Babette's Feast
A 1987 film about an insular 19th-century Danish family and the Frenchwoman who comes to live with them. Nordic Heritage Museum, Thurs March 31 at 7 pm.
Cartoons from the 1930s
A collection of Depression-era films, including Popeye in I'm in the Army Now and Betty Boop in The Dancing Fool. Rendezvous, Wed April 6 at 7:30 pm.
Casque d'Or
SAM's French film noir series kicks off with this 1952 film by Jacques Becker (Touchez Pas au Grisbi). Seattle Art Museum, Thurs April 7 at 7:30 pm.
A Clockwork Orange
"Eggiwegs! I would like... To smash them!" Egyptian, Fri-Sat at midnight.
Czech Animation: Fairy Tales, Dreams, and Nightmares
Jiri Trnka's The Emperor's Nightingale is framed by a live-action vignette about a Rapunzel-type child hero with a fancy house but no excitement in his life. When the boy suffers from a particularly lonely birthday, he huddles under a pillow in his bedroom and his daydream blossoms into a beautiful stop-action story of a Chinese emperor who just happens to have the same problems as the little boy--but with more pomp and circumstance. An enormous collection of dolls and delicate wind-up action figures take roles in the tale the boy invents for himself. Ultimately, it is through speculation about the emperor's dissatisfaction with his cloistered existence--and a pet nightingale's longing for its forest home--that the little boy finds the courage to break out of his own prison. The film might seem a bit precious to older kids, but younger children will probably find it charming. Adults, meanwhile, will have plenty of pretty images to keep them entertained. (ANNIE WAGNER) All films screen at Northwest Film Forum. Little Mole and Friends (animated shorts for younger children), Sat-Sun 11:30 am. Strange Happenings (animated shorts for ages 10-adult; filmmakers represented include Jan Svankmajer and Jiri Barta), Sat-Sun 1 pm. The Emperor's Nightingale, Sat-Sun 3 pm. The Pied Piper of Hameline (Jiri Barta's feature-length puppet film, recommended for ages 12 and up), Sat-Sun 3 pm.
Dark City
A 1998 science fiction film written and directed by Alex Proyas. Author Greg Bear introduces the screening. EMP's JBL Theater, Fri April 1 at 7 pm.
Elling
Nothing in the world would convince anyone who lives near the equator that this film about two madmen attempting to reenter regular society as roommates is in the least bit funny. (CHARLES MUDEDE) Nordic Heritage Museum, Thurs April 7 at 7 pm.
Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence
The fight and battle sequences are impressively complex, but the long sections of philosophizing are laughably simple. (CHARLES MUDEDE) Savery Hall Room 239, UW campus, Thurs April 7 at 7:30 pm.
The Lawless Breed
A 1953 western starring Rock Hudson as notorious Texas outlaw John Wesley Hardin. Grand Illusion, Weekdays 7, 9 pm, Sat-Sun 3, 5, 7, 9 pm.
Live Nude Girls Unite!
San Francisco strippers do the negotiating table-dance in this 2000 documentary. Savery Hall Room 239, UW campus, Fri April 1 at 7:30 pm.
Los Angeles Plays Itself
See review this issue. Northwest Film Forum, Daily 7 pm.
The Nomi Song
Since few contemporary audiences got to see new wave singer Klaus Nomi in his short-lived prime, director Andrew Horn includes ample performance footage in this video valentine, underscoring the bizarre talents and charisma of this underrated cult figure. The filmmaker also shrewdly yet subtly rekindles the kitschy, let's-put-on-a-show aesthetic of Nomi's downtown NYC origins. (KURT B. REIGHLEY) Northwest Film Forum, Daily, 7, 9:15 pm.
Ray of Darkness
A preview screening of an independent horror film about the search for a missing person. Rendezvous, Tues April 5 at 6 and 8 pm.
Rubin & Ed
Crispin Glover stars as (what else?) a loner who's looking for the perfect resting place for his deceased feline. Grand Illusion, Fri-Sat 11 pm. (And tickets are only a buck!)
Sansho the Bailiff
The first in a series of free Japanese films at the UW, Sansho the Bailiff is a 1954 film by Mizoguchi Kenji about an exiled leader in medieval Japan. Savery Hall Room 239, UW campus, Thurs March 31 at 7:30 pm.
Steamboy
Steamboy, Katsuhiro Otomo's (Akira) monstrously anticipated comeback, ditches his familiar Neo-Tokyo stomping grounds for an equally insanely rendered 19th century London. While the story is fairly cookie cutter for the genre (young tech-whiz kid finds mysterious energy source, gets caught between warring and heavily armed scientific theorists, takes to the skies), it benefits from an unusually straightforward delivery and an extremely well chosen celebrity voice cast. Unfortunately, although the copious technology built on acres of shuddering cogs and gears is unquestionably neat, the sheer flabbergasting level of detail, and over-reliance on third act super-sized explosions, eventually proves exhausting. (ANDREW WRIGHT)
Tasveer: Traveling Film South Asia
A festival of South Asian documentaries. All screenings take place at 911 Media Arts. A Night of Prophecy, a 2002 film by Amar Kanwar about the rich tradition of Indian protest songs, Tues April 5 at 7 pm. Aftershocks, about the effects of the 2001 earthquake in the Indian state of Gujarat, Wed April 6 at 7 pm. Godhra Tak: The Terror Trail, about a train fire that triggered deadly religious riots in Gujarat, Wed April 6 at 9 pm. Final Solution, a 2004 documentary by Rakesh Sharma about the atmosphere of religious tension that gave rise to and then exploded in the wake of the Gujarat rioting, Thurs April 7 at 7 pm. Series continues through April 29, see www.tasveer.org for details.
