Fall 2001 (1)

Time and Tide
Wednesday, September 5 at 7:00pm
Wednesday, September 5 at 9:30 pm


Presented by the Colorado Daily.

Admission: FREE

The most cinematically fluid fists-a-flyin' guns-a-blazin' shoot-em-up in long time, Time and Tide is a funny, thrilling, kinetic barrage of brilliant Hong Kong action. Our streetwise young hipster hero is trying to score some fast cash working as an unlicensed bodyguard because he wants to do right by a beautiful lesbian cop he got pregnant during a drunken one-night stand. His boss is a loan shark who got into the protection racket to "hire" his debtors to work off the money they owe. Tse befriends a reformed mercenary, who is being pressured to kill his own father-in-law and eventually targets the mobster Tse is protecting instead. And there is a briefcase full of money. It is filmed with a sense of grace and moderation, despite having action sequences that could make American imitators like McG (Charlie's Angels) and the Wachowski Brothers (The Matrix) cry. Incredible shootouts zip by in real time and if you blink, you'll miss them.

Hong Kong, 2000, Color, Cantonese w/English subtitles, 113 min., 35mm, rated R.


Divided We Fall
Thursday, September 6 at 7:00 pm
Thursday, September 6 at 9:30 pm
Friday, September 7 at 7:00 pm
Friday, September 7 at 9:30 pm

At first blush, it seems we're in all too familiar territory: a rapid succession of scenes depicting the deportation of Jews in wartime Central Europe; then a quick cut to the terror in an occupied Czech town during the closing years of the war. As it gradually gathers momentum, though, director Jan Hrebejk's Divided We Fall (an Academy Award nominee for Best Foreign-language Film) far transcends the World War II genre and taps into unexpected dimensions. Based on true stories and filmed with an antic élan, it delivers an entertaining and provocative tale of ordinary people who suddenly find themselves heroes.Divided We Fall is a bracing meditation, without hectoring or ideology, on the nature of heroism. It demythologizes the heroic act. With Mittel-European knowingness, it recognizes that motives are seldom pure, that courage and cowardice often overlap, and that decency can flower in the most barren soil.-Erica Abeel, Film Journal International Czech Republic, 2000, Color, Czech/German w/English subtitles, 123 min., 35mm, rated PG-13.

Me You Them
Saturday, September 8 at 7:00 pm
Saturday, September 8 at 9:15 pm
Sunday, September 9 at 3:00 pm
Sunday, September 9 at 7:00 pm

The heroine of Andrucha Waddington's Me You Them is a force of nature who holds men in her thrall and deftly reshapes them to suit her life. Without knowing it, they fall prey to her charms, her spirit, her very scent. Darlene's strength, like any earth mother's, resides in mystery. When first we see her she's perched on the back of a donkey in a dusty rural hamlet, wearing a smudged bridal dress and obviously pregnant. Director Waddington, a 30-year-old veteran of music videos, TV commercials, and one feature film, set the film to some of the most gorgeous music on the planet -- written by the Brazilian master Gilberto Gil. Written by a young woman named Elena Soarez, this wry and extremely witty tale of practical polygamy could stand happily on its own as a kind of rustic feminist fantasy, set to the infectious rhythms of bossa nova, even though it is based on an actual person. This lovely movie, simply and beautifully shot in Brazil's northeastern countryside by cinematographer Breno Silveira, is satisfying from start to finish.-Bill Gallo, New Times Los Angelas. Brazil, 2000, Color, Portuguese w/English subtitles, 106 min., 35mm, rated PG-13.

