Due to the ever-changing nature of the movie biz, showtimes as they appear in any and all newspapers should always be double-checked with the theaters before setting off for a night at the flicks.
***image3***Designates items highlighted in this week's issue.
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OPENS FRIDAY
The Devil and Daniel Johnston
You may have heard of the former and not the latter, although musicians from Tom Waits to Kurt Cobain have counted themselves among his fans. Johnston's life may have been blighted by his struggles with bipolar illness, but its corresponding surges of creativity turned him into an outsider songwriter's songwriter, equal parts Robert Johnson and Henry Darger. Jeff Feuerzeig's intimate, startling and often funny documentary netted him a Grand Jury Prize at Sundance last year.
CCA, PG-13, 110 min.
Elevator to the Gallows
It's difficult to remember that late director Louis Malle (
My Dinner with Andre
,
Au revoir
,
les enfants
,) was once a 24-year-old hotshot who scampered away with the Prix Delluc and essentially
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kicked off the
nouvelle vague
with this 1957 noir confection, which also made an icon out of star Jeanne Moreau (perhaps never as well photographed again). When Moreau conspires with her lover (Maurice Ronet) to murder her husband, they're not prepared for how complicated such deeds can be, nor how quickly they can go pear-shaped. With François Truffaut's DP Henri Decaë at the wheel and a notoriously cool improvisational soundtrack by Miles Davis, a shiny new 35 mm print will be pure créme brulée.
The Screen, NR, 88 min.
Marilyn Hotchkiss Ballroom Dancing & Charm School
Strange how times have changed for Robert Carlyle, ever since his turn as psychotic Begbie in
Trainspotting
; the roles he's landed since then have tended much more toward the sweet side, if still often darkly funny: the alcoholic dad in
Angela's Ashes
, a romantic lead in
Carla's Song
and
The Full Monty
-and of course quirky Beeb detective
Hamish Macbeth
. Carlyle continues with the pure evaporated cane sugar, so far rarely redolent of sucralose, as a man broken-hearted by the death of his wife. A chance encounter with John Goodman leads him circuitously to the school of the title (overseen by Mary Steenburgen)-and to a fresh start, his transformation attended by fellow dance and charm students Marisa Tomei, Donnie Wahlberg and Sean Astin (don't you lose him, Samwise Gamgee!).
The Screen, PG-13, 103 min.
Water
By now you may have heard about the
sturm und drang
writer and director Deepa Mehta encountered in her native India when she first began shooting for this final installment in her historical trilogy-so much
drang
, in fact, that the shoot had to move to Sri Lanka (and a frustrated Mehta wound up finishing two other films in the meantime). Preceded by her grittily honest
Earth
, dealing with Partition, and the luminous lesbian love story
Fire, Water
takes on yet another agenda: the plight of the Hindu widow, forced (at least as recently as 1938) to choose between a life of atonement and poverty in an ashram, remarriage to a brother-in-law if one was available, or
sati
. In a Varanasi temple, Kalyani (Lisa Ray) and Chuyia (Ronica Sajnani Sarala) have opted for the first, though Chuyia, only 9 years old, doesn't remember getting married in the first place. What will happen when Kalyani falls in love with a young activist and follower of Mahatma Gandhi's (John Abrahams)?
UA DeVargas, PG-13, 117 min.
X-Men: The Last Stand
Ushering in the summer's really big blow-'em-up whoopie movies is, allegedly,
The Last Stand
(but should we really believe
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them, with
Die Hardest 4
in the offing?). Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Anna Paquin, Rebecca Romijn (take that, Stamotopoulos!) and the rest of the mutants must defend their kind even more fiercely now that a "cure" for their aberrancies has been found, and humans (as well as Ian McKellan) seem increasingly disposed to rid the world of these weird people who can set things ablaze and fly around and what have you. We're promised an X-Person resurrection (cough
Phoenix
cough) and assorted exciting new mutants, chief among them being…Kelsey Grammer.
DreamCatcher, UA DeVargas, UA North, PG-13, 104 min.
SHORT RUNS
Breathing Room
Albuquerque boys Ely Mennin, Adrian Casas and Aaron Torricelli bring their low-budget indie home for its premiere; shot largely on location around Nob Hill and Central Avenue,
Breathing Room
stars Whitney Sneed as Carolyn, a tough young motorcycle mama with crippling cystic fibrosis. But the new guy in her life, Fred (Derek Potts), loves her just the way she is; can her overprotective brother Jimmy (Casas) handle her new relationship and need for freedom?
