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

Lights in the Dusk

(2006) (Shown on film): Finally making its way to Philly, the latest from Finnish deadpan master Aki Kaurismäki (Man Without a Past) follows yet another of the director’s taciturn losers, this time a night watchman who lets himself get used by a femme fatale and her devious employer. There’s a thin line between deadpan and flat, and Kaurismäki, going more for drama this time around, falls mostly on the latter side. C+ Thurs., March 13, 7pm.

(1973) (Shown on DVD): Apparently the Dakota Fanning version hasn’t usurped the animated take on the E.B. White novel. Good, if only because every kid should get hear Paul Lynde as Templeton. B Sat., March 15, 11am.

Andrew’s Video Vault

Free. Rotunda, 4014 Walnut St. 215.573.3234. www.armcinema25.com

Valley of the Wolves: Iraq/ Despair

(2006/1978) (Shown on video): Some two years after causing excessive tongue-clicking over at Fox News, Valley of the Wolves: Iraq—the infamous Turkish actioneer in which—gasp!—the lip-smacking, mustache-twirling baddies are Americans—finally makes it to Philadelphia. A spin-off from a popular Turkish TV show, Wolves offers a chance to see not only what a shitty action hit looks like in other countries, but also a near-perfect inversion of a racist Chuck Norris vehicle. The film goes out of its way to show Islam as against suicide-bombing and violence (save our personality-free hero, of course), while painting the Americans as being on a holy mission to claim the Middle East for Jesus Christ. Billy Zane as a hissable CIA agent and Gary Busey as a Jewish organ harvester (don’t ask) were wrist-slapped for taking part—though after decades of Arabs being portrayed as vile, smelly terrorists in American films, it’s a touch petty to complain when the tables are turned. Though atrocious on just about every level, Wolves does have a certain righteous anger, its allusions to American-led atrocities—Abu Ghraib, the Mukaradeeb wedding massacre, etc.—coming off as exorcisms in addition to being exploitative. Andrew’s Video Vault pairs Wolves, curiously, with a good film—Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s splashy English-language adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov’s Despair. Dirk Bogarde plays a bored chocolatier in early Nazi Germany who tries to fake his suicide using a man he believes is his exact double, but who actually looks nothing like him. D+/B Thurs., March 13, 8pm.

Backseat Film Festival

(Shown on video): See the A-List. Wed., March 12-Sun., March 16.

Bryn Mawr Film Institute

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

The Iron Giant

(1999) (Shown on DVD): After The Simpsons but before The Incredibles and Ratatouille, Brad Bird was beloved by a significantly smaller group of people for this expert Cold War-era block of cel animation. Vin Diesel voices the clunky E.T.-esque beast. B Sat., March 15, 11am.

(Shown on film): This year’s batch of Oscar nominated live-action shorts may have been pretty dismal, but the animation wing is sturdy. The trophy went to Suze Templeton’s miserablist take on Peter & the Wolf, but it should’ve gone to Madame Tutli-Putli, a wordless poetic/existentialist portrait of one increasingly odd train ride. Wed., March 19, 7pm.

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

Flying Down to Rio

(1933) (Shown on film): Audiences may have come for headliners Dolores del Rio and Gene Raymond, but they left marveling over fourth- and fifth-billers Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire, paired for the first of nine times. The two literally put their heads together for the thoroughly awesome “Carioca” number; the rest is passable fizz. B- Tues., March 18, 7:30pm.

Colonial Theatre

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

To Kill a Mockingbird

(1962) (Shown on film): One-book novelist Harper Lee’s junior-high staple made for a suitably junior-high-ish film adaptation, thanks in part to a literate screenplay by playwright Horton Foote and direction from Robert Mulligan that keeps the camera angles at a child’s eye level. With Gregory Peck, perfectly cast for possibly the only time in his career. B Sat., March 15, 2pm.

(1973) (Shown on film): Roger Moore may have debuted in this, the eighth Bond outing, but the real turning point is the series finally acknowledging the existence of black people. Released at the height of the blaxploitation movement, it finds 007 cavorting in Harlem, New Orleans and the Caribbean and fighting off Yaphet Kotto, afros, racial epithets and actual honest-to-God pimpmobiles. The excessively white Jane Seymour plays the girl. B- Sun., March 16, 2pm.

