Short Subjectives February 03 2001

Opening Friday
HOUSE OF MIRTH (PG) Gillian Anderson gives a luminous, unforgettable performance as the upper-crust orphan who falls from the heights of turn-of-the-century New York society into abject poverty in Terence Davies’ stunning adaptation of Edith Wharton’s novel of manners. More than simply a reverse fairy tale of an innocent beauty dragged into the mud, this languidly paced, intelligent film honors the complexity of Lily Bart (Anderson), while taking measure of her faults, and offers a painfully realistic portrait of the kind of human pettiness and weakness that yields horrific results. — Felicia Feaster
LEFT BEHIND (PG-13) Based on the Christian novel by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, the thriller stars Kirk Cameron (“Growing Pains”) as Buck, a man who teams up with a group of baffled observers to investigate the sudden disappearance of millions of people around the world. The film explores the events of the Biblical Rapture and what happens to those who are left behind.
MALENA (R) Cinema Paradiso’s Giuseppe Tornatore offers another nostalgic glimpse of an Italian childhood, focusing here on adolescent Renato (Giuseppe Sulfaro) and his obsession with a shapely war widow (Monica Belucci) during World War II. The film treats Belucci as a sex object, but that’s part of the point, as the rest of Renato’s village judges her character based on her appearance. The moments of broad comedy and gorgeous photography make up for its uncharitable view toward the Italian people. — Curt Holman
VALENTINE (R) Urban Legend director Jamie Blanks revisits the teen-slasher genre in this new horror flick about a formerly geeky kid who decides to get revenge on the girls who tormented him years before. Just in time for Valentine’s Day, cupid is transformed into a real lady killer. Not surprisingly, the movie features a number of WB stars, including David Boreanaz of “Angel” and Katherine Heigl of “Roswell.”
Duly Noted
THE AUTEUR THEORY Evan Oppenheimer’s satire on independent film festivals centers on one peculiar student film festival, where a killer is taking out the directors of the terrible movies. A filmmaker (Alan Cox) decides to make a documentary about the killings but ends up falling for the main suspect (Natasha Lyonne). IMAGE Film and Video Center benefit screening, Feb. 7 at 8 p.m., Regal Cinemas Hollywood 24.
BIG MAMA CINEFEST FILM NIGHT Sponsored by IMAGE Film and Video Center, the screenings feature two films and 10 shorts by women filmmakers as part of Seen + Heard: The Atlanta Women’s Arts Festival. Directed by Shelley Niro, Honey Moccasin is a comedy feature about Native-American investigator Honey Moccasin and the case of the drag queen clothing thief. Ellen Spiro’s Roam Sweet Home is a documentary that examines the lives of aging roamers and loners who live on the road in trailers. The short films include: Ya-Nan Chou’s “Split”; Suzie Silver’s “A Spy: Hester Reeve Does the Doors”; Jeanne Vitale’s “Schizophrenia Circa 1986”; T. Anjanette Levert’s “Shake It Up, Shake It Down: AUC Students’ Perspective on Freaknik”; CHING’s “Faeries: Music in the Woods”; Shana Marie Woods’ “Sangre y Veneno”; Allyson Mitchell’s “Candy Kisses”; Melissa Levin and Nina Levitt’s “Baking with Butch”; Lela Lee’s “Angry Little Asian Girl”; and “Hello Titty” by Anne Lise Breunneg, Jody Shipley and Beatrice Thomas. Feb. 9 with features at 7:30 p.m. and shorts at 10 p.m., PushPush Theater, 1123 Zonolite Road.
THE FOLLOWERS Three tight friends decide to pledge the same exclusive fraternity, but their friendship is put to the test when one is rejected because he is black. The two white friends want to join despite the racism, and the fraternity president tests their loyalty as members by having them target their African-American friend during hazing. Jan. 26-Feb. 1 at 2, 6 and 10 p.m., GSU’s cinéfest.
GOIN’ TO CHICAGO George King’s documentary traces the events of the pre-World War II “Great Migrations,” in which many African-Americans left the South in search of better lives in the North. The film examines this chapter of our history through interviews with those who lived the journey. Atlanta African Film Society, Feb. 6 at noon, Georgia Pacific Auditorium, 133 Peachtree St..
