:: Philadelphia Events, Arts, Restaurants, Music, Movies, Jobs, Classifieds, Blogs :: Philadelphia City Paper
Bookmark and Share
ARCHIVES . Articles

October 6-12, 2005

screen picks

Screen Picks

Lost Film Festival 10 (Through Oct. 9, $5-$10 suggested donation, The Rotunda, 4012 Walnut St.; Cinemagic, 3925 Walnut St.) In the great West Philly tradition of nonlinear plots, grassroots production and leftist diatribes, LFF returns with a 70-strong run of features, docs, shorts and vegan-friendly workshops guaranteed to get the hairy-pitted, bike-messaging crowd all hot, bothered and disillusioned with white dudes in suits. (See www.lostfilmfest.org/lff10 for complete lineup.)

LLF10's "big push" is Made in Secret: The Story of the East Van Porn Collective (Fri., 9:30 p.m.), a documentary about a Canadian anarcho-feminist group with "one fist in the air, the other in [its] crotch." Using everyday folks, unconventional settings and moderately intelligent dialogue to subvert pornographic hegemony (read: unattractive people doing it in skate parks and discussing it), the EVPC fancies itself the "Fugazi of porn." There's just one caveat: All films are for EVPC eyes only. No juicy sex scenes for you, perv. Instead, we get lots of self-congratulatory "safe space" talk with all the cinematic tension saved for an argument over whether the group should enter its latest romp, BikeSexual, in an indie-porn fest.

A welcome break from LFF's diet of culture jamming, cop knocking and corporate hating, Alison Murray's gorgeous debut feature Mouth to Mouth (Thu., 7 p.m.; Sun., 6:15 p.m.) follows a wayward Londoner who joins a band of homeless renegades en route to a communal vineyard in Portugal. Dumpster diving, public castigation and Naloxone for breakfast are part and parcel, but the plot pushes plausibility when the protagonist's mother is so taken by the cult's fringe existence she shaves her head and opts in.

Believe half of what you see and none of what you hear, or so goes the old adage. But when media hoaxer Alan Abel is your dad, is anything real? Daughter Jenny lovingly traces the infamous prankster's life through photos, interviews and vintage newsreels in Abel Raises Cain (Fri., 4 p.m.), a documentary chronicling 40 years of euthanasia cruises, staged Sex Olympics and campaigns to ban breastfeeding. So what's the key to spinning the media? Do it with a straight face. Works every time.

Another doc worth the spin: Still We Ride (Fri., 7:30 p.m.; Sun., 5:30 p.m.) follows Critical Mass bicyclists on a roll through New York City before the 2004 Republican National Convention. It begins as a peaceful celebration of two-wheeled travel and ends with the arrest of 264 bikers. The footage is all flying Billy clubs and petite women being forcibly removed from vintage Schwinns, making the deadpan politicking of bearded civil rights attorneys sound almost legit.

-- Respond to this article in our Forums -- click to jump there
 
 
ADVERTISEMENT