its rich, raw material. U.S. premiere. Paul Fontana
BRAVE NEW LAND
Brazil, 2000. Director: Lcia Murat
Mon., June 11, 7:15 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
Tues., June 12, 12:00 p.m., Pacific Place
SIFF SEZ In 1778, Diogo, astronomer, cartographer, and naturalist, is mapping the border between Spanish and Portuguese territory in the Brazilian jungle. After a massacre of indigenous people, Diogo falls in love with a beautiful female survivor and finds himself embroiled in a hotbed of cultural animosity at remote Fort Coimbra. Filmed in commemoration of the 500th anniversary of Brazil’s discovery, Brave New Land imagines the colonial experience that overshadows all of Brazilian history from the point of view of the colonized.
BREAD AND TULIPS
Italy/Switzerland, 2000. Director: Silvio Soldini
Fri., May 25, 9:30 p.m., Harvard Exit
Sat., May 26, 11:30 a.m., Harvard Exit
SIFF SEZ After her absent-minded family literally forgets her at a roadside cafe, Rosalba decides to set out for Venice and a new life. Moving in with a suicidal Icelandic waiter (the magnificent Bruno Ganz), she hires on with an anarchic florist. When her husband sends a good-hearted plumber, a private-eye-wanna-be, to reclaim her, he’s unprepared for the new, vibrant Rosalba. This touching mix of farce and self-discovery won the Italian Best Picture award.
BREAKING THE SILENCE
China, 2000. Director: Zhou Sun
Thurs., June 7, 7:15 p.m., Egyptian
Sun., June 10, 1:45 p.m., Cinerama
SIFF SEZ Luminous Chinese superstar Gong Li plays a struggling single mother who will do anything to provide for her hearing-impaired son. After his hearing aid is smashed by classmates, she must raise the money to buy a replacement. To do so, she takes on a raft of different jobs, reflecting one mother’s experience of harsh economic realities in modern-day China. (Official Chinese Oscar Submission: Best Foreign Film.)
BRONX-BARBES
France, 2000. Director: Eliane de Latour
Mon., June 11, 7:15 p.m., Harvard Exit
Wed., June 13, 2:30 p.m., Pacific Place
SIFF SEZ Respected docu-maker and anthropologist Eliane de Latour serves up a pungent version of a Black Lower Depths: An accidental murder forces Toussaint and Nixon to flee their African shantytown and seek refuge among gang members in a big-city ghetto. Toussaint, the eldest, adapts to the new environment, honoring the “old guns” in return for protection and finding love with a local shopgirl. Jealous, Nixon unsuccessfully rebels against gang hierarchy, obliging Toussaint to betray his new life to save an old friend. U.S.premiere.
*BROTHER
Japan/U.S.A., 2000. Director: Takeshi Kitano
Cast: Beat Takeshi, Claude Maki, Omar Epps
Fri., May 25, 9:30 p.m., Egyptian
Sat., May 26, 4:00 p.m., Egyptian
Takeshi “Beat” Kitano’s films always have a finite edge. His 1997 Fireworks reinvigorated the yakuza genre with new style, technique, and coolness. Brother, his first project filmed (primarily) in the U.S., deepens his hybrid comedy-meets-violence sensibility while retaining his trademark aloofness. Here Kitano plays a yakuza boss who travels to L.A. to get his younger brother out of trouble. On the surface it’s a fish-out-of-water story, but Brother resists our expectations. Refusing to simply use violence as an easy marquee attraction, Kitano drains the extra sound and music out of bloody encounters—you simply hear the underlying act itself, followed by a coda of dead silence. The effect is breathtaking because it’s real. When we do hear Joe Hisaishi’s score, it’s dreamy and lucid, evoking both ’70s crime flicks and contemporary minimalism. Rarely does music so effortlessly augment a screen persona. Brother proves that Kitano can still keep his cool—unlike so much of overheated Hollywood. Michael Duffy
BURNT MONEY
Argentina, 2000. Director: Marcelo Pi�o
Fri., June 15, 7:15 p.m., Egyptian
Sun., June 17, 1:45 p.m., Harvard Exit
SIFF SEZ A sexy and skillful thriller, this gay Bonnie and Clyde features the exploits of Angel and El Nene, sweethearts and bank robbers. When an armored-car heist turns bloody and Angel is wounded, these natural-born lovers are forced to flee to Uruguay. Across the border, they go into hiding, trying to secure forged passports to further their escape. The wait, however, proves arduous, and the boys tempt fate by plunging into the pleasures of carnival. (See Wild Horses.)