IMAX AT FERNBANK: MICHAEL JORDAN TO THE MAX In this tribute to the basketball legend, the film explores the life of Michael Jordan on and off the court. See some of his career highlights, including the championship-winning final shot, up on the big-screen. Feb. 2-4 at 6 p.m., Fernbank Museum of Natural History.
JUDGE IN FEAR An unpopular judge is on trial for the murder of a prostitute, and attorney Jean Ables must defend him against the charges. A witness places the judge at the scene of the crime, but the judge is unwilling to give Jean information that could help his case. Director Josef Rodl’s 1996 film is in German with subtitles. German Criminal Films, Feb. 7 at 7 p.m., Goethe Institut Atlanta.
‘THE KKK BOUTIQUE AIN’T JUST REDNECKS’ and ‘TAKE YOUR BAGS’ Screened as part of Emory’s third annual Black Film Thursdays series, the two short films focus on African-American culture and experiences. “Take Your Bags” examines the cultural price paid by African-Americans who were brought to this country via the middle passage, and “The KKK Boutique” explores the causes and consequences of modern-day racism. The screenings are free. Black Film Thursdays, Feb. 1 at 6 p.m., Emory.
THE LEGEND OF DRUNKEN MASTER (R) Jackie Chan does some of his best fighting, though fewer crazy stunts, in this magnificent mess from 1994 that vaults from broad comedy (Anita Mui doing “I Love Lucy Liu”) to intense melodrama, shows off the comic “drunken boxing” style, and bashes the Brits of a century ago for plundering Chinese land and antiquities. It’s dubbed in English so you can focus on the action. Sexagenarian director Lau Ka Leung has some fight scenes too, suggesting Chan’s career doesn’t have to end anytime soon. Jan. 26-Feb. 1 at 12, 4 and 8 p.m., GSU’s cinéfest. — SW
THE NIGHT LARRY KRAMER KISSED ME The longest running one-man stage production in New York theater history, Larry Kramer has now made the jump to celluloid, with less than thrilling results. The play’s writer, David Drake, performs with admirable energy and verve, a semi-autobiographical version of one man’s life, ranging from his budding homosexuality as a child to his final resting place in New York City’s by turns competitive/supportive gay community. There is some real insight here, but one has to trudge through so much theatrical affectation and so many superficial clichés about what constitutes being “gay” it may not be worth the effort. Atlanta Gay & Lesbian Film Festival Benefit, Jan. 31 at 7 p.m., IMAGE film & Video Center. — FF
OUTSIDE OUT Mike Gordon’s 2000 independent film is about a young man (Gordon) who must master the guitar before his father ships him off to military school. The only way Rick can avoid a trip to bootcamp academy is by getting into a prestigious music school. Screenings include performances by Col. Bruce Hampton and the Code Talkers. Feb. 2 at 8 and 10 p.m., Variety Playhouse, 1099 Euclid Ave.
THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (R) The cult classic of cult classics, the 1975 horror spoof follows an all-American couple (Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick) to the castle of Dr. Frank-N-Furter (Tim Curry), a drag-queen/mad scientist from another galaxy. It’s all fun and games until Meatloaf gets killed. Dress as your favorite character and participate in this musical on acid. Fridays at midnight, Lefont Plaza Theatre, 1049 Ponce De Leon Ave.
SPERLING AND THE BURNING ARM Detective Sperling witnesses the beating of a Berlin restaurant owner by a group of men demanding protection money. Sperling mounts an investigation into the attack and discovers that the group is part of the Albanian mob. But before he can act on the information, the restaurant owner takes the situation into his own hands. The 1998 film is in German with English subtitles. German Criminal Films, Jan. 31 at 7 p.m., Goethe Institut Atlanta.
