May Advisory Meeting Candidates

180 Degrees South – documentary - Chris Malloy
Rotten Tomatoes: none Metacritic: none
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=em3mIrbOeFw
Inspired by Yvon Chouinard and Doug Tompkins' 1968 excursion into Patagonia, adventurer Jeff Johnson sets out to retrace the footsteps of his heroes' arduous trek as filmmaker Chris Malloy follows with camera in hand. But despite the thrill of surfing the biggest wave he's ever encountered, Johnson quickly discovers just how treacherous things can get when you decide to challenge Mother Nature's majesty; in addition to enduring some particularly rough waters just off the coast of Easter Island, he quickly discovers that conquering Cerro Corcovado is no simple task. Later, during a face-to-face meeting with Chouinard and Tompkins, Johnson learns how their lifelong quest to explore everything that nature has to offer eventually lead them on a drive to ensure that the places they visited over the years will be preserved for future generations of explorers to discover.

Babies – documentary - Thomas Balmes
Rotten Tomatoes: 80 Metacritic: none
http://www.youtube.com/user/BabiesMovie?v=N009QUWUy7I&feature=pyv&ad=4990760724&kw=babies%20trailer
Filmmaker Thomas Balmes offers an adorable glimpse at the first phase of life in this film following four newborn babies through their first year of life. Ponijao, Bayar, Mari, and Hattie were born in Namibia, Mongolia, Japan, and California, respectively. By capturing their earliest stage of development on camera, Balmes reveals just how much we all have in common, despite being born to different parents and raised in different cultures.

Behind the Burly Q – documentary - Leslie Zemeckis
Rotten Tomatoes: 76 Metacritic: 62
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=189Zme-Ioh8
In the days before hardcore pornography attained mainstream accessibility in America, a more docile and suggestive form of adult entertainment proliferated in and around big cities, especially Manhattan: the classic burlesque show. Populated by musicians, comedians, and strippers, and cloaked in an overarching gaudiness, "burly" shows typically cost a dime for a single admission. Especially during difficult eras such as the Great Depression, the shows enabled male attendees to temporarily cast their troubles aside. As helmed by Leslie Zemeckis (documentarist wife of Robert Zemeckis), this chronicle examines the burly tradition by interviewing authors, historians, and burlesque participants including former strippers, comedians, and novelty acts. Taken together, the personal reminiscences not only reflect a broad spectrum of emotions, from triumph to tragedy, but add up to a historical chronicle of a unusual, now-extinct subculture that will remain forever tied to the early to mid-20th century.

Blood Done Signed My Name - drama - Jeb Stuart
Rotten Tomatoes: 48 Metacritic: 49
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQlrfwWzfak
Author Timothy Tyson's acclaimed novel is adapted for the screen in this sweeping civil rights drama from director Jeb Stuart. Set in Oxford, NC, in the 1970s, Blood Done Sign My Name tells the tale of Civil Rights leader Dr. Ben Chavis (Nate Parker), who played a pivotal role in desegregating North Carolina's public school system, and who would go on to become the youngest-ever executive director and CEO of the NAACP. The film centers on the racial tensions that flared after a white father and son were charged with murdering a black man, and were subsequently acquitted of the crime despite the fact that it took place in full view of the public.

Boogie Woogie – comedy - Duncan Ward
Rotten Tomatoes: 33 Metacritic: 35
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SzNnR6OElw
A star-studded cast including Amanda Seyfried, Gillian Anderson, Alan Cumming, Heather Graham, Stellan Skarsgård and Christopher Lee brings the eccentricities of the London art scene to life in this character-driven comedy. The film is based on Danny Moynihan's book, which takes its title from Piet Mondrian's iconic painting, and the plot centers on the painting: who has it -- and who wants to get it.

Breaking Upwards – romance - Daryl Wein
Rotten Tomatoes: 69 Metacritic: 57
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfnoJTFmedQ&feature=related
Their marriage turning stifling after just four years, a young New York couple attempts to escape their ennui by carefully strategizing their own breakup. Blurring the lines between fiction and reality, real-life couple Daryl Wein and Zoe Lister-Jones star as themselves in order to offer an unguarded exploration of young love, lust, and the hardships of codependency. By exploring alternatives to monogamy, creating arbitrary rules for their relationship, and doing everything in their power to avoid getting emotionally bruised, Daryl and Zoe attempt to discover a means of growing apart, together.

Casino Jack and the United States of Money – documentary - Alex Gibney
Rotten Tomatoes: 100 Metacritic: none
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QX6UiFOr8uM
This portrait of Washington super lobbyist Jack Abramoff—from his early years as a gung-ho member of the GOP political machine to his final reckoning as a disgraced, imprisoned pariah—confirms the adage that truth is indeed stranger than fiction. A tale of international intrigue with Indian casinos, Russian spies, Chinese sweatshops, and a mob-style killing in Miami, this is the story of the way money corrupts our political process. Oscar-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney once again wields the tools of his trade with the skill of a master. Following the ongoing indictments of federal officials and exposing favor trading in our nation's capital, Gibney illuminates the way our politicians' desperate need to get elected—and the millions of dollars it costs—may be undermining the basic principles of American democracy. Infuriating, yet undeniably fun to watch, CASINO JACK is a saga of greed and corruption with a cynical villain audiences will love to hate.

City Island - comedy/drama - Raymond De Felitta
Rotten Tomatoes: 84 Metacritic: 66
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1V8ldV0jSdY
A dysfunctional family living on a picturesque island in the Bronx spares no expense in avoiding the truth about their messed-up lives in writer/director Raymond de Felitta's dark family comedy. The family patriarch, Vince (Andy Garcia) is a prison guard who is secretly plotting a new career as an actor. Meanwhile, as Vince takes acting lessons on the down low, his daughter moonlights as a stripper and his younger namesake harbors a secret fetish that involves the family's 300-pound neighbor. Under normal circumstances Vincent's wife, Joyce (Julianna Margulies), would be the family rock, but lately she's been preoccupied with uncovering the identity of the hired help, a secret that only her husband knows.

City of Your Final Destination – drama - James Ivory
Rotten Tomatoes: 50 Metacritic: 53
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIhFvZ-XUro
James Ivory's adaptation of Peter Cameron's The City of Your Final Destination tells the story of a grad-student (Omar Metwally) hired to write a deceased author's biography. The young man soon discovers that the writer's suicide has left his family, mistress, and partner feuding. how the family of a writer makes sense of their past decades after the author commits suicide. The plot begins when a graduate student approaches the writer's offspring about access to their father's papers so that a biography about the man can be written.

Dancing Across Borders – documentary - Anne Bass
Rotten Tomatoes: 63 Metacritic: 47
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtVWON4fqCI
Filmmaker Anne H. Bass was visiting Cambodia when she saw a young man dancing in the street and was immediately struck by his skill, his passion, and his charisma. Bass introduced herself to the dancer, Sokvannara Sar, and she was impressed enough with him that she offered to help him come to the United States to study classical dance. It was the beginning of a remarkable journey for Sar, as he went from performing folk dances on the street to the rigors of professional-level ballet study in America, where he was a highly promising but unlikely new figure on the dance scene. Bass and her camera were on hand for much of Sar's transition to his new life, and the documentary Dancing Across Borders tells his remarkable story, from busking in the streets to a special performance accompanied by composer Philip Glass. Dancing Across Borders received its world premiere as an official selection at the 2009 Seattle International Film Festival.

Dogtooth – foreign - Giorgos Lanthimos
Rotten Tomatoes: none Metacritic: none
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alqV65PnfOE
Three young people exist in a strange world of their parents' devising in this bizarre drama from writer and director Yorgos Lanthimos. A father and mother (Christos Stergioglou and Michele Valley) live in a large house on the outskirts of town with their three children, whose ages range from mid-teens to early twenties. The children have never been allowed to leave the house (which is surrounded by a tall fence), and their knowledge of the outside world has been strictly controlled by their parents, who have chosen to teach them only what they believe is important and have deliberately confused or misled them in many other areas. The parents quite literally treat their children like animals, and the only contact the youngsters have with people outside their family is Christina (Anna Kalaitzidou), a woman who works with the father's business and comes by periodically to have sex with the eldest son (Christos Passalis). Christina makes the mistake of bringing a present for the two younger daughters (Aggeliki Papoulia and Mary Tsoni), and explains the custom is that they should give her something in return. This simple act sets off a chain reaction of events that has terrible consequences for everyone involved. Kynodontas (aka Dogtooth) was an official selection at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.

Everyone Else - drama/romance - Maren Ade
Rotten Tomatoes: 100 Metacritic: 74
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OqI9gxz7tY
In this edgy comedy drama from director Maren Ade, Chris (Lars Eidinger) and Gitti (Birgit Minichmayr) are a couple whose relationship has more than its share of ups and downs; she works as a publicist for a rock group whose career is going nowhere in particular, while he's an architect who hasn't been able to persuade anyone to build one of his designs just yet. While Gitti's career isn't much, it's enough to give her head-of-the-household status, to Chris' chagrin. Chris and Gitti are spending some time at his well-to-do family's summer home in Sardinia, and they seem to be getting along relatively well until they meet another couple vacationing nearby, Hans (Hans-Jochen Wagner) and Sana (Nicole Marischka). Hans is an architect like Chris, but unlike Chris his career is in high gear, while Sana is a well-respected artist. Hans isn't afraid to display his alpha-male status in their relationship, and Chris' attempts to emulate him add to the tension between him and Gitti, while she isn't sure what to make of a couple who seem so outwardly happy. Alle Anderen (aka Everyone Else) was an official selection at the 2009 Berlin International Film Festival.