Once Upon a Time in the West
Wednesday, September 12 at 7:00 pm

In Sergio Leone's epic western, a revenge story becomes an epic contemplation of the Western past. To get his hands on prime railroad land in Sweetwater, crippled railroad baron Morton (Gabriele Ferzetti) hires killers, led by blue-eyed sadist Frank (Henry Fonda), who wipe out property owner Brett McBain (Frank Wolff) and his family. McBain's newly arrived bride Jill (Claudia Cardinale), however, inherits it instead. Both outlaw Cheyenne (Jason Robards) and lethally mysterious Harmonica (Charles Bronson) take it upon themselves to look after Jill and thwart Frank's plans to seize her land. As alliances and betrayals mutate, it soon becomes clear that Harmonica wants to get Frank for another reason. Leone transforms the standard Western plot through the visual impact of widescreen landscapes and the figures who populate them, as Harmonica appears out of nowhere and Frank chillingly commands the center of the frame. Once Upon a Time in the West is Leone's operatic masterwork, worthy of its legend-making title.-Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

Italy/USA, 1969, Technicolor, Italian w/English subtitles, 165 min., 35mm, rated PG.

The Road Home
Thursday, September 13 at 7:00 pm
Thursday, September 13 at 9:00 pm
Friday, September 14 at 7:00 pm
Friday, September 14 at 9:00 pm

In the touching The Road Home, a man returns to the village of his birth after his father's death. His mother insists on following ancient custom: She wants men from the village to carry the body home from the hospital on foot so the soul of the departed is shown the way back home. This Chinese film, directed by Zhang Yimou, (Raise the Red Lantern) has a novelistic structure and feel. At first the viewer expects the story to focus on the son and his return home at this difficult time. But, in a long flashback, he tells how his parents met and fell in love. Zhang Ziyi (CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON) portrays the mother as a teen-ager who falls in love with the village's first permanent schoolteacher. Theirs is a difficult courtship, hampered by barely glimpsed politics and class expectations. The film is laced with gentle humor, and its simple story is built on a sure foundation of humaneness. There is no trumped-up drama, no mustache-twirling bad guys. There are no bad guys at all. We come to love these characters. We care what happens to them. That is enough to make us want to take this journey with them.-Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle China, 1999, b&w/color, Mandarin w/English subtitles, 89 min., 35mm, rated G.

The Taste of Others
Saturday, September 15 at 7:00 pm
Saturday, September 15 at 9:30 pm
Sunday, September 16 at 3:00 pm
Sunday, September 16 at 7:00 pm

The Taste of Others does what the French do best-craft romantic dramas that ring true and offer wisdom and insight into the relationships between men and women. Chief among them are Castella (Jean-Pierre Bacri), a likable boor who finds himself attracted to Clara (Anne Alvaro), a 40-year-old actress who has given up on ever finding love. At the same time, her friend Manie (Agnes Jaoui) begins a relationship with Castella's tough bodyguard, Moreno (Gerard Lanvin), who has vowed to never settle down with any woman. Then there's Castella's neurotic wife, Beatrice (Brigitte Catillon), who prefers animals to people, and his driver, Deschamps (Alain Chabat), who has romantic problems of his own. The linkages between the characters are never forced and the performances are uniformly pleasurable. Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, this sweet comedy will leave you smiling.-Shlomo Schwartzberg, Boxoffice Reviews France, 2001, Color, French w/English subtitles, 112 min., 35mm, not rated.

For a Few Dollars More

Wednesday, September 19 at 7:00 pm
Wednesday, September 19 at 9:30 pm

Clint Eastwood had proven so successful in his first foray into European Westerns with A Fistful Of Dollars that a follow up sequel was inevitable. Superbly scripted by Luciano Vincenzoni, featuring an unforgettable alliance between Eastwood's mysterious lone gunman partnered with Lee Van Cleef as two bounty hunters gunning for notorious bandit El Indio (Gian Maria Volonte), who has broken out of a Mexican jail with a $10,000 price on his head. The action later centres in the town of El Paso, where the bandit plans to rob the bank and steal the safe. The two work together, but tend to be suspicious of each other, as they attempt to capture or kill El Indio and his whole gang in order to collect the bounty. The film is also noted for its array of weaponry, a veritable arsenal of rifles that became so startingly influential in future westerns. Sergio Leone's direction is both violent and operatic and Ennio Morricone's atmospheric score keeps the tension taut as the action moves from jail breaks and hold ups to spectacular gun battles.-Mark Fountain, DVD Reviewer Italy/Spain/W.Germany/Monaco, 1967, Technicolor, Italian w/English subtitles, 132 min., 35mm, rated R.



