Entertainment

‘Cremaster’ recycled

There are at least two reasons to visit the IFC Center for artist Matthew Barney’s five-part “Cremas ter Cycle.” First, the films make for damn good viewing. Second, the cycle is, according to the IFC Center, “not now, nor will it ever be, available to audiences on DVD.”

The films — which Barney has called “a narrative sculpture” — were shot out of sequence from 1995 to 2002, with each one complete unto itself. Describing them isn’t easy, but they’ve been compared to everything from “Star Wars” to Wagner.

They feature Barney, sometimes naked, in a series of roles. One high point, in “Cremaster 3,” is a balletic demolition derby involving six Chrysler cars staged in the lobby of the Chrysler Building. That should offer an idea of the wonders in store for viewers.

The title refers to the muscle that regulates the position of the human testicles.

The films run Wednesday through June 3. Barney, a notoriously private individual, will appear in person at Thursday’s 7 p.m. show. Will he bring along Bjork, his longtime girlfriend and the mother of his child? “We’re not sure who’s coming with him,” says the IFC Center’s Harris Dew.

* John Sturges’ tangy 1955 wide-screen thriller “Bad Day at Black Rock” will receive a one-week revival starting Friday at Film Forum.

A train stops for the first time in four years at the godforsaken desert hamlet of Black Rock. A one-armed stranger climbs off and is greeted with hostility, fear and violence by the townsfolk. What are they hiding?

Spencer Tracy received a well-deserved fifth Best Actor Oscar nomination for his portrayal of the stranger, John J. Macreedy, who’s looking for the family of the Japanese-American soldier who died saving his life in World War II.

Supporting Tracy are Robert Ryan as the town boss, Lee Marvin and Ernest Borgnine as his henchman (wait until you see Tracy wallop Borgnine), Walter Brennan as a doctor with a conscience, Dean Jagger as the rummy sheriff, and Anne Francis as a sexy grease monkey.

Ironically, Tracy lost the Oscar race that year to Borgnine, who won for his work as a lonely butcher in Delbert Mann’s “Marty.”

The Forum is on Houston Street, west of Sixth Avenue; filmforum.org. While you’re there, try one of the delicious egg creams. I always do.

* A big thank you to the readers who pointed out a dumb mistake in last week’s column. The female star of “Raising Arizona” is Holly Hunter, not Helen Hunt.

V.A. Musetto is film editor of The Post;

vam@nypost.com.