Exit Through The Gift Shop – documentary – Banksy
Rotten Tomatoes: 95 Metacritic: 85
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsnX63KK2y0
Exit Through the Gift Shop marks the feature film debut of notorious street artist Banksy. The documentary's focus is French-born L.A. thrift shop owner Thierry Guetta, whose apparent compulsion to videotape every moment of his life led him to document the phenomenon of contemporary street art. Guetta's cousin, a street artist known as Space Invader, allowed the avid cameraman to tape him as he illegally spread his artwork, and Space Invader also introduced him to other street artists, whose work Guetta captured on tape. Eventually, Guetta hooked up with Shepard Fairey, who was best known (before he created an iconic Barack Obama campaign poster) for his widespread stickers featuring an image of the late wrestler Andre the Giant over the word "OBEY." Guetta soon hears about the mysterious street artist/prankster Banksy, and becomes obsessed with finding him and videotaping his exploits. Thanks to Guettta's growing reputation among street artists, the two eventually meet and form a sort of partnership. Guetta even videotapes Banksy's infamous "Gitmo" prank at Disneyland, wherein a handcuffed, hooded figure in an orange jumpsuit is placed beside one of the rides. They get along quite well until Banksy suggests that Guetta stop shooting, take the countless hours of footage he's accumulated, and start assembling them into a documentary. Banksy eventually takes over the documentary project, and inadvertently pushes Guetta's creative energy in a new direction, as Guetta becomes a kind of street artist himself, with shocking results. Exit Through the Gift Shop, narrated by Rhys Ifans, had its World Premiere at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. While it was very well received, there was much speculation as to the documentary's veracity and the provenance of Guetta, his videotape, and his artwork. Given Banksy's reputation, that should not come as a surprise.

The Exploding Girl – drama - Bradley Rust Gra
Rotten Tomatoes: 72 Metacritic:66
http://www.youtube.com/user/oscopelabs#p/a/u/0/Irxf6VGhVRY
Ivy (Zoe Kazan of Revolutionary Road) returns home to Brooklyn for her summer break from college. She misses her boyfriend, and calls him frequently, but they can't quite seem to connect. She spends a lot of time with her longtime friend, Al (Mark Rendall of 30 Days of Night). Al clearly has a longstanding crush on Ivy, about which he's never done anything, probably out of some combination of fear and respect for their friendship. His confusion is exacerbated when, due to family circumstances, he's forced to stay with Ivy and her mother (Maryann Urbano) during his break from school. As the summer goes on, Ivy deals with her epilepsy and the slow, painful dissolution of her relationship, while Al starts to look for love in other directions. Bradley Rust Gray wrote and directed The Exploding Girl, while his wife, So Yong Kim, served as a producer. Fans of the Cure will recognize the title as a play on their song "The Exploding Boy," the flip side of "In Between Days," which was the title of Kim's directorial debut, on which Gray served as co-writer and producer. The Exploding Girl had its North American premiere at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival, where it was shown in the World Narrative Competition.

The Good, The Bad, The Weird – Action - Ji-woon Kim
Rotten Tomatoes: 88 Metacritic: 68
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SukNDHx4Qs8
As the Korean peninsula falls into the hands of Japanese imperialists and countless Koreans seek refuge in the vast wilderness of Manchuria, a determined thief, a cold-blooded hitman, and a mysterious bounty hunter all vie for an elusive map that could lead them to a buried treasure from the Qing Dynasty. Tae-gu is "The Weird," a thief who comes into possession of the sought-after map while boldly robbing a train of Japanese military officers. But at the very same time Tae-gu attacks the train, relentless assassin Chang-yi and his violent gang of bandits beset the locomotive as well. Chang-yi is "The Bad," and he'll kill anyone who tries to come between him and the untold treasures of the Qing Dynasty. Just as the cloud of gunpowder begins to clear, a shadowy stranger suddenly appears and rescues Tae-gu from certain death. That stranger is Do-won, "The Good." Do-won has been chasing Tae-gu in hopes that he can capture him and collect the reward money. Now, as these three resolute strangers converge in a sprawling landscape that none of them can truly call home, they quickly discover that Korean resistance fighters, resilient mountain bandits, and the Japanese army also covet the prized map. The fight on the train is only the beginning, too, because when the stakes are this high the action is bound to get bloody.

Handsome Harry – crime - Bette Gordon
Rotten Tomatoes: 79 Metacritic: 57
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRvBcejsv7s
A man seeking to escape the past realizes that he'll first have to confront the present after receiving a desperate call from a friend on his deathbed. Harry Sweeny (Jamey Sheridan) is an aged but handsome divorcée with a grown son and a small business. He lives a comfortable life in a small town, where his main source of entertainment is stopping by the local diner to flirt with pretty waitress Muriel (Karen Young). But Harry's life hasn't always been this easy, and after getting a call from Tom Kelly (Steve Buscemi) he starts to remember why. Tom isn't long for this earth, and before he goes he seeks forgiveness from David Kagan, a fellow crewman that he and Harry knew from their Navy days. Unable to say no to an old friend, Harry sets out on a reluctant search for David, visiting old friends and drudging up painful memories in the process. Why does Tom feel like he needs David's forgiveness to pass on, and whose redemption is Harry searching for anyway?

Harry Brown – crime - Daniel Barber
Rotten Tomatoes: 71 Metacritic: 53
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2S3SraFmI0
Academy Award nominee Daniel Barber (The Tonto Woman) makes his feature directorial debut with this gritty critique on contemporary British society starring Michael Caine as an elderly shut-in who's spurred to action by a senseless act of violence. Harry Brown (Caine) resides in a desolate public-housing apartment block as his sickly wife lies dying in a local hospital. He spends most of his days in solitude, only getting out to play the occasional game of chess at a nearby pub with his best friend, Leonard (David Bradley). The days of basic human decency seem to be a thing of the past, because in recent years barbarous drug dealers and gangsters have overtaken the dilapidated complex. Killing is a way of life for these young thugs, and as a result overburdened detectives Frampton (Emily Mortimer) and Hicock (Charlie Creed-Miles) are essentially relegated to knocking on doors and notifying parents when their children have been killed in the latest fracas, instead of investigating the crimes and jailing the guilty parties. When Leonard is murdered just feet from his own apartment, former Royal Marine Harry utilizes the skills he learned while fighting the IRA to take on the aggressive chavs who have intimidated the police into inaction.

In My Sleep - drama/thriller - Allen Wolf
Rotten Tomatoes:10 Metacritic: 33
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2x_O2XAc-g
A young man fears that he may be the architect of his own destruction in this mind-bending thriller from director Allen Wolf. Marcus' (Philip Winchester) terror begins when he inexplicably wakes up half-naked in a cemetery late one night, with no recollection of the events that led up to his arrival there. He learns that he actually suffers from a rare disorder known as parasomnia, which causes him to engage in bizarre behavior during his sleep that he cannot remember the next day. His life takes a rather grisly turn when he wakes up one morning covered in blood, with a knife at his side -- and then learns that his best friend's wife was just stabbed to death. Uncertain if he might have done this himself to cover up a long-buried secret between himself and the victim, or if someone is setting him up as the fall guy in a murder plot, Marcus vows to track his own after-dark activities. Life grows even more bizarre when several strange phone calls roll in, and suggest to Marcus that someone may be watching or following him.

In Search of Memory – documentary - Petra Seeger
Rotten Tomatoes100 Metacritic: none
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Yh1odPMgXI
Two years after Eric Kandel's autobiography, In Search of Memory: The Emergence of a New Science of the Mind, brought his theory about the biological basis of memory to the masses, filmmaker Petra Seeger explores the Nobel Prize-winning neuroscientist's story to the screen in this documentary. A Viennese Jew by birth, Kandel was forced to emigrate to the United States at the age of nine. After studying literature and Austrian history in New York, he became a psychoanalyst and, eventually, a neuroscientist. Ever since Kandel's traumatic childhood in Nazi-occupied Vienna, he became obsessed with the search for memory. In this film, we follow Kandel on a personal journey into his own memory, and follow him as he conducts research from his institute at Columbia University in New York.

Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work - documentary - Ricki Stern
Rotten Tomatoes: none Metacritic: none
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIJf-W9FNY0
Joan Rivers launched her career as a standup comic in the early '60s, a time when female comedians were few and far between, and after several years of working nightclubs to unresponsive audiences, she was booked on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson in 1965 and soon became one of the most successful comedy acts in the nation. Since then, Rivers has hosted several TV talk shows, written best-selling books, directed a feature film, launched a line of jewelry, and kept up a busy schedule of personal appearances, determined to hold on to her stardom regardless of the fickle winds of show business. Filmmakers Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg followed Rivers through a typically eventful year in her life, and in Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work, they offer a look at the woman behind the laughter as she struggles to stay in the spotlight, works on new material, launches a one-woman show in the United Kingdom that doesn't fare as well as she hopes, takes a chance as a participant on a reality TV show, and ponders her career in show business at the age of 75. Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work received its world premiere at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.