County Theater

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

How to Eat Fried Worms

(2006) (Shown on DVD): Thomas Rockwell’s kiddie fave, first published all the way back in 1973, made a super-belated graduation to film form—the most interesting part of which appears to be a score by Devo’s Mark and Bob Mothersbaugh. (Not reviewed.) Sat., March 15, 11am.

(2007) (Shown on video): Hailing from the Big Picture Alliance—a local partnership that works with teens in urban areas to make their own films—this feature-length doc focuses on Zoe Strauss, an award-winning photographer whose work, shown at the Whitney Biennial, concentrates on our city’s many marginal neighborhoods. (Not reviewed.) Mon., March 17, 7pm.

Gershman Y

$10. 401 S. Broad St. www.pjff.org

The Hebrew Lesson

(2006) (Shown on film): The Jewish Film Festival plays host to this Israeli doc on four immigrants attending a Hebrew class, focusing on the difficulties of not only learning a new language but adjusting to a new culture. (Not reviewed.) Mon., March 17, 7pm.

International House

Free. 3701 Chestnut St. 215.387.5125. www.ihousephilly.org

Cleo From 5 to 7

(1962) (Shown on film): Recently feted with a lavish Criterion box set, French New Wave’s chief female member Agnès Varda is arguably best known for this portrait, which spends 90 minutes with a pop singer (Corinne Marchand) awaiting test results from her doctor. Melancholy, whimsical and occasionally even strange, complete with a show-stopping faux-silent movie starring then-marrieds Anna Karina and Jean-Luc Godard. Stay afterward for this month’s Film Discussion Group, led by I-House’s brilliant curator (and peerless projectionist) Robert Cargni. B+ Sat., March 15, 7pm.

(2006) (Shown on film): More words next week on the latest mysterious object from Thai wonder Apichatpong Weerasethakul. But know this, Philadelphia cinephiles: This is just the first in an actual series on the filmmaker. Following will be not only his great Tropical Malady but two full nights of his many, many shorts. A- Wed., March 19, 7pm.

Little Theater

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

No Country for Old Men

(2007) (Shown on DVD): Josh Brolin wuz robbed. A- Fri., March 14-Sat., March 15, 8pm; and Sun., March 16, 8pm.

National Mechanics

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

Sexy Beast

(2000) (Shown on DVD): WIP’s Anthony Gargano hosts the TLA/Philebrity Screening Series, screening a film that deploys surprisingly few F-bombs. Only 115 in 89 minutes? That doesn’t even crack the top 100 on Wikipedia’s “Films That Frequently Use the Word ‘Fuck’” page. It does, however, hold the record for most consecutive utterances of the word “no”: 25. B+ Thurs., March 13, 7:30pm.

Scribe Video Center

$8-$10. International House, 3701 Chestnut St. 215.387.5125. www.ihousephilly.org

On the Downlow

(2007) (Shown on video): Scribe Video Center brings forth this doc from filmmaker Abigail Child, which turns its cameras on four men trying to deal with their bisexuality in Cleveland’s African-American community. The feature will be paired with Scribe’s homegrown short A Glance Into Their Life, in which the focus is on LGBTQ youth ages 16 through 22. (Not reviewed.) Thurs., March 13, 7pm.

Villanova University

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

Warrior Queen

(In progress) (Shown on video): Villanova’s Cultural Film and Lecture series screens a work-in-progress by filmmaker Hazekiah Lewis concerning a Ghanaian queen and revolutionary who led a revolt against British rule at the turn of the century. Only an hour of the film is currently screenable, and is thus paired with two of Lewis’ shorts, Memoirs of a Smoker and Curtain Call. (Not reviewed.) Sat., March 15, and Mon., March 17, 7pm; and Sun., March 16, 3:30pm and 7pm.

WHYY Civic Space

Free. 150 N. Sixth St. 215.351.0511. www.whyy.org

King Corn

(2007) (Shown on video): Soon to come to PBS’ Independent Lens series, Aaron Woolf’s doc looks to the surprisingly troublesome corn industry, namely the overproduction of the stuff and its major role in the fast-food industry. An agriculture-related panel discussion will follow. (Not reviewed.) Wed., March 19, 6:30pm.

Wooden Shoe Books

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

Occupation 101

(2006) (Shown on DVD): Libyan-born brothers Abdallah and Sufyan Omeish trace the root cause of the Israeli- Palestinian conflict, as well as the involvement of the United States, in this surely exhaustive do­c—which, yes, features Noam Chomsky. (Not reviewed.) Sat., March 15, 7:30pm.