Butterfly
Thursday, September 20 at 7:00 pm
Thursday, September 20 at 9:15 pm
Friday, September 21 at 7:00 pm
Friday, September 21 at 9:15 pm

Is she spiritual kin to Gandhi? Brave sister to Rosa Parks? Or is she simply a rebellious, self-righteous post-adolescent reveling in an outpouring of attention? The 20-something woman in question is Julia Hill, whose Warholian 15 minutes of fame derived from the more than two years she lived in a 6-by-8-foot platform 180 feet high in a Northern California redwood to save the 1,000-year-old tree she called Luna from Pacific Lumber Company loggers. Like Joan of Arc, she says she hears voices. The tree, she says, speaks to her. Her prayers are answered. Giddy in her rapport with Mother Nature, she is impelled to poetry, and her guitar-plucking supporters celebrate her in folk songs. Ms. Hill, who acquired the middle name Butterfly, is the subject of Doug Wolens' provocative documentary Butterfly. Ms. Hill, whose stubborn crusade inspired vigils, demonstrations and hostility, resulted in an agreement establishing a 200-foot buffer zone around Luna to preserve it.-Lawrence van Gelder, NY Times USA, 2000, Color, English, 79 min., 16mm, not rated.

The Princess and the Warrior
Saturday, September 22 at 7:00 pm
Saturday, September 22 at 9:30 pm
Sunday, September 23 at 3:00 pm
Sunday, September 23 at 7:00 pm

Once upon a time in a stone castle on an ocean bluff, a woman wrote a letter. Its content was almost incidental. What's important, however, is that, once delivered, the letter set off an unexpected chain of events. Although it is often fantastic and absurd, the chronicle of these events, The Princess and the Warrior is no fairy tale. Rather, it is a love story about how chance and coincidence change the lives of two traumatized people. The theme is a recurring one in the films of German director Tom Tykwer, best known for his international hit Run Lola Run which starred Franka Potente. A blond Potente stars this time as a psychiatric nurse walking mannequin-like through life, barely registering events around her. A gaunt, wispy-bearded Benno Furmann is a thief, sleepwalking and self-destructively while awake. Princess is a dreamlike, formless creation, but is just as intricately plotted and intelligently imagined as LOLA. The result is a trance-like puzzle whose pieces mesh together like the gears on a time machine. It is a ghostly, lyrical portrait of things happening accidentally on purpose.-Duane Dudek, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Germany, 2001, Color, German w/English subtitles, 130 min., 35mm, rated R.

The Decline of Western Civilization I
Wednesday, September 26 at 7:00 pm

A document of Los Angeles' high-energy punk rock scene at tis most furious, during the tailend of the 70's. Combining interviews with promoters and fanzine publishers with in-the-pit concert footage worthy of a combat photographer, the film showcases X, Black Flag, The Circle Jerks, the Germs, Fear, the Alice Bag Band and Catholic Discipline. USA, 1981, Color, English, 100 min., 35mm, rated R.

Decline of Western Civilization III
Wednesday, September 26 at 9:00 pm

Delving into the underside of their subculture, a look into the lives of the hard-core fans of present day punk rock in Los Angeles, focusing on the lifestyles and backgrounds of the fans, many of whom are homeless and alcoholic. USA, 1998, Color, English, 86 min., 35mm, not rated.

