Pick of the Litter

BANG THE MACHINE

Documentary Feature Competition, World Premiere

Bang the Machine is an entertaining, zits-and-all look into the behind-the-scenes drama and button-mashing mayhem of the first Street Fighter video arcade game world championship. The clichés associated with the arcade enthusiast are all here -- all male, a steady diet of junk food, calculator watches, a general lack of girlfriends -- but Katepoo does an excellent job of showing what's behind her subjects' glazed-over eyes as they strive to be the world's best. (Alamo, 3/8, 5:30pm; Hideout, 3/10, midnight; CC, 3/15, 10pm) -- Mark Fagan

BIKE LIKE U MEAN IT

Local filmmakers Rusty Martin and Susan Kirr's documentary is a thorough, even touching, study of Austin's vibrant bicycle community. "Bike Like U Mean It" covers the entire cycling scene, including the successful Yellow Bike Project, APD's attempted crackdown on Critical Mass, Amy Babich's incessant, anti-car letter-writing campaign, and the inherent hazards of sharing the road with cars. This short film will likely succeed in making viewers question their transportation choices and consider the environmental and personal consequences thereof. Martin and Kirr have made this doc like they mean it, making "Bike" a must-see for anyone remotely interested in local bike culture. (CC, 3/8, 10:30pm; Hideout, 3/10, 8:45pm; Hideout, 3/13, 2pm) -- Mark Fagan

BLUE VINYL

If you think studying the dangers inherent in the manufacture and disposal of polyvinyl chloride is about as dull as watching paint dry, then you obviously haven't seen Blue Vinyl. This entertaining and personally fashioned documentary takes a deadly serious subject matter and pursues it with a doggedness that takes us from Long Island to Lake Charles, Louisiana, to Venice, Italy. Using delightful animation by Emily Hubley and passionate yet funny narration by filmmaker Helfand, Blue Vinyl pierces the PVC problem like the hot potato it is. (Paramount, 3/9, 11am; Paramount, 3/12, noon; Paramount, 3/16, 2:30pm) -- Marjorie Baumgarten

THE CHATEAU

This shot-on-DV sophomore effort from the director of First Love, Last Rites plays fast and loose with the French sex comedy format, with adopted brothers Rudd and Malco inheriting from their long-lost uncle a sprawling French chateau, replete with a crusty butler and saucy if demure wench du scullerie (Testud). It's part poisson-out-of-water, part frothy romance, and, believe it or not, a whole lot of improv. Much is made of the two-tone siblings -- one black, one white, all fun -- and their syntactical manhandling of the language of love (not to mention the emotion itself), while Rudd and Malco's zippy repartee smacks of spur-of-the-moment goofiness. Le comedie, c'est bon. (Arbor, 3/9, 6pm; Arbor 3/10, 9pm; Myec, 3/16, 7pm) -- Marc Savlov

DERRIDA

This Sundance-screened effort amuses, not because it profiles the titular philosopher but because it doesn't. He keeps confounding the documentary process, deconstructing Kofman's interview scenario, refusing to provide "quick answers," and turning questions about love and marriage into answers about ontology and the impossibility of improvisation within the context of stereotypical discourse. There are moments of first-rate head candy, along with the expected quirky shots of Derrida looking for his keys and getting a haircut in slow motion. (Alamo, 3/12, 2pm) -- Marrit Ingman

GIGANTIC: A TALE OF TWO JOHNS

"Memo to myself: Do the dumb things I gotta do. Touch the puppet head." Brooklyn-based bandmates John Linnell and John Flansburgh of the endearingly goofy They Might Be Giants have been writing surrealist odes like the above for going on two decades now, but this ain't no Bretonian mindbomb. It's band as documentary as performance schtick, chock-full of live performances and seriously overdue explanations of the TMBG universe, with insights from indie luminaries Frank Black, Mark Hoppus, and This American Life's Sarah Vowell and Ira Glass. Rock & roll accordianistas never sounded so, um, odd. (CC, 3/10, 9:45pm; Paramount, 3/12, 4:15pm; Paramount, 3/16, 9:45pm) -- Marc Savlov

