Local & Repertory
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The Act of Killing Like Armenia and Rwanda, Indonesia belongs to that second tier of genocides outside modern European borders. During 1965–66, world attention was focused on Vietnam. The TV cameras weren’t rolling, an oversight that director Joshua Oppenheimer now corrects in the most unsettling fashion. There are no mass graves here dug up by backhoe, no old newsreel footage, no historians or interviews with the families of the bereaved. Instead, in making this Oscar-nominated documentary, Oppenheimer somehow ingratiated himself with Congo and his cohort, convincing them to make a movie that would garishly, heroically re-enact their past misdeeds. His naive yet murderous subjects frequently ask his opinion, off-camera, as if he were a sympathetic participant in the project. Outside Indonesia, they will be judged more harshly, but Oppenheimer bites his tongue on set. Instead of the banality of evil, we have the kitsch of evil. (NR) BRIAN MILLER Grand Illusion, 1403 N.E. 50th St., 523-3935, grandillusioncinema.org, $5-$8, Sun., Feb. 2, 2 p.m.
Children’s Film Festival Continuing through Sunday, this year’s feast includes 11 feature films and 14 short-film packages—ideal for short attention spans—that should serve children of a variety of ages. The schedule also offers live events, animation demos, and hands-on workshops. (NR)
Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave., 829-7863, nwfilmforum.org, $10-$12, Through Feb. 2.
Fateful Findings Returning from SIFF last year, this paranormal cult movie by Neil Breen has a writer (played by Breen) develop supernatural power and discover hidden government conspiracies. (NR)
SIFF Cinema Uptown, 511 Queen Anne Ave. N., 324-9996, siff.net, Fri., Jan. 31, 10:30 p.m.
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The Golden Age of Italian Cinema
I Vitelloni means “the young bulls,” but the best translation of what director Federico Fellini had in mind might be Slackers, or maybe Superannuated Brat Pack. His 1953 classic is about teenagers who won’t admit they’re pushing 30: five guys who sponge off Mama, dodge jobs, and scuffle aimlessly around their dead-end hometown (beachside Rimini, Italy), partying, joshing, punking one another, and pinching women they’d be terrified of spending more than one night with. If they manage to sprout a scraggly goatee or cadge 1,000 lire from a sister without instantly blowing it at the track, it’s a big accomplishment. Though it bears traces of the neorealist school in which Fellini apprenticed, and of the more circusy later spectacles we think of as Felliniesque, the movie is just its own scruffily lovely self: a softheartedly satiric look at the street life of society’s plucky losers, occasionally granted transcendent visions that tend to end in hangovers the next day. (NR) TIM APPELO Seattle Art Museum, 1300 First Ave., 654-3100, seattleartmuseum.org, $63-$68 (series), Thursdays, 7:30 p.m. Through March 13.
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Groundhog Day Bill Murray’s in fine form in Harold Ramis’ very funny 1993 time-warp comedy, in which the grumpy TV weatherman must overcome his bad karma to escape the worst day of his life, being played out over and over again. With Andie MacDowall. (PG-13)
Central Cinema, 1411 21st Ave., 686-6684, central-cinema.com, $6-$8, Jan. 31-Feb. 1, 7 p.m.; Sat., Feb. 1, 3 p.m.; Feb. 3-5, 7 p.m.
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In the Mood for Love Wong Kar-wai’s lushly romantic 2000 adultery tale is set in early-’60s Hong Kong, where two strangers meet in an overcrowded boarding house. One is a married secretary (Maggie Cheung) accustomed to disguising the indiscretions of her boss. Adultery is in the air. With her form-fitting floral-patterned cheongsam dresses, Jackie O hair, and gorgeous eyes, she’s glamorous but alone (her husband generally absent on business trips). Grazing past her in the camped hallways is another tenant, a handsome journalist (Tony Leung) whose wife is forever working late. (Oddly, their respective spouses are always away at the exact same time—coincidence?) Together, they form a beautiful pair whose attachment seems all the stronger for its doomed indecision. Some may protest that nothing much happens in the film, but Mood takes place as much in the lovers’ past recollection as in their present infidelity. For Wong, love is felt more deeply in memory than in the fleeting moment. (R) B.R.M. Central Cinema, $6-$8, Jan. 31-Feb. 5, 9:30 p.m.
Mother of George SIFF continues its “Recent Raves!” series with this New York-set drama about a Nigerian-American couple (Danai Gurira and Isaach De Bankole) trying to have a child. (NR)
SIFF Film Center (Seattle Center), 324-9996, siff.net, $6-$11, 7 p.m. Tues., Feb. 4.
