Ben Whishaw and Matthew Goode star in a new adaptation of Brideshead Revisited (Miramax)

We get a break from superheroes this week as a new adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's 1945 novel Brideshead Revisited comes to the big screen. PBS adapted Brideshead Revisited back in 1981. The very popular mini-series concerned class and religion in pre-war England, and it launched Jeremy Irons' career. But a mini-series has the luxury of time that a single feature film does not. So that's the challenge facing Julian Jarrold as he revisits Brideshead Revisited (opened August 1 at Landmark's Hillcrest and La Jolla Village Theaters) and must decide what to cut and what to hold onto from Waugh's novel. So while the PBS series got to cover more of the actual text, this new film offers a truncated but more narrowly focused version of the book.

Hanna Schygulla is one of six fine performers in The Edge of Heaven (Strand Releasing)

Hollywood was smart enough to clear the runway for the Batman landing. All mainstream studios served up were strong counterprogramming like Mamma Mia! for women and Space Chimps for kids. But at least those films had enough studio backing to let those demographics know that options to The Dark Knight would be available. But over at the Landmark art houses there's some counter-programming as well but their new openings may just get lost among this weekend. That's too bad because both Tell No One and The Edge of Heaven (opening July 18 at Landmark's Ken Cinema) are worth checking out. The Edge of Heaven is the fifth feature by Fatih Akin, but the first I've had a chance to see. But now I'm eager to seek out the others.

In reading about German-born Turkish writer-director Akin's other films, I can see that he's interested in cross cultural tales, most specifically those involving Turks and Germans. His lastest outing concerns four Turks and a pair of Germans whose lives fatefully intersect. The two driving forces here are love and tragedy, love bringing characters together and tragedy forcing them to connect with others. Dividing his film into three parts, Akin gives us fair warnings of the tragedies by labeling two chapters Yeter's Death and Lotte's Death, with the final chapter bearing a more ambiguous title of From the Other Side.

Although all the performances are top notch, it is great to see Fassbinder favorite Hanna Schygulla (remember her from The Marriage of Maria Braun?) again. Akin keeps his complex tale moving with careful efficiency and rich humanity.

The Edge of Heaven (unrated and in German, Turkish, English with English subtitles) serves up a tale of two divergent cultures and the individuals who reach across those cultural lines to connect.

Companion viewing: The Marriage of Maria Braun, Solino, Head On

A Four Letter Word opens this year's FilmOut.

FilmOut San Diego celebrates its tenth anniversary this month, expanding for the first time to a full week of films. The festival was created as a showcase for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender works. The event kicks off April 11 at Landmark's Ken Cinema with the San Diego premiere of A Four Letter Word.

Are you in the mood for love this Valentine's Day? (Block 2 Pictures)

Okay my idea of a good date movie for Valentine's Day is Shaun of the Dead. So maybe I'm not the best person to be making Valentine's Day recommendations. But there's one contemporary filmmaker who consistently tackles love with such lush romanticism that even I swoon at his movies. That filmmaker is Wong Kar-Wai. In person, Wong himself cuts a romantic figure with his spiky haircut, ever-present shades and a cherished cigarette smoldering between his fingers.

TONY LEUNG: "He is very mysterious on the set. I don't know what happens behind those sunglasses. Maybe he's sleeping, I don't know."

That's actor Tony Leung. He's worked with Wong for more than a decade.

TONY LEUNG: "The most interesting thing is that even though you know you character very well after you finish all the shooting, you will never have an idea what the story is about because he will do that in the editing room."

Whipping up heady romantic cocktails in the editing room is something Wong does exceptionally well. His films offer mood rather than story, and sweep you up with their  intoxicating and expressionistic images. Although each of Wong's films has a distinctly different flavor, they all expand on a similar pool of ideas -- love, loss, desire and a fascination with tangled romantic relationships. Wong says that in a sense he's just making a single epic work, with each film an added chapter.

