Our Picks

-- Justin Rude

Critics' Choice

JOURNEY THROUGH THE RUSSIAN FANTASTIK

[MOVIE] Anyone who has been through the looking glass known as Russia, pre- or post-Soviet, will get a chuckle out of "Zero City." Karen Shakhnazarov's 1988 satire takes a wry look at Communist culture's penchant for revisionist history, absurd bureaucracy and everyday surreality. This mordantly hilarious black comedy, which winds up the National Gallery's "Russian Fantastik" film series, stars Leonid Filatov as a Moscow engineer who is sent to a provincial city on business, only to embark on an increasingly bizarre journey populated by naked secretaries and other slightly menacing non sequiturs.

-- Ann Hornaday

Today at 4:30 p.m. National Gallery of Art, East Building Auditorium, Fourth Street and Constitution Avenue NW. Free. 202-842-6799.

ELIZABETH COOK

[CONCERT] It's not for nothing that Grand Ole Opry old-timers adore Elizabeth Cook. She's something like a modern-day Dolly or Loretta, specializing in tough, twangy neo-traditional country music. In an earlier era, Cook might have been a Nashville star, but Music Row seems to have decided that she's "too country" for the slicked-up format circa 2007. Her latest album, "Balls," is full of smart, funny, gutsy songs that you won't see in the CMT Top 20. Such a shame. Cook opens for Rodney Crowell, who produced the brilliant "Balls."

-- J. Freedom du Lac

Wednesday at 8 p.m. The Barns at Wolf Trap, 1645 Trap Rd., Vienna. $25. 703-218-6500 or 703-938-2404.

Date in a Box

WHAT: These Indian and India-inspired films and dance performances may have you wondering if you're in Delhi, not D.C., this weekend.

FIRST: A pair of films opening Friday feature the world's second-most-

populous country. The Darjeeling Limited follows brothers on a spiritual journey across the subcontinent. (See Can't Miss.) Vanaja stars Mamatha Bhukya as an ambitious young woman who gets herself hired as a maid in the home of a famous dancer in order to follow her dreams of being onstage. (See Movies.)