*recommended
ABANDONED Hungary, 2001. Director: Arpad Sopsits Sat., June 1, 6:30 p.m., Harvard Exit Sun., June 2, 9:30 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
You’ve seen one bleak, depressing, Dickensian orphanage movie, you’ve seen them all. Even though Abandoned is a powerful, well-wrought, autobiographical tale of a miserable Cold War boyhood in 1960 Hungary, it’s the same damn movie you’ve sat through countless times before. Our hero is beaten, abused, and victimized. He cowers, flees, and weeps. He makes friends and enemies, feels the faint inklings of sex, glimpses a naked woman, and steals his first kiss (with a boy, it should be noted). In short, despite his horrid circumstances, 9-year-old Aron gradually comes of age. Abandoned is so heavy-handed in its pathos that it begins with an inscription from Nietzsche—”Woe to those who have no home”—and gets even darker from there. Flashbacks to his mother (blind? dead?) periodically torment the young lad who, with his fellow orphan inmates, collectively symbolize a parentless nation suffering under brutal, illegitimate communist rule. Brian Miller
ABC AFRICA Iran, 2001. Director: Abbas Kiarostami Fri., May 24, 4:30 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall Sun., May 26, 11:30 a.m., Pacific Place
So green, so red, so fertile—how is it that Uganda has been the seat of so much suffering? What went wrong? Long after the exile of Idi Amin, master Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami takes a fact-finding visit to the unhappy equatorial African country and produces this impressionistic video diary. The resulting documentary is both characteristically cryptic and deeply compelling. By and large, Ugandans speak for themselves in lilting English (with subtitles), describing a horrific epidemic of AIDS-caused deaths and the resulting 1.6 million orphans among a population of 22 million. It’s an incredibly powerful, disturbing film, although Kiarostami doesn’t help his cause by resorting to CARE-level images of saucer-eyed children and essentialist sequences in which orphans dance and sing to inscrutably joyous rhythms. An altruistic Austrian couple’s adoption of one adorable little girl provides a somewhat hopeful coda to Africa, but as Kiarostami himself dryly intones, “Our only good fortune is that we humans can adapt to anything.” Some consolation. B.R.M.
*AFGHAN ALPHABET Iran, 2001. Director: Moshen Makhmalbaf Sun., June 2, 6:30 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall Wed., June 5, 4:30 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
“A-B,” the children repeat, again and again. These are the first two letters of the Afghan alphabet, and, not so coincidentally, they also sound out as the word for “water.” In his new documentary, Makhmalbaf (Kandahar) elegantly points out the connection between the two: education and the source of life. Leaving Kandahar, Makhmalbaf journeys to the border of Iran and Afghanistan to examine the educational crisis of young Afghan refugees. Urgently shot on digital video during the U.S. campaign, this poetic film captures impromptu classes taking place out in the open—as well as those children eager to learn but left on the sidelines because they lack official identification papers. Makhmalbaf is most interested, however, in one nervous girl who refuses to remove her burqa in class for fear of retribution, even though she is out of Taliban hands. Although she cannot see the lesson through her head covering, it feels better to be blind than condemned. Anthony Kaufman
AGITATOR Japan, 2001. Director: Miike Takashi Fri., June 7, 9:30 p.m., Pacific Place Sun., June 9, 4:00 p.m., Pacific Place
Agitator may firmly belong to the Japanese yakuza genre, but it clearly took most of its cues from the Don of all organized crime films: The Godfather. Here we have rival crime families, violence begetting more violence, a kidnapping of a rival advisor, a similarly lengthy runtime, and even some tarantella music. Yet Miikes Corleone-like saga doesnt offer any surprises either thematically or visually, and Agitator loses steam long before its finish. If theres a significant difference in approach at work, its the recasting of the protagonist as action hero. Here, its not so much the family that you dont want to go against, but the squinting bad-ass who absolutely refuses to compromise his loyaltiesor to employ any of the buttons on his shirt. Those familiar with Miikes previous work may be a bit surprised by his restraint (excluding a very unsettling rape scene). Theres plenty of blood, but he skips the guts. U.S. premiere. Paul Fontana
*ALL ABOUT LILY CHOU-CHOU Japan, 2001. Director: Shunji Iwai Thurs., June 6, 9:30 p.m., Pacific Place Wed., June 12, 1:00 p.m., Cinerama
Shot on film and DV and drenched in shimmering color, Lily plunges the audience into the excesses of contemporary Japanese pop culture—its state-of-the-art gadgetry, its obsession with money and status, its speed-of-lightning shifts in trends, its worship of celebrity—in order to guide us through the treacherous paths of modern adolescence. No other “youth culture” film in recent memory has been as harrowing, draining, or truthful. At the story’s center is 14-year-old Yuichi, a sensitive boy with a crush on the most popular and talented girl at his school. To escape the pressure of both hormones and middle-school savagery, he retreats into worship of the vaguely goth pop singer Lily Chou-Chou. Lily’s rabidly devoted fans commune via chat rooms, where they dissect the world, offer solace to their wounded brethren, and pay tribute to their tortured goddess. Scored to both Debussy and haunting Japanese pop, Lily‘s emotional undertow swells until it threatens to engulf the viewer. Ernest Hardy
AMERICAN GUN U.S.A., 2002. Director: Alan Jacobs Cast: James Coburn, Virginia Madsen, Barbara Bain Thurs., June 13, 9:30 p.m., Cinerama Sat., June 15, 1:45 p.m., Egyptian
The idea of tracing the disparate personal stories linked by successive ownership of a handgun isnt new, and Gun breaks little new ground. Aged WWII vet Martin (Coburn) and wife (Bain) suffer a family tragedy in their idyllic Vermont small town, prompting him to follow the .357 magnums fateful journey from the factory to his home. His black-and-white memories punctuate a mere two unrelated stories he discovers in Miami and L.A. Meanwhile, his troubled granddaughter goes missing and his wife frets about his obsession (Hes on a crusade!). Coburns grizzled face and arthritis-gnarled hands lend poignancy to this final quest, but his talents are poorly served by a flashback-dependent screenplay that annoyingly misleads the viewer. Insipid, twinkly piano music, routine videography, and slow pacing make Gun more suitable for PBS than theaters. B.R.M.
