HAPPY TIMES
China, 2001. Director: Zhang Yimou
Sun., May 26, 6:30 p.m., Egyptian
Mon., May 27, 4:00 p.m., Egyptian
In keeping with his recent emphasis on Chinas less-than-romantic urban present, Zhang Yimous latest gritty, contemporary film owes more to Dickensian pathos than the sexual passions of his earlier costume dramas. Eager to marry, unemployed 50-something factory worker Zhao gets stuck with his rotund paramours unwanted stepdaughtera blind, skinny, unloved 18-year-old waif who could make Fagan cry. With his idle co-workers, he constructs an elaborate ruse to fool yet sustain pitiful Wu, a capable masseuse desperate to be of use in the world. Times is nothing if not heavy-handed in its maudlin plotting and eventual bonding between Zhao and Wu, yet dont be surprised if you find yourself fumbling for a tissueor severalduring its tragicomic trajectory. One of Chinas top comic actors, Zhao Benshan recalls Jackie Gleasons smiling exasperation as Zhao, while Dong Jiea professional dancer and ingenue actresselevates her stock role to often heartrending effect. B.R.M.
OVERSEAS FILMGROUP
Asoka the Great
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HEJAR—BIG MAN, SMALL LOVE
Turkey, 2001. Director: Handan Ipek穼/I>
Sat., June 8, 6:30 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
Mon., June 10, 4:30 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
Hejar starts with a rather bold and political provocation: Turkish policemen batter down the door of an apartment and kill the Kurdish activists inside. They only miss one thing, which soon comes to the attention of a retired Turkish judge living next door: a small terrified girl, Hejar, maybe five or six years old. She doesn't speak Turkish and the recently widowed Rifat doesn't speak Kurdish, but his Kurdish maid Sakine provides some needed translation. Rifat's real dilemma, however, is reconciling his high-minded principles with the rampant discrimination facing his young charge. On a shopping trip he tells a clerk Hejar is German, then sputters in indignation, "I had to lie because of you." Yet gradually, inevitably he warms to the girl, begins learning a little Kurdish, and researches her horrific family history. Then, disappointingly, Hejar takes the easy way out, pursuing a romantic subplot rather than radicalizing Rifat any further. U.S. premiere. B.R.M.
HER MAJESTY
New Zealand, 2001. Director: Mark J. Gordon
Mon., June 10, 4:30 p.m., Harvard Exit
Sat., June 15, 11:30 a.m., Pacific Place
A 12-year-old named Elizabeth worships the queen of the same name.
HER MOTHER THE WHORE
France, 2001. Director: Brigette Roan
Fri., June 7, 9:30 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
Fri., June 14, 9:30 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
The back streets of Paris are both sleazy and sweet. U.S. premiere.
HERENCIA
Argentina, 2000. Director: Paula Hernandez
Mon., June 3, 7:00 p.m., Harvard Exit
Wed., June 5, 4:30 p.m., Harvard Exit
A man and a woman come to Buenos Aires looking for love—albeit four decades apart.
HI, DHARMA
South Korea, 2001. Director: Park Cheol-kwan
Wed., June 12, 9:30 p.m., Cinerama
Sun., June 16, 9:30 p.m., Pacific Place
Gangsters take refuge in a monastery. U.S. premiere.
HI, TERESKA
Poland, 2001. Director: Robert Glinski
Mon., June 10, 9:30 p.m., Harvard Exit
Tues., June 11, 9:30 p.m., Harvard Exit
A 15-year-old girl tries to leave her poor Polish suburb.
THE HIRED HAND
U.S.A., 1971. Director: Peter Fonda
Cast: Peter Fonda, Warren Oates, Verna Bloom
Sun., June 9, 6:30 p.m., Egyptian
A prototypical '70s Western, newly restored.
HOPE ALONG THE WIND: THE LIFE OF HARRY HAY
U.S.A., 2001. Director: Eric Slade
Thurs., June 6, 7:00 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
Sat., June 8, 4:00 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
How Marxist Harry Hay founded the first organized gay-rights movement in America. (Shows with Daddy & Papa.)
HUSH!
Japan, 2001. Director: Ryosuke Hashiguchi
Sat., June 8, 6:30 p.m., Harvard Exit
Sun., June 9, 4:00 p.m., Harvard Exit
Straight woman, gay guy. Basically, Will & Grace in Japanese.
I WILL NOT BE SAD IN THIS WORLD
U.S.A., 2001. Director: Karina Epperlein
Sat., June 1, 4:00 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
Tues., June 4, 4:30 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
Early 20th-century genocide against Armenians in Turkey, as told by a survivor.
*I'M GOING HOME
France/Portugal, 2001. Director: Manoel de Oliveira
Cast: Michel Piccoli, Catherine Deneuve
Mon., June 10, 7:00 p.m., Pacific Place
Ninety-two-year-old Manoel de Oliveira's latest memento mori opens, serenely and patiently, with a lengthy excerpt from a production of Ionesco's Exit the King. Later, backstage, the elderly lead actor (Michel Piccoli) is informed that his family has perished in a car crash. This rueful, dryly humorous film charts a wary return to normalcy, but it's unsentimental enough to acknowledge that coping mechanisms do break down, and that (as the title suggests) a categorical retreat is sometimes the only way out. D.L.
IGBY GOES DOWN
U.S.A., 2002. Director: Burr Steers
Cast: Kieran Culkin, Susan Sarandon, Jeff Goldblum, Jared Harris, Amanda Peet, Claire Danes, Ryan Phillippe, and Bill Pullman
Thurs., May 23, 7:30 p.m., Paramount Theatre
Opening the festival (and tentatively due for August release), Igby treads ground made very familiar by Wes Anderson and J.D. Salinger. Here the privileged Manhattan air is less quirky and more contemporary than Royal Tenenbaums, but Holden Caulfield's hatred of adult hypocrisy remains the same. Our 17-year-old hero revenges himself against his dying mother by fleeing prep school for the SoHo loft of his godfather, whose kept lover vies with sensible collegiate Sookie for Igby's attention. It's hard to see the appeal. Unlike Tenenbaums' three geniuses, petulant Igby's main talent is self-pity. What's the opening-night appeal for SIFF? Igby features a big, enjoyable cast and an occasionally inspired script. Writer-director Steers is nephew to Gore Vidal, which confers a certain toney prestige on the movie. The rich may be no different than the rest of us, but it's always entertaining to watch their antics. World premiere. B.R.M.
