[Image courtesy of the SFFS and Seville Pictures.]

From this Wednesday night through Sunday, the San Francisco Film Society and SODEC present the inaugural Québec Film Week at Landmark’s Opera Plaza Cinema. Consisting of eight films, all but one of which were recently released, the series focuses mainly on debut films and presents three features by veteran directors. The one older film is an almost obligatory screening of that touchstone of Québécois film history: Claude Jutra’s 1971 classic, Mon Oncle Antoine.

Opening night starts off with one of these fine debuts. Sophie Deraspe’s prior work was in short documentaries, and she brought all that experience to her first feature, a fiction in documentary form entitled Missing Victor Pellerin, about an artist who disappeared fifteen years earlier — that is, if he existed in the first place. It was well-reviewed upon its US release in 2007.

The second film that night is Mommy Is at the Hairdresser’s (pictured above) by the accomplished director Léa Pool. Of the six films I had a chance to preview, this was one of the best. The story plays out in late 1960s suburban Montréal over a tumultuous summer in the life of an adolescent girl, Elise, and her family, which breaks up over the father’s clandestine involvements with other men. After the mother finds out about them — in a powerful, shocking scene, Elise outs him — the mother soon leaves the family, and the rest of the film explores the struggles the family faces without the mother, and the entanglements, romantic and otherwise, among the kids. 

My favorite film by far was Stephane Lafleur’s dry, droll debut Continental, a Film Without Guns, which won the Prix Jutra this year. The title, which still puzzles me, is just the first enigma of many in the story. The description from the festival page — “a meditation on modern loneliness and loss [that] follows a collection of tragic characters and depicts their aimless attempts at connection” — is accurate enough, but it doesn’t even begin to convey how hilarious and touching the film really is. There are many serious turns, many moments that expose the deepest kind of loss and loneliness, but there is a subtle absurdity throughout in the situations the characters find themselves in, and create for themselves, that kept me constantly laughing, and in the end I couldn’t get them out of my head. Definitely don’t miss this one if you have a taste for this kind of thing — and we’ll be hoping for more from Lafleur in the future.

If I had to give an award to the most beautifully-shot film in the series, that would go to The Last Continent, most of which consists of lengthy shots of the Antarctic landscape, illuminated by the brightest, bluest skies on the planet, and accompanied by Donald Sutherland’s soothing voice-over. Directed by Jean Lemire, a scientist and director of three previous films, this film purports to be a documentary about the effects of climate change in Antarctica. In fact, it touches so lightly on the science that it left me a little frustrated, and I often found myself wondering what precisely they were tracking and measuring. But it was interesting all the same: in addition to the incredible photography, it deftly captures life at one of the strangest and most dangerous frontiers on Earth. Plus it entertainingly exposes the social stresses that inevitably develop when a small handful of people is confined to a tiny boat in the middle of a frozen wasteland for several months on end. With four hours of sunlight per day.

The Fight (which is given a much better name, In The Ring, by the subtitles) is another debut feature. It’s highly effective but almost unrelentingly depressing: the ending features the male lead riding his bicycle and smiling, and you can tell that this was supposed to make us feel hopeful, but unfortunately — given what had gone before — that smile was just about the most dispiriting thing I’ve seen all year. And it’s December. That sounds like a bad review, but in fact I thought it was quite a compelling film, put together with an expert sense of pacing and character development. Above all, the best thing about The Fight was the incredible performances given by the male lead, Maxime Desjardins-Tremblay (who also appears in a supporting role in Mommy Is at the Hairdresser’s) and Julianne Cote, who plays the sister. A huge number of the shots are tightly focused close-ups on the actor’s faces, potentially a risky move with adolescents, but here it really works well.

Films not previewed were The Age of Ignorance by Denys Arcand and Borderline by Lyne Charlebois.

Quebec Film Week screens Wednesday, December 10 through Sunday, December 14, 2008 at Landmark’s Opera Plaza Cinema. Tickets on opening night include complimentary reception at Shima Sushi. Visit here to get more information, check out the festival schedule, and buy advance tickets.

It’s tonight, and the exclamation point is mandatory. It’s the last event until next year for the Asian Art Museum’s Matcha series, and I think you can probably guess what the focus will be: “the food, music, and dance of Afghanistan.” The AAM continues:

[This grand finale is] In celebration of the highly anticipated, critically acclaimed special exhibition, Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures from the National Museum, Kabul. See what the press is saying about this “at once revelatory and heart-rending” show (New York Times).

