*recommended
KENNEWICK MAN: AN EPIC DRAMA OF THE WEST U.S.A. (Seattle), 2001. Directors: Ryan Purcell, Kyle Carver Sun., May 26, 1:45 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall Tues., May 28, 9:30 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
These are some of the most controversial bones ever dug up.
KHALED Canada, 2001. Director: Asghar Massombagi Sat., May 25, 6:30 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall Mon., May 27, 1:45 p.m., Harvard Exit
Almost a truly good movie, Khaled veers frustratingly into neorealism-meets-TV-afterschool-special sentimentality after its horrifying, promising start. Living in a squalid Toronto public housing project with his addict mother, 10-year-old Khaled is incessantly bullied at school on account of his ethnic name and looks. (His Arabic father is long gone.) This scrappy latchkey kid does his mothers shopping and tenderly scrubs her back while she smokes in the tub. Intent on avoiding both a well-meaning social worker and kindly old female neighbor (whos blind, of course), Khaled then tries desperately to conceal the truth (and stink) of his mothers abrupt death. He wont cry. Instead he clings to his routine, ducking a stereotypically evil apartment manager and shunning his one friend for fear of being caught and sent to foster care (where he was previously abused, of course). Shot on DV, Khaled looks like shit, but you wont soon forget its overwhelming odor of fear. B.R.M.
KILLER TATTOO Thailand, 2001. Director: Yuthlert Sippapak Fri., June 16, 12:00 a.m., Egyptian
Hit men can’t get the job done? Hire someone else to off them.
KIRA’S REASON: A LOVE STORY Denmark, 2001. Director: Ole Christian Madsen Fri., May 24, 4:30 p.m., Egyptian Sun., May 26, 6:30 p.m., Harvard Exit
Don’t hate it because it’s Dogma (or Dogme, if you prefer). Yet another stripped-down, small-scale naturalistic Danish drama conforming to the 1995 vow of cinematic purity, Reason bears comparison to Cassavetes’ A Woman Under the Influence in its portrait of a mentally unstable young housewife trying to preserve her marriage. It doesn’t help that husband Mads has been carrying on an affair during her two years of institutionalization. Once out, Kira sniffs infidelity in the air but can’t find the culprit. She also can’t cope too well on the outside, her manic personality spooking the couple’s two little kids and threatening to cloud Mads’ career. Kira also has issues with her divorced father, and her sister lurks in the background—so it’s no surprise when the whole damn family converges for a final emotional free-for-all at a posh hotel. Though Reason breaks no new ground, it’s one of the easier recent Dogma efforts, like Italian for Beginners or Mifune. B.R.M.
LAN YU China/Hong Kong, 2001. Director: Stanley Kwan Sun., June 9, 9:30 p.m., Egyptian Tues., June 11, 4:30 p.m., Egyptian
A boy student and a businessman have a fling in Beijing.
LAST CALL U.S.A., 2002. Director: Henry Bromell Cast: Jeremy Irons, Neve Campbell, Sissy Spacek Fri., May 24, 7:00 p.m., Pacific Place
Irons plays F. Scott Fitzgerald in his late, ungreat Hollywood days. World premiere.
LAST DANCE U.S.A., 2001. Director: Mirra Bank Sun., June 2, 1:45 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall Tues., June 4, 7:00 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
If you only know Maurice Sendak as the writer/illustrator of children’s books, you might not expect the side of him you see in this documentary about the creation of A Selection, a work for the Connecticut-based Pilobolus Dance Theater. For some people the collaborative process brings out their best qualities—for Sendak and the five co- directors of Pilobolus, the journey is twistier, even a bit nasty at times. On all sides we see artists who are firmly committed to their vision, unwilling to compromise and yet curious to see if they might make something new with this challenging combination. The dance itself, a meditation on the Holocaust originally set in a train station, includes a wonderfully sinuous part for dancer Otis Cook, but it’s the process of getting there, the backstage view of personalities in conflict, that provides Last Dance‘s real drama. Sandra Kurtz
THE LAST KISS Italy, 2001. Director: Gabriele Muccino Fri., June 7, 7:00 p.m., Pacific Place Sat., June 8, 1:45 p.m., Pacific Place
Love and familial obligations across three generations.
