Films & Schedules - Sunday, February 14, 2010

98 Minutes    

Interests: Short Cuts.

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SHE WHO MEASURES

DIRECTOR: Veljko Popovic - (Croatia)

Put on a happy face or the scary clown will keep you in line.

7 Minutes    

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GOOD ADVICE

DIRECTOR: Andreas Tibblin - (Sweden)

Tired of his parents never listening to him, 10-year-old Rasmus decides to run away from home. But before leaving, he records a cassette tape for his yet-to-be-born new brother with advice on how to handle life.

15 Minutes    

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MADAGASCAR

DIRECTOR: Bastien Dubois - (France)

A visual travel journal demonstrating the importance of dance, death, and custom in a vibrant Malagasy society.

12 Minutes    

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MIRACLE FISH

DIRECTOR: Luke Doolan - (Australia)

Eight-year-old Joe has a birthday he will never forget. After friends tease him, he wishes everyone would just go away. He wakes up to find his dream may have become a reality.

18 Minutes    

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CAGES

DIRECTOR: Juan José Medina - (Mexico)

As an old man collects his traps in the desert, an unearthly spirit is stalking his own prey.

10 Minutes    

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SLAVES

DIRECTOR: David Aronowitsch, Hanna Heilborn - (Sweden)

The harrowing stories of Abouk, 9, and Machiek, 15, who were abducted by a government-sponsored militia in Sudan and used as slaves in their war effort.

15 Minutes    

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THE ARMOIRE

DIRECTOR: Jamie Travis - (Canada)

In the third installment of his Saddest Children in the World trilogy, following Why the Anderson Children Didn’t Come to Dinner and The Saddest Boy in the World, a young boy descends into an abyss of secrets, fantasies, and memory when he realizes that his best friend has gone missing.

21 Minutes    

In this sensational comedy, a film composer with writer's block and a pregnant executive enter into an unusual bargain to keep a secret from the exec's conservative mother.

Ezequiel, a nearly broke film music composer, has 20 days to deliver a score. He’s just not hearing it. One day he calls his bank, and listening to muzak while on hold for Paula, an executive he’s never met, he hears a song that inspires a breakthrough. How to find that song again, among the hundreds of inane on-hold muzak tunes? Paula, meanwhile, has not told her very conservative mother that, though she is pregnant, she is no longer with her boyfriend. When mother and composer both wind up in her office, she impulsively introduces Ezequiel as the father. They each have something the other needs, and though they are not even acquaintances, Ezequiel and Paula soon enter into a strange partnership. A witty romantic comedy that has been a sensation in Argentina, Hernán Goldfrid’s breezy film features a stellar cast, including Norma Aleandro, Diego Peretti, and Natalia Oreiro.

First Feature Film.

106 Minutes    

Interests: New Directors, Narrative Feature, Spanish Language, Latino, Comedy, Music.

Set in Nazi-occupied Prague, Protector focuses on the fraying marriage of a radio personality and his Jewish wife. The film asks many questions about love and morality, most importantly, "Who would you betray to save the one you love?"

Set in Nazi-occupied Prague in the late 1930s, Protector is a stylish drama focusing on the marriage of radio journalist Emil (Marek Daniel) and his Jewish wife Hana (Jana Plodková), a famous film star forced to give up her career. While she must lay low, Emil seizes a chance for his own advancement and becomes the official mouthpiece of the Reich. While his position offers a measure of protection to Hana in an increasingly dangerous anti-semitic environment, there is a price to be paid. Their fraying relationship reaches a crisis point after the famed assassination of SS Reichsprotektor Reinhard Heydrich, for which Emil becomes a suspect. In Protector, writer/director Najbrt observes a couple suddenly divided along wartime lines to pose the question, “Who would you betray to save the one you love?”

Filmography: Champions (84), Invention of Beauty (94).

This year’s Czech submission for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.

98 Minutes    

Interests: Oscar Submissions, Narrative Feature, Jewish.

A lonely orphan's life is transformed by an extraordinary woman who teaches him to conquer grief and discover the magic in nature and himself.

Set on the beautiful Irish coast, Sarin’s warm, emotional film tells a story of acceptance, kindness, and the healing power of love. Eight-year-old Tomas’ gentleness makes his life difficult. His helpful nature is interpreted as weakness and the other boys at the orphanage bully him. Then one day, a kind woman named Maire sweeps in and infuses his once-cheerless existence with love, laughter, and the belief in magic. After Maire whisks him away to her home on enchanted Corrie Island off the West Coast, Tomas grows and comes into his own—but Maire’s reserved husband can’t hide his lack of interest in the child. Just when Tomas begins to come out of his shell and see the goodness in the world and the people around him, Maire’s delicate health takes a turn for the worse. Will her husband, who has not accepted Tomas as his son, be able to step up to the responsibility of caring for Tomas as Maire has done?

