April 16, 2003

film

Film listings are edited by Cheryl Eddy. Reviewers are Robert Avila, Meryl Cohen, David Fear, Dina Gachman, Susan Gerhard, Dennis Harvey, Johnny Ray Huston, Patrick Macias, and Chuck Stephens. See Rep Clock and Movie Clock, for theater information. San Francisco International Film Festival

The 46th San Francisco International Film Festival takes place April 17-May 1. Venues are the AMC Kabuki 8 Theatre, 1881 Post, S.F.; Castro Theatre, 429 Castro, S.F.; PFA Theater, 2575 Bancroft, Berk; and CineArts at Palo Alto Square, 3000 El Camino Real, Bldg. Six, Palo Alto. For more information, including how and where to purchase tickets, go to www.sffs.org. For commentary, see "The Ticket," page 52. All times p.m. unless otherwise noted.

Thurs/17

Castro The Secret Lives of Dentists 7.

Fri/18

Castro Murnau's Sunrise with live music by Lambchop 7. The Man Without a Past 9:45.

Kabuki Doing Time 4:30. The Man on the Train 6. Robert Capa: In Love and War 6:30. Historias Minimas 6:45. Too Young to Die 7. The Baroness and the Pig 9:15. Angela 9:30. Music for Weddings and Funerals 9:30. Clement 9:45. So Close midnight.

PFA The Century of the Self (pts. 1-2) 4. Blissfully Yours 7. Infernal Affairs 9:45.

Sat/19

Castro He Who Must Die noon. Orphans of the Storm 3. Winged Migration 6:30. Whale Rider 9.

Kabuki Tanner '88 (pts. 1-5) noon. The Man on the Train 1:15. The Baroness and the Pig 1:45. Tanner '88 (pts. 6-10) 3:30. Our Times 4:15. "Cortos Mexicanos" (shorts program) 4:30. Angela 6:30. The Peter Sellers Story...as he filmed it 6:45. Ten 7. Fear and Trembling 9:15. Last Scene 9:30. Durval Discos 9:45. Cabin Fever midnight.

PFA Swing 2. The Trilogy I: On the Run 4:15. The Trilogy II: An Amazing Couple 7. Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary 9:15.

Sun/20

Castro Swing noon. 3 Women 2. The Death of Klinghoffer 5:30. Madam Sata 9:30.

Kabuki Off the Charts: The Song-Poem Story noon. Clement 12:15. Hard Goodbyes: My Father 12:30. "Something from Nothing" (shorts program) 2:30. The Decay of Fiction (Pat O'Neill: Persistence of Vision Award) 3. Marooned in Iraq 3:15. A Tale of a Naughty Girl 3:30. The Century of the Self (pts. 1-2) 5:45. Dark Side of the Heart 6. Blissfully Yours 6:15. His Brother 6:30. The Trilogy I: On the Run 9. Too Young to Die 9:15. Woman of Water 9:30. All Hell Let Loose 9:45.

PFA He Who Must Die 1:30. The Day I Will Never Forget 4. Untouched by the West 6:15. The Trilogy III: After Life 8:45.

Mon/21

Castro La turbulence des fluides 12:30. Infernal Affairs 3. The Legend of Suriyothai 6. The Good Old Naughty Days 10.

Kabuki Winged Migration 10a. Robert Capa: In Love and War 1. Fear and Trembling 4. So Close 4:15. Good-bye South, Good-bye (Manny Farber: Mel Novikoff Award) 5:30. Doing Time 6:30. Almost Peaceful 6:45. Music for Wedding and Funerals 7. "Stay Tooned" (shorts program) 9:15. The Trilogy II: An Amazing Couple 9:30. The Cuckoo 9:45. The Tracker 9:45.

PFA The Death of Klinghoffer 7. Eat, Sleep, No Women 9:45.

Tues/22

Castro Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean 3:30. Nashville (Robert Altman: Film Society Award for Lifetime Achievement in Directing) 7:30.

Kabuki Swing 10a. Whale Rider 1. The Century of the Self (pts. 3-4) 4:15. Durval Discos 4:30. Lost Boys of Sudan 6:30. Untouched by Water 6:30. A Tale of a Naughty Girl 6:45. Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary 7:15. Iran, Veiled Appearances 9. The Trilogy III: After Life 9:15. The Dancer Upstairs 9:30. Aiki 9:45.

