Adam Resurrected
Paul Schrader, U.S., 2008, 106 min.
Friday, Nov. 14, 7 p.m., Tivoli 1

In the latest film from celebrated writer-director Schrader ("Taxi Driver," "Raging Bull," "American Gigolo"), Jeff Goldblum gives an acclaimed performance— described by the Hollywood Reporter as "the role of a career"— as Adam Stein, a charismatic patient at a mental institution for Holocaust survivors in early-'60s Israel. During the war, despite his status as a much-loved circus entertainer, Adam was shipped to a concentration camp, where the commandant (Willem Dafoe) forced him to act the part of a dog to survive. Incarcerated again at the asylum, Adam recognizes another such pitiable creature— a barking young boy raised in a basement on a chain— whom he works to save. An official selection of the Telluride and Toronto film fests, "Adam Resurrected" is adapted from Yoram Kaniuk's lauded novel and co-stars Derek Jacobi. With director Schrader, a Lifetime Achievement Award honoree.
Sponsored by Marcia Harris

Advertising for the Mob
Scott Wibbenmeyer, U.S., 2008, 85 min.
Friday, Nov. 21, 9:15 p.m., Tivoli 3

In this hilariously profane mob comedy— shot at several familiar St. Louis locations— a less-than-successful ad man decides to go into business for himself after being fired from his 12th agency. Three friends, four zoot suits and one hot Italian bartender later, he has his own "family business," attempting to extort protection money on the Hill but unintentionally aiding several down-at-heels businesses with marketing advice. Displeased by these incursions into his territory, the real mob boss (played with brio by the Pasta House Co.'s Kim Tucci) dispatches his dimwitted underlings to eliminate the competition. With director Wibbenmeyer and local cast members.

All for Free
(Sve Dzaba)
Antonio Nuic, Croatia, 2006, 94 min., Serbo-Croatian
Monday, Nov. 17, 4:45 p.m., Frontenac
Thursday, Nov. 20, 2:30 p.m., Frontenac

After his friends are killed in a bizarre barroom argument, Goran devises an unusual plan to deal with the loss: He will sell his house, buy a mobile tavern and travel from town to town in Bosnia, giving away free drinks to everyone he meets. For everyone except Goran, however, the idea is strangely suspicious and more than a bit absurd. This darkly humorous tale of loss and reconciliation functions as a potent metaphor for Bosnia's gradual rediscovery of its shared humanity. The Chicago Reader writes: "First-time writer-director Antonio Nuic strikes a gently melancholic tone, one that seems entirely in keeping with his country's emotional exhaustion."

Alone
(Faet)
Banjong Pisanthanakun & Parkpoom Wongpoom, Thailand, 2007, 92 min.,
Korean & Thai
Saturday, Nov. 15, 10:15 p.m., Tivoli 3

A hard-edged supernatural thriller from the directors of "Shutter," "Alone" tells the story of Pim, who moves from Thailand to Korea to escape the guilt of being the surviving half of a conjoined twin. Flashbacks to Pim's childhood show how the bittersweet relationship with her sister, and their commitment to stay together forever, transforms into a repressive bond that ultimately leads to a separation. After she returns to visit her dying mother, the spirit of her dead sister angrily thrusts herself into Pim's life.

Amal
Richie Mehta, Canada/India, 2007, 101 min., English & Hindi
Sunday, Nov. 16, 2 p.m., Frontenac

In this multilayered portrait of modern India, auto-rickshaw driver Amal is content with the small but vital role he serves: driving customers around New Delhi as quickly and safely as possible. But his simple life is upended when an eccentric, aging billionaire, moved by the driver's humility, bequeaths Amal his entire estate before passing away. Amal now must cope with an array of challenges, from a young injured beggar girl and a lovely store merchant to the old man's inheritance-seeking upper-caste friends and siblings. With director Mehta.

Beaufort
(Bufor)
Joseph Cedar, Israel, 2007, 125 min., Hebrew

Friday, Nov. 21, 4 p.m., Frontenac
Sunday, Nov. 23, 1 p.m., Frontenac
Winner of the 2007 Berlin Film Festival's best-director award and an Oscar® nominee for the Best Foreign Film, "Beaufort" chronicles the final days of an Israeli army unit's tense, painful withdrawal in 2000 from a strategic bunker inside a 12th-century fortress near the Lebanese border. The base is still under heavy enemy bombardment as the soldiers prepare to explode the site, thus destroying everything their comrades have fought and died to defend. The New York Times' A.O. Scott writes, "'Beaufort' has an earnest, sober intelligence that makes it hard to shake. It suggests that, for those who fight, the futility of war is inseparable from its nobility."

