MSPIFF comes to a dramatic close

A staggering 47 film screenings remain for the final two days of the Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival. One of the highlights receives its area premiere a month after a special screening at the White House. The documentary "The Seventh Fire" (⋆⋆⋆½ ) presented by Terrence Malick and produced by Natalie Portman, is a realistic look at violent drug culture's legacy of incarceration, addiction and recidivism on northern Minnesota's White Earth Indian Reservation. The rural young adults who are the subjects of the film allowed director Jack Pettibone Riccobono to graphically film their lives for 2½ years, capturing promising personal conversations and baby care, gang firearm shooting practice and snorting multiple lines of cocaine. It's a cycle of abuse that rarely receives fly-on-the-wall attention so stylistically polished and intimately reported. Riccobono will appear after Saturday's side-by-side screenings to answer audience questions. Both screenings are currently sold out, but a few vacancies might occur. If not, there are 45 other showings to consider. (7 and 7:30 p.m. Sat., St. Anthony Main, 115 SE. Main St., Mpls. Tickets: $12-$15.)

Colin Covert