HOME MOVIE

Home Movie doesn't merely provide a definitive rebuttal to all accusations that American Movie director Chris Smith is solely interested in playing his chosen subjects for cheap laughs; it's also one of the warmest and most thought-provoking documentaries in years, recalling the more recent work of Errol Morris and even the Grey-Gardens-era Maysles Brothers. Built around a series of interviews with the eccentric inhabitants of various unconventional homes, Smith's newest offering is a gentle and wide-ranging meditation on what it means to occupy space: a body, a house, and a planet. (Paramount, 3/9, 9:45pm; Arbor, 3/12, 4:30pm; Paramount, 3/14, 10pm) -- Will Robinson Sheff

INERTIA

Winner of the Best Canadian First Feature Film at the 2001 Toronto International Film Festival, Inertia slyboots dissection of relationship hell in writer/director Garrity's native Winnipeg, making Sex and the City look like the pay-cable romantic Nerf Ball that it is. Garrity's characters behave way too realistically for HBO (or the gang from Friends, for that matter), at first intersecting and then colliding in romantic unions and recriminatory wipeouts that resemble nothing so much as your own personal relationship history. Spot-on dialogue and unique editing elevate this above the usual lovers' spat, and, in the end, nothing seems as pat as you'd like. Just like life, only more so. (Myec, 3/9, 5:15pm; Alamo, 3/11, 11am; Myec, 3/14, 10pm) -- Marc Savlov

INTO THE NIGHT: THE BENNY MARDONES STORY

Documentary Feature Competition

The beauty of this straightforward account of the life of Benny Mardones -- who scored a huge 1980 hit with the titular song, skidded out for the rest of the decade, and resurfaced to build a loyal fan base largely limited to Syracuse, N.Y. -- is that it can be read as either unadulterated nostalgia or the anthropology of an exotic, dimly remembered species, depending on your age. Regardless, it's a classic, vivid tale of that most American of phenomena, the bizarre and vaguely self-parodying comeback. (Hideout, 3/8, 8:30pm; Hideout, 3/14, 11:45am; Hideout, 3/14, 3:45pm) -- Cindy Widner

JIMMY SCOTT: IF YOU ONLY KNEW

Documentary Feature First Films, World Premiere Now 76 and still making music, "Little" Jimmy Scott will always be known for the voice -- terrifyingly high and emotive, razor-thin but as heavy as gold. The singer's singer. "That's the voice God gave him," Scott's sister says in Buzzell's directorial debut, a frank and semi-stylized documentary on the jazz legend's life, times, and recent tour of Japan. But God also gave him quite a lot of shit to deal with -- broken family, disease, a career hobbled by label games -- and If You Only Knew, in addition to its ample performance footage and well-annotated photo album, nails that note with intelligence and empathy. (Alamo, 3/10, 5:15pm; CC, 3/14, 10pm; Hideout, 3/16, 12:30pm) -- Shawn Badgley

KINKY FRIEDMAN: PROUD TO BE AN ASSHOLE FROM EL PASO

"He's not what you think he is," says Willie Nelson of Texas troubadour and wisecracking author Friedman, and de Vries' documentary on the man and his cult following is nothing if not completist. From Lyle Lovett to Bill Clinton, the documentary follows Friedman's outrageous trajectory from his first stage show at the age of 13 to the L.A. years (with pals Tom Waits and Iggy Pop) to his current station as mystery writer and pure-bred Texas bon vivant. "Van Gogh, Oscar Wilde, Jesus Christ, Lenny Bruce -- those are the people I identify with," says Friedman, and by the end of de Vries' doc, you realize this crazy Jew fits right in among those other iconoclastic luminaries. (Hideout, 3/12, 8:15pm; Alamo, 3/14, 10:15pm) -- Marc Savlov

KWIK STOP

Narrative Feature Special Screenings, Regional Premiere

A quirky, fool-for-love road trip romance that is more trip and less road. Mike is an aspiring actor headed to L.A. with dreams of the big time; Didi is a bored suburban teen with dreams of busting out. But hitting the highways gets tough when you mix up love and sex and the fuzz, plus Mike's still-attached ex-girlfriend. Writer/director/star Michael Gilio was nominated for the "Someone to Watch" award at this year's Independent Spirit Awards for this charming debut. (Arbor, 3/10, noon; Arbor, 3/12, 8pm; Myec, 3/13, 7:15pm) -- Sarah Hepola

