SPACE ODDITY

Nearly four decades before Pixar charmed us with Wall-E, Universal introduced audiences to another solitary eco-warrior — one a little more passionate, a little more committed to his cause, a little more, well … batshit. In 1972, Bruce Dern wasn’t just on the list of actors considered for such roles. He was the list. In Silent Running, Dern’s astro-botanist, Freeman Lowell, is the lone voice of reason (for want of a better word) revolting against a corporatized space program about to destroy Earth’s last links to the natural world. The film screens today at 1:30 p.m. in the Durwood Film Vault at Kansas City’s Central Library (14 West 10th Street, 816-701-3400). Complementing the library’s Visions of the Universe exhibit (on display through August 30), the “Cinema Across the Universe” series concludes next Saturday with Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Admission is free. For more information, see kclibrary.org.

Sat., July 18, 6:30 p.m., 2009