International Film Clips Amores Perros (Loveís a Bitch) Directed by Alejandro Gonz·lez IÒ·rritu (Mexico, 2000, 153 min.) Mexicoís top blockbuster of 2000, a nominee for the Best Foreign Film Academy Award and winner of multiple international festival awards, sold out three shows at the American Film Institute Theater in February, the film is set amid the violence of Mexico City. It tells three stories of life and love involving people whose relationships to dogs mirror their own situations. The characters are all intertwined by a tragic automobile accident. (Spanish with subtitles) The Aviatorís Wife Directed by Eric Rohmer (France, 1981, 105 min.) A law student, obsessed with an older woman, stalks his supposed rival (a pilot) around Paris. Misconceptions multiply and he is joined by a young, attractive accomplice for most of the chase. (French with subtitles) Borsalino Directed by Jacques Deray (France, 1970, 126 min.) Two small-time crooks become fast friends and after a series of fist fights, shootouts and car chases are crowned kings of the Marseilles underworld. An entertaining gangster pastiche, when it was released in 1970, the film became Franceís biggest box-office hit ever and even sparked a retro fashion trend in Paris. (French with subtitles) Bread and Roses (Pan y Rosas) Directed by Ken Loach (UK/USA/Germany/Spain/Switzerland/France, 2000, 110 min.) British director Loach transplants his leftist ideals to Los Angeles, covering the plight of non-unionized janitors. Despite the presence of Adrien Brody as a union organizer and cameos by several movie stars, Loach hasnít sold out to Hollywood. Though the overall mood is somewhat lighter than his typically bleak fare, the blend of fiction and documentary still presents a harrowing portrait of the underclass. (Spanish and English with subtitles) Calle 54 Directed by Fernando Trueba (Spain/France/Italy, 2000, 105 min.) Trueba ("Belle Èpoque") pays homage to Latin Jazz artists with this musical documentary, including grand performances by great stars such as Tito Puente, Gato Barbieri, Paquito DíRiviera, and Jerry Gonzales. Twelve simple, beautifully lit sets in a studio on Manhattanís 54th Street showcase the talents of the gifted artists in this favorite from Filmfest DC. (Spanish with subtitles) Chopper Directed by Andrew Dominik (Australia, 2000, 93 min.) The award-winning Chopper is the boldest and grittiest Australian film in decades. Brimming with dangerous excitement and stunning innovation, the sensational debut from rock video director Dominik is an exhilarating sharp shock to the system. Told in flashback as Mark "Chopper" Read serves one of his many prison sentences, this extreme biography charts the brutal carnage and wicked sense of humor of a man who supposedly committed 19 vicious murders and got away with it. (English) The Circle (Dayereh) Directed by Jafar Panahi (Iran/Italy, 2000, 87 min.) The director of "The White Balloon" and "The Mirror" moves beyond using children as protagonists with this brutally honest account of the lives of women in modern Tehran. The formal structure elegantly conveys the plight of women throughout societyóincluding a newborn baby, an unmarried pregnant woman, a poor mother, and a young traveler without an escort. Several characters have just left prison, but freedom is a relative matter. (Farsi with subtitles) Crane World (Mundo Gr?a) Directed by Pablo Trapero (Argentina, 1999, 90 min.) Traperoís first feature is a grainy black and white portrait of a 50-year-old whose dream of a better life leads him to Buenos Aires, a job as a crane operator, and romance. (Spanish with subtitles) Crimson Rivers (Les RiviËres Pourpres) Directed by Mathieu Kassovitz (France, 2000, 106 min.) Kassovitzís first release in the U.S. since his stunning debut "Hate (La Haine)." This grisly story is set in the French Alps, where two policemen (Jean Reno and Vincent Cassel) are investigating different brutal murders. Clues from the separate investigations bring the two detectives together. As more murders pile up, they begin to uncover dark secrets. (French with subtitles) Divided We Fall (Musime Si Pom·hat) Directed by Jan Hrebejk (Czech Republic, 2000, 117 min.) From the director of "Cosy Dens," this nominee for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar delighted audiences at the