SF International Film Festival Starts Next Week

Because it's Friday and we're feeling lazy, we'll give you some of the Mercury News' recs, and only add that we're kind of curious about this post-global-warming-apocalyptic black comedy, The Age of Stupid, starring Pete Postlethwaite and a bunch of cool digital archive imagery, and you owe it to yourself to see Fellini's Nights of Cabiria if you never have. It's amazing.

From the Mercury News:

"Bluebeard": Catherine Breillat, notorious feminist and agent provocateur, turns in yet another feature likely to rile and polarize audiences: an idiosyncratic take on Charles Perrault's 17th century tale about a nobleman with a penchant for killing his wives, a cheaper solution than divorce. (7:15 p.m. Friday, 9:30 p.m. Saturday and 4:15 p.m. April 29, Sundance Kabuki Cinema, 1881 Post St. )

"Adoration": The line between fact and fiction blurs when a teenager, whose parents are dead, writes a school essay portraying his father as a terrorist who planted a bomb in his girlfriend's purse. (6:15 p.m. Saturday, Sundance Kabuki Cinema, and 6:30 p.m. April 26, Pacific Film Archive Theater, 2575 Bancroft Way, Berkeley.)

"Ferlinghetti": Local filmmaker Christopher Felver's documentary on San Francisco poet and literary icon Lawrence Ferlinghetti reflects on his long friendship with the poet, writer, painter, publisher and activist. It includes archival photos and interviews with Dennis Hopper, Alan Ginsberg and assorted bohemians. (6 p.m. April 28 and 4 p.m. April 30, Sundance Kabuki Cinema and 6:30 p.m. May 6, Pacific Film Archive Theater.)

"In the Loop": This savage satire of fumbling and skulduggery by the American and British governments during their not-so-secret lead up to the Iraq war is a cathartic experience for those with a grudge against Donald Rumsfeld and all forms of bureaucratic ineptitude. Directed by BBC political comedy writer Armando Iannucci, this caustic farce is graced with abundant profanity and a deft a turn by James Gandolfini, who plays a career military officer nicknamed General Flintstone. But the film belongs to Peter Capaldi as the Prime Minister's foul-mouthed director of communications and the planet's angriest Scotsman. (9:30 p.m. April 28 and 9:30 p.m. May 2, Sundance Kabuki Cinemas.)

"Once Upon a Time in the West": A stellar restoration of Sergio Leone's masterpiece retools the American Western and features iconic Henry Fonda, cast against type as a villain, Jason Robards, Charles Bronson, luscious Claudia Cardinale and a score by Ennio Morricone. (12:30 p.m. May 3, Castro Theatre, 429 Castro St.)

Buy Tickets Here.