Ben X
Nic Balthazar, Belgium, 2008, 90 min., Dutch
Friday, Nov. 21, 2 p.m., Frontenac
Saturday, Nov. 22, 12:15 p.m., Frontenac

Ben's life revolves around his favorite computer game, which he avidly plays in an attempt to block out the reality of his daily experiences. Afflicted with Asperger's syndrome, a mild form of autism that prevents normal communication, Ben finds himself the victim of bullies' relentless attacks. When their abuses finally push him over the edge, Ben�s online dream girl helps him devise a perfect plan to confront his tormenters. An award-winner at the Montreal and Palm Springs film fests, "Ben X" is hailed by the Hollywood Reporter as "a strong-minded debut from Belgian director Nic Balthazar, who ambitiously takes on three difficult themes— schoolroom bullying, autism and the influence of computer games on those who play them."

The Bet Collector
(Kubrador)
Jeffrey Jeturian, Philippines, 2006, 98 min., Tagalog
Friday, Nov. 14, 2:30 p.m., Frontenac
Thursday, Nov. 20, 12:30 p.m., Frontenac

Family matriarch Amy makes ends meet by running a small convenience store out of her home. But customers are scarce in a struggling economy, and without the help of her husband or pregnant daughter, she is forced to supplement the family income by collecting bets for a hugely popular but illegal numbers game. A starkly realistic narrative, "The Bet Collector" presents a captivating portrait of a once-proud woman and her fragile and lonely life on the streets of Manila. The winner of the FIPRESCI critics' prize at the 2006 Moscow fest, "The Bet Collector" was cited by juror Sheila Johnston for its "urgency, freshness and hidden depths; to paraphrase the poet Walt Whitman, it may not be a large film, but it contains multitudes within its rough-edged simplicity."

Blind Mountain
(Mang shan)
Yang Li, China, 2007, 95 min., Mandarin (Shaanxi dialect)
Friday, Nov. 14, 7 p.m., Frontenac

In his first film since the acclaimed and equally devastating "Blind Shaft" (2003), director Yang turns from the corruption of China's illegal mining to the even more horrifying illegal trade in women. Bax Xuemei is a young college graduate who yearns for a life as budding urban capitalist but ends up drugged and sold as the "bride" of a rural brute. The LA Times hails "Blind Mountain" as "a resolutely tough-minded, beautifully crafted film so compelling as to make bearable watching the nearly unbearable." The film debuted at the 2007 Cannes film fest and was given the 2008 Council of Europe Film Award, which honors films that raise public awareness of human-rights issues.
Sponsored by East Asian Studies at Washington University.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
Mark Herman, 2008, U.K./U.S., 94 min.
Sunday, Nov. 16, noon, SLAM

Adapted from the acclaimed children's novel, which has sold more than 3 million copies, "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" is a fable about the untold number of children who were sent to the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp. Told through the eyes of an 8-year-old boy, the film bears witness to a forbidden friendship between Bruno, the son of Nazi commandant who is largely shielded from the reality of World War II, and Shmuel, a Jewish boy held captive in a concentration camp. Though the two are separated physically by a barbed-wire fence, their lives become inescapably intertwined. Their tragic journey offers an unusual point of view on the brutality, senselessness and devastating consequences of war and recalls the millions of innocent victims of the Holocaust.

The Brothers Bloom
Rian Johnson, U.S., 2008, 109 min.
Saturday, Nov. 22, 7:15 p.m., Frontenac

A globe-trotting comedy about the last great adventures of the world's best con men, "The Brothers Bloom" stars a quartet of contemporary cinema's finest actors: Mark Ruffalo ("Zodiac"), Rinko Kikuchi ("Babel") and Oscar® winners Adrien Brody ("The Pianist") and Rachel Weisz ("The Constant Gardener"). With their sexy associate (Kinkuchi), a pair of scam-artist brothers (Brody and Ruffalo) concoct one final grand scheme, showing a beautiful and eccentric heiress (Weisz) the time of her life with a romantic adventure that takes them around the world, from Athens to Prague to Mexico to St. Petersburg. Written and directed by Rian Johnson ("Brick"), "The Brothers Bloom" debuted at the 2008 Toronto fest.