Calle 54
Thursday, September 27 at 7:00 pm
Thursday, September 27 at 9:15 pm
Friday, September 28 at 7:00 pm
Friday, September 28 at 9:15 pm

Jazz is just a four-letter word to some listeners, but the focus on Latin Jazz in Calle 54 just might make a believer out of you. A sort of musical/documentary hybrid, Calle 54 consists of a dozen musical vignettes set in a New York recording studio. The artists featured include the late Tito Puente, Chano Dominguez, Brazilian pianist Eliane Elias, elusive tenor sax king Gato Barbieri, father/son Cuban pianists Bebo and Chucho Valdes, Michel Camilo, Paquito D'Rivera, Chico O'Farill, Jerry Gonzalez and a whole heck of a lot of brilliant backup musicians. The filmmaker, Fernando Trueba, narrates parts of the film and voices over introductions to each musician. The players are from Spain, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Brazil, Argentina and the Dominican Republic, and they all have stories to tell. Mostly, they play, and the music is transporting. The only tough part about Calle 54 is that most of the music inspires a need to dance and leads to flights of fancy involving rum drinks and sensual behavior, none of which are activities welcomed at theaters.-Liz Braun, Toronto Sun Spain/France/Italy, 2000, Color, French/Spanish/English w/English subtitles, 105 min., 35mm, rated G.

Down From the Mountain
Saturday, September 29 at 7:00 pm
Saturday, September 29 at 9:00 pm
Sunday, September 30 at 3:00 pm
Sunday, September 30 at 7:00 pm

Shot by famed documentarians D. A. Pennebacker (Don't Look Back) and Chris Hegedus (his wife, with whom he collaborated on The War Room), Down From the Mountain chronicles last year's magnificent Ryman Auditorium concert by the musicians who performed on the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack. The musicians behind the Soggy Bottom Boys, which is the name of the fictional bluegrass band in the Coen Brothers' movie, are featured in this documentary, which centers on a bluegrass concert in Nashville, Tennessee given by the bands that contributed to O BROTHER's soundtrack, and provides a brief history of folk and bluegrass music. Featured performers include Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch, Allison Krauss and Union Station, John Hartford and Ralph Stanley. USA, 2000, Color, English, 98 min., 35mm, rated G.

Dr. Strangelove
Wednesday, October 10 at 7:00 pm
Wednesday, October 10 at 9:00 pm

Given U.S. President Eisenhower's famous address during which he warned of the pernicious and carnivorous nature of the "Military Industrial Complex," I wonder if he appreciated the ebony-black humour of Stanley Kubrick's film Dr. Strangelove. Nothing Eisenhower said could hope to match the effectiveness of Kubrick's irreverent approach to his film's apocalyptic visions. Dr. Strangelove is one of the most hilarious and desperate satires in the history of cinema. Based on the thriller novel Red Alert, this could have been a serious movie, as was Stanley Kramer's film of the same year, Fail Safe. However, Kubrick found that it would be more effective to spare us heavy-handed moralizing and stretch his feather toward our funny bone. The script is unflaggingly hilarious and wonderfully acted. Sterling Hayden's cigar chewing jingoism; Peter Seller's seamless disappearance into three very different roles; Slim Pickens as Major Kong, the cowboy hat-wearing good ol' boy who makes one of cinema's most famous exits; and the revelatory performance of George C. Scott. -Dan Jardine, Apollo Guide UK, 1964, b&w, English, 93 min., 35mm, rated PG.

