As a general rule, we tend to avoid movies made by foreigners, set in circuses and described as "surreal." Toss in a dwarf, a mime, a bunch of sequins and some blood and you have the perfect storm of weirdness that makes our brain, softened by years of straightforward narrative causality and sweet, sweet Hollywood pap, ache. So, maybe Alejandro Jodorowosky's horror film Santa Sangre, screening at Oak Cliff's Texas Theatre (231 W. Jefferson Blvd.) at 8 p.m. Thursday isn't exactly the movie for us. Pity for us and our pedestrian tastes, then, since the Mexican/Italian production--featuring serial murder, hacked limbs and madness, plus a healthy dose religious- and circus-based metaphors--is widely considered a grand piece of filmmaking by critics, who are paid to appreciate that sort of thing. The plot? Let's see: Circus boy witnesses knife-throwing circus dad chop off mom's arms. Boy goes nuts. Grows up in insane asylum. Released. Boy meets up with armless mom, becomes her arms and embarks on killing spree. There are fat prostitutes and a funeral procession for a dead elephant in a giant coffin. Someone gets acid-etched genitals. You know, same ol' same ol'. Visit thetexastheatre.com.
Thu., March 3, 8 p.m., 2011