PSYCHO KILLERS

The “granny killer” is on the loose, bumping off old ladies all across Paris. Daiga, our heroine, doesn’t understand enough French to comprehend the warning, and she’s on her way to stay in the same hotel as the murderer. Disaster? Probably. But director Claire Denis, in her trademark contrasting style, chooses instead to give 1994’s I Can’t Sleep a dreamlike and serene, almost soothing tone. The movie screens tonight as part of No Fear: The Films of Claire Denis, a retrospective series on the understated French filmmaker’s career. Also not to be missed is Jim Jarmusch’s Down by Law, which was assistant-directed by Denis and will be shown tonight and tomorrow night. The black comedy features Tom Waits, John Lurie, and an internationally displaced Roberto Benigni as a trio of pragmatic convicts planning their escape from a Louisiana backwater prison.

Nov. 10-18, 2010