Guten Tag :: Berlin & Beyond Film Festival returns

The 15th edition of the Berlin & Beyond Film Festival, the Goethe-Institute's annual celebration of German-language films from Germany, Austria and Switzerland (Castro Theatre, Oct. 22-28, with a San Jose encore day, Oct. 30 at the Camera 12 Cinemas), comes during a new time of the year, and features a German co-produced candid portrait of the late Rock Hudson, featuring Armistead Maupin; filmmaker guest appearances; Germany's first 3D animated feature in English (Animals United 3D, 10/24); Pope Joan, a major historical fiction on the possibility of there having once been a female Pope (10/23); special book tie-ins at SF's Books, Inc.; and lavish opening and closing-night parties. Info: www.berlinbeyond.com.

Draft Dodgers

In case you thought the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (a landlocked European monarchy slightly smaller than Rhode Island) was just a real-life model for the Peter Sellers fantasy country in The Mouse that Roared, think again. As demonstrated in Nicolas Steil's taut, erotically charged account of its anti-Nazi resistance movement, this tiny country has a history as dark as any other.

It's 1944, and our hero Francois (the very hunky Gregoire Leprince-Ringuet) faces cruel, impossible choices: either follow his Nazi-collaborating father and attend a Reich-sponsored engineering school, enlist in the Wehrmacht and die on the Russian front, or disappear down a proverbial rabbit hole in an abandoned section of a local coal mine, where a rag-tag army of draft resisters is hiding out. All choices are equally bad, since, as Francois quickly discovers, virtually no one can be trusted, and all roads lead to a probable early grave.

It's filmed in a style that is both lushly naturalistic and at times strikingly impressionistic. There's a haunting scene in the woods where Francois is symbolically sheltered in a grove of trees that resembles a panel from Disney's Fantasia. The tension of a brutal Nazi interrogation scene is filmed with the highly charged imagery of art-house torture porn - all for a good cause, of course.

With an eager young cast playing every kind of war misfit, Draft Dodgers is a timely lesson in resisting the myths of mankind's nobility during times of crisis. (10/25)

Rock Hudson: Dark & Handsome Stranger

This intimate film biography of 1950s Hollywood's most masculine-appearing leading man jumps right into bed, with Tales of the City author Armistead Maupin sharing a special memory that would later be fictionalized as belonging to Maupin's literary alter ego, Michael "Mouse" Tolliver.

"I was so proud that I was climbing Nob Hill with Rock Hudson, and we went back to his suite at the Fairmont Hotel and had our little adventure. I wish I could report it was full of fireworks, but I was simply not able to perform very well because I was with Rock Hudson. And it was very clear he'd been through this before. He sat on the edge of the sofa with me and said, 'You know, I'm just a regular guy like anybody else.' And I said, No, no, you're not, and I'm Doris Day!'"

Andrew Davies and Andre Schafer's intimate portrait of Roy Fitzgerald aka Rock Hudson is chock-full of the kind of revelations a small army of press agents was once employed to suppress or deflect. Hudson, who answered to Roy with close friends, got his big break hooking up with an agent who maintained one of Tinseltown's most notorious same-sex casting couches; the consensus of the interviewees is that Hudson's trademark rugged-man persona was no put-on, and not just any Midwestern small-town lad could have been recruited to fill those boots. Hudson's friendship with Elizabeth Taylor was heartfelt (they both couldn't abide their Giant co-star James Dean), and at the height of his studio fame, he had a two-year "cover" marriage with a lesbian, who then became overly fond of being Mrs. Rock Hudson.

Hudson's favorite of his films was John Frankenheimer's experimental drama Seconds, which bombed here, and proved popular only with Rock and the French. Don't miss this lovely bio about the matinee idol whose AIDS diagnosis and death was a wake-up call for Reagan America. (Castro, 10/25; San Jose, 10/30)

Vincent Wants to Sea

Tourette's syndrome, anorexia and obsessive-compulsive desires drive this surprisingly tender romantic comedy from Ralf Huettner (screenplay by co-star Florian David Fitz). Fitz plays title character Vincent, whose Tourette's-driven barking drove his late mom to drink, and has him trading insults with his uber-ambitious politician dad. Vincent's commitment to a clinic provides him with oddball new pals: Marie, who refuses to eat, and Alexander, too tidy. The candid language - Vincent's frequent outbursts are peppered with the F- and C- words - and good cast chemistry raise this festival opener above the average run of road-caper films about young people too sensitive for their own good. Fitz, cover boy for the festival guide, will appear for this gala opening. (10/22) Fitz will also appear at the Castro screening of Simon Verhoeven's Men in the City, about five guys who bond at a Berlin fitness center. (Castro, 10/23; San Jose, 10/30)

Julia’s Disappearance

"Imagine 50 years from now, a dinner like this will feature some old hags with piercings and tattoos." A group of old friends, accent on the old, gathers at a swank Swiss restaurant to bitch and moan about how annoying it is not to be 35 forever. Seriously, Christoph Schaub's ensemble, featuring a witty coupling between Bruno Ganz and Corinna Harfouch, covers the waterfront, with mostly witty, age-hating one-liners that encompass the fears and phobias of Julia's friends, including a really grumpy male couple. The highlights are a senior food-fight and the lovely evening Julia (Harfouch) has with a gracious older stranger (Ganz) in lieu of what she correctly guesses will be a downer of a 50th birthday party. A how-to-do-it segment features a shoplifting spree by a pair of German teen girls. (Castro, closing night; San Jose, 10/30)

Soul Kitchen

Turkish/German auteur Fatih Akin removes the darker hues from his rambunctious take on Hamburg nightlife as his bumbling hero Zinos (the gorgeously disheveled Adam Bousdoukos) screws up every aspect of his greasy-spoon restaurant business. His attempts to move upscale misfire hilariously - look for a sneaky cameo by Gus Van Sant veteran Udo Kier (My Own Private Idaho). (San Jose only, 10/30)