Washington Jewish Film Festival and Filmfest DC. During WWII, a Czech man shelters his Jewish neighbor from the Germans, putting himself at risk with his friend who is a Nazi collaborator. The man must evaluate the cost of loyalty. (Czech with subtitles) Dream Lovers (Meng Zhong Ren) Directed by Tony Au (Hong Kong, 1986 93 min.) Chow Yun-fat, star of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," and "Lin Ching-hsia" play a couple who discover they are incarnations of lovers from ancient China who must pay for their past-life transgressions. (Cantonese with subtitles) Encounters of the Spooky Kind (Gui Da Gui) Directed by Sammo Hung (Hong Kong, 1980, 124 min.) Director Sammo Hun helped spawn an entire genre of marital arts-horror-comedy with this tale of feuding lovers who recruit dueling Daoist shamans and their armies of the possessed and living dead. (Cantonese with subtitles) Green Snake (Ching Se) Directed by Tsui Hark (Hong Kong, 1993, 100 min.) In the West, a cult following developed for this film about a Buddhist monk trying to keep separate the realms of the living and dead as he battles ancient, female snake spirits intent on becoming human. (Cantonese with subtitles) Lautrec Directed by Roger Planchon (France, 1998, 125 min.) Stylish, stagy version of the life and times of Henri de Toulouse Lautrec full of color, speed and drama. Lautrec is portrayed as a sensitive man living in a wrong body, and his relationship with his parents is treated with nuance A conference given by a representative of the MusÈe Toulouse Lautrec as well as a wine tasting will follow the movie. (French with subtitles) Legend of the Mountain (Shan Chung Chíuan-chíi) Directed by King Hu (Hong Kong, 1979, 125 min.) Two unhappy female spirits seek reincarnation through an unwitting scholar who specializes in a magical sutra. The film won "best director" at the 1979 Golden Horse Awards. (Mandarin with subtitles) The Legend of Rita (Die Stille Nach dem Schuss) Directed by Volker Schl^ndorff (Germany, 1999, 104 min.) Schl^ndorffís ("The Tin Drum") social parable about a divided Germany begins in the 1970s. Rita (Bibiana Beglau) is a radical West German terrorist on the lam who finds refuge in the East. "Legend" is Stasi slang for an assumed identity created for Rita by Erwin, an unusually sympathetic intelligence officer (Martin Wuttke). Desperately wanting to fit into working-class East German society, Rita befriends Tatjana (Nadja Uhl)ówho only desires to get out. Beglau and Uhl shared the Best Actress prize at the Berlin Film Festival. (German with subtitles) The Luzhin Defence Directed by Marleen Gorris (UK/France, 2000, 106 min.) In this adaptation of a Russian story by Vladimir Nabokov, grand master Alexander Luzhin (John Turturro) is introverted, eccentric, and obsessed with chess in the 1920s. He finds love in the most unlikely of places when he meets Russian aristocrat Natalia Katkova (Emily Watson) at Italyís Lake Como. Amazingly, the love is mutual, but nobody else wants to see them together. (English) My Name Is Joe Directed by Ken Loach (UK, 1998, 105 min.) The subject of addiction becomes the departure point for Loachís exploration of other themes, such as unemployment, alcoholism, and personal relationships in this intimate portrayal of working-class family life in the Scottish city of Glasgow. Joe Kavanaugh, a recovered alcoholic, is drawn into the world of drugs and crime as he attempts to overcome social and economic pressures which threaten the stability of his emotional relationship with Sarah, his health-worker girlfriend. Loach probes deeply into the intimate feelings of the characters, whose individual life codes of conduct result in different courses of action, which ultimately bring them together as much as it drives them apart. (English) My Night at Maudís Directed by Eric Rohmer (France, 1969, 113 min.) The film that brought international standing for Rohmer is an artful, ironic parable of morals and manners. In a wintry Clermont-Ferrand, a high-minded engineer accepts the dictum of Pascalís wager and decides that his future wife will be an elusive blonde he spotted in church. But his preconceptions are challenged when he is forced to spend a snowbound night with the free-thinking Maud. (French with subtitles) Railroad Station for Two Directed by Eldar Riazanov (Russia, 1982, 141 min.) Platon, on the run from the law for a crime that he did not commit, gets involved with a railway station mistress who keeps singing "Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head." Platon misses trains, loses his ticket, passport, etc. The film is like a lot of American sex comedies where the protagonists start off loathing each other until the fifth reel, but there is a good dose of social criticism, and the movie pokes fun at the flourishing black market and bureaucracy in general. (Russian with subtitles) The Road Home (Wo De Fu Qin Mu Qin) Directed by Zhang Yimou (China, 1999, 89 min.) This is Zhangís conscious effort to fight off the vulgarities he sees in todayís commercial Chinese cinema. A man returning home to his village in northern China for his fatherís funeral recalls the story of his parentsí courtship. The simple love story flows gracefully with straightforward narration, stark black and white and stunning color photography, and pleasant music. Zhang Ziyi (no relation), the directorís discovery, delivers a stellar performance in her debut role (before "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"). (Mandarin with subtitles) The Sparrow (Al-usfur) Directed by Youssef Chahine (Egypt, 1973, 100 min.) Set shortly before and during the Six Day War in June 1967, "The Sparrow" follows a young police officer stationed in a small village in Upper Egypt, whose inhabitants suffer from the harassment of a corrupt businessman. He crosses paths with a journalist who is investigating what appears to be a scandal involving the theft of weapons and machinery by high officials. Using the protagonist Bahiyaís house as a meeting place, the police officer and the journalist come together to uncover this circle of black marketers. During the inquiries, however, war breaks out and Nasser announces his resignation. A seminal film, "The Sparrow" is often cited as the first film dealing with the predominant theme of defeat in Arab Cinema. (Arabic with subtitles) Tokyo Raiders Directed by Jingle Ma (Hong Kong, 2000, 118 min.) A groom disappears before his wedding in Las Vegas. Was it cold feet or something more sinister? His bride goes to Tokyo to find out with the help of a private eye and three cat-suited female assistants. Humor and martial arts action abounds! (Cantonese with subtitles) Tragedy of a Ridiculous Man Directed by Bernardo Bertolucci (Italy, 1982, 116 min.) After a series of international co-productions, Bertolucci returned to his native language and birthplace, Parma, for this unjustly neglected comedy-drama. A wealthy dairy farmerís son is kidnapped by terrorists (or so it seems), and he sells off his valued possessions in order to meet the ransom (or so it seems). (Italian with subtitles) The Triple Cross Directed by Terence Young (UK, France, 1967, 126 min.) What makes this film worthy of attention is that, by inadvertence, it is a spoof of all spy movies. The stars have an immense amount of quiet hilarity with the stereotype roles. There is the Agent, brighter and slyer than his multiple masters; the German Baron, not so evil as he seems despite his monocle; the seductive Countess; and the Englishman with you know what kind of an upper lip. (English) Underground Directed by Emir Kusturica (Serbia, 1995, 167 min.) Set in Belgrade during WWII, "Underground" opens with a look at the manufacture of weapons in the Balkans and gradually evolves into a series of surreal situations as a black marketer who smuggles arms to the partisans forgets to mention to the factory workers that the war is finally over. The workers continue producing weapons till finally, 50 years later, they become suspicious and break out of their underground shelter, only to convince themselves that the smuggler was right, the war was still going on. (Serbo-Croat with subtitles) WRóthe Mysteries of the Organism Directed by Dusan Makavejev (Yugoslavia, 1971, 90 min.) An avant-garde film inspired by a book called "Dialectical Materialism and Psychoanalysis" might not sound like a fun night out. But throw in sex, violence, rock and roll (the Fugsí Tuli Kupferberg in a maniacal, shotgun-toting role), and Dusan Makavejevís insatiable joie de vivre and you have one of the most entertaining movies ever to come out of the Eastern Bloc. (Serbo-Croat with subtitles)