THE LAST WEDDING Canada, 2001. Director: Bruce Sweeney Sat., May 25, 6:30 p.m., Harvard Exit Mon., May 27, 4:00 p.m., Pacific Place
The title is apropos since getting married is the last thing you’ll want after witnessing the three miserable couples on display in this tedious, plodding Canadian film that makes you long for thirtysomething reruns. Who’s the worst? The dull married professor who trades a hand-job from a comely student for a good recommendation? The bitter architect who’s a complete jerk to his wife because he resents her success? Or the newly married Noah and Zipporah who discover—oh, the shock!–that tying the knot without really knowing each other isn’t such a great idea. Sounds obvious? It is. Audrey Van Buskirk
LAWLESS HEART Great Britain, 2001. Directors: Tom Hunsinger, Neil Hunter Sun., June 2, 6:30 p.m., Harvard Exit Wed., June 5, 4:30 p.m., Egyptian
It’s a given that at least one SIFF film is going to play with the old “one-story-told-from-many-points-of-view” device, and Hearts is it. In this sober look at muddled yearnings, we first meet three related members of one English clan: a vaguely dissatisfied family man; the grief-stricken gay partner of his dead brother-in-law; and the family’s returning ne’er-do-well. Then we watch them work their way through petty squabbles and suffer to find meaning in their lives. Each third of the movie is seen through the eyes of one character. While the gimmick is nothing new, Heart isn’t going for flash. Not much more than an accomplished BBC offering, its focus on quiet, unsettled heartbreak shows admirable subtlety. The three stories’ varied twists also display the kind of compassionate idiosyncrasies lacking in similar American counterparts—as when the bereaved gay partner’s frustrated sexual tussle with a female friend passes without overblown comment. S.W.
LIBERTY STANDS STILL U.S.A., 2002. Director: Kari Skogland Cast: Linda Fiorentino, Wesley Snipes, Oliver Platt Wed., June 5, 9:30 p.m., Egyptian Sat., June 8, 4:00 p.m., Pacific Place
Liberty is, ironically, the name of Fiorentinos bad-girl character. (She doesnt wear underwear; shes an ice queen rich bitch and coke fiend; her company sells guns indiscriminately.) Liberty ends up chained to a L.A. hot dog stand full of explosives as sniper Snipes holds her hostage. (His daughter was killed in a schoolyard shooting; hes out for vengeance, and he really needs a better haircut.) His demand: a public debate on the Second Amendment. Hes turned to violence; can his high-stakes stunt turn her away from her part in said violence? As the irony of it all is beaten into you by a horrifically blunt script, and as it becomes horrifically obvious that the whole film will stagnate here in this one long scene (supposedly tense but just intensely boring), you will long for some cocaine and a gun of your own. The upshot: an important issue eviscerated by a monumentally unimportant movie. B.J.C.
LJUBLJANA Slovenia, 2001. Director: Igor Sterk Fri., June 14, 9:30 p.m., Pacific Place Sat., June 15, 4:00 p.m., Pacific Place
Aimless twentysomethings looking for love and meaning in a material world is the stuff of many, many American indies. Ljubljana takes that well-worn topic and transports it to a newly independent Slovenia. Though the particulars of political and social displacement are unique to the long-beleaguered former Yugoslav province, Ljubljana‘s five young drifters are stridently universal types. Mare, an awkward med student, is the hub of the movie’s elliptical story wheel; his discovery of the freedom and release provided by Ecstasy-fueled all-night parties leads him away from his more conventional friends to an appealing yet drug-addled raver, even as he nurses his enduring crush for a wholesome fellow med student. The vagueness and detachment of Ljubljana‘s narrative, while perfectly mirroring its characters’ states of mind, makes it hard to stay with each individual story line. Still, it’s an intriguing snapshot of what remains—and what begins—after the iron curtain is drawn back for good. U.S. premiere. Leah Greenblatt
LOVE IN THE TIME OF MONEY U.S.A., 2002. Director: Peter Mattei Cast: Steve Buscemi, Rosario Dawson, Michael Imperioli Mon., May 27, 9:30 p.m., Pacific Place Tues., May 28, 4:30 p.m., Pacific Place
A saucy comedy-drama links lovers from all over town.
*LOVELY AND AMAZING U.S.A., 2001. Director: Nicole Holofcener Cast: Catherine Keener, Brenda Blethyn, Dermot Mulroney Sat., May 25, 6:30 p.m., Egyptian Sun., May 26, 1:45 p.m., Egyptian Walking and Talking director Holofcener uses Beverly Hills as a backdrop for her compassionate, diabolically funny portrait of a family battling the contemporary malaise—crippling self-disesteem—that makes Jenny Craig rich. The oldest daughter of a wealthy divorcee (Blethyn), Michelle is vaguely “artistic” but peaked in high school and now seethes with frustration. Middle daughter Elizabeth is a wafer-thin actress who has no defenses against Hollywood’s callousness. Meanwhile the youngest, a chubby black 8-year-old—adopted from a crack-addicted mother—has some pretty scary defenses against questions of race, class, and fat. Why care? Because script and cast are equally impeccable, and because no one is immune from the insecurities of these dear, deluded souls. Prediction: No woman will ever forget the scene in which Elizabeth stands, naked and flawless, begging her actor-b.f. to catalog her imperfections—nor will any man, although possibly for different reasons. S.B.
THE LOVER Russia, 2001. Director: Valeri Petrovich Todorovsky Sat., June 15, 9:30 p.m., Pacific Place Sun., June 16, 6:30 p.m., Pacific Place
Strangers united by common tragedy. World premiere.
MAD LOVE Spain, 2001. Director: Vicente Aranda Tues., May 28, 7:00 p.m., Egyptian Thurs., May 30, 4:30 p.m., Egyptian
A costume-heavy period piece about Juana the Mad, one of history’s strangest characters.