Santa Fe Film Center, NR
***image2***CSA: Confederate States of America
Delicately skirting along the edge of the tasteful comes this eye-opening, sickeningly funny mockumentary depicting an alternate universe in which the Confederacy won the War of Northern Aggression, changing world history as a result.
CSA
not only sends up all of the documentary conventions flawlessly ("Learn how we protected the noble institution of slavery!" says a breathless voiceover, as the camera lingers over those Ken-Burns-style still photographs and DW Griffiths' films go on to depict Lincoln's capture) but also manages to skewer the current state of US racial politics (QVC commercials selling slave families, "available individually or as a set"); deliciously, evilly subversive.
The Screen, NR, 89 min.
Dottie Gets Spanked / Witches, Faggots, Dykes and Poofters
Fabulous Thursday puts the kink back in queer with Todd Haynes' strikingly (sorry) compact 1993 short, which manages to tap into one boy's frightened fascination with a barely glimpsed world of dominance and submission in only 27 minutes; it plays with Australian Digby Duncan's 1979 documentary, linking medieval oppression of "nonconformists" to a violent 1978 police attack of demonstrators at the Sidney Mardi Gras celebrations.
Santa Fe Film Center, NR, 72 min.
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Duma
White South African Xan (Alex Michaeletos) adopts an orphaned cheetah cub who enjoys living on the Kenyan family farm, but eventually Duma must be returned to the wild. On the way, Xan and Duma encounter a young African traveler, Ripkuna (the talented Eamonn Walker).
CCA, PG, 100 min.
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La femme de Gilles
Even when wordless, Emmanuelle Devos (
Kings and Queen
) is magnificent as the title wife; she has the ability to seem complex and simple at the same time, both utterly vulnerable yet also somehow unknowable. And that's a very good thing, because otherwise the daytime-soap storyline of a cheating husband might be a bit much to take-especially when an abrupt, tacked-on melodramatic ending nearly ruins all the ambiguity Devos has spent the preceding hour-and-a-half constructing so meticulously. The film's other asset is its cinematography; the plangent beauty of Elisa at her housework suggests an aesthetic reason for
La femme de Gilles
' existence-but the real marvel here, and reason not to miss the film, is Devos' private, enigmatic, innocent smile, asking questions with no easy answers.
CCA, NR, 103 min.
Go for Zucker!
Alles auf Zucker!
has to be commended just for existing; a controversial dysfunctional-family farce that's an entirely unique creature in the annals of post-war film: a German Jewish comedy. The New York Times even observed that
Zucker
, wildly successful in Germany, has proven "an unconventional form of therapy for the strained relations between Jews and gentiles." No surprise, then, to learn that Swiss-born filmmaker Dani Levi's currently in production on an even edgier comedy,
Mein Führer: The Really Truest Truth about Adolf Hitler
. Henry Hübchen and Udo Samel play estranged brothers from East and West, who must resolve differences at their mother's deathbed.
Santa Fe Film Center, NR, 90 min.
Iron Island
Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof's
Jazireh ahani
may surprise you: Rather than being in-your-face political, it sideswipes you with its ready sense of humor. Set aboard a stalled, rusting tanker in the Persian Gulf,
Iron Island
refers to the boat which has become an odd kind of home for the nomadic families who've turned themselves over to the governance of Captain Nemat (Ali Nassirian)-but does he take them aboard for humanitarian reasons, or to turn a profit? You'll be on the edge of your seat by the end of this unabashed satire, by turns hilarious and haunting.
CCA, NR, 90 min.
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Kekexili
Inspired by a true story, this beautifully photographed epic (filmed in the Himalayas) takes us along for the ride as a Beijing journalist investigates the disappearance of volunteers committed to protect the Tibetan antelope from poachers-even if it means they themselves have to bend the laws.
Kekexili
has allegedly become a phenomenon in China, where it has led to new efforts to protect endangered Tibetan species-but beyond any ethical or political value, it's a harshly lovely story.
CCA, NR, 90 min.
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The Keeper: The Legend of Omar Khayyam
Writer-director Kayvan Mashayekh makes a strong debut with this story of 12-year-old Kamran (Adam Echahly), whose family tells him an important secret: that he's descended from the 11th century poet and astronomer. Flashbacks to ancient Persia explore the relationship between Khayyam (Bruno Lastra) and his best friend Hassan Sabbah (founder of the original assassins), with scenes shot on location in Samarkand and Uzbekistan.
Santa Fe Film Center, PG, 95 min.
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Live Music Film Festival
See
.
Friday-Sunday, May 26-28; NR, runtimes vary. $8-$15. The Lensic, 211 W. San Francisco St., 988-1234.
