AP Film Studies: Also Showing 4/2/14

Jewish cats, crop tops and lots of kung fu at Portland's indie theaters.

By DEBORAH KENNEDY

Editor’s Note: It’s been two weeks since columnist AP Kryza disappeared, leaving behind only a garbled voicemail and a cryptic note delivered by a small fluffy dog in formal wear. We recently spotted a smoke message in the sky, though—a skywriter seemed to be struggling to spell “batshit” while drawing illustrations of Miss Piggy, Bilbo Baggins and Ryan Gosling eating meatball subs together. So for another week, Deborah Kennedy steps up to tell us what’s playing in local repertory theaters. 

Also Showing: 

  1. You might think the “drunken fist” fighting technique involves too many Jäger bombs and a bouncer. But if you’ve seen Drunken Master, you know it’s as far from a clumsy bar fight as you can get. According to this 1978 kung fu comedy starring Jackie Chan, it’s an intricate, eight-step martial art form that arms you with all the unique kicks and punches required to save your father from a notorious killer, known to all as “Thunderleg.” Laurelhurst Theater. April 4-10.
  1. Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth are on a boat in The Lady From Shanghai, which tells the story of Michael O’Hara, an Irish seaman who, against his better judgment, falls in love with his boss’s wife and becomes entangled in a murder plot. Co-starring the San Francisco Aquarium and one very surreal hall of mirrors. NW Film Center’s Whitsell Auditorium. 7 and 9 pm Friday-Saturday, April 4-5.
  1. When it first debuted in 1974, Le Cousin Jules thrilled audiences and critics alike with its quiet and obsessively detailed depiction of the daily lives of an elderly couple living in isolation in the French countryside. For many years, film buffs worried Dominique Benicheti’s masterpiece would be lost to time and decay, but now, fully restored, it comes to town as part of the PSU French Film Festival. 5th Avenue Cinema. 7 pm Friday, April 4.
  1. Set in 1920s Algeria and based on the comic-book series of the same name, Le Chat du Rabbin (The Rabbi’s Cat) follows the adventures of a fussy feline that, having swallowed a parrot, can speak and demands to be converted to Judaism. Part of the PSU French Film Fest. 5th Avenue Cinema. 7 pm Saturday, April 5.
  1. Nearly 30 years later, Terry Gilliam’s dystopian nightmare Brazil remains as hilarious and terrifying as it was the first day it was unleashed on the world. Hollywood Theatre. 7 pm Saturday, April 5.
  1. Who wants to travel first class, mai tai in hand, when you can get a Hard Ticket to Hawaii? Andy Sidaris’ 1987 B-movie masterpiece basks in the glory that is babes in crop tops, diamond-hungry drug lords and escaped toxic snakes. Tonight’s screening will feature live comedic commentary a la Mystery Science Theater 3000. Hollywood Theatre. 9:45 pm Saturday, April 5.
  1. If you like your Bible stories animated, illuminated, set in the eighth century and full of forest spirits, then Le Secret de Kells is the film for you. The final offering of the PSU French Film Fest, it was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2009. 5th Avenue Cinema. 5 pm Sunday, April 6.
  1. Directed by Luchino Visconti, Rocco and His Brothers is a classic of 1960s Italian cinema. The film follows the lives of a mother and her five sons who leave Sicily for a more peaceful life in the north, only to run into trouble in the form of a beautiful prostitute. NW Film Center’s Whitsell Auditorium. 6:30 pm Sunday, April 6.
  1. A wise man once said, “Don’t do drugs.” He probably should have added, “And never join a blood-swilling masked gang because this choice will probably come back to haunt you.” Kao Yao (also known as Lizard Venom) learns this the hard way when he tries to knee-cap his former gang in the 1982 kung fu kitschfest Masked Avengers. Hollywood Theatre, 7:30 pm. Tuesday, April 8.

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