MALUNDE S. Africa/Germany, 2001. Director: Stefanie Sycholt Thurs., May 30, 7:00 p.m., Pacific Place Sat., June 1, 4:00 p.m., Harvard Exit
Considering all the road-flick formulas exhausted in the history of cinema, odds are good we’ve never seen anything like this: An 11-year-old black solvent-huffing male prostitute flees Johannesburg with a decorated white foot soldier from the old apartheid regime. Sadly, this unlikely pairing is more engaging in theory than in practice. Shortly after strong, silent Kobus (Ian Roberts) inadvertently rescues street urchin Wonderboy (Kagiso Mtetwa) from a malevolent dealer, the two are bonding en route to Cape Town. Old family hang-ups must be resolved—Wonderboy’s searching for his mother; Kobus wants to reestablish contact with his estranged daughter—but it’s clear that, despite the initial obligatory bickering, these two will treat each other better than anyone from their respective troubled pasts. A nice concept, to be sure, and the visuals of the South African countryside rival Y Tu Mam᠔ambi鮼/I>’s depiction of Mexico, but it’s all been done before. Andrew Bonazelli
MAP OF SEX AND LOVE Hong Kong/U.S.A., 2001. Director: Evans Chan Thurs., May 30, 7:00 p.m., Egyptian Sun., June 2, 4:00 p.m., Harvard Exit
A Chinese-American documentary filmmaker becomes enamored with his neighbors.
THE MAPMAKER Ireland, 2002. Director: Johnny Gogan Wed., June 5, 7:00 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall Fri., June 7, 9:30 p.m., Harvard Exit
A young mapmaker learns that animosity, like geography, is immutable. World premiere.
MARIAGES Canada, 2001. Director: Catherine Martin Mon., June 10, 7:00 p.m., Harvard Exit Sun., June 16, 4:00 p.m., Pacific Place
Passionate romance confronts stuffy Victorian morality in this 19th-century tale of love against all odds. In stark rural Quebec, Yvonne is the younger daughter of a widower; her sister, H鬨ne, rules their grim household with an iron hand. Yvonne falls in love with the wealthy neighboring Charles, who, as it happens, is engaged to her young niece. Yet supernatural forces conspire to unite our lovers. (Meanwhile subplots like the miraculous preservation of the girls dead mothers body are intrusive and hard to follow.) Mariages setting is lovely and evocative, but its material is embarrassingly obvious: wind represents any number of supernatural forces; Yvonnes sensuality is communicated by her near-constant nudity (and unfortunate tendency to rub her body against various forest flora); while miraclesor magic, if you prefertake the place of plot continuity and stretch the bounds of believability in this overwrought melodrama. U.S. premiere. E.C.B.
MAY U.S.A., 2001. Writer-director: Lucky McKee Sat., June 8, midnight, Egyptian
A creepy, female would-be Dr. Frankenstein looks for love in the big city.
MAYA India/U.S.A., 2001. Director: Digvijay Singh Sun., May 26, 9:30 p.m., Harvard Exit Mon., May 27, 11:30 a.m., Harvard Exit
A thin morality tale shrouds this beautifully photographed story about a girl who loses her innocence in a barbaric tribal ritual in rural India. Ostensibly a coming-of-age tale about 12-year-old Maya, the film is really about the collision between modernity and tradition, although its conclusions are less than clear. Even its eponymous heroine is clouded in mystery: While the lustful, domineering men who drag Maya to her brutal fate are drawn with Magic Marker, Maya herself is sketched with the lightest pencil. A piteous pawn in the adults’ plans, she drifts from scene to scene, staring submissively as villagers buzz around her. Heavy with symbolism—ominous lizards, rapacious snakes, and helpless birds’ eggs all make an appearance—the languid Maya takes a long time to reach its climax. Unfortunately, for all the effort expended on her behalf, Maya remains a pitiful, docile, and frustratingly silent enigma. Erica C. Barnett
*MCCABE & MRS. MILLER U.S.A., 1971. Director: Robert Altman Cast: Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, Shelly Duvall Sun., June 2, 1:45 p.m., Egyptian
What did he say? Could you repeat that, please? Beatty never mumbled so much as in this collaboration with Altman, perhaps helping the director wrench the spotlight from his famously camera-hogging star. It helps, too, that Christie shines so bright as the madam who sets up a frontier brothel with Beatty’s dreamy, itinerant gambler. (“I got poetry in me.”) Miller‘s rather gloomy, underlit naturalism doesn’t work on home video (nor does Altman’s characteristically overlapping dialogue); you need the big screen to appreciate all the little clues and seemingly minor diversions contained within the frame—or within frames-within-frames, in some cases. Does McCabe care that he’s doomed? Altman is as uninterested in that question as he is with respecting the Western genre. Set in the Northwest, Miller is his anti-Western, a picture deliberately undermining the myths of frontier bravery and romance. In the end, Altman argues, everyone’s in it for the money—a different and even more enduringly elegiac myth. B.R.M.