PFA The Decay of Fiction 7. Comandante 9:15.

Opening

The Bread, My Sweet Seasoned theater director Melissa Martin had little interest in making films until the day her friend Gemma passed away. Gemma, an elderly woman who lived above Martin's husband's bakery in Pittsburgh, Penn., embodied a breed of Italian Americans – hugely traditional, highly religious, and generally obsessed with food – that Martin saw as slowly disappearing from the American landscape. She felt a need to preserve that image, and chose film as the medium for her monument because it could reach a larger audience. Unfortunately, she also gathered a cast and crew with little to no experience in film. The resulting movie is sweet and obviously heartfelt but plagued throughout by writing and acting that clearly belongs on the stage. The only member of the cast who seems comfortable in front of the camera is Scott Baio, who, despite a post-'80s lull, seems well on his way to building a new career in independent cinema. (1:40) Galaxy, Oaks. (Cohen)

Bulletproof Monk Chow Yun-Fat stars as a mysterious monk who takes on an unlikely protégé (Seann William Scott) to help protect a powerful ancient scroll. (1:43) Alexandria, Century Plaza, Century 20, Jack London, UA Berkeley.

Chasing Papi Three very different women – a Chicago lawyer, a cocktail waitress, and a wealthy New Yorker – band together for a road trip when they realize they've been three-timed by the same guy. (1:20) Jack London.

Holes Stanley Yelnats IV (Shia LaBeouf), a.k.a. "Caveman," is a Texas kid whose family curse plagues him with rotten luck. So when Stanley gets sent to a surreal juvenile detention center for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, he and his eccentric family just blame the curse. The film's title comes from the endless holes that Stanley and the other kids are forced to dig every day by Warden Walker (Sigourney Weaver), who has some dark family secrets of her own. The warden's associates keep the boys in line, with the sheriff-father hen Mr. Sir (a beautifully campy and creepy Jon Voight) and the slimy therapist Mr. Pendanski (Tim Blake Nelson) doling out punishments at will. Holes scriptwriter Louis Sachar (adapting his award-winning children's book) weaves in stories of Eastern European gypsies and Old West ghost stories that add a touch of mystery and make Stanley's story more Goonies than, say, Toy Story 2. (1:51) Century Plaza, Century 20, Jack London, Shattuck. (Gachman)

Malibu's Most Wanted Jamie Kennedy stars as the clueless "B-Rad," a white would-be rapper whose rich family tries to teach him a lesson by shipping him off to South Central. (1:20) Century Plaza, Century 20.

*A Mighty Wind See Movie Clock. (1:27) California, Century 20, Embarcadero, Empire, Jack London, Piedmont.

*Tattoo In the opening sequence of Tattoo, a naked woman with a large strip of skin missing from her back walks down the street and then gets hit by a bus. Do not bring food to this one; writer-director Robert Schwentke's creepy German thriller will test all of your stomach resolve. Marc (August Diehl) is a young police-academy graduate fond of losing himself in the drugs and music of Berlin's industrial rave scene. Detective Minks (Christian Redl) raids a warehouse party and finds Marc's jacket, giving him the excuse to coerce the young man into becoming his guide to an off-limits world. The men investigate a series of mutilation murders, at first suspecting a serial killer with a tattoo fetish, then quite a bit more. Schwentke crafts a clever thriller refreshingly free from the endless psychological games characteristic of the American genre. Only the ending is a letdown, too vague to conclude the gruesome buildup. (1:45) Opera Plaza, Shattuck. (Koh)

Zemsta In 17th-century Poland, two feuding noblemen begrudgingly share a castle separated by a crumbling stone wall. Complications arise when a tenant's son develops a fancy for the other's niece just as the wall is set to be fixed and permanently estrange the families. It's up to the bumbling, holy-fool figure of Papkin (Roman Polanski), an unemployed soldier who's manipulating both parties, to make sure romance and rivalry run their course. Legendary Polish director Andrzej Wadja (Ashes and Diamonds) tackles Aleksander Fredro's classic folkloric play like a Gogol farce, emphasizing its broader sex-romp aspects over the comedy's inherent social satire. While his version lacks the political weight of the earlier screen adaptation (done in 1956, when the symbolism regarding a fractured, fragmented Poland was unmistakably relevant), Wadja's film boasts a well-honed sense of regional storytelling and fellow Pole filmmaker Polanski sporting one of the most odious-looking moustaches ever committed to film stock. (1:40) Rafael. (Fear)

Ongoing

About Schmidt (2:04) Balboa.