THE LAST GAME

High school football is a deadly serious proposition in the small township of Doylestown, Pa., and coach Mike Pettine is "the winningest coach" in the history of Pennsylvania varsity football, with no less than 15 undefeated seasons behind him. Now, however, he's up against his toughest rival ever, No. 2-ranked North Penn, coached by none other than his own son, Mike Pettine Jr. Shot on DV and scored with the likes of Limp Bizkit and other nü-metal crunchers, The Last Game has more familial irony, hair-raising plot turns, and heart-swelling emotional clusterbombs than a dozen Lucasfilms put together, and amazingly, it's all true. (CC, 3/11, 4pm; Hideout, 3/12, 1:30pm; Hideout, 3/15, 10am) -- Marc Savlov

LAST PARTY 2000

Character actor extraordinaire Philip Seymour Hoffman finally plays himself as the host of Last Party 2000, a documentary that goes backstage for America's wackiest election to date. Hoffman bounces from party to protest to poll booth, interviewing figures from all sides -- Michael Moore, Jesse Jackson, Ralph Reed, and others -- and proving in the world of politics, truth is stranger than fiction and far, far harder to find. (CC, 3/9, 5:15pm; Paramount, 3/12, 2:15pm; Paramount, 3/13, 5:15pm) -- Sarah Hepola

LIFETIME GUARANTEE: PHRANC'S LIFETIME ADVENTURES IN PLASTIC

Crew cutted, suit-wearing, surfboardin' "Jewish Lesbian Folksinger" Phranc is the subject of this engaging documentary about life after indie-rock semi-stardom as a top-grossing Tupperware® Lady, selling the world's most famous food containers. (She also supplies the film's soundtrack.) Follow Phranc from party to party, and eventually to the National Tupperware Conference in Orlando, Fla., to see if she can keep her integrity flavor-fresh without "burping" too much on that delicately tasty line between (he)art and commerce. (CC, 3/10, 11:30am; CC, 3/13, 10:15pm; Alamo, 3/14, 8:30pm) -- Kate X Messer

MAI'S AMERICA

This documentary about an awkward but resilient young Vietnamese woman who moves from Hanoi to small-town Mississippi as an exchange student is intimately fixated on its subject. Homesick and often baffled by the low-rent Southern culture she now occupies, Mai nonetheless tries to get into an American university while befriending a swishy transvestite and conferring with an eerily accurate palm reader. The riveting, tiny episodes of Mai's American life ultimately become a quite majestic, beautiful, and tragic film. (CC, 3/8, 8:45pm; Paramount, 3/11, 11:30am; Paramount, 3/13, 1:30pm) -- Clay Smith

MANITO

Narrative Feature Competition, Regional Premiere

Violence is an epidemic cycle and way of life in New York City's former crack cocaine capital of Washington Heights. However, high school salutatorian Manny has found a way out with a scholarship to Syracuse University and the help of his supportive ex-con brother. Manny is the pride of this largely Latino immigrant community and embodies its precarious hopes for the future. The film's gritty but powerfully effective visual style beautifully mirrors the energy of the community it depicts. (Myec, 3/9, 10:15pm; Myec, 3/11, 9:30pm; Myec, 3/14, 5:30pm) -- Marjorie Baumgarten

ME WITHOUT YOU

Narrative Feature Special Screenings, Regional Premiere

Growing up from grade-school confidantes into half-ass punks in Thatcher-era London and then finally into semi-lost twentysomethings, best friends Holly (Williams) and Marina (Friel) survive two decades of codependency, but just barely. With an ethereal palette and lyrical score cut from the same cloth as Sofia Coppola's Virgin Suicides, Goldbacher's BAFTA-nominated film is a melancholy, (uncomfortably) funny look at what happens when best friends break up. Friel and Williams (of Dawson's Creek) are exceptional as the two girls struggling to nail down an identity independent of the other. (Arbor, 3/8, 10pm; Arbor, 3/10, 2:30pm) -- Kimberley Jones

