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MSPIFF's "Best of Fest" lineup May 1-6

There's still a chance to see some outstanding films from the international film festival's lineup

April 27, 2010 at 9:22PM
(The Minnesota Star Tribune)
(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Quit yer dilly-dallying already. Photo: "The Miscreants of Taliwood," showing May 6

So you procrastinated and missed some of the films you wanted to see at the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Film Festival?

What? You missed them ALL?

Don't despair. Some of the best offerings from the 140-odd film lineup are hanging around for one week only. Here's the latest lineup for your planning convenience. There will also be screenings Sunday at 1 and 4 p.m., titles to be announced later.

All films are at the St. Anthony Main Theatre, 125 S.E. 115 Main St., Minneapolis.

Weekday tickets are $10 for regular admission, $8 for kids, students and seniors, or -- bargain time! --$6 before 6 p.m. You can get them at the theater boxoffice or here. As always, there's free ramp parking in the adjacent lot.

For further information, call the festival offices: (612) 331-7563.

Saturday, May 1

  • 1 p.m.
    • Tahaan (India, 105 min: Hindi w/English Subtitles). Simply told with warmth and humor, amidst beautifully photographed snowcapped peaks and frozen lakes, Tahaan reveals the realities of a childhood lived in the scenic but strife-ridden Kashmir region where India borders Pakistan. A tender and dramatic story in which childhood innocence triumphs from award-winning director Santosh Sivan.
      • 4:15 p.m.
        • The Unreturned (U.S.A. 75 min, Director Present) This film, shot in Syria and Jordan, lets the displaced Iraqi middle class speak for itself, vividly portraying the lives of displaced Iraqis from different ethnicities and religions. Caught in a purgatory of bureaucracy, dwindling savings, and forced idleness, these refugees nevertheless radiate vitality and warmth. With an unflinching eye, candid dialogue, and subtle humor, The Unreturned captures scenes of daily life that are personal but illustrative of larger issues facing Iraq.
          • 7 p.m.
            • La Mission (U.S.A. 117 min) Set in the colorful, seedy streets of the San Francisco district that bears its name, La Mission is a story of redemption imbued with the curative power of Aztec tradition. Feared, yet respected, as the baddest Chicano on the block, Che (Benjamin Bratt), a reformed inmate and recovering alcoholic, resorts to violence and intimidation to get what he wants.
              • 9:30 p.m.
                • The Girl (Sweden, 98 min. Swedish w/English Subtitles) A haunting, poetic portrait of childhood solitude, the girl in this story is not yet ten, which prevents her from accompanying her parents on a humanitarian mission to Africa. Instead, she is sent to live at her parent's summer home where she befriends a farm boy.

                  Sunday, May 2

                  • 7:15 p.m.
                    • My Run (USA, 85 min) My Run tells an amazing true tale of two incredible journeys. In 1996, Terry Hitchcock ran from St. Paul to Atlanta in 75 consecutive days, covering the equivalent of a marathon a day. This began 12 years earlier when Terry's wife Sue, a woman of incredible warmth and strength, died of breast cancer and Terry suddenly found himself alone raising three small children. That marathon was the tougher journey.
                      • 9:30 p.m.
                        • Alamar (Mexico, 73 min. Spanish and Italian w/English Subtitles). Riding a thin line between fiction and documentary, filmmaker González-Rubio weaves a delicate, moving narrative , this film puts us in touch with a very pure way of life. A sense of knowing one's origins becomes a father's parting (and lasting) gift to his son.

                          Monday, May 3

                          • 5 p.m.
                            • No More Smoke Signals (Switzerland, 90 min. in English) Director Fanny Brauning's film is a moving chronicle of life on the reservation in South Dakota, which has been selected for numerous awards and prizes, including Best Documentary at the Brooklyn International Film Festival in 2009.
                              • 7:15 p.m.
                                • The Athlete (Ethiopia, 85 min. English and Amharic w/English subtitles) In 1960, Ethiopian athlete Abebe Bikila shocked the whole world and became an overnight sporting legend when he ran barefoot through Rome to win the Olympic marathon gold medal. Now widely acknowledged as the greatest long-distance runner the world has ever known, Bikila returned to Ethiopia as an international sporting hero before his life took a harrowing turn in this intriguing hybrid biopic and documentary.
                                  • 9:30 p.m.
                                    • Tears of April (Finland, 115 min. Finnish w/English Subtitles). It's 1918 and the end of Finland's bloody civil war. Private Aaro Harjula returns from Germany and joins the non-socialist Whites. He witnesses Red female soldiers being group raped and executed w/o a trial. Harjula takes it upon himself to escort one of these soldiers to a fair trial.

