ON SCREEN

Caramel

Starring Gisele Aouad, Yasmine Al Masri, Siham Haddad, and Nadine Labaki
PG, 95 mins. (Roadside Attractions)
****

I've always been (and will continue to be) a huge fan of the “four girlfriends against the world” storyline. Everything from The Facts of Life to Sex and the City—dish it up and I'm at the table. So it's no surprise how much I truly enjoyed the Lebanese film Caramel. The story unfolds in a beauty parlor in Beirut and revolves around four central characters and their woes: Layal, who is having an affair with a married man; Nisrine, the bride to be who's no longer a virgin; Rima is the blossoming lesbian; and faded actress Jamale is terrified of growing old. This film is as warm and sweet as its title, with real performances and beautiful cinematography that puts you in the heart of the Left Bank. In a foreign land of patrolling soldiers and frequent blackouts it's reassuring to know that there are strong women living their lives unapologetically, speaking the universal language of pedicures and blow-outs. —GEORGE SKINNER

The Band's Visit

Starring Ronit Elkabetz, Sasson Gabai, Saleh Bakri
PG-13, 87 minutes, (Sony Pictures Classics)
**

The Band's Visit won a slew of awards in its native Israel, but this crowd-pleaser is a highly overrated comedy about eight members of Egypt's Alexandrian Police Orchestra lost in a remote Israeli town, reluctantly relying on the kindness of strangers. The film can be bittersweet, as when Tawfiq (Sasson Gabai), the captain of the band, strikes up a bond with the lonely, divorced café owner Dina (the excellent Ronit Elkabetz). However, writer/director Erin Kolirin tries too hard to make the culture clash gently amusing. Scenes of the band's handsome lothario Khaled (Saleh Bakri) teaching an Israeli guy how to score with women are unfunny, as are the bits featuring an Egyptian who wants to use the phone being stymied by an Israeli waiting anxiously for a call. The Band's Visit wants to be a charming deadpan comedy, but with the misfit characters transforming in the expected ways, it is just dead on arrival. —GARY M. KRAMER

Worth Repeating

The Hanging Garden
[1997]

Let’s dispense with the negative right away, as while there is some clichéd dialogue and a plot twist or two that one can see barreling forward like a big pink train, The Hanging Garden, on the whole, is one of the better gay films that came out during the explosion of queer cinema in the late ‘90s. While many of the films made then were tinged with a certain sentimentality that grated my cold black heart, The Hanging Garden, while guilty of being somewhat maudlin itself, portrays a darker, and in my opinion, more honest slice of life. The film is set in a small Canadian seaside village that is nothing more than a bucolic prison for the film’s protagonist, Sweet William, a wonderfully sardonic character who’s beautifully portrayed by Chris Leavins. Raised by a put-upon mother and a tyrannical alcoholic father, a man more interested in seeing his garden thrive than his offspring, Sweet William morphs from quiet child into a morbidly obese teen who finds solace in food. After being caught in a brief sexual encounter with his sister’s boyfriend, and enduring a humiliating “corrective” one his mother forces upon him, William takes matters into his own hand, only to be haunted by the events upon his return home ten years later. The Hanging Garden is a film that is both tragic and darkly amusing, one that deftly deals with the themes of filial love and abuse, the tragedy of self-loathing, and the need to cut the ties that bind in order to save one’s self. —Jamie Barton

LIMITED RUN

Boogie Nights

CINEinsomnia presents the fictional story of Dirk Diggler (Mark Wahlberg), as he rises to the top of the porn industry in the 1970s, thanks in large part to his hidden “talent.” This character ensemble includes Scotty (Phillip Seymour Hoffman), who can't keep his eyes, and hands, off of Dirk's sculpted body. Nuart Theatre. Fri., Feb. 1. Midnight. www.landmarktheatres.com.

Caramel

In a Beirut beauty salon, five women meet regularly sharing intimate conversations revolving around men, sex and motherhood, between haircuts and sugar waxing with caramel. Landmark Theatre. Fri., Feb. 1. www.landmarktheatres.com.

The Neo Noir World of the Coen Brothers

The films of Joel and Ethan Coen embrace dark humor, solid storytelling, and eccentric characters, none more evident than their Oscar nominated No Country For Old Men. American Cinemateque showcases a quartet of their masterpieces: Fargo, Blood Simple, Miller's Crossing, and Barton Fink. The Egyptian. Fri., Feb. 1 & Sat., Feb. 2. 7:30 p.m. www.americancinematheque.com.

Victor/Victoria

Nominated for seven Academy Awards in 1982, this musical takes place in 1930s Paris. Singer Victoria Grant (Julie Andrew) masquerades as a man impersonating a woman to make ends meet with the help of her friend Toddy (Robert Preston) posing as her gay lover. Rigler Theatre at The Egyptian. Wed., Feb. 6. 7:30 p.m. www.outfest.org.

HOMO MUST

Born In Flames

The Outfest Legacy Project, which showcases a collection of gay historical films, celebrates the 25th anniversary of this film, which presents a socialist government gaining power in the future and how minority, liberal, gay-rights, and feminists groups are dealt with. Billy Wilder Theater. Sun., Feb. 10. 7 p.m. $10. www.cinema.ucla.edu.