True/False Films

Loot

In person: director Darius Marder

There's no straight path to riches, particularly if you're a Utah used-car salesman helping two World War II veterans find treasure they've buried... and now lost. The failing eyesight of one keeps him from unearthing his cache in Austria. The other is a pack rat who may or may not have a map to hidden samurai swords and jewels in the Philippines. But Loot isn't just about loot — it's also about the quest for deeper truths, and the excising of personal demons. It's a lyrical tale of fathers and sons, the fallibility of memory and, ultimately, about our own mortality, and a story about storytelling, about coincidence and chance. If it is a disquieting film for us — watching as characters deal with their ghosts — that not-unpleasant haunting feeling lingers long after the film ends. In China's Wild West (dir. Urzula Potikos, 10 min.), jade miners chip away at the austerely beautiful neverlands of China. (IK)