THE BUSINESS OF STRANGERS
U.S.A., 2001. Director: Patrick Stettner
Fri., June 8, 9:30 p.m., Egyptian
Sun., June 10, 11:30 a.m., Pacific Place
Here, corporate ballbuster Stockard Channing (from TV’s The West Wing) and her petulant assistant, Julia Stiles, spend a night in an airport hotel playing mind games. This chic exercise in claustrophobia sacrifices psychological coherence for teasing ambiguity. At Sundance this winter, quick to pick up on its hypothermic LaBute-like qualities, festival wags rechristened it In the Company of Women. Those who remember Stiles as the star-fucking teen in David Mamet’s State and Main should also look for her in Tim Blake Nelson’s O (see below). Dennis Lim
CAMP SCOTT LADIES
U.S.A., 2001. Directors: Jeff Werner, Susan Koch
Thurs., June 7, 5:00 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
Sun., June 10, 4:30 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
MTV’s The Real World goes to the slammer. For all the immediacy afforded by DV, new technology means squat if you don’t know how to edit what you shoot. Produced by MTV News, Camp Scott begins with some promise in an L.A. County boot camp-style prison for female offenders age 12 to 18. Some are pregnant; many have gang tattoos; all appear to have been raised in very flawed families. Four talkative teens are selected for our scrutiny, offering Real World-style confessions interspersed with a spartan routine of yelling, marching, and room inspections. “I hate it here. You can’t go to the bathroom when you want,” complains one youngster. We sympathize, and Camp Scott at least has the merit of showing the obstacles—both self- and society-imposed—to the presumed path to reform. Problem is, there’s absolutely no context provided, a glaring omission when these programs have been roundly debunked by experts. B.R.M.
CANONE INVERSO (MAKING LOVE)
Italy, 2000. Director: Ricky Tognazzi
Cast: Hans Matheson, M鬡nie Thierry, Gabriel Byrne
Fri., June 8, 9:30 p.m., Pacific Place
Sun., June 10, 1:45 p.m., Pacific Place
SIFF SEZ Beginning in the ’60s, then slipping back into pre-WWII Prague, this haunting historical drama follows the path of Jeno, a violinist who unlocks his Jewish past with the only clues left by the father who abandoned him: a rare violin and the inverse canon, a melody that can be played forward or backward. A fascinating intersection of personal saga and world-changing events, backed by a memorable Ennio Morricone score. (See Strangled Lives.)
THE CAPTAIN’S DAUGHTER
Russia/France, 2000. Director: Alexander Proshkin
Tues., June 12, 9:30 p.m., Pacific Place
Sun., June 10, 4:00 p.m., Cinerama
Based on an 1836 Pushkin novel, Daughter tells a rather traditional tale of love-against-the-odds, projected across the sweeping, bloody backdrop of Cossack rebellions in 19th-century Russia. As soon as our two dewy-skinned lovelies fall hopelessly for each another, events conspire, inevitably, to keep them apart. Despite the unflinching portrayal of the violence and inhumanity of war—not to mention the country’s ravaged, perpetually wintry landscape—the ugliness never seems to truly endanger the pair. Pyotr and Masha exist instead in a magical bubble of romance that exempts them from one nearly fatal episode after another. Still, the lavish, engrossing Daughter is remarkable if only for its historical scope and epic production. L.G.
CHAIN CAMERA
U.S.A., 2001. Director: Kirby Dick
Thurs., May 31, 5:00 p.m., Egyptian
Thurs., May 31, 10:00 a.m., Egyptian
SIFF SEZ Award-winning filmmaker Kirby Dick gave 10 video cameras to 10 students at a Los Angeles high school with these instructions: “Show us your lives.” The cameras were passed on weekly to other students. The remarkable result is a riveting, uncensored portrait of 16 urban teens (whose classmates hail from 41 ethnic backgrounds) strutting their stuff and holding forth on sexuality, race, drugs, and parental abuse.
