Sylvie Testud plays a handicapped woman
hoping for a miracle in Lourdes.

With the exception of The Balibo Conspiracy, tonight's recommendations are quietly appealing films that captivate through the depth of their characters rather than the intrigue of their plots. Tonight's films to avoid tend to be markedly overwrought.

See it:
Lourdes
Paralyzed from the neck down with multiple sclerosis, Christine is making a pilgrimage to Lourdes, hoping for an answer to her prayer of becoming able-bodied—a trip she's made many times before, despite her apparent skepticism. Though the film's pace is "achingly slow," writes Tricia Olszewski, "its story, style, and performances trump its leisurely unspooling."
6:30 p.m. at Regal Gallery Place

Friends at the Margherita Café
In his effort to become a regular at Bologna’s Margherita Café, Taddeo starts chauffeuring for Al, a leader of the group that congregates at this town institution. Soon Taddeo gets to know the other regulars in all their quirkiness. “It’s pure comedic fun,” writes Tessa Moran.
6:30 at Avalon Theatre

The Tango Singer
Helena, a tango singer in Buenos Aires, is devastated after her boyfriend abruptly dumps her for another woman. She has the chance to rebuild herself when she and her band are offered residency at a major theater in France. This understated story about a woman’s recovery from heartbreak closes “elegantly and perfectly,” according to Tricia Olszewski.
6:30 at E Street Cinema

The Balibo Conspiracy
Based on true events, Balibo retells the 1975 Indonesian invasion of East Timor and the brutal murders of five telejournalists who were covering the story. The film is “immaculately paced,” writes Ted Scheinman. “It moves, it grips, and for all its activist intonation, the story never gets subjugated to the message.”
8:45 at Regal Gallery Place

Skip it:
Elvis' Last Song
Greek college student Illektra is writing her senior thesis on rock ’n’ roll when she leaves her notes on a chair. Markos discovers them, falls in love with her thoughts, and makes it his mission to woo her by fastidiously studying music himself, only to realize he and Illektra might not be such a perfect match after all. The film features "poor lighting and shoddy camerawork," according to Maura Judkis, as well as "a lackluster script and lack of chemistry between the leads."
8:30 p.m. at E Street Cinema

I Killed My Mother
Writer-director Xavier Dolan also stars as 16-year-old Hubert, who alternately hurls insults and showers love upon his mother. "It’s one-note and increasingly unbearable," writes Tricia Olszewski. "No amount of Gus Van Sant stylization can keep you from wanting to tell Hubert to shut the hell up already."
6:30 p.m. at Embassy of Canada

Autumn Adagio
This Japanese drama about a sickly nun who longs after a handsome ballet instructor “spares no frames in smothering the viewer in its self-pitying dialogue and maudlin visuals,” according to Benjamin R. Freed.
6:30 at Regal Gallery Place

White Wedding
Post-apartheid jokes abound in this South African bachelor-party comedy. Before his wedding to Ayala, Elvis takes a road trip from Capetown to Durban with his best man Tumi, which “quickly devolves into a farce that plays out along the country’s racial, cultural, and linguistic divides,” writes Amanda Hess. Meanwhile, Ayala contends with stock wedding drama back in Capetown, including an ex-boyfriend and a gay wedding planner.
8:15 at Regal Gallery Place

Videocracy
Videocracy is Italian documentarian Erik Gandini's indictment of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and his monopoly on Italian media and pop culture. Though the argument is easy to get behind—Berlusconi's women are vapid and consider it the ultimate achievement to marry a footballer—the film suffers from its director’s "intrusive, hyperbolic flourishes," according to Matt Siblo.
8:15 at Regal Gallery Place

Also playing:
Cooking With Stella
6:30 at E Street Cinema

Puccini and the Girl
6:30 at Avalon Theatre

North
8:30 at E Street Cinema

Saviors in the Night
9:00 at Avalon Theatre

The play—a Renaissance bedroom face—is based on one of the 176 Casamarciano scenarios, or plot outlines, housed at the Library of Naples. Director Matthew Wilson says it was the scenario's title that initially caught his eye. "It's like an episode of Frasier," he said. "People are coming and going and hiding from each other."

Given that they only had the scenario to start with, the performers wrote the bulk of the play themselves. "Most of the characters' dialogue is something that each performer came up with in improvisation," Wilson says.

