Rest of the Fest

BEFORE BORN (China) The Godot-like Li Chonggao is who the hard-bitten traveler with the suitcase (Tommy Wai) and the attractive young beach dweller (Xu Baihui) are awaiting at a seaside resort. And if it’s patently clear that they will have to suffer alone/together in anticipation, so, it appears, do we. Despite director Zhang Ming’s felicitous eye for Antonioni-like images of crisp desolation — and some brief hints of a commentary on where individualism in China is headed — the film’s starkness rarely translates into anything truly meaningful. (Italian Cultural Institute; Fri., June 23, 2:30 p.m.; Sat., June 24, 7:30 p.m.) (Robert Abele)

SP!T (USA) At its best, “slam” (spoken-word poetry inspired by the fiery rhetoric of hip-hop MCs) achieves a level of candid self-expression that bling-minded mainstream rap never dares. But writer-director Rotimi Rainwater’s slick documentary, which revolves around preparations for the National Poetry Slam championship, funnels the phenomenon into a conventional big-competition framework, reducing its charismatic performers to simple rooting interests. Rainwater wants to champion the art form’s creativity — too bad his own film sorely lacks in that department. (Mann Festival; Fri., June 23, 4:30 p.m.) (Tim Grierson)

GO BEYOND CONVICTION (USA) Since 1998, Pennsylvania has allowed the victims of violent crime to confront their assailants. In this raw wound of a documentary, director Rachel Libert follows three such encounters, introducing us to the criminal and the wronged party, then observing their interaction. Despite the reality-television fascination inherent in these visceral face-to-face exchanges, the film’s power stems from its subtle supposition that a crime’s emotional repercussions are ultimately more damaging than the crime itself. Years after the fact, these individuals remain hostages to their past, hoping to find comfort, ironically, in the one person who can relate. (Landmark Regent, Fri., June 23, 7:15 p.m.; Italian Cultural Institute, Mon., June 26, 4:30 p.m.) (TG)HOT CHICKS (USA) A compilation of nine short films based on the tiny comic books of Christian cartoonist Jack T. Chick, whose crudely drawn, malarial cautionary tales about abortion, Halloween, Catholicism and other unholy scourges have made him a pop-cult figure. The anthology’s willfully tacky adaptations, however, prove that some things are too unintentionally funny to parody on film. Longish where the originals are abrupt, spoofy where Chick’s are visceral, the episodes dwell mostly on the artist’s screeds against homosexuality and rock music; the best are “Doom Town,” directed by P. David Ebersole, and the animated “Somebody Goofed,” directed by Roney Ascher and Syd Garon. (Majestic Crest; Fri., June 23, 9:30 p.m.; Sun., June 25, 4:30 p.m.) (Steven Mikulan)

GRETCHEN (USA) Gretchen (Courtney Davis) is an awkward 17-year-old fashion victim who keeps falling for fat, creepy dirtbags. Sent to an emotional-recovery center, she finds she must run away to diagnose the root of her condition. (Turns out it’s her wayward dad, played by genius cameo-miniaturist Stephen Root.) Director Steve Collin’s lonely-girl’s lament is often unsteady in its pacing and emotional tone, veering from tragic to deadpan and back, but the arrival of each new, bewigged dirtbag/masher keeps the laughs coming, albeit infrequently. (Landmark Regent, Fri., June 23, 10 p.m.; Sunset 5, Mon., June 26, 7 p.m.) (John Patterson)

GO WHO NEEDS SLEEP? (USA) The master cinematographer Haskell Wexler (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, In the Heat of the Night) directed this angry and impassioned documentary about the deaths of Hollywood film crew members who have been killed in auto accidents caused by falling asleep at the wheel. The result is — no pun intended — a powerful wake-up call, not just for an industry prone to sacrificing safety in the name of “getting the shot,” but for an entire nation that once fought passionately for the eight-hour workday and now, ever more willingly, works itself to death. (Mann Festival; Sat., June 24, noon) (Scott Foundas)

GO MR. CONSERVATIVE: GOLDWATER ON GOLDWATER (USA) Despite an inappropriate musical score that falls somewhere between Gershwin and Parsifal, Julie Anderson’s documentary pays heartfelt tribute to our last true libertarian hero, Barry Goldwater. Interviews (William F. Buckley Jr. is conspicuous in his absence) and home movies follow Goldwater, who was born in territorial Arizona, as he rises from outdoors photographer to champion of Boer Americans to defender of gays in the military. Revisionists like to say Goldwater’s brand of conservatism is liberal by today’s standards, but Anderson’s film, narrated by Goldwater’s granddaughter C.C. Goldwater (who also produced), makes us wonder if it isn’t liberalism that has turned rightward. (Majestic Crest, Sat., June 24, 2 p.m.; UCLA James Bridges Theater, Fri., June 30, 7 p.m.; Sunset 5, Sun., July 2, 5:30 p.m.) (Steven Mikulan)

A PLACE TO DANCE (USA) This slight documentary on a decades-old New Orleans dance hall that caters to elderly (and quite spry) fans of big band music is a mildly interesting, occasionally funny/insightful love note to the folks caught in its frame. The film’s only real resonance comes from director Alan Berg having been in the middle of filming when Hurricane Katrina hit. Still, these proudly Southern guys and dolls ooze a fair amount of charm — and even bawdy sexiness — that represents elderly folk in more dynamic ways than anything Hollywood (indie or mainstream) has done in ages. (Mann Festival, Sat., June 24, 5 p.m.; Landmark Regent, Fri., June 30, 4:45 p.m.) (Ernest Hardy)