*CHOPPER
Australia, 2000. Director: Andrew Dominik
Sun., May 27, 9:30 p.m., Egyptian
Mon., May 28, 1:45 p.m., Harvard Exit
Reminiscent of another uncompromisingly violent Australian crime flick, 1992’s Romper Stomper, Chopper likewise features a career-making performance by a young unknown. As Russell Crowe shocked us then, Eric Bana frightens us now as the tabloid criminal “Chopper” Read. A public figure and best-selling author down under, Read’s a scary SOB who has his ears lopped off in prison to earn a trip to the infirmary. He himself wonders whether he’s “bloody schizo,” since he can brutally stab a man then immediately feel tenderness and remorse. Half of Chopper takes place in an eerie, blue-white jail where Read explains his code. Released in ’86, our hero pretends to have police sanction for vigilante justice—showing his flair for fiction. He claims he’s killed 19 (and is now a free man, a postscript informs us), lending to his self-created myth. Like Raging Bull, Chopper is a punishingly intense character study for movie lovers with strong stomachs. B.R.M.
CHRONICALLY UNFEASIBLE
Brazil, 2000. Director: Sergio Bianchi
Fri., June 1, 9:30 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
Mon., June 4, 5:00 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
There’s a little sex and a bit of carnival dancing on this peripatetic tour of Brazil, but don’t expect the usual tourist destinations. Instead we have a discursive, wandering socioeconomic critique of the lingering inequalities that divide city from country, whites from blacks, and rich from poor. Various vignettes with overlapping characters aren’t clearly linked until late in this ragged, provocative film, but the intentionally hectoring quality suits Unfeasible‘s boisterous polemics. Everyone’s got opinions and voices them loudly, with only one seemingly sympathetic figure on hand: Alfredo, a gentle old writer who quotes Montesquieu. “Register the facts, that’s all,” he vows on his survey of the nation, but those facts prove as elusive as Brazil’s political harmony. All characters intersect at a posh S㯠Paulo restaurant—but there, of course, the schism remains between those who dine and those who serve. B.R.M.
CITY OF LOST SOULS
Japan, 2000. Director: Takashi Miike
Cast: Teah and Michelle Reis
Fri., May 25, 12:00 a.m., Egyptian
As with his Dead or Alive (see review), Takashi Miike here exhibits a fascination with Japan’s minority subculture—in this case the Chinese and Brazilians living in an exotic, sexy, and dangerous criminal underworld beneath polite society’s notice. There’s nothing polite about Miike, nor about his glamorous Bonnie and Clyde-like outlaw couple, Mario and Kei. They rob, steal, and kill with stylish joie d’vivre, accompanied by MTV montages and editing, although the effect wears thin by City‘s end. Far less accomplished than his Audition (which played SIFF last year), this flick represents Miike’s manga-influenced re-envisioning of the love-on-the run genre. It’s more a comic book than a film—but with several panels that grab your attention. (Check out the cockfighting spoof of The Matrix.) “Hey, cool Brazilian bastard,” Mario is greeted, and the salutation fits: He is one cool dude in an enjoyably silly throwaway movie. B.R.M.
THE CLOSET
France, 2000. Director: Francis Veber
Cast: Daniel Auteuil, G鲡rd Depardieu
Sat., June 9, 7:00 p.m., Egyptian
Mon., June 11, 2:30 p.m., Cinerama
SIFF SEZ Fran篩s Pignon (the incomparable Daniel Auteuil), a dull sort working as an accountant in a rubber factory, fears for his job security. His neighbor Daniel (Depardieu), however, hatches a wacky plot: If they spread a rumor Fran篩s is gay, management won’t fire him for fear of being slapped with a sexual harassment suit. And, as most half-baked schemes go, nothing turns out as it’s supposed to in this very funny follow-up to Veber’s huge hit, The Dinner Game.
COME UNDONE
France, 2000. Director: S颡stien Lifshitz
Tues., June 12, 7:15 p.m., Pacific Place
Thurs., June 14, 2:30 p.m., Cinerama
SIFF SEZ During a family vacation at the seaside, melancholy 18-year-old Mathieu unexpectedly falls for the carefree Cedric. What begins as a torrid fling turns into a committed homosexual relationship, and Mathieu chooses to stay with his lover at summer’s end. Lifshitz shifts between past and present to chronicle Mathieu’s growth from a teen trapped in a dysfunctional family to an adult, uncertain but free. This beautifully visualized story of first love from a gay perspective is marked by extraordinarily nuanced performances.