Adaptation (1:52) Galaxy.

*Amandla! A Revolution in Four-Part Harmony (1:43) Four Star, Rafael, Shattuck.

Anger Management The idea sounds foolproof: a bullied schlub (Adam Sandler) is mistakenly charged with "assaulting" a flight attendant and is assigned to an anger-management course chaperoned by an unorthodox self-help guru (Jack "Careful with that golf club!" Nicholson). It isn't long before the therapist has taken over the guy's life and unleashed the sap's inner rage-aholic. I mean, c'mon! Sandler! Nicholson! Together! What could go wrong? Everything, apparently, as this high-concept lowbrow comedy blows any potential from the outset; even when a moment of comic inspiration does bubble up through the tar pit of dick jokes – i.e., the duo singing "I Feel Pretty" – director Peter Segal insures that leaden pacing punctures any gag before the payoff. Sandler's usual modus of male anxiety/humiliation vignettes segueing into copious yelling offers no surprises, but what's shocking is how such prodigious talent (Nicholson, John Turturro, and a host of famous-faced cameos) is so thoroughly wasted. Cinematic slumming for slapstick has never seemed so joyless. (1:41) Century Plaza, Century 20, Jack London, Metreon, 1000 Van Ness. (Fear)

*Assassination Tango Robert Duvall wrote, directed, produced, and stars in this idiosyncratic homage to the tango. Duvall plays John J. Anderson, a hotheaded but basically good killer-for-hire, just trying to settle down with a nice girlfriend (Kathy Baker) and her 10-year-old daughter (Jenny Katherine Micheaux Miller). He gets sent on a short assignment to kill a general in Buenos Aires, but is stuck there waiting as the military leader is delayed in the countryside. In the meantime, Anderson becomes enthralled by the tango and by gorgeous Manuela (Duvall's real-life girlfriend, Luciana Pedraza), a wry instructor who guides him into the dance's culture. Duvall is great at playing out the shortcomings of age and character while maintaining a likable dignity. The plot meanders a bit, but that is not the point in this film. What lights the way is Duvall's passion for the tango and enthusiasm for improvisational acting. On the whole, Tango is eccentric and lovely, even if it does border on fantasy. (1:53) Shattuck. (Koh)

Basic (1:35) Century 20, Kabuki, Metreon, 1000 Van Ness.

*Bend It like Beckham With a witty screenplay, feel-good story, and kick-ass soundtrack, Gurinder Chadha's Bend It like Beckham (named, by the way, for the soccer star who's also known as Mr. Posh Spice) has already broken box-office records in the U.K. and arrives in the United States with a worldwide $50 million gross already under its belt. Jess, Beckham's protagonist, is a reluctant challenger who's driven by her passion for soccer to deviate from the expectations of her old-world family. Beckham pointedly punctures English, Indian, and immigrant foibles despite a few jokes that are broad enough to hit the side of a barn. But its pseudo-lesbian subplot is unlikely to ruffle viewers of any lifestyle. More satisfyingly, the film's climactic wedding scene erupts into high drama with mistaken-identity mischief delicious enough to ensure it won't be mistaken for Monsoon Wedding. (1:42) California, Embarcadero, Orinda, Shattuck. (B. Ruby Rich)

*Better Luck Tomorrow Ben (Parry Shen) is your archetypal Asian studyholic – but despite his academic prowess he's completely invisible. Ben's crew does its best to tweak the stereotypes: there's Virgil (Jason Tobin), the "other smart guy at school" and a goofy, squeaky spazz; Virgil's brother Han (Sung Kang), a cool would-be greaser with a muscle car; and Daric (Roger Fan), an obnoxious Max Fischer archetype who has his hand in every school club and, later, every scam. Director-cowriter-producer Justin Lin's Better Luck Tomorrow succeeds at infusing the secret life of the Asian nerd with an unprecedented level of sexiness and humor; we can all imagine what would happen if the culture's tenacity, skills, and pressure to excel were applied to crime instead of tests and study sessions. Like its characters, though, Better Luck Tomorrow comes off like an early acceptance-style academic overachiever. It makes all the right moves and is ready for the big leagues with MTV backing, yet is still a little too eager to please. (1:38) 1000 Van Ness, Shattuck. (Kimberly Chun)*Bowling for Columbine (1:59) California, Lumiere.

