Screening Room : Eloquent Without Words : Lithuanian filmmaker Sharunas Bartas speaks solely through images in the beautiful ‘Few of Us.’

The “Ultra Modern Solitude” series, which runs through Sunday at the Vogue Theater (6675 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood), begins tonight at 8 with Lithuanian filmmaker Sharunas Bartas’ 1996 “Few of Us,” a beautiful, wordless experiment in pure cinema, one that requires total commitment on the part of the viewer. A helicopter drops off a forlorn young woman (Katerina Golubeva) in a remote, wintry village nestled in a valley enclosed by high, distant mountains. An elderly man gives her shelter; the scant population has little to do, nothing much happens, yet the presence of the young woman gradually creates tension between two youngish men. “Few of Us” is a shimmering mood piece that evokes loneliness and desperation, all the more powerfully for being expressed slowly and with such rigor. Among the other five films screenings is Tsai Ming Liang’s masterpiece, “The River” (10 p.m. Saturday), a study of a Taipei father and son overcoming a lack of communication during a crisis, arguably one of the most important films of the ‘90s, and Chantal Akerman’s contemplative “D’Est” (9 p.m. Sunday). (323) 341-7033.

*

Lina Shanklin’s “Summerspell,” completed more than a decade ago, nonetheless remains an impressive first film, a quiet observation of a family reunion that reveals the awful acts relatives can perpetrate upon each other. Inspired by incidents in her family’s past, Shanklin sets her story on July 4, 1948, when the Wisdom clan has gathered on their ancestral ranch, now run by Lowell (Franklin Whiteman), who would rather have been a lawyer. His wife, Bernice (Dorothy Holland), is a deeply unhappy woman who has lost a child and has never been accepted by her in-laws, whom she loathes in return; her life is haunted by a cynical, unjust act. This rigorous mood piece essentially unfolds from the point of view of their teenage daughter (Jennifer Mayo). Descending upon the ranch are Lowell’s alcoholic brother (Michael Holmes) and his three sisters, led by the dominating Maggie (Joan Crosby), who clings to a happier past and fully intends to dump her dying father (Ed Wright) on Lowell and Bernice. Crosby is wonderful at making an overbearing, ignorant woman sympathetic. “Summerspell” probably is too subtle to ever have hoped for anything like commercial success, but there certainly is an appreciative audience for it. An open-ended run commences this weekend at the Monica 4-Plex (1332 2nd St., Santa Monica) on Saturday and Sunday at 11 a.m., with Shanklin appearing after this Saturday’s screening. (310) 394-9741.

*

The American Cinematheque at the Egyptian’s Alternative Screen series presents tonight at 7:30 Lisa Kotin’s ambitious but oppressive “Temporary Girl,” in which Kotin plays a struggling New York performance artist who at 40 is still primarily a temporary secretary. Kotin nails down temp hell hilariously but repetitively, while giving herself all manner of fantasy sequences to show off her considerable performing skills. But her heroine’s self-absorption and desperation are so insistent and overpowering you’re left to wonder not when her husband will split, but how she ever snagged him in the first place. “Temporary Girl” has a sharp, professional polish but plays too much like an audition tape from a clearly talented performer who would seem to be as overeager to impress as her heroine.

Jeremy Workman’s preceding 28-minute “Claire Makes It Big” offers a lighter, more original take on a similarly frustrated performer. Mara Hobel is full-figured Claire, whose boyfriend writes her a movie only to see it made with an actress (Paige Turco) as thin as Gwyneth Paltrow. Claire’s revenge is inspired and genuinely funny; as in last year’s “Broadway Damage,” Hobel is an endearing presence with a winning personality and a sure sense of comedy; you have no trouble at all believing she has and holds onto such a good-looking lover (a laid-back Clancy Brown). Peter Bogdanovich is the director of the film originally intended for Claire.

The Cinematheque’s Russ Meyer retro continues Friday and Saturday. Screenings are at the Lloyd E. Rigler Theater at the Egyptian, 6712 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood. (323) 466-FILM.