The Vertical Ray of the Sun
Thursday, October 11 at 7:00 pm
Thursday, October 11 at 9:30 pm
Friday, October 12 at 7:00 pm
Friday, October 12 at 9:30 pm

The Vertical Ray of the Sun (A La Verticale de L'Ete) is an exquisitely enchanting story that completely envelops the audience in its subtle mystique. Tran Anh Hung (The Scent of Green Papaya) tells the story of three sisters who meet on the anniversary of their mother's death. They share many intimate secrets, but don't realize that there are many secrets being kept from them. Part of the pleasure of watching The Vertical Ray of the Sun is that the director lets this beautifully shot tale unfold as if the characters were waking from a nap in the hot summer rain. The film examines the difficulty of keeping up appearances when your own life can't measure up to the idealized one you've created about your parents. There are times when viewers might find themselves weeping without quite knowing the reason why. Tran Anh Hung's exquisite film is not only great cinema, it also has moments when it is an unforgettable painting or an indelible piece of music capable of provoking an uncontrollable emotional response.-Kevin Courrier, Boxoffice Magazine France/Germany/Vietnam, 2000, Color, Vietnamese w/English subtitles, 112 min., 35mm, rated PG-13.

Frank Lloyd Wright
Saturday, October 13 at 7:00 pm

The World Affairs Athenaeum and the Roser Visiting Artist Committee present: Free video presentations to prepare for Ken Burns' in-person appearance on Tuesday. FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT by Ken Burns. Admission: Free Sunday o October 14 Oct. 13 Saturday The World Affairs Athenaeum and the Roser Visiting Artist Committee present: FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT by Ken Burns Admission: Free USA, English, 150 min., VHS, not rated.

The Brooklyn Bride/The Statue of Liberty
Sunday, October 14 at 7:00 pm

The World Affairs Athenaeum and the Roser Visting Artist Committee present: THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE (USA, 1981, 58 min.) and THE STATUE OF LIBERTY (USA, 1985, 60 min.) at 7pm Admission: FREE

Thomas Hart Benton
Sunday, October 14 at 9:30 pm

The World Affairs Athenaeum and the Roser Visting Artist Committee present: Thomas Hart Benton (USA, 1989, 90 min.)

Ken Burns films
Tuesday, October 16 at 7:00 pm

Important Note: Ken Burns is unable to attend this showing as previously planned. We will still be showing his works but without his presense. We apologize for the last-minute cancellation.


Ken Burns has been making documentary films for more than twenty years. Since the Academy Award-nominated Brooklyn Bridge, he has gone on to direct and produce some of the most acclaimed historical documentaries ever made, including The Civil War and Baseball. Burn's films have ranged from two-part biographies of some of America's most important men and women, including Thomas Jefferson, Frank Lloyd Wright, Lewis & Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery and Not For Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Susan B. Anthony, to multi-episodic films like The Civil War and JAZZ. Burn's epics have received numerous accolades. The Civil War was the highest rated series in the history of American public television. The series was honored with more than 40 major film and television awards. Mr. Burns will screen an excerpt from his latest project. Doors open at 6pm. Seats cannot be saved - you must be present to get a seat. This event will be full. Seats are not guaranteed and are taken purely on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Denver International Film Festival
Wednesday, October 17 at 7:00 pm

The 24th Denver International Film Festival will run a variety of films and events from October 11-21 at the Tivoli Theaters in Denver, and other locations to be announced. For more information, visit the Denver Film Society website at: www.denverfilm.org

Admission:
$6 - General Admission
$5 - Student with valid CU Boulder ID
$2 - IFS Frequent Patron Pass holders


Wednesday, Oct. 17, at:

7pm only: THE BANK Australian writer/director Robert ConnollyÕs first feature might be thought of as a clever, witty update for the age of globalization of those old silent movies featuring the black-clad, greedy villain about to foreclose on the family farm. Anyone whoÕs ever dealt with a bank or finance company is going to take great pleasure in watching this cautionary tale of corporate greed run amok unfold. Anthony LaPaglia creates a suitably modern villain as Simon OÕReilly, the CEO of a megabank who is under pressure from his board toÑof courseÑcut costs and raise profits. This means closing branches, cutting service and foreclosing on small borrowers, like Wayne and Diane Davis, who financed their small business with a loan from the bankÑand who suffer a family tragedy when the bankÕs new policies put the squeeze on them. Meanwhile, OÕReilly thinks heÕs found his savior in computer whiz Jim Doyle, whoÕs created a program thatÑhe thinksÑwill predict changes in the stock market, and give the bank the kind of profits corporations only dream of. The plot soon thickens. The Davises, with the help of an idealistic young lawyer, plot their revenge. And Jim Doyle becomes involved with Michelle, a young bank executive who may not be quite what she seems. With clever plot twists and superb performances, The Bank puts a not-so-human face on corporate globalization on the way to its Capra-esque ending.