The Joneses – drama - Derrick Borte
Rotten Tomatoes: 62 Metacritic: 55
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=achUBX71Fj0
A picture-perfect family moves into an upscale community, impressing the locals and integrating themselves into every aspect of the community until a sudden tragedy forces them to reassess their priorities. Steve (David Duchovny) and Kate Jones (Demi Moore) have everything a happily married couple could ever want: their kids, Jenn (Amber Heard) and Mick (Ben Hollingsworth), are intelligent and attractive, they live in an affluent neighborhood, and their sprawling suburban home is jam-packed with all of the coolest gizmos and gadgets that money can buy. It isn't long before the Joneses have struck up a friendship with their next-door neighbors Larry (Gary Cole) and Summer (Glenne Headly), and become integral components of their community. But take a closer look at the situation and you'll start to see something ominous lurking just beneath the surface. It's only when the Joneses are confronted with an unexpected disaster that they finally discover who they really are beneath the glossy veneer of consumerism.

La Mission – drama - Peter Bratt
Rotten Tomatoes: 43 Metacritic: 46
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTkVM3nCnAs
A reformed ex-convict and lowrider car aficionado kicks his beloved son out of the house after discovering that the boy has been living a secret life in Sundance Film Festival veteran Peter Bratt's heartfelt family drama. Che (Benjamin Bratt) is out of prison and on the straight and narrow. Still, every day is a struggle as he battles alcoholism and drives a bus in order to support his family. When the workday is done, Che and his friends, the "Mission Boyz," pass the time by restoring junked cars to mint condition. Feared by his peers yet deeply respected as the toughest Chicano on the block, Che is the kind of guy whose entire existence is defined by his macho reputation. There's no one in the world that Che loves more than his adolescent son, Jesse (Jeremy Ray Valdez), but both father and son are about to discover that love isn't exactly unconditional. Upon discovering that Jesse has been living a secret life, Che flies into a violent rage, assaulting the boy and kicking him out onto the street. Meanwhile, Che's attractive and headstrong neighbor Lena (Erika Alexander) challenges the ultra-macho gearhead to step back for a minute and take stock of the life he thought he had.

Looking for Eric - comedy/drama - Ken Loach
Rotten Tomatoes: 89 Metacritic: none
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j852L4afUJs
A man trying to put his life back on track gets some advice from an unexpected benefactor in this comedy drama from acclaimed British director Ken Loach. Eric Bishop (Steve Evets) is a postman living in Manchester whose life has been slowly going off the rails ever since his wife, Lily (Stephanie Bishop), walked out on him. Eric has just been released from the hospital after an auto accident, and comes home to a house that's a mess and two teenage sons, Ryan (Gerard Kearns) and Jess (Stefan Gumbs), who regard their dad as an annoyance rather than an authority figure. Eric's oldest child, a grown daughter named Sam (Lucy-Jo Hudson), loves him but can't get her mother or brothers to show him any respect. And his friends from work don't know what to do for him, except allow him to talk about football and his favorite team, Manchester United. One night, Eric is home alone, smoking some weed, and to his amazement he's visited by an apparition of Eric Cantona, the French footballer who was a star for Manchester United in the 1990s until he retired and dropped out of sight. Cantona's ghost has come to give Eric a pep talk and offer him some advice on how to win Lily back, and as Eric tries to convince his wife to give him another chance, Cantona periodically appears to coach him in the ways of romance. Looking for Eric was an official selection at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.

Lourdes – drama - Jessica Hausner
Rotten Tomatoes: 80 Metacritic: 67
http://www.tartanfilmsusa.com/Film.asp?ProjectID={55512AE6-A6D3-45EA-8FB7-9CAA00B4AFA4}
A woman searching for a miracle seemingly finds one -- but what comes next? Christine (Sylvie Testud) has spent most of her life confined to a wheelchair, unable to use her arms and legs, and while she has a keen mind and the means to seek treatment, she looks for a solution to her condition in faith as well as medical science. Christine has made a pilgrimage to Lourdes, the village in Southwestern France where a celebrated miracle is said to have occurred, and she checks into an upscale clinic where a young nurse named Maria (Lea Seydoux) is assigned to look after her. Christine imagines that she and Maria are becoming fast friends, but the nurse prefers to spend her time with her co-workers rather than her patients, and she often flirts with Kuno (Bruno Todeschini), a handsome man who also works at the clinic. Christine finds herself having several conversations with Mme. Hartl (Gilette Barbier), who has a powerful belief in the healing powers of the waters of Lourdes, and after several days of treatment, Christine is amazed to find that she's regained the full use of her arms and legs. But once she's experienced the miracle she hoped for, Christine's interest is less in thanking the Lord and more in pursuing Kuno. Lourdes was written and directed by Jessica Hausner, and received its world premiere at the 2009 Venice International Film Festival.

Micmacs – comedy - Jean Pierre Jeunet
Rotten Tomatoes: 79 Metacritics: none
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buarPFzHmBw
An underground lair serves as the point of inspiration for this deeply whimsical fantasy comedy (with echoes of Jodorowsky's Rainbow Thief) from French cause célèbre Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Amélie, The City of Lost Children). The locale is post-9/11 Europe. As arms dealers go head to head with one another in a series of violent skirmishes -- suggesting that an apocalyptic cataclysm may be lingering on the horizon -- the unfortunate Bazil (Dany Boon) still reels from the long-ago death of his father from a roadside bomb, an event that left him orphaned as a boy. Now employed in a low-paying job as a video-store clerk, and still trying to determine how he fits into the scheme of things, he gets hit by a stray bullet from a drive-by shooting and promptly lands in the hospital. Upon release, he finds himself broke and unemployed. Hope soon crops up, however, in the form of Placard (Jean-Pierre Marielle), an ex-convict living in a scrap dump with a motley group of social outcasts -- all of whom welcome Bazil with warmth, compassion, and hospitality. Sure of his place for the first time in his life, Bazil joins forces with them to turn the dump into a lovely underground home, filled to the rafters with extraordinary inventions and sculptures. Soon after, the possibility of revenge against the munitions manufacturers responsible for Bazil's dad's death presents itself.

Mid-August Lunch - comedy/drama - Gianni Di Gregorio
Rotten Tomatoes: 91 Metacritic: 76
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEmkappTLEM
A man unexpectedly finds himself talking care of four women, three of whom he barely knows, in this sunny comedy from Italy. Gianni (Gianni di Gregorio) is a man in his mid-sixties who still lives with his mother; given that Valeria (Valeria De Franciscis) is well into her nineties, these days he looks after her rather than the other way around, though she remains quite spry given her age. Gianni and Valeria share an apartment in a building owned by Luigi (Alfonso Santagata); Gianni owes money on the rent, and Luigi, who wants to take off for the midsummer festivities of Ferragosto, makes him a deal -- Luigi will forgive the debt if his elderly mother, Marina (Marina Cacciotti), can stay with Gianni and Valeria for a few days. Gianni grudgingly agrees, but is upset when he discovers Luigi has also brought his aging aunt Maria (Maria Calì). Word apparently circulates that Gianni is running an informal home for the elderly, as his friend Marcello (Marcello Ottolenghi) stops by and drops off his mother, Grazia (Grazia Cesarini Sforza), for a day or two. While Gianni scrambles to look after the various needs of four elderly women, it soon becomes clear the ladies have strongly differing views on a number of subjects, making his job all the more difficult. Pranzo di Ferragosto (aka Mid-August Lunch) was written and directed by Gianni di Gregorio, who also played the harried son; it was the first directorial project for the veteran screenwriter.

The Misfortunates - drama - Felix Van Groeningen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrYi4kYc-fA
Rotten Tomatoes: 82 Metacritic:53
A boy growing up with a family of Flemish slobs learns more than his elders imagined they were capable of teaching in this purposefully rude comedy-drama. Gunther Strobbe (Kenneth Vanbaeden) is thirteen years old and living with his father Marcel (Koen De Graeve), his three uncles (Bert Haelvoet, Johan Heldenbergh and Wouter Hendrickx) and his grandmother (Gilda De Bal). You would think that Gunther has more than enough adult role models in his life, but the Strobbes are not an ordinary family; Marcel works part-time as a letter carrier, though the fact there are several bars on his route makes getting the work done a challenge, while his brothers are booze-addled layabouts who sponge off their mother, who is too sweet to deny them her meager pension. Gunther loves his family, but they often seem more like seedy playmates than authority figures, as the men in the house spend their days gulping down beer and sausage, breaking things, playing rude pranks on others and chasing women, often with hilarious but embarrassing consequences. Years later, Gunther has launched a career as a writer, is married and is expecting a son; suddenly frightened by the new responsibilities that await him, Gunther seeks out Marcel and his brothers for some advice on fatherhood, a subject one might not imagine is one of their strong suits. Directed by Felix van Groeningen, De Helaasheid der Dingen (aka The Misfortunates) was adapted from the novel by Dimitri Verhulst.