NOW PLAYING
The Aviator
No matter how many romantic entanglements and spectacular crashes we see, the film itself remains superficial. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
Born Into Brothels
Rare is the documentary that feels too short, but this wrenching, multiple award-winning look at kids growing up within the squalid red-light sector of India begs out for a more detailed exploration. (ANDREW WRIGHT)
Dear Frankie
The premise of Dear Frankie is enough to make the wary reach for the insulin: a stalled-in-neutral woman with a mysterious past (Emily Mortimer) hires a strong and silent sailor (Gerard Butler) to impersonate her deaf son's long-absent father for a weekend. Romance blossoms, life lessons are learned, shaky family ties are strengthened, etc. While it certainly sounds precious enough, it is to the film's credit that things never quite develop in the way expected. (ANDREW WRIGHT)
Downfall
There are a lot of sentimental war moments in Downfall, and the conceit that we are watching through the eyes of Hitler's sheltered and therefore ignorant (and therefore blameless) secretary, is flimsy on many levels. Because the characters are Nazis, their panic and its subsequent rash of suicides and murders are deeply satisfying. Because it's a movie, however, you're left with the unpleasant prospect of watching a bunch of rats slowly drowning for two and a half hours. (SEAN NELSON)
Guess Who
Bernie Mac and Ashton Kutcher star in this movie about a grumpy in-law-to-be and the white boy his daughter wants to marry.
Gunner Palace
For its footage of Baghdad, Gunner Palace is an invaluable aid in imagining the reality of the current war. But as a chronicle of its subjects as people, the film is a lot more problematic. As the filmmakers grow increasingly attached to the soldiers, the less sympathetic the soldiers actually become. (SEAN NELSON)
Melinda and Melinda
It's funny that so many of Woody Allen's films revolve around fidelity. Not because of the pathetically sordid events of his own personal life, but because he has a fan base that remains steadfast and faithful. These are the people who will reflexively and devotedly hail his latest film, the tedious Melinda and Melinda, as a return to form. It's actually a return to two forms: the tragic and comic strands of marital fidelity that the auteur has tirelessly (and often tiresomely) been threading over the course of his once-brilliant, ever-increasingly meaningless oeuvre. (NATE LIPPENS)
Million Dollar Baby
By the time the film takes a brutally tragic turn you can't help but find yourself yanked along emotionally. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
Millions
Danny Boyle has crafted a kid-friendly fable with enough sly modern-day relevance to keep adults from checking their watches. (ANDREW WRIGHT)
Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous
Everyone loves the underdog and everyone loves a beauty queen, and the geeky snortasaurus rex is both of those things! Perfect! Man, this movie sucks. (MEGAN SELING)
Nobody Knows
Kids in cinematic jeopardy have traditionally been a bit of a cheap, sure-fire shot for filmmakers looking to spice up their melodrama. Nobody Knows takes the scenario to such wrenching extremes that it's hard to imagine the subject ever being touched on lightly again. (ANDREW WRIGHT)
Paper Clips
A school in rural Tennessee collects millions of paper clips and installs them in a concentration-camp cattle car as school project and Holocaust memorial. In defiance of the flatfooted, unreflectively pious documentary video work, the project's glorious improbability held my attention. (MIKE WHYBARK)
Schultze Gets the Blues
Sad, silent Schultze has nothing to look forward to but lonely nights spent drinking beer from huge bottles and practicing the turgid waltz his father taught him on the accordion. Then, one night, while flipping around the radio dial, he hears a zydeco song. Captivated by this utterly alien music, he can't bring himself to play, or listen to, anything else--which causes problems since he is expected to play his famous waltz at a local festival. There are no screeds here, just some very pointed, poignant observations about the slow death of the old way, already in progress. (SEAN NELSON)
The Sea Inside
The movie is admirable and unsparing, and it's a departure for Alejandro Amenábar, a director who's only ever made thrillers and ghost stories. Still, it suffers under the weight of unrelenting ruin. (CHRISTOPHER FRIZZELLE)
Sideways
Blessed with pitch-perfect performances, especially by Paul Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church, Sideways is a slight film, to be sure, but it's also one of Alexander Payne's least snide efforts. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
The Upside of Anger
The Upside of Anger makes an all-too-blatant grab for the award-friendly glory road, yet is nearly redeemed by a cast that wrings out every last bit of potential from the formula. (ANDREW WRIGHT)
Walk on Water
What lingers past the clutter of seemingly disparate topics the film touches on (nationalism, socio-political posturing, sexual identity, and a smattering of romantic comedy) are the number of unexpected character moments, in which the director Eytan Fox's naturalistic touch with actors is allowed to shine. (ANDREW WRIGHT)