The Commedia dell'Arte tradition features a number of stock characters who maintain the same worldview and social status from one production to the next. The House With Two Doors, for example, features Pulcinella, a servant from Southern Italy who traditionally speaks a Neapolitan dialect.

"Sometimes he has a wife, sometimes he has children," said Wilson. "He's the only servant with his own world, and because of this he embodies the everyman."

(If the masked Pulcinella seems familiar, it may be because he's the basis for Punch—of Punch & Judy fame.)

Speaking of masks: Of the nine characters in the play, five wear them (older men and servants) and four do not (young lovers). Wilson explains:

"The young lovers stopped wearing masks in the 1560s. I'd be inclined to say they stopped wearing them because that time period marked the first time women performed on stage. When the audience got to see unmasked women onstage, it heightened the scandal factor and also probably sold more tickets."

The House With Two Doors was initially set to open Tuesday, but the cast and crew received word last week that the opening would be delayed two days due to the neighboring Nuclear Security Summit. The production runs through May 9.

While Vincere packs emotional weight through the strength of its cast, the actors are just one reason why Formosa Betrayed is a complete failure. Though Betrayed is also about a dictator (Taiwan's Chiang Kai-shek during the Cold War), a cheesy script, overacted lines, and clichéd plot points all contribute to the makings of a straight-to-DVD movie—in the vein, say, anything Jessica Simpson has made in the past four years. It could be no accident that James Van Der Beek looks so bored playing the lead; the film is a dud, and he appears to know it.

Read Tricia Olszewski's review of both films here.

Vortex with author's traveling companion

Washington City Paper: What's your name?
Luca Vortex: Luca Vortex.

That's not your real name. That's a punk name.
That is how everybody knows me.

How old are you?
33.

Are you familiar with go-go music?

Go-go like a dancer?
[Your correspondent and his traveling companion, both Washingtonians, attempt to explain go-go music to LV. Chuck Brown, Rare Essence, and the Junkyard Band are mentioned. Your correspondent asks his companion to remind him what the Junkyard Band's biggest hit is. His companion reminds him: "Sardines." They sing "Sardines" for LV.]
Is the Junkyard Band something with Nick Cave?

No...it's like...it's hard to explain...it's native to Washington...and African-American...these guys cover popular R&B hits, but with a different beat...
They revisit the songs?

Yes, they revisit them...funkily...
That sounds good. I do not know it. I want to know it.

What do you think about when you think about Washington?
The flag.

What do you envision when you think about the city?
I think about something big...something mysterious.

Mysterious?
Like there are big buildings. And mysterious things hidden inside them.

I guess Washington is mysterious.
Does Lincoln have something to do with Washington?

Yes. [Your correspondent and his traveling companion explain the Lincoln Memorial.]
OK....Is the goal of this article to bring more Europeans to Washington?

No.

[Author's note: After the conclusion of this interview, your correspondent's traveling companion deemed Luca Vortex "cute."]

FSW AND UNIDENTIFIED FRIEND

Washington City Paper: What's your name?
Francesco [surname withheld]: Francesco [surname withheld].

How old are you?
28.

You are a young man.
I was an even younger man some years ago.

What are your thoughts about Washington, D.C.?
I have never been to Washington, D.C....but I want to live in the USA. I was living in London for 1.5 years.

Do you like hot dogs?
I love hot dogs. In London, I eat a hot dog once a week. And a Guinness.

Would you like a half-smoke?

What is it?
[Your correspondent, with the help of a American traveling companion, explains the nature and origins of half-smokes. Your correspondent's traveling companion wonders whether either she or your correspondent, both Washingtonians, really know what a half-smoke is.]

I don't know. I have to see it to know if I eat it.

But does it sound appealing?
The question is stupid...If I say "Yes," I'm gonna be a liar. It's like if I ask you, "What do you think about Naples?" but you've never been to Naples. What are you gonna say? The mafia? [Author's note: your correspondent has been to Naples, and he does associate it with the mafia.]

What do you think about when you think about Washington, D.C.?
A big city. Like New York, Washington, D.C., and Las Vegas. I want to live in Las Vegas. I am a bartender. Las Vegas is the house of bartenders.