Other fests and events, 5/14.

By David Hudson on 05/14/2009

"I don't know if 'The Human Condition' was any sort of inspiration for Gustav Hasford, whose Vietnam novel 'The Short-Timers' was adapted to the screen by Stanley Kubrick as 'Full Metal Jacket,' writes the Chicago Reader's JR Jones. "But the parallels between Obara and Private Pyle, the hounded fuckup who finally snaps in the Kubrick film, are hard to ignore. See for yourself: 'The Human Condition,' which totals nearly ten hours and screens in three parts, opens tonight at Gene Siskel Film Center; you can read my long review (and see a full schedule) here. 'Full Metal Jacket' screens as a midnight show at Music Box on Friday and Saturday, the final program of the theater's recent Kubrick retrospective."

"It doesn't really come as a surprise that Chris Marker is a devoted inhabitant of the virtual world Second Life," finds Criterion's Current. "After all, one could call the playful French filmmaker and multimedia artist's kitty - and alter ego - Guillaume-en-Egypt a trailblazing avatar (when asked for pictures of himself, he offers images of the cat instead). Now Marker, who rarely interacts with the public, will give a live guided tour of his Second Life archipelago, 'Ouvroir,' and museum, in a special event at the Harvard Film Archive this Saturday, May 16.... You can get a taste of what's in store with these clips from 'Ouvroir' (parts one, two and three) and the spectacular, spectral museum." Current then posts an interview with Marker, aka Sergei Murasaki, conducted in 2008.

"New York's Museum of Modern Art continues its Julien Duvivier retrospective all through May, bringing to light dozens of dazzling films from this neglected master," writes David Cairns in The Auteurs' Notebook. "'La Bandera' doesn't quite have the electrifying charge of 'Pepe le Moko,' Duvivier's best-known film, but it ought to be better known."

On Sunday, the 941 Theater in Philadelphia will screen three indies by local filmmakers; for the City Paper, Molly Eichel reports on how the evening came together. Also: Sam Adams on this weekend's screenings of Jean-Luc Godard's "Made in USA."

Matt Riviera has the lineup for the Sydney Film Festival, running June 3 through 14.

Susan King rounds up local goings on for the Los Angeles Times.

In his fourth San Francisco International Film Festival diary entry, Darren Hughes looks back on Peter Greenaway's "Rembrandt's J'Accuse" and Patrick Mario Bernard and Pierre Trividic's "The Other One."

For Rhizome, Ceci Moss looks back on the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen.

[Photo: "The Human Condition," Shochiku Kinema Kenkyû-jo, 1959]

Tags: Chris Marker, Jean-Luc Godard, Julien Duvivier, Masaki Kobayashi, Stanley Kubrick