EU film fest offers foreign flavors

Never mind its wonky name: Every fall, the European Union Film Showcase lures thousands of movie buffs angling for a peek at next year's edgiest foreign films -- the ones that will probably be Oscar contenders and the ones that have won over those notoriously uncivil Cannes crowds.

It was as part of the EU fest that the animated film "Persepolis" made its U.S. premiere. Art movie "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" and the controversial Romanian thriller "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days" also had early screenings at the festival.

This year, the showcase, at AFI Silver Theatre through Nov. 24, will bring local audiences their first look at Heath Ledger's last film, "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus." That one's a no-brainer, but there are plenty of other compelling offerings among the almost 40 movies being screened. The highlights:

"Eamon" (Ireland)

Friday at 5 p.m., Saturday at 1:45 p.m. and Wednesday at 7:05 p.m.

It takes about two minutes to realize that the family at the heart of Margaret Corkery's black comedy is barreling toward a less-than-pleasant end. Grace (Amy Kirwan) makes her boyfriend sleep on the sofa while her young son Eamon gets the bed and all of mom's attention. And yet, there are so many reasons to stick around for this ride, not the least of which is adorable Robert Donnelly, who plays naughty Eamon as an innocent, separating this familial hell ride from "The Omen."

"The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" and "Mammoth" (Sweden)

"Dragon Tattoo" is Saturday at 6 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m.; "Mammoth" is Sunday at 5 p.m.

"The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" is a murder mystery based on the book of the same name by late Swedish journalist Stieg Larsson, and while it stays close to the source material, it's so slick and sexed-up that audiences might forget they're reading subtitles. It's a different beast entirely from the showcase's other big Swedish film, the far more introspective, slow-paced "Mammoth." Actress Michelle Williams plays a harried E.R. doc who is overwhelmed by guilt for having a nanny care for her daughter. Everyone in the Lukas Moodysson film, linking three families in a soul-numbing battle with materialism, seems to wish things could be different.

"Mid-August Lunch" (Italy)

Nov. 14 at 3 p.m. and Nov. 15 at 5:15 p.m.

This sprightly movie has seemingly nothing in common with last year's EU Italian offering, "Gomorrah." "Gomorrah" tackled the mafia, while "Mid-August Lunch" follows four elderly ladies who rediscover the joys of life (including wine, rich foods and independence) when they get a weekend free from their caretakers. In fact, the verite-style comedy is written and directed by, and stars, Gianni Di Gregorio, one of the "Gomorrah" screenwriters.

"POLICE, ADJECTIVE" (Romania)

Nov. 20 at 7 p.m.

Romanian filmmaking is on fire, thanks to the artful subtlety of its directors and actors, and its perspective on life under former dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. This light-on-the-dialogue movie, by prodigious young filmmaker Corneliu Porumboiu, is no exception; the meditation on what it is to live in a police state snagged the Un Certain Regard jury prize at Cannes. In it, an officer (Dragos Bucur) questions the morality of being assigned to entrap a small-time teenage hashish smoker. Scenes in which Bucur lurks in a schoolyard send home the message about who the bad guys really are.