CITY OF GOD. Brazilian Fernando Meirelles’ high-energy depiction of gang warfare in the titular Rio de Janeiro slum has been met with critical raves and comparisons to the mob pictures of Martin Scorsese. The protagonist, a young photographer named Rocket, succeeds in evading the gang lifestyle; his childhood friend fails to follow suit, instead succumbing to the temptations of crime and power. Dynamic, darkly funny and spitting electricity, City of God presents a strife-ridden world lurching towards destruction. City of God screens at 1, 3:50, 6:35 and 9:35 p.m. (BJS)

FAR FROM HEAVEN. The most versatile actress currently making movies, Julianne Moore’s performance in Far from Heaven ranks among her very best. Her poised, compassionate ’50s housewife, Cathy Whitaker, makes Donna Reed look like Medea—until she finds her husband making out with another man and herself falling in love with the African American gardener. As her reputation and family life shatter, Moore’s prim mother strains admirably and pathetically to keep herself going. Her character’s pristine married life behind her, the concluding expression on Moore’s face is as poignant and devastating as that of Meryl Streep’s suicide victim in Sophie’s Choice. Far from Heaven screens at 4:10 and 9:25 p.m. (NKB)

GANGS OF NEW YORK. In Gangs of New York, Leonardo Dicaprio solidifies his reputation as the savior of super-long historical epics that go tens of millions of dollars over-budget. In his first decent film since Titanic, Dicaprio plays Amsterdam Vallon, another troubled but determined young man struggling against deep social divisions. Last time he was trying to give Kate Winslet a reason to live; this time he wants to kill a guy nicknamed Bill the Butcher. Gangs of New York is as loaded with scenes of bloodshed as Titanic’s had cliches. Like his last memorable effort, and more than with most movies, Dicaprio’s new film is one whose extreme style is subject to personal taste. Gangs of New York screens at 4:20 and 7:50 p.m. (NKB)

THE PIANIST. Adrien Brody’s magnetic, largely silent performance in Roman Polanski’s Holocaust drama almost compensates for The Pianist’s inconsistent tone and distasteful political sensibilities. Brody’s Wladek Szpilman, who could hardly have picked a worse time and place to be Jewish, transforms from cocky concert pianist to starving phantom hunted by Nazis after escaping death in the bombed-out ghetto. The film soars briefly as it reflects on the redemptive power of music and the Szpilman’s commitment to survival; it stumbles badly in its misleading depiction of universally heroic Poles and in its sympathy for an officer of Hitler’s vicious army to the east. The Pianist screens 2:45, 6 and 9:15 p.m. (NKB)

LOST IN LA MANCHA. Visionary director Terry Gilliam’s ill-fated recent effort to make a Don Quixote movie is chronicled in this new documentary. After a difficult pre-production period, Gilliam’s film is slapped with a malicious case of Murphy’s Law once it begins shooting. Six days of location work, flash floods, screaming jets and an injured star force the production to shut down, leaving insurance agents to smooth over the chaos and Gilliam fans to ponder what might have been. Jeff Bridges, who starred in Gilliam’s The Fisher King, narrates. Lost in La Mancha screens at 2:35, 5, 7:30 and 10:05 p.m. (BJS)

THE QUIET AMERICAN. Michael Caine is garnering some of the best reviews of his career for his role as a hardened journalist in this adaptation of Graham Greene’s novel. The film, set in 1950s Vietnam, pits Caine against Brendan Fraser’s undercover American spy as Fraser vies for the affections of Caine’s Vietnamese mistress (Do Thi Hai Yen). Fraser’s intervention in the romance is intended to parallel the film’s other plot—a commentary on the early American efforts to eradicate communism in Vietnam. Christopher Hampton (Dangerous Liaisons) and Robert Schenkkan adapt Greene’s book, while Phillip Noyce (Rabbit-Proof Fence) directs. The Quiet American screens at 2:15, 4:40, 7 and 9:50 p.m. (BJS)

RABBIT-PROOF FENCE. Those expecting an idyllic romp through the countryside had best look elswehere. This heart-jerker is based on the true story of three Australian aboriginal girls abducted from their homes in 1931 due to a government policy aiming to educate native children in white Australian culture. Portraying their escape from the training camp, the film follows the girls as they avoid professional trackers and attempt to find their way home using the country’s long rabbit fence. Director Phillip Noyce avoids painting the bureaucrat in charge of the program (Kenneth Branagh) as a one-dimensional villain, opting for a more sophisticated view of the racial superiority that is still found in Australia. Rabbit-Proof Fence screens at 1:50 and 6:50 p.m. (RJK)

RIVERS AND TIDES. A documentary about erosion may sound as appetizing as a plate piled high with General Wong’s Chicken, but filmmaker Thomas Riedelsheimer has apparently met the challenge and created an erosion movie worth seeing. Rivers and Tides tracks artist Andy Goldsworthy, a Scottish sculptor of what he dubs “earthworks,” organic creations positioned in a fashion and location that leaves them vulnerable to the elements. Works of stone, ice and wood are placed on land or in the sea in such a way that they are beaten into uselessness or oblivion. Sounds like an Ingmar Bergman PBS documentary. Rivers and Tides screens at 2:25, 4:50, 7:20 and 9:40 p.m. (BJS)

TALK TO HER. With Golden Globes and the Oscars just around the corner, the only recognition that Pedro Almodovar’s pretentious Talk to Her deserves is as the year’s most overrated film. Though beautifully shot and populated with a set of unusually complicated characters, Talk to Her shamelessly and outrageously asks its audience to sympathize with a rapist. The film manages, paradoxically, to be both sloppily edited and deadeningly self-conscious. As it progresses, the audience is slowly but surely ushered into a stupor very closely resembling that of the coma victim at the story’s inane center. Talk to Her screens at 2, 4:30, 7:10 and 10 p.m. (NKB)

—Happening was edited by Ryan J. Kuo ’04 and compiled by Rebecca Cantu ’04, Nathan K. Burstein ’04, Patricia K. Foo ’05, Clint J. Froehlich ’05, Alexandra D. Hoffer ’06, Tiffany I. Hsieh ’04, Kristi L. Jobson ’06, Ryan J. Kuo ’04, Sarah L. Solorzano ’05 and Zhenzhen Lu ’05.