'NO PROM FOR CINDY'

Narrative Short Competition

Gender issues run amok in this bizarre and hilarious short that answers the burning question "Can a shy young girl who's really an older gay man find love amid the emotional battleground that is high school?" The answer will surprise you, but what's more surprising is the skill of Adler (until now primarily a voice actor on such animated fare as Rugrats) both behind and in front of the camera. With his graying buzzcut and tattooed biceps, he resembles a sailor on leave, but he's got the fluttery disposition of a pubescent teen down pat. Rod Serling probably would have blushed, but this surreal short borders on a comic Twilight Zone. (As part of "Narrative Shorts 1" program: Alamo, 3/9, 4:45pm; Hideout, 3/16, 4pm) -- Marc Savlov

ONE GIANT LEAP

Narrated by Kurt Vonnegut, Ram Dass, Dennis Hopper, and many, many others, One Giant Leap is a star-studded megamix of a film that's valuable insofar as it's ludicrously ambitious. This film has the gall to attempt a celluloid shotgun wedding between Eastern philosophy, culture-jamming politics, technophiliac aesthetics, sex-positive post-feminism, and a good dose of Rousseuvian noble-savage-worship and then set the wedding party to a series of world-music jams featuring such luminaries as Brian Eno, Baaba Maal, Michael Stipe, and Asha Bhosle. It's a sermon tailor-made for the choir, but it hits some inspiring notes. (Alamo, 3/11, 7pm; CC, 3/13, 6:30pm; Alamo, 3/15, 5pm) -- Will Robinson Sheff

OT: OUR TOWN

Documentary Feature Special Screenings, World Premiere When the students of Dominguez High in the embattled town of Compton, Calif., are told they're going to be staging a production of Thornton Wilder's Our Town, the initial reaction is somewhat less jubilant than perhaps their teachers had hoped for. But over the course of rehearsals and through to the jittery, triumphant end, these tough and immensely talented kids learn not only who this guy Wilder was, but what they're capable of and what it means to be young in the most infamous town in America. With a soundtrack featuring everyone from David Holmes to Fatboy Slim, OT is an amazing and moving collision of the old and new schools. (Hideout, 3/9, 1pm; Hideout, 3/12, 6:15pm) -- Marc Savlov

THE SEARCH FOR JOHN GISSING

Binder plays a young exec who, with wife (Garofalo) in tow, gets sent to London to see an acquisition through. His company rival, the titular Gissing (Rickman), does everything he can to sabotage his efforts. Rickman steals the show in this comedy from the director/producer of HBO's Mind of the Married Man, especially in his scenes with Garofalo, who mainly plays exasperated straight (wo)man to Binder. Overall, it plays like Sixties Neil Simon or Blake Edwards, even down to the trumpet-dominated score. (Arbor, 3/8, 7:45pm; Myec, 3/12, 9:30pm, Arbor, 3/15, 3:30pm) -- Jerry Renshaw

THE SLAUGHTER RULE

SPELLBOUND

Documentary Feature Competition, World Premiere Spellbound follows eight kids from various parts of the country to Washington for the national Scripps-Howard spelling bee. In the days leading up to the event, the pressure builds as the kids drill endlessly on impossibly obscure words; the bee itself is sheer nerve-racking tension. The kids are all engagingly dorky and super-intelligent, as the camera offers a generous insight into them and their families. It's one age-old American tradition that not only hasn't faded away, but is covered on ESPN now. (CC, 3/10, 1pm; Hideout, 3/12, 9:45pm; Alamo, 3/14, 11am) -- Jerry Renshaw

TWO TOWNS OF JASPER

Documentary Feature Special Screenings, Regional Premiere The brutal murder of African-American James Byrd Jr. by three white men in Jasper, Texas, appalled the nation. Was it an unfortunate aberration in an otherwise decent town? Two camera crews -- one white, one black -- interviewed Jasper residents to find out. The result is Two Towns of Jasper, a sobering study of race relations through the lens of a small East Texas town and the unfathomable pain endured by the families of Byrd and his assailants. (Paramount, 3/9, 1:30pm; CC, 3/11, noon; Paramount, 3/13, 10pm) -- Belinda Acosta