Escape From Luanda screens February 1 at the San Diego Black Film Festival (Seventh Art)

The Fifth Annual San Diego Black Film Festival kicks off Thursday January 31st at the Regal United Artists Theaters at Horton Plaza. Opening night highlights an eclectic mix of documentaries, shorts, features and world premieres along with an opening night reception and a Hip Hop Movie Marathon to take you late into the evening. The four-day event will showcase a hundred films, parties, panels, awards and celebrities. There will even be a Shaft/Superfly Party on Friday night. Can you dig it?

Nina's Heavenly Delights is SDWFF's opening night feature (Regent Releasing)

Two years ago the San Diego Girl Film Festival changed its name to the San Diego Women's Film Festival. That marked not only the growing maturity of the festival but also a growing maturity in the types of films the event is now showcasing. Women filmmakers seem more and more aware of their place in an international marketplace and their responsibilities as artists concerned with global issues. Marking its fifth year, the San Diego Women's Film Festival kicks off October 4 with a noon Student Film Outreach program at the Museum of Photographic Arts followed later in the evening by a kick off party at the Whistle Stop at 7:30 pm. The festival runs through Sunday. Read on or listen to my Film Chat with Maureen and Dwane.

FilmOut's opening night feature Boy Culture

This years FilmOut will showcase thirteen features and twenty-five shorts. As with recent years, FilmOut 2007 has a distinctly international flavor with works from Spain, Germany, Canada, England, Austria and the United States. Plus a Saturday matinee Creature Feature and a Friday Night Horror flick.

The opening night film (which will be followed by an after-party at Top of the Park at Park Manor Suites) is Q. Allan Brockas Boy Culture. A young man introduces himself as X. He tells us that hes a hustler, but a high end one with an exclusive clientele of 12 that he refers to as his disciples. He explains that in a certain respect he considers himself a virgin because he never has sex outside of his job. Such reasoning recalls the kind of conundrum Hal Hartley raised when he presented a character in Amateur who was a nun that had never had sex yet considered herself a nymphomaniac. X narrates his life and takes us through the twists and turns of his relationships. He maintains an ironic humor and distance that keeps the tone appealing and engaging. Newcomer Derek Magyar makes an attractive feature film debut as X while veteran Patrick Bachau lends an air of maturity and wisdom to the proceedings. Brockas writing is sometimes calculated but its also often crisp and funny.

Boy Culture screens with the shorts Available Men and Feet of Clay.

On Friday, April 20, theres an afternoon screening of Gypo. Director Jan Dunn follows in the tradition of Ken Loach and Mike Leigh. Dunn employs a handheld, naturalistic style as he chronicles the breakdown of a working class family. Helen (Pauline McLynn) and Paul (Paul McGann) have been married for more than two decades. Their daughter is a single mom living at home with them and hoping that her parents will take over the care of her infant child. Helen is aching to break free. She dabbles in adult art classes while her husband wallows in bitterness. Then enters Tasha (Chloe Sirene), a Romany Czech refugee seeking freedom of her own. Shes awaiting a British passport so that she can never be made to return to her abusive husband. Helen and Tasha develop a tentative friendship and then romance.

England's Gypo

The film has a documentary feel as it observes its characters and records their stories. Dunn structures the film as three narratives with each reflecting a different characters perspective on events. The film bears the Dogme 95 label, which reflects Dunn stripped down aesthetic. The performances are raw and real with the biggest surprise being McLynn who some may remember as the hilarious and decrepit Mrs. Doyle from the BBC TV comedy Father Ted. Sirene is lovely as the damaged Tasha whos trying to rebuild a life in a foreign country. This program is co-sponsored by the San Diego Women Film Festival.

On Friday evening, ? Susanna Edwards Keillers Park from Germany screens. The film involves a businessman named Peter who is accused of murder. As the interrogation proceeds we fill in details of his life and his alleged crime. The film is shot and cut with energy and flair but the script plays out along somewhat predictable lines. Pjotr Giro stands out as the exotic romantic interest.