ME WITHOUT YOU Great Britain, 2001. Director: Sandra Goldbacher Cast: Anna Friel, Michelle Williams, Kyle MacLachlan Mon., June 3, 7:00 p.m., Pacific Place Tues., June 4, 9:30 p.m., Harvard Exit
The hoary old topic of female friendship gets a shot in the arm (literally) in this absorbing, affecting, and at times outrageous look at two best friends (Friel and Dawsons Creeks Williams, managing the accent just fine) growing up in 70s and 80s London. Priceless period detailsfrom Biba bikinis to chilly gutterpunk crash padssauce it up but, really, it always comes down to the relationship between the two girls. Bookish, earnest Holly and wild Marinas near Siamese-twin attachment is tested over the years by sex, drugs, and myriad betrayals, but director/writer Goldbacher makes their love/hate/cant-live-without-you bond feel achingly genuine. Trudie Styler (Marinas glammy but drug-addled mother), MacLachlan (a philandering American prof), and newcomer Oliver Milburn (Marinas dreamy older brother) round out a smartly chosen cast. You is definitely worth seeing if youve ever been, loved, or known a teenage girl. L.G.
MEN WITH BROOMS Canada, 2000. Director: Paul Gross Cast: Paul Gross, Leslie Nielsen, Molly Parker Fri., June 7, 7:00 p.m., Harvard Exit Tues., June 11, 4:30 p.m., Harvard Exit
Canadians among us (and you know who you are), heres your movie: a huge hit north of the border thats sure to appeal to you invisible, outwardly American infiltrators. Essentially a Full Monty-like tale of rustbelt losers in need of redemption, Brooms has its four curling teammates reunite after a decade to pursue a big championship for their deceased coach. The latters two daughters (Parker among them) are both hot for the lead curler (director Gross), whose father (Nielsen) takes over training the lads. Naturally theres a squad of flashy curling superstars to vanquish; naturally theres lots of Moosehead to drink; naturally the final match takes up virtually an hour (in which we learn what it means to place it on the button). Too long and too Canadian for the rest of us, this genial, whimsical comedy shambles to a predictable endexcept for the hilarious, auspicious, unexplained herd of CG beavers that periodically waddles through. U.S. premiere. B.R.M.
MERCI POUR LE CHOCOLAT France, 2000. Director: Claude Chabrol Cast: Isabelle Huppert, Jacques Dutronc Mon., June 3, 7:00 p.m., Egyptian Tues., June 4, 4:30 p.m., Egyptian
From the legendary director: death by chocolate—literally.
MILLENNIUM MAMBO Taiwan/France, 2001. Director: Hou Hsiao-hsien Mon., June 3, 9:30 p.m., Harvard Exit Wed., June 5, 7:00 p.m., Pacific Place
The actors were mostly working without a script in Mambo, perhaps the most enigmatic of competition films at Cannes this year. Hou intended to make a verit頰ortrait of Taipei’s youth but has also conceded that the result is best viewed as a modern-day version of his 19th-century-brothel chamber piece, Flowers of Shanghai. Which is to say, Mambo is another story of female entrapment, this one scored to a constant techno thump, with a glazed third-person narration both predicting and pre-empting the action. The thick neon smear and the generous use of voice-over seemed at first like a friendly concession to the many art-house patrons who tolerate Wong Kar-wai but not Hou. The gesture is soon retracted, though, as Mambo settles into a lulling, virtually plotless state of agonized suspension. The briefest hints of joy are reserved for fleeting detours to, of all places, a snowy mountain town in Hokkaido—the site of a film festival no less. D.L.
MINOES Netherlands, 2001. Director: Vincent Bal Sat., June 1, 11:30 a.m., Pacific Place
A young woman with superpowers becomes an ace reporter’s inside source. U.S. premiere.
MINOR MISHAPS Denmark, 2002. Director: Annette K. Olesen Thurs., June 13, 7:00 p.m., Egyptian Sun., June 16, 4:00 p.m., Egyptian
The one thing about death is it really brings a family together. U.S. premiere.
MISSING PERSONS U.S.A., 2001. Director: Matthew O’Donnell Fri., May 24, 9:30 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall Sat., June 8, 9:30 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
A crazy, situational, 3D-animated comedy.
MONKEY LOVE U.S.A., 2001. Director: Mark Stratton Wed., June 12, 7:00 p.m., Cinerama Sun., June 16, 6:30 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
An A for effort to the cast and crew, but Love is amateur hour all the way. While it doesnt commit the mortal indie-film sin of sheer plotlessness, Loves story is more suited for sitcoms than the big screen: Venice Beach slacker Amy is stuck in a rut with her two best friends: cool Dil and dorky Aaron. Feeling theyre holding her back, she decides to sleep with both of them, hoping the ensuing awkwardness will somehow free her for bigger and better things. The plans about as good as it sounds: Aaron falls for Amy; Amy falls for Dil; then confusion, switchbacks, and slapstick abound. It could be a serious topic, but director Strattons treatment is Marshmallow Fluffer light; a few entanglementswith a creepy old father-figure, a pseudo-guru, and a trampy waitresscomplicate things, but not for long. Hammy acting and flat DV photography also make Love a less-than-convincing movie experience. World premiere. L.G.
