The ninth European Union Film Festival continues Friday through Thursday, March 24 through 30, at the Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State, 312-846-2800. Tickets are $9, $7 for students, and $5 for Film Center members.
This lively 2005 documentary by German-Turkish director Fatih Akin (Head On) follows bassist Alexander Hacke of Einsturzende Neubauten through the crumbling streets of Istanbul to present a dynamic and wide-ranging portrait of the ancient city’s musical riches. The intimate performance footage ranges from more traditional sounds to Turkish iterations of global styles like rock, hip-hop, and electronica, delivering commentary on the nation’s conflicted status as a bridge between Europe and Asia that’s even more poignant than the passionate and informative interviews. Among the featured artists are rock pioneer Erkin Koray, the powerful Kurdish singer Aynur, polyglot DJ Mercan Dede, and arabesk legend Orhan Gencebay. 92 min. (Peter Margasak) a Sat 3/25, 6:30 PM
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A pastiche of Hitchcock, Agatha Christie, and screwball comedy, this 2003 Swedish film is delivered with such gusto that one can forgive its lack of originality. Most of the action takes place aboard a train from Stockholm to Berlin, where a pompous doctor and his nubile mistress are plotting to kill the doctor’s wife; among the other characters are an elderly spinster who befriends the wife and a klutzy literary critic who inflicts a number of increasingly debilitating injuries on a returning war hero. Sumptuous black-and-white cinematography enhances this genre exercise, which is engaging despite a rather predictable “surprise” ending. Peter Dalle directed. In Swedish with subtitles. 100 min. (JK) a Tue 3/28, 6 PM
Brilliantly conceived and competently executed, this disturbing psychological thriller by German-born French filmmaker Dominik Moll (With a Friend Like Harry) has been compared to Lost Highway, in part because of its uncanny two-part construction. But it also suggests an original spin on Eyes Wide Shut in the unspoken understandings of its married couple (Laurent Lucas and Charlotte Gainsbourg) and its ambiguous mix of reality and fantasy. Andre Dussollier and Charlotte Rampling play another couple who arrive for a dinner party, and the unpredictable transactions among the four kept me engrossed and curious throughout. In French with subtitles. 129 min. (JR) a Sat 3/25, 8:15 PM
Opa!
Veteran character actor Zbigniew Zapasiewicz gives a brilliant performance in this character study of an elderly Polish dissident turned diplomat whose career and personal life are unraveling. He’s devastated by the death of his wife, haunted by suspicions of her infidelity, resentful that Poland is just as corrupt and inefficient as in the Soviet era, and increasingly fearful that his staff and colleagues (many of them holdovers from the old regime) are scheming against him. Rumors that he’s a mentally unstable drunk gain credence as his behavior becomes more erratic–yet his inability to function in an absurdly dysfunctional society marks him as saner than the devious incompetents surrounding him. By turns somber and ironically detached, this 2005 drama by writer-director Krzysztof Zanussi moves slowly but accumulates great power. In Polish with subtitles. 117 min. (Albert Williams) a Sun 3/26, 5:30 PM, and Thu 3/30, 8:30 PM
Short Order