TARGETS Peter Bogdanovich’s first film takes on the charged issue of gun control in the wake of Austin sniper Charles Whitman’s 1966 murder spree. A film cultist’s dream, the parallel storylines concern a washed-up horror actor played by Boris Karloff, who is retiring from the business because he’s afraid that his thrillers can no longer measure up to the real-life brutality of the modern world. Across town a Whitman-esque all-American boy confirms Karloff’s theory by stockpiling guns and ammo before venturing out on a killing spree. A flawed, often clunky production (Bogdanovich as Karloff’s director is especially weak), Targets nevertheless boasts a wonderful, wounded performance from Karloff and some truly creepy moments. Feb. 2-8 at 2, 6 and 10 p.m., GSU’s cinéfest. — FF
VANISHING POINT Part of a rash of rebels-take-to-the-open-road films that were churned out to stock drive-in screens and grindhouses of the 1970s, this cult classic follows a rebel with no particular cause on a high-speed chase from Denver to San Francisco. As the cops close in on him, Kowalski (Barry Newman) develops a following of hippies, freaks, dropouts and other malcontents who elect him as their personal Jesus in this terrifically dated paean to Us vs. Them. Feb. 2-8 at 12, 4 and 8 p.m., GSU’s cinéfest. — FF
THE WIND WILL CARRY US An Iranian engineer and his assistants travel to a small Kurdish village on a mysterious mission. They come to the village under false pretenses while waiting for the death of a woman more than 100 years old. Director Abbas Kiarostami’s 1999 film is in Farsi with subtitles. Films at the High, Feb. 2-3 at 8 p.m., Rich Auditorium.
Continuing
THE AMATI GIRLS (PG) 1/2 Mercedes Ruehl, Sean Young, Dinah Manoff and Lily Knight play the daughters of recently widowed Cloris Leachman in Anne DeSalvo’s dripping-with-sincerity drama that portrays Italian-American family life without reference to the Mafia. Ruehl’s marriage is much like her mother’s; Young is ready to divorce a workaholic; and Manoff’s afraid of commitment. When developmentally challenged Knight decides she wants “a real boyfriend,” most of the family is opposed. Cinematically proficient but not innovative, The Amati Girls probably helped DeSalvo get major family issues off her chest. — Steve Warren
ANTITRUST (PG-13) 1/2 Though not as memorable as Arlington Road, the last paranoid thriller in which Tim Robbins played a villain, Antitrust is a good popcorn movie that’s aimed at a younger audience and should do the job for them. Robbins is a Bill Gates-like computer mogul, Ryan Phillippe the hotshot garage geek who goes to work for him but discovers his dark secrets and has to bring down his empire. It’s like a chess game, only more visual. The geek-speak dialogue sounds credible without being intimidating. — SW
CHOCOLAT (PG-13) 1/2 Free-spirited Juliette Binoche opens a chocolate shop in a repressed village, setting up a didactic conflict of indulgence versus denial. The French locales, food and faces are lovingly photographed (the disarming ensemble includes Judi Dench, Johnny Depp and Alfred Molina), but it cannot equal the comparably themed but richer Babette’s Feast. Chocolat melts in your hands, not in your heart. — CH
THE CLAIM (R) 1/2 A filmmaker who seems determined to tackle every genre under the sun, British director Michael Winterbottom’s loose adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s The Mayor of Casterbridge is set on the brutal, frigid frontier of California’s Sierra Nevada 1860s gold rush. With more than a passing resemblance to Robert Altman’s McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Winterbottom’s film is an atmospheric, but not especially gripping, drama centering on the wealthy founding father of Kingdom Come, a town erected on a vicious bargain Daniel Dillon (Peter Mullan) struck decades ago that comes back to haunt him in the form of Sarah Polley and Nastassja Kinski. — FF
CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON (PG-13) An enchanting tale set in early 19th-century China, Ang Lee’s (Sense and Sensibility, The Ice Storm) atmospheric Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon rekindles the Hong Kong flame of gravity-defying martial arts action and tender sentiment. Lee invests the usual astounding acrobatics with his characters’ pangs of regret, love and loss as two martial arts masters, (Chow Yun Fat and Michelle Yeoh) teach a spoiled young aristocrat (Zhang Ziyi) about the moral responsibilities of the Giang Hu martial arts way in this subversive, beautifully realized coming-of-age story. — FF
