The Stranger

Passing Strange is a musical in name only. Really it's an autobiographical concert by the soulful, rotund, endlessly charming Stew. Imagine Reggie Watts crossed with Mike Daisey, hooked up with a backing band. And actors. The results, filmed by Spike Lee (here atoning for Bamboozled), are soul-shaking. An African American growing up in 1970s L.A., Stew liked punk rock and Camus—he and a select crew of misfits felt like they were "passing for black folks." Stew flees for Amsterdam and Berlin where sex, drugs, and performance art crack his American head wide open. Just watching Passing Strange will make you a better person. (Kirkland Performance Center, 350 Kirkland Ave, thestranger.com/siff. 6:30 pm, $11.) by Brendan Kiley

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Gabriel von Max had a thing for dead and almost-dead women. The centerpiece of this dark-walled, tomblike solo show is The Christian Martyr from 1867, a sexually charged portrait of a crucified woman in the Frye's collection. Here it's accompanied by a pair of headphones, in which Seattle writer Lesley Hazleton, with her majestically gravelly voice, speaks as the martyr herself, as if she's standing right behind you. One minute her tale is sexy, and the next she's describing what it's like to be crucified, how her hair was torn out, how her lungs collapsed. You'll never see this painting again without feeling this salty woman next to you. (Frye Art Museum, 704 Terry Ave, 622-9250. 10 am–5 pm, free.) by Jen Graves

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In Humpday, a pair of thirtysomething, heterosexual male friends decide to have sex on camera and submit the results to The Stranger's amateur-porn competition. From this ridiculous premise, writer/director Lynn Shelton spins a small miracle: a deep, hilarious, completely contemporary relationship comedy that explores with almost scientific precision how such a ridiculous premise would play out in real life. The results—executed by an ace cast led by the singularly appealing Mark Duplass—will have you squirming and howling. (If you can't make tonight's gala screening, there's a regular screening on Sunday afternoon.) (Egyptian, 801 E Pine St, thestranger.com/siff. 7 pm, $13–$25.) by David Schmader

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This is Herb Gardner's 1962 comedy about Murray Burns—a cranky womanizer, comedian, and anti-nebbish—and his nephew, whose loose talk about life with his uncle has attracted the interest of the child-welfare service. Murray has to decide which he prefers: his eccentric independence or keeping his nephew out of the foster-care system. Murray (based on Jean Shepherd, who wrote and narrated A Christmas Story) may be stubbornly anticonformist, but the comedy—full of vintage zingers that still land—is deeply ambivalent about growing up. (Intiman Theatre, 201 Mercer St, 269-1900. 2 and 8 pm, $10–$52. Through June 17.) by Brendan Kiley

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In the 1990s, thousands of parents were abandoning their children while their state, Mongolia, was transforming its socialist economy into a capitalist one. Many of these children moved into manholes under the streets of Mongolia's very cold capital, Ulaanbaatar. These children would have died if not for the warmth from a system of steam pipes that heated the city's upper-class homes and businesses. The documentary focuses on the lives of three children (from 1998 to 2008). As the three get older, another form of suffering (besides poverty) begins to absorb them—lovesickness. Even here, under the freezing city, in this vicious network of steam pipes, love is a powerful and dangerous drug. (Pacific Place, 600 Pine St, thestranger.com/siff. 6:30 pm, $11.) by Charles Mudede

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Here we have two totally distinct electronic musicians both working at the top of their game. The Juan MacLean's latest, The Future Will Come (DFA), expertly mixes Human League–style synth-pop (with female vocal counterpoints supplied by longtime collaborator Nancy Whang) with classic house to craft surprisingly sincere songs about robots and humans, love and heartbreak. On the Field's new one, Yesterday and Today (Kompakt), the Swedish producer expands his blissed-out, microsampled techno with increased live instrumentation (including a little drumming from Battles heavyweight John Stanier) for an album as sublime as his debut, only with more subtlety and depth. (Nectar, 412 N 36th St, 632-2020. 8 pm, $15, 21+.) by Eric Grandy

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