THE ANARCHIST COOKBOOK U.S.A., 2002. Director: Jordan Susman Cast: John Savage Fri., June 14, 7:00 p.m., Pacific Place Sun., June 16, 1:45 p.m., Harvard Exit
Heres a heartwarming coming-of-age tale about the Dallas, Texas adventures of Puck, an honor student-turned-anarchist who loses his comfortable lifestyle as part of an anarchist collective, finds love with a sadomasochistic sorority girl, and saves the world from mass destruction. If youre confused, youre on the right track. Joyously, Puck is played (and played well) by Devon Gummersall, a.k.a. Brian Krakow of mid-90s My So Called Life fame, making any confusion well worthwhile. The anarchist collective is a group of well-meaning, relatively peaceful radicals who live together in a dilapidated house. Enter the villain, Johnny Black, a darker breed of anarchist with an MIT education and a heart of evil. Things get messy when Johnny leads our heroes astray from their peaceful political protests and down a darker path of violence and cyber-terrorism. Puck fights back. And picks up a freaky Republican girlfriend. World premiere. Katie Millbauer
ANGELUS Poland, 2001. Director: Lech Majewski Sun., June 9, 1:45 p.m., Egyptian Tues., June 11, 7:00 p.m., Egyptian
Thoroughly and rather inscrutably Polish, Angelus makes a fable of Poland’s 20th-century history. In it, caricatures of Hitler and Stalin mix with angels, saints, and a kooky band of sun-worshipping cultists who believe a ray from Saturn will destroy the planet. In a world director Majewski renders in stylized, eccentric tableaus, this eschatology seems fairly reasonable—even if it means a naked, virginal teen boy must be sacrificed to absorb the ray and save the Earth. (Is he a Christ figure? Well, Angelus is fairly well suffused with religious symbolism, so you do the math.) This guileless chosen one narrates the decades-spanning tale, which often suggests a gentler kind of Emir Kustericia-style absurdist nationalism (see Underground) shorn of sex and violence. What lies next for Poland after the horrors of WWII and repression of the communist era? How will the world end? Judged by the movie (if not its prophecies), more with a whimper than a bang. B.R.M.
ASOKA THE GREAT India, 2001. Director: Santosh Sivan Thurs., May 30, 9:30 p.m., Egyptian Tues., June 11, 1:00 p.m., Cinerama
A third-century emperor falls in love, is betrayed, and becomes a tyrant.
BANG BANG YOU’RE DEAD U.S.A., 2002. Director: Guy Ferland Fri., June 7, 4:30 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall Sat., June 15, 6:30 p.m., Cinerama Sun., June 16, 4:00 p.m., Cinerama
What causes high-school violence? Find out. World premiere.
BEIJING ROCKS Hong Kong, 2001. Director: Mabel Cheung Mon., June 10, 9:30 p.m., Egyptian Wed., June 12, 7:00 p.m., Pacific Place
A rock-and-roll fairy tale set in the context of China’s takeover of Hong Kong. U.S. premiere.
*BIGGIE AND TUPAC U.S.A., 2002. Director: Nick Broomfield Sun., June 2, 4:00 p.m., Pacific Place Tues., June 4, 9:30 p.m., Egyptian
At once a meditation on rap culture and an investigation of the exploitation of that culture, this extraordinary documentary traces the lives and violent deaths of former friends Tupac Shakur and Christopher Wallace (Biggie Smalls), an exploration that ranges from L.A. to N.Y.C., from the insistent calls for justice by Wallace’s mother to the unnerving threats, veiled and unveiled, by Suge Knight. Unexpectedly moving and tough-minded, at times even wildly, carelessly brave, this is the film that Broomfield (Kurt and Courtney) has been working toward since he started down the documentary path. If the director makes it through the year alive—and given some of the revelations he secures, principally from friends of Wallace/Smalls who, out of love for the dead rapper and his mother, prove incredibly candid—Broomfield will have made not just the best film of his career but one of the gutsier documentaries in memory. Manohla Dargis
BLACK PICKET FENCE U.S.A., 2001. Director: Sergio Goes Thurs., May 30, 7:00 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall Fri., May 31, 4:30 p.m., Harvard Exit
A young rapper gets to know his ghetto.
BLUE GATE CROSSING Taiwan/Hong Kong, 2001. Director: Yi Chih-yen Fri., June 14, 7:00 p.m., Harvard Exit Sun., June 16, 11:30 a.m., Harvard Exit
Three Taipei high-school students explore their sexual desires, only to become more confused. U.S. premiere.
BRING ME THE HEAD OF ALFREDO GARCIA U.S.A., 1974. Director: Sam Peckinpah Cast: Warren Oates, Gig Young Fri., June 14, 4:30 p.m., Egyptian
Mexico, 1974: where a million bucks goes a long way. One investment option involves hiring a gang to hunt down the guy who knocked up a wealthy landowner’s daughter. The outraged father wants the offending cabeza delivered to him, pronto! Living the life of a scuzzy bartender catering to tourists, Bennie (Oates) jumps at the chance for a cut of the profits. He hits the road with his call girl sweetheart to find Alfredo, who’s already dead—not a good sign of things to come. Violence and brutality are interspersed with moments of surprising beauty in the most unusual and demanding film of Peckinpah’s career. Although Head starts off a bit shaky, watching Bennie transform himself from an alcoholic lowlife into an alcoholic avenger is never dull. Some consider the movie to be an allegory of Peckinpah’s time in Hollywood—or a paraphrase of the Orpheus myth. Either way, it’s a worthwhile investment. Rob Andrews
BRITNEY BABY, ONE MORE TIME U.S.A./Netherlands/France, 2001. Director: Ludi Boeken Sun., May 26, 1:45 p.m., Harvard Exit Tues., May 28, 9:30 p.m., Harvard Exit
Ludi Boeken’s deliciously titled comedy positions Mark Borchardt and Mike Schank, the subjects of the documentary American Movie (itself a kind of self-fulfilling fame game), as the “stars” of a road movie “based on a true story,” playing documentarians who attempt to pass off a male Britney Spears impersonator (Robert Stephens playing himself) as the genuine article. The conceptual frisson sustains the movie briefly, but the writing and directing are so flat-footed you expect Jay and Silent Bob to show up any minute. (It doesn’t help that Stephens looks more like Tina Yothers.) Dennis Lim
BROTHER Hong Kong, 2001. Director: Yan Yan Mak Thurs., June 6, 7:00 p.m., Harvard Exit Fri., June 7, 4:30 p.m., Harvard Exit
A young man travels through the northern Chinese wilderness in search of his brother. U.S. premiere.
BUNGALOW Germany, 2002. Director: Ulrich Kohler Fri., May 24, 4:30 p.m., Harvard Exit Mon., May 27, 9:30 p.m., Harvard Exit
A German soldier hitches a ride home, where things aren’t exactly peaceful.
BUTTERFLY SMILE China, 2001. Director: He Jian Jun Thurs., June 13, 9:30 p.m., Harvard Exit Sat., June 15, 1:45 p.m., Harvard Exit
Don’t invoke Hitchcock unless you mean business. Playing with themes of voyeurism, photography, and the fetishizing power of the male gaze ࠬa Rear Window, Smile turns out to offer very little in the way of suspense or humor over the course of a very slow 90 minutes. An amateur photographer becomes smitten with a model-turned-designer, then is unwittingly hired by her jealous husband to spy on her. Adultery and blackmail must surely follow, right? Wrong. The designer nearly kills a cyclist in a late-night traffic accident observed only by the photographer, who neglects to report this incident to either the police or his client. He just keeps staring at her and taking pictures, occasionally calling her in her dress shop to pluck her guilty conscience. She feels bad, but not that bad. The movie never gets much more interesting than that, and our rather lumpy hero never emerges as a compellingly hard-boiled private eye. U.S. premiere. B.R.M.
