November Afternoon

A Phoenix pick

What's the deal with incest in this festival? The House of Yes, The Other Side of Sunday, and November Afternoon all deal with the game the whole family can play. Of the three, only the last named is worth seeing, as Irish filmmakers John Carney and Tom Hall combine John Cassavetes's mood-heavy black-and-white spontaneity with a tautly plotted story edgily enacted by a superlative cast.

A young Dubliner (Michael McElhatton) waits in trepidation at the airport for the arrival of his sister (Jayne Snow) and her boozy husband (Mark Doherty). The cause of his concern is gradually made clear in a series of tense scenes charged with eroticism, suspicion, hostility, alcohol, and rage. The two siblings have been intimate for years, and the brother seethes with ambivalence and frustration as the sister blithely wishes to continue the relationship while at the same time maintaining the façade of marriage and family. With a brisk jazz score and sly, loaded dialogue, November Afternoon is a bold and provocative exploration of an old taboo. Screens at the Copley Place Thursday at 6:10, 7:50, and 9:30 p.m. and Friday at noon and 2 and 3:50 p.m.

-- Peter Keough

Back to the Boston Film Festival index