Spangenberg Theatre Spangenberg Theatre (December 10, 2004)

Note: The Spangenberg Theatre is located on the Gunn High School campus, 780 Arastradero Road, Palo Alto. Screenings are for Friday through Sunday only. Tickets are $5. For more information please visit www.spangenbergtheatre.com or call (650) 354-8220.

"Once We Grow Up" (2000) At 30, Simon is juggling with life and its problems. He is torn between his job as a journalist at "Tobacco Monthly," his girlfriend, Christine, with whom he can't seem to have a child, and his friends.

On the family side, he should be sorting things out with his psychiatrist father but he mainly takes care of his grandmother, who is losing her mind and making life impossible for everyone around her. When he meets Claire, a pregnant neighbor neglected by her husband, his life takes an unexpected turn. In French with English subtitles. Fri. at 7:30 p.m.; Sat. & Sun. at 3:45 p.m.

"Gloomy Sunday" (2003) Set in Budapest, circa 1940, the film centers on a love triangle. Ilana Varnai (Erika Marozsan) is hostessing at the city's old-school eatery, Szabo's. Her lover, restaurant owner Laszlo Szabo (Joachim Krol), is riding high -- madly in love with Ilana, enjoying his success and auditioning pianists to entertain his clientele.

Enter musician Andres Aradi (Stefano Dionisi), who falls hopelessly in love with the seductive Ilana. Struck dumb by his passion, Andres composes a moody piano piece in honor of his lady love. The ballad's effect is so painfully bittersweet that the song appears to be the cause of a number of suicides in the Budapest area. Simultaneously, the Nazi war machine invades Hungary, bringing with it an SS Colonel (Ben Becker) who has long worshipped Ilana and will do anything to have her as his own. In German with English subtitles. Sat. & Sun. at 1:30 p.m.

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