Capsule reviews of current film releases

WEDNESDAY (July 19): A four-day Nicaraguan Film Festival looking back at the Sandinista regime continues with Images of the Revolution plus three short films by locals 7 p.m.

THURSDAY (July 20): Nicaraguan Film Festival — Carla's Song (Ken Loach, U.K., 1996), with Robert Carlyle as a brus driver who befriends a Nicaraguan refugee, screens with a short, Overcoming Darkness 7 p.m.

FRIDAY (July 21): Nicaraguan Film Festival — Alex Cox's Walker (1987) stars Ed Harris as the American adventurer who installed himself at one point as Nicaragua's president. Also Destination Nicaragua and shorts 7 p.m.

LARK 549 Magnolia (at Post), Larkspur, 924-5111, www.larktheater.net. This single-screen art deco theater has reopened with a policy mixing new and repertory programming. $8 save as noted.

WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY: Life in the slow lane is good for what ails hopped up roadster Owen Wilson in Cars (John Lasseter and Joe Ranft, 2006) 5, 7:30 p.m.

STARTS FRIDAY: Call theater for program.

LUMIERE 1572 California (at Polk), 352-0810, www.landmarktheatres.com. This multiplex is only partly a "calendar house" rep theater; for the rest of the Lumiere schedule. $9.50.

FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY (July 21-27): Changing Times (André Téchiné, France, 2004). See Opening for review. Call for times.

MILLS COLLEGE ART MUSEUM 5000 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland, (510) 464-4640, www.mills.edu/museum. Free.

DAILY (Closed Monday): "Love and Betrayal" screens five films drawn from five decades of Bollywood cinema, all Indian film classics, playing continuously in five separate screening rooms: Mr. and Mrs. 55 (Guru Dutt, 1955), Guide (Vijay Anand, 1965), Dostana (Raj Khosla, 1980), Henna (Randhir Kapoor, 1991) and Lajja (Rajkumar Santoshi, 2001). Through Aug. 6. Screenings run 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Wed 11:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.

OPERA PLAZA 601 Van Ness (at Golden Gate), 352-0810, www.landmarktheatres.com. This multiplex is only partly a "calendar house" rep theater. For the rest of the Opera Plaza's schedule. $8.75.

WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY: Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul (Faith Akin, Germany/Turkey, 2005) 2:15, 4:45, 7:15, 9:40 p.m.

STARTS FRIDAY: Call for films and times.

PACIFIC FILM ARCHIVE 2575 Bancroft (at Bowditch), Berkeley, (510) 642-1124 and www.bampfa.berkeley.edu, $8, second show $2. The East Bay mecca for film scholars, part of UC Berkeley's Art Museum, thrives at its on-campus location, up the steps on Bancroft between Telegraph Avenue and the Hearst Gym.

WEDNESDAY: An "I Hear Music" series screens Ombres (Edna Politi, Switzerland, 1997), a record of composer Heinz Hollinger at work over two years 7:30 p.m.

THURSDAY: "Beyond Bollywood," a series of recent Indian films, screens Palace of the Winds (Vipin Vijay, 2003), a tribute to radio, and I'm Bobby (Xav LePlae, 2003), a remake of the 1970s Bollywood hit Bobby with street kids instead of stars. Also, a live "neo-benshi" performance over one scene of the original Bobby by Summi Kaipa 7:30 p.m.

FRIDAY: A Janet Gaynor retrospective opens in tandem with a tribute to Hollywood romantic Frank Borzage with a double bill of the F.W. Murnau classic Sunrise (1927; 7 p.m. ), a beautiful film marred only by Gaynor's patently false wig, screening with Borzage's intensely romantic 7th Heaven (1927; 9 p.m. ), a Murnau-influenced melodrama co-starring Gaynor and Charles Farrell.

SATURDAY: Gaynor and Farrell were together again in two more by Borzage, Street Angel (1928; 6:30 p.m. ) and the extremely good (and hard to see) Lucky Star (1929; 8:50 p.m. ).

SUNDAY: Gaynor stars in the short Pep of the Lazy J (Victor Noerdlinger, 1926) and with Farrell again in the melodrama Tess of the Storm Country (Alfred Santell, 1932) 5:30 p.m.

MONDAY: Closed.

TUESDAY: Three teens find hope in a marching band in Jim McKay's fiction film Our Song (David Williams, 1999), featuring the real-life Jackie Robinson Steppers 7:30 p.m.

PARKWAY 1834 Park (at Lake Merritt), Oakland, (510) 814-2400, www.picturepubpizza.com. $5 save as noted. This friendly neighborhood theater serves beer, pizza, and more with its films. 21 and over.

MIDNIGHT SHOW (Saturday): The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Jim Sharman, 1975), with live performance by Barely Legal. $6.

RAFAEL FILM CENTER 1118 Fourth St. (at A Street), San Rafael, 454-1222, www.cafilm.org. $9.50 save as noted. This three-screen repertory theater, officially the Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center, is operated by the California Film Institute. Programs are complex; check carefully and call for confirmation.

WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY: Look Both Ways (Sarah Watt, Australia, 2005) 6:45, 8:55 p.m. The Oh in Ohio (Deborah Scranton, 2006) 7, 9:15 p.m. Three Times (Hou Hsaio Hsien, Taiwan, 2005) 9:15 p.m.; also Thurs 6:30 p.m.

WEDNESDAY: The Sundance Institute Art House Project continues its retrospective of its independent films with the Native American modern western Smoke Signals (Chris Eyre, 1998), scripted by Sherman Alexie 7 p.m.

STARTS FRIDAY: Russian Dolls (Cedric Klapisch, France, 2005). See Opening for review. Call for times and other films.

SUNDAY: Sundance — Charles Burnett's outstanding work of African-American folklore, To Sleep with Anger (1990) 7 p.m.

TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY (July 25 & 26): The indieWIRE: Undiscovered Gems series of new, unreleased films screens Red Doors (Georgia Lee, 2005), a dramedy about a Chinese-American family in suburban New York 7 p.m.

RED VIC Haight (at Cole), 668-3994, www.redvicmoviehouse.com. $8 save as noted. There's a spot on the couch for you at this collectively owned rep house.

WEDNESDAY: Volunteers seek to protect mountain antelope in Mountain Patrol (Chuan Le, China, 200) 2, 7:15, 9:15 p.m.

THURSDAY THROUGH SATURDAY: No one volunteers to protect The Creature From the Black Lagoon (Jack Arnold, 1954), but don't you think he's earned a little love after all this time? 7:30, 9:20 p.m.; also Sat 2, 4 p.m.