MONRAK TRANSISTOR Thailand, 2002. Director: Penek Ratanaruang Fri., June 14, 7:00 p.m., Egyptian Sun., June 16, 6:30 p.m., Egyptian
A big step down from his black-comedic 6ixtynin9 at SIFF last year, Ratanaruangs latest begins as rural melodrama enlivened by periodic bursts of pop tunes. In a beautiful, remote river village, Pan woos Sadaw, then gets drafted into the army, leaving his young, pregnant wife behind. Aiming to be a pop singer, our vain but likable hero goes AWOL after winning a singing contest, earning a place in the Bangkok bubblegum music factory run by pompadoured impresario/Svengali figure Suwat. At a certain point, however, the funny, random songs and direct-address commentary give way to Dickensian pathos, as Pan dearly comes to regret leaving his village and wife (I want to go home! he inevitably despairs). Thus the movie devolves into a cautionary tale of abandoning rural bliss for the evil city, with droll narration supplied by a prison guard who muses, Life is so unpredictable. The same cannot be said of Transistor. U.S. premiere. B.R.M.
MOSTLY MARTHA Germany/Austria, 2001. Director: Sandra Nettelbeck Sat., June 8, 6:30 p.m., Pacific Place Mon., June 10, 4:30 p.m., Pacific Place
How an upscale chef goes from absolute boredom to having a lot to chew on, emotionally. U.S. premiere.
*MURDEROUS MAIDS France, 2001. Director: Jean-Pierre Denis Sun., June 9, 11:30 a.m., Pacific Place Tues., June 11, 9:30 p.m., Cinerama
Sober, nuanced, and concise, Maids takes a brisk walk through one of the creepiest crimes of the 20th century—a 1933 murder that fascinated French intellectuals from Andr頂reton through Simone de Beauvoir and Jean Genet to Claude Chabrol. One winter evening in the provincial town of Le Mans, two irreproachable household domestics, Christine Papin and her younger sister L顬 inexplicably butchered their employer of seven years, along with her daughter. Returning to filmmaking after 12 years as a customs inspector, director Denis reconstructs what he can of the sisters’ background, locating them in an oppressive context of household drudgery and authoritarian abuse, while suggesting that their liberation fantasy was a dream of impossible symbiosis. Denis presents the sisters as the bacchants of their own savage god. Maids dramatizes, but it doesn’t explain. The inference in this genuinely unnerving movie is that nothing can. J.H.
MY BROTHER SILK ROAD Kyrgizstan/Kazakhstan, 2001. Director: Marat Sarulu Fri., June 14, 9:30 p.m., Harvard Exit Sun., June 16, 6:30 p.m., Harvard Exit
Train travel is a metaphor for destiny. U.S. premiere.
MY VOYAGE TO ITALY Italy, 2001. Director: Martin Scorsese Mon., May 27, 11:30 a.m., Egyptian Wed., May 29, 7:00 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
Martin Scorsese shares his appreciation for Rossellini, Fellini, and other Italian directors.
MY WIFE IS AN ACTRESS France, 2001. Director: Yvan Attal Cast: Charlotte Gainsbourg, Yvan Attal, Terence Stamp Thurs., June 6, 7:00 p.m., Pacific Place Sat., June 8, 1:45 p.m., Egyptian
A beautiful actress, fed up with her husband’s jealousies, finds herself drawn to a costar.
THE NAVIGATORS Spain/Germany/U.K., 2001. Director: Kenneth Loach Fri., May 31, 7:00 p.m., Harvard Exit Wed., June 5, 9:30 p.m., Harvard Exit
Corporate mergers prove dehumanizing.
NO NEWS FROM GOD Spain/France/Italy/Mexico, 2001. Director: Agustin Diaz-Yanes Cast: Victoria Abril, Pen鬯pe Cruz, Fanny Ardant Mon., June 3, 4:30 p.m., Egyptian Wed., June 5, 7:00 p.m., Egyptian
A waitress in hell and a nightclub singer in heaven battle over a young boxer’s soul.
*NO REGRETS Germany, 2001. Director: Benjamin Quabeck Fri., June 14, 7:00 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall Sun., June 16, 4:00 p.m., Harvard Exit
If Nichts Bereuen had a subtitle, it would be some really long German word that meant getting frustrated, getting drunk, getting baked, getting naked, and getting pulled over. Thank young Quabeck for reminding us that teen rite-of-passage movies aren’t the sole province of Hollywood. His coarse, defiant story concerns the self-loathing, breathlessly self-involved 19-year-old Daniel, who’s “convinced that life—and more importantly love—is passing [me] by.” Quabeck might be only slightly older than his predictable source material (in Deutschland, sincerity is the new irony), but the boy’s got skills. His soundtrack is sure to resurface in Passat commercials, and super-hot young Germans also help hold your attention. Shortly after the jaunty, jump-cut opening credits (“Ist das der WB?” you might wonder), you’ll feel the rising, gnawing desire to have sex with as many Germans as you can find. And then set them all straight with a good, stern ass-kicking. And then go buy a Passat. Paul Hughes
NYNKE Netherlands, 2001. Director: Pieter Verhoeff Sat., June 1, 9:30 p.m., Harvard Exit Sat., June 8, 11:30 a.m., Egyptian
A female writer struggles against society as well as her own husband.