THE GIFT (R) Where do I go to return The Gift? Cate Blanchett plays a small town medium who gets embroiled in violence and sleazy behavior in a script, co-written by Billy Bob Thornton, that plays like “Peyton Place” with ESP. Director Sam Raimi injects a few shocks, but the film proves too over-the-top to be taken seriously, and with too many classy performers (including Keanu Reeves and Hilary Swank) for camp value. — CH
O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU? (PG-13) 1/2 George Clooney plays an escaped convict dragging his buddies across the Depression-era Deep South in search of hidden treasure and also trying to stop his wife’s remarriage in this uneven but brilliantly bizarre screwball send-up of ’30s folk history and Homer’s ancient epic, The Odyssey. The film features a number of Coen Brothers alums, including John Goodman (standing in for the Cyclops) and John Turturro (who almost gets turned into a frog). The title comes from Sullivan’s Travels, which you should also see, dammit. — EM
THE PLEDGE (R) Less than the sum of its parts, which include odd, beautifully photographed locations and small appearances by big actors, this serious version of Fargo, adapted from a Friedrich Durrenmatt novel, was directed somberly by Sean Penn as an American art film. Jack Nicholson plays Jerry Black, a Reno police detective whose retirement party is interrupted by the rape/murder of an 8-year-old girl. Jerry obsessively structures his life around solving this and related crimes, with ironic results. The Euro-pacing rules out mainstream audiences; others may be mildly disappointed, but Pledge is no lemon. — SW
SHADOW OF THE VAMPIRE (R) A snarling, slavering, demonic Willem Dafoe delivers the ghoulish goods in this slightly stuffed but beautifully mounted historical-horror-comedy-biopic about the making of Nosferatu in 1922. John Malkovich plays a strong second fiddle as F.W. Murnau, a director so dedicated to making the ultimate vampire movie that he hires a real vampire to play the lead. — EVM
SNATCH (R) As in his debut film Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Guy Ritchie doesn’t construct plots so much as geometry exercises, setting groups of heavily-armed cockney hoodlums and hitmen in motion and seeing how often they collide. Nominally concerned with fixed boxing matches and the scramble for a stolen diamond, Snatch offers more of the same, with better jokes, a broader canvas and Brad Pitt stealing the show as a gypsy boxer whose accent is hilariously impenetrable. — CH
STATE AND MAIN (R) 1/2 Such enjoyable actors as Alec Baldwin, William H. Macy, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Sarah Jessica Parker put what bite they can into David Mamet’s limp showbiz satire. In depicting the havoc wreaked by a film crew on a Vermont village, Mamet means to pay tribute to small-town Americana, but his town comes across as phony as a theme park attraction, and wife Rebecca Pidgeon is over her head as the story’s romantic lead. — CH
SUGAR & SPICE (PG-13) Here’s the stupid cheerleader movie we expected Bring It On to be before it proved to be a sleeper. It’s partly about Jack (James Marsden) and Diane (Marley Shelton) and partly about Diane and her fellow cheerleaders. Jack gets Diane pregnant, and their families throw them out, so the girls rob a bank to help them finance life on their own. Major characters disappear for long stretches, making it seem more episodic and less cohesive than it is, but it doesn’t deserve such serious analysis. The script is short on humor, with little sugar and even less spice. — SW
TRAFFIC (R) 1/2 A well-crafted, engrossing story of the drug war as it touches characters from Tijuana to Washington, D.C., from cops and politicians to teenagers and suburban wives, Steven Soderbergh’s drama moves along at a ferocious clip. Even with its large cast of newcomers and Hollywood old-guarders, this psychological action film affirms Soderbergh’s talent for making good, populist dramas that exceed the usual Hollywood standards. — FF
THE WEDDING PLANNER (PG-13) 1/2 Comedically challenged Jennifer Lopez plays Mary, who has been so busy planning other people’s weddings she forgot to have one of her own. She’s working on a big one when she meets Mr. Right, who happens to be the groom. Call me The Wedding Panner, but I never spent as boring a 105 minutes as I did watching this dud, and I’m not exaggerating as much as the person who labeled this lifeless mess a “romantic comedy.” — SW