SIFF 2007: Week Three: Picks and Pans

Alive

Russia's been producing some interesting movies about its disastrous military intervention in Chechnya (as we'll soon be doing about Iraq), but this isn't one of them. Young veteran Sergei (Andrei Chadov) returns home to the provinces missing half a leg following an ambush we never see. As he reacquaints himself with his mother and girlfriend, periodic flashbacks to the snowy Caucasus introduce his platoon buddies—and, again, we're not quite sure what became of them. Until, that is, two fellow soldiers show up as ghosts and begin following Sergei through his uneasy homecoming. Why does Sergei flip out into violence when receiving his discharge pay? What does it mean when he's hit by a car, not once, but twice? And what does the third-act appearance of a priest portend? A spiritual journey, of course; and despite the baffling gaps in its story, Alive follows an utterly predictable path. (NR) BRIAN MILLER Lincoln Square: 7 p.m. Thurs., June 7. Neptune: 3:45 p.m. Sat., June 9.

Almost Adult

English director Yousaf Ali Khan tackles illegal immigration and the heartbreak of refugees, using two nonprofessional performers to dramatize what are essentially their real-life stories. Teenagers Mamie (Victoire Milandu) and Shiku (Ann Warungu) are from the Congo and Kenya, respectively, and meet while attempting to enter the U.K. Though 17-year-old Mamie vows to care for Shiku, 13, like an older sister, the two are soon separated upon arrival after an official realizes they're speaking different languages. While the divergent tales of their lives and experiences in the bureaucratic ringer are rendered with somewhat institutional cinematography by David Katznelson, Ali Khan deftly follows the girls' many ups and downs without overreaching. The fish-out-of-water scenario is nothing new, but telling their story straight-on perfectly relays the cold, almost clinical experience of being a refugee in an often uncaring world. (NR) KARLA STARR Pacific Place: 2 p.m. Wed., June 6.

American Shopper

Nothing I've seen thus far at SIFF has been funnier. Or as misleading. Do with that information what you will, then try to figure out the catch in the final credits. But you know what? It's a world-premiere documentary, and I'm not giving any spoilers. A persistent, implacable insurance agent in Columbia, Mo., creates what he calls the National Aisling League, then sets out to recruit local townsfolk to compete in the first championship event. Which entails decorating one's shopping cart, devising costume and choreography, then being scored by judges while artfully retrieving items from an assigned list. Among the citizen contestants are a formerly homeless actor, a likable redneck who equips his cart with a marshmallow cannon, an aging hippie chick fond of free-form interpretive dance, and a husband-and-wife pair of cutthroat, type-A competitors, each determined to beat the other. "I'm a win-aholic," says the perky wife, an ex–beauty queen whose husband goes with a Star Trek theme complete with laptop mounted on cart. It's all quite Christopher Guest–worthy, for reasons more than one. (NR) BRIAN MILLER Harvard Exit: 9:30 p.m. Thurs., June 7; 1:30 p.m. Sun,. June 10.

Antônia

It's like Salt N' Pepa meeting En Vogue as a promising hip-hop group is formed in the São Paulo suburb of Vila Brasilândia. Director Tata Amaral's largely improvised story of four singers (played by Negra Li, Leilah Moreno, Quelynah, and Cindy) has a documentary feel. Maybe because they're musicians in real life (all of them big stars, in fact), their understanding of a young group's struggles—starting as backup, playing crappy venues, securing a questionable manager, etc.—lends their fictional group (Antônia) extra believability. Plus, they even tone down their killer voices—except when Moreno gives Lauryn Hill a run for her money covering "Killing Me Softly." The girls must cope with societal pressures and deadbeat partners, getting knocked up or locked up, as their story follows an unpredictable, satisfying arc. With Fernando Meirelles (City of God) as a co-producer, Antônia always keeps an eye on the Vila's staggering landscape of hills and houses. When a beautiful blast of purple lightning illuminates one of the many dusk-and-dawn shots, it's a good metaphor for the spirit of Antônia. (NR) RACHEL SHIMP Harvard Exit: 5 p.m. Fri., June 8. SIFF Cinema: 9 p.m. Sun., June 10.

The Art of Crying

Denmark, 1971: What descriptions come to mind? Swinging, sophisticated, miniskirted, uninhibited? Well, maybe if you were a stewardess. If you were 11-year-old Allan, living in a small town, it was mainly a time of buttoned-up neuroses, passive-aggressive manipulation, and not quite understanding what's going on. His family's emotional life revolves around the nightly crying jags and suicide threats of his pathetic, nebbishy father—who, we gradually learn, has excellent reason to hate himself. Mom self-medicates, while teenage Sis, we find, has problems that go far beyond her rebellious fling with a "moped rowdy," one of the local longhaired rocker boys. What begins as dark comedy grows darker and less comic. Somewhere between the second and third funeral, the angst does start to feel a bit gratuitous, but if you're in the mood for tasteful, blue-eyed, sun-dappled domestic misery, you're in luck. (NR) GAVIN BORCHERT Pacific Place: 4:30 p.m. Wed., June 6. Egyptian: 6:45 p.m. Mon., June 11.

The Boss of It All