b>Movie theater abbreviations
AC = Act 1 & 2, AL= Albany, BA = Bal, BH = Blackhawk, BC = Brenden Concord 14, BP = Brenden Pittsburg 16, BS = AMC Bay Street, CA = California, CAPH = CinéArts Pleasant Hill, CB = Century Bayfair, CE = Central Cinema Alameda, CCC = CoCo Cinemas, CEPH = Century Pleasant Hill 16, CH = Century Hilltop, CN = Cinedome Newark, CRC = Crow Canyon, CS = Century Solano Drive-In, CSC = Chabot Space and Science Center, CUC = Century Union City 25, CWC = Century Walnut Creek, CF = Cinedome Fremont, E = Elmwood, EC = El Cerrito Speakeasy, GL = Grand Lake, JL = Jack London, N8 = Naz 8, OA = Oaks, OR = Orinda, P = Park, PM = Piedmont, PW = Parkway, RA = Regal Antioch, RH = Regal Hacienda, S = Shattuck,UAB = UA Berkeley, UAEB = UA Emery Bay, VL = Vine Livermore.
Reviews by Michael Covino, Kelly Vance, and Naomi Wise
Thu., May 31
Berkeley High School Film Festival — Narrative, music videos, animation, and documentary by students (total running time unknown). (Florence Schwimley Little Theater, Berkeley High School, 1980 Allston Way, 7:00)
Heave Ho! — Jiri Voskovec and Jan Werich, as both writers and actors, send up Hollywood romantic conventions as well as those of avant-garde agitprop in this Czech Depression-era tale of a bankrupt industrialist and a labor activist who try to turn an unexpected windfall into a triumphant example of collective utopianism. Directed by Martin Fric (87 min., 1934). (PFA, 8:40)
Oaklandish Film Festival — Short films about the real Oakland, presented by Oaklandish (total running time unknown). (PW, 9:15)
On the Sunny Side — The lives of children assigned to the regimens of an experimental reform school are contrasted with life outside in this Modernist, highly stylized 1933 Czech film penned by Surrealist poet Vitezslav Nezval, the educator Miroslav Disman, and the structuralist Roman Jakobson. Directed by Vladislav Vancura (76 min.). (PFA, 7:00)
Friday, June 1
Asphalt Shorts IV — Subtitled “The Cinematic City Condensed,” the fest showcases local and international filmmakers. They’re screened outdoors (total running time unknown). (Parking lot, Broadway between 21st and 22nd sts., Oakland, 9:00)
The Pornographers — The very ordinary doings — and occasionally unordinary travails — of a smalltime Japanese producer of porn films. Director Shohei Imamura’s 1966 film is occasionally funny and occasionally poignant. Biggest problem is that whatever it is, it’s only occasionally. Good seedy atmosphere. From Akiyuki Nosaka’s novel (128 min.). — M.C. (PFA, 8:50)
Two or Three Things I Know About Her — One of Jean-Luc Godard’s favorite subjects (the workaday world) dovetails into another (the change in people and places brought on by “progress”) in his story of the peregrinations of a prostitute. The semidocumentary study of the replanning of Paris (the “her” of the title) closes in on the efforts of a housing project dweller to plan her life. Highly political filmmaking, with the emphasis on the “how” rather than the “what.” With Marina Vlady and Roger Montsoret; narrated by Godard (95 min., 1966). — K.V. (PFA, 7:00)
Sat., June 2
Intentions of Murder — A submissive woman — living and working in the home of her husband, who treats her like a serf — develops a bizarre relationship with the man who brutally rapes her. Directed by Shohei Imamura (150 min., 1964). (PFA, 8:20)
The Rocky Horror Picture Show — The original 1975 British rock music horror spoof (95 min.). (PW, midnight)
Superfest 27: International Disability Film Festival — Two days of shorts and features on persons with disabilities (total running time unknown). (GAIA Arts Center, 2120 Allston Way, Berkeley, noon)
Top Hat — At the height of the Depression (1935), the height of carefree elegance: Based on the Broadway musical The Gay Divorcee, this is one of the most stylish of the Astaire/Rogers vehicles, with amazing Art Deco sets and fantastically fashionable costumes. Irving Berlin’s fine score includes “Cheek to Cheek” and “Top Hat, White Tie, and Tails.” Directed by Mark Sandrich (101 min.). — N.W. (Cerrito, 6:00)
Whisky — The owner of a sock factory, his assistant, and the owner’s brother form a love triangle in Juan Pablo Rebella and Pablo Stoll’s Uruguayan comedy (94 min., 2004). (PFA, 6:30)
Sun., June 3
Congo: White King, Red Rubber, Black Death — Peter Bate’s documentary examines King Leopold II of Belgium, who exploited the Congo at great human cost (84 min., 2003). (PW, 2:00)
How to Survive the 1940s: Postwar Public Information Films — From Britain’s Central Office of Information, a collection of unintentionally humorous public information shorts (85 min. total running time). (PFA, 3:00)
Superfest 27: International Disability Film Festival — See Sat. (GAIA Arts Center, 2:00)
Top Hat — See Sat. (Cerrito, 5:00)
Two or Three Things I Know About Her — See Fri. (PFA, 4:50)
Tue., June 5
The Goonies — Richard Donner’s 1985 kiddie adventure sends juvie leads Sean Astin, Josh Brolin, Martha Plimpton, and Corey Feldman in search of a pirate ship and buried treasure (114 min.).(PW, 9:15)
The Profound Desire of the Gods — The universe of Shohei Imamura is a sardonic place in which brutal, deluded men and women flout the laws of nature and suffer manmade agonies of guilt and doubt. One of the best introductions to his troubling visions is this saga of an outcast family on the small island of Kuragejima. Imamura posits a patriarch, an obsessive farmer forever digging a hole, a confused young man, and a retarded nymphomaniac against the island hierarchy, which is considering development plans. Humor and sex are injected into the story with the arrival of an outsider, an engineer from Tokyo. It’s ironic, funny, grating, and unpredictable — everything a 20th-century myth should be (172 min., 1968). — K.V. (PFA, 7:00)
Wed., June 6
The Driver — Walter Hill’s best early film is a stylized study of space disguised as a murky melodrama in pantomime. The nameless crime types (The Driver, the Cop, the Player, etc.) inhabit a mise-en-scène so cold your teeth chatter. Every line of dialogue is stripped down to the bare elements of urban contempt, while the thrilling car chases develop their own eloquence. Tough, but worth it. With Ryan O’Neal, Isabelle Adjani, Bruce Dern, and Ronee Blakley (91 min., 1978). — K.V. (PFA, 7:30)
Naruto the Movie: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow — This installment of the Japanese anime hit is directed by Hirotsugu Kawasaki (running time unknown). (BS, Hacienda Crossings, Deer Valley Stadium 16, 7:00)
