A weekly roundup of what else is screening around town.
The Secret Garden (1993) (Shown on DVD): After hits like Europa Europa and Olivier Olivier, Polish filmmaker Agnieszka Holland went to Britain to film the umpteenth film or TV version of the Frances Hodgson Burnett book, about an orphaned girl who breathes metaphorical life back into her miserable uncle by breathing physical life into his unkempt garden. With Maggie Smith and Ir�ne Jacob. (Not reviewed.) Sat., Feb. 16, 11am.
Free. Rotunda, 4014 Walnut St. 215.573.3234. www.armcinema25.com
Zabriskie Point/Secret Ceremony (1970/1968) (Shown on video): Spend Valentine's Day with two films so unloved they've never even made it to DVD. After successfully invading Britain with Blow-Up, Michelangelo Antonioni (L'Avventura) was invited to America by a Hollywood desperate to placate to the counterculture. The result was Zabriskie Point, a commercial and critical megabomb that, naturally, ages pretty well. Far from a hippie relic, the film--set around a bare bones story of young loners hooking up in the disarray of late '60s California--is closer to a sci-fi film, its purported anti-Americanism more like the bleary reaction of one shellshocked tourist. Also transporting is Secret Ceremony, the first of two films with which director Joseph Losey helped sabotage Elizabeth Taylor's film career (the other being the only slightly more deranged Boom). Taylor plays an aging London prostitute who catches the eye of a brunette Mia Farrow, who acts like she's 12 and thinks Taylor's her mother. Having lost a daughter, Taylor plays Farrow's psychosexual game, which eventually also snaps up Robert Mitchum as Farrow's lecherous, Amish-bearded stepfather. Both: B+ Thurs., Feb. 14, 8pm.
$3.50-$9.25 (unless otherwise noted). 824 W. Lancaster Ave., Bryn Mawr. 610.527.9898. www.brynmawrfilm.org
The Devil Came on Horseback (2007) (Shown on film): Rather than make the conceptually empty Darfur Now--still, ironically, languishing in distribution oblivion--Don Cheadle and crew ought to have thrown their considerable weight behind this doc, a searing indictment of the Sudanese turmoil and the widespread inactivity it's caused. At the center is Brian Steidle, a U.S. Marine who snapped gobs of photos of the worst atrocities yet has barely been able to get an eyebrow raised back home. Ahem. B Wed., Feb. 13, 7pm.
The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (2004) (Shown on DVD): Tom Kenny is a genius. (Not reviewed.) Sat., Feb. 16, 11am.
Free. Screening room at the Chestnut Hill Branch of the Free Library, 8711 Germantown Ave. 215.248.0977. www.armcinema25.com
A Canterbury Tale (1944) (Shown on film): The CHFG returns with possibly the most underrated film by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger (Black Narcissus, The Red Shoes)--a lyrical, near-plotless evocation of the spell cast by the English countryside. A group of random travelers find themselves in a small village beset by a villain who's been putting glue in girls' hair. A mysterious film, and one that seems slight until it creeps up on you. B+ Tues., Feb. 19, 7:30pm.
$4-$7. 227 Bridge St., Phoenixville. 610.917.0223. www.thecolonialtheatre.com
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