Mother and Child – drama - Rodrigo Garcia
Rotten Tomatoes: 83 Metacritic: none
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H87uMXAQzjc
Writer/director Rodrigo García (Nine Lives) teams with executive producer Alejandro González Iñárritu to craft this drama highlighting the powerful bond between a mother and her son. It's been years since Karen (Annette Bening) gave her daughter, Elizabeth, up for adoption, and the decision to abandon her child has always haunted her. Upon meeting laid-back Paco (Jimmy Smits), Karen permits her anxiety and mistrust to get the best of her. On the surface it appears that Elizabeth (Naomi Watts) is none the worse for never knowing her biological mother; she's a fast-talking lawyer who's just landed a high-profile job at a firm fronted by Paul (Samuel L. Jackson), though her unsavory penchant for exploiting others is about to blow up in her face. Meanwhile, maternal-minded baker Lucy (Kerry Washington) longs to experience the joys of motherhood, eventually deciding that adoption is the best bet to start a family with her husband, Joseph (David Ramsey).

My Name is Khan - drama/romance - Karan Johar
Rotten Tomatoes: none Metacritic: 50
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ruf0iEMT6M
A benevolent Asperger's sufferer Rizwan Khan (Shah Rukh Khan) sets out on a journey across America on a mission to win back his one true love. As his travels continue, Khan inspires optimism and joy in the hearts of the people he encounters by spreading messages of goodwill wherever he roams.

No One Knows About Persian Cats – drama - Bahman Ghobadi
Rotten Tomatoes: 97 Metacritic: 70
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gLq3E4pRuU
Iran is a nation where most forms of pop music have been strictly banned by the government, but that doesn't stop plenty of people from playing the music they love in secret, and a pair of underground musicians in Tehran struggle to be heard without going to jail in this independent \comedy-drama from director Bahman Ghobadi. Negar (Negar Shaghaghi) and Ashkan (Ashkan Koshanejad) are two friends who front an \indie rock band, though their inability to play in public has been something of a drawback. Negar and Ashkan have been able to arrange a gig in London, and are searching for like minded musicians to accompany them when they meet Nader (Hamed Behdad), a fast-talking black market businessman who deals in bootlegged music and movies, fake passports and underground practice spaces (both literally and figuratively) for local rock musicians. Nader offers to help Negar and Ashkan find fellow musicians and a place to rehearse, but this process isn't nearly as simple or safe as Nader makes it out to be. Kasi az gorbehayeh irani khabar nadareh (aka No One Knows About Persian Cats) was an official selection at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, where it was screened as part of the "Un Certain Regard" program.

The Oath – documentary - Laura Poitras
Rotten Tomatoes: none Metacritic: none
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGHgn2-I3YU
Two men who were part of the al-Qaeda terrorist network look back on their past with strongly mixed feelings in this documentary from director Laura Poitras. Before the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, D.C., made Osama bin Laden and his jihad against the West known to nearly every American, Abu Jandal was one of bin Laden's bodyguards, and he helped recruit Salim Hamdan, who served as bin Laden's personal driver. Jandal was able to escape prosecution and fled to Yemen, where he now makes a living driving a taxi. Jandal still regards America as a sworn enemy, but also views his days in al-Qaeda with little nostalgia, and he anticipates no hopeful future before him. Jandal also feels deep regret over the fate of Hamdan, who ended up in the United States military prison at Guantanamo Bay and was tried as a terrorist, despite his insistence he was bin Laden's chauffeur and nothing more. Hamdan's family and legal team struggle on his behalf without any illusions about his likely fate, and when Jandal speaks out to the press in his old friend's defense, Hamdan sends him a sharply worded letter asking him to stop. The Oath was an official selection at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.

Off and Running – documentary - Nicole Opper
Rotten Tomatoes: 90 Metacritic: 68
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hga5PvXTMAs
An intimate and earnest examination of race , gender identity and the definition of "family," this sociological documentary chronicle filters said themes through the eyes of Avery Klein-Cloud, an intelligent and generally well-adjusted teenager from Brooklyn with decidedly unusual circumstances. Though African American herself, Avery grew up with two Jewish lesbian foster mothers, who also adopted two boys, one Korean and the other of mixed ethnicity. Encouraged by both mothers to get in touch with her biological mom for the first time, Avery writes a letter to the woman, but this decision sparks a profound identity crisis in Avery and contributes to increasingly disturbing behavior. As she questions who she is, she also begins spending lengthy periods of time away from home, drops out of school, and suffers from feelings of isolation and abandonment - and her plan to attend university on a track and field scholarship seems increasingly unlikely. What therefore commences as a meaningful journey of self-enlightenment regresses into a far more dangerous personal crisis for the young woman.

Paper Man - comedy/drama - Kieran Mulroney
Rotten Tomatoes: 33 Metacritic: 39
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5LPfNfSBmo
Jeff Daniels, Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, and Lisa Kudrow headline co-writer/directors Michele and Kieran Mulroney's affectionate comedy drama detailing the unlikely friendship between a failed writer (Daniels) and the Long Island high school girl (Stone) who teaches him what it really means to take responsibility in life. Meanwhile, the author's long-suffering wife casts a disapproving gaze, and an imaginary superhero weighs in with his own take on the unusual bond.

The Paranoids – comedy - Gabriel Medina
Rotten Tomatoes: 44 Metacritic: 52
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcakNaeemiA
A loser with a successful friend discovers his luck might change as long as he doesn't mind betraying his buddy in this edgy comedy from Argentina. Luciano (Daniel Hendler) is a neurotic and accident-prone children's entertainer who is struggling to launch a career as a screenwriter when he's not fretting about his health. After Luciano accidentally puts his performing partner, Sherman (Martin Feldman), in the hospital, he's unable to do shows for a few weeks and is wondering what to do when his old friend Manuel (Walter Jakob) returns to Buenos Aires for a visit. Manuel is the star of a popular television show in Spain, and he's dating a beautiful woman, Sophia (Jazmin Stuart), who comes along for the ride. Manuel helps Luciano land a writing assignment, but it's uncomfortably obvious he's only helping his pal out of a sense of obligation and doesn't believe in his talent. As Luciano struggles to meet his deadline, Manuel is called away on business for a few days, and Sophia, a stranger in town, spends some time with Luciano while her boyfriend is away. Sophia finds Luciano's eccentricities endearing rather than annoying, and he soon realizes he has the opportunity to steal his friend's lover away. Los Paranoicos (aka The Paranoids) was an official entry at the 2008 Buenos Aires Film Festival.

Please Give - comedy - Nicole Holofcener
Rotten Tomatoes: 86 Metacritic: 73
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zi9WlsYCr-k
A family looking for some extra space gets drawn into a difficult relationship with the folks next door in this comedy drama from writer and director Nicole Holofcener. Kate (Catherine Keener) and Alex (Oliver Platt) are a couple living in New York City who run a successful store specializing in vintage furniture. Kate and Alex have a teenage daughter, Abby (Sarah Steele) and their apartment is starting to feel a bit small for the three of them; Kate and Alex own the unit next door to them, and once the flat becomes vacant, they plan to knock out a wall and take over the space. However, Andra (Ann Morgan Guilbert), their tenant, is an elderly woman with a poor disposition who doesn't seem eager to go anywhere soon, and it's occurred to Kate and Alex that they're probably going to have wait for her to die, since evicting her would be very awkward. Hoping to make the best of the situation, Kate tries to strike up a friendship with Andra and her fiercely protective granddaughter Rebecca (Rebecca Hall), but Andra isn't especially interested in making new friends, and Rebecca's sister, Mary (Amanda Peet), isn't much easier to deal with. Kate and Alex are also struggling to communicate with Abby, who has her own issues regarding self-image. Please Give received its world premiere at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.

Police, Adjective - comedy/crime - Corneliu Porumboiu
Rotten Tomatoes: none Metacritic: 79
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6y92qUjeUBw
A cop finds himself growing uncomfortable with his latest assignment in this study in the nature of power and authority from Romanian director Corneliu Porumboiu. Cristi (Dragos Bucur) is a seasoned police detective who has just gotten married to Anca (Irina Saulescu) and wants to keep his superiors happy. Cristi's boss, Nelu (Ion Stoica), has ordered the detective to keep a close watch on Victor (Radu Costin), a teenager who is suspected of dealing drugs for a local cartel. Cristi has spent several weeks following Victor's actions and is certain that the kid smokes marijuana with his friends, but isn't any kind of drug pusher and should be left alone. Cristi is also aware that Romanian authorities are expected to relax their laws regarding drugs in the near future, making it all but pointless to possibly ruin Victor's life by bringing him in, but while Nelu understands Cristi's thinking, he's not so willing to let the youngster off so easily. Politist, Adj. (aka Police, Adjective) was an official selection at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.

PRINCESS KAIULANI – drama - Marc Forby
Rotten Tomatoes: none Metacritic: none
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnG1cQja_JA
This gorgeous, sweeping historical epic tells the story of the final days of Hawaiian independence and how one young princess stood up to the impending takeover of her nation.

Prodigal Sons – documentary - Kimberly Reed
Rotten Tomatoes: 80 Metacritic: 68
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oz2BHFH4fc
Debut filmmaker Kimberly Reed addresses issues of identity, sexual orientation, childhood trauma, and family love as she returns to her small Montana hometown for her high school reunion, and attempts a long overdue reconciliation with her estranged adopted brother. As intense sibling rivalries come into focus and startling revelations emerge (including a blood relationship with Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth), intimate family discussions lead the filmmaker on a journey from Montana to Croatia in order to understand her family's ongoing struggle to come to terms with the past, and accept the present.

