THE KING OF KONG

(2007) dir. Seth Gordon; 79min.

FRIDAY, May 14th at 7 & 9:30pm

SATURDAY, May 15th at 7 & 9:30pm

SUNDAY, May 16th at 3pm

You could get calluses just watching “The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters,” Seth Gordon’s documentary about two men vying for the high score in Donkey Kong. But even if you didn’t lose years of your life to that deviously entertaining Reagan-era arcade game, Mr. Gordon’s movie still succeeds as a portrait of a subculture: Kong-heads who videotape each game to send to Twin Galaxies, a governing body in Hollywood, Fla., empowered to validate high scores. A taped triumph is less sweet than an arcade win in the presence of witnesses, though — and that’s what the soft-spoken challenger Steve Weibe, a science teacher, hopes to achieve against the champion Billy Mitchell, a hot-sauce mogul and a force behind Twin Galaxies whose gaming chops landed him on the cover of Life back when feathered hair was cool.  ~ The New York Times