9:30pm only
: FLICKERING LIGHTS Danish director Anders Thomas Jensen makes his feature film debut with this comic crime saga, a major box office hit in Denmark last year. But he is hardly a novice filmmaker. For three consecutive years, his short films were nominated for an Academy Award, and he won the Oscar in 1999 for Election Night. He also wrote the screenplay for the popular Dogma film Mifune. That experience shows in Flickering Lights. Torkild and his friends are small-time crooks in Copenhagen, childhood pals from the Danish equivalent of the hood who are criminal underachievers. TorkildÕs just turned 40, and heÕs having a kind of midlife crisis. All he wants out of life is one big score, big enough that he can give up planning jobs that never seem to go right and settle down somewhere. It looks like his prayers are answered when The Man from the Faeroe Islands, a big-time crook, hires Torkild and his buddies to steal a bag. Of course, things donÕt go as expected, and the four of them wind up on the run with the bagÑwhich holds four million kroner, or $500,000. In what seems like the final humiliation, their car breaks down. But, strangely enough, that may turn out to be the lucky break theyÕve been looking forÑin a totally unexpected way. Filled with black humor and accomplished action sequences, Flickering Lights is a film that could just earn Jensen another Oscar.

Thursday, Oct. 18, at:

7pm only: DEAR FIDEL Easily one of the weirdest, most compelling films in years, Wilfried Huismann's documentary allows Marita Lorenz to tell, in her own words, a story that begins with romantic nostalgia and ends in grim and often bizarre disillusionment. Certainly Lorenz's story could not have been any stranger, and this film, filled with stunning twists, proves it. Is she a sympathetic symbol of Cold War tragedy, or a world-historical harlot? You'll be guessing until the end. (exerpted from the Telluride Film Program).


9:30pm:
AMNESIA AmnesiA is a Dutch mystery in which the past throws up its dark secrets to reveal the truth behind the bizarre death of a family patriarch and his lover. The film tells the story of Alex, a photographer who, since the death of his father, has been experiencing difficulties in focusing on his profession. His problems are compounded as he sees the images of his father's lover in the camera lens whenever he attempts to photograph a subject. When his mother falls seriously ill, Alex visits his parental home after many years of absence. On the way a mysterious girl materialises on the backseat of his car, somebody who, despite her tendencies toward pyromania instills strong feelings within Alex. When he eventually arrives at his mother's house, Alex has to confront his cynical and sadistic brother Aram, a man involved in criminal affairs. While their ill mother recovers during the course of the visit the mysterious facts behind the deaths are slowly uncovered.

Friday, Oct. 19, at:

7pm only: WILD FLOWER A visually stunning film from the Czech Republic that features seven stories dealing with desire, obsession, and more.


9:30pm only: L'AMOUR, L'ARGENT, L'AMOUR A German road movie and love story. Born in Düsseldorf in 1959, Philip Gröning studied Medicine and Psychology before turning to filmmaking in 1982 when he signed up for studies at the Munich Academy for Television and Film (HFF). With his studies, Gröning developed a passion for screen writing and began to work as an actor for Peter Keglevic and Nicolas Humbert. His film credits include award winning short films and the critically acclaimed feature films Summer (main prize at the Bergamo Film Meeting) and The Terrorists! (Bronze Leopard at the Locarno Film Festival in 1992; presentation at the Sundance Film Festival in 1993). His latest film L'amour, l'argent, l'amour had its world premiere at the Locarno International Film Festival 2000.

