It's double feature monthly movie Saturday night again Feb. 19 for the Reel North Film Festival at 7 p.m. in the Basement Bijou Room of the Thompson Public Library with the 2007 film Ben X and the 2008 flick Tricks of a Woman.
Ben X is Nic Balthazar's 94-minute subtitled film about an autistic Flemish teenager tormented by bullies who torment him.
Played by Greg Timmermans, school for Ben is a nightmare of cruelty at the hands of his classmates. Home means an overly solicitous mother, played by Marijke Pinoy, and an absent father, in a role performed by Pol Goossen.
Paranoia, alienation and social dissonance make up Ben's world.
To make his escape, Ben enters and an online fantasy universe where his avatar spends hours immersed in a popular video game alongside Scarlite (Laura Verlinden).
You can catch a trailer for the Ben X at: http://www.benx.be/eng/defilm.asp
At 9:15 p.m., A down on her luck woman unwittingly becomes the object of a shady wager between two rival fashion photographers in the 90-minute movie Tricks of a Woman, featuring Elika Portnoy as Dessi and Sopranos star Vincent Pastore as Harry.
Dessi is something of an ugly duckling, and she's relegated herself to the reality that she'll never amount to anything but a fish cleaner in a low-class restaurant - until she catches the eye of local fashion photographer. When the desperate fashion photographer bets his rival he can turn any girl into a super-model, he has no idea of the consequences.
A trailer for Tricks of a Woman can be found at: http://www.imdb.com/video/wab/vi3808887577/
The Saturday night double features debuted on March 8, 2008 so film buffs wouldn't have to wait an entire year until the following November and the next full three-day festival to see festival genre films.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $5 at the door. Old Dutch barbecue potato chips, water, coffee and Oreo cookies are usually available.