The Bay Area’s own Ballet Afsaneh, a dynamic ensemble whose repertory focuses on Silk Road regions in Central Asia, will perform colorful, kinetic traditional dance. See Afghanistan, go on a guided tour, make jewelry inspired by the ancient Bactrian gold on view, nibble on tasty bites, mingle with friends over cocktails from the cash bar, and much more.

The museum is on Larkin, next door to Main Library. As always, the event runs from 5-9 PM and admission to it is $5. Plus, for that awesome wallet-friendly price, you can check out any exhibit you like. The full evening schedule is here on the event page.

It’s Matcha time! The Asian Art Museum hosts their Matcha event series on the first Thursday of every month, from 5 to 9 in the evening, and tomorrow, October 2nd, is that special day. The theme for tomorrow’s event is Japanese Tattoo:

There’s more to getting inked than you think. Takahiro Kitamura — aka “HORITAKA,” apprentice to the revered master Horiyoshi III — is an author, prolific tattoo artist, and owner of San Jose’s State of Grace. He will deliver a talk on the time-honored art of Japanese tattoos, a rich culture of beauty, commitment, and history.

See LIVE demonstrations of employing both traditional (no electric needles!) and modern techniques. Joining Horitaka’s diverse, talented crew of tattooists are special guests from Japan — Shige, a powerhouse tat artist who’s showcased all over the world; Mutsuo, who’s designed for Bathing Ape and Hysteric Glamour; and Kazunobu Nagashima, a client of Shige who will proudly display his backpiece, which won a 2007 Milano Tattoo Convention award.

In addition, dip into the world of Zen among ancient Samurai warriors through a guided tour of the galleries, learn about Japanese altars, sample teas by Ito En, soak up DJ Saiman’s aural offerings, enjoy a cocktail with friends, and much more.

The museum is on Larkin next door to Main Library. Admission is $5 after 5 PM, and as they imply up there, for that awesome price you get the run of the museum. Their special exhibition at the moment is Arts of the Islamic World from Turkey to Indonesia, featuring artifacts from the museum’s collection. (They’re tooling up for a big show about Afghanistan that won’t open for three weeks. But we’ll talk about that next month.)

Readers tomorrow will include Tamim Ansary, Justin Chin, Jane Ganahl, Leah Garchik, Kathi Kamen Goldmark, Jewelle Gomez, Kemble Scott, April Sinclair (April Sinclair!), Kevin Smokler, K.M. Soehnlein, and it will be moderated by Jack Hirschman. What a lineup!

It turns out that the last week of September is Banned Book Week. (Amusingly, the press release from the library refers to it once as BBW; somebody should tell them the acronym is spoken for.) Observance of Banned Book Week, which is sponsored by every national book- and library-related organization, is meant to “remind Americans not to take this precious democratic freedom [the freedom to read] for granted,” according to the press release. It goes on: “Banned Books Week celebrates the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one’s opinion even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular and stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of those unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints to all who wish to read them. Intellectual freedom can exist only where these two essential conditions are met.”

Normally I like to confine my recommendations to wallet-friendly events, but next week there are two events close together at the Herbst Theater that I can’t resist mentioning: Paul Auster in conversation with Michelle Richmond on Tuesday the 16th, and Junot Diaz in conversation with Paul Lancour on Thursday the 18th. Tickets are a pricey $20 for the hour-long live interview, but as far as I know, all proceeds go to benefit the 826 College Scholarship program. So when you spend that money, just think of the great kids you’ll be helping to send to college.

Listen to Paul Auster here, reading the first chapter of his latest novel, Man in the Dark, on the KQED Writers’ Block Podcast; and here’s an interesting 5-minute audio interview with Junot Diaz, done before he won the Pulitzer Prize for The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. (There’s lots of great audio over on the right-hand side of that page, too: don’t miss it!) Also you can check out my review of his novel here.

A Swedish woman now living in Hayes Valley wonders: “Can somebody please explain to me why staff in the Golden Gate Park always leave the engines running while they load and un-load their trucks in the park? While clearing shrubs, cleaning up flower-beds and so on. The engines are always on. It doesn’t make any sense.”

Previously:
Idle NY theater critic visits, finds our scene wanting
Visitor finds SF “too hilly to be dull“

I’m hardly breaking new ground by reviewing Zuni, but more and more, I’ve run into people who’ve lived in San Francisco for at least a couple of years and have never eaten there. My advice: invite some out-of-town guests to visit and take them to Zuni.