Just to prove that the festival is not just about high art and social consciousness, FilmOut hosts a campy morning of fun with its Saturday Creature Feature. Paying homage to the fifties horror flicks is Chris Dianis Creatures from the Pink Lagoon. Shot in black and white with what you could call monster pink-o-vision, the film focuses on a group of gay men gathering for a birthday party at a beach cottage. There are some deliberate stock characters: the sissy-ish Phillip (Nick Garrison); a hunky stud Billy (Vincent Kovar); a nerdy-closeted type Joseph (Evan Mosher); and a bitterly ironic queen named Randall (Philip D. Clarke). The party is soon disrupted by a horde of ravenous flesh-eating zombies. Diani blends B horror flicks and pre-Stonewall gay melodramas. The result is uneven but silly and fun. It plays with Attack of the Bride Monster, a stylized mix of live action and animation that pays homage to both romantic comedies and monster movies of the 50s.

Later on Saturday its a program with an Asian flair as Ray Yeungs feature Cut Sleeve Boys and Michael Mews Peking Turkey are paired up and co-presented by the San Diego Asian Film Festival. Cut Sleeve Boys begins with a funeral and uses it as a means of introducing us to Asian gay culture in Metropolitan London. The film boasts lively performances, some sharp dialogue and stylish visuals. Aptly paired with it is the sweetly funny Peking Turkey about a young man who wants to announce his gay marriage to his conservative Chinese parents over Thanksgiving dinner.

Whispering Moon

Also on Saturday is my favorite of the festival, Whispering Moon/Das flstern des mondes. The film begins with an interrogation that seems intense and potentially dangerous. Moving back and forth in time, Jannis relates how he and his mute boyfriend Patrick secretly joined a circus in order to shoot an undercover documentary exposing a political conspiracy involving poisonous frogs. The subject matter has a dark undertone yet the film as a whole is endlessly playful, surprisingly witty and visually inventive. Filmmaker Michael Satzinger blends a variety of media and narrative approaches to weave a story about telling a story. His characters adjust their story as it is playing out and asks us to ponder the very nature of storytelling and why we tell stories. One character suggests, Everyone wants to be deceived. And Satzinger's point in using new technology and media is to show how easily we can be deceived--how easy it is to alter images and make things appear different from what they really are. Whispering Moon will delight and dazzle. Make an effort to see this one because it may not play again in San Diego.

Aptly paired with Whispering Moon is the short Guy 101. Employing a similar mix of media and reference to computers, Guy 101 weaves a funny then disturbing tale of a date gone wrong. The film maintains a dry tone and delivers humor with a scary undertone and a punchline that raises all sorts of questions.

On Sunday more traditional storytelling can be found in the lovely ?Loving Annabelle? by Katherine Brooks. The film echoes the mood and sentiment of Lost and Delirious, a FilmOut selection from a couple years back that also deal with lesbian love at a girls school. The story involves a Catholic School teacher, Simone Bradley (Diane Gaidry), who has an affair with a female student, Annabelle (Erin Kelly). The film is gracefully shot and delivered in a low-key manner. The performances are all fine and the film is well crafted.

Last year Spain contributed the festivals best film, 20 Centimeters, a bold , brash tale of a narcoleptic transsexual who has MGM style musical fantasies. This year Spain contributes El Calentito from Chus Gutierrez. Although I was unable to preview this film it does promise some of the same energy and flair that 20 Centimeters delivered. The film revolves around an innocent girl who enters a wild world of rock and sex at the underground nightclub El Calentito, owned by a sassy transsexual. The film is set during the birth of the La Movida movement in Spain, a time period that proved inspirational to directors such as Pedro Almodvar. The film is co-presented by the San Diego Latino Film Festival.

The closing night feature on Sunday is another film that I was unable to see in advance. The film is from Canada and called C.R.A.Z.Y. it is being touted as a wild ride through one Montreal boy's tumultuous teen life as he discovers himself. The film won ten Canadian Academy Awards and makes it's San Diego theatrical premiere at FilmOut.

