Screen Capture

The Philadelphia Film Society courts cinephiles with a free mini-festival.

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Published: Apr 7, 2010

Courtesy of IFC Films Man Up: Soccer star Eric Cantona (left) plays guardian angel/imaginary friend to a down-and-out postman in Ken Loach's Looking for Eric.

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When the Cinema Alliance announced in January it was canceling its annual Cinefest due to lack of funding, a gaping hole was left in the calendars of Philadelphia cinephiles. Never fear: The Philadelphia Film Society has swooped in with a Spring Preview — three days of never-seen-in-Philly films all for the low, low price of absolutely nothing. The 11-film mini-fest is a precursor to the full-length version planned for the fall (Oct. 14-24), which PFS says will consist of more movies than last year's 18 1/2 Philadelphia Film Fest. Tickets for this weekend's films can be reserved ahead of time at PFS's Web site (filmadelphia.org); a limited number of rush tickets will be made available at each screening, with lines forming an hour prior to show time.

The Good, The Bad and the Weird 

Title notwithstanding, the movie Kim Ji-Woon's (A Tale of Two Sisters) self-dubbed "kimchi Western" most resembles is Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West, an operatic genre riff in which style drives the stagecoach while story chokes on dust in the back. There's plenty of plot, mostly involving the possession of a map that points to an unknown treasure somewhere in Japanese-controlled Manchuria, but trying to follow the hectic back-and-forth would only distract from the fun. Kim, who contrives to light sawdust-strewn saloons in the emerald and scarlet hue of the nightclubs in A Bittersweet Life, shoots every scene and builds every sequence as if it's his last, pushing past mere excess into almost surreal abandon. You don't feel the mad passion of Leone behind it, but a steadily spreading grin that never stops growing. —Sam Adams (4/11, 5 p.m.)

Harry Brown 

Michael Caine stars as the title character — an ex-Marine pensioner who goes on a killing spree to clean up the estate (projects, to us) where he lives. After his best (and only) friend is killed by a roving young gang, Brown digs up the murderous memories of his days serving in Northern Ireland and goes after the estate scum, offing them in various bloody ways. First-time feature director Daniel Barber seems to be making a comment on the rise of violence, but it rings hollow. Brown is a sympathetic killer because he's the only fleshed-out character; everyone else is a bloodthirsty thug or ignorant lawman (except, perhaps, the detective — played by Emily Mortimer — who begins to suspect Brown). But Barber is adept at creating suspense — even if it's just for the senseless violence rather than for a purpose — and he's aided by the excellent production design of Kave Quinn and cinematographer Martin Ruhe, who work together to truly make Brown's estate look like hell. —Molly Eichel (4/11, 9:45 p.m.)

I Am Love 

Luca Guadagnino's sprawling family saga is a gloriously overwrought beast that aptly lays claim to its characters' Russo-Italian heritage. The movie begins in classical style, with a grand banquet at which the future of the family-run textile concern is laid out with a sense of occasion usually reserved for matters of state. But Guadagnino's focus is not the filial succession of the family's industrial empire but its immigrant matriarch, a transplanted Russian played by Tilda Swinton whose attempts to efface her own past crumble as the family rushes into the future. The movie's pointed stylistic eccentricities — drifting zooms that gravitate toward incidental detail, a booming score composed of repurposed John Adams compositions — are so reminiscent of Arnaud Desplechin's Kings and Queen and A Christmas Tale that the resemblance can be distracting. But then Desplechin never cast Swinton, whose very presence acts as a ballast against Guadagnino's fanciest flights. —S.A. (4/9, 5 p.m. )

The Joneses

If product placement seems to invade your living room set every night, just wait until it moves in next door. The newest arrivals in an affluent suburban community seem like the perfect family — gorgeous, stylish parents (David Duchovny and Demi Moore), picture-perfect kids (Ben Hollingsworth and Amber Heard) — but that's because they've been planned that way. The Joneses are, in fact, not a family at all, but a guerrilla marketing campaign brought to life. First-time director Derrick Borte assembles an enticing package, but as soon as the pitch is made, he engages in a fatal bait-and-switch. Halfway in, the film suddenly strives for grand tragedy, burdening each member of the faux-family with soap opera secrets and defanging the satirical bite inherent in its premise. —Shaun Brady (4/10, 10 p.m.)

Looking for Eric 

The story of a depressed Manchester postman (Steve Evets) whose guardian angel takes the form of soccer star Eric Cantona returns director Ken Loach to the heights of Riff-Raff and Raining Stones — winning stories of working-class life whose politics were integrated rather than smeared on top. A devoted Man U fan, albeit one who can't afford tickets in the Rupert Murdoch era, Evets is a good-natured but weak-willed single father to two teenage stepsons, plagued with panic attacks and a tenuous sense of self. But when he's at a particularly low ebb, Cantona begins appearing in his bedroom, dispensing French proverbs and helping Evets take back the reins of his life. The conceit could be irreparably coy if Loach didn't play it absolutely straight, and were Evets not such a lovable screwup that we're happy to see whatever he sees. —S.A. (4/9, 7:30 p.m.)

No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson 

Hoop Dreams director Steve James turns his lens on Allen Iverson, who grew up in his hometown of Hampton, Va. While James was living in Chicago, his dad — a lifelong local sports fanatic — sent him clippings of the promising "Bubba Chuck," whose easy path to stardom was impeded after he was arrested and convicted of participating in an allegedly racially motivated fight in a bowling alley (Iverson said he was shuffled out of the alley before the violence erupted; prosecutors disagreed). James dissects Iverson's case via a discussion of buried small-town racial tensions and personal history (a former police chief agrees to an interview only because James' mother, who also appears, browbeats him into it). No Crossover, made for ESPN's 30 for 30 series, suffers from James' inability to land interviews with players in the trial — specifically Iverson. But, where a lesser documentarian might have drawn broad conclusions from his research, James does not fall into those same traps. —M.E. (4/11, 7:45 p.m.)

The Square

Delivering on the promise director Nash Edgerton displayed in his short, Spider (which unspools here, too), The Square alternates between nervous hilarity and gasp-inducing shock. After Carla (Claire van der Boom) discovers her husband's bag of cash, she gives her married lover, Ray (David Roberts), an ultimatum: Help her steal the cash and escape or she will end their relationship. Ray reluctantly, perhaps foolishly, agrees. Using the kickbacks he's getting at work, Ray hires an arsonist (Joel Edgerton, the director's brother and co-screenwriter) to mask their crime. This being a film noir, nothing goes as planned. Soon, Ray is being blackmailed, and he must discover his tormentor and cover his tracks. Edgerton ratchets up the tension throughout, boxing Ray and Carla into tight, uncomfortable situations that are riveting to the end, when the filmmaker pulls the rug — if not the floor — out from under everyone. —Gary M. Kramer (4/9, 9:45 p.m.)

Tales From the Golden Age

Anthology films are scattershot by nature, but Cristian Mungiu's partial follow-up to 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days is at least committed to its incoherence. Devoting its five Mungiu-scripted segments to illustrating urban legends from the heyday of Romanian communism, the movie pairs Mungiu with four relatively unseasoned directors and assigns credit collectively. Rather than 4 Months' urgent naturalism, Tales tends toward the absurd, emphasizing the baroque contortions of totalitarian life: villagers who scurry making preparations for a delegation that never arrives, or the panic that sets in at a small newspaper over the precise management of a dictator's photograph. It's unremarkable but well-managed stuff, albeit not nearly wide-ranging enough to justify the movie's lengthy running time. —S.A. (4/10, 3 p.m.)

Mid-August Lunch
Strange Days
Repertory Film