The Human Race

In Bobby Houston's documentary The Human Race, 11 HIV-positive men set off in the 1997 Transpac, in which 40 yachts race from California to Hawaii. They seek to prove that they are survivors in their fight against AIDS -- and though theirs is a moving story, the film, despite its best intentions, encounters rough sailing. Houston doesn't characterize his subjects beyond their disease -- which makes it easier for us to sympathize with these people than relate to them. The inexperienced director has no idea what to focus on, so that the meaning of his film gets lost among petty issues. As the men bicker, an episode that Houston seems to document in its entirety, you can't help but wonder whether the bigger AIDS-related topics haven't been lost at sea. Screens at the Copley Place Wednesday, September 16 at 5, 7, and 9 p.m. and Thursday, September 17 at 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.

-- Ian Menchini

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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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More Boston Film Festival information, film descriptions, and show times

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