Hopefully this preview conveys the diversity of films on display. That fits in with the festivals mission statement to enlighten, educate, and entertain the communities of San Diego County through the exhibition of LGBT-themed films. FilmOut San Diego seeks to recognize, promote, celebrate and support the important diverse artistic contributions LGBT filmmakers make to our community. For the full Festival Schedule and more ticket information, go to http://www.filmoutsandiego.com.

Theres probably nothing worse for a filmmaker than to make a film on the same subject at the same time as someone else. Baz Luhrman was planning to make a film about Alexander the Great but Oliver Stone beat him to the punch. Then when Stones film bombed at the box office, Baz tabled his project indefinitely. In the case of Infamous, filmmaker Douglas McGrath faced the dilemma of opening his Capote biopic after Bennett Miller delivered the highly acclaimed Capote. McGrath and the studio decided to put some distance between their project and the Oscar-winning Capote in the hopes that audiences would be more open to a second interpretation of events after a bit of a breather.

Both films do cover the same period of time and events, which is the late 1950s and early 60s when Capote was writing In Cold Blood, his non-fiction novel about the brutal killing of a Kansas family. But the films take radically different approaches, which end up making them interesting and complimentary companion pieces. They may cover the same basic material but its as if Capote provides the internal life of the writer and his craft whereas Infamous looks at the man from the outside. Capote was all about the process of writing In Cold Blood and it provided a fascinating portrait of a brilliant and conflicted artist who was as ruthless in pursuing his art as his subjects were in committing their murders. That film and Philip Seymour Hoffmans performance all looked internally into the character. McGraths portrait is more interested in the external elementshow Capote dressed, the people he socialized with, the way others perceived him. He delivers a portrait of Capote that captures the extroverted side of his personality.

McGrath is a former Saturday Night Live writer who displayed his affinity for literary adaptations with his film version of Jane Austens Emma. Now he turns to a story about a writer trying to create a great work of literature. But Capote was a writer who was also a personality and celebrity so McGrath creates a film in which Capote is the flamboyant star always waiting for his close up and ready with a quick barb. As he proved in Emma, McGrath has a quick wit himself and he delivers a script that crackles with smart dialogue.

Infamous, as its title implies has a delicious sense of gossip running through it. We see Capote with what he calls his swans, his highly connected, socially prominent women whom he would ply for information and scandal at every opportunity. When Capote leaves New York to arrive in Kansas, his celebrity name-dropping eventually wins over the conservative townsfolk who want to know more about Bogie, Ava and Frank Sinatra. In keeping with that spirit, McGrath loads his film with some familiar names: Sigourney Weaver, Gwenyth Paltrow, Jeff Daniels, Hope Davis, Sandra Bullock, Peter Bogdanovich and Isabella Rossellini.

McGrath interrupts the narrative of his film with talking heads interviews of the characters in the film answering off screen questions about Capote. This device attempts to shed some insight into the man and into what made him tick. Nelle Harper Lee (a fine writer in her own right and the author of To Kill a Mockingbird), the least gossipy, most down-to-earth of Capotes friends, seems on the surface an unlikely person for him to strike up a friendship. Yet the contrast she provides and the calm reason she offers seems like something he needs to return to now and again. In the interviews, she provides some of the most poignant comments.

Toby Jones is more physically suited to playing Capote than the taller, bigger Hoffman, and he conveys an image of Capote that is more in tune with what many may remember of the writer from his numerous talk show appearances. But again, the two performances reflect the differences in the films. Hoffmans portrait conveyed the inner workings of an artist and provided brilliant insight into the artistic process. Jones performance captures the external qualities in a way that rings true for the iconic pop culture figure that Capote became. Both performances work well in their respective films.

Infamous (rated R for language and mature content), though, does feel like the slighter film when compared to Capote, yet it can be enjoyed and appreciated on its own merits. It works best in the gossipy realm of the New York elite and tends to be less at home with the darker aspects of the story involving the murders.

Companion viewing: Capote, In Cold Blood, With Love From Truman