SIFF Week 2: Picks & Pans

Wednesday, May 27

4:30 p.m., Harvard Exit

Small Crime

If nothing else, this agreeable small comedy from Cyprus will inspire you to visit that postcard-perfect little island. That is, if you don't mind a little death in the foreground. A hapless cop (Aris Servetalis) patrols his Greek-speaking precinct on an underpowered moped, his authority completely ignored by the locals. (And also by nude sunbathing tourists when he takes the boat out on patrol.) While the chief's out fishing, a corpse appears at the base of a cliff. With whitewashed villages perched like glaciers atop the island's steep ridges, it's a wonder the shore isn't littered with corpses. But cop Leonidas suspects murder, and his investigation becomes more ardent when lovely TV host Angeliki (Vicky Papadopoulou) returns from Athens to visit her home village. Small Crime is something like The Keystone Kops on vacation, a leisurely vacation. A shady land deal adds some complication, and Angeliki's family secrets are gradually revealed, but the pace of events isn't much faster than Leonidas' moped. Which, truth be told, makes it that much easier for us to enjoy the local scenery. (NR) BRIAN MILLER Also: Uptown, 7 p.m. Wed., June 3 and Admiral, 7 p.m. Wed., June 10.

4:45 p.m., Pacific Place

Independent America: Rising From Ruins

On its own, Rising From Ruins seems a retread of every post-Katrina documentary that has rolled off the assembly line since the levees fell. Says one interviewee in the opening montage: "Once you've lived in this culture, it's hard to leave it." And thus the table is set for a well-worn plot thrust: i.e., New Orleanians are an anguished but resilient lot. Corporations and the governments that enable them are bad. Water is wet. But if taken as a sequel to Independent America: The Two-Lane Search for Mom and Pop, local digital documentarian Hanson Hosein's first feature, Rising becomes an earnest, if visually uninteresting, dissection of the tension between the American small-business owner and the corporate chains that threaten his or her livelihood. (NR) VERNAL COLEMAN

7 p.m., Egyptian

PICK: Passing Strange

I was hoping that the Tony Award–winning rock opera Passing Strange would eventually reach Seattle, but Spike Lee's exhilarating concert doc is the next best thing. This coming-of-age-while-black musical by Mark Stewart (aka Stew) has been a long time brewing. It progressed from the Bay Area to off-Broadway with much acclaim, and finally hit Broadway last year. If you loved Hedwig and the Angry Inch at SIFF '01, Passing Strange packs at least as much power, but with a much tighter band and a more concentrated story. Unlike John Cameron Mitchell playing a transsexual East German in Hedwig, Stew is relating a (slightly embellished) version of his own life story, one also rooted in the '80s, which proceeds from California to Europe and back. And the songs, co-written with Heidi Rodewald, are even better. Surgery is only one path to self-discovery. Music is another. Shooting during the show's final performances on Broadway, Lee sometimes pushes his camera too close, particularly after intermission, but the high-def images are crisp and the sound quality excellent. Besides Stew's band, his ensemble of performers—most in multiple roles on a bare stage—are in equal command of the stage-tested material. Lee will attend this screening for an audience Q&A. The film is probably bound for HBO later this year. (NR) BRIAN MILLER Also: Kirkland Performance Center, 6:30 p.m. Tues., June 2.

Thursday, May 28

7 p.m., Pacific Place

The Garden

Another eco-bore. Municipal politics in Los Angeles have never been known for transparency, nor have politicians always been accountable to those who elected them. But this documentary fails to tease out the dirty particulars of how a city-owned lot in South Central L.A., bought to be a garbage incinerator site in the '80s, somehow reverted back to its owner, and at what price. It's more insinuation than journalism. After the 1992 Rodney King verdict riots, the vacant 13-acre site was transformed into a community pea patch, the largest in the U.S. (Aerial shots are amazing; there's no other green in South Central.) Most of the farmers interviewed are Latino (and some appear to be illegal immigrants), while the politicians who sold the parcel back—in a closed-door 2003 meeting—are black, with a different set of voters (and donors) in mind. Covering several years of protests, courtroom motions, and celebrity photo ops (hello, Willie Nelson and Dennis Kucinich), The Garden earnestly follows the story, but only from one side. The gardeners, chanting their Zapatista slogans, are noble. The pols are likely corrupt. And the landowner is an asshole. But the political calculus among these warring parties remains murky. When Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa shows up, a guy who speaks the gardeners' language and is a probable candidate for governor, he gives a nice speech, then disappears. He has other votes to chase, other funds to raise, elsewhere in the city. (NR) BRIAN MILLER Also: 11 a.m. Sat., May 30.

7 p.m., SIFF Cinema

PICK: The Hurt Locker

SEE THE WIRE.

7 p.m., Uptown

PICK: Mothers & Daughters