LAFF 2007, From A to Y

RAZZLE DAZZLE (Australia) In director Darren Ashton’s by-the-book mockumentary, hapless dance teacher Mr. Jonathon (Ben Miller) tries to inspire his academy of young hoofers to defeat arrogant Miss Elizabeth (Jane Hall) and her classically trained students to win Australia’s top dancing prize. Razzle Dazzle is likable, amusing, sweet . . . and so completely predictable that you can map out the entire movie within 10 minutes, from its easy jabs at stage moms and show-biz kids to its big-showdown finale. (The Landmark, Fri., June 22, 7:15 p.m.; Mann Festival, Tues., June 26, 7:30 p.m.) (TG)

SAINT DEATH (Mexico/USA) Last year’s The Devil’s Miner highlighted an odd quirk of Bolivian Christianity, in the miners who pay tribute to the devil while working deep underground. Eva Aridjis’ film showcases an equally odd subgroup within Latin Catholicism — those who worship Death as a female saint. It’s surreal to see statues of the grim reaper all decked out in doll clothes and turned into idols, and it might make for a great magazine article. As a feature documentary, however, it doesn’t get particularly deep. Once you’ve heard the premise, you’ve practically seen the movie already. (Landmark Regent, Mon., June 25, 7:45 p.m.; Italian Cultural Institute, Fri., June 29, 9:45 p.m.) (LYT)

 GO  SECOND CHANCE SEASON (USA) Long before Nick Young became a top prospect for this year’s NBA draft, he was a senior at Reseda’s Cleveland High, trying to score well enough on the SAT to be eligible for a USC scholarship. In this terrific, if slightly overlong, documentary (fewer play-by-plays of Nick’s big high school games might make for a tighter film), first-time director Daniel H. Forer follows Nick’s senior year, as well as the many challenges facing his wonderfully close-knit family. Still coming to terms with the 1991 murder of Nick’s older brother Charles, the Youngs, as the film progresses, must decide whether to have a face-to-face meeting with the paroled killer. There’s also the wrenching matter of another son, who’s in a mental hospital. Forer juggles these various plot strands with ease, creating the sense of a family united not only by its own bonds, but also by a vast, loving community of friends, coaches and teachers. This is a fine and valuable movie. (Mann Festival, Fri., June 22, 7:30 p.m., and Sun., July 1, 2:30 p.m.) (CW)

 GO  SEVERED WAYS: THE NORSE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA (USA) Werner Herzog meets Monty Python in writer-director-actor Tony Stone’s dreamy, deadpan saga — set to the thumping strains of Popul Vuh, Judas Priest, Morbid Angel and more — of (mostly) sublimated erotic obsession in the Old New World. Left for carrion on the shores of Newfoundland, a pair of lumbering, heavy-helmeted Viking warriors, identified in the credits as Volnard (Fiore Tedesco) and Orn (Stone), crash their way through to the forest primeval, killing lots of trees and Indians and smaller critters along the way (and, in one indelible moment, practicing the primitive rudiments of hair guitar). Despite some atrocious table manners and a brief if explosive bout with irregularity, all goes swimmingly — until, that is, Volnard encounters a pretty-footed Irish monk with conversion on his mind. Sparks fly, swords flash, and, for one hushed moment, the giggling subsides. A must-see. (Landmark Regent, Fri., June 22, 9:45 p.m.; Billy Wilder Theater, Mon., June 25, 4 p.m.) (Ron Stringer)

THE TOWN THAT WAS (USA) Centralia is the Pennsylvania coal town whose anthracite seams accidentally caught fire in 1962 and have been burning ever since. Chris Perkel and Georgie Roland’s documentary follows the human and bureaucratic missteps that resulted in this subterranean inferno spreading over the years like some contagion from an H.P. Lovecraft story. The story is an ode to front-porch, small-town life, focused on one of the few remaining Centralia residents and his eccentric dedication to preserving this doomed outpost of Americana. Unfortunately, the filmmakers pack a quarter hour of information into 70 shapeless minutes. (Italian Cultural Institute, Fri., June 22, 7 p.m.; The Landmark, Mon., June 25, 2:30 p.m.) (SM)

 GO  YOUNG @ HEART (U.K.) From the washed-out images to the twee voiceover (courtesy of director Stephen Walker), this British television documentary about the titular Massachusetts-based senior citizens chorus so slavishly embodies the creakiest clichés of British television documentaries that you begin to wonder if it’s not all a big put-on — if Christopher Guest didn’t direct the damn thing under a pseudonym. Fortunately, Walker’s subjects — nearly all in their 80s and 90s, with a greatest-hits collection of medical ailments and a set list that runs the gamut from The Beatles to Sonic Youth — more than carry the day. Set over the six weeks leading up to the chorus’ latest concert, Young @ Heart adopts the will-they-pull-it-all-together-by-showtime formula of so many backstage docs, with the caveat that, for these performers, neither time nor Father Time is on their side. The film’s appeal is at once sentimental and perverse: It’s not every day that you get to see a 92-year-old woman soloing on “Should I Stay Or Should I Go,” or a deeply affecting rendition of Coldplay’s “Fix You” performed by a octogenarian with congestive heart failure. Not surprisingly, a feature remake is already in the works. (The Landmark, Thurs., June 28, 7:15 p.m.; Mann Festival, Sun., July 1, 4:45 p.m.) (SF)