ON THE ROAD TO EMMAUS Finland, 2001. Director: Markku Polonen Sat., May 25, 1:45 p.m., Pacific Place Mon., May 27, 6:30 p.m., Pacific Place
A cynic revisits his past, learns something. U.S. premiere.
ONE DAY IN AUGUST Greece, 2002. Director: Constantine Giannaris Sat., May 25, 9:30 p.m., Harvard Exit Sun., May 26, 11:30 a.m., Harvard Exit
Greek culture today is tense, even contradictory. U.S. premiere.
101ST KILOMETRE Russia, 2001. Director: Leonid Maryagin Sat., June 1, 9:30 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall Mon., June 3, 4:30 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
The scion of an intellectual Jewish family becomes embroiled with the post-Stalin KGB. U.S. premiere.
THE ORPHAN Hong Kong, 1960. Director: Sun-fung Lee Sat., June 8, 4:00 p.m., Egyptian Thurs., June 13, 4:30 p.m., Egyptian
See Bruce Lee playing a hoodlum at 19 years old, before he went to Hollywood.
*ORPHAN OF ANYANG China, 2001. Director: Wang Chao Tues., June 11, 7:00 p.m., Pacific Place Wed., June 12, 4:30 p.m., Pacific Place
Cute babies do not for cute movies make—at least not in China’s declining northern rust belt, where a bundle of joy just means another mouth to feed. For hooker Feng, caring for a bastard child would cut into her earning hours. For downsized worker Yu, the monthly stipend he makes baby-sitting the infant keeps him out of poverty. He pages her once a month for his wages; then the two meet for a long, awkward meal where Feng can see her kid. This stark tale certainly recalls Italian neorealism with its bleak urban locales and hard-luck stories, but it’s not all grim. Feng and Yu develop a certain fondness for each other, and even the dying gangster Si-de—who abruptly decides to claim paternity of the infant—is accorded his humanity. Some may find Orphan‘s tone depressingly unsentimental, but that shouldn’t be confused for a lack of feeling—which is all the more powerful against a sparse background when it erupts. B.R.M.
OUR AMERICA U.S.A., 2002. Director: Ernest Dickerson Cast: Josh Charles, Vanessa Williams Fri., June 7, 7:00 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall Sun., June 9, 1:45 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
Two black kids from the inner city make a documentary called Ghetto Life 101.
OUTPATIENT U.S.A. (Seattle), 2002. Director: Alec Carlin Sun., May 26, 9:30 p.m., Egyptian Thurs., June 13, 1:00 p.m., Cinerama
In Morris Monk’s smoky mystery novel, he is slick and debonair, dancing gracefully in a tuxedo with glamorous, endangered partners. In reality, Morris (Justin Kirk) is a mental patient, soft-spoken and barely capable of acting in self-interest. His fantasies blur with reality when he makes his therapist, Dr. Farrow (Pearl Harbor‘s Catherine Kellner), and the street-brash Raven the femme fatales of his novel; then their imaginary danger threatens to become true. It’s promising thriller material, and Kirk deftly plays Morris’ flinching reserve. Too bad, though, that Seattle-based Carlin tries our patience with dead-end clues and cardboard supporting characters. Farrow’s judgment is so poor—e.g., sleeping with the walking-lawsuit hospital chief—that we wonder how she ever got through med school. About a half-hour too long, Outpatient needs to shed some of its plot-heavy weight to recover its health. World premiere. G.T.
*THE PARALLAX VIEW U.S.A., 1974. Director: Alan J. Pakula Cast: Warren Beatty, Hume Cronyn, Paula Prentiss Fri., June 7, 4:30 p.m., Egyptian
For five tense, queer minutes atop the Space Needle, this conspiracy thriller coldly depicts the shock of a public assassination. For the next half-hour, as mop-topped journalist Joe Frady (Beatty) realizes that witnesses to the murder are dying under strange circumstances, View is a haphazard marriage of Pakula’s own All the President’s Men with Eastwood-esque bar brawls and car chases. Frady’s questionable investigative tactics are window dressing designed to conceal the film’s darker ideas, which are not at all what we’d expect from a Hollywood political potboiler. Oh, wait. Audiences regularly demanded and received diffuse subtexts from ’70s thrillers; Pakula’s deliberate, often stationary compositions teem with hidden information. Like The Game, a ’90s paranoia study it clearly influenced, View expertly conceals its true intentions until the final seconds, unveiling one hell of a philosophical corkscrew. A.B.
PARALLEL WORLDS Czech Republic, 2001. Director: Petr Vaclav Mon., May 27, 11:30 a.m., Pacific Place Tues., May 28, 9:30 p.m., Pacific Place
A man and woman separate.