*A CAB FOR THREE Chile, 2001. Director: Orlando Lbbert Mon., May 27, 4:00 p.m., Harvard Exit Wed., May 29, 9:30 p.m., Harvard Exit
Think you’ve got problems? Taxi driver Ulises can barely make the payments on his unreliable Russian-made Lada, let alone scare up paying passengers. Worse, he’s abducted by two hooligans who inquire, “Steer or trunk?” Forced to act as their chauffeur on an odyssey of bungling but lucrative robberies, our hero learns to enjoy having cash in his hands, altering the dynamic among the bickering trio. Ulises has a family and wife (Nelly, like Penelope, who also sews like the wife of Ulysses in Homeric myth), and he’s totally unprepared for the two goons to ingratiate themselves at his home with gifts and charm. Soon raspy-voiced Chavelo and young, dim Coto are like members of his own family; then they talk about going straight! What about the money? And the cop on their trail? Although it lurches somewhat unsteadily between comedy and drama, Cab is—like the Lada—a surprisingly sturdy and effective vehicle. B.R.M.
*THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI Germany, 1919. Director: Robert Wiene Mon., June 10, 7:00 p.m., Egyptian
The period we now call German Expressionism only lasted about 18 months, but few art fads have cast such long shadows. For most people, Robert Wiene’s shocker is about all they know of the movement and, except for specialists, all they’ll ever need to know. With a genuinely disturbing dreamlike storyline about a sleepwalker, a murderer, and a (possibly) mad doctor, plus a cast of the day’s top film actors, Caligari has managed to creep viewers out for more than 80 years despite fuzzy, choppy prints and cheesy stock musical scores. This is mainly due to the queasy atmosphere created by the deliberately crude, out-of-kilter sets and costumes by Walter R�g, Walter Reimann, and Hermann Warm—like Chagall illustrations for a Kafka fable. Here Caligari will be accompanied by the Olympia band I.Q.U. Roger Downey
CAMEL(S) South Korea, 2001. Director: Park Ki-yong Wed., June 12, 4:30 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall Sat., June 15, 6:30 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
Dinner conversation becomes flirting and, eventually, love is made in a motel. U.S. premiere.
CATCHING OUT U.S.A. (Seattle), 2002. Director: Sarah George Sun., May 26, 4:00 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall Wed., May 29, 4:30 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
Remember those late-night infomercials for Boxcar Willie? His spirit lives on in this sloppy but genial documentary about modern-day hobos who continue to ride the rails. The focus here is on new-school, punk-influenced tramps with little regard for history. For them, hopping a train is all about vaguely understood notions of freedom. (“He helped me drop out of college,” says one wastrel of her boyfriend.) All those profiled share a certain anarchist affinity for the Ted Kaczynski cabin-in-the-woods lifestyle. One guy publishes a zine, Hobos From Hell, and has some interesting things to say, but Catching does a terrible job of identifying its subjects and organizing their stories and significance. Yet we do come to appreciate how this scruffy lot enjoys what one hobo-lawyer-author (!) calls “an omniscient observer situation [enjoying] mile after mile of watching the American panorama pass by.” World premiere. B.R.M.
CHERISH U.S.A., 2002. Director: Finn Taylor Cast: Robin Tunney, Tim Blake Nelson, Jason Priestly, Liz Phair Fri., May 24, 9:30 p.m., Pacific Place Sat., May 25, 4:00 p.m., Pacific Place
This slow-building piffle of a romantic comedy/ thriller swings between careful character development and wild leaps of common sense—if not to say disbelief. Its gimmick is that a lovely San Francisco computer animator (Tunney) is so geeky-manic on first dates that she never gets any further. Naturally the one night she does turns disastrous: She’s kidnapped and becomes the getaway driver of a car that kills a policeman. Then, under house arrest with an electronic bracelet monitor (in a loft with room enough for cute roller-skating scenes), she has weeks to kill before her trial. For company, she has only policeman Tim Blake Nelson to break the housebound tedium. (Pick up a book? Are you crazy?) You can write it from there. Tunney is charm itself; the movie seems to have been made for its ’80s-heavy pop score, and the vacuousness is deafening. Sheila Benson
CHICKEN RICE WAR U.S.A., 2002. Director: Finn Taylor Wed., May 29, 7:00 p.m., Egyptian Sat., June 1, 11:30 a.m., Egyptian
The Wongs and the Changs fight like Montagues and Capulets, so it’s apt when their children are cast in a university production of Romeo and Juliet.
*CHINATOWN U.S.A., 1974. Director: Roman Polanski Cast: Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston Sun., May 26, 4:00 p.m., Egyptian
Though set in the ’30s, it’s no accident that this classic, melancholy study of power and corruption arrived in 1974. Polanski and his Oscar-winning screenwriter Robert Towne were then both showbiz rebels chafing at the restrictions of stodgy, embattled, out-of-touch studios. Appropriately, Huston’s evil water baron Noah Cross is a mogul scheming to preserve and profit from a system—like Hollywood itself—that’s rotten to the core. Nicholson, too, was also part of the Easy Rider generation intent on topping the old regime, and with Chinatown they nearly achieved that feat. His gumshoe J.J. Gittes is at once amoral and principled, an heir to Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe, but his mounting disgust heightens the traditional insider/outsider status of the private eye. The more he learns about the power structure of L.A., the less he wants to do with it. Chinatown is the first of six titles in SIFF’s ’70s sidebar. B.R.M.
*CINEMANIA U.S.A., 2001. Directors: Angela Christlieb, Stephen Kijak Thurs., May 30, 4:30 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall Fri., May 31, 7:00 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
SIFF full-series pass holders, look in the mirror. If, like this film critic, you more than occasionally wonder about your health and sanity, this documentary provides a frightening portrait of your obsessive habit. Profiling a half-dozen of N.Y.C.’s most avid film fans, Cinemania describes a pallid, insular, and proudly daylight-averse demographic of hard-core moviegoers. For such cinematic devotion, “You pay a price,” says Jack, one of the most articulate, rueful, self-aware subjects—a man who claims to have once seen 1,000 pictures in a month. His less socially adept comrades display alarming signs of obsessive-compulsive disorder, as shown in some scary home visits by the filmmakers. (But, hey, we’ve all had bad housekeeping days.) The more important fact here is that these people love movies! Everyone in Cinemania is such a recognizable New Yorker that ex-residents will share Jack’s indignation at a parade that blocks his taxi’s progress to yet another screening. “What day is today?” he snaps impatiently. We know the feeling. World premiere. B.R.M.
