FREEZE FRAMES
DONA HERLINDA Y SU HIJO -- ``Dona Herlinda and Her Son'' is the American title of this rough-hewn Mexican comedy about a homosexual man who allows his mother to steer him into heterosexual marriage and fatherhood, then includes both her and his male lover in the resulting household. (Not rated) KAOS -- Four tales of the Italian peasantry, plus a gorgeously shot epilogue about author Luigi Pirandello, from whose stories the film is drawn. Approaching their material with great sincerity, directors Paolo and Vittorio Taviani do an especially good job of linking the characters with their difficult environment, which plays a large part in shaping their lives. But the atmosphere is awfully bleak much of the time. and the Pirandellian plot twists are all too Pirandellian. (Not rated)
ON VALENTINE'S DAY -- Elizabeth and Horace got married recently, against the wishes of her rich and powerful father, and now they aren't sure what the future will bring. The answer depends on the strength of their commitment to each other and on the whole fabric of life in the Texas town that enfolds them like a cocoon. Horton Foote wrote this engrossing, intelligent, surprisingly tough-minded drama, which takes place in 1917 and is based on stories and recollections from his own teeming memory. In addition to subtly crafted dialogue and luminous cinematography, the film offers an impressive parade of consistently rich performances. Directed by Ken Harrison. (Rated PG)
SCENARIO DU FILM PASSION -- The film ``Passion,'' made in 1982 by Jean-Luc Godard, was the story of a fictional movie director trying vainly to combine the values of modern cinema and traditional painting; a subplot dealt with a capitalist and a union organizer. Godard returns to the film's key images and themes in this video ``scenario,'' analyzing their origins and musing on their multiple meanings. The result is profound, perplexing, and personal, and very much in Godard's inimitable manner. (Not rated)
SOFT AND HARD -- Like an avant-garde Ozzie and Harriet, film and video artists Jean-Luc Godard and Anne-Marie Mi'eville invite us into their living room to watch him swing a tennis racket, her catch up on the ironing, and both furrow their brows in a long conversation about the aesthetics of television. It's good to see these motion-picture mavericks working so hard to understand their own lives and ideas, and giving their audience a peek at the process, via video. Both of them will always be ``outsiders,'' to use Godard's own rueful term, but stimulating work like this shows why their presences will be felt by thoughtful visual artists for a long time to come. Directed by Godard and Mi'eville. (Not rated)
VIOLETS ARE BLUE -- She roams the world as a famous photographer, while he stays home and edits a small-town newspaper. But the flame of their high-school romance has never quite died. When they run into each other several years after graduation, his marriage and her ambition aren't enough to keep them from jumping into each other's arms. A sincere drama, but a minor one despite the star-power of Kevin Kline, whose other current role is a solid ``Hamlet'' onstage in New York, and Sissy Spacek. Quietly directed by Jack Fisk. (Rated PG) RATINGS: Films with ratings other than G may contain varying degrees of vulgar language, nudity, sex, and violence.
