Thursday, April 10, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Mercury

Beyond the Multiplex

This week's special screenings

Ralph Bakshi's The Lord of the Rings

(PG, 132 min.) Yeah, Hobbit-heads, before Peter Jackson there was Ralph Bakshi (Fritz the Cat, Heavy Traffic)--whose ambitious 1978 animated adaptation of the first half of J.R.R. Tokien's Middle-earth trilogy inevitably pales by comparison with Jackson's live-action epic, but remains an interesting rotoscoped curiosity. With the voices of John Hurt (Aragorn), Christopher Guard (Frodo), Dominic Guard (Pippin), William Squire (Gandalf) and Anthony Daniels (of C-3PO fame, as Legolas). NOTBAD (Nevadans Organized to Better Address Diversity) presents Animated World film series, Clark County Library, 1401 E. Flamingo Road, 507-3459, free. Tue., April 15 7:15 p.m.

Scent of Green Papaya

(NR, 104 min.) [Mui du du xanh] Anh Hung Tran's 1993 drama is a slow but exquisitely observed portrait of a 10-year-old peasant girl (Man San Lu) who comes to work in a Saigon household in 1951 and grows to become a beautiful young woman (Tran Nu Yen-Khe). Though shot entirely in Paris, Tran's writing-directing debut is celebrated as the first major movie to spotlight Vietnamese culture in its own terms. Oscar nom: best foreign film. [Vietnamese dialogue, English subtitles] Contemporary Asian film series, Charleston Heights Arts Center, 800 S. Brush St., 229-6383, $4. Tue., April 15 7:30 p.m. (with introduction by UNLV's Bob Benedetto at 7:15). --AA