Thursday, March 20, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Mercury

Beyond the Multiplex

This week's special screenings

A•da's Brothers and Sisters: Black Voices in Opera

Not rated. 90 minutes. Jan Schmidt-Garre and Marieke Schroeder's 2000 PBS documentary profiles pioneering African-American opera stars Marian Anderson and the Paul Robeson and features interviews with such renowned singers as Grace Bumbry, Barbara Hendricks, Jessye Norman and Leontyne Price. "Makes You Wanna Holler" film series, West Las Vegas Library, 951 W. Lake Mead Blvd., 507-3980, free. Tue., March 25, 6 p.m.

King of the Hill

Rated PG-13. 103 minutes. Steven Soderbergh's evocative 1993 film of A.E. Hotchner's Depression-era memoir, set in 1930s St. Louis, stars the enchanting Jesse Bradford as a 12-year-old fending for himself and kid brother Cameron Boyd after their ailing mom (Lisa Eichhorn) is sent to a sanatorium and dad (Jeroen Krabbé) takes a job as a traveling salesman. Stylistically, the most conventional film from the director of sex, lies and videotape and Traffic. With Adrien Brody, Spalding Gray and Elizabeth McGovern. Charleston Heights Arts Center, 800 S. Brush St., 229-6383, $4. Tue., March 25, 7:30 p.m. (with introduction by UNLV's Bob Benedetto at 7:15).

The Man Who Fell to Earth

Rated R. 140 minutes. David Bowie is the interstellar visitor trying to colonize Earth to procure water for his own planet. Nicolas Roeg's uncompromising but beautifully shot 1976 fantasy, based on Walter Trevis' novel, was memorably panned by British critic Michael Billington thus: "Once you have pierced through its glittering veneer, you find only another glittering veneer underneath." With Candy Clark, Buck Henry and Rip Torn. Plus American History (Abridged): A new short by Las Vegas indie filmmaker Chad Simmons. Paseo Verde Library, 280 S. Green Valley Pkwy., 492-6580 or www.hdpl.org, free. Thu., March 20, 6:30 p.m.--AA