Bringing Down the House (1:45) Century Plaza, Century 20, Jack London, Kabuki, Metreon, 1000 Van Ness.

Chaos The opening flurry of cocktail jazz and impatient movement in Coline Serreau's new French feature tells us all we need to know about the marriage of Helene (Catherine Frot) and Paul (Vincent Lindon): it's a functioning but meaningless machine. All that jerks to a halt when their luxury car almost runs into a scantily clad woman fleeing attackers who beat her senseless. Helene tracks the young woman to a local hospital, spending whole days, then weeks there as Algerian émigré Malika (Rachida Brakni) slowly wakes from a coma and regains her faculties. What starts out as an incisive if amusingly barbed clash of cultures and classes turns into something more frivolous – albeit quite entertaining – as the revived Malika enlists Helene in an elaborate plot to avenge herself against the family who'd misused her and the organized criminals who'd done far worse. (1:49) Act I and II, Opera Plaza. (Harvey)

*Chicago (1:47) Century 20, Galaxy, Grand Lake, Metreon, Orinda, Presidio.

*City of God (2:10) Four Star.

The Core (2:15) Century Plaza, Century 20, Kabuki, Metreon, 1000 Van Ness.

Cowboy Bebop The popular anime series from which Cowboy Bebop the movie sprang is a thoroughly modern and aggressively cool collision of film noir, cyberpunk, and about half a million other influences (Bob Dylan, Don Siegel, etc). The big-screen version offers more of the same plus a new dizzying attention to detail, and a whole lot of prescient millennial dread. The year is 2071 and Mars looks like a combination of Casablanca and upper Manhattan. Quite naturally, some bearded lunatic wants to destroy it with rush-hour car bombings and elaborate bioterror plots (that the film was originally released in Japan in September 2001 is an eerie coincidence). A gargantuan bounty reward on the culprit attracts lanky, semi-heroic cash-seeker Spike Spiegel and his motley crew of "Cowboys," who move in on the lone terrorist only to find a labyrinth of government conspiracies and military experiments. Under the hand of director and series creator Shinichiro Watanabe, the ambitious Bebop is fantastic when it sticks to a breezy tone punctuated by bursts of action. Things get more slippery when it strays into extended spiritual and existential musings, which dominate the overlong final act. Either way, sci-fi anime (usually the most escapist of genres) has seldom been this closely tied to current events intentionally or otherwise. (1:55) Opera Plaza, Shattuck. (Macias)

*Divine Intervention Palestinian director Elia Suleiman's Divine Intervention is neither documentary nor docudrama, nor even a Costa-Gavras-style feature designed to prompt international action. Rather, shooting in Nazareth and on the road to Jerusalem with a largely Israeli crew and an irreverent eye, Suleiman translates his riven, battle-weary homeland into a comic parable full of slapstick provocation. Consider the opening: Santa Claus gets mugged. A spoof on local violence? A gloss on racial intolerance? A salvo in an ongoing argument about symbolism versus action? It's a bracing opening for a film that fuses humor with inchoate rage but only much later deploys fantasy violence to make a political point, albeit a surreal one. Distilling tragedy from tedium, Divine Intervention invites the viewer into a meditation on the absurdity of daily existence in today's Middle East, as seen from the perspective of Palestinians relentlessly occupied with occupation. Could anything be braver or more taboo at this moment than humor? It is a brave filmmaker who can set aside the easy posture of outrage to mine conundrums and contemplate deeper truths. It is a truly exceptional one who can do all of that without compromising the history that lies at the heart of the self. (1:29) Balboa, Opera Plaza. (Rich)

Dysfunktional Family (1:24) Grand Lake.

Dreamcatcher (2:16) Metreon, 1000 Van Ness.

Frida (1:58) Balboa.

Gangs of New York (2:57) Galaxy.