PASSIONADA U.S.A., 2002. Director: Dan Ireland Sun., June 16, 6:30 p.m., Cinerama Sun., June 16, 9:30 p.m., Cinerama
Love and mystery in a Massachusetts fishing town. Directed by one of SIFF’s founders. World premiere.
THE PIANO TEACHER Austria/France, 2001. Director: Michael Haneke Cast: Isabelle Huppert Sat., June 8, 9:30 p.m., Egyptian Mon., June 10, 9:30 p.m., Cinerama
Most simply put, Piano is the tale of a former musical prodigy and her monstrously controlling mother who are locked in a relationship so symbiotic that they share the same bed. The movie is a series of violent shocks, typically administered in confined spaces. The cool appraisal with which Erika (Huppert) reduces her pupils to tears is suggestive of Piano‘s own brisk, opaque surface—until the ice is pulverized by a giddy jolt of hard-core porn that no amount of Schubert can completely assuage. Such is the piano teacher’s inner life. Erika is a formidably chic creature whose complex of bizarre symptoms is a dragon to be slain by her forward student, Walter. His admiration has unforeseen effects, but as Erika grows increasingly psychotic, he is correspondingly emboldened. Director Haneke rationalizes Piano‘s flow, proceeding from one outrageous set piece to the next. Ultimately, however, he reaches the point of diminished returns. J.H.
*PICNIC U.S.A., 1955. Director: Joshua Logan Cast: William Holden, Kim Novak, Cliff Robertson Sat., June 8, 1:45 p.m., Harvard Exit
Logan’s adaptations of stage musicals could get bloated and stupid (thus the gargantuan havoc he wreaked on South Pacific, Camelot, and Paint Your Wagon), but he had better luck with William Inge’s plays. His work on Bus Stop helped give Marilyn Monroe some hard-won respect, and he scored a year earlier with this Inge tale of a small town’s Labor Day celebration that finds local girl Novak hot and bothered over drifter Holden. The whole thing has that familiar whiff of the overblown, but it’s hard to resist Inge’s passionate histrionics and middlebrow lyricism when they’re presented in such delectable Big Movie fashion. Novak’s bottle blonde paws over Holden’s bare-chested machismo in James Wong Howe’s rich Technicolor photography. Plus, you get the big-screen debut of Robertson—currently Spider-Man’s loving uncle—as the odd man out, and the engaging support of old pro Russell as the town’s schoolteacher. Free! S.W.
THE PINOCHET CASE France/Belgium/Chile, 2001. Director: Patricio Guzman Mon., May 27, 11:30 a.m., Broadway Perf. Hall Tues., May 28, 7:00 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
The effort to bring the Chilean strongman to justice.
*PIPE DREAM U.S.A., 2001. Director: John C. Walsh Cast: Martin Donovan, Mary-Louise Parker, Rebecca Gayheart Wed., June 12, 9:30 p.m., Pacific Place Fri., June 14, 4:30 p.m., Pacific Place
Heres what Hollywood Ending meant to be: a short, specific, character-driven satire of N.Y.C. moviemaking that mixes laughter and romance. Modesty of scale and execution work extremely well in Pipe, where a guy (Donovan) who gets no respect because of his profession (plumbing) decides to pass himself off as a film director to meet pretty actresses at a fake casting session. The plan works all too well, as the script he swipes from his neighbor (Parker) for the audition turns out to be good. The laconic new auteur becomes the subject of frantic industry buzz, then draws $2 million for his first feature. Roll camera! While our hero has lines fed to him via the writers walkie-talkie (not unlike Allen in Ending), he pursues his leading lady (Gayheart) and lets the ruse grow out of control. Hes like a Renaissance Man, one admirer gushes. Meanwhile, writer and director reexamine their off-set roles to thoroughly winning effect. B.R.M.
PISTOL OPERA Japan, 2001. Director: Seijun Suzuki Sun., June 9, 9:30 p.m., Pacific Place Wed., June 12, 4:30 p.m., Egyptian
A professional assassin wears high-heels and a kimono.
PLEASURE AND PAIN U.S.A., 2001. Director: Danny Clinch Fri., June 14, noon, Cinerama Sat., June 15, 9:30 p.m., Broadway Perf. Hall
You can only roll your eyes when Ben Harper’s manager and acolytes compare the charismatic singer-songwriter to Jesus, and this routine on-the-road documentary does little to disrupt the standard rock-star hagiography treatment. “I take a stand against evil people,” Harper declares, but he can also laugh at himself and add, “I don’t want to have to be a ‘protest singer.'” Apart from the usual performance clips and tour bus montages, Pleasure‘s strongest moments are when we meet Harper’s family back in Claremont, Calif.; a duet with his musician mother is particularly touching. (Yet the documentary is very much an in-house, artist-controlled enterprise; we learn nothing about his first marriage or love child with Laura Dern.) Clearly a serious musician, Harper is at his most engaging when simply playing around—quoting Dr. Evil, shopping impulsively for shoes, and burning off post-concert energy by doing a shrieking Bruce Lee act in an empty stadium. U.S. premiere. B.R.M.