*CORONATION
Chile, 2000. Director: Silvio Caiozzi
Fri., June 1, 9:30 p.m., Pacific Place
Sun., June 3, 1:45 p.m., Egyptian
Coronation introduces its major themes—class conflict, aging, intellect vs. emotion—in its first 10 minutes. In order to care for his dying grandmother, a rich, bookish middle-aged man hires a 17-year-old farm girl who immediately attracts a poor young suitor. Much of what follows is wholly predictable: Middle-aged man is stirred by young girl; young girl is stirred by fast-talking suitor; senile grandma—who spits more than a camel!–sees all with eerie clairvoyance. Yet the almost brutal scrutiny and invasive close-ups to which these characters are subjected prevents the viewer from settling in comfortably. Julio Jung’s understated performance as the sullen, emotionally crippled patriarch is particularly affecting, carrying the film to a higher level. He presents us with the classic tragic figure whose collapse is as inevitable as it is painful to watch. P.F.
CRAZY
Germany, 2000. Director: Hans-Christian Schmid
Fri., June 8, 5:00 p.m., Egyptian
Sun., June 10, 9:30 p.m., Harvard Exit
Benni is a teenage self-described cripple who can’t do math. He’s sent to a new boarding school ostensibly to study math, but really to keep him from discovering his dad’s affair. Despite his boring personality, Benni is inducted into a group of chain-smoking schoolmates. Together they do crazy things like visiting a Munich strip club, organizing a circle jerk, and—finally!–sleeping with real girls. Then, suddenly, it’s summer and Benni’s leaving for another school because he still can’t do math. One might complain that the relationships between the characters aren’t explained, or that conflict is arbitrarily heaped on Benni but never resolved, or that the schoolboys should be more engaging given their idiosyncrasies, but that’d be too demanding. This movie isn’t crazy, but that hardly matters. Crazy is about generic teenagers doing generic coming-of-age shit because it’s based on an actual 17-year-old kid’s best-selling memoir. It’s another riff on Dawson’s Creek. My boyfriend’s teenagers loved it. Meg van Huygen
THE CRIMSON RIVERS
France, 2000. Director: Mathieu Kassowitz
Fri., June 8, 9:30 p.m., Cinerama
Sun., June 10, 1:45 p.m., Egyptian
SIFF SEZ Mathieu Kassovitz’s palpably brutal thriller stars Jean Reno and Vincent Cassell as cops investigating separate crimes in the icy French Alps. A legacy of horrendous crimes reveals a haunting truth to which their investigations, and fates, will become inextricably bound. U.S. premiere.
CURE
Japan, 1997. Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Thurs., May 31, 7:15 p.m., Pacific Place
Sat., June 2, 1:45 p.m., Pacific Place
Koji Yakusho of Shall We Dance? and Eureka plays a detective investigating a rash of mysterious crimes his this psychological horror flick. Seemingly ordinary citizens commit gruesome murders (all linked by a signature slash pattern), but have no memory or motive for their actions. Detective Takabes frustrations with the case are echoed by unhappiness at home, where his wife is descending into mental illness. Meanwhile theres an enigmatic stranger wandering around Tokyo, his presence oddly affecting people he meetsalmost like a virus. Slow and creepy in its early going, Cure is strong on atmosphere, but the police procedural stuff eventually gives way to a disappointingly pat, silly explanation. Its guys like you who have my head about to split open, an exasperated Takabe screams at the stranger. By that point in the movie, you know exactly how he feels. B.R.M.