Shadows of Liberty Don’t trust the MSM! Discussion follows Jean-Philippe Tremblay’s new doc about media and censorship. (NR)
Keystone Congregational Church, 5019 Keystone Place N., Seattle, 632-6021, Free, Thu., Jan. 30, 7 p.m.
Silent Movie Mondays Organist Jim Riggs will provide live accompaniment for the 1924 Peter Pan, starring Betty Bronson as the titular leader of the Lost Boys. (NR)
The Paramount, 911 Pine St., Seattle, 877-784-4849, stgpresents.org, $5-$10, Mondays, 7 p.m. Through Feb. 10.
The Sprocket Society’s Saturday Secret Matinees The 1949 serial Batman & Robin will be screened in weekly installments. (NR)
Grand Illusion, $5-$8 individual, $35-$56 pass, Sat., 2 p.m.
A Touch of Zin SIFF continues its “Recent Raves!” series with Jia Zhangke’s dark, episodic view of modern China. He offers four linked scenarios, based on real news events, following an embittered coal miner, a rootless criminal, a lovelorn receptionist, and a teenage factory worker drifting from job to job. All are from villages being obliterated by new factories, railways, airports, and roads. Most are nomadic, finding jobs where they can and wiring money back home. They’re cogs in the machinery of China’s relentless modernization, so is it any wonder they dream? A short prologue leaves three dead and ends with a fiery explosion—more like a Western action movie than Jia’s prior realism (The World, Still Life, 24 City). Later in the film, bus passengers will watch such a violent Hollywood flick; these are the scenes, Jia suggests, that are displacing the old peasant songs, national mythology, and Chinese opera. (NR) B.R.M. SIFF Film Center (Seattle Center), 324-9996, siff.net, $6-$11, 7 p.m. Mon., Feb. 3.
24 Exposures From Joe Swanberg (Drinking Buddies, Hannah Takes the Stairs), this new drama takes a nod back to European art-house and softcore movies of the 1960s, with murder and fetish models in the mix. (NR)
Grand Illusion, $5-$8, Jan. 31-Feb. 2, 9 p.m.; Thu., Feb. 6, 9 p.m.
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2014 Oscar-Nominated Short Films SEE THE PICK LIST, PAGE 24.
Ongoing
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American Hustle The latest concoction from David O. Russell is full of big roundhouse swings and juicy performances: It’s a fictionalized take on the Abscam scandal of the late 1970s, in which the FBI teamed with a second-rate con man (here called Irving Rosenfeld, played by Christian Bale) in a wacko sting operation involving a bogus Arab sheik and bribes to U.S. congressmen. Along with the FBI coercing him into its scheme, Irving is caught between his hottie moll Sydney (Amy Adams) and neglected wife Rosalyn (Jennifer Lawrence). Even more complicated for Irving is that one of the targets of the undercover operation, a genially corrupt yet idealistic Jersey politico (Jeremy Renner), turns out to be a soulmate. Equally unhappy is the presiding FBI agent (Bradley Cooper, his permed hair and his sexual urge equally curled in maddening knots), who’s developed a crush on Sydney that is driving him insane. Russell encourages his actors to go for it, and man, do they go for it. (R) ROBERT HORTON Ark Lodge, Big Picture, Cinebarre, Factoria, iPic Theaters, Kirkland Parkplace, Lincoln Square, Pacific Place, SIFF Cinema Uptown, Sundance, Thornton Place, others
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Dallas Buyers Club Making a straight white Texas homophobe the hero of a film about the ’80s AIDS crisis doesn’t seem right. It’s inappropriate, exceptional, possibly even crass. All those qualities are reflected in Matthew McConaughey’s ornery, emaciated portrayal of Ron Woodroof, a rodeo rider and rough liver who contracted HIV in 1985. Fond of strippers, regularly swigging from his pocket flask, doing lines of coke when he can afford them, betting on the bulls he rides, Ron has tons of Texas-sized character. Directed by Jean-Marc Vallee, the unruly Dallas Buyers Club goes easy on the sinner-to-saint conversion story. McConaughey and the filmmakers know that once Ron gets religion, their tale risks tedium. As Ron desperately bribes and steals a path to off-label meds, his allies and adversaries do read like fictional composites (played by Griffin Dunne, Jennifer Garner, Denis O’Hare, and Steve Zahn). Best among them is the transvestite Rayon, who becomes Ron’s right-hand woman (Jared Leto). They’re both fellow gamblers who delight in beating the house. (R) B.R.M. Sundance, Lincoln Square, Meridian, Ark Lodge, others