*THE COCKETTES U.S.A., 2002. Directors: Bill Weber, David Weissman Wed., May 29, 9:30 p.m., Egyptian Fri., May 31, 9:30 p.m., Harvard Exit
This documentary profiles the titular late-’60s drag-performance troupe, an influential bunch of ragtag dropouts who started with scrappy musical entertainments at San Fran’s Palace Theatre before bombing on Broadway in ’71. Using terrific archival footage and engaging interviews, Cockettes relates not only the short, dizzying history of the group itself, but the courageous dreams of an entire generation. So much is here, in fact, that the exhaustive reach can wear you down, and you can also quibble that not a few of these adventurers would have made for very annoying company. Never mind, though—the journey traced here is an exhilarating celebration of androgyny, pansexuality, social liberation, and the potential for people to make their lives as colorful as their reveries. “It was complete sexual anarchy,” says interviewee John Waters, whose films first took off at the Palace, “which is always a wonderful thing.” Steve Wiecking
CQ U.S.A., 2001. Director: Roman Coppola Cast: Jeremy Davies, Billy Zane Sat., June 1, 6:30 p.m., Pacific Place Sun., June 2, 1:45 p.m., Pacific Place
In this directorial debut by Roman Coppola (yes, he’s related), a young filmmaker prepares to make a Barbarella-type sex-in-space extravaganza.
THE CUBAN GAME Spain/Cuba, 2001. Director: Manuel Martin Cuenca Mon., June 10, 9:30 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall Sat., June 15, 4:00 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
A bit like Buena Vista Social Club (only with less music), this documentary achieves its best moments by simply letting old Cuban baseball players discuss their love of the game—both pre- and postrevolution. “Baseball was my life,” says one aged pelotero; excellent newsreel clips and photos help communicate that enthusiasm. Fidel Castro’s love of the diamond is also explored, and Game usefully recounts how the American-imported sport achieved political as well as popular significance in the mid-19th century. “There was something subversive about baseball,” explains a Yale professor, “because it was opposed to the Spanish.” Once that colonial power left, ours took over, and Game is considerably less successful in its anti-Yankee bias. Sure, our Cold War trade embargo is indefensible today, but the documentary spares Castro any blame for his misguided economic policies and brutal repression. As Yankees star Orlando “El Duque” Hernᮤez says of his former compatriots, “They should open their eyes.” The filmmakers, too. U.S. premiere. B.R.M.
*DADDY & PAPA U.S.A., 2002. Director: Johnny Symons Thurs., June 6, 7:00 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall Sat., June 8, 4:00 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
If you’re a gay man who’s considering raising kids or a straight person who’s curious about the queer parenting phenomenon, see this thorough, insightful documentary. Its subjects express how becoming a dad utterly transformed their lives. A former activist for whom kids were an “alien concept” realizes that “my most revolutionary act would be the most traditional thing in the world.” A single dad tells of the loneliness of a life devoted solely to children. We also learn how white gay men most often adopt African-American kids. Yet Daddy spends surprisingly little time on the political struggle involved in being a queer parent. When it does, we see it’s not only heteros who are oppressors. One of the saddest scenes is when two dads and their toddler learn that Gay Day at an amusement park means all the kids’ rides are closed. (Shows with Hope Along the Wind.) David Massengill
THE DANGEROUS LIVES OF ALTAR BOYS U.S.A., 2002. Director: Peter Care Cast: Kieran Culkin, Jodie Foster, Vincent D’Onofrio Sun., June 2, 9:30 p.m., Pacific Place Tues., June 4, 9:30 p.m., Pacific Place
Every decade coughs up another small, heartfelt tale of coming-of-age while Catholic (recall 1985s Heaven Help Us), since puberty and sin are so necessarily bound together. Set in the mid-70s and based on the 1992 novel by Chris Fuhrman (who died in 91), Boys parochial school boys express hormones and hatred of their teachers (including Foster and DOnofrio) in a crude notebook-paper comic book that springs to animated life under the pen of Spawns Todd McFarlane. These symbolic, oversized adventures also contrast with troubled home lives that the boys regularly escape for brushy lairs and abandoned warehouses. Endlessly biking around town, furtively drinking and smoking, bragging about half-understood girls, and stealing religious icons, our two heroes (Emile Hirsch and Culkin) never stop being boyseven when confronted with the hypocrisy, cruelty, and sexuality of the adult world. Though fundamentally familiar, Boys captures the longings and frustrations of early adolescence with respectful restraint. B.R.M.
*DARK WATER Japan, 2002. Director: Hideo Nakata Fri., June 14, 9:30 p.m., Egyptian Sat., June 15, midnight, Egyptian
Jaws tagged itself as the movie that kept people out of the ocean; Water may be the movie that keeps them away from household plumbing. Ring director Hideo Nakatas eerie thriller is the cinematic equivalent of Chinese water tortureall the dripping water is merely tedious at first; but as it continues, strange and frightening things start happening to your head. The story of a divorc饠and her young daughter who move into an aging apartment building, Water lifts the tone and plenty of its material from The Shining yet maintains an original vision throughout, then delivers a climax more chilling than Kubricks. Nakata lazily veers a bit too far into the paranormal with a sloppy ending, and some unfortunate scoring ultimately diminish Waters weight, but that doesnt ruin the final effect. Theres no gore on display here, although the disturbing images will keep you up at night. U.S. premiere. P.F.
DAVID HOCKNEY, SECRET KNOWLEDGE Great Britain, 2001. Director: Randall Wright Sat., May 25, 11:30 a.m., Broadway Perf. Hall Fri., May 31, 4:30 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
Hockney’s theory of how the old great painters faked it.
*DAYS OF HEAVEN U.S.A., 1978. Director: Terrence Malick Cast: Richard Gere, Brooke Adams, Sam Shepard, Linda Manz Fri., May 31, 4:30 p.m., Egyptian
They don’t shoot them the way they used to—or perhaps not since Heaven‘s Oscar-winning cinematographer N鳴or Almendros died in 1992. Heaven was his first American picture, which he and Malick filmed mostly during the “golden hour” so beloved of directors of photography, when the light is low in the sky, early and late in the day. (To be fair, the great Haskell Wexler also shot much of the movie.) Essentially a love triangle set before WWI on a Texas panhandle farm, Heaven tells the most elemental and elliptical of tales. The love and jealousy between Adams, Gere, and Shepard is as palpable and powerful as pent-up rain that never falls. Indeed, weather and landscape provide much of the drama for Malick, as in his Badlands or The Thin Red Line. Actors become smaller figures on a broad canvas, yet their emotions are undiminished by this grand, painterly arrangement. B.R.M.
THE DEVIL IN THE HOLY WATER Canada/Italy, 2001. Director: Joe Balass Sun., June 9, 6:30 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall Fri., June 14, 4:30 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
Don’t expect depth from this scattered documentary about World Pride Day 2000, when thousands of queers seized Rome at the same time that Catholics were converging in the city for the Jubilee pilgrimage. Unsurprisingly, the Vatican scowled at Italy hosting this first international homo-fest, prompting Canadian filmmakers to chronicle the resulting clash of cultures. Guerilla-style interviews introduce disparate souls: two Italians in love, wide-eyed tourists, kindly nuns, the indefatigable World Pride director, and a begrudging cardinal. The results are awfully predictable. Squirming at the same-sex love subject matter, religious folk try to steer the talk to Jubilee. Meanwhile, secular types vent their laissez-faire philosophies. Devil captures much of the festivities’ craziness, from marching neo-fascists to cavorting drag queens, but not much else. U.S. premiere. D.M.