PRINCESS BLADE Japan, 2001. Director: Shinsuke Sato Tues., May 28, 9:30 p.m., Egyptian Fri., May 31, midnight., Egyptian
A warrior princess avenges her mother’s death.
*THE PRISONER OF ZENDA U.S.A., 1937. Director: John Cromwell Cast: Douglas Fairbanks Jr., David Niven Sat., May 25, 1:45 p.m., Harvard Exit
No, not Zelda, Zenda: the hunting lodge where King Rudolf of Hentzau is imprisoned by his dastardly brother Black Michael to prevent his rival’s marriage to the icy Princess Flavia until the opportune appearance of the King’s exact look-alike in the person of vacationing Englishman Rudolf Rassendyll (Colman) who . . . you get the idea. The fourth of six big-screen adaptations, Zenda is the quintessential sword-and-intrigue film. Its supporting cast is as good as ’30s studio work gets: Raymond Massey, C. Aubrey Smith, and an absurdly young David Niven as the King’s spunky aide-de-camp. Comedienne Madeleine Carroll is grossly miscast as the slave-of-duty princess, and if you think one Ronald Colman is tiresome, wait till you see two. But every time the blahs threaten, in comes an over-the-top Douglas Fairbanks Jr. to chew some scenery as the Greatest Swordsman in All Europe. Pure fun. Free! R.D.
THE PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES U.S.A./Great Britain, 1970. Director: Billy Wilder Cast: Robert Stephens, Colin Blakely, Genevi趥 Page Sun., June 9, 4:00 p.m., Egyptian
Billy Wilder got away with alternating the cynic (Sunset Blvd., Ace in the Hole) and the sentimentalist (The Emperor Waltz, Sabrina) for decades, but by the early ’60s (The Apartment; One, Two, Three; Irma la Douce) the cynic got the upper hand, and 1964’s sour, unfunny flop Kiss Me, Stupid effectively killed his career. In Holmes we see Wilder groping for a new formula, enriching the old winking sexual innuendo—Dr. Watson begins to suspect his buddy Sherlock is gay—with dashes of gaslight melodrama (a mysterious damsel in distress), the occult (the Loch Ness monster), even politics (an anti-war speech by Queen Victoria). None of it works. And none of the players—Robert Stephens as The Great Detective, Colin Blakely as Watson, Genevi趥 Page as The Woman—has sufficient charisma to keep us focused as the desultory plot wanders its way. Even the lovely wide-screen Scottish scenery isn’t enough to keep you awake. R.D.
PUMPKIN U.S.A., 2002. Director: Adam Larson Cast: Christina Ricci, Hank Harris, Brenda Blethyn Thurs., May 30, 4:30 p.m., Harvard Exit Sun., June 2, 9:30 p.m., Egyptian
A sorority girl mentors a disabled athlete and, in due course, takes to liking him.
PURSUED U.S.A., 1947. Director: Raoul Walsh Cast: Robert Mitchum, Teresa Wright, Alan Hale Sat., June 1, 1:45 p.m., Harvard Exit
Shown as part of SIFF’s tribute to cinematographer James Wong Howe, Pursued features menacing, unsettling atmospherics thanks to his chiaroscuro lighting and stark camera work. The spiritually desolate frontier-town ambiance directly anticipates such “dark” Westerns as High Noon and The Searchers. For as long as he can remember, Jeb Rand (Mitchum) has been driven to discover the origins of a blurry, persistent memory of childhood tragedy. Like the similarly chronologically scrambled Memento, this Western-noir teases us relentlessly by beginning with a climax and unfolding towards The Big Secret via flashback and incremental revelation. Slowly we learn of the old vendetta between Jeb’s birth family and the cold, driven patriarch of the Callums, his adopted clan. Mitchum is captivating as the haunted antihero, positively exuding inner conflict through busted knuckles, stoic cowboy swagger, and sad, sad eyes; Wright turns in an uncharacteristically chilly performance as Jeb’s tragic femme fatale. Bleak, violent, and utterly humorless, Pursued is stunning psychodrama at its most psycho. Free! Peter Vidito
QUITTING China, 2001. Director: Zhang Yang Wed., May 29, 7:00 p.m., Pacific Place Sat., June 1, 4:00 p.m., Pacific Place
His prize-winning Shower was a hit at SIFF last year, but the barely tolerable sentimentalism that Zhang brought to that picture goes overboard here. Compounding problems is a basically familiar tortured-artist-in-recovery narrative that might seem daring in Chinaour hero smokes heroin, listens obsessively to the Beatles, and yells at his parentsbut is awfully tame by Western standards. Its unfortunate, because Quitting begins with a clever, funny conceit: Suzhou River star Jia Hongsheng plays himself, and his actor parents play themselves, in the tale of how the handsome young performer got hooked on smack during the mid-90s. Various real-life figures including Zhang comment on Jias problems, while the actor and his loving family members are also directly interviewed. In this way, Zhang plays with the artifice of his story but buries such self-reflexivity under maudlin kitchen-sink drama. As Jia grudgingly learns to be more sincere, you wish Zhang were less so. B.R.M.
