Girl Flu; The Good Mind; Le Dep
GIRL FLU dark comedy, 92 minutes, not rated, 3 chiles
When sixth-grader Bird ( Jade Pettyjohn) gets her first period in front of everyone at her new school, the unanticipated milestone sends her decidedly immature mother, Jenny (Katee Sackhoff), into a terrifying downward spiral in this dark coming-of-age comedy. Writer/director Dorie Barton leaves nothing out of Bird’s growing sense of humiliation — she bleeds on white pants and bedsheets, has cramps and (painfully hilarious) mood swings, and reacts to the entire situation with horrified anger, hostile to growing up against her will. Jenny, who cannot have a conversation without first taking a hit off a joint, is unable to help Bird understand what is happening to her and how to manage it without breaking into laughter or getting upset when her meager attempts at comfort don’t work. Girl Flu does not come together as seamlessly as it could have, perhaps due to the inclusion of too many minor characters, but every performance is nuanced and genuinely moving. Girl Flu does not flinch from examining the intimacies of a girl’s life. It may be off-putting to some male viewers, but it will be instantaneously relatable for most women. — J.L. Violet Crown, 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 20; 5 p.m. Oct. 21; 3 p.m. Oct. 22
THE GOOD MIND documentary, 68 minutes, not rated, 3 chiles
“When the Peacemaker was talking to our nations down at Onondaga Lake, where they formed the first really democratic government, they placed the women in charge of the Earth and the water and the men in charge of fire and said, ‘Work together for the common good.’ ” Oren Lyons, “Faithkeeper” in the council of chiefs of the Onondaga, says this in Gwendolen Cates’ film about the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy. “If the good minds prevail, peace prevails.” Cates offers a multidimensional portrait of a people who not only serve as a model democracy but were also an inspiration for the democracy in the newly formed United States following the Revolutionary War. But in spite of a treaty ratified in 1795, the tribes have been reduced to living on a fraction of their onetime lands, and their revered Onondaga Lake is heavily contaminated with industrial waste. Through a series of interviews, we learn the story of these people, who invented and excel at the sport of lacrosse; rejected the Citizenship Act in 1924; created their own passport; and are campaigning not for lands to be restored but merely for an admission that they were illegally taken. — Paul Weideman Center for Contemporary Arts, 12:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 20; 10 a.m. Oct. 22; 2:30 p.m. Oct. 23
LE DEP drama, 77 minutes, in French and Innu with subtitles, not rated, 3.5 chiles
We’re at a convenience store in a rural First Nations community in Quebec. It’s winter, snowy bleak outside, and here comes a mostly drunk Indian wanting to buy some cheap beer. Lydia (Eve Ringuette), the storekeeper, is annoyed that the employee who was supposed to relieve her has flaked out — again. She deals with the drunk, but her next visitor isn’t so easy: It’s a holdup. The ski-masked invader, edgy with crack, sticks a gun in Lydia’s face and repeatedly demands money, but about two minutes in, she realizes the robber is her younger brother, PA (Charles Buckell Robertson), who is desperate because he owes a drug dealer, big-time. Then filmmaker Sonia Boileau then turns the story inward, and we discover, through their dialogue, what happened to these two as they were growing up with drunkard parents. An intense flashback sequence details little PA’s childhood horrors. Boileau fashions a thoroughly believable atmosphere; Buckell-Robertson gives a wrenching performance; and Ringuette is mesmerizing in her quiet poise. — P.W. Violet Crown, 11 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 20; 6:30 p.m. Oct. 22