Double You Street

The mystery of the artistic process usually fares badly in the superficial medium of film, so one shouldn't over fault Martin Grootenboer's film for being menadering and pointless. A documentary about W139, a legendary alternative art space established in the early '80s on W Street in Amsterdam's red-light district, Double You Street comprises interviews with various founders and members who sprout a lot of platitudes about art and independence but don't offer much insight into what kind of work their organization produces. Although intercut with unenthralling experimental snippets by filmmakers in the group (one in which two identical bald men in green suits dig a grave is diverting) and brief glimpses of shows, for the most part you have to take the talking heads' word for it that their output is cutting edge. As a look at the changes in the art world from the bull market of the '80s to today's harder times, the film provides some insight, but for the most part Double You Street is pedestrian. Screens at the Copley Place Wednesday, September 16 at 5:30, 7:30, and 9:30 p.m. and Thursday, September 17 at noon and 2 p.m.

-- Peter Keough

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Film Festival Feature Films

| With Friends like These | Digging to China | Monument Ave. | Rounders | Lolita | God Said, 'Ha!' | My Son the Fanatic | The Mighty | Shattered Image | Gods and Monsters | Xui Xui: The Sent-Down Girl | Without Limits | Clubland | The Inheritors | The Celebration | Urban Ghost Story | The Boys | Living Out Loud | Stuart Bliss | The General | The Kindness of Strangers | Dancing at Lughnasa | Central Station | The Human Race | Double You Street | Oberwasser -- By U-boat to America | The Witman Boys | The Cruise | Confession of a Sexist Pig | Melting Pot |

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