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Gravity George Clooney and Sandra Bullock are stranded in orbit, menaced by regular bombardments of space debris. Their dilemma is established in an astonishing 12-minute opening sequence, seamlessly rendered via CGI by director Alfonso Cuaron. (Here let’s note that the 3-D version is essential.) Dr. Stone (Bullock) at first can’t get her bearings; and the rest of the film consists of her navigating from one problem to the next. For all its technical marvels and breathtaking panoramas reflected in Stone’s visor, Gravity is both space-age and hugely traditional, though with a modern, self-aware heroine. (PG-13) B.R.M. Sundance, Oak Tree, Lincoln Square
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Her Spike Jonze’s unlikely romance is set in a smooth, efficient near-future Los Angeles. There are no poor people, no upsetting stories on the news. Technology works perfectly. Everyone ought to be happy, and that’s the problem for mopey Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix). Gradually it emerges that he’ separated from his wife (Rooney Mara), but won’t sign the divorce papers. Impulsively deciding to upgrade his phone and home PC, Theodore opts for the new OS1 ( “It’s not just an operating system, it’s a consciousness”). He chooses a female voice (Scarlett Johansson’s) called Samantha, which soon takes over his life. Before long they’re going on dates together—and more. When Theodore finally spills his secret, his friend Amy (Amy Adams) treats it like no big news. In this ingenious and unexpectedly touching story, both humans and programs worry about being alone. And both yearn to connect across the digital divide between sentience and software. (R) B.R.M. Sundance, Kirkland Parkplace, Harvard Exit, Lincoln Square, Majestic Bay, Cinebarre, others
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Inside Llewyn Davis While there are funny bits in this simple story of a struggling folk musician in 1961 Greenwich Village, very loosely inspired by Dave Van Ronk’s memoir The Mayor of MacDougal Street, the situation for Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac) is fairly dire. He has no money, no apartment, and no real prospects in the music industry—apart from an album that isn’t selling. He’s the wrong guy at the right moment, as the movie’s poignant final scenes make clear. The Coen brothers aren’t really making a comedy here, and you should temper your expectations to appreciate the movie’s minor-key rewards. Isaac can really sing and play guitar; the sterling soundtrack, by T Bone Burnett, is built around live music performances; and the catchiest tune is a knowingly cornball novelty song. As a man, Llewyn is a self-described asshole offstage; he’s only at his best onstage. If music can’t save him or provide a career, it’s also his only succor against life’s crushing disappointments. (R) B.R.M. Oak Tree, Sundance, others
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The Square Jehane Noujaim’s documentary is both timely and behind the current news cycle. And that’s not to fault the Egyptian-American filmmaker’s brave, total, immersive commitment in a fluid and sometimes dangerous situation. She spent over two years following the protests and battles at Tahrir Square, which erupted in January 2011. No one, including her, had any idea where events would lead. Her perspective is mostly ground-level, following a half-dozen charismatic revolutionaries, some of whom speak English. The initial euphoria eventually runs into a brick wall called the Muslim Brotherhood. The Square’s granular approach makes it a very partisan doc. Noujaim is on the side of the revolutionaries—who wouldn’t be?—without ever trying to summon a thesis from all the exhilarating, power-to-the-people process of revolution. To be fair, that may be impossible. Her film is an invaluable chronicle of an historic moment. (NR) B.R.M. Sundance
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12 Years a Slave Made by English director Steve McQueen, this harrowing historical drama is based on a memoir by Solomon Northup (here played by Chiwetel Ejiofor), a free man from Saratoga, New York, who was kidnapped and sold into slavery in 1841. Solomon passes through the possession of a series of Southern plantation owners. One sensitive slave owner (Benedict Cumberbatch) gives Solomon—a musician by trade—a fiddle. Then he’s sold to the cruel cotton farmer Edwin Epps (Michael Fassbender), who also owns the furiously hard-working Patsey (Lupita Nyong’o). Patsey, like Solomon, is caught inside the terror of not knowing how to play this hand. Do they keep their heads down and try to survive, or do they resist? Instead of taking on the history of the “peculiar institution,” the film narrows itself to Solomon’s daily routine, his few possessions. The film’s and-then-this-happened quality is appropriate for a memoir written in the stunned aftermath of a nightmare. Along the way, McQueen includes idyllic nature shots, as though to contrast that unspoiled world with what men have done in it. The contrast is lacerating. (R) R.H. Kirkland Parkplace, Lincoln Square, Meridian, Varsity, others