Red Riding Trilogy - crime/drama - Tony Grisoni
Rotten Tomatoes: 77 Metacritic: 75
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nx5rqw9tXB8
This most unusual film project from Britain - which clocks in at just over 5 ½ hours - actually consists of three separate features, each by a different director and done in a unique style, recounting the search for the notorious Yorkshire Ripper - a serial killer who terrorized the female population of Yorkshire, England on and off between the mid-1970s and the very early 1980s. Screenwriter Tony Grisoni and directors Julian Jarrold (1974), James Marsh (1980) and Anand Tucker (1983) shape the material into an epic chronicle not simply about the Ripper, but about the depravity that lurks on all levels of society, turning up most potently in the interworkings of law enforcement, big business, clergy and organized crime. The trilogy originally aired on Britain's Channel Four network, but received a theatrical and on-demand release in the United States courtesy of IFC Films.

Ricky - comedy/drama - Fracois Ozon
Rotten Tomatoes: 55 Metacritic: 54
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpDfY4Z-mtw
Gallic director François Ozon's idiosyncratic Ricky represents an attempt to weld together two polar opposite and seemingly incompatible genres: kitchen-sink realistic drama and high-concept Spielbergian fantasy. Loosely inspired by a Rose Tremain short story, the tale opens on a council estate just east of Paris (in the Seine-et-Marne), where single mom Katie (Alexandra Lamy) ekes out a low-key and fairly miserable existence. She earns her keep as a factory worker while glumly attempting to raise her seven-year-old daughter, Lisa (Mélusine Mayance), on the side. Circumstances shift dramatically when Katie falls into an affair with a Spanish colleague, Paco (Sergi López), but no one can guess just how dramatically. Together they conceive a son whom they name Ricky, and when the infant is born, he sports odd markings on his back; this gives Paco uneasy feelings and prompts him to leave the house. In time, the baby sprouts angelic wings, turning him into both a freak and a curiosity. This naturally leads to an endless series of complications, such as Katie's concern about how to dress Ricky and keep him from flying away. More disturbingly, it draws hordes of gawkers and paparazzi, who suffocate the family with intrusive attention and seem permanently unwilling to relent.

The Square - drama/thriller - Nash Edgerton
Rotten Tomatoes: 87 Metacritic: 73
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7DHO_HK_OA
Temptation turns a man's life upside down in this noir-influenced thriller from Australia. Ray Yale (David Roberts) is a construction worker who is married to Martha (Lucy Bell) and is helping to build an upscale resort hotel just outside Sydney. Ray isn't entirely happy in his marriage, and his roving eye has become focused on Carla (Claire van der Boom), a hairdresser who lives next door. Carla is married to a low-level mobster, Greg (Anthony Hayes), but she craves excitement and is soon having a torrid affair with Ray. Carla knows that Greg has a large bundle of cash hidden in their home, and she hatches a scheme she shares with Ray -- they steal they money, set fire to the house, and run off together, with Greg imagining the cash was lost in the blaze. While Ray isn't interested in a life of crime, he can't say no to Carla, but when he develops cold feet at the last minute, his attempts to reach Billy (Joel Edgerton), who was hired to torch the house, are unsuccessful, and things take a turn for the worse when he learns that Greg's aged mother was in the house when it burned to the ground. Ray quickly realizes he's been implicated in a murder, and Billy doesn't hesitate to use this knowledge to his advantage. The Square was the first directorial project for Nash Edgerton, who previously was one of the leading stuntmen in the Aussie film industry.

Sweetgrass – documentary - Ilisa Barbash
Rotten Tomatoes: 95 Metacritic: 70
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdC2OvtzdE8
Filmmakers Ilisa Barbash and Lucien Castaing-Taylor continue their work capturing the stark beauty and danger of the Western landscape with this documentary. With only a soundtrack as narration, Sweetgrass tracks shepherds through Montana as they take their flocks on the long trek to the Beartooth Mountains.

The Thorn in the Heart – documentary - Michel Gondry
Rotten Tomatoes: 45 Metacritic: 49
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2cKMpHumA8
Filmmaker Michel Gondry turns from the playful semi-surrealism of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The Science of Sleep to the personal story of a beloved family member in this documentary. Suzette Gondry is Michel's aunt and a retired schoolteacher; she educated children in rural communities in France from 1952 to 1986. While Suzette was committed to the education of all her students, she was a particularly close with one in particular -- her son Jean-Yves, with whom she's had a loving but sometimes combative relationship. Michel accompanies Suzette on a journey in which she visits the many schools where she taught -- or the sites where those schools once stood -- and speaks of her experiences; she also meets some of her former students, and it's clear they recall Suzette as a woman with a kind heart but a strong will, and her determination earned her the enmity of a few of her charges. L'Epine dans le Coeur (aka Thorn in the Heart) was an official selection at the 2009 BFI London Film Festival.

A Town Called Panic – animation - Stéphane Aubier and Vincent Patar
Rotten Tomatoes: 83 Metacritic: 71
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9l-Cp5EAg1E
This unusual feature (a French-Belgian-Luxembourgian co-production) stylistically recalls the work of Art Clokey (Gumby, Davey and Goliath), with its lead cast consisting entirely of stop motion-animated children's toys. The premise concerns two such toys -- Cowboy (Stéphane Aubier) and Indian (Bruce Ellison) -- who plan to buy a birthday gift for their friend Horse (the voice of Vincent Patar) but accidentally destroy his house. A series of wacky, often hallucinatory adventures ensues that finds the trio journeying to the center of the earth, wandering across icy tundra and discovering a strange aquatic world inhabited by oddball beings with pointed heads. Benoît Poelvoorde (Man Bites Dog) provides one of the voices.

Vincere - biography/drama - Marco Bellocchio
Rotten Tomatoes: 100 Metacritic: 85
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeaRJxJcp7E
This unusual and offbeat historical drama rests on a little-known conceit. Though seldom discussed in history books (and reportedly undisclosed for half a century), fascist dictator Benito Mussolini conceived an illegitimate son by a woman named Ida Dalser -- a son Mussolini allowed to be born, acknowledged, and then promptly denied for the duration of his life. The tale begins in early 20th century Milan, with Benito (Fabrizio Costella) working as the socialist editor of a controversial newspaper called Avanti. His dream in life involves triumphantly leading the Italian masses away from monarchy and toward a "socially emancipated future." He met the young and wealthy Ida (Giovanna Mezzogiorno) once before, in Trento -- where they enjoyed a brief exchange; they re-encounter one another during Mussolini's period at Avanti and it becomes clear that Ida has fallen deeply in love with Benito; she believes wholeheartedly in his ideals and his future as the leader of Italy -- to such an extent that she sells everything she has (her apartment, furniture, jewelry, and the beauty salon she owns) to fuel the development of his newspaper, Popolo d'Italia. While the two become romantically entangled, with Ida positively magnetized by Benito's charisma and Benito hooked on a lust for power, Benito quickly switches spiritual and political allegiances overnight, changing from an atheistic socialist to a deeply Catholic fascist -- Catholic, because an allegiance with the Vatican will enable him to wrest and retain control over Italy's government. Benito and Ida marry and parent a son together, Benito Albino Mussolini (circa 1915), but the marriage certificate soon conveniently disappears and Ida learns, to her horror, that Benito has married someone else. She unwisely begins to protest the situation -- so loudly and persistently that she's first forced into house arrest and then shoved permanently into an insane asylum -- raising key questions about the fate and future of her young son. On a stylistic level, director Marco Bellocchio films this historical material with the passion, theatricality, lyricism, and tragedy of a classicist Italian opera.

When You're Strange – documentary - Tom DiCillo
Rotten Tomatoes: 57 Metacritic: 55
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XR-qzSYsJ9k
The Doors were very much a band of their time, a group whose music reflected the social and political upheaval of the late '60s and early '70s, and yet their appeal has endured thanks to the hypnotic music of guitarist Robby Krieger, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, and drummer John Densmore as well as the magisterial power of lead vocalist and lyricist Jim Morrison. The group's moment in the spotlight was short -- their debut album was released in early 1967, and Morrison would die in Paris in the summer of 1971 -- but their music and image continues to fascinate music fans, and filmmaker Tom DiCillo explores the Doors and their times in the documentary When You're Strange. Featuring rare footage from the archives of Paul Ferrara, a filmmaker who struck up a friendship with Morrison when they were both attending UCLA, When You're Strange also includes excerpts from HWY: An American Pastoral, a short film Morrison directed in 1969. When You're Strange was an official selection at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.

Who Do You Love - drama - Jerry Zaks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTWopcUmodo
Rotten Tomatoes: 42 Metacritic: 52
The story of legendary record producer Leonard Chess (Alessandro Nivola), who helped rocket Bo Diddley, Muddy Waters, and Etta James to stardom by founding the record label that revolutionized modern music, is told in Who Do You Love. Leonard and his brother, Phil (Jon Abrahams), were two immigrants living in Chicago in the 1950s, just as the blues sound was evolving into something vital and new. Recognizing the passion of the performers and the possibility for profit, the Chess brothers founded a nightclub that quickly evolved into a full-fledged record label. And while there were sacrifices to be made along the way, the transformative effect their efforts had on both the music industry and the masses still resounds each and every time we turn on the radio today.

