This Week's SIFF Picks

Zozo

For a film whose principal message is that life sucks for children no matter where they live, Zozo is surprisingly enjoyable and not nearly as depressing as one anticipates. Aged about 10, poor young Zozo (Imad Creidi) must leave his native Beirut after his family is killed in the Lebanese civil war. (The film is set in 1987.) He ventures to Sweden to stay with his grandparents, only to discover a new set of challenges as an immigrant. Sound familiar? It certainly is for director Josef Fares (Jalla! Jalla!), who treats this partly autobiographical story with such care that it prevents the plot from becoming syrupy or the ending implausibly sunny. Creidi gives a remarkable, natural performance. His magnetic presence makes the film's potentially cloying fantasy sequences palatable. The moment he begins speaking to a baby chick, and it talks back, we immediately accept it as the fractured reality of a boy who's just looking for a safe and secure home. (NR) FRANK PAIVA Pacific Place: 9:15 p.m. Sun., May 28. Lincoln Square: 4:30 p.m. Sat., June 3. E

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Rampling on her sex tour

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Seattle International Film Festival

Hometown Boy Makes Good
In his second feature, an exlocal lad salutes the site of his coming out.

SIFF overview

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Seattle International Film Festival Multiple venues. For full schedule and details, visit www.seattlefilm.com or call 206-324-9996 (tickets) and 206-324-9997 (information). $5–$10 (most shows). Thurs., May 25–Sun., June 18.