DOG DAYS Austria, 2001. Director: Ulrich Seidl Thurs., May 30, 9:30 p.m., Harvard Exit Sun., June 2, 11:30 a.m., Harvard Exit
Fans of Todd Solondz and Neil LaBute should line up for this bleak Austrian import, which takes merciless aim at bored, bizarre suburbanites outside Vienna during a swelteringly hot summer weekend. It’s not a pretty picture. Sure, we get to see a writhing chain of naked bodies engaged in sundry forms of sex-club coupling, but it’s a thoroughly joyless spectacle. For director Seidl, such wanton pursuit of sensation is only going to end badly. Among his essentially anonymous subjects, a lonely middle-aged woman prepares elaborately for a date that turns very ugly indeed. A divorced, bereaved couple continues to live in the same house, maintaining bitter silence between them. A possibly autistic young woman keeps hitching rides and interrogating motorists until one finally snaps. Seidl saves the motto for his often funny, occasionally ghastly film for the very end, but bear it in mind as Dog Days begins: “People are so cruel.” B.R.M.
DOOR TO DOOR U.S.A., 2001. Director: Steven Schachter Cast: William H. Macy, Helen Mirren, Kyra Sedgwick Sat., May 25, 9:30 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall Mon., May 27, 1:45 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
Based on the true story of Bill Porter (Macy), a door-to-door salesman afflicted with cerebral palsy, Door is more syrupy-sweet than a spoonful of Mrs. Butterworths. It plays like an after-school specialsoft and sentimental. But if you can get through all the sap, the film makes some interesting points about social services, health care, homosexuality, and technologyall in the context of Porters relationships with his Alzheimers-stricken mother, his cheery young assistant (Sedgwick), and the mind-numbingly predictable characters on his door-to-door route. Macy is believablebut not quite lovableas the genial soap peddler who wriggles his way into a sales job and then into the hearts of his reluctant customers. Not surprisingly, this inoffensive film is sponsored in part by the folks at Johnson & Johnson, the same people responsible for tearless baby products and Gentle Care Band-Aids. Katie Millbauer
A DREAM IN HANOI U.S.A./Vietnam, 2002. Director: Tom Weidlinger Sun., June 9, 9:30 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall Thurs., June 13, 4:30 p.m., Harvard Exit
Call this documentary Project Greenhorn. When Shakespeare/Vietnamese culture prof Lorelle Browning founded the Vietnam America Theater Exchange, she had high hopes for a warm ‘n’ fuzzy cross-cultural collaboration. After several years spent securing funding, contacts, actors, and staff, Browning finally sets off for Vietnam to mount a six-week touring production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream—a play never before seen in that country—in concert with Hanoi’s Central Dramatic Company. There’s plenty of backstage drama in this highly entertaining and well-paced making-of documentary (narrated by F. Murray Abraham). Heated creative disagreements erupt, and the possibility that President Bill Clinton himself might attend opening night sets everyone abuzz. With two co-directors, two casts, two spoken languages, and two opposing textual interpretations, the Bard himself would’ve stomped out of rehearsals in frustration. World premiere. Emily Russin
ELLING Norway, 2001. Director: Peter Naess Thurs., June 6, 7:00 p.m., Egyptian Sun., June 9, 1:45 p.m., Harvard Exit
After two years of contented living in a psychiatric institution, Elling’s being forced out. All we know is that he’s a fussy, middle-aged, self-proclaimed “mommy’s boy” who entered the ward after his mother’s demise. His “enemies” are dizziness and anxiety (caused by phones and public toilets), and he’s ignorant of everyday basics like one-way train tickets. But he doesn’t have to assimilate alone. He moves into a surprisingly pleasant city apartment with Kjell-Bjarne, his hulking roommate from the nuthouse whose main issue seems to be his nagging virginity. This odd couple’s initial tiny steps toward independence are heartfelt. Elling realizes he’s a poet, while Kjell-Bjarne makes a lady friend upstairs. (In one of the more loaded scenes of this relentlessly upbeat film, he finds her drunk and half-conscious in the stairwell.) But without any failures on either man’s part, we merely smile at their triumphs when we should be clapping. D.M.
THE EMPEROR’S NEW CLOTHES Great Britain/Germany/Italy, 2001. Director: Alan Taylor Cast: Ian Holm, Iben Hjejle Fri., May 31, 7:00 p.m., Egyptian Sat., June 1, 4:00 p.m., Egyptian
Napoleon escapes exile by trading places with a look-alike. U.S. premiere.
LES ENFANTS DE L’AMOUR Belgium, 2001. Director: Geoffrey Enthoven Wed., June 12, 7:00 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall Sun., June 16, 4:00 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
One single mother, two ex-husbands, and their three children attempt to resolve their confusing familial arrangements. U.S. premiere.
DAS EXPERIMENT Germany, 2001. Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel Sat., May 25, 6:30 p.m., Pacific Place Sun., May 26, 1:45 p.m., Pacific Place
How long does it take to make a monster? Five days, according to this tense German thriller that’s based on, and adheres closely to, the infamous Stanford Prison Experiment in role-playing psychology. “You will have no privacy and will waive your civil rights,” the prim researcher warns the subjects—including a cab driver, manager, and even an Elvis impersonator—who will behave as either prisoners or guards for cash. While we expect the “inmates” to be dehumanized, it’s the “guards” who, fearful for their fragile authority, become brutal with unsettling ease. Meanwhile the Cuckoo’s Nest-style cage rattling of Tarek, an undercover journalist among the prisoners, spurs the guards’ swaggering wrath. Surprisingly, this adds up to more than a merely provocative essay on the banal pettiness of evil (significant enough in a film from Germany). By the unplanned sixth day, it becomes a gripping and frighteningly credible yarn. Gianni Truzzi
FAMILY FUNDAMENTALS U.S.A., 2002. Director: Arthur Dong Thurs., May 30, 7:00 p.m., Harvard Exit Sat., June 1, 11:30 a.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
If you like resolution to life’s conflicts, avoid this documentary. Fundamentals profiles parents who “disagree” with their gay kids, creating a bleak portrait of dysfunction and abuse. Dismayed by both her daughter and grandson’s homosexuality, adorable Kathleen founded a ministry for parents whose children have “become homosexual.” She’s an oxymoronic mix of compassion and obstinacy who handles her grandson’s photo lovingly yet sends him an anti-gay pamphlet for Easter. The other subjects are both queer—one the son of an intolerant Mormon bishop, the other a former aide to Republican bigot Bob Dornan. Though Fundamentals seems slightly dated (once Dubya was elected, the far right eased up on the vitriol), these latter two men show how painful it is to be stigmatized for one’s sexuality. While talking about pious parents who lament their gay offspring, Kathleen’s grandson’s boyfriend poignantly declares, “I think God is trying to tell them something; they’re just not listening.” D.M.