Filmography: Cold Comfort (89), Deluxe Combo (04), Partition (07).

100 Minutes    

Interests: Narrative Feature, Family Fare.

A taut, involving drama centered around the mysterious disappearance of a young woman.

Ahmad, divorced from his German wife, has recently returned to Tehran. Looking forward to joining a group of old university friends for a weekend getaway on the Caspian Sea, he reflects that perhaps it is time to find an Iranian wife. One of the group, Sepided, has invited someone new, an attractive teacher named Elly, who she thinks just might be a match for Ahmad. But as the lighthearted gathering settles in, Elly mysteriously disappears from their seaside bungalow. As lies and deception compound into catastrophe, About Elly focuses on the behavior and values of the Iranian middle class, illustrating how convention, conformity, and tradition can be restrictive, even among those who fool themselves into thinking they are not guided by them.

Filmography: Beautiful City (04), Fireworks Wednesday (06).

Winner of the Best Narrative Feature award at the Tribeca Film Festival and this year’s Iranian submission for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.

119 Minutes    

Interests: Oscar Submissions, Narrative Feature, Middle Eastern.

A revelatory documentary exploring the vision of I.M. Pei, the distinguished 90-year-old Chinese-American architect as he works on his latest commission, the Museum of Islamic Art in Qatar, one of the most complex building projects of his long career.

One of the most distinguished architects of our time, I.M. Pei has spent his storied career creating designs for some of the world’s most treasured structures, including Paris’s Pyramide du Louvre and The National Gallery in Washington D.C. Learning From Light chronicles Pei’s adventure through a recent and historically monumental challenge: his commission to design the Museum of Islamic Art for Doha, Qatar. Traveling the Islamic world from Spain to Cairo, the 90-year-old modernist architect embarked on a journey of discovery to research the culture, history, and landscape that would inform the project. Pei searched for inspiration in the ancient origins of desert architecture and translated his findings into one of the most complex building projects of his career.

Filmography: Alan and Namoi (92), The Haunted Desert (01), The Work and the Glory (06).

Sponsored by The Nines.

84 Minutes     Digital    

Interests: Documentary Views, Global Classroom.

This riveting, unusual documentary takes a tour of 20th century battlefields through the eyes of those who kept the soldiers fed and fighting: military cooks.

This riveting film opens the door to the secrets of little-known historians to show a dimension of war not found in textbooks or archives. Cooking History presents portraits of various army military cooks from all over Europe who have witnessed the European wars of the 20th century. Their recollections tap into a subjective view of historical events, one that diverges in some respects from conventional beliefs. They take us on a journey through pivotal dates, facts, declarations of war, battles, and peace agreements. The tales they tell convey a sense of life and death in the “war apparatus,” as well as a sense of hope, longing, and survival in the midst of destruction and despair. Kerekes’ look behind “great moments in time” introduces a fresh perspective on European history.

Filmography: About Three Days in Monastary Jasov (94), The Mary-Valery Bridge (00), 66 Seasons (03).

Special Jury Prize, Toronto Hot Docs.

Sponsored by KINK.FM.

88 Minutes     Digital    

Interests: Documentary Views, Narrative Feature, French Language, History.

Marthe and Michel live with their kids on the edge of a near-completed freeway. When the road is suddenly opened up to traffic, the noise and pollution threatens to destroy the family unit. Ursula Meier's absurd comedy—a "road movie in reverse"—brilliantly redefines the meaning of home.

With just the right touches of farce and drama, Home is what Meier has termed “a road movie in reverse.” An ordinary middle class family lives an ordinary life in their ordinary house that sits next to an unused highway. With no neighbors or cars for miles, they live a typical day-to-day existence. Michel (Olivier Gourmet) goes to work by getting into his car on the other side of the empty stretch of road that seems to lead nowhere. Marthe (Isabelle Huppert) maintains a calm household while her teenage daughter listens to music and suns herself next to the guardrails. Life is good—or at least average. But when the highway is suddenly opened and cars whizzing by become the norm, the family’s dynamic changes: dad’s stressed, mom’s freaking out, and things spiral out of control. Ultimately, the family needs to redefine what “home” means.

Filmography: Sleepless (99), Table Manners (01), Strong Shoulders (02).

In French with English subtitles.

Sponsored by Consulate General of Switzerland, San Francisco.

95 Minutes    

Interests: Oscar Submissions, Narrative Feature, French Language.

Through a Glass, Darkly is the moving story of a Norwegian teen suffering from a terminal illness who comes to terms with her life and imminent death via conversations with an otherworldly presence.

