film

HARVARD SQUARE LOEWS

10 CHURCH ST., (617) 864-4580

BETTER LUCK TOMORROW. Justin Lin’s complex, exhilarating breakthrough film features an all Asian-American cast and packs some real punch. Four high school overachievers inevitably bound for prestigious Ivy League universities turn to cheating, drugs and crime to escape the terrible ennui of their privileged suburban lives. Critic Roger Ebert stood up on a chair at the Sundance Film Festival to defend Lin’s portrayal of Asian-Americans. See full story in the April 11 issue. Better Luck Tomorrow screens at 12:15, 1:15, 3, 4, 6:15, 7:15, 9 and 10 p.m. (TIH)

CONFIDENCE. Director James Foley, who explored the world of third-rate real estate scammers in Glengarry Glen Ross, explores a more ostentatious tier of criminality in this picture.  To up the fim’stension level, he’s stocked his cast with actors blessed with a talent for quiet rage—notably, Dustin Hoffman, Andy Garcia and Ed Burns.  Burns is the con man who runs afoul of Hoffman’s unsettlingly short crime boss.  Rachel Weisz also stars as “The Bait,” according to the film’s poster; Luis Guzman, Harvard alum Donal F. Logue ’88 and Yale alum Paul Giamatti take smaller roles. Confidence screens at 12:30, 3:15, 6:45 and 9:45 p.m. (BJS)

CHICAGO. The potential revival of the Hollywood musical is upon us with Chicago—for better or worse. Ignoring its politicized ramifications as a genre revival, Chicago on its own is a pretty wild ride, showcasing once and for all that the new school of glitzy film stars can sing better than Jennifer Lopez. Catherine Zeta-Jones, Renee Zellweger and especially John C. Reilly are surprisingly watchable in this furiously edited, expensive adaptation of the murderous Broadway classic. Winner of this year’s Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress, Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, Best Editing and Best Sound. Chicago screens at 12:45, 3:45, 6:30 and 9:30 p.m. (CJF)   

COWBOY BEBOP. This anime entertainment from Japan has marked time alongside The Powerpuff Girls on the Cartoon Network, but otherwise the two series don’t have much in common. Cowboy Bebop’s celluloid incarnation avoids Powerpuff’s sugar-and-spice conceit in favor of a complex plot involving Martians, killer macadamia nuts and pharmaceutical corporations. The film borrows copiously from a range of niche genres—action, romance, western and sci-fi, among others. It’s a shame that it isn’t a musical, too (“Bebop” is the name of the film’s spaceship), considering that it’s been decades since Paint Your Wagon wiped out the potentially entertaining future of the song-and-dance western, and it couldn’t hurt to try reviving the genre. Cowboy Bebop screens at 1, 4, 7:15 and 10 p.m. (BJS)

THE GOOD THIEF. Neil Jordan, who hasn’t directed a feature since 1999’s The End of the Affair, ends his absence with this heist film, based upon Jean-Pierre Melville’s jazzy 1955 noir Bob le Flambeur. Nick Nolte, who weathered a well-publicized DUI arrest last year, does nothing to rehabilitate his image by starring as a graying, heroin-addicted gambler who tries to rob a casino. Holding the film together are a passel of modern noir/heist elements—the prostitute, the chummy detective, the technology whiz, exotic locations and lush cinematography (in this case, by two-time Oscar winner Chris Menges, who did wonderfully evocative work on The Killing Fields). The Good Thief screens at 1, 4:15, 7 and 9:45 p.m. (BJS) 

KENDALL SQUARE CINEMA

ONE KENDALL SQ., (617) 494-9800

RAISING VICTOR VARGAS. The summer heat parallels the rising passions of the characters in this teen romance that marks writer-director Peter Sollett’s feature film debut. Sollett plunks his camera down in Manhattan’s East Village and spends some time sketching out the area’s culture and values, particularly as they relate to the relationships budding between three pairs of lovebirds. The inexperienced cast is winning raves from critics; Sollett had used many of the same actors in a short film that he made while studying at NYU. Raising Victor Vargas screens at 2, 4:20, 7:30 and 9:55 p.m. (BJS)

A MIGHTY WIND. Anyone who sits through A Mighty Wind, writer/director Christopher Guest’s latest entry in the mockumentary subgenre, will be tempted to make comparisons to Guest’s earlier work, This Is Spinal Tap. While Tap focuses on the disaster-prone tour of a brainless metal band, Wind centers around a disaster-prone tribute concert in memory of a late, legendary folk music producer. The premise is just the sort of odd episode that Guest has mined so skillfully in the past, but this time around he maintains little of the comic consistency that he has previously captured, settling instead for ham-handed punch-lines and tonally confused subplots. Guest’s distinctive mockumentary technique is not yet stale, but this latest creation arrives disappointingly undercooked. A Mighty Wind screens at 1:45 , 2:45, 4:10, 5:05, 7, 7:40, 9:15 and 10:00 p.m. (BBC).

BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM. This touching English comedy has won rave reviews on both sides of the Atlantic for its humorous depiction of women’s soccer. Or, as the characters would say, football. The movie follows the trials and tribulations of an 18 year-old Sikh girl determined to pursue a career in professional football. Her incredible on-field talent, though, is not enough to convince her religiously orthodox parents to allow her to trade the kitchen for the football pitch. So, she runs away from her home in West London to move to Hamburg and follow her sporting dreams. A charming, light-hearted picture that will appeal to even those who are unfamiliar with papadums and penalty kicks. Bend It Like Beckham screens at 1:55, 4:35, 7:10 and 9:45 p.m. (ASAF)

LAUREL CANYON. Frances McDormand plays against type in Laurel Canyon, a well-crafted family dramedy by director Lisa Cholodenko. McDormand, the overbearing mom in Almost Famous, this time plays the type of fast-moving music producer scorned by her character in Cameron Crowe’s amusing 2000 cult favorite. Among her character’s transgressions: inviting Alex (Beckinsale), her future daughter-in-law, to join a three-way as part of an unconventional “getting to know you” exercise. Sam, her uber-straightlaced son (Christian Bale), would not approve. Sam and Alex are the best-looking Harvard grad school alums since Reese Witherspoon’s law school party girl in Legally Blonde. Family issues aside, one leaves the film wishing that life imitated art more often. Laurel Canyon screens at 2:05, 4:30, 6:55 and 9:30 p.m. (NKB)

NOWHERE IN AFRICA. This year’s Oscar winner for best foreign film sheds new light on the exodus of one small group German Jewish refugees in the late 1930s. It’s the tale of Walter Redlich, a Jewish lawyer who goes to Africa to live with the European expatriate community (which is now mostly Jewish) in and around Nairobi. After opening with scenes of his family’s comfortable home life back in Germany, the film depicts the Redlichs adapt to their new home on a desolate Kenyan farm and struggle with relationships between family members and other refugees from Nazi-controlled Europe. Particularly interesting is Walter’s daughter, Regina, who quickly transitions to life Kenya, embracing the country as her true home and being accepted by native Kenyans after learning their language. The story ultimately questions what a home is. Despite early misgivings, Jettel, Regina’s mother, is ultimately won over as well. They grudgingly accompany Walter “home” to Germany—the country which rejected them and butchered the rest of their family—so that he can help rebuild the judicial system. The poignant story is enhanced by the beautiful cinematography and evocative soundtrack. Winner of this year’s Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Nowhere in Africa screens at 2:55, 6:15 and 9:20 p.m. (EC)