*THE FAST RUNNER Canada, 2001. Director: Zacharias Kunuk Thurs., June 6, 9:30 p.m., Egyptian Mon., June 10, 1:00 p.m., Cinerama
Winner of the Cam鲡 d’Or last year at Cannes and a burgeoning international sensation, Zacharias Kunuk’s first feature—as well as the first feature to be made in the Inuktitut language—is an epic account of an Inuit blood feud, shot on DV in northernmost Canada. Mysterious, bawdy, emotionally intense, and replete with virtuoso throat singing, this three-hour movie is engrossing from first image to last, so devoid of stereotype and cosmic in its vision it could suggest the rebirth of cinema. As the arctic light and landscape beggar description, so the performances go beyond acting, and the production itself seems little short of miraculous. J. Hoberman
*FEMALE TROUBLE U.S.A., 1975. Director: John Waters Cast: Divine Fri., June 7, 9:30 p.m., Egyptian
No one’s going to talk you out of seeing a John Waters flick if you’re so inclined, especially when the ultimate Trash Master himself will introduce the screening. Trouble has everyone—and every deliriously disgusting thing—you’re expecting: delinquency, degeneracy, degradation, and Divine, who plays a defiant young woman who embarks upon a brutal life of crime because her parents won’t buy her a pair of cha-cha heels. Before her inevitable, dramatic meeting with the electric chair, Divine’s murderous Dawn Davenport wrestles with all the Waters regulars, from Mink Stole to the reliably repellent Edith Massey as Aunt Ida, who tells her “I’d be so proud if you was a fag.” It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, of course, but a classic to connoisseurs. Beauty, remember, is in the eye of the beholder. S.W.
FIREFLY DREAMS Japan, 2001. Director: John Williams Mon., May 27, 6:30 p.m., Harvard Exit Tues., May 28, 4:30 p.m., Harvard Exit
A sullen child goes to live with her aunt and uncle and becomes, over time, less sullen.
THE FLATS U.S.A., 2002. Directors: Kelly and Tyler Requa Thurs., June 13, 7:00 p.m., Cinerama Sun., June 16, 11:30 a.m., Cinerama
A self-destructive young man wants to be able to love but can’t. World premiere.
GIGANTIC (A TALE OF TWO JOHNS) U.S.A., 2001. Director: AJ Schnack Thurs., June 6, 9:30 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
Enough already. We get it. That’s the reaction some might have to the career of They Might Be Giants in general, but it’s a far more likely response to this bloated 102-minute documentary. There are some goofy interludes, celebrity interviews (God bless Joe Franklin!), and non sequiturs that break up the unspectacular concert footage and behind-the-scenes filler that provide the bulk of the action. Yet somehow it’s still not nearly enough to befit a duo that has turned quirk into a cottage industry. Gigantic does at least offer a welcome relief to the “rise, rift, rehab, redemption” arc of the typical Behind the Music profile; there’s nary a trashed hotel room, sexcapade, or even a dirty word here. But what else would you expect from a couple of nice guys who write songs about James K. Polk? For die-hard fans only. Paul Fontana
GIRLS CAN’T SWIM France, 2000. Director: Anne-Sophie Birot Fri., May 31, 9:30 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall Sun., June 2, 1:45 p.m., Harvard Exit
Girls can’t act, either, in this drama about two teenage friends. Lise is MIA at her usual summer-holiday beach town; local girl Gwen is sad about this, and Swim portrays the mercurial adolescent in the broadest of strokes while disjointed events occur and the unlucky viewer tries halfheartedly to piece it all together. A few sex scenes are more startling for their randomness than anything; then there’s trouble with Gwen’s parents. Just as you’re bored enough to be taking the theoretical stab that the story is defined by Lise’s absence (and hoping that Swim has finally gone as nowhere as it’s going to), Lise appears. Her overlong side of the story ends in what should be a terrible shock but is, frankly, just a relief. Bethany Jean Clement
GOD IS GREAT, I’M NOT France, 2001. Director: Pascale Bailly Cast: Audrey Tautou Wed., May 29, 4:30 p.m., Harvard Exit Tues., June 11, 9:30 p.m., Pacific Place
The girl from Am鬩e looks for a religion that will answer her big questions. Hilarity ensues.
GOOD HANDS Estonia, 2001. Director: Peeter Simm Tues., June 4, 7:00 p.m., Harvard Exit Thurs., June 13, 7:00 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
It’s hard not to like the idea of a charming little movie from charming little Estonia about a charming Latvian female con artist forced to hide in a charming Estonian village; Hands is all those things, except for the part about being charming. It starts briskly enough, sketching the gleefully amoral behavior of Margit and her partner in Riga and introducing some colorful eccentrics in the village of Vineeri. Then said eccentrics fatally gum up the plot machinery. Margit borrows a cute young boy to abet her thieving ways, holes up with a couple old codgers, and makes goo-goo eyes at the local cop—son of codger No. 2—to avert legal scrutiny. “Everybody is stupid,” explains hard-boiled Margit to her prot駩 (kind of like Paper Moon with the genders reversed); but, alas, her hardness shows signs of turning to mush. Bereft of sex or violence, Hands just meanders along with gentle whimsy until you, like Margit, will have had enough. U.S. premiere. B.R.M.
THE GOOD WAR AND THOSE WHO REFUSED TO FIGHT IT U.S.A., 2001. Directors: Judith Ehrlich, Rick Tejada-Flores Sat., June 8, 11:30 a.m., Broadway Perf. Hall Tues., June 11, 7:00 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
Hell, no, they won’t go! Previously broadcast on PBS, this earnest hour-long documentary treats American pacifism during WWII with all due respect—and then perhaps a little more than it’s due. We learn how some 42,000 men opted out of U.S. military service at a time when 16 million were in uniform—kind of like the flip side to the Greatest Generation. Some 7,000 conscientious objectors (“C.O.s”) were imprisoned for their beliefs; others joined the Civilian Public Services corps (digging ditches and so forth). A minority, determined to prove their patriotism, volunteered for dangerous assignments like smoke jumping and even underwent medical experiments including starvation (!), which makes for some disturbing Holocaust-era photographs. Vintage newsreel clips document our country’s fervent wartime mood, which borders on outright racism in some propaganda excerpts. Present-day interviews with a few surviving pacifists attest to their principled noncooperation, which War links persuasively to the post-WWII civil rights movement. (Shown with Into the Fire, see next page.) B.R.M.
GOSSIP Sweden, 2000. Director: Colin Nutley Sat., June 1, 9:30 p.m., Pacific Place Mon., June 3, 4:30 p.m., Pacific Place
A story about nine Swedish actresses vying to be the new Greta Garbo.
GREEN DRAGON U.S.A., 2000. Director: Timothy Linh Bui Cast: Patrick Swayze Sun., June 2, 6:30 p.m., Pacific Place Tues., June 4, 4:30 p.m., Pacific Place
A refugee camp during the waning days of the Vietnam War.