Yellow Handkerchief - drama - Udayan Prasad
Rotten Tomatoes: 72 Metacritic: 64
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcLQepMAnvc
A band of outsiders takes to the highways in this touching independent drama. Brett (William Hurt) is a petty criminal who is eager to turn his life around after spending six years in jail. Brett is looking for a ride home to Louisiana, and happens upon a pair of teenagers up for a road trip -- Martine (Kristen Stewart), a 15-year-old girl whose attempts to catch the eye of a boy she loves have ended in failure, and Gordy (Eddie Redmayne), a geeky outcast wishing he could find somewhere to fit in. Brett persuades Martine and Gordy to give him a ride home, and together the three misfits bond over their shared need for acceptance. Driving toward a New Orleans that's been leveled by Hurricane Katrina, Brett can't help but ponder the biggest question in his life -- if his wife, May (Maria Bello), will take him back now that he's a free man. Based on a short story by Pete Hamill, The Yellow Handkerchief received its world premiere at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.

March Advisory Meeting Candidates

Ajami - foreign - Scandar Copti
Rotten Tomatoes: 97 Metacritic: 82
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vn5-xawA49Y
Palestinian Scandar Copti and Israeli Yaron Shani collaborated on this independent drama, which examines how the troubled relationship between their countries colors everyday life in the Middle East. Nasri (Fouad Habash) is a teenager whose family is in crisis: his uncle got into an altercation with a local crime boss, and in reprisal, his cousin has been murdered. The shooters, it seems, originally intended to kill Nasri's younger brother, Omar (Shahir Kabaha) in lieu of the cousin. Abu Elias (Youssef Sahwani), a restaurateur and respected member of the community, steps in to negotiate. Omar agrees to make a cash payment to the gangsters to prevent further violence, but since he doesn't have the money, he raises it by dealing drugs. Abu has a daughter, Hadir (Ranin Karim), who works at his restaurant; she's fallen in love with Omar, but since she's Christian and he's Muslim, they can't acknowledge their feelings in public. Also working at the restaurant is Malek (Ibrahim Frege), a 16-year-old illegal immigrant who is looking for any kind of job to help pay for his mother's medical treatments. And elsewhere, Dando (Eran Naim) is a policeman drawn into the chaotic life of Binj (Scandar Copti), a suspected drug dealer who has been arrested for attacking a Jewish neighbor; Dando is also preoccupied with the fate of his brother, who has suddenly gone missing. Ajami won a special distinction award at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.

Blood Done Sign My Name - drama - Jeb Stuart
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQlrfwWzfak
Author Timothy Tyson's acclaimed novel is adapted for the screen in this sweeping civil rights drama from director Jeb Stuart. Set in Oxford, NC, in the 1970s, Blood Done Sign My Name tells the tale of Civil Rights leader Dr. Ben Chavis (Nate Parker), who played a pivotal role in desegregating North Carolina's public school system, and who would go on to become the youngest-ever executive director and CEO of the NAACP. The film centers on the racial tensions that flared after a white father and son were charged with murdering a black man, and were subsequently acquitted of the crime despite the fact that it took place in full view of the public.

Chloe - drama/thriller - Atom Egoyan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhYiQNmI1VI
An untrusting wife attempts to prove that her husband is cheating by hiring an escort to seduce him, inadvertently endangering her entire family in the process. Catherine (Julianne Moore) is a respected doctor, and her husband David (Liam Neeson) is a dedicated music professor. They've been married for years and have a teenage son together, but lately the passion has faded from their romance. The morning after David misses his flight home - and the elaborate surprise birthday party Catherine had planned to celebrate his return - Catherine finds a text message on his phone that leads her to believe her husband is sleeping with a female student. Her suspicions growing over the following weeks, Catherine has a run in with an escort named Chloe (Amanda Seyfried) and hires the ravishing blonde to test her husband's fidelity. After each encounter with David, Chloe reports back to Catherine with all the sordid details. But the further the experiment goes, the less clear Chloe's motivations for taking part in it become, and the more the untrusting wife begins to fear that the situation has spiraled out of control. Erin Cressida Wilson pens an erotic thriller based on Anne Fontaine's Nathalie, and directed by Atom Egoyan (The Sweet Hereafter, Ararat).

Creation - drama/biography - John Amiel
Rotten Tomatoes: 44 Metacritic: 50
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BREvUKpZTeU
Actor Paul Bettany and his real-life wife, Jennifer Connelly, star as controversial English scientist Charles Darwin and his wife, Emily, in this biopic adapted from Randal Keynes' book Annie's Box, which tells the story of Darwin's struggle to reconcile his religious views following the death of his beloved daughter, Annie. John Collee adapts Keynes' revelatory tome (Keynes is Darwin's great-great grandson) for director Jon Amiel.

Dogtooth - foreign - Giorgos Lanthimos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alqV65PnfOE
Three young people exist in a strange world of their parents' devising in this bizarre drama from writer and director Yorgos Lanthimos. A father and mother (Christos Stergioglou and Michele Valley) live in a large house on the outskirts of town with their three children, whose ages range from mid-teens to early twenties. The children have never been allowed to leave the house (which is surrounded by a tall fence), and their knowledge of the outside world has been strictly controlled by their parents, who have chosen to teach them only what they believe is important and have deliberately confused or misled them in many other areas. The parents quite literally treat their children like animals, and the only contact the youngsters have with people outside their family is Christina (Anna Kalaitzidou), a woman who works with the father's business and comes by periodically to have sex with the eldest son (Christos Passalis). Christina makes the mistake of bringing a present for the two younger daughters (Aggeliki Papoulia and Mary Tsoni), and explains the custom is that they should give her something in return. This simple act sets off a chain reaction of events that has terrible consequences for everyone involved. Kynodontas (aka Dogtooth) was an official selection at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.

The Eclipse - drama/horror - Conor McPherson
Rotten Tomatoes: 40
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqTO48onuC8
Michael Farr (Ciar√°n Hinds of Munich) is a depressed widower who teaches shop in the small seaside town of Cobh, in County Cork, Ireland, where he lives with his two children. While he continues to adjust to life without his beloved wife, who died two years earlier, he begins to experience strange, possibly supernatural occurrences connected to his elderly father-in-law, who is close to death in a local nursing home. When Michael volunteers at the town's annual literary festival, he's assigned to look after Lena Morelle (Iben Hjejle of High Fidelity). Lena is known for her ghost stories, and Michael, impressed with the realistic nature of her writing, shares his recent experiences with her. While Michael and Lena grow closer, another famous author, Nicholas Holden (Aidan Quinn), a married man with a scandalous reputation, arrives in town for the festival, hoping to rekindle a brief affair he had with Lena a year before. As Michael and Nicholas clash over Lena's affections, Michael's supernatural visions grow more vivid and disturbing. The Eclipse was directed by Irish playwright Conor McPherson (The Actors), from a script by McPherson and author/playwright Billy Roche, loosely based on the story "Table Manners" from Roche's collection Tales from Rainwater Pond. The film had its world premiere at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival, where Hinds won the award for Best Actor in a Narrative Feature.

The Exploding Girl - drama - Bradley Rust Gray
http://www.youtube.com/user/oscopelabs#p/a/u/0/Irxf6VGhVRY
Ivy (Zoe Kazan of Revolutionary Road) returns home to Brooklyn for her summer break from college. She misses her boyfriend, and calls him frequently, but they can't quite seem to connect. She spends a lot of time with her longtime friend, Al (Mark Rendall of 30 Days of Night). Al clearly has a longstanding crush on Ivy, about which he's never done anything, probably out of some combination of fear and respect for their friendship. His confusion is exacerbated when, due to family circumstances, he's forced to stay with Ivy and her mother (Maryann Urbano) during his break from school. As the summer goes on, Ivy deals with her epilepsy and the slow, painful dissolution of her relationship, while Al starts to look for love in other directions. Bradley Rust Gray wrote and directed The Exploding Girl, while his wife, So Yong Kim, served as a producer. Fans of the Cure will recognize the title as a play on their song "The Exploding Boy," the flip side of "In Between Days," which was the title of Kim's directorial debut, on which Gray served as co-writer and producer. The Exploding Girl had its North American premiere at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival, where it was shown in the World Narrative Competition.

Four Seasons Lodge - documentary - Andrew Jacobs
Rotten Tomatoes: 87
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2vUpE9sWyw
Fascinated by the group of aging Holocaust survivors who spend their summers together at the Four Seasons Lodge in the Catskill Mountains, filmmaker Andrew Jacobs documents their collective memories, close friendships, and rich traditions at a time when their favorite retreat hovers in an uncertain state of flux. Every year since 1979, this small group of German and Polish Jews has gathered at the Four Seasons to reminisce about their childhoods and find comfort in one another's company. Like old friends, they often bicker and argue, but it generally isn't anything that lodge president Carl can't resolve with some friendly advice. This year, the regular vacationers at the Four Seasons hopelessly split between those who want to see the resort sold, and those who hope to see it stay intact. But this particular group has been through so much together that whatever may come of the Four Seasons, their familial bonds will remain as strong as they ever were.