Ghosts of the Abyss James Cameron returns to the sunken subject of his multi-Oscar triumph, but this time the end result is aimed more at Discovery Channel buffs than Leo DiCaprio devotees. Armed with some nifty inventions – a specially designed large-format 3-D camera and two compact, remote-controlled camera units created to investigate the interior of the wreck – Cameron has created a film that's a marvel, technologically speaking, and it's not surprising that Ghosts of the Abyss's best moments are those that incorporate the remarkable deep-sea footage. Reenactments help contextualize parts of the ship (including a dining room with near-intact windows) and bring to the forefront the tale's human tragedy. The underwater exploration scenes are so engrossing that everything else – such as the running commentary by actor Bill Paxton and a tense moment when one of the minicameras becomes lodged inside the vessel – could've been edited down to make way for more. Still, Ghosts of the Abyss is fascinating stuff for "Titaniacs" – and blessedly Celine Dion-free. (1:00) Metreon IMAX. (Eddy)

The Good Thief The rare Neil Jordan movie that feels like a "package" deal, this remake of Jean-Pierre Melville's classic (if slightly overrated) 1955 Gallic noir Bob le flambeur has everything good taste and quite a few euros can buy. But it all seems a trifle unnecessary, a vehicle that's all luxury and no destination. Bob (Nick Nolte) is a smack-jackin' gambler and semiretired underground scenester in Nice who gets clean for one last big score: robbing a Monte Carlo casino of its spectacular art collection. Various interesting international faces like Tchéky Karyo, Said Taghmaoui, Emir Kusturica, and guest-slumming Ralph Fiennes play colorful confederates; taking Isabel Corey's old amoral-prostitute role but channeling Milla Jovovich's dead-eyed runway "allure" is Nutsa Kukhianidze as "the Girl." Jordan dips the movie in cushy color-saturated, cool-club-tracked style – though having Bono sing the theme song (three times, by god!) isn't cool at all. His results do play better as updated Eurotrash capering than The Trouble with Charlie managed to. Yet somehow this high-calorie Good Thief ends up tasting like all batter, no steak. (1:49) Act I and II, Bridge, Empire. (Harvey)

He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not (1:42) Four Star.

*Head of State First-time director Chris Rock stars as Mays Gilliam, a D.C. Alderman who becomes the first African American major-party presidential candidate just weeks before the election (the scheme behind this, which includes a plan to have an unknowing Gilliam lose on purpose, proves hardly important). At first, Gilliam follows the orders of his tightly wound campaign advisors (Dylan Baker, Lynn Whitfield), but he's soon convinced by his brother/running mate (Bernie Mac, underused but spot-on as always) to unleash his true personality, which includes for-the-people speeches delivered stand-up style ("How many of you have two jobs so you can afford to be broke?") Rock is less polished a director than a performer, but when he's on, there's nobody funnier, as this largely enjoyable comedy proves. (1:35) Century 20, Jack London, Kabuki, Metreon, 1000 Van Ness. (Eddy)

The Hours (1:54) 1000 Van Ness.

House of 1000 Corpses (1:28) California, Century 20, Grand Lake.

The Hunted (1:34) 1000 Van Ness.

*Laurel Canyon (1:43) California, Embarcadero, Empire, Shattuck.

Levity The first glimpse we get of Billy Bob Thornton in Levity – hangdog-stoic, craggy features bisected by prison bars, long biblical locks presumably grayed by the horror, the horror – writes suffering so large you might think you're watching Job the Movie. Thornton plays Manual Jordan, bounced from juvy to 21 years in a maximum-security pen. The parole board thinks he's now paid his debt to society. Jordan, on the other hand, knows "I'll never be redeemed." Forced back onto the faceless wintry streets of his East Coast town, Jordan fast becomes the little penitent that could, doing good on several fronts. Writer-director Ed Solomon levies wise restraint on elements that might easily have become way too much; Levity is one of those movies saved from sentimentality and contrivance only by its determinedly lowercase execution. Thornton's compelling oddity holds this frail but ultimately affecting morality tale together. (1:40) Lumiere. (Harvey)