DEAD OR ALIVE
Japan, 2000. Director: Takashi Miike
Fri., June 8, 12:00 a.m., Egyptian
After the first eight minutes of this berserk cop thriller, you’re going to say, “Whoa! Rewind! I want to see that again!” Most of the film’s characters are introduced in this frenetic MTV-style intro, set to thumping music and bathed in garish neon light. It’s a furious montage of sex and violence in which Takashi Miike—see City of Lost Souls—immediately signals that he is not going to be polite about blood and other bodily effluvia. Then things slow down considerably, becoming a conventional police procedural. Stolid, decent Lt. Jojima tries to apprehend suave, murderous Ryuichi and his gang. They’re minority figures, outcasts of Chinese ancestry, allowing Dead some implicit criticism of Japanese racism. Mainly, however, as demonstrated by a maudlin subplot involving Jojima’s dying daughter, Dead is a manga-influenced comic book of a movie, more interested in broad, colorful strokes than nuanced character or story. The ending? Totally insane. B.R.M.
DEVILS ON THE DOORSTEP
China, 2000. Director: Wen Jiang
Sun., June 3, 6:30 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
Sat., June 9, 3:30 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
SIFF SEZ A Chinese village in the 1940s remains relatively unscathed by the Japanese invasion until two gunnysacks are left on one man’s doorstep. Inside are two Japanese prisoners of war, a soldier and an interpreter. An official says the prisoners will be *ed up in a few days, but months go by and the villagers’ initial sense of importance at being asked to guard the prisoners goes through a series of transformations. This potent socio-political comedy won the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes.
*DIARY OF A CHAMBERMAID
France, 1964. Director: Luis Bu�
Cast: Jeanne Moreau, Michel Piccoli
Sat., May 26, 1:45 p.m., Egyptian
Set during the uneasy ’30s, Chambermaid pivots on Bu�’s favorite subject: Men twisted inside like rope by the tensions of their own absurd desires and by their preposterous presumption that they’re worthy of their own obscure objects. Moreau is Celestine, a dry-eyed maid working on a huge, petty-bourgeois French estate where the servants outnumber the residents. Cool Celestine serves as Bu�’s proxy, witnessing every manifestation of mundane cruelty, hypocrisy, bigotry, molestation, and predation. The fetishizing power of objects—shoes, fake limbs, crucifixes, dinner plates, corsets, etc.—has always been Bu�’s crucial weapon. Here, Moreau’s legs, footwear, and maid’s uniform are constant sources of angst and swoon; the moviemaking is as besotted as the men around her. The star’s imperious ambiguity has never been better utilized, and Bu�’s mastery of wide-screen depth and off-camera action make this new release essential viewing. (The subtitles are fresh, too.) Michael Atkinson
THE DINOSAUR HUNTER
Canada, 2000. Director: Rick Stevenson
Cast: Alison Pill, Bill Switzer, Christopher Plummer
Sat., June 16, 11:30 a.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
SIFF SEZ Times are tough for 12-year-old Julia’s family, as it’s the Depression and a drought has hit her small prairie town. When a government paleontologist offers a reward to whomever finds the complete skeleton of a tyrannosaur, Julia and her brother Daniel are stricken with dinosaur fever and start digging, spurred on by the reward and the excitement of possibly unearthing an exotic ancient beast. They soon find themselves at odds with the other townspeople and the unscrupulous adventurer Hump Hinton (Plummer). Greed, knowledge, science, and dogma clash in this exciting tale of the race to find the “terrible lizard.”
DIRT BOY
U.S.A., 2000. Director: Jay Frasco
Fri., June 15, 9:30 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
Sun., June 17, 1:45 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
SIFF SEZ In the wake of tragedy, Matty Matthews relocates from NYC to a small Cape Cod town called Atwater Commons. Lionized local resident Atwater Bridges is a mystery writer, and Matty begins reading Dirt Boy, Bridges’ best-selling novel. As bodies pop up around town, Matty realizes that these murders are uncannily reminiscent of the ones described in Dirt Boy; the solution to the mystery ultimately implicates author, town, and Matty himself. World premiere.
DISCO PIGS
Ireland/UK, 2001. Director: Kirsten Sheridan
Cast: Elaine Cassidy, Cillian Murphy
Fri., June 15, 7:15 p.m., Harvard Exit
Sat., June 16, 4:00 p.m., Pacific Place
SIFF SEZ Bright new talent Kirsten Sheridan (daughter of My Left Foot director Jim Sheridan) reimagines for the screen Enda Walsh’s dark play. Sin顤 and Darren, born on the same day, dangerously symbiotic, are nicknamed “Runt” and “Pig,” the Queen and King of Pork City. As the world begins to resist the nasty fun and games they dream up, the two plunge into a Walpurgisnacht of violence. Drawing startlingly effective performances from Murphy and Cassidy, Sheridan is up to the magical-realist demands of this Irish Enfants Terribles. U.S. premiere.