Adapted from Jostein Gaarder’s acclaimed novel, Through a Glass, Darkly is the sensitive, moving story of how an otherworldly presence helps a young girl come to terms with her serious illness. Cecilie, home from the hospital, wants everyone to act normally, but it isn’t so easy for her family. It isn’t easy for Cecilie either, but she has found a way to cope—by thinking back to a family holiday in Spain where she fell in love with Sebastian. One night an odd man enters Cecilie’s room, claiming to be an angel named Ariel. At first Cecilie doesn’t believe him, but when he does things that no human can do, she accepts his claim and asks him to reveal the secrets of heaven. Ariel agrees, but only if she first tells him what it is like to live on Earth.

Filmography: The Last Viking (97), Little Big Sister (00), Okay and Big Plans (02), The Man Behind the Door (03).

Best Live Action Feature Award, Chicago Children’s Film Festival.

Sponsored by Norwegian Consulate General, San Francisco.

85 Minutes    

Interests: Narrative Feature, Family Fare.

For the Love of Movies offers an insider’s view of the critics’ profession, with commentary from some of America’s best-regarded reviewers.

Boston Phoenix film critic Peary has crafted an entertaining and informative history of American film criticism from its raw beginnings before The Birth of a Nation to Bowsley Crowther’s 27-year reign at The New York Times; from the incendiary Pauline Kael-Andrew Sarris debates of the 60s and 70s right up to the current battle for audiences between youthful Web site populists and the veteran print establishment. Providing a unique insider’s view of the film critic’s profession are comments by some of America’s most influential film writers, including A.O. Scott (The New York Times), Lisa Schwarzbaum (Entertainment Weekly), Roger Ebert (The Chicago Sun-Times), as well as other legends like Sarris, Janet Maslin, and Jim Hoberman.

First Feature Film.

Joining Gerald Peary after the Sunday screening will be Portland film critics Shawn Levy, D.K. Holm, Aaron Mesh, Erik Henriksen, and Eric Snider.

Sponsored by OregonLive.com.

81 Minutes     Digital    

Interests: New Directors, Documentary Views, Art.

A Danish village with many secrets is the setting for this blackly comic thriller. When Robert, a Copenhagen policeman, tries to help the beautiful Ingelise escape her abusive husband, the stage is set for a glorious flaunting of conventions and a melding of noir, comedy, and thriller.

A southern Danish village hides as many secrets as the nearby bog in this blackly comic thriller about the universal nature of compromise and corruption. When tightly wound cop Robert is transferred to a small border town where outsiders either adapt or disappear, he finds that the clannish locals scorn by-the-book law enforcement and rely instead on their own unique brand of frontier justice. When another outsider, the alluring Ingelise, tries to enlist Robert’s help in escaping from her abusive husband, the stage seems to be set for a predictable love triangle. Cleverly defying expectations as it knowingly toys with genre conventions, Terribly Happy sustains a unique tone that smoothly incorporates Western, noir, horror, and psychological thriller with creative flair.

Filmography: Someone Like Hodder (03).

Winner of six Danish Bodil (Danish Oscars) and this year’s Danish submission for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.

Sponsored by West Cafe.

95 Minutes     Digital    

Interests: Oscar Submissions, Narrative Feature.

Leonidas is a small-town cop who yearns to solve important crimes in the big city. However, with the mysterious death of the town drunk, Leonidas' subsequent investigation reveals that there is more to this sleepy beach community than he first imagined.

Leonidas, a young, ambitious police officer, is assigned to a remote Greek island in the Aegean. He dreams of solving important, big-city crimes, but there are few to be found in the sleepy community where he is reduced to menial chores. Each day at the town café, Leonidas and the locals watch the beautiful Angeliki, the small island’s most famous daughter, as she hosts a popular talk show on national TV. These dull rituals are shattered when the island experiences what appears to be an actual crime: the island drunk, Zacharias, is found dead at the base of a cliff. Jumping at the chance to do some sleuthing, Leonidas soon finds clues that tie the victim to Angeliki, who returns to the island and joins the investigation. As romance blooms between Leonidas and Angeliki, they learn that everyone on the island has their own Zacharias, and their stories play out hilariously in Leonidas’ imagination.

First Feature Film.

84 Minutes    

Interests: New Directors, Narrative Feature, Comedy.

In this good-hearted film about the trials of caring for the elderly, a middle-aged bachelor who lives with his mother finds himself looking after the mothers and aunts of two acquaintances over a long weekend.