Zuni Café
1658 Market Street (btwn. Franklin and Gough)
415.552.2522

• What kind of food is it? Fresh, sustainably grown / harvested ingredients prepared in French and Italian styles.
• What can you get to drink? Full bar with some spins on classic cocktails (I like the balsamic bloody mary), a one-sheet wine list with a good breadth of choices, nice selection of non-alcoholic beverages.
• Would you eat there again? I do. Probably too frequently.
• Would you eat there once a week (or more)? Short answer: Absolutely. Longer answer: It’s a little pricey for weekly dining. That being said, you can spend under $30 by getting a burger and plate of shoestring fries. Unfortunately, they only serve the burger at lunch or after 10 p.m., but it’s completely worth altering your plans to eat at those times. The burger is wonderful.
• Would you go out of your way to eat there? Yes, yes, a thousand times, yes.
• Would you recommend the place to your friends? I have and will continue to do so.
• Would you take your parents there? The in-laws, even. I’d suggest going after 10 p.m., perhaps after a night at the symphony. Order the caesar salad and some raw oysters to start and the roasted chicken (Sweet Jesus, the chicken!), a burger and fries for entrées. Depending on how much you like your in-laws, I’d also advise a bottle (or three) of wine.
• Would you take a first date there? Absolutely. I’m not going to get along with any girl who doesn’t like the food here.
• Would you take kids? I suppose. Point of fact: the children I’ve seen eating at Zuni are some of the most well-behaved I’ve ever seen. My deepest thanks to those parents.
• Do they take reservations? Yes, and I would highly recommend making them. However, the limited bar seating is first-come, first-served and the full menu is available there.

What more can I say? I’ve never had a bad meal at Zuni. In fact, one night a couple of years ago, they made a truffle burger (hamburger patty studded with chunks of black truffle) that might have been one of my most transcendent burger experiences. I check the menu for that burger to this day.

Before you protest about a totally positive review, I must admit, the chicken was a touch dry the last time I had it, which merely brought it down to the level of a normal restaurant’s instead of head-and-shoulders better as is typical. But, for my money, Zuni is consistently one of the best eateries in The City and will continue to be one of my must-dine-if-you’re-in-San-Francisco restaurants.

What is a Literary Death Match? It works like this: there are four contenders and a panel of judges. Two contenders are allotted ten minutes each to stun, enchant, and delight the judges and audience with their deathless prose. Subsequently, the judges have an open panel on these readings, and judge them on literary merit, as performance, and on “intangibles” — then they vote to choose the winner of the first round. Repeat with the other two.

In the final round, the two survivors face off. Not with further readings, but rather in some kind of gladiatorial combat: the Death Match Challenge!

Like, for instance, a miniature basketball contest.

Usually by then, audience and contestants alike are somewhere between “kind of tipsy” and “probably-if-not-definitely drunk,” which of course just makes everyone funnier, smarter, and better-looking.

Doors open at 6:00; admission $10, but you get a free copy of Opium 6: Go Green once you’re in there. If past performance is indicative of future results, the show will be great entertainment: you’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll order one drink too many. Don’t miss it!

You won’t find star ratings here. You won’t find a lot of flowery descriptions of food or snarky comments about service. And you especially won’t find any charming back story about how the chef’s first job was cleaning the deep fryers at McDonald’s before securing the financing to open a wildly successful San Francisco bistro.

Instead, you’ll find the answer to ten questions that, to me, encapsulate the San Francisco dining experience:

• What kind of food is it?
• What can you get to drink?
• Would you eat there again?
• Would you eat there once a week (or more)?
• Would you go out of your way to eat there?
• Would you recommend the place to your friends?
• Would you take your parents there?
• Would you take a first date there?
• Would you take kids?
• Do they take reservations?

Our first entry:
Bar Jules (And yes, I know that I got scooped by Michael Bauer at sfgate.com yesterday. Bar Jules deserves all the good press that it gets.)
609 Hayes (at Laguna, next to Suppenküche)
415.621.5482

• What kind of food is it? Fresh California with a French bistro influence.
• What can you get to drink? Wine, beer, Blue Bottle coffee, rosebud tea.
• Eat there again? Absolutely.
• Eat there once a week or more? Sure. Menu changes daily, but it’s a little pricey.
• Go out of your way to eat there? Yes, but it’s more a neighborhood place.
• Recommend to friends? Absolutely.
• Take your parents there? Yes, probably for a weekend lunch.
• Take a first date there? Yes.
• Take kids? Yes, for lunch.
• Take reservations? For parties of 6+ only.

The Wife and I had lunch there on Saturday, and it was wonderful. If they have Meyer Lemon Cake on the menu when you go, get it.

No, really. I don’t care it you don’t have room for dessert; get it.