*

Writer-director-cinematographer Peter Daskaloff’s “Sunsplit,” which opens Friday at the Grande 4-Plex (Figueroa at 3rd Street, downtown L.A.) and in Orange County at the Brea Plaza 5 (453 Associated Road, Brea) and Town Center (Bristol Street at Anton Boulevard, Costa Mesa) is an absorbing, low-budget fable about three suburban L.A. individuals whose lives ultimately intersect with dramatic consequences. First, there’s Lyle (Robert Balderson), an epicene and pretentious serial killer whose female victims suffer unspeakable fates; Tess (LoriDawn Messuri), an attractive single mother who has become an expert, but guilt-ridden, car thief; and finally Shandor (Ken Del Conte), a widowed, middle-aged Greek restaurateur, an old-country macho type who believes in taking matters into his own capable hands. Although a bit drawn out at the finish, “Sunsplit” has a rhythmic pace, fluid camera work and sharply drawn characters--such stalwarts as Lou Wagner and Virginia Capers enliven the cast--and when called for, a sure sense of humor. (The serial killer sequences are more than a little over the top, however.) (213) 617-3084.

*

Director Jeanette L. Buck and writer Kim McNabb’s “Out of Season,” which premiered at Outfest ‘98, opens a regular run Friday at the Music Hall (9036 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills). It is a strikingly subtle and moody love story set in picturesque Cape May, N.J., the venerable seaside resort, during off-season. Showing up at a local coffee shop is black-haired, black-leather-jacketed Micki (Carol Monda), a most attractive, distinctive young woman with attitude to burn. Behind the counter is Roberta (Joy Kelly), as lovely as she is wary. Micki has come to care for her terminally ill, widowed uncle Charlie (Dennis Fecteau), who is close friends with Roberta. Since both are upfront, unattached lesbians, you wonder why Micki and Roberta do so much skirmishing, but Roberta recognizes Micki as a restless, potential heartbreaker. The way these women sort out their emotions and priorities is at once engaging, credible and satisfying. (310) 274-6869.

*

The Nuart (11272 Santa Monica Blvd., West Los Angeles) is presenting a 20th anniversary run of the uncut version of the notorious “Caligula.” Uncut or cut, it makes Roman decadence seem dull, and its stars, Malcolm McDowell (in the title role), Peter O’Toole, Helen Mirren and John Gielgud, look foolish for appearing in it. On Saturday and Sunday at noon, the Nuart will present two Catherine Breillat films, “Topage Nocturne” (unavailable for preview) and a revival of “36 Fillette” (1989), which Breillat based on her novel. Incisive and poignant yet funny, its coming-of-age story seems to unfold as a first of its kind. In a sense, it is, for it’s impossible to recall a film that more thoroughly illuminates what it is like for a girl to become a woman sexually. (Plenty of films chronicle boys’ sexual rites of passage.) What’s more, the clear-eyed Breillat does this with as much detachment as compassion--and without a trace of coyness or sentimentality. Fourteen-year-old Lili (Delphine Zentout) is vacationing in Biarritz with her family and yearning to test her sexual allure. She easily attracts Maurice (Etienne Chicot), a 40ish businessman. He is a classic roue not at all prepared for the rush of emotion he feels for the solemn but tantalizing Lili, who doesn’t want to lose the power she has only just discovered she wields. (310) 478-6370.

*

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China (and no doubt curry a little export favor with that government), the Motion Picture Assn. of America is presenting six films from the 1999 Chinese Film Festival Tuesday through Saturday at the Zanuck Theater, 20th Century Fox, 10201 W. Pico Blvd., West Los Angeles. Among the films screening is Qi Jian’s highly didactic “Flower Season, Rain Season” (Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.). It’s the story of bright 16-year-old Xin Ran (Yan Danchen), whose promising academic future is threatened by her family’s unregistered status in a shiny metropolis in the province of Shenzhen. Meanwhile, one of her friends, Liu Xia (Yangzi Baiyun) coaxes her mother into a make-over to win back her rich, philandering husband, and another student, the brilliant and arrogant Chen Ming (Zhang Chao) learns the value of humility. Liu Xia and her classmates, above all, learn the value of putting others before one’s self. The young people are appealing, the film is competently made, but there’s scarcely a breath of real life in its entirety. You shouldn’t expect to find in this festival the bold and dynamic kind of films made by Zhang Yimou or Chen Kaige. (888) 906-FILM.

*

Note: the Midnight Special Bookstore, 1318 Third Street Promenade, Santa Monica, will present its bimonthly Documental, two different programs of short films, Saturday at 7 and 9 p.m. (310) 393-2923. The Jerzy Hoffman/Henryki Siekiewicz Trilogy concludes Saturday and Sunday at 10 a.m. at the Monica 4-Plex with screenings of “The Deluge, Part 2,” starring Daniel Olbrychski. (310) 394-9741.