The Ghost Writer - drama - Roman Polanski
Rotten Tomatoes: 81 Metacritic:78
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_AerBW0EcI
A ghostwriter stumbles onto a secret that places his life in danger as he takes down the life story of a former U.K. prime minister in this Roman Polanski-helmed adaptation of the Robert Harris novel. Convinced by his agent that he's been granted a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, talented British screenwriter "The Ghost" (Ewan McGregor) agrees to aid British prime minister Adam Lang (Pierce Brosnan) in completing his memoirs after the leader's former aid dies under mysterious circumstances. Almost immediately after The Ghost arrives at a remote mansion in the U.S. to begin working with the prime minister, Lang is accused of committing a war crime by a former British cabinet minister. Amidst a deluge of protestors and reporters, The Ghost delves into the unfinished manuscript and comes to the terrifying conclusion that his predecessor died because he discovered a link between Prime Minister Lang and the CIA. The more information The Ghost uncovers, the more convinced he becomes that his life could be in danger as well.

The Girl on the Train - drama - André Téchiné
Rotten Tomatoes: 73
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbE35DB-f5w
In 2004, a grotesque and unseemly incident took the European press by storm: a young French woman came forward and claimed to have been attacked by black and Arab thugs who mistook her for a Jew. But after her story broke, no witnesses came forward to support her, and security cameras at the train station revealed no such attack; the woman later admitted that she had ripped her own clothes, drawn swastikas on her own stomach, and fabricated the entire story. With the drama Fille du RER, acclaimed French writer-director André Téchiné presents a thinly veiled fictionalization of the same events. Émilie Dequenne stars as Jeanne, an unemployed girl who lives with her mother (Catherine Deneuve) in a Parisian suburb and spends the majority of her free time rollerblading. She has little knowledge of -- or interest in -- history or politics, and remains withdrawn, insular, and sullen, keeping the majority of her thoughts and observations to herself. Circumstances change just a bit when Jeanne enters a live-in relationship with a beefy, thuggish wrestler boyfriend, Franck (Nicolas Duvauchelle), living in a dingy warehouse, but violence soon erupts between the two. Jeanne also becomes acquainted with an attorney-cum-ex-boyfriend of her mother's (Michel Blanc), whose involvement in Judaic causes and his politically committed family prompt even greater feelings of alienation and isolation in Jeanne. When Franck's involvement in criminal activities comes to light and the police intervene, Jeanne perversely reasons that she can only become tied to history by inventing a role for herself, and decides to fabricate said story about the train -- little realizing the calamitous consequences that it will engender.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - crime/mystery - Niels Arden Oplev
Rotten Tomatoes:100
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlF-hk3IJQE
A discredited journalist and a mysterious computer hacker discover that even the wealthiest families have skeletons in their closets while working to solve the mystery of a 40 year old murder. Inspired by late author Stieg Larsson's successful trilogy of books, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo gets underway as Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander are briefed in the disappearance of Harriet Vanger, whose uncle suspects she may have been killed by a member of their own family. The deeper Mikael and Harriet dig for the truth, however, the greater the risk of being buried alive by members of the family who will go to great lengths to keep their secrets tightly sealed.

The Good, The Bad, The Weird - Action - Ji-woon Kim
Rotten Tomatoes: 88
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SukNDHx4Qs8
As the Korean peninsula falls into the hands of Japanese imperialists and countless Koreans seek refuge in the vast wilderness of Manchuria, a determined thief, a cold-blooded hitman, and a mysterious bounty hunter all vie for an elusive map that could lead them to a buried treasure from the Qing Dynasty. Tae-gu is "The Weird," a thief who comes into possession of the sought-after map while boldly robbing a train of Japanese military officers. But at the very same time Tae-gu attacks the train, relentless assassin Chang-yi and his violent gang of bandits beset the locomotive as well. Chang-yi is "The Bad," and he'll kill anyone who tries to come between him and the untold treasures of the Qing Dynasty. Just as the cloud of gunpowder begins to clear, a shadowy stranger suddenly appears and rescues Tae-gu from certain death. That stranger is Do-won, "The Good." Do-won has been chasing Tae-gu in hopes that he can capture him and collect the reward money. Now, as these three resolute strangers converge in a sprawling landscape that none of them can truly call home, they quickly discover that Korean resistance fighters, resilient mountain bandits, and the Japanese army also covet the prized map. The fight on the train is only the beginning, too, because when the stakes are this high the action is bound to get bloody.

Greenberg - comedy/drama - Noah Baumbach
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsN0UewDBTI
A fortysomething New Yorker in the throes of a midlife crisis falls for his brother's assistant while house-sitting for his sibling in Los Angeles. Roger Greenberg (Ben Stiller) is single and jobless. He's at a crucial crossroads in life when his successful family-man brother summons him to Los Angeles to housesit for six weeks. Recognizing the opportunity to turn over a new leaf in a new city, Greenberg reaches out to his former bandmate Ivan (Rhys Ifans) and discovers that some old wounds aren't so quick to heal. When Greenberg meets his brother's pretty assistant, Florence (Greta Gerwig), a kindred spirit who longs to become a singer, he vows not to become too attached. But the more time Greenberg spends with Florence the more he begins to wonder whether he might have finally made a connection worth keeping. Jennifer Jason Leigh and Brie Larson co-star in a climacteric comedy drama from Oscar-nominated writer/director Noah Baumbach (The Squid and the Whale, Margot at the Wedding).

Happy Tears - comedy - Mitchell Lichtenstein
Rotten Tomatoes: 37 Metacritic:35
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqIF3auCmQ4
Teeth director Michael Lichtenstein takes a sharp turn from teen-oriented satire to mature family drama with this semi-autobiographical story concerning a pair of grown-up sisters who return to their family home in order to care for their ailing father. Jayne (Parker Posey) and Laura (Demi Moore) have long since moved out of their family home when they discover that their father's (Rip Torn) health has taken a turn for the worse. Returning to Pittsburgh in order to care for their slowly degenerating dad, the sisters quickly realize that their father is in total denial about his condition. Jayne has been shielded from the harsher side of life since she was just a little girl, and now as Laura begins pushing her sister to accept their bleak reality, their father takes a seedy lover (Ellen Barkin), who immediately rubs the girls the wrong way. But dealing with the father becomes the least of Jayne's and Laura's worries when the drama in their personal lives drags the demons of their past up to the surface and out into the open.

Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus - adventure/fantasy - Terry Gilliam
Rotten Tomatoes: 65 Metacritic: 68
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jU3AimFaz0
Set in the present day, director Terry Gilliam's fantastical morality tale follows the traveling show of the mysterious Dr. Parnassus (Christopher Plummer) -- a man who once won a bet with the Devil himself, and possesses the unique ability to guide the imagination of others. Many centuries ago, Dr. Parnassus won immortality in a bet that found the malevolent Mr. Nick (Tom Waits) coming up short. While few would be foolish enough to try their luck against the powers of darkness a second time, Dr. Parnassus did precisely that -- this time trading his mortality for youth on the understanding that his firstborn would become the property of Mr. Nick when the child reaches his or her 16th birthday. Flash-forward to the present day, and Dr. Parnassus' daughter, Valentina (Lily Cole), is about to celebrate her sweet sixteen. Dr. Parnassus is desperate to save his little girl from her fiery fate, and when Mr. Nick arrives to collect, the good doctor presents the Prince of Darkness with a wager too enticing to refuse: Dr. Parnassus and Mr. Nick will each compete to seduce five souls, with possession of Valentina going to whomever manages to complete the task first. As the competition begins to heat up, Dr. Parnassus promises his daughter's hand in marriage to any man who can help him successfully navigate the surreal obstacle course that lies ahead and finally help him undue the many mistakes of his past. While the sudden death of prominent Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus player Heath Ledger in January of 2008 left Gilliam and company scrambling to find a means of salvaging the film -- which was already well into principal photography at the time -- the cavalry soon arrived in the form of Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell, who each serve as alternate-dimension versions of the character originally set to be played by Ledger when the character crosses through a paranormal mirror.

Lourdes - drama - Jessica Hausner
Rotten Tomatoes: 80 Metacritic: 67
http://www.tartanfilmsusa.com/Film.asp?ProjectID={55512AE6-A6D3-45EA-8FB7-9CAA00B4AFA4}
A woman searching for a miracle seemingly finds one -- but what comes next? Christine (Sylvie Testud) has spent most of her life confined to a wheelchair, unable to use her arms and legs, and while she has a keen mind and the means to seek treatment, she looks for a solution to her condition in faith as well as medical science. Christine has made a pilgrimage to Lourdes, the village in Southwestern France where a celebrated miracle is said to have occurred, and she checks into an upscale clinic where a young nurse named Maria (Lea Seydoux) is assigned to look after her. Christine imagines that she and Maria are becoming fast friends, but the nurse prefers to spend her time with her co-workers rather than her patients, and she often flirts with Kuno (Bruno Todeschini), a handsome man who also works at the clinic. Christine finds herself having several conversations with Mme. Hartl (Gilette Barbier), who has a powerful belief in the healing powers of the waters of Lourdes, and after several days of treatment, Christine is amazed to find that she's regained the full use of her arms and legs. But once she's experienced the miracle she hoped for, Christine's interest is less in thanking the Lord and more in pursuing Kuno. Lourdes was written and directed by Jessica Hausner, and received its world premiere at the 2009 Venice International Film Festival.

