Repertory

A weekly roundup of what else is screening around town.

by Matt Prigge

Ambler Theater

$3.50-$8.50. 108 E. Butler Ave. 215.345.7855. www.amblertheater.org

The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (2004) (Shown on DVD): Tom Kenny is a genius. (Not reviewed.) Sat., Feb. 23, 11am.

Bryn Mawr Film Institute

$3.50-$9.25 (unless otherwise noted). 824 W. Lancaster Ave., Bryn Mawr. 610.527.9898. www.brynmawrfilm.org

Arctic Tale (2007) (Shown on DVD): Ostensibly meant to show the harsh realities of living way up north, this doc cutes up walruses and a family of polar bears, complete with a fart scene. You know, for the kids. Queen Latifah narrates. (Not reviewed.) Sat., Feb. 23, 11am.

Empire of the Sun (1987) (Shown on DVD): On the heels of One Book One Philadelphia comes One Film, One Philadelphia, which, like Dave Eggers’ What Is the What, focuses on living through war. Adapted (by Tom Stoppard) from J.G. Ballard’s quasi-memoir, Steven Spielberg’s early attempt at seriousness finds a rich British boy residing in Shanghai (Christian Bale, giving a great child performance) after being separated from his parents following the Japanese invasion. Be sure to catch one of the many screenings over the next two weeks; if you can’t make any of them, be sure to rent it. For more events check the site. B- Wed., Feb. 27, 7pm.

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Chestnut Hill Film Group

Free. Screening room at the Chestnut Hill Branch of the Free Library, 8711 Germantown Ave. 215.248.0977. www.armcinema25.com

Decision at Sundown (1957) (Shown on film): Still—still!—criminally missing from DVD (save Seven Men From Now), the seven terse Westerns Budd Boetticher made with Randolph Scott get another hand from the CHFG. This time Scott arrives in the titular town to kill John Caroll, who he believes is responsible for the suicide of his wife. As usual with the two’s Westerns, the running time is wicked scant: 77 minutes. (Not reviewed.) Tues., Feb. 26, 7:30pm.

Colonial Theatre

$4-$7. 227 Bridge St., Phoenixville. 610.917.0223. www.thecolonialtheatre.com

My Life as a Dog (1985) (Shown on film): Lasse Hallström—later of the dreaded trifecta of The Cider House Rules, Chocolat and The Shipping News—first burst onto the scene with this Swedish dramedy about a boy who’s sent off to his uncle’s country house after his mom becomes terminally ill. (Not reviewed.) Sat., Feb. 23, 2pm.

Indiscreet (1958) (Shown on film): Still fresh off her dalliance with Roberto Rossellini, Ingrid Bergman reteamed with Notorious co-star Cary Grant for this frothy Stanley Donen romantic comedy. Grant seduces Bergman but claims to be stuck in a marriage he can’t dissolve—a line that might possibly be a fib. B Sun., Feb. 24, 2pm.

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County Theater

$3.50-$8.50. 20 E. State St., Doylestown. 215.345.6789. www.countytheater.org

The Secret of NIMH (1982) (Shown on DVD): After famously leading a group of animators away from Disney, Don Bluth (An American Tail) premiered this vibrantly animated feature, which only slightly tones down the Robert C. O’Brien original, featuring escaped lab rats, a widow protagonist and even someone dropping the D-word. B Sat., Feb. 23, 11am.

Free Library of Philadelphia, Fox Chase Branch

Free. 501 Rhawn St. 215.685.0547. www.freelibrary.org

Empire of the Sun (1987) (Shown on DVD): See Bryn Mawr Film Institute. B- Thurs., Feb. 21, 1pm.

Gratz College Auditorium

7605 Old York Rd. 215.635.7300. www.freelibrary.org

Empire of the Sun (1987) (Shown on DVD): See Bryn Mawr Film Institute. B- Mon., Feb. 23, 7pm.

International House

$5-$7. 3701 Chestnut St. 215.387.5125. www.ihousephilly.org

Selections From the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival As ever, the new year ushers in I-House’s culling from the HRW fest, which brings you down with the world’s various ills then lifts you up by showing that at least some people care. On tap:

Enemies of Happiness (2006) (Shown on Beta SP): In 2005 the notoriously outspoken Malalai Joya became one of the very few women elected to Afghanistan’s parliament during their first democratic parliamentary election. Sound crazy? Eva Mulvad’s doc trails Joya in the days leading up to the election. Accompanied by armed guards, Joya sits down for rap sessions with various progressively minded civilians. Accompanying this medium-length profile will be Sari’s Mother, which was initially to be the fourth story in James Longley’s searing, brilliant Iraq in Fragments. Revolving around a child with AIDS and his peerlessly devoted mother, the short is by far Longley’s most direct—an honest-to-God tearjerker. B Wed., Feb. 20-Sat., Feb. 23, 7pm.

Carla’s List Another profile, this one on prosecutor extraordinaire Carla Del Ponte, who headed up the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Granted a behind-the-doors look at the dispiriting and frustrating hunt and prosecution of war criminals, director Marcel Shupbach plays his doc like a thriller, albeit of a breed represented by Zodiac and The Wire: It’s all dead-ends, red herrings and endless frustration, with truth and justice always just out of reach. B Thurs., Feb. 21, 7pm.

Suffering and Smiling/ The City of Photographers (2007/2006) (Shown on Beta SP): Two Nigerian Afrobeat musicians take up the revelatory doc Suffering and Smiling: The late Fela Kuti, who melded unapologetically didactic lyrics with some seriously irresistible beats; and his son Femi, who watched as his dad’s old nemesis—vile Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo—was elected to the presidency after 16 years of military rule. Dragging us over to Chile, The City of Photographers adds to the stack of docs about dreaded ex-president and war criminal Augusto Pinochet. The focus this time is on those who snapped the atrocities and the resistance to his gruesome regime, evoking the power of photographs as both proof of what’s swept under the rug and a powerful form of remembrance. Both: B Fri., Feb. 22, 7pm.

Strange Culture (2007) (Shown on Beta SP): Just after his wife died of a heart attack, professor Steve Kurtz became a suspected bio-terrorist when police spotted suspicious looking but actually harmless chemical materials—bought over the Internet and intended for an art piece—in his house. How to depict this laughable mockery of justice given Kurtz, still awaiting trial, is forbidden from speaking directly about what transpired? Mix methods, of course. And so director Lynn Hershman-Leeson cuts between recreations starring Thomas Jay Rya and Tilda Swinton, animation, news clips and interviews with experts, a cautious Kurtz himself and even the actors—an ambitious meta idea that somehow holds together just fine. B Sat., Feb. 23, 2pm.

White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (2007) (Shown on Beta SP): Initially an HBO presentation, Steven Okazaki’s masterful recounting of the atomic ruin of Hiroshima and Nagasaki examines the twin bombings from all sides, though mostly hangs on the words of the few survivors still living today. Most of them scarred and/or deformed, they soberly discuss the worst things you’ve ever heard before going into their curious aftermath. (The oddest: a group of “Hiroshima Maidens” flown into America for a year and a half of plastic surgery and highly questionable appearances on This Is Your Life.) Okazaki doesn’t explicitly take sides on whether it should have happened at all, instead letting the faces and testimony of war’s innocent victims eat into your brain. B+ Sat., Feb. 23, 7pm.

Empire of the Sun (1987) (Shown on film): See Bryn Mawr Film Institute. B- Tues., Feb. 26, 7pm.

Little Theater

$5. 7141 Germantown Ave. 215.247.3020. www.mtairyvideolibrary.com

Michael Clayton (2007) (Shown on DVD): In which George Clooney earns the Oscar he won for Syriana. Look ma, no lovehandles! B Fri., Feb. 22-Sat., Feb. 23, 8pm; and Sun., Feb. 24, 7pm.

National Constitution Center

Free. 525 Arch St. 215.409.6700. www.whyy.org

Iron Ladies of Liberia (2007) (Shown on film): WHYY hosts a special advance screening of this doc on Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, who in 2005 became the first woman elected president of the African nation of Liberia. Following the film will be a discussion panel including honorary Consul General of Liberia Dr. Teta Bank and Amie Sarnor, a Constitution High sophomore who grew up amid the nation’s civil war. (Not reviewed.) Wed., Feb. 20, 6:30pm.

National Mechanics

Free. 22 S. Third St. www.philebrity.com

The Harder They Come (1972) (Shown on film): The world finally caught up to Jimmy Cliff with this Jamaican cult hit, with the reggae star as a wannabe reggae star who winds up becoming a notorious outlaw. Presented by WXPN’s Jim McGuinn. B+ Thurs., Feb. 21, 7:30pm.

Reelblack Presents

$5-$7. International House, 3701 Chestnut St. 215.387.5125. www.reelblack.com

Darius Goes West (2007) (Shown on DVD): Logan Smalley’s doc follows one Darius Weems, a 15-year-old Georgia resident born with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, which also claimed the life of his older brother. Confined to a wheelchair and fretting over what little time he has left, Weems and friends high-tail it to California to take in America, survey the country’s wheelchair accessibility and generally hang. (Not reviewed.) Mon., Feb. 25, 7pm.

Secret Cinema

$7. Moore College of Art & Design, 20th and Race sts. 215.965.4099. www.thesecretcinema.com

Famous Films II (Shown on film): For the amount of lip-service (or Smashing Pumpkins video homages) paid to George Méliès’ ground-breaking 1902 sci-fi fantasy A Trip to the Moon, it’s amazing how few people have actually seen it. Without wrecking its name, Secret Cinema goes “famous,” though the selections chosen are well-known by name mostly. Along with Moon, expect such heavy-hitters as Pare Lorentz’s visually resplendent agriculture doc The Plow That Broke the Plains, 1931’s all-star relief effort The Stolen Jools, the 1966 antiwar short Toys, and the film that premiered Chaplin’s “Little Tramp” (Kid’s Auto Races) and an early prototype of Bugs Bunny (Porky’s Hare Hunt). Fri., Feb. 22, 8pm.

Trocadero

$3. 1003 Arch St. 215.922.LIVE. www.thetroc.com

The Darjeeling Limited (2007) (Shown on DVD): Wes Anderson’s eye-popping portrait of three estranged, grieving brothers taking a micro-managed (with lamenation!) trip through rural India seemed a touch underimagined when it first arrived. But Anderson’s films tend to age well, revealing their riches over multiple viewings. (The Life Aquatic is a near-masterpiece.) Be on guard. B- Mon., Feb. 25, 7:30pm.

Villanova University

$3-$5. Connelly Center Cinema, 800 Lancaster Ave., Villanova. 610.519.4750. www.villanova.edu

Children of Heaven (1997) (Shown on DVD): Kids were long the focus of Iranian cinema, but they weren’t particularly mawkish until Majid Majidi’s cutesy but still reasonably neorealist tale of siblings who have to share shoes after one of them loses his. (Not reviewed.) Sat., Feb. 23 and Mon., Feb. 25, 7pm; and Sun., Feb. 24, 3:30pm and 7pm.

Wooden Shoe Books

Free. 508 S. Fifth St. 215.413.0999. www.woodenshoebooks.com

The Murder of Fred Hampton (1971) (Shown on DVD): Made only two years after his death, this doc examines the Black Panther leader’s life, work and murder by the Chicago police. (Not reviewed.) Sat., Feb. 23, 7:30pm.