“One of Italy’s leading scriptwriters, 59-year-old Gianni Di Gregorio (screenwriter of Gomorrah), stars in his utterly charming directorial debut as the money-troubled Giovanni, who spends his days caring for his elderly mother in Rome. Giovanni discovers that some of his back rent will be forgotten if he also takes in his landlord’s elderly mother for a few days during the traditional mid-August holiday. But when the landlord arrives, he has both his mother and his aunt in tow. Then Giovanni’s friend Luigi shows up with a similar caretaking request for his own aged mother. Winner of the Venice Film Festival’s Best First Film prize, Mid-August Lunch has a wonderfully loose, almost improvised feel in which Di Gregorio focuses on following the natural rhythms of his houseguests’ interactions with each other rather than on a set storyline.”—Film Society of Lincoln Center.

First Feature Film.

Cultural Partner: Italian Cultural Institute, San Francisco.

75 Minutes    

Interests: Narrative Feature, Comedy.

Jools and Lynda Topp are twin sisters and one of New Zealand's most beloved performing duos. This affectionate portrait mixes remembrances of their childhood, testimonies from friends, fans, and colleagues, and examples of what the girls do best, a mix of lesbian folk songs and anarchist vaudeville.

One of New Zealand’s most cherished and charmingly irrepressible performing duos, twin sisters Jools and Lynda Topp are immensely popular with rednecks and left-wingers alike. Although they do not look identical, their voices virtually are, melding into a yodelling, country-and-western harmony all its own. Jools and Lynda introduce themselves during a performance full of music and happy memories. Colleagues and friends proceed to shine light on the special success of the sisters’ cheerful, radical lesbian love songs and anarchist vaudeville comedy. Pooley weaves performances and home movies from their carefree farm childhood with footage of the sisters during demonstrations against nuclear weapons, apartheid, and for gay rights, to fashion an affectionate, unforgettable portrait.

Filmography: Haunting Douglas (03), The Promise (05), Try Revolution (06).

Sponsored by Q Doc: Portland Queer Documentary Film Festival.

84 Minutes    

Interests: Documentary Views, Music, Queer.

Based on the best-selling novel by Stieg Larsson, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is the tale of a disgraced journalist trying to crack a 40-year-old murder that may have been the work of a still-at-large serial killer.

An international crime thriller involving corporate intrigue, serial murder, and powerful Old World dynasties, Oplev’s taut film is based on the international best-selling novel by Stieg Larsson and will have you on the edge of your seat. Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) is a disgraced reporter about to go to prison. Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) is the mysterious girl of the title with a checkered past and a sideline in computer hacking. Together they are hired to investigate a 40-year-old disappearance at the request of eccentric, 82-year-old industralist Henrik Vanger. As they dig deep into the secrets of the Vanger family they begin to uncover a dark and bloody history that someone wants to keep hidden at any cost.

Filmography: Portland (96), Defense (03), We Shall Overcome (07).

Sponsored by Alaska Airlines.

152 Minutes    

Interests: Narrative Feature, Literature.

Heliopolis follows the lives and frustrations of a host of characters living in Cairo's historic Heliopolis district.

This ensemble drama’s sharp critique of Egyptian society is matched by a nostalgia-drenched longing for life before the 1952 revolution. Using intertwining stories, Abdalla skillfully sheds light on the small struggles of everyday life in Cairo, and on the discontent that seems to pervade one particular district of the city. Criss-crossing Cairo’s historical Heliopolis neighborhood, we share the minor travails of various players over the course of a single day. Hany wants to procure a visa to travel abroad. Ali and Maha want to buy Hany’s apartment but must first negotiate gridlock. Grad student Ibrahim wants to interview an uncooperative subject. Hotel clerk Engy simply wants to be anywhere but Egypt. As they each fail to achieve their meager goals, Abdalla suggests that their individual frustrations stem from an underlying discontent endemic in Egyptian society.

First Feature Film.

96 Minutes    

Interests: New Directors, Narrative Feature, French Language, Middle Eastern.

A simple act of generosity sends a young man on a picaresque journey through a frightening netherworld of crime and weirdness in this evocative tale.

Bimal and Meera are a young Kolkata couple, very much in love and on the verge of getting married. But Bimal has an idealistic streak that jeopardizes their bliss. On a visit to his old school, he sees how it has fallen into disrepair and decides to donate a new, handcrafted window to replace the now decrepit one from which he gazed as a boy. It seems like a simple act of generosity, but in Dasgupta’s Bengal, generosity can seed chaos. Soon, he is lost in a picaresque netherworld of petty crime and mystical visions. “Window showcases Dasgupta’s striking imagery and sense of place, but still more impressive is his delightful, seamless mesh of the magical with the realistic, the slapstick with the ethereal, and romance with global economics.”—Telluride Film Festival.

Selected Filmography: Distance (78), Crossroads (81), The Return (86), Their Story (92), The Shelter of the Wings (93), A Tale of a Naughty Girl (02), Chased by Dreams (04), Memories in the Mist (05), The Voyeurs (07).

110 Minutes    

Interests: Narrative Feature.