How Are the Kids?

A 1990 collection of six fictional shorts, made in diverse corners of the globe and addressing the international rights of children, here having its U.S. premiere. It’s an uneven package, but the filmmakers include the team of Jean-Luc Godard and Anne-Marie Mieville, the late Lino Brocka, and Euzhan Palcy (A Dry White Season). The jewel of the bunch is Boy, an odd, moving fable about racism, without dialogue, written and directed by Jerry Lewis and scored by Georges Delerue. Lewis’s filmmaking gifts — he initially patterned his work after that of his mentor Frank Tashlin, but substituted an invented, free-form universe for a social and satirical one — have been almost totally obscured in this country by debates about his qualities as a comic performer, but here they can be seen in almost pristine form (albeit with an unmistakable social dimension). The other shorts are by Rolan Bykov (from the former USSR) and Ciro Duran (from Colombia). Also showing are four award-winning French Canadian animated shorts from the collection Rights From the Heart (1992). Facets Multimedia Center, 1517 W. Fullerton, Friday and Saturday, December 10 and 11, 7:00 and 9:00; Sunday, December 12, 5:30 and 7:30; and Monday through Thursday, December 13 through 16, 7:00 and 9:00; 281-4114.

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