Saturday, Oct. 20 at:

7pm only: BIG BAD LOVE Based on the acclaimed short-story collection by celebrated Mississippi writer Larry Brown, "Big Bad Love" is the directing debut of actor Arliss Howard ("Full Metal Jacket," "A Map Of The World"). From a script by Howard and his brother James, it is a tale of Viet Nam veteran Barlow (Arliss Howard) struggling to make fiction from his past, his dreams, and the dim sound of the future bearing down on him. In the North Mississippi hill country, Barlow struggles to balance his need to create with what he has created; an ex-wife (Debra Winger) who followed him from the rehab-ilitation ward of a Northern Hospital, a son on the verge of adolescence, a small daughter with an incurable illness, a war buddy and best friend (Paul Le Mat) puzzling over his own consuming love for a funeral home heiress (Rosanna Arquette), and a mother (Angie Dickinson) who sees in her son the return and demise of her beloved husband all over again.

9:30pm only: MUTANT ALIENS Astronaut Earl Jensen gets launched into space by the U.S. Space Agency in veteran animator Bill Plympton's latest outing, "Mutant Aliens." No sooner does he reach orbit, however, than his spacecraft suffers a catastrophic fuel loss, dooming him to a lonely death marooned in the cosmos. Although the evil head of the agency, Dr. Frubar, blames Earl's adorable daughter Josie for this "accident," he's really the one responsible. Frubar hopes to exploit public sympathy surrounding Earl's death, using it to fuel funding for his pet project, the "Ad Ship"; an enormous, hugely expensive billboard in space that would beam down advertising and other corporate swill to a captive, Earthbound audience of consumers. Working as an astronomer twenty years later, Josie spots Earl's long lost craft hurtling miraculously back towards Earth. A second ship containing Earl's saviors, an assortment of cute but vicious mutant creatures, follows him down. Together with Josie and her horny fiancé, Earl and his ragtag band of mutant alien allies embark on a fierce war of revenge against his evil one-time superior. Plympton's trademark flair for the outrageous and grotesque is proudly on display here in this colorful and explicitly drawn animated feature.

Sunday, Oct. 21 at:

7pm only: JALLA! JALLA! Means "Hurry! Hurry!" in Arabic, and the title fits this funny and very fast-paced comedy. Twenty-year-old Roro has immigrated to Sweden from Lebanon with his family. He works as a park attendant with his best friend, Mans, and has a Swedish girlfriend, Lisa. He also has a bit of a problem. He hasnÕt found a good way to tell his traditional Lebanese family about his Swedish girlfriend. And while heÕs trying to figure out how to do itÑwithout giving his parents a heart attackÑmom and dad suddenly announce that theyÕve arranged a marriage for him with a nice Lebanese girl. The girl is no more interested in an arranged marriage than Roro, but how do they break the news to their families? Meanwhile, Mans has problems of his ownÑproblems of the kind that Bob Dole so famously made commercials about. HeÕs trying everything to solve his performance problem, and nothing seems to work. Director Joel Fares handles MansÕs dilemma with great comic aplombÑand also with hilarious but quite explicit language and visuals. Born in Lebanon himself, Fares moved to Sweden with his parents when he was ten years old. He subsequently became the youngest student ever accepted at the Dramatiska Institutet film school in Stockholm, and made several well-received shorts before creating this first feature, which has been a popular success in Sweden.


9:30pm only
: TAPE Tape is a digitally shot film from Richard Linklater starring Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke. The story concerns Vin (Hawke) who returns home to attend the Lansing, MI, Film Festival where he meets up with his old friend Jon (Robert Sean Leonard) and ex-girlfriend Amy (Thurman). Vin is resentful of his buddy Jon who not only stole Amy away from him, but may also have raped her. Linklater previously directed Slackers, Before Sunrise and Dazed and Confused. Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman last appeared together in Gattacca.