THE GREY ZONE U.S.A., 2001. Director: Tim Blake Nelson Cast: David Arquette, Steve Buscemi, Harvey Keitel, Mira Sorvino Thurs., June 13, 9:30 p.m., Egyptian Sun., June 16, 1:45 p.m., Egyptian
Must we have another Holocaust drama? Here, O director and SIFF regular Nelson adapts his own play into an unrelentingly grim yet oddly stagy examination of a horrible situation where, as one Auschwitz inmate observes, There is no meaning. Dramatizing the true story of Hungarian Jews who briefly prolonged their lives by abetting the Nazis (lying to new arrivals, sorting their belongings, disposing of their corpses, and so forth), Zone certainly gives its cast a workout in suffering and moral debate (Were not murderers!). Rival factions within the camp argue about resistance and complicity; then the miraculous survival of a girl from the gas chambers threatens both the potential rebels and live-another-day collaborators. Hungarian and German are both rendered in English, creating some confusion, but Nelson capably communicates the gloom, despair, and horror of Auschwitzbut Zone brings nothing new to the body of Holocaust films that a documentary couldnt have done better. U.S. premiere. B.R.M.
HAPPINESS OF THE KATAKURIS Japan, 2001. Director: Miike Takashi Sat., June 8, 9:30 p.m., Pacific Place Mon., June 10, 4:30 p.m., Cinerama
Nothing quite matches the dark popular culture in which Japan so confidently discovers its sense of self. Director Miike (Audition) goes ballistic with those stylistic fetishes here. Katakuris finds the titular clan opening a country guesthouse in an effort to hold its fraying family ties together, only to find each kooky successive patron meeting a random death. Then, naturally, everybody breaks into a musical number. Morbid silliness and choreographed grave-digging ensue. The anarchic kitsch gets long-winded, but Miikes oddball touches keep dragging you back in. Big action scenes are orchestrated with stop-motion animated puppets; by the end, a bunch of decaying corpses are up and singing something chirpy about the importance of keeping your chin held high. You could poke around in here for some deeper message (e.g., Japans resiliency after A-bomb horrors), but you should probably just call it a midnight movie and roll with it. S.W.
HAPPY TIMES China, 2001. Director: Zhang Yimou Sun., May 26, 6:30 p.m., Egyptian Mon., May 27, 4:00 p.m., Egyptian
In keeping with his recent emphasis on Chinas less-than-romantic urban present, Zhang Yimous latest gritty, contemporary film owes more to Dickensian pathos than the sexual passions of his earlier costume dramas. Eager to marry, unemployed 50-something factory worker Zhao gets stuck with his rotund paramours unwanted stepdaughtera blind, skinny, unloved 18-year-old waif who could make Fagan cry. With his idle co-workers, he constructs an elaborate ruse to fool yet sustain pitiful Wu, a capable masseuse desperate to be of use in the world. Times is nothing if not heavy-handed in its maudlin plotting and eventual bonding between Zhao and Wu, yet dont be surprised if you find yourself fumbling for a tissueor severalduring its tragicomic trajectory. One of Chinas top comic actors, Zhao Benshan recalls Jackie Gleasons smiling exasperation as Zhao, while Dong Jiea professional dancer and ingenue actresselevates her stock role to often heartrending effect. B.R.M.
HEJAR—BIG MAN, SMALL LOVE Turkey, 2001. Director: Handan Ipek穼/I> Sat., June 8, 6:30 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall Mon., June 10, 4:30 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall Hejar starts with a rather bold and political provocation: Turkish policemen batter down the door of an apartment and kill the Kurdish activists inside. They only miss one thing, which soon comes to the attention of a retired Turkish judge living next door: a small terrified girl, Hejar, maybe five or six years old. She doesn’t speak Turkish and the recently widowed Rifat doesn’t speak Kurdish, but his Kurdish maid Sakine provides some needed translation. Rifat’s real dilemma, however, is reconciling his high-minded principles with the rampant discrimination facing his young charge. On a shopping trip he tells a clerk Hejar is German, then sputters in indignation, “I had to lie because of you.” Yet gradually, inevitably he warms to the girl, begins learning a little Kurdish, and researches her horrific family history. Then, disappointingly, Hejar takes the easy way out, pursuing a romantic subplot rather than radicalizing Rifat any further. U.S. premiere. B.R.M.
HER MAJESTY New Zealand, 2001. Director: Mark J. Gordon Mon., June 10, 4:30 p.m., Harvard Exit Sat., June 15, 11:30 a.m., Pacific Place
A 12-year-old named Elizabeth worships the queen of the same name.
HER MOTHER THE WHORE France, 2001. Director: Brigette Roan Fri., June 7, 9:30 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall Fri., June 14, 9:30 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
The back streets of Paris are both sleazy and sweet. U.S. premiere.
HERENCIA Argentina, 2000. Director: Paula Hernandez Mon., June 3, 7:00 p.m., Harvard Exit Wed., June 5, 4:30 p.m., Harvard Exit
A man and a woman come to Buenos Aires looking for love—albeit four decades apart.
HI, DHARMA South Korea, 2001. Director: Park Cheol-kwan Wed., June 12, 9:30 p.m., Cinerama Sun., June 16, 9:30 p.m., Pacific Place
Gangsters take refuge in a monastery. U.S. premiere.
HI, TERESKA Poland, 2001. Director: Robert Glinski Mon., June 10, 9:30 p.m., Harvard Exit Tues., June 11, 9:30 p.m., Harvard Exit
A 15-year-old girl tries to leave her poor Polish suburb.
THE HIRED HAND U.S.A., 1971. Director: Peter Fonda Cast: Peter Fonda, Warren Oates, Verna Bloom Sun., June 9, 6:30 p.m., Egyptian
A prototypical ’70s Western, newly restored.
HOPE ALONG THE WIND: THE LIFE OF HARRY HAY U.S.A., 2001. Director: Eric Slade Thurs., June 6, 7:00 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall Sat., June 8, 4:00 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
How Marxist Harry Hay founded the first organized gay-rights movement in America. (Shows with Daddy & Papa.)
HUSH! Japan, 2001. Director: Ryosuke Hashiguchi Sat., June 8, 6:30 p.m., Harvard Exit Sun., June 9, 4:00 p.m., Harvard Exit
Straight woman, gay guy. Basically, Will & Grace in Japanese.
I WILL NOT BE SAD IN THIS WORLD U.S.A., 2001. Director: Karina Epperlein Sat., June 1, 4:00 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall Tues., June 4, 4:30 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
Early 20th-century genocide against Armenians in Turkey, as told by a survivor.
*I’M GOING HOME France/Portugal, 2001. Director: Manoel de Oliveira Cast: Michel Piccoli, Catherine Deneuve Mon., June 10, 7:00 p.m., Pacific Place
Ninety-two-year-old Manoel de Oliveira’s latest memento mori opens, serenely and patiently, with a lengthy excerpt from a production of Ionesco’s Exit the King. Later, backstage, the elderly lead actor (Michel Piccoli) is informed that his family has perished in a car crash. This rueful, dryly humorous film charts a wary return to normalcy, but it’s unsentimental enough to acknowledge that coping mechanisms do break down, and that (as the title suggests) a categorical retreat is sometimes the only way out. D.L.
