Eckerd College continues its International Cinema Series with a screening of Werner Herzog's science-fiction fantasy, Wild Blue Yonder, which tells the story of two interstellar voyages, one undertaken by an alien race fleeing a dying planet with hopes of colonizing Earth, and the other by human astronauts who set out to investigate the liquid world these same aliens left behind.
The tales are spun using documentary footage from a 1989 NASA space shuttle mission, eerie underwater video taken from beneath the polar ice of the Ross Sea, off Antarctica, and interviews with real-life physicists and a pseudo-alien from Andromeda (played by Brad Dourif). All this is set against a score featuring the talents of Dutch jazz cellist Ernst Reijseger, Senegalese singer Mola Sylla, and a five-man Sardinian shepherd choir. The result a movie that's been described as pure cinematic poetry.
Also presented as part of the series is The Descent, a smart, all-female horror flick directed by Neil Marshall about six girlfriends who embark on an extreme outdoor adventure and meet trouble while exploring caves in the Appalachian Mountains.
Wild Blue Yonder (7 p.m.) and The Descent (9 p.m.) Fri., Oct. 6, Miller Auditorium-Eckerd College, 4200 54th Ave. S., St. Petersburg, free admission, 727-864-7979.
This article appears in Oct 4-10, 2006.