*DIVA
France, 1981. Director: Jean-Jacques Beineix
Cast: Fr餩ric Andr马 Wilhelminia Wiggins Fernandez, Richard Bohringer, Thuy An Luu, Dominique Pinon
Fri., June 15, 5:00 p.m., Harvard Exit
Part of SIFF’s Jean-Jacques Beineix retrospective, his 1981 debut feature was hugely popular at SIFF ’82 and during its subsequent commercial run in Seattle. Opera, intrigue, and gorgeous cinematography make for one ravishingly stylish movie—and mark Beineix’s self-conscious departure from so much dour Gallic fare in the fizzled-out nouvelle vague movement. Diva‘s a generational landmark in French cinema, not always coherent or logical, but filled with moments of offhand beauty. Certainly, the “Ebben? Ne andro lontana” aria from Catalani’s La Wally has never gotten so much respect—before or since. Free! B.R.M.
DIVIDED WE FALL
Czech Republic, 2000. Director: Jan Hrebejk
Fri., May 25, 9:30 p.m., Pacific Place
Sat., May 26, 1:45 p.m., Pacific Place
SIFF SEZ Set in the last years of WWII, this black comedy tells of Josef and Marie, a childless couple who hide their Jewish neighbor David after he escapes from a concentration camp. With German soldiers occupying their village and an old friend, now a Nazi collaborator, sitting at their kitchen table, sheltering David turns into a feat of loyalty, absurdity, and heroism. This is a masterful example of modern Czech filmmaking that mines humor out of humanity in extremis. (Official Czech Oscar nomination: Best Foreign Film.)
DOG FOOD
Philippines, 2000. Director: Carlos Siguion-Reyna
Mon., June 11, 9:30 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
Tues., June 12, 5:00 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
For those who love Mexican telenovelas, Hindu melodramas, and our own soap operas, Dog Food is the movie for you. It’s got violence, passion, blood, incest, lachrymose ballads, sex, and adorable puppies. Also, people eat dogs. Sweet, studious 12-year-old Lily lives with her disgraced cop father and evil stepmother, finding an unlikely friend in Teban, the grizzled old neighborhood dog-meat seller. Melodramatic complications ensue, and how. Any film that deploys “Silent Night” as a weepy musical cue has stepped too deeply into pathos, but Dog Food fails to provide enough smut or camp to balance pristine Lily’s travails. Still, there are some nutty, colorful touches. Lily plays in a balalaika band (don’t ask why), and her stepmother provides the film an ending reminiscent of Titus Andronicus and Medea. Exclaims our heroine, “Just give me love, Mr. Teban, that’s enough.” Well—for her, maybe. B.R.M.
DORA-HEITA Japan, 2000. Director: Kon Ichikawa Mon., June 11, 9:30 p.m., Cinerama Wed., June 13, 2:30 p.m., Cinerama
SIFF SEZ Gamblers, drunks, prostitutes, and crooks infest the district of Horisoto, and it’s Dora-heita, the “Alley-Cat Magistrate” (charismatic Koji Yakusho of The Eel, Shall We Dance?, and Eureka) who must clean it up. In order to infiltrate a crime world involving courtiers and Yakuza, this undercover samurai must first appear to be as debauched as the bad guys, a masquerade that threatens his personal life, his career, and his honor. This is a marvelous samurai saga reminiscent of Kurosawa’s Yojimbo and Sanjuro, based on a script co-written by Akira Kurosawa, Keisuke Kinoshita, Masaki Kobayashi, and Kon Ichikawa.
