Local & Repertory
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Aguirre, the Wrath of God How to explain Klaus Kinski to Americans unfamiliar with the dead German actor? Think of him as a kind of Teutonic Dennis Hopper—only crazier. He’s probably best known for Werner Herzog’s 1972 Aguirre, the Wrath of God, in which he plays a fanatical Spanish conquistador running amok in virgin South America. In other words, it’s the role Kinski (1926-1991) was born to play. Obsessed with gold, ruthless with his men, contemptuous of the natives, oblivious to the grandeur of Peru and the Amazon basin, Aguirre is like the evil counterpart to Lewis and Clark—discovery and pillaging are synonymous for him; seeing is stealing. For Herzog, the movie is an indictment of rapacious European colonialism, the West’s savagery contrasted with unspoiled “primitive” idyll. It’s a place where our supposedly advanced culture of iron and steel is rusted and defeated by the implacable jungle. The screening is pegged to SAM’s big ongoing Peru show. (NR) BRIAN MILLER Seattle Art Museum, 1300 First Ave., 654-3100, seattleartmuseum.org, $7-$8, Fri., Nov. 22, 7:30 p.m.
Bonnie’s Kids From 1973, this trashy drive-in movie sends two delinquent sisters on the road, packing heat and looking for men. (NR) Grand Illusion, 1403 N.E. 50th St., 523-3935, grandillusioncinema.org, $5-$8, Fri., Nov. 22, 10 p.m.; Sat., Nov. 23, 10 p.m.
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Chris Marker’s Revolutionary Cinema SEE THE PICK LIST, PAGE 35.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind Steven Spielberg’’s 1977 sci-fi flick still holds up pretty well. Some find profundity as Richard Dreyfuss models the Devil’’s Tower out of his mashed potatoes. Others see Spielbergian sentimentality and bloat, only partially masked by the wonderful effects. Either way, Dreyfuss is overacting throughout. With Francois Truffaut and Teri Garr. Note additional matinee screenings 4 p.m. Sat. and Sun. (G) Grand Illusion, $5-$8, Nov. 22-28, 7 p.m.
Closure Bryan Tucker’s locally made documentary follows the quest of his wife, Angela, to find her birth parents. Angela Tucker is an African-American who was adopted and raised by a white family. Both she and her husband will appear at the screening to discuss the film. (NR) Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center, 104 17th Ave. S., 684-4757, langstoninstitute.org, $6-$10, Thu., Nov. 21, 7 p.m.
Flower Boy Drama Club Screened in installments, this South Korean soap opera has its hero posing as a gay man, not quite like Three’s Company. (NR) Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave., 829-7863, nwfilmforum.org, $6-$10, Thursdays, 9 p.m. Through Nov. 21.
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In No Great Hurry SEE PAGE 39.
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The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology SEE THE PICK LIST, PAGE 35.
Planes, Trains & Automobiles From 1987, John Hughes’ holiday-themed buddy flick stars a well-paired Steve Martin and John Candy. No show on Tuesday. (R) Central Cinema, 1411 21st Ave., 686-6684, central-cinema.com, $6-$8, Nov. 22-27, 7 p.m.
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Ride the Night The classic 1955 film noir Kiss Me Deadly is, in some ways, the end of the genre’s cycle. In one movie, Robert Aldrich’s adaptation of the Mickey Spillane novel looks back to the tough-guy L.A. private eye tradition of Chandler and Hammett and forward to the atomic age. What’s “the great whatsit” in the box that everybody, including Mike Hammer (Ralph Meeker), is looking for? And why do so many corpses pile up along the way? Well, it has something to do with the Manhattan Project, although even that doesn’t explain what country the vaguely European Dr. Soberin represents. “How civilized this Earth used to be,” he says. Not any more, doc. Mike slaps and slugs and kills his way to the box—and he’s the hero of a picture almost entirely lacking in sympathetic characters. Cloris Leachman makes her film debut running barefoot down a highway, and it’s not an opening you’ll forget. (NR) BRIAN MILLER. Seattle Art Museum, 1300 First Ave., 654-3100, seattleartmuseum.org, $63–$68 series, $8 individual, Thursdays, 7:30 p.m. Through Dec. 5.
The Room Tommy Wiseau’s 2003 vanity project, now a cult film, is screened for your derision. (R) Central Cinema, $7-$9, Thu., Nov. 21, 8 p.m.
The Royal Tenenbaums All happy families are alike, but unhappy families are unhappy in their own locked-in-amber mid-’70s fashion. Such is the case with Manhattan’s Tenenbaum clan, whose parents (Gene Hackman and Anjelica Huston) raised three child prodigies—financier (Ben Stiller), playwright (Gwyneth Paltrow), and tennis star (Luke Wilson). But the team has fallen on hard times, explains our narrator (Alec Baldwin). All converge at a family mansion with its own Circle-T pennant fluttering atop the roof and a push-button intercom to announce regular crises. The whole 2001 movie thus feels constructed as if from old New Yorker cartoons or museum dioramas. Wes Anderson fetishizes the details like so many Joseph Cornell boxes; each scene is a chapter, a specimen, really. As the enjoyably rascally, conniving, uncontrite Royal (Hackman) tries to reingratiate himself with his family, individual laughs do abound, and Owen Wilson is a gas. Still, Tenenbaums never amounts to more than the sum of its often inspired parts. No show on Tuesday. (R) BRIAN MILLER Central Cinema, $6-$8, Nov. 22-27, 9:30 p.m.
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Six by Sondheim SEE THE PICK LIST, PAGE 35.
Ticket to Ride Though they’re skiing on selected runs Stevens Pass, the season looks to be warm and late this year, which makes the latest Warren Miller ski movie all the more tantalizing. As usual, the focus is on remote, scenic locations served by helicopter; never will you see weekend skiers in gridlock, backed up for miles on the Crystal Mountain access road. Speaking of which, Crystal-based skier Tyler Ceccanti is briefly glimpsed in the Montana backcountry; and Andy Mahre, of the famous White Pass ski racing family, enjoys some helicopter-accessed peaks in Alaska. For my money, meaning the money I don’t have, Iceland is the most enticing location here: It’s a direct flight from Seattle; there are many bars and restaurants in Reykjavik; you can watch the aurora borealis from the country’s many natural hot springs; and the heli-skiing industry is still new and relatively affordable. (Caution: You must like dried cod.) Other stops in the omnibus include the Swiss Alps, Greenland, Norway, and Kazakhstan. Would you like to ski there, too? “It’s your choice,” says narrator Jonny Mosely. Translation: It’s your money. (Also screens at Kirkland Performance Center, 7:30 p.m. Tues.-Weds.) BRIAN MILLER McCaw Hall, 321 Mercer St. (Seattle Center), warrenmiller.com. $30, Fri., Nov. 22, 8 p.m.; Sat., Nov. 23, 8 p.m.
