Ilya and Emilia Kabakov: Enter Here (USA)  

What does it mean to be a subversive artist? That depends on context, which has certainly changed numerous times in the lives of this long-time couple, who suffered various privations under Stalin and his Soviet descendents. They spent much time in exile and finally returned to Moscow for a first public show under Putin, not exactly a notable supporter of the arts. The film doesn’t explain how their collaboration works, with the slightly younger Emilia more sanguine about life under communism while Ilya bases much of his conceptual, still emotion-laden work on the journals of his late mother, who was ground to nothing by the system. The art has some power here, but it’s hard to know why director Amei Wallach felt the need to add her own “interpretive” designs.

SFU, September 28 (11 a.m.); Vancity, October 7 (9:15 p.m.) and 9 (10 a.m.)