Utz

A likable minor-key effort about a Czech baron (Armin Mueller-Stahl) who collects porcelain figures, adapted by Hugh Whitemore from a novel by Bruce Chatwin and directed by George Sluizer (the Dutch filmmaker best known for The Vanishing and its U.S. remake). This British-German production, with effective secondary performances by Paul Scofield, Brenda Fricker, and Local Hero’s Peter Riegert, is partially a wry satiric look at Eastern Euopean communism and partially an exercise in fragmented story telling. It shows a fair amount of wit and restraint in both departments and qualifies as civilized entertainment, if not much more. Music Box, Friday through Thursday, May 14 through 20. Read more

Number 17

A peculiar and neglected early Hitchcock stage adaptation (1932), notable because it was intended partly as an absurdist send-up and none of the contemporary reviewers got the point. (The opening sequence suggests a kind of delirium of continuity that the picture periodically returns to.) Most of the film is set in an abandoned house, where enjoyably murky intrigues abound, and the last ten minutes feature a chase sequence with miniatures that is almost as much fun. A new 35-millimeter print will be shown. Film Center, Art Institute, Columbus Drive at Jackson, Friday, May 14, 7:45, 443-3737. Read more