IGBY GOES DOWN U.S.A., 2002. Director: Burr Steers Cast: Kieran Culkin, Susan Sarandon, Jeff Goldblum, Jared Harris, Amanda Peet, Claire Danes, Ryan Phillippe, and Bill Pullman Thurs., May 23, 7:30 p.m., Paramount Theatre
Opening the festival (and tentatively due for August release), Igby treads ground made very familiar by Wes Anderson and J.D. Salinger. Here the privileged Manhattan air is less quirky and more contemporary than Royal Tenenbaums, but Holden Caulfield’s hatred of adult hypocrisy remains the same. Our 17-year-old hero revenges himself against his dying mother by fleeing prep school for the SoHo loft of his godfather, whose kept lover vies with sensible collegiate Sookie for Igby’s attention. It’s hard to see the appeal. Unlike Tenenbaums‘ three geniuses, petulant Igby’s main talent is self-pity. What’s the opening-night appeal for SIFF? Igby features a big, enjoyable cast and an occasionally inspired script. Writer-director Steers is nephew to Gore Vidal, which confers a certain toney prestige on the movie. The rich may be no different than the rest of us, but it’s always entertaining to watch their antics. World premiere. B.R.M.
*IN PRAISE OF LOVE France, 2001. Director: Jean-Luc Godard Fri., June 7, 4:30 p.m., Pacific Place Mon., June 10, 7:00 p.m., Cinerama
Perhaps Godard’s greatest film, and certainly up there with Two or Three Things I Know About Her and JLG/JLG, Love seems more carefully culled and thoroughly considered from beginning to end than anything Godard has done before—as if each shot was not only exactly right but also carried the weight of all those not chosen in its place. Like all of Godard’s work since the late ’80s, Love is about history and memory, specifically the history of the 20th century, which Godard views as bifurcated by WWII and the coming of television. Thus, the film is itself split down the middle: The first half was shot in fine-grain, black-and-white 35mm; the second half was recorded in video, its oversaturated color reminiscent of fauvist painting. Godard, who once likened the relationship between film and video to that of Cain and Abel, resolves the opposition between the two technologies by pushing each to its radical limit within a single work of art. Amy Taubin
THE INHERITANCE Brazil, 2001. Director: Daniel Filho Fri., May 31, 7:00 p.m., Pacific Place Sun., June 2, 11:30 a.m., Pacific Place
Funerals and French people are funny, at least according to Filho, whose characters in this ensemble piece are actually just broad caricatures. After the death of their mother, one loyal, emotionally fraught daughter plays host to her three sisters—a bitch, a lesbian, and a perfectly loopy Parisian—as they argue and cry and slam doors and scream at each other over splitting the inheritance. We’re not talking about much: three carpets, a glass cabinet, and some side tables, none of which anybody actually cares about. What they’ve really come to sort out, it becomes clear, are their emotions. The setup works for the most part, only for the movie to then fall irritatingly, confusingly apart. An early thread of romance between one daughter and the estate agent is forgotten by the movie’s end. When someone finally winds up on a balcony about to jump, are we expected to understand why—or to care? U.S. premiere. Christopher Frizzelle
*THE INNER TOUR Israel, 2001. Director: Ra’anan Alexandrowicz Sun., June 2, 4:00 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall Tues., June 4, 9:30 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
Presented in chapters that divide a three-day bus tour of Israel, this remarkable, timely, and ultimately disquieting documentary was made shortly before the second intifada erupted on the West Bank. Palestinians living in the occupied territories can gain a coveted border “entry permit” to work in Israel after undertaking the government-condoned tour, which proves a memorable eye-opener for participants and viewers alike. Though badly in need of identifying graphics to clarify names and relations between the various bus riders, Tour is a revealing study in varying Palestinian attitudes towards Israel. “Maybe we’re not good enough for [the land],” muses one math teacher. “For us this is paradise,” says another. Offered a chance to view his old family property, another despairs, “I don’t want to see.” Then there are some suspicious Israeli onlookers, one of whom frets that the Palestinians have come “to check out the area, so we can give it to them?” To its credit, Tour doesn’t even try to mediate between these quarrelsome voices. B.R.M.
IN THE MIRROR OF MAYA DEREN Austria, 2001. Director: Martina Kudlacek Sat., May 25, 4:00 p.m., Harvard Exit Mon., May 27, 9:30 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
Maya Deren (1917-1961) was a Russian immigrant, a flower child ahead of her time, a choreographer, an avant-garde filmmaker, and a devotee of voodoo—interesting, yes? Sadly, this documentary is both fawning and intensely boring; it’s the kind of film that gives documentaries a bad name and puts school kids everywhere to sleep, drooling little pools on their desks. Here’s the requisite exterior shot of the Greenwich Village brownstone where Deren lived in the ’40s; here’s some really cute old people talking very slowly about her; here are selections of her black-and-white surrealist short films, looking silly and primitive now (though with a few lovely moments), with her grandiose philosophical voice-overs. If you’ve never heard of Deren it’s because her art was marginal at best. Worse, Mirror thoroughly flattens what seems to have been a fascinating life. B.J.C.
INTO THE FIRE: AMERICAN WOMEN IN THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR U.S.A., 2001. Director: Julia Newman Sat., June 8, 11:30 a.m., Broadway Perf. Hall Tues., June 11, 7:00 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
Hemingway, Dos Passos, Orwell, and other famous men have related their experiences during the Spanish Civil War; now we hear from some considerably less-known women, and their stories are vivid and moving. Packed into this hour-long documentary are several gripping tales of romance and adventure that Hollywood could usefully adapt into big-screen fiction. “I felt it was the great, great achievement of my life,” says one aged interviewee; most, like her, are former nurses who speak in old interview clips. Filled with a desire to fight fascism, roughly 80 U.S. women joined the struggle against Franco. Unsurprisingly, they predominantly came from liberal and labor organizations (the I.L.G.W.U. among them). Letters between journalist Martha Gellhorn (Hemingway’s squeeze) and Eleanor Roosevelt alternate with diary entries and epistles from the American women. Dorothy Parker also makes a brief prose appearance as a war correspondent, calling a nighttime air raid “almost beautiful” before rushing back to the Algonquin roundtable for drinks. (Shows with The Good War.) B.R.M.
JIYAN Iraq (Kurdistan), 2002. Director: Jano Rosebiani Thurs., June 13, 7:00 p.m., Harvard Exit Sat., June 15, 11:30 a.m., Cinerama
Dramatizing the aftermath of Saddam’s chemical warfare attacks against Kurdistan in the late ’80s, Jiyan won’t win any awards for subtlety but usefully reminds us of a region unhappily “trapped between four monsters” (Iraq, Iran, Turkey, and the former U.S.S.R.). Kurdish-American Diyari arrives in the village of Halabja to build a new orphanage five years after one attack. He’s understandably shocked by what he sees: maimed and disfigured children; limbless men; soil so damaged that flowers no longer grow. Shy 10-year-old orphan Jiyan, her own face scarred by the nerve gas, attaches herself to Diyari, then is gradually coaxed out of her shell. Minor subplots provide comic relief and transmit local color, making Jiyan something of an ethnodocumentary; it’s also interesting to see how the music-hating local Muslim fundamentalist is mocked by all. Funded partly by the Kurdish
