S.F. International Film Fest preview

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White Meadows

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• Sundance Film Festival
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The White Meadows
(Mohammad Rasoulof, Iran)
A mesmerizing and humanistic fable shot through with streaks of sunbaked neorealism, this wholly original saga follows a weathered yet dignified man who has devoted many long years to collecting tears from the inhabitants of a group of salt islands in Lake Urmia. An alchemist of sorts, he redeems sadness with an unspoken promise of future tidings. In fact, he can do nothing but observe the practice of various ancient, barbaric superstitions, such as the dispatching of a virgin to the clutches of the great lake, that stand in defiance of reason and progress. (Any implied reference to the reactionary religious forces controlling Iran is purely unintentional, of course.) Majestically photographed by Ebrahim Ghafouri and elegantly edited by Jafar Panahi (the brilliant filmmaker who was arrested again recently), The White Meadows plays like an ethnographic film at times and at others like a morality play. A unique moviegoing experience, it's not quite a masterpiece, but it's not to be missed, either. M.F.
Friday, April 23, 6:30 p.m., and Saturday, April 24, 9:30 p.m., at the Sundance Kabuki; Sunday, April 25, 8 p.m., at the Pacific Film Archive.

You Think You're the Prettiest, But You Are the Sluttiest
(Ché Sandoval, Chile)
Santiago, Chile's hookup culture is wittily traversed in 25-year-old Ché Sandoval's debut feature. Young Javier's sexual incompetence fails to please, and he self-pityingly drifts through the night in search of solace. Full of smoking, self-lacerating humor, and irrational jealousy, this film's key scene is a lengthy cafe conversation with Javier and an older friend trying to top each other with tales of miserable failure. Sandoval's flair for clever dialogue and characterization is matched by his ability to create a believable world out of the tattered web of prolonged adolescence. G.R.
Wednesday, April 28, 4:30 p.m., and Thursday, May 6, 6:15 p.m., at the Sundance Kabuki; Monday, May 3, 9:30 p.m., at the Clay.