Gaining Independence

Sharon Greytak’s engrossing and provocative “Losing It,” in which she interviews seven individuals in five countries to discover how they’re coping with physical handicaps, screens at 7:30 tonight as part of the American Cinematheque’s Alternative Screen showcase.

Greytak, who uses a wheelchair as a result of severe rheumatoid arthritis that struck her in childhood, has a number of acclaimed films to her credit. In this project, she wanted to find out if others like her have succeeded in becoming as independent as she has. Greytak is scheduled to be present at the screening.

She discovers that few of the disabled people she interviews live in societies as sensitive to the rights and needs of the disabled as the United States; she finds that Brazil, mired in poverty, seems more accepting of physical handicaps than the U.S.

In Siberia she meets a glamorous blond whose bout with polio has restricted her to a wheelchair and a young man with cerebral palsy who can walk with difficulty but uses a wheelchair away from home. In the post-Soviet era the rights of the disabled have expanded greatly while financial aid has dwindled. The blond is a resourceful activist, but the young man, despite his mastery of four languages, faces a bleak future.

In Hong Kong, Greytak meets Edith Mok, a successful, attractive corporate workaholic who suffered a stroke in her late 40s and now, several years later, continues her rehabilitation zealously. Mok, who walks with a limp, believes it will be nearly impossible for her to find a job and has confronted widespread hostility. At the same time she has drawn closer to her husband.

In the lovely old city of Vicenza, Italy, Greytak visits a handsome, still-young artist she had known as a student. A decade earlier Marino Crivellari developed a rare, crippling blood disorder. Since then, he has become rehabilitated physically but his speech is still so slow and drawn-out that he remains isolated.

In Sao Paulo, she meets polio-afflicted Edna Maria Pacheco, who supports herself and her son by selling candy at traffic lights but cannot count on any aid when she can no longer work. Well-known writer Marcello Paiva became a quadriplegic after a car accident two decades earlier. Admitting his renown and financial resources have been a plus, Paiva became determined not to be robbed of the love of life he enjoyed before the accident.

Greytak winds up her survey back in New York where she talks to Carol Robertson, in a wheelchair since suffering polio as a child, who has risen to the position of police commissioner and dealt with the challenges of marrying a black man, in defiance of her family, and bearing two daughters.

As Greytak considers these people, she expresses an appreciation for the perspective she’s received from her determination not to allow her own affliction to become a limitation.

As a personal memoir, “Losing It,” a beautifully shot and composed film, might be appropriately called “Gaining It.” Lloyd E. Rigler Theater at the Egyptian, 6712 Hollywood Blvd. (323) 466-FILM.

Note: Richard Cohen’s 63-minute “Going to School,” a documentary on empowering children with disabilities in local schools, begins a series of public screenings in various communities Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at the Culver Hotel, 9400 Culver Blvd, Culver City. (310) 395-3549.

*

The Cinematheque’s third annual “Japanese Outlaw Masters” series, which focuses on a new generation of filmmakers, begins Friday at 7 p.m. with Takashi Miike’s stylish 1999 shocker, “Audition,” which has to be one of the most horrifying aboveground movies ever made.

Miike takes Dario Argento one step further in the realm of diabolical hideousness but manages not to induce revulsion. He is a compelling filmmaker who knows how to hold out to the last possible moment to allow us to complete the horrors in our imagination. One misstep and “Audition” would have swiftly self-destructed.

A hard-working 42-year-old widower Shigeharu Aoyama (Ryo Ishisbashi) is urged by his 16-year-old son (Tetsu Sawaki) to remarry before it’s too late. Widowed for seven years and a dedicated single parent, Aoyama, owner of a video production company, is persuaded by a more worldly and callous pal (Jun Kunimura) to announce auditions for a nonexistent film project as a way to meet desirable women.

Among his scores of applicants is the exquisite 24-year-old Asami Yamazaki (Eihi Shiina), a beauty with an enigmatic quality, who captivates him.

By the time Aoyama levels with her about his phony audition ploy she has fallen for him as he has for her. Aoyama’s luck seems too good to be true--and it is.

For those up for more Miike, his 1999 “Dead or Alive” follows, with another Miike double feature, “The City of Lost Souls” (2000) and “The Guys From Paradise” (2000), screening Saturday at 7:15 p.m. The series runs through Oct. 14.

*

The UCLA Film Archive’s “Hong Kong Neon” series screens a new film by Stanley Kwan tonight at 7:30 p.m. in the James Bridges Theater in the Melnitz Building. Kwan, director of “Rouge” and other notable movies, will be present.

Screening Saturday at 7:30 p.m is Lawrence Ah Mon’s raw yet endearing “Spacked Out,” which centers on four girls, all from broken homes and all from Hong Kong’s housing projects. Amusing and poignant, “Spacked Out” has an irrepressible, go-for-broke style and energy that mirrors the high spirits of its heroines. It screens again on Sunday, following the 2 p.m. screening of Patrick Yau’s “Expect the Unexpected.”

Veteran action virtuoso Ringo Lam’s 1999 “Victim” (Saturday at 7:30 p.m ) implicitly comments on the stressful impact of Hong Kong’s transfer from British colony back to China upon its already hard-pressed businessmen.

When computer designer Ma Man-shun (Lau Ching-wan) is kidnapped and found by police detective Pit (Tony Leung Kar-fai) hanging by his feet in an isolated, abandoned and reputedly haunted hotel, he may have become possessed, driven mad or may have faked the whole thing.

Forget the gratuitous spectral angle, for “Victim” is an ingenious, taut, nonstop suspense thriller in which the dedicated Pit, a man with a high-intensity job that affects his own personal life adversely, pursues Ma, a good man apparently gone wrong as his professional life starts unraveling. Caught up in the pursuit is Ma’s staunch, resourceful lover (Amy Kwok).

The performances are as focused and compelling as cinematographer Ross Clarkson’s dynamic camerawork. “Victim” screens again on Sunday following the 7 p.m. screening of “CeGe.” (310) 206-FILM.