A Man Apart Perhaps it's too early for Vin Diesel to make movies where he keeps his shirt on. This overly earnest, just-adequate crime drama is strictly '80s-style vigilante action fodder of the "this time it's personal" variety, B-grade material granted an unnecessary "A" budget. V.D. – hey, we didn't choose his initials – plays a freewheeling DEA operative who busts a really baaaad Mexican drug cartel boss (Geno Silva). Said villain then has Vin's wife killed. Uh-oh: Vin go boom. Decently assembled by director F. Gary Gray, the movie tries hard to pretend it invented numerous hoary clichés, from the "You've crossed the line! You're off the force!" scene, to the holding-back-tears-at-her-grave moment, to the inevitable instance when our hero fumes, "You call me a fuckin' faggot?!" to outscare scary thugs. Also, many vehicles explode. A Man Apart struggles to put a gritty face on cartoonish material, but the surgery never quite takes. After all, the villains here are named "Diablo" (as in "you cannot keel Diablo") and "Lucero," while climactic dialogue can't resist fanning America-wants-vengeance hyperbole enough to suggest the great Satan himself – no, not us silly, we mean Saddam! Keepin' it so "real" that all of his homies here must call him "dawg" (amid a Dr. Dre soundtrack, yet), the new Diesel is so feh you might actually miss last year's XXX party-blowhard action figure. (2:00) California, Century Plaza, Century 20, Jack London, Kabuki, Metreon, 1000 Van Ness. (Harvey)

*Marion Bridge Winner of Best First Feature honors at the 2002 Toronto International Film Festival, director Wiebke von Carolsfeld's Marion Bridge is the rare "family drama" that manages to avoid both melodrama and cliché. Recovering addict Agnes (Molly Parker) leaves Toronto for rural Nova Scotia, where she aims to help her sisters – one hurting from a troubled marriage (Rebecca Jenkins) and one sulky and television-obsessed (Stacy Smith) – care for their ailing mother (Marguerite McNeil). Agnes's presence ignites tension in the house, dredging up a dark secret the rest of the women have tried to forget. Of course, redemption, forgiveness, and a reforging of the family bond are bound to transpire. But von Carolsfeld's steady, subtle touch, matched with Daniel MacIvor's screenplay (adapted from his play), allows the characters to become truly three-dimensional; excellent performances all around (especially by Parker, as a woman healing old wounds with newfound strength) ensure Marion Bridge hits few false notes. (1:33) Roxie. (Eddy)

Nowhere in Africa Fleeing Germany on the eve of Hitler's rise to power, an upper-class Jewish woman (Juliane Köhler) and her five-year-old daughter relocate to Africa. Helping her husband manage a farm in Kenya, she bristles at her new surroundings while the girl must adjust to the confinement of English boarding school rules. But thanks to a kindly cook (Sidede Onyulo) and their new environment's "primitive" charms, the family slowly falls in love with their adopted homeland. The inexplicable winner of this year's Best Foreign Film Oscar, director Caroline Link's melodramatic travelogue seems constructed from spare parts of typical nondomestic favorites: a pinch of historical tragedy made personal here, a dash of inner-journey cliché there, a hefty amount of semipatronizing attitudes toward the "other" (when, really, we're all the same underneath!). It's a familiar enough safari through foreign film-lite landscapes perfect for the toothless section of Blockbuster Video's import shelf, though anyone expecting anything past pretty scenery will find themselves heading nowhere fast. (2:18) Albany, Castro, Rafael. (Fear)

Old School (1:30) Metreon, 1000 Van Ness.

Phone Booth Slimy media publicist Stu Shepard (Colin Farrell) stops by New York City's last operating public phone booth daily to call a young actress (Katie Holmes) he's trying to seduce (his wife checks his cell phone bills, y'see). One morning the phone rings after he's hung up; picking up the receiver, he's told by the voice on the other end that if he hangs up, he will be shot. There's a sniper who's watching him, an all-purpose avenging angel whose "wake-up call" to Stu comes with an ultimatum: either use this metaphorical kick to the head to change your ways or risk a literal bullet to your brain. Joel Schumacher is a director whose plentiful excesses tend to be curbed under the governance of imposed restraints (see the low-budget, low-key Tigerland), and the built-in tension of the plot's geographical space is foolproof enough that even split screens and fish-eye lenses can't smother the claustrophobia. Still, Phone Booth is a pleasant enough one-trick pony to ride to the end. (1:21) Century Plaza, Century 20, Jack London, Kabuki, Metreon, Oaks, 1000 Van Ness, Orinda. (Fear)

*The Pianist (2:28) Albany, Clay.