                                      Tuesday, May 4

                                      • 5 p.m.
                                        • Ghosts of the 7th Cavalry (U.K. 87 min.) An epic history of America woven from the personal story of heavily-decorated U.S. Army Major Robert 'Snuffy' Gray, who fought with the controversial US 7th Cavalry Regiment. Emmy award-winning filmmaker Tom Roberts explores the profound human consequences of wars fought at the American frontier. At the heart of the film is Gray's own psychological journey as, for the first time, he faces up to the demons that have haunted him for 40 years.
                                          • 7:30 p.m.
                                            • Small Crime(Greece 85 min. Greek w/English Subtitles) An ambitious but frustrated young cop who dreams of solving serious crimes in the big city is assigned to a small, sleepy island in the Aegean where nothing much happens until Zacharias, the town drunk, is found dead at the bottom of a cliff and the young cop's life is turned upside-down in this heartwarming story about dreams, missed opportunities, and love.
                                              • 9:30 p.m.
                                                • The Bone Man (Austria, 117 min. German w/English Subtitles) This film brings another of bestselling Austrian author Wolf Hass' novels to the screen adapted from third of his trilogy featuring popular detective Brenner. A man named Horvath and his vehicle has vanished and reluctantly, quirky, private eye Brenner (Josef Hader) is enlisted for the lousy assignment by his old friend Berti and sets off to find and return Horvath's vehicle, which entails a long journey into provincial Austria.

                                                  Wednesday, May 5

                                                  • 5 p.m.
                                                    • Pink Taxi (Russia, Germany 80 min. Russian w/English Subtitles) There might be more than three million cars in Moscow, but only twenty-two of them are pink taxis – driven for women by women. Uli Gaulke's evocative documentary examines yearnings and human relationships, by following a trio of women taxi drivers as they ferry their passengers around bleak, wintery Moscow.
                                                      • 7:15 p.m.
                                                        • Upperdog (Norway, 100 min. Norwegian w/English Subtitles) As young children, half-siblings Axel and Yanne are adopted to Norway, he to material wealth on Oslo's west side, she to an average family on the east side of town. Upperdog is a vibrant relational drama comedy with a wide thematic palette, where young people's longing and search for themselves and for love, their vulnerability and conceit, is addressed with both liberating buoyancy and thoughtful gravity
                                                          • 9:30 p.m.
                                                            • Time of the Comet (Albania/Germany/France 104 min. Albanian w/English Subtitles) Elements of romance, tragedy and comedy all at once, this period piece, set shortly before WWI and based on the novel by Nobel Prize winner Ismail Kadare, melds the inanity of war to the rank absurdity of early 20th century Albania.

                                                              Thursday, May 6

                                                              • 5 p.m.
                                                                • North (Norway 79 min. Norwegian/English Subtitles) Aptly billed as "an anti-depressive off-road movie," this wry comic drama follows an anxious ex-skiing ace as he reluctantly journeys through spectacular arctic landscapes and reconnects with life.
                                                                  • 7:30 p.m.
                                                                    • Letters to Father Jacob (Finland, 74 min. Finnish w/English Subtitles) Centering on a tough ex-con temporarily serving as helper for a blind pastor in rural Finland, director Klaus Haro's magisterial control over the proceedings renders predictable material into something fresh and heart-rending, particularly for thoughtful audiences.
                                                                      • 9:30 p.m.
                                                                        • The Miscreants of Taliwood (Australia, 93 min.) This film takes us on an extraordinary journey into to the remote tribal belt of Pakistan's northwest frontier. Director, George Gittoes, dressed in local costume and agreed to act in a low budget Pashto movie teaming up with Pashto action and comedy stars, to make an over-the-top action drama, played out in what must be the unlikeliest of film locations, in the neighborhood reputedly the hiding place of Osama Bin Laden.
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