Mid-August Lunch - comedy/drama - Gianni Di Gregorio
Rotten Tomatoes: 91
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEmkappTLEM
A man unexpectedly finds himself talking care of four women, three of whom he barely knows, in this sunny comedy from Italy. Gianni (Gianni di Gregorio) is a man in his mid-sixties who still lives with his mother; given that Valeria (Valeria De Franciscis) is well into her nineties, these days he looks after her rather than the other way around, though she remains quite spry given her age. Gianni and Valeria share an apartment in a building owned by Luigi (Alfonso Santagata); Gianni owes money on the rent, and Luigi, who wants to take off for the midsummer festivities of Ferragosto, makes him a deal -- Luigi will forgive the debt if his elderly mother, Marina (Marina Cacciotti), can stay with Gianni and Valeria for a few days. Gianni grudgingly agrees, but is upset when he discovers Luigi has also brought his aging aunt Maria (Maria Calì). Word apparently circulates that Gianni is running an informal home for the elderly, as his friend Marcello (Marcello Ottolenghi) stops by and drops off his mother, Grazia (Grazia Cesarini Sforza), for a day or two. While Gianni scrambles to look after the various needs of four elderly women, it soon becomes clear the ladies have strongly differing views on a number of subjects, making his job all the more difficult. Pranzo di Ferragosto (aka Mid-August Lunch) was written and directed by Gianni di Gregorio, who also played the harried son; it was the first directorial project for the veteran screenwriter.

Misconceptions - comedy - Ron Satlof
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFIkYwDUeGU
This lighthearted comedy pokes fun at the culture wars, and the debate over same-sex parenting. Southern gal Miranda is an Evangelical Christian with all the social and political beliefs dictated by her church, but when she gets what she's sure is a message from God, she does a 180 and decides to become a surrogate mother for a married gay couple from Boston. It's a weird enough situation as it is, but things get even crazier for Miranda when one of her baby-daddies-to-be decides to come down South for a visit -- and won't leave!

The Most Dangerous Man in America - documentary - Judith Ehrlich
Rotten Tomatoes: 100
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlmQeSpqI4
In 1971, Daniel Ellsberg, a top military strategist working for the RAND Corporation, leaked a 7,000 page document known as the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times. Disenchanted with the nation's conduct in Vietnam, Ellsberg believed the release of the top secret paper -- which outlined the "secret history" of the war -- was crucial to educating the public about the government's lies and misdeeds. This documentary chronicles the media and political frenzy that Ellsberg unleashed, and traces the effect of the leak on public perception of both the war and the White House.

Mother - crime/drama - Joon-ho Bong
Rotten Tomatoes: 93
http://www.youtube.com/v/9rDeNM-M8p8&hl=en_US&fs=1&
A woman devoted to her son struggles to keep him from spending his life in prison in this drama from director Bong Joon-ho. Do-jun (Weon Bin) is a man in his mid-twenties who isn't especially bright and is easily led. Do-jun lives with his elderly mother (Kim Hye-ja), who loves him fiercely even though she has no illusions about his abilities or his bad habits. Do-jun spends much of his spare time with Jin-tae (Jin Gu), a borderline criminal who takes advantage of Do-jun's credulous nature, much to his mother's annoyance. When Do-jun is arrested by police and accused of the murder of a young woman, his mother is certain he couldn't have done it and sets out to prove her son's innocence to police detectives, who seem more interested in closing the case than researching other possible leads. At first, mother feels certain that Jin-tae has framed her son to avoid being punished himself, but as she digs deeper she suspects the truth is more complicated. Madeo (aka Mother) was an official selection at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.

My Name is Khan - drama/romance - Karan Johar
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ruf0iEMT6M
A benevolent Asperger's sufferer Rizwan Khan (Shah Rukh Khan) sets out on a journey across America on a mission to win back his one true love. As his travels continue, Khan inspires optimism and joy in the hearts of the people he encounters by spreading messages of goodwill wherever he roams.

No One Knows About Persian Cats - drama - Bahman Ghobadi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yh8T8mUPeWM
Iran is a nation where most forms of pop music have been strictly banned by the government, but that doesn't stop plenty of people from playing the music they love in secret, and a pair of underground musicians in Tehran struggle to be heard without going to jail in this independent \comedy-drama from director Bahman Ghobadi. Negar (Negar Shaghaghi) and Ashkan (Ashkan Koshanejad) are two friends who front an \indie rock band, though their inability to play in public has been something of a drawback. Negar and Ashkan have been able to arrange a gig in London, and are searching for like minded musicians to accompany them when they meet Nader (Hamed Behdad), a fast-talking black market businessman who deals in bootlegged music and movies, fake passports and underground practice spaces (both literally and figuratively) for local rock musicians. Nader offers to help Negar and Ashkan find fellow musicians and a place to rehearse, but this process isn't nearly as simple or safe as Nader makes it out to be. Kasi az gorbehayeh irani khabar nadareh (aka No One Knows About Persian Cats) was an official selection at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, where it was screened as part of the "Un Certain Regard" program.

North Face - adventure - Philipp Stolzl
Rotten Tomatoes: 85 Metacritic 67
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4t_3U5_wKO8
A handful of men set aside their differences to conquer one of Europe's tallest mountains in this period drama inspired by a true story. In 1936, Nazi Germany is looking to shore up its reputation in the eyes of the world, and after a pair of German climbers dies in an effort to climb the North face of the Eiger in the Swiss Alps, the state is looking to find another group who can succeed where the earlier team failed. Henry Arau (Ulrich Tukur), the publisher of one of Berlin's biggest newspapers, is a loyal son of the Third Reich, and when his editorial secretary, Luise Fellner (Johanna Wokalek), tells him she knows some climbers who would be willing to take on the Eiger, Tukur gives her a free hand to assemble a team and make this dream a reality. Close friends Toni Kurz (Benno Fürmann) and Andi Hinterstoisser (Florian Lukas) are serving in the German army when Fellner (who once dated Kurz) tries to persuade them to climb the Eiger. While Hinterstoisser is willing to take the risk in the name of patriotism, Kurz is cynical about the Third Reich and says he'll put his life on the line only for his own reasons and not to please Germany's leaders. Kurz and Hinterstoisser finally begin the climb in mid-summer, only to discover that a pair of Austrians, Willy Angerer (Simon Schwarz) and Edi Rainer (Georg Friedrich), are now challenging them in a race to the top. Nordwand (aka North Face) was an official selection at the 2008 Locarno Film Festival.

Off and Running - documentary - Nicole Opper
Rotten Tomatoes: 90
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hga5PvXTMAs
An intimate and earnest examination of race , gender identity and the definition of "family," this sociological documentary chronicle filters said themes through the eyes of Avery Klein-Cloud, an intelligent and generally well-adjusted teenager from Brooklyn with decidedly unusual circumstances. Though African American herself, Avery grew up with two Jewish lesbian foster mothers, who also adopted two boys, one Korean and the other of mixed ethnicity. Encouraged by both mothers to get in touch with her biological mom for the first time, Avery writes a letter to the woman, but this decision sparks a profound identity crisis in Avery and contributes to increasingly disturbing behavior. As she questions who she is, she also begins spending lengthy periods of time away from home, drops out of school, and suffers from feelings of isolation and abandonment - and her plan to attend university on a track and field scholarship seems increasingly unlikely. What therefore commences as a meaningful journey of self-enlightenment regresses into a far more dangerous personal crisis for the young woman.

The Paranoids - comedy - Gabriel Medina
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcakNaeemiA
A loser with a successful friend discovers his luck might change as long as he doesn't mind betraying his buddy in this edgy comedy from Argentina. Luciano (Daniel Hendler) is a neurotic and accident-prone children's entertainer who is struggling to launch a career as a screenwriter when he's not fretting about his health. After Luciano accidentally puts his performing partner, Sherman (Martin Feldman), in the hospital, he's unable to do shows for a few weeks and is wondering what to do when his old friend Manuel (Walter Jakob) returns to Buenos Aires for a visit. Manuel is the star of a popular television show in Spain, and he's dating a beautiful woman, Sophia (Jazmin Stuart), who comes along for the ride. Manuel helps Luciano land a writing assignment, but it's uncomfortably obvious he's only helping his pal out of a sense of obligation and doesn't believe in his talent. As Luciano struggles to meet his deadline, Manuel is called away on business for a few days, and Sophia, a stranger in town, spends some time with Luciano while her boyfriend is away. Sophia finds Luciano's eccentricities endearing rather than annoying, and he soon realizes he has the opportunity to steal his friend's lover away. Los Paranoicos (aka The Paranoids) was an official entry at the 2008 Buenos Aires Film Festival.

Police, Adjective - comedy/crime - Corneliu Porumboiu
Rotten Tomatoes: 79
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6y92qUjeUBw
A cop finds himself growing uncomfortable with his latest assignment in this study in the nature of power and authority from Romanian director Corneliu Porumboiu. Cristi (Dragos Bucur) is a seasoned police detective who has just gotten married to Anca (Irina Saulescu) and wants to keep his superiors happy. Cristi's boss, Nelu (Ion Stoica), has ordered the detective to keep a close watch on Victor (Radu Costin), a teenager who is suspected of dealing drugs for a local cartel. Cristi has spent several weeks following Victor's actions and is certain that the kid smokes marijuana with his friends, but isn't any kind of drug pusher and should be left alone. Cristi is also aware that Romanian authorities are expected to relax their laws regarding drugs in the near future, making it all but pointless to possibly ruin Victor's life by bringing him in, but while Nelu understands Cristi's thinking, he's not so willing to let the youngster off so easily. Politist, Adj. