Commentary by Gregg Rickman (greggr1@mindspring.com). Times compiled from information available Tuesday; it's always advisable to call for confirmation. Price given is standard adult admission; discounts often apply for students, seniors, and members.
We're interested in your film or video event. Please send materials at least two weeks in advance to: Film Editor, SF Weekly, 185 Berry, Suite 3800, San Francisco, CA 94107.
ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE
345 Bush (at Polk), 775-7755, www.afsf.com. French-language films shown on projected video. $5 donation.
WEDNESDAY (Aug. 13): Marcel Pagnol's comedy Le Schpountz (1938), with Fernandel 7 p.m.
SATURDAY (Aug. 16): Le Schpountz 2 p.m.
ARTISTS' TELEVISION ACCESS
992 Valencia (at 21st Street), 824-3890, www.atasite.org for most programs, www.othercinema.com for Saturday evening programs. $5 save as noted. This venue offers all manner of strange and unusual video and film.
FRIDAY (Aug. 15): An evening of experimental films, the "No Video Show," screens 16mm movies by George Kuchar, Dominic Angerame, and others, including Michelle Silva's Anthrax Island (2002), filmed in NYC post-9/11 8 p.m.
SATURDAY (Aug. 16): F.W. Murnau's "symphony of shudders," Nosferatu (Germany, 1922), screens with a live original score by the Zag Men 8 p.m.
BRIDGE
3010 Geary (at Blake), 751-3213, www.peacheschrist.com for this series. This popular little theater offers, in addition to its regular screenings (see Showtimes for listings), a "Midnight Mass" every Saturday this summer, hosted by Peaches Christ. $8.
SATURDAY (Aug. 16): Peaches' personal project, the San Francisco Underground Short Film Festival, screens a variety of offbeat movies, including Jose Montesinos' Acid Horse, Sarah Enid's Blood and Kisses, Rodney Ascher's Children of the Grave, Camille Verboort's Princess Leia Moves to the City, Chris Galdes' Trojan ("Kermit and Fozzie practice safe sex"), and Peaches (Joshua Grannell) herself's Grindhouse midnight.
CASTRO
429 Castro (near Market), 621-6120, www.thecastrotheatre.com, $8 save as noted. Short-run rep in a spectacular 1922 Greco-Roman-themed palace designed by Timothy L. Pflueger. Evening intermissions feature David Hegarty or Bill McCoy on the Mighty Wurlitzer.
WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY: The history of the band They Might Be Giants is recorded in Gigantic (A Tale of Two Johns) (A.J. Schnack, 2003); see Ongoing for review 7, 9:30 p.m.; also Wed 2, 4:30 p.m.
FRIDAY & SATURDAY: A weeklong series of Luis Buñuel's sardonic late ventures into French cinema begins with The Phantom of Liberty (1974), a series of sly skits calling reason and propriety into question 2, 4:30, 7, 9:30 p.m.
SUNDAY & MONDAY: Like Kevin Smith's Dogma, Buñuel's The Milky Way (1969) is a slapstick road movie pinned on obscure points of Catholic theology 7, 9:30 p.m.; also Sun 2, 4:30 p.m.
TUESDAY: Jeanne Moreau glows sullenly as the eponymous author of Diary of a Chambermaid (1967), a cool act of bourgeoise-baiting 7, 9:30 p.m.
FOREIGN CINEMA
2534 Mission (between 21st and 22nd streets), 648-7600, www.foreigncinema.com. Free with meal. This restaurant screens foreign films, usually in 35mm, on the back wall of its outdoor patio, with drive-in speakers available for the tables of those who want to watch while they dine.
WEDNESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY: Jean Cocteau's lovely adaptation of Beauty and the Beast (France, 1946) 8:30, 10:30 p.m.
MONDAY: Closed.
STARTS TUESDAY: Pedro Almodóvar's All About My Mother (Spain, 1999) 8:15, 10 p.m.
FOUR STAR
2200 Clement (at 23rd Avenue), 666-3488, www.hkinsf.com/4star/. This innovative theater screens second-run movies and, through Aug. 28, its seventh annual Asian Film Festival. (Note: Some films are projected video.) $6 regular admission, $8 for AFF screenings.
WEDNESDAY: The Asian Film Festival presents The Marigolds (Taiwan, 1980), starring the young Brigitte Lin 12:30 p.m. A warm family comedy, 25 Kids and One Dad (Wang Hong, China, 2002) 2:45 p.m. What's With Love? (Rudi Soedjarwo, Indonesia, 2002) 4:50 p.m. "Crazed, greasy and cranky hitmen" populate Killer Tattoo (Yuthlert Sippapak, Thailand, 2001) 7:15 p.m. A samurai comedy, Vengeance for Sale (Kihachi Okamoto, Japan, 2001) 9:30 p.m.
THURSDAY: AFF -- The historical epic Burning of the Imperial Palace (Li Hanhsiang, Hong Kong, 1983) 12:30 p.m. Hanhsiang's sequel, Reign Behind the Curtain (1983) 2:40 p.m. Sammi Cheng stars in the Lunar New Year comedy Love for All Seasons (Johnny To, H.K., 2003) 4:50 p.m. Seijun Suzuki's bizarre shoot-'em-up Pistol Opera (Japan, 2001), a third-of-a-century-later sequel to his cult hit Branded to Kill 7 p.m. Killer Tattoo 9:15 p.m.
FRIDAY: AFF -- Zhang Yuan's I Love You (China, 2002), photographed by Christopher Doyle noon. Vengeance for Sale 2:05 p.m. What's With Love? 4 p.m. Evans Chan's digital indie The Map of Sex and Love (H.K., 2001) charts both gay and straight 6:20 p.m. King Hu's martial arts classic Touch of Zen (Taiwan, 1969) 9:05 p.m.
SATURDAY: AFF -- A star-crossed romance, Kwam Rian -- Legend of Love (Suthakorn Santithawat, Thailand, 2001) 12:05 p.m. The life of a legendary criminal of the 1950s, Dang Bailey's and Young Gangsters (Nonzee Nimibutr, Thailand, 1997) 3:15 p.m. A revival of the Bruce Lee classic Fists of Fury (Lo Wei, H.K., 1971) 5:40 p.m. Sorrow of Brooke Steppe (Saifu Mailisi, China, 1997) 7:50 p.m. Samo Hung stars in Flying Dragon, Leaping Tiger (Allen Lan, H.K., 2002) 9:35 p.m.
SUNDAY: AFF -- An American pilot (Paul Kersey) is smuggled through Japanese-occupied China in the wartime drama Love's Grief Over Yellow River (Feng Xiaoning, China, 1999) 12:30 p.m. Kwam Rian 2:40 p.m. Le Hoang's Golden Key (Vietnam, 2001) presents Vietnamese life during the American bombings of 1972 5:40 p.m. High temperatures test survival skills on Whispering Sand (Nan Achnas, Indonesia, 2001) 7:40 p.m. The life of a Cold War Double Agent (Kim Hyun-Jeong, Korea, 2003) 9:45 p.m.
foam order.com