The Notorious Bettie Page
Gretchen Mol gives a bang-up performance, full of heart and free of spirit, as the 1950s pin-up cupcake in this pretty little bauble (directed by
I Shot Andy Warhol
's Mary Harron and penned by
The L Word
's Guinevere Turner) following her career from swimsuit model to exuberant nudist to born-again Bible banger. Page's real dream was to be a screen actress, and it was only to make money that she turned to the "bondage" photos which made her infamous (sweet and tame by today's standards-cf. Bettie trying to spank a colleague authoritatively while nearly doubled over with laughter). The movie's movement from black-and-white to contrasting supersaturated Technicolor is so slick as to convey feeling-tone almost subliminally;
Notorious
proves a visual treat while offering a tiny peek into the origins of BDSM and porn culture.
The Screen, R, 91 min.
Paper Clips
What better way to understand the impossible-to-grasp concept of "the Nazis murdered six million Jews" than to collect…six million paper clips. At least that's what the eight-graders of Whitwell, Tenn. (pop. 1,500) came up with for a school project, after reading about Norwegian dissenters who wore paper clips in their lapels. Little did they realize where this journey of investigative collecting would take them and the other inhabitants of their relatively insular small-town; Joe Fab's documentary traces the developments with tender curiosity.
Santa Fe Film Center, G, 82 min.
The Puppet Animations of Kihachiro Kawamoto
Both adults and kids can lose themselves in the uncanny, gorgeous films of Kawamoto, animating puppets since the 1950s to mystical, mythological effect (and he continues to work-in his 80s, he's just finished his second feature). Two compilations of short films, taken mostly from his fairy-tale adaptations of the '60s and '70s, screen alongside his first feature
The Book of the Dead
-spare, beautiful pieces, part
Noh
, part
kabuki
, part post-nuclear Japan and all intricate, gauzy detail.
The Screen, NR
Sir! No Sir!
With a special Saturday screening (presented by Veterans for Peace), David Zeiger's 2005 doc unveils a seldom-heard side of the story: the movement against the Vietnam War carried out by GIs-by the troops themselves, working from within the military. Zeiger interviews war resisters (as well as Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland) to dredge up an important and all-too-often neglected piece of the '60s anti-war movement, with Ed Asner narrating.
CCA, NR, 85 min.
NOW SHOWING
Art School Confidential
Fans of graphic novelist Daniel Clowes and director Terry Zwigoff (the duo behind the transcendently banal
Ghost World
) will climb on board
Confidential
, as will RISD survivors, but the rest of us might have trouble getting the joke. Jerome (Max Minghella) enters Strathmore Institute in hopes of becoming "a great artist," an ambition conflated in his mind with getting laid. His sights are set on Audrey (Sophia Myles), the curvy model-muse he idolizes from afar; but critiques go increasingly badly for the young figurative painter, bewildered by the success of classmates who scribble self-portraits ("it's about the
process
of drawing") and refuse to do assignments at all ("my work has nothing to do with form or light or color"). Overall a relatively weak film, little more than a running series of sight gags-but if you've ever been shredded during a critique,
Confidential
's cynical take on the art world will be blackly refreshing.
UA DeVargas, R, 102 min.
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The Da Vinci Code
See
.
DreamCatcher, UA DeVargas, UA North, PG-13, 149 min.
Don't Come Knocking
Wim Wenders directs and Sam Shepard wrote and stars as washed-up Western movie star Howard (Shepard), once famed for playing cowboy heroes, now drowns his sorrows in a bottle, until one day he up and rides off into the sunset. Costarring Tim Roth, Eva Marie Saint and Jessica Lange,
Knocking
's worth seeing for old times' sake (though you could also just re-rent
Paris, Texas
or
Fool for Love
).
UA DeVargas, R, 122 min.
Goal! The Dream Begins
Real-life soccer star Kuno Becker plays Santiago Munez, an immigrant LA kid given the chance of a lifetime: To play football for Newcastle United. The first in a projected trilogy, this installment concerns itself primarily with his initiation into British footie culture (translation: alcohol poisoning) and his first season of play; he finds an unexpected ally in loutish but charming teammate Gavin (
Junebug
's Alessandro Nivola); Marcel Iures, Stephen Dillane and Anna Friel costar, with cameos aplenty.
UA North, PG, 118 min.
Hoot
This sadly bland family flick was based on the kids' novel by Carl Hiaasen: When middle-schooler Roy (Logan Lerman) moves to Florida with his family, he and new friends band together to save endangered owls from corporate greed. But why assume kids will find caricatures any less tedious than adults? Instead, the script's just adequate, when it could have been slyly intelligent.
