Aachi & Ssipak
Is Aachi & Ssipak a good movie? Not really. Is it awesome and worthwhile in an "I can't believe what I'm seeing!" kind of way? Absolutely. The movie's prime viewing period is after a bong hit and/or a couple of drinks. Just make sure you're sober enough to read the subtitles. This South Korean animated action flick follows a pair of street thugs who discover a wanna-be porn actress who defecates highly addictive pellets called Juicy Bars. According to the opening Star Wars–like exposition scroll, the person who controls Juicy Bars controls the world. When both the corrupt government and a renegade Smurf-esque street gang discover the girl's "magic anus," high-tech war ensues. No, really. That's what actually happens. Aachi & Ssipak's stunning action sequences, sure to please even the most hard-core fan, make this a must for those who love the extreme. (NR) FRANK PAIVA Neptune: midnight, Sat., May 26. Neptune: 9:30 p.m. Sun., June 17.
The Aerial
The best dystopia fantasy since Dark City, this mostly silent, black-and-white vision from Argentine writer/director Esteban Sapir contains enough visual ingenuity for a dozen films. Cinematographer Cristian Cottet consistently surprises in shot after shot. The movie looks a lost treasure from the 1920s, a fascist allegory in German Expressionist style, achieved with modern technology. Characters whose voices have literally been stolen interact with text emanating from their mouths, pushing their language in and out of frame. The action takes place in the City Without a Voice in the Year X, where a nebulous but powerful coalition led by Mr. TV censors all forms of media. (Supply your own Rupert Murdoch parallel here.) Serious stuff, yet The Aerial is also whimsical without becoming self-consciously jokey about it. Considering the film’s visual flair and its timely political undertones, its lack of an American distributor is surprising. (Corporate media conspiracy, perhaps?) Go see this one while you have the chance. (NR) FRANK PAIVA Northwest Film Forum: 7 p.m. Fri., May 25; 9:30 p.m. Mon., May 28.
"Against the Grain: Art and Life"
This quartet of documentary shorts is high on adoration and low on objectivity. Thematically, they have absolutely nothing to do with one another. Conversing With Aotearoa/New Zealand features some lovely but unnecessary animation to discuss why people love rural wildlife. Everett DuPen: Sculptor pays homage to the late Seattle artist whose work and teachings continue to influence today. The Fighting Cholitas shows the lives of Bolivian female wrestlers in and out of the ring. Finally, Fridays at the Farm explores independent farming as a metaphor for raising a decent family. Each film has good intentions, but their homespun charms can't overshadow their lack of professional know-how. There is embarrassingly awkward voice-over narration throughout Farm; Cholitas never takes a stance on its topic; DuPen tries to cover too much ground; and we never actually get to see the landscapes being discussed in Conversing. By the end of this package, you'll be shrugging your shoulders. (NR) FRANK PAIVA Northwest Film Forum: 2 p.m. Sun., May 27.
Armin
A working-class guy and his son bus from their village to Zagreb to audition for a movie role in this completely, strangely beguiling Croatian film, about as quiet and uneventful as a comedy can be and still count as one. It's sort of a reverse Billy Elliott: The taciturn, baby-faced 13-year-old aspiring actor seems pretty blasé, while Dad will not stop telling everyone who'll listen about Armin's accordion-playing skill, as if that will surely give him the edge. There are passing mentions of Armin's unspecified health problem ("Did you take your medicine?") and to the war in Bosnia, but director Ognjen Svilicic chooses to look at all this sideways; the only thing that directly suggests just how much must be at stake in this audition is one sudden, startlingly emotion-laden father-son hug. (NR) GAVIN BORCHERT Pacific Place: 1:30 p.m. Sun., May 27. Lincoln Square: 4 p.m. Fri., June 1.
Bamako
An ambitious movie of ideas, Mauritanian filmmaker Abderrahmane Sissako's latest puts the World Bank on trial. The proceedings are staged in a village courtyard, but Bamako is less an allegory than a pageant. The trial incorporates all manner of domestic activities and political intrigue; there's even an action entr'acte in the form of a faux spaghetti Western, featuring Danny Glover and Palestinian director Elia Suleiman. Playfully didactic, Bamako recalls the Brechtian political cinema of the early 1970s. Still, Paul Wolfowitz notwithstanding, the movie seems distractingly heavy-handed in using an elderly Jew to personify the "Trojan horse of international capitalism." (NR) J. HOBERMAN Pacific Place: 6:30 p.m. Sun., May 27; 4 p.m. Mon., May 28.
A Battle of Wits
Yet another would-be historical epic from mainland China, A Battle of Wits feels like one of those off-brand counterfeits stamped surreptitiously from the factory at midnight: The jeans are made from the right fabric, but with three legs stitched together and different inseam lengths. You've got your marauding army, your besieged city, and your lone warrior (Andy Lau from House of Flying Daggers), fond of pronouncements like, "I believe universal love is the only path to peace." Um, OK, but is this a medieval war movie or what? How about a path to some action or romance? A Battle of Wits is a film basically in a battle with itself: The warfare can't be particularly violent; the love story can't lead to the bedroom; and Lau's hero must essentially disavow the very notion of heroism to help unite the people against a corrupt, teetering monarchy. As an opera produced 40 years ago, Chairman Mao would've loved it. The Chinese today will sensibly prefer their bootleg copies of Pirates of the Caribbean 3. (PG) BRIAN MILLER Neptune: 6 p.m. Sat., May 26; 3:30 p.m. Mon., May 28.
Before We Fall In Love Again
