World of Film

HOMECOMING (U.S.A., 3 p.m.) One day before this made-for-cable drama debuts on Showtime, WorldFest will show it on the big screen. Anne Bancroft and Bonnie Bedelia star in an adaptation of the classic children's novel by Cynthia Voight, about four young siblings who set out on a cross-country trip to find their errant mother and end up at their grandmother's farm, only to discover that she's not very interested in them either. Their task is to convince her that she needs them as much as they need her. (Not Reviewed)

JANE EYRE (U.S.A., 5 p.m.) See listing for Friday, April 12, 8 p.m.
MINA TENNANBAUM (France, 5 p.m.) More than a year after it opened, then quickly closed, in New York, this tragically underappreciated French import is getting a richly deserved second chance on the festival circuit. The extraordinary Romane Bohringer (The Accompanist, Savage Nights) gives a profoundly affecting performance in the lead role as an artist whose discriminating taste and obvious talent are no help to her in her disastrous affairs of the heart. Over a period of years, Mina earns the worshipful respect -- and, sometimes, the resentful envy -- of her childhood friend and confidant, Ethel (vibrant newcomer Elsa Zylberstein), a chronic extrovert who is as exuberant as Mina is introverted. The scenes that focus on the subtly nuanced give and take between Mina and Ethel are the very best parts of Mina Tennanbaum, an extremely promising first feature by writer/director Martine Dugowson. (Joe Leydon)

POMPATUS OF LOVE (U.S.A., 7 p.m.) Dave Barry readers and Steve Miller fans will be intrigued by the title -- moved by the same curiosity that drove the filmmakers to undertake a search for the real meaning of the enigmatic phrase. The title suggests that this is a slightly self-indulgent guy film -- but the slightly self-indulgent guys here are talented boys. Jon Cryer, playwright Adam Oliensis and MTV auteur Richard Schenkman wrote the script. The story, no surprise, is about young guys who talk, at boozy length, about looking for love and the true meaning of pompatus. This could be better than many similar romantic comedies because the writers are a talented trio, and because the cast is terrific. Cryer, Roscoe Lee Brown, Michael McKean, Adrian Pasdar, Mia Sara, Fisher Stevens Jennifer Tilly and Kristin Scott Thomas all have parts in the film. (Not Reviewed)

THE STRANGER MUST FLY (Poland, 7 p.m.) A comedy-drama set after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Stranger follows a Polish stage director who travels to Berlin in order to put on a new play. How he and his cast raise their money is the comedy; troubling changes the director sees taking place in Germany provide the drama. (Not Reviewed)

ACCION MUTANTE (MUTANT ACTION) (Spain, 9:30 p.m.) One of the sub-themes of this year's WorldFest is a salute to 100 years of Spanish cinema, and while it might have been nice to get, say, a new film directed by Pedro Almodovar, at least we get this, a film produced by Agustin Almodovar. Related? Perhaps; the press material doesn't give a clue. And the synopsis makes it clear this isn't likely to be mistaken for one of director Almodovar's works. Instead, it's sci-fi, Iberian style. The year is 2012, the world is dominated by a military-industrial complex, and a bunch of mutants decide to launch an attack against their leaders. The action is described as cartoon-style (though it's also described as way too intense for kids). (Not Reviewed)

CARRIED AWAY (U.S.A., 9:30 p.m.) See "Taking Chances," page 36.

Sunday, April 14
TWO FLAGS (South Korea, 3 p.m.) See "Signals," page 37.
THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS (United Kingdom, 3 p.m.) Kenneth Grahame's classic children's tale of J. Thaddeus Toad, assorted woodland friends and a mania for fast automobiles gets another chance on the big screen. We hope this one is better than Disney's abbreviated version; if it is, it might remind parents as well as kids that the original is well worth a read. (Not Reviewed)

ACCION MUTANTE (Spain, 5 p.m.) See listing for Saturday, April 13, 9:30 p.m.
CARRIED AWAY (U.S.A., 5 p.m.) See "Taking Chances," page 36.
JEROME'S SECRET (Canada, 7 p.m.) Those who have lost their appetite for the well-heeled historical dramas of Merchant-Ivory will find this lyric Acadian tale delicious. Set in Canada during the middle of the 19th century, Jerome's Secret is a fishing village love story -- several love stories, in fact. We have an almost-tragic romance between a husband and wife; the wife's love for her home and country; the love between the wife and her girlhood friend; and, finally, the husband and wife's love for their child. These love stories are told with a clean-limbed grace, and for that touch of the gothic, a key character is a mute amputee who washes up on the beach. (Edith Sorenson)

WHERE TRUTH LIES (U.S.A., 7 p.m.) John Savage heads a cast of direct-to-video regulars in a muddled psychological thriller that doubtless will open soon at a Blockbuster near you. Savage plays Dr. Ian Lazarre, a deeply troubled psychiatrist who tumbles into a deep blue funk of drinking and despair after his first wife dies in an auto mishap. His second wife and his best friend have him committed to a rehab clinic operated by the mysterious Dr. Vernon Renquist (Malcolm McDowell) and the equally ambiguous Nurse Chambers (Kim Cattrall). And that, of course, is when Lazarre's troubles really begin. Where Truth Lies is long on spooky atmosphere, but short on narrative logic. (Joe Leydon)