UA South, PG, 90 min.
Ice Age: The Meltdown
This disappointing sequel turns disaster-movie as Manny, Diego and Sid discover that behind a wall of melting ice looms a
Deep Impact
quantity of water threatening to submerge their valley. Their escape is hindered by an attractive lady mammoth (Queen Latifah), while the film benefits from regular appearances from proto-squirrel Scrat, ever scrabbling after his elusive acorn-the most amusing thing in the movie, which only occasionally takes off into choreographed flights of glee.
UA South, PG, 90 min.
Just My Luck
This disastrously bad outing proves nothing except that Lindsay Lohan's still too young to carry a film as an adult lead. It's another swapping-identities plot, this time without props from Jamie Lee Curtis; Ashley (Lohan), notorious within her circle of Manhattan friends for being the luckiest chick around, kisses Jake (Chris Pine) at a masked ball, exchanging her fortune for his-and Jake's about as lucky as a frat boy at an Emily's List fundraiser.
DreamCatcher, UA South, PG-13, 103 min.
Mission: Impossible III
Lost
director JJ Abrams does everything in his power to keep you from remembering that it's the Sofa-Leaper Himself playing Ethan Hunt-from
M:I-3
's nerve-wracking opening sequence in which a bound and bruised Hunt negotiates frantically with gun-wielding villain Philip Seymour Hoffman. Alas, Abrams also wants us to see Ethan's "sensitive side," so he makes other choices like…cutting from this sequence straight to an engagement party for Ethan and his bride Julia (Michelle Monaghan). Fortunately, Hunt's summoned out of his mushy love-nest retirement to bring down Hoffman, a doer of international evil deeds, in the course of which there are helicopters to blow up, buildings off which to base-jump, a crack team of IMF experts to assemble (Ving Rhames, Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Maggie Q) and contrived plot lines to pursue.
DreamCatcher, UA DeVargas, UA North, PG-13, 126 min.
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Over the Hedge
See
.
DreamCatcher, UA DeVargas, UA South, PG, 96 min.
Poseidon
First Law of Mediocre Disaster Blockbusters: Never give 'em time to think.
Poseidon
readily complies, permitting no reflection between hair-raising events, with lots of fairly graphic casualties. Which brings us to the Second Law: Substitute chaos, yelling, falling objects and random explosions for drama (since it's impossible to generate suspense if you don't care about anyone). Finally, the Third Law: Construct characters out of flabby dialogue, construction paper and gluestick; there should be a Sexy Maverick Leader (the tireless Josh Lucas), Rich Older Gay Guy (Richard Dreyfus), Hot Hispanic Chick (Mía Maestro), Hot White Chick (Emmy Rossum), Annoying Drunk Idiot (Kevin Dillon), Pretty Scared Mom in a Ballgown (Jacinda Barrett) and Kurt Russell. To assess whether
Poseidon
truly attains the goals of the Mediocre Disaster Blockbuster, though, compare it to an outstanding one-and there's a classic ready to hand, probably to director Wolfgang Petersen's dismay; it's called
The Poseidon Adventure
, and it's everything this sloppy, loud remake isn't.
DreamCatcher, UA DeVargas, UA North, UA South, PG-13, 99 min.
RV
Barry Sonnenfeld (
Men in Black
) directs the unamusing odyssey of Bob Munro (Robin Williams), who decides his suburban family would benefit from an RV trip to the Rockies, where they encounter NASCAR-lovin', beer-drinkin' campers, among them Jeff Daniels.
DreamCatcher, UA North, PG, 99 min.
See No Evil
In a blatant effort to pull in WWF audiences, this teen-slaying horror flick stars all seven feet and 320 pounds of wrestling champion Kane, who plays retiring psychopath Jacob Goodnight. When a group of delinquent teenagers draws the community-service job of cleaning out the hazardously disintegrating Blackwell Hotel, they're unaware that Goodnight is squatting in its ruins, bearing a grudge.
UA South, R, 100 min.
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Thank You for Smoking
Jason Reitman has adroitly adapted Christopher Buckley's already wickedly funny novel and the result is a lucid skewering of the way we deal in what the film's hero affably terms "moral flexibility." Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart) is a lobbyist for Big Tobacco, blonde, charming and guileless. But with Nick's son Joey (Cameron Bright) idolizing his infamous dad, Nick begins to feel less certain of the ethical validity of his profession. Eckhart's Ken-doll features lend hilarious affect to pointy political satire in the spirit of
Wag the Dog
.
UA DeVargas, R, 92 min.
