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Five picks for final 
weekend of film festival

By STEVEN SNYDER - TimeOut Film Critic

September 30, 2011

WAUKESHA - One week into the party, the third annual Milwaukee Film Festival has already offered audiences a lively journey around the globe. From the orphanages of China to the street soccer of Venezuela, the festival’s official selections have been emotional, eclectic and inspired. And for those who have, thus far, missed out on all that the 2011 festival has to offer, never fear: There is still one more weekend during which you can lose yourself in the stories and the spectacle.

Here are five not-to-be-missed highlights from the festival’s final weekend at the New Berlin Ridge Cinema:

"The Flaw"

7:30 p.m. tonight

If you want to understand why the housing bubble burst, and why the economy is still sagging, look no further than "The Flaw." Director David Sington offers a historical counterpoint to the Oscar-winning "Inside Job," going beyond the surface financial crisis to examine the credit bubble existing underneath. The documentary includes such experts as Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz and housing analyst Robert Shiller.

"Outrage"

7:15 p.m. Friday

This eastern thriller puts us deep in the world of the Japanese yakuza, as an array of top crime bosses meet for a power lunch with Mr. Chairman - the gangster who rules Tokyo. One mob boss warns another to cut his ties with an outsider - an outrageous breach of decorum that unleashes a chain reaction of attacks, counterattacks, and power struggles.

"Breaking and

Entering"

2:15 p.m. Saturday

No, it’s not a film about crime. It’s about breaking a world record, and earning your way into the Guinness Book of World Records by any means necessary. Director Benjamin Fingerhut tracks down the world’s best grape catcher - not to mention those brave souls vying to be the world’s best marathon juggler and the world’s best hula hooper - in a hilarious documentary about people on a quest to become famous.

"Shorts: Date Night"

7 p.m. Saturday

Short film programs are the staple of any major film festival - surveying eclectic works from up-and-coming filmmakers - and with "Date Night," programmers have isolated seven distinct chapters about love and longing. From stories about love to those of babies, courting, sex and fetishes, this promises to be a shorts program that runs the gamut from romantic to risquŽ.

"Nostalgia

for the Light"

5 p.m. Sunday

One of the more abstract films to screen as part of this year’s festival, "Nostalgia" takes place near the great Atacama Desert of Chile. Director Patricio Guzman creates a metaphor of contrasts, rising to 10,000 feet above sea level to look both upward into outer space through clear and cloudless skies, and down below to the mysterious desert floor - where mummies, explorers and deposed political prisoners now rest. Blending the imagery, Guzman arrives at surreal nexus of future and past, where astronomy meets archeology and political justice.

Email: snyderreviews@hotmail.com