SUNDAY MATINEE, MAY 7

STRANGE ENCOUNTER / ESTRANHO ENCONTRO  2:00

B-noir meets arthouse in future Cinema Novo stalwart Khouri's directing debut. Tone, atmosphere, and arty camerawork sustain a coiling story about two pairs of mismatched lovers who wind up in a perilous situation when the younger partners in each relationship meet by chance. Not quite so ready to nihilistically reject the possibility of love (as would be the case only a few years later), Khouri demonstrates a cheeky visual flair, and coaxes a remarkable performance from Russian expatriate actress Lola Brah—one that hints at the escalating romantic disillusion that will dominate his work in the 60s and beyond. With: Mario Sergio, Andrea Bayard, Lola Brah, Luigi Picchi, Sergio Hingst

BRAZIL (1958, 87 min)  Director: Walter Hugo Khouri. Screenplay: Walter Hugo Khouri. Photography: Rudolf Icsey. Music: Gabriel Migliori

KRAKATIT  3:45

Don Malcolm's verdict: "truly, madly, deeply one-of-a kind!" Karel Holger (think Peter Lorre with leading man looks) takes us into the horror of a world careening toward a feeding frenzy of totalitarian mania in KRAKATIT, the Otakar Vavra adaptation of Karel Capek's prophetic 1921 novel. Those familiar with Orson Welles' take on Franz Kafka's THE TRIAL will sense that the great American expatriate was more than a bit familiar with this film, where suppressed hysteria, sexual treachery, and the deadly pursuit of krakatit (a substance similar to what we now call WMDs) reveal a world teetering on the brink of madness. Mercurial, globe-trotting Czech beauty Florence Marly shines as the seductive, mysterious Princess Wilhelmina, whose flawless face threatens to launch a thousand holocausts. With: Karel Hoger, Florence Marly, Eduard Linkers, Jiri Plachy, Natasa Tanska, Frantisek Smolik, Miroslav Homola, Vlasta Fabianova

CZECHOSLOVAKIA (1948, 110 min)  Director: Otakar Vavra. Screenplay: Jaroslav Vavra, Otakar Vavra. From the novel by Karel Capek. Photography: Vaclav Hanus. Music: Jiri Srnka