Piglet's Big Movie (1:15) Grand Lake, Oaks, 1000 Van Ness.

*The Quiet American (1:52) Shattuck.

*Rabbit Proof Fence (1:34) Rafael, Shattuck.

*Russian Ark (1:48) Balboa.

Sandstorm (2:00) Galaxy.

Shanghai Ghetto (1:35) Balboa.

*Spider (1:38) Four Star.

Spirited Away (2:04) Galaxy, Kabuki, Metreon.

Spun Following the doings of a loosely connected gang of SoCal drug addicts, Spun accurately approximates a crystal meth high by being hilarious, grotesque, and annoying in equal parts. Swedish director Jonas Åkerlund has a wicked fascination with the low end of American life (the kind in which trailers figure prominently), and he lays out the environs and inner worlds of his speed freaks with every music-video edit and visual gimmick in the armory. Meanwhile, a not entirely convincing air of "slumming it" hovers around Jason Schwartzman, Brittany Murphy, and Mena Suvari as they toot, jabber, and interact with an odd collection of cameo players (including Deborah Harry, China Chow, and Rob Halford). John Leguizamo's bug-eyed hyperactive shtick gets by on sheer volume alone, but it is Mickey Rourke's quietly monstrous performance as the cook that holds Hurricane Spun together – at least until the third act, which trades in intense black humor and grimy close-ups for overreaching dramatics that reduce something wild to nothing more than another Just Say No piece. (1:36) Lumiere. (Macias)

*Stevie A decade before he began to make a film called Stevie, director Steve James (Hoop Dreams) befriended a boy named Stevie Fielding as an advocate, a Big Brother. He largely abandoned the relationship when he moved away, and when he returns, camera and crew in tow, it seems it's not so much to pick up the big-buddy conceit where it left off but to put the young man's sordid life on the big screen – a task that is heinous to most observers within the first uncomfortable minutes of the movie. One can feel the class food chain at work. But the film quickly takes a strange turn when little Stevie turns out to be not just a run-of-the-mill misfit, but one who's actively inflicting more pain on others. James lets the camera roll as he blunders through one of the most excrutiatingly honest relationships in the history of documentary film, exposing his own mistakes in the process. (2:20) Opera Plaza. (Gerhard)

*Talk to Her (1:52) Lumiere, Shattuck.

*Unknown Pleasures Bin Bin (Zhao Wei Wei), a slouch-mouthed teen in a billowing white shirt, with no job and nowhere to go, sits on the sofa with his girlfriend, Yuan Yuan (Zhou Qing Feng), soon to head off to university, her future brighter than his. Bin Bin's best friend, Xiao Ji (Wo Qiong), has a haircut like a shark's overbite; he's in love with Qiao Qiao (Zhao Tao), a local gangster's girl who works as a dancer and a promoter of Mongolian King liquor. The distinctly Chinese realm inhabited by these teen spirits is one of decidedly Unknown Pleasures – as per the English-language title director Jia Zhang-ke has given his new film. Shot in an exquisite digital-video palette in tones of cement dust you can feel in your mouth and lipstick red gashes of silk and desire, Unknown Pleasures is Jia's version of a hope-I-die-before-I-get-old standard: a rock-and-roll rebel flick set way out at the end of Old Antonioni Road, in a near-Mongolia end zone called Datong. (1:53) Opera Plaza. (Stephens)

View from the Top (1:27) Metreon, 1000 Van Ness.

What a Girl Wants (1:44) Century Plaza, Century 20, Grand Lake, Kabuki, Metreon, 1000 Van Ness.

Rep picks

Aftermath: Unanswered Questions from 9/11 It's been almost two years since Sept. 11, 2001, and, as the Guerrilla News Network points out in their new video, there is still much we (as in, the general American public) are completely clueless about. This short but informative work is essentially a series of interviews with nine authorities – lawyers, activists, writers – who help shed light on various aspects of the attacks, touching on the airlines, the Bush administration, the current war with Iraq, the Patriot Act, and more. Both screenings will feature preshow panels with experts from the film, plus audience discussion after the lights come up – a good thing, since no doubt Aftermath will stir up a lot to talk about. (:33) Herbst Theatre, Spangenberg Theatre. (Eddy)