SIFF Week Four: Picks & Pans

Alien Autopsy

In the long history of fine Fox Network programming, the 1995 special Alien Autopsy: (Fact or Fiction?) is second only to 2003's Man vs. Beast in terms of overall ridiculousness. The Jonathan Frakes–hosted special purportedly contained never-before-seen footage of an intergalactic visitor who crash-landed in Roswell, N.M., in 1947. The creators of the footage, Ray Santilli and Gary Shoefield, eventually admitted it was fake. This British comedy fictionalizes the story of how those two conspired to make millions from the hoax. Sounds great, only the movie has no idea what it wants to be: It's neither media satire nor buddy picture nor exploratory sci-fi. It's not really much of anything. The only highlight is Harry Dean Stanton, brilliant and criminally underused in a supporting role. His hilarious turn makes this a great future DVD rental for a late night with a couple of beers, but that's about it. (PG-13) FRANK PAIVA Egyptian: midnight Fri., June 15. Neptune: 7:15 p.m. Sun., June 17.

Angels in the Dust

Nineteen years ago, Marion and Con Cloete walked away from a privileged life in Johannesburg and poured their life savings into an orphanage and school in a barren village. Today, as we see in Louise Hogarth's documentary, the Cloetes feed, clothe, educate, and board 250 children, along with another 280 day students from the surrounding areas. A shocking percentage of the kids have lost parents to AIDS, or are infected themselves, often from being raped, the consequence of the stubborn belief in the myth that sleeping with a virgin will cure HIV. Angels takes an intimate, unstinting, ground's-eye view of the biological and social diseases ravaging Africa, making public-policy debate about AIDS in Africa seems distant and esoteric. No surprise that it's heartbreaking to hear the stories of prepubescent girls being raped and prostituted, of babies kept in tiny crates like veal calves, and to watch a man dying of AIDS. Even the humor is grim, as when feisty, tireless Marion chats with her helpers about a promiscuous HIV-infected man they dub "the serial killer." The tone of the gossip is no different than a street-corner conversation, except in this case, every single one of his former girlfriends has died. Though Hogarth illustrates the children's plight, the film lacks a narrative thread, and its 95 minutes feel overlong. (NR) HUAN HSU Harvard Exit: 9:30 p.m. Thurs., June 14; 1:30 p.m. Sat., June 16.

Black White + Gray: A Portrait of Sam Wagstaff and Robert Mapplethorpe

Recent biodocs have an unfortunate tendency toward desperate mythologizing ("Though today forgotten, so-and-so changed history"); this clips-and-interviews portrait of late collector-curator Sam Wagstaff is no exception, ornamented with breathlessly overwrought narration. But Wagstaff's life nevertheless holds up as the doc makes a case for his primary influence on the rise of minimalism and the market for vintage photography. His relationship with the much younger Mapplethorpe—an only-in-New York mixture of love, lust, mentorship, mutual inspiration, and careerism—provides the tale's fascinating core, much of it told through the reminiscences of close friend Patti Smith. (NR) ED HALTER Harvard Exit: 7:15 p.m. Wed., June 13. Egyptian: 4:15 p.m. Thurs., June 14.

The Bubble

SIFF Emerging Master Eytan Fox continues his exploration of Israeli and Palestinian queer identity in The Bubble, his most accomplished film to date. The movie follows three roommates living in the chic young part of Tel Aviv. When one guy's Arab boyfriend moves in, it forces everyone to confront conflicts both external and internal. This fresh, believable ensemble film is incredibly absorbing and full of fascinating characters; it also forgoes the forced coincidences and preaching of Crash and Babel. Yousef "Joe" Sweid gives a compelling performance as the Palestinian man caught between two worlds. Ohad Knoller's turn as his boyfriend is equally captivating. (Both have appeared in Fox's previous films; note that his 2002 Yossi & Jagger plays the Egyptian, 11 a.m. Sat., June 16.) Unlike many other SIFF dramas, The Bubble could actually be longer than its 117 minutes (which might help smooth out the ending). If you haven't seen his earlier films, including Walk on Water, now is the time to introduce yourself to Eytan Fox. He's going to be around for a while. (NR) FRANK PAIVA Egyptian: 6:30 p.m. Thurs., June 14; 12:45 p.m. Sat., June 16.

Expired

A date movie only for couples whose relationships are already 100 percent solid and secure as bedrock, this darkish comedy casts Samantha Morton as an unhappy L.A. meter reader who lives with her stroke-afflicted, mute mother (Teri Garr) and has exactly one friend (Illeana Douglas, always welcome). Into her lonely life comes a fellow meter jockey (Jason Patric), and talk about a catch! Military mustache, serious anger-management issues, estranged from his adult son, addicted to cyberporn, and he insults our heroine at every opportunity (wittingly and not). So naturally she falls for him. Women of Seattle (or women everywhere, for that matter), tell me you haven't seen—or, worse, experienced—this story before: You think you can change a guy, you make every compromise and accommodation, you even forgive his badgering you to lose weight, but...he's still Jason Patric. And admittedly a very funny Jason Patric (a first in his film career). Morton's meek forbearance of his truculent badgering—"Are you being sarcastic?"—will make you laugh, cringe, and possibly cry, although writer-director Cecilia Miniucchi consistently pushes her bittersweet tale past the point of plausibility (call it the realm of Eleanor Rigby absurdism). It's as though she lacks the good sense, like her heroine, to know when to say, "Enough!" (NR) BRIAN MILLER Pacific Place: 6:30 p.m. Thurs., June 14. Lincoln Square: 4 p.m. Sat., June 16.

"The Family Picture Show"