The Stranger

Sherry Markovitz is known for her sculpture: totemic wall-trophy animals drowning in beads and shells and feathers. Some of those will be at Greg Kucera Gallery. But since 2006, she's been making paintings on silk, and the medium brings out something wild in her. Marriage, the first of her silk paintings, portrays a doll-like white woman and a primitively styled Native American man; Two-Faced Cross-Eyed Baby is pretty much what it sounds like—and more disturbing. (Greg Kucera Gallery, 212 Third Ave S, 624-0770. 10:30 am–5:30 pm, free.) by Jen Graves

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Errol Morris's documentary about Abu Ghraib is startling, not because of the now infamous images (though they have not lost their capacity to startle), but because Morris is sincerely interested in the people who took them. Framed by Sabrina Harman's increasingly uneasy letters home to her lesbian partner, Standard Operating Procedure seeks answers to questions that are usually purely rhetorical: Who would do such a thing to another human being? And why would you want to photograph it? (See movie times..) ANNIE WAGNER by Annie Wagner

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Argentine-born artist Sergio Vega's ongoing project El Paraiso en el Nuevo Mundo (Paradise in the New World) has been called, by critic Holland Cotter, "part religious history, part fictional epic, and part tropical heat dream." It's a series of photographs, sculptures, videos, and diaries documenting Vega's relationship to a 1650 book by the same name. For a new chapter at Open Satellite, Vega expands his focus on colonialism and resettlement into glittering Klondike gold rush territory. (Open Satellite, 989 112th Ave NE, Bellevue, 425-454-7355. Opening 6:30–9:30 pm, free.) by Jen Graves

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The subtitle speaks to this dark comedy's complete rejection of aggressive action, including noticeable plot progression. But writer/director Stephane Lafleur digs deeply in this stylish stasis, tracking a half-dozen lonely French souls as they live out their quietly complicated lives, from a new widow paralyzed by liberation to a traveling salesmen so hungry for connection he'll watch you have sex, if you ask nice. Lafleur's appetite for pathos is matched by his eye for perversity, and the resulting film is a slow-burning charmer. (Pacific Place, 600 Pine St. 9:30 pm, ticket info at www.thestranger.com/siff.) by David Schmader

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You can't help but fall in love with Jack's wide brown eyes, eager face, and sincere stammer. But Jack grew up in prison after committing a horrible crime as a boy and is trying to ditch his old self and build a new identity. Based on a novel by British writer Jonathan Trigell, Boy A's suspense telescopes into the past and the future as we learn what Jack did and whether he can handle his new life—first job, first girlfriend, first time on ecstasy, and so on. The final scene bludgeons us with bathos, but everything preceding teeters thrillingly between hope and disaster. (Uptown Cinema, 511 Queen Anne Ave N. 7 pm, ticket info at www.thestranger.com/siff.) by Brendan Kiley

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The synth symphonies of French band M83 have always sounded vaguely like film scores, but their latest album, Saturdays = Youth, could be the soundtrack to some '80s teen-misfit romance. The record abounds with sonic signifiers of the decade—sweeping synth pads, gated reverb drums, Molly Ringwald—but M83's lush, layered palette and newfound knack for crafting succinctly stunning pop gems like "Kim & Jessie" and "Graveyard Girl" transcend mere revivalism. This is the show that makes me wish I wasn't going to Sasquatch! this weekend. (Neumo's, 925 E Pike St, 709-9467. 8 pm, $12, 21+.) by Eric Grandy

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