Tossing Metaphors

A strange, poignant story on National Public Radio caught Peter Lee’s attention: A group of destitute Bulgarian villagers were finding their complexions turning yellow-orange from an “addiction” to carrots.

“A British doctor who had gone to study them . . . said there was no physical addiction but that mentally and emotionally, they were very much addicted [to carrots],” said Lee, a Fountain Valley teacher who was inspired by the story to make his first film.

The result, “Salad Days,” which takes place in a made-up world of carrot addicts--will premiere Friday as part of the UC Irvine Film Society’s winter series.

“The reason for [their addiction] was that their alternatives were bleaker,” Lee said. “I guess there are fewer things you can do [recipe-wise] with potatoes than you can do with carrots.”

Sad, yet undeniably silly, said Lee, who sees the carrot lovers as an “innocuous” social subculture free of the baggage associated with other groups, such as heroin users.

“The film follows the exploits of this group of carrot addicts, and what happens as they organize their life around stealing carrots and consuming carrots and stealing more carrots, and their slow spiral toward doom.”

Ingesting an abundance of beta carotene, the substance that gives carrots their color, can change the eater’s skin color, said Lee, 30, who earned undergraduate degrees in political science and psychology from UC Irvine in 1992.

“Most subculture films are didactic or glorify their subjects,” he said. “This was an opportunity for me to avoid both.”

And what most fascinated him about the carrot-eaters and other subcultures is the tightly knit, surrogate families they develop in their shared compulsive quest.

“I’m interested in the sense of family that these people find in whatever they are pursuing.”

The film applies even more broadly these days, Lee contended, because at a time when both parents must work to make ends meet, their children often seek that family sense elsewhere.

“In this day and age, people are so busy doing whatever they have to to make it that lots of kids grow up next to the TV or whatever,” he said. “They don’t feel a part of a family unit.”

The UCI winter film series Between the Laughter and the Tears is mostly devoted to classics and well-known films. But the society occasionally shows independent, original films, sometimes by former students.

* “Salad Days” screens Friday at 7 and 9 p.m. at Crystal Cove Auditorium in UC Irvine’s student center, at West Peltason and Pereira drives, Irvine. Not rated. Running time: 73 minutes. $2.50-$4.50. (949) 824-5588.

Lombard, Powell Shine in ‘Godfrey’

Anyone who loves a classic 1930s-style screwball comedy should check out “My Man Godfrey” tonight at Chapman University in Orange.

Gregory La Cava’s romp finds a deliciously ditsy Carole Lombard perfectly paired with the dashing William Powell in this 1936 satire of the leisure class.

Socialite Lombard, shimmering in lame, discovers hobo Powell in his city-dump digs during a la-di-da scavenger hunt wherein players must find a “forgotten man.”

She brings her prize back to the party. Next thing you know, he’s been hired as butler to her madcap family. Now cleanshaven and bathed, he manages to abide their hangovers and tantrums and teaches them that money isn’t everything.

Performances by the film’s supporting actors were lauded at the time the film was released--Mischa Auer, as a starving artist, and Eugene Pallette, as the flummoxed head of the household, chief among them.

Now, a trivia quiz: Which famous actress, once married to a famous politico, is a party-scene extra in “My Man Godfrey”? (See answer next page.)

* “Tonight at 7 p.m. in Chapman University’s Argyros Forum, Room 208, 333 N. Glassell St., Orange. Running time: 95 minutes. Not rated. Free. (714) 997-6765.

An Evening of TV Activism

UC Irvine’s Film and Television Center will offer an evening of provocative programs produced by Paper Tiger Television, a New York-based activist group bent on “smashing the myths” of the information industry and tweaking other aspects of contemporary society.

Each of the four 30-minute programs was made for cable access television, uses a “fun” approach to examine serious issues and includes archival footage, said Sheila C. Murphy, who curated “Must See TV! An Evening of Paper Tiger Television.”

Among the shorts are “Mighty Morphin’ Censorship: Who’s Watching Children’s Television” (1997), which includes early Betty Boop cartoons, and “Judith Williamson Consumes Passionately in Southern California” (1988), which was shot in Los Angeles.

“It’s about going shopping and going to the mall, and howSouthern California culture gives that a high priority,” Murphy said of “Judith Williamson.”

* “‘Must See TV! An Evening of Paper Tiger Television” screens tonight at 7 p.m. at the Film and Video Center, Humanities Instructional Building 214, Room 100, near the corner of West Peltason and Pereira drives, Irvine. Running time: 123 minutes. Not rated. $4-$6. (949) 824-7418.

Filmmaker Alatriste at Bunuel Screening

Irvine Valley College will screen Spanish director Luis Bunuel’s 1961 film “Viridiana” (in Spanish, with English subtitles) on Saturday at 7 p.m. in Room B-209. Mexican writer, director and producer Gustavo Alatriste, who co-produced “Viridiana” and other Bunuel films, will speak after the screening. A $5 donation will benefit IVC MEChA, the school’s Chicano student organization. The college is at 5500 Irvine Center Drive, Irvine. (949) 451-5100.

Quiz answer: Jane Wyman, who was once married to Ronald Reagan, appeared in a party scene in “My Man Godfrey.”