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Plenty of festivals this week. The Black Film Festival continues through Sunday, Another Hole in the Head Film Festival runs through the week, and the Frameline LGBT fest opens Thursday.
In the past week, I’ve posted reviews of Alexandra, Up the Yangtze, and Times and Winds, and told you about the upcoming series on 70mm at the Castro.
The other big news: This is the week where the Kabuki turns over one of its screens to the San Francisco Film Society. Which brings us to the very first film review of this newsletter:
Times and Winds, Kabuki, opens Friday for one-week engagement. The Film Society’s first non-festival Kabuki engagement looks at three children on the cusp of adolescence in a small, Turkish farm village. The
ir lives aren’t easy. The problem isn’t their poverty (which is real but doesn’t seem crushing), but their parents. Ömer, clearly the least-loved of two brothers, wants to kill his father. Yıldız works hard in school, but feels buried by household responsibilities, including the care of her infant brother. Yakup probably has it easiest of the three, but his crush on the town’s schoolteacher leads to some uncomfortable realizations. Although marred by some heavy symbolism and melodramatic music, this picture succeeds in capturing the slow pace of lives built around the seasons, and around the Muslim daily prayer cycle. For more details, read my full review.
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Rafael, Wednesday, 7:00. As much as any other artist, John Ford defined and deepened the myth of the American West. But in his last masterpiece, Ford tears that myth down, reminding us that a myth is, when you come down to it, a lie. Avoiding beautiful scenery and even color (a black and white western was a risky investment in 1962) Ford strips this story down to the essentials, and splits the classic Western hero into two–the man of principle (James Stewart) and the gunfighter (John Wayne). Part of the Rafael’s James Stewart 100th Birthday Celebration.
Dirty Country, Red Vic, opens Friday for one-week engagement. Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher of Found Footage fame (or Found Footage obscurity) built this documentary around Larry Pierce, a small-town factory worker with a side 
job writing and recording joyfully obscene country western songs. He infuses his songs”“with titles like “You Make My Peter Stand Up” and “I Like to Fuck””“with catchy tunes, clever rhymes, a real joy of sex, and what’s clearly a deep and romantic love for his wife. The movie takes him through bad times (he lost his job while the documentary was in production) and good ones (his first real concert), and introduces us to other singers specializing in dirty music. I rarely wish a film was longer, but Dirty Country could really have used more concert footage. Good, clean, dirty fun. NOTE: Filmmakers Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher will be on hand Friday night to answer questions after the 7:15 show.
Up the Yangtze, Rafael, Bridge, and Shattuck, opens Friday. China’s Three Gorges Dam, still under construction, may be the largest hydroelectric project ever attempted, and Chang’s film takes an unusual but effective approach to examining the project’s repercussions. He focuses his camera on two teenagers working a cruise ship that takes western tourists along the river, as well as one of those teenagers’ parents”“a peasant couple forced to relocate as the waters rise. This is not about a construction project, but about the millions of people who have been or will be moved because of the dam.
Standard Operating Procedure, Rafael, opens Friday for one-week engagement. We all know Lynndie England”¦or we think we do. She’s the young,
seemingly carefree soldier photographed taunting prisoners in those infamous Abu Ghraib prison photos. Errol Morris wants you to see England and many of her former companions in a different light. He interviews them extensively in Standard Operating Procedure, shows us the letters they wrote home, and uses actors to re-enact some of the most gut-wrenching scenes they witnessed and committed. The result isn’t an easy film to watch. It has you squirming in your seat, trying not to turn away your eyes. It also forces you to ask yourself some very tough questions. See my full review for more details.
Rear Window Rafael, Sunday, 7:00. Alfred Hitchcock at his absolute best. James Stewart stands out while sitting down as a news photographer temporarily confined to his apartment and a wheelchair, forced by boredom to amuse himself by spying on the neighbors. Then he begins to suspect that one of them committed murder. As he and his girlfriend (Grace Kelly) begin to investigate, it slowly dawns on us that they’re getting into some pretty dangerous territory (something they don’t realize until it’s almost too late). Hitchcock uses this story to examine voyeurism, urban alienation, and the institution of marriage, and to treat his audience to a great entertainment. Part of the Rafael’s James Stewart 100th Birthday Celebration.
The Big Lebowski, Parkway, Thursday, 9:15. 
Critics originally panned this Coen Brothers gem as a disappointing follow-up to the Coen’s previous endeavor, Fargo. Well, it isn’t as good as Fargo, but it’s still one hell of a funny movie. It’s also built quite a cult following; The Big Lebowski has probably played more Bay Area one-night stands in the years I’ve been maintaining this site than than any three other movies put together. A benefit for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
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