Reviews of movies that are part of the St. Louis International Film Festival, which have limited, or only single, performances, will appear on St. Louis Eats the day before the movie plays. Some of them may re-appear in the future as commercial releases.
There are lots of conspiracy theorists out there — you know, the people who look beyond the news and the coroners' reports and then develop extensive plots that explain why an event occurred and who really killed whom. They'll all be on the edges of their seats Saturday at 7 p.m. to watch "Radio Free Albemuth" at the Tivoli, part of the St. Louis International Film Festival.
The movie is from he last book written by Philip K. Dick, one of the great science fiction novelists. Although he died in 1982 at the age of 54, Dick's books have continued to be published, or made into films or video games. "Blade Runner," for example, began as his novel, "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?"
And he's a character in the movie that is directed by John Alan Simon, who also wrote the screenplay. Shea Wigham plays a character named Philip, a buddy of the lead, Nicholas Brady (Jonathan Scarfe). Brady works in a bookstore in Berkeley, Calif., and Phil is a musician who understands radio.
We are in an America of the 1980s or so, with a president, Ferris F. Fremont (Scott Wilson) who is leading the nation down a road becoming more and more repressive as Fremont trims away constitutional guarantees in the name of "freedom from those who would destroy us." Sound familiar? In a bit of simplistic coding, Fremont's initials are the sixth letter of the alphabet, giving us 666, or the traditional mark of the Devil.
Voices come to Brady, and he moves to Los Angeles, where he becomes a fabulously wealthy record executive. Unrest continues and Brady becomes involved with a mysterious woman named Syvia (singer Alanis Morissette) who seems to be his protector, under the influence of strange messages emanating from a strange satellite that is a super-intelligent, omnipotent extra-terrestrial. The right wing's police force features Vivian Kaplan (Hanna Hall).
"Radio Free Albemuth" is an interesting tale, with considerable relevance in terms of government actions of today, and of the last 30 years.
The St. Louis International Film Festival, which has grown steadily, begins its 20th year today and runs through Nov. 20 with dozens — maybe hundreds — of features, documentaries and shorts, plus discussions, lectures, panel discussions and parties at five sites, the Tivoli and Plaza Frontenac theaters in St. Louis, the Wildey in Edwardsville and in spaces at Washington and Webster universities. The festival web site is www.cinemastlouis.org.
Radio Free Albemuth plays at the Tivoli Cinema at 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 12
— Joe