Pop quiz, hotshot. There’s a book signing with a Hollywood director. Once you go, you’ll miss the documentary about former Pizza Huts. If you pick that one, your schedule blows up.
What do you do? What do you do?
Howard Payne didn’t program the 17th annual Milwaukee Film Festival — after all, he lost his head in “Speed” — but the impossible dilemmas presented on the day-by-day calendar resemble his vengeful handiwork. The festival bus hits the gas tonight with “Sally,” a documentary about pioneering astronaut Sally Ride, and then will swerve toward more than 200 feature and short films on five screens over 15 days. There’s no road map, no way to see everything worth seeing.
Sacrifices will have to be made.
Friday
For example, on the festival’s first full day you could attend “Rent Free” (7:30 p.m., Downer Theatre), Fernando Andrés’ promising comedy-drama about two down-on-their-luck guys scheming to couch surf for an entire year. Strong choice, but it carries a hidden cost: You’d miss “The Shrouds” (6:15 p.m., Oriental Theatre), which might be the festival’s crowning acquisition. If the morbid premise — a widower invents grave cams so family members can watch the decomposing bodies of their loved ones — sounds positively Cronenbergian, that’s because it was conceived by, um, David Cronenberg. The 82-year-old Canadian master of body horror (“Videodrome,” “The Fly”) lost his wife Carolyn in 2017 and says this deeply personal film springs from his own grief.
Saturday
Sprinkled with punctuation rather than parmesan, the title “Slice of Life: The American Dream. In Former Pizza Huts.” (10:30 a.m., Downer Theatre) announces Matthew Salleh’s documentary as oddball Americana. Who could resist a movie that finds meaning in a pizza chain’s distinctive architecture and the new businesses that now inhabit those buildings? But who could pass up the opportunity to meet film director Susan Seidelman, who will be around the corner at the same time? She will visit the Oriental Theatre to sign copies of her new memoir, present a retro screening of her 1985 hipster comedy
Sunday
If you think outside the (pizza) box, you could meet Seidelman on Saturday and catch the only other showing of “ Slice of Life” (2:30 p.m., Oriental Theatre) on Sunday. However, that would mean skipping “This Is a Film About the Black Keys” (1:30 p.m., Oriental Theatre), a friction-filled documentary about how the Akron, Ohio indie rock duo reached arena stardom. Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney, it’s worth mentioning, are just two artists in the festival’s planned galaxy of stars. Other music documentaries will spotlight John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Pavement, Linda Perry, Blur, Jackie Shane, Randy Bachman, house music and the history of Green Bay punk rock. Want to see (and hear) ‘em all? Remember your Rolling Stones: “You can’t always get what you want.”
Monday
But if you try sometime, you'll find that your ears get what they need. In what has become an annual tradition, the world-famous Anvil Orchestra will provide the festival’s main musical event by performing a live in-theater accompaniment to a classic silent picture.
This year’s selection is “Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror” (6:30 p.m., Oriental Theatre), F.W. Murnau’s Expressionist masterpiece from 1922. That’s bad news for “Janis Ian: Breaking Silence” (7 p.m., Oriental Theatre), a nonfiction portrait of the singer-songwriter that has been cursed with being programmed opposite an apocalyptic vampire that can only be vanquished through the sacrifice of an innocent, pure-hearted woman.
Tuesday
In “Nikah” (8 p.m., Oriental Theatre), the doomed young woman is Dilber, who feels pressured by her Uyghur mother to marry and partake in a religious ceremony forbidden by the Chinese government. “Bride for sale,” Dilber defiantly tags a selfie, but the most dangerous pictures are those recorded by state surveillance. The movie, which I’ve seen, uses a soft touch to create a culturally specific family drama and, on the sly, assemble small details about living in the shadow of tyranny that build to a gut punch. Unfortunately, catching the 56minute “Nikah” would require missing nine even shorter movies that comprise one of the fest’s hottest tickets. “Shorts: Let’s Get Animated” (7:15 p.m., Downer Theatre) always stands tall among the many short film programs, as does “Shorts: Date Night” (7 p.m., Oriental Theatre), which — you guessed it — will play simultaneously.
Wednesday
While Milwaukee Film treats dues-paying members to a 4 p.m. Super Secret Members-Only Screening, the general public can check out one, and only one, of a trio of LGBTQ films, including the sports documentary “Row of Life” (3:30 p.m., Oriental Theatre), the Irish comedy “Four Mothers” (3 p.m., Oriental Theatre) and the coming-of-age drama “Young Hearts” (3 p.m., Downer Theatre), which follows a 14-year-old harboring his first crush. If you can steel yourself for a more distressing story about kids, the fourth option is “Separated” (3:45 p.m., Downer Theatre), Errol Morris’ blood-boiling prosecution of the first Trump administration’s border policy of ripping apart immigrant families. While I don’t think “Separated” ranks among Morris’ finest documentaries (I’m partial to “Mr.
Death” and “Fog of War”), it does share with them a diagnostic approach that examines whether our national scruples still have a pulse.
Let me also vouch for “All Shall Be Well,” one of my favorite movies of the year so far. Set in Hong Kong, Ray Yeung’s autumnal drama follows Angie, an aging lesbian trying to save her home when Pat, her lifelong partner, dies. Legal questions and a national housing crisis are key to the story, yet the movie is far more interested in the way disputes over Pat’s funeral and spacious apartment bruise Angie’s relationship with Pat’s family. It’s wise about how warmth toward loved ones can cool, and tearful about how Angie’s happy life has, at twilight, plunged into a series of slights, erasures and lonely hours.
Wait, gimme a minute to double-check the program guide. Right here it says “All Shall Be Well” will screen at 1:15 p.m. Saturday at the Downer Theatre … which means the only way to see it is to pass on Susan Seidelman and the Pizza Hut movie. Figures.
The Milwaukee Film Festival starts today and runs through May 8. The full lineup is online at mkefilm.org/mff.
Most tickets are $15, but discounts are available for seniors, students, educators, children and military members. Tickets can be purchased online, by phone or in person at the Oriental Theatre and Downer Theatre box offices. Be advised: Both venues moved to cashless operations in March.
(Eric Beltmann teaches film and literature in West Bend. He has written about cinema for print and web outlets since 1991.)