*E-DREAMS
U.S.A., 2001. Director: Wonsuk Chin
Sat., June 2, 4:00 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
“Never in my life have I experienced such momentum,” says one of the kids running Kozmo.com. Significantly, we’re then only halfway through this breezy documentary; it’s December ’99 and the glorified bike messenger company has hauled in $150 million from investors, including a fat grant from our own Starbucks. We all know where it’s headed, of course. Yet Korean-born filmmaker Wonsuk Chin manages to make the dot-com saga captivating again, thanks in part to his charmingly sympathetic central character, Kozmo co-founder Joseph Park, who seems as amazed as anyone at his company’s dumb luck. Park’s garrulous good humor keeps you rooting for him, even as the market falls and the company tanks. There are plenty of priceless moments, none better than a hapless Howard Schultz asking CNN studio hands for reassurance that his Kozmo baseball cap doesn’t make him look foolish. (It did, Howard, in more ways than one.) Mark D. Fefer
THE ENDURANCE: SHACKLETON’S LEGENDARY ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION
U.S.A., 2000. Director: George Butler
Thurs., May 31, 7:15 p.m., Egyptian
Sat., June 2, 11:30 a.m., Egyptian
SIFF SEZ In 1914, Sir Ernest Shackleton and a crew of 27 set off on the Endurance to make a 1,500 mile traverse of Antarctica. A mere 100 miles from their destination, the ship became trapped in pack ice, and for almost two years there was no contact with the explorers. Narrated by Liam Neeson, this engrossing documentary uses original expedition photos to tell the stunning true story of their battle for survival.
ENGLAND!
Germany, 2000. Director: Achim von Borries
Tues., June 12, 7:15 p.m., Harvard Exit
Thurs., June 14, 5:00 p.m., Pacific Place
Don’t take anyone to this movie if they insist they don’t like foreign films—it will confirm their worst suspicions. It’s dark and confusing; the characters have bad skin and wear ill-fitting clothes; the main character is dead the whole time; and not much else good happens. But if you can get beyond all that, the somber, downbeat England! is about a Ukrainian dying of radiation exposure from Chernobyl who flees to Berlin to meet his friend (the dead one), but instead meets another guy who wants to be an artist, along with a mysterious restaurant owner and his lovely wife. And then there’s this Virgo on the bus. . . . A.V.B.
ESCAPE TO LIFE: THE ERIKA & KLAUS MANN STORY
Great Britain/Germany, 2000. Directors: Andrea Weiss, Wieland Speck
Sat., June 16, 4:00 p.m., Harvard Exit
Sun., June 17, 11:30 a.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
A mishmash of historical footage, dramatizations, photographs, interviews, and narration (the latter supplied by Vanessa and Corin Redgrave), this docu-drama remembers the talented daughter and son of Nobel Prize-winning literary titan Thomas Mann. Two of his six children, Erika and Klaus, set themselves apart from their siblings with constant creativity and queer identities. In permissive ’20s Berlin, they began pursuing their passions—latching onto various lovers and trying a hand at novels, literary magazines, plays, films, and cabarets—until they fled Germany in the mid-’30s to escape Hitler. Both were apparently fascinating individuals; too bad the same can’t be said for this episodic, unfocused film, which overearnestly tries to tackle too many phases in the kinetic lives of its subjects. U.S. premiere. David Massengill
EVERYBODY’S FAMOUS!
Belgium/Netherlands, France, 2000. Director: Dominique Deruddere
Sat., May 26, 6:30 p.m., Pacific Place
Sun., May 27, 11:30 a.m., Pacific Place
SIFF SEZ In this dark comedy about an Everyman’s dream of being famous for at least 15 minutes, a devoted dad hits upon a plan to win success for his lumpish daughter: He drugs and kidnaps a well-known pop singer. For the singer’s safe return, the father demands that her agent give his offspring a chance to sing on national television. Best-laid plans go hilariously awry, and fame arrives from an unexpected quarter. (Official Netherlands Oscar submission: Best Foreign Film)
EXPLODING OEDIPUS
U.S.A., 2001. Director: Marc Lafia
Cast: Bruce Ramsay, Juliana Hatfield, Charlotte Chatton
Wed., June 13, 7:15 p.m., Harvard Exit
Fri., June 15, 2:30 p.m., Egyptian
SIFF SEZ When his father has a near-fatal heart attack, Hilbert descends into a surreal journey of self-discovery. Passionately experimenting with bisexuality, drugs, and art and testing his memories against home movies, he comes to realize that he can, in a sense, rewrite his past by confronting the future. World premiere.
