7 Days in cinema

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4 (CHETYRE) An instant sensation upon its premiere at the 2004 Venice Film Festival, Ilya Khrzhanovsky’s debut feature bagged a Tiger Award in Rotterdam last year and floored ’em at Tribeca. There’s no getting past this riotous, putrescent juggernaut—it must be confronted. The son of Andrei Khrzhanovsky, one of Russia’s foremost animators, 31-year-old Ilya trained at VGIK under Marlen Khutsiev, creator of the Thaw-period masterwork “The Ilyich Gate” (1964). While young Khrzhanovsky’s chops are clearly abundant, “4” is a collaborative endeavor down to its grimy fingertips, principally with screenwriter Vladimir Sorokin, known for such coruscating novels as “The Queue” and the recent bestseller “Blue Lard.” Cinema Village (Ioannis Mookas).

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ADAM & STEVE You know how sometimes you see a fun, gay movie where the young couple is in love and they have kooky friends, and it ends with hope and promise? The script bubbles with wit and an actor or two you like from a successful TV show makes a delightful surprise appearance in a small, independent film? “Adam & Steve” is not that movie. If you would like to see that movie, you can. It’s called “Trick” and you can rent it. Quad, Clearview Chelsea. (Seth Bookey)

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BRICK Finally, here’s a film for everyone who wishes Raymond Chandler wrote a novel set in high school! “Brick” has absolutely nothing going for it besides a gimmick-film noir played by teenagers. Angelika. (Steve Erickson)

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CACHÉ (Hidden) Michael Haneke’s never come across a genre he didn’t want to implode—family melodrama in “The Seventh Continent” and “The Piano Teacher,” horror in “Funny Games,” science fiction in “Time of the Wolf.” With “Caché,” he’s made a thriller that retains all the form’s tension while offering little of its satisfactions and catharsis. In French with English subtitles. Lincoln Plaza, Landmark Sunshine. (Steve Erickson)

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CAPOTE Yes, in “Capote,” Philip Seymour Hoffman gives a terrific—call it Oscar-worthy —performance channeling gay writer Truman Capote. He has the author’s mannerisms down pat, his voice expertly attuned to delivering witty bon mots. It’s a perfect role for the actor/chameleon and he plays it to the hilt. Angelika. (Gary M. Kramer).

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DRAWING RESTRAINT 9 The IFC center has, up until this point in its existence, prided itself on showing low-budget independent features. In fact, they are so proud of being the place for low-budget independent films that they have displayed them without much regard for their quality. Budget and high quality production were not the issues facing their newest acquisition, “Drawing Restraint 9”-but other questions emerge. IFC Center (Nick Feitel)

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I AM A SEX ADDICT Caveh Zahedi has struggled to make four features in 15 years. With “I Am a Sex Addict,” he’s inadvertently stumbled onto something trendy. This film combines the voyeurism of reality TV with the comedy of embarrassment purveyed by Larry David on “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and Ricky Gervais on “The Office” and “Extras.” The film’s central character is Zahedi, who plays himself, and calls to mind the early work of Albert Brooks, whose first three films—“Real Life,” “Modern Romance,” and “Lost in America”—are notable for their unrelenting self-laceration. IFC Center. (Steve Erickson)

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IRON ISLAND (JAZIRE AHANI) An oil tanker in the Persian Gulf is a crucible for life in the stunning Iranian film, “Iron Island.” Written, directed, and produced by Mohammad Rasoulof, the film eschews a conventional narrative by introducing an interesting cast of characters and letting the complex relationships between them unfold slowly. Cinema Village. (Gary M. Kramer)

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SIMON The Dutch film “Simon” chronicles the nonsexual relationship between a gay guy named Camiel (Marcel Hensema) and Simon (Cees Geel), a straight man who befriends him. This comedy-melodrama, which tries to be a life-affirming film about the issue of euthanasia, however, never sheds any light on the mysterious bond between these characters. Furthermore, Camiel and Simon are meant to be likeable, but in fact, both are hard to tolerate. Quad. (Gary M. Kramer).

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SOPHIE SCHOLL-THE FINAL DAYS At last year’s New York Film Festival, a journalist asked Austrian director Michael Haneke if he knew any people who don’t lie. He said “Yes, but they don’t make very interesting characters.” Marc Rothemund’s real-life heroine Sophie Scholl was a very good liar, as it turns out, but he turns her anti-Nazi resistance into a form of secular sainthood. Film Forum. (Steve Erickson)

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SUMMER STORM The plot of the coming out film is pretty standard. A teenager thinks he or she is queer and goes through the five stages of grief—denial, anger, fear, hope, and acceptance. Although the sensitive German coming out story “Summer Storm” follows this plot arc pretty closely, it is an original and winning film. Directed and co-written by Marco Kreuzpaintner, The film features the atypical setting of a crew team preparing for a trophy race, and it benefits from the fact that the teens—both gay and straight—are horny and sexually curious without the situation being contrived. Village East Cinemas. (Gary M. Kramer)

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