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.
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ACT ONE/TWO
2128 Center (at Shattuck), Berkeley, (510) 843-FILM, www.landmarktheatres.com. $9.25. Starting this week and replacing the Shattuck, one of this venue"s two screens is now a "calendar house" for Landmark Theater screenings. For additional screenings, see our Showtimes page.
FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY (Nov. 21-27): Jacques Nolot's Porn Theatre (France, 2002). 8, 10 p.m.; also Sat, Sun & Thanksgiving Day 2, 4, 6 p.m.
ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE
345 Bush (at Polk), 775-7755, www.afsf.com. French-language films shown on projected video. $5 donation.
WEDNESDAY (Nov. 19): Four-year-old Ponette (Jacques Doillon, 1996) deals with her mother's death in an affecting film 7 p.m.
SATURDAY (Nov. 22): Ponette 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.
THURSDAY (Nov. 20): IndyMedia presents KM 0 (2003), a documentary by 20 videomakers about protests at the Cancun WTO meeting last September 8 p.m.
FRIDAY (Nov. 21): "Intervals," a series on "relational space," screens videos on places where "seemingly nothing is happening ... but look again" including Gilbert Guerrero's Gilbert Performs a Film About Two People Sitting on a Park Bench and Lee Walton's A Somersault at the Midpoint Between My Coffee Table and My Favorite Bookstore. Let's hope the park bench and the midpoint are in two different relational spaces or there could be chaos 8 p.m.
AUCTIONS BY THE BAY
Movie Palace Auction Sales Room, 2700 Saratoga (near West Red Line), Alameda, (510) 740-0220, www.auctionsbythebay.com. $7. Classic films in 35mm (save as noted) screen in a former U.S. Navy theater.
FRIDAY (Nov. 21): Fritz Lang's dreamy thriller The Woman in the Window (1944) stars Lang favorites Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett, and Dan Duryea. Highly recommended 7, 9:15 p.m.
SATURDAY (Nov. 22): Billy Wilder's nightmarish Hollywood saga Sunset Boulevard (1950) 7, 9:30 p.m.
SUNDAY (Nov. 23): Robert Mitchum's a deranged preacher in Charles Laughton's entranced Night of the Hunter (1955) 7, 9:30 p.m.
CALIFORNIA COLLEGE OF THE ARTS
1111 Eighth St. (at Irwin), 703-9500, www.ccarts.edu. $7.
SUNDAY (Nov. 23): Eric "Crank Yanker" Saks' films incorporating secretly recorded phone conversations, answering machine messages and the like include Dirt, You Talk/I Buy, and a serious investigation of NSA eavesdropping, Nation Elevated. Filmmaker in person 7:30 p.m.
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: A series of the postwar films of Japan's Yasujiro Ozu continues with two domestic comedies in color, Equinox Flower (1958; 1, 5:10, 9:25 p.m.) and Good Morning (1959; 3:20, 7:30 p.m.).
THURSDAY: Ozu's late films on themes of loss and transience, Late Autumn (1960; 7 p.m.) and An Autumn Afternoon (1962; 9:30 p.m.).
FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY (Nov. 21-27): New prints of Chris Marker's witty worldwide tour/detour Sans Soleil (1982) screens with his celebrated still-frame masterpiece La Jetée (1962) 1:30, 4:15, 7, 9:35 p.m.
DOMINICAN UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
Guzman Hall (second floor), 50 Acacia (between Olive and Magnolia), San Rafael, 454-4039 and www.dominican.edu for venue, www.latinofilmfestival.org for the "Latino Film Festival," which screens a video program here this week. $5.
WEDNESDAY (Nov. 19): Raymundo (Ernesto Ardito and Virna Molina, Argentina, 2002), a documentary on radical filmmaker Raymundo Gleyzer, who was "disappeared" by the military junta of the 1970s 7:30 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.
DAILY (Closed Mondays): Wim Wenders' angelic Wings of Desire (Germany, 1988) screens through Nov. 30 6:30, 8:15 p.m.; also Fri-Sun 10:45 p.m.
FOUR STAR
2200 Clement (at 23rd Avenue), 666-3468, www.hkinsf.com/4star/. $7.50. This enterprising theater hosts occasional special screenings. A "Midnites for Maniacs" series continues on Saturdays. For the Four Star's regular schedule, see our Showtimes page.
SATURDAY (Nov. 22): The comeback you sensed when you saw Matrix Revolutions gains speed with a reissue of Transformers: The Movie (Nelson Shin, 1986). A quick check on its plot ("The Autobots must stop a colossal planet-consuming robot who is after the Autobot Matrix of Leadership") confirms that the Wachowskis copped it all from the cartoon series and this movie and not French philosophy after all. And dig this Internet complaint about the movie: "How the heck were the transformers killed so easily in this one? They were shot up all the time in the series, and didn't even blink ... here they get shot once and die ... some of the new characters just plain sucked." Sounds like a Revolutions review to me! midnight
GOETHE-INSTITUT
530 Bush (at Grant), 263-8760. The place to go for German cultural events. $5.
THURSDAY (Nov. 20): A tribute to animation pioneer Lotte Reiniger screens her unique and splendid silhouette feature The Adventures of Prince Achmed (Germany, 1926) plus a documentary on her work, The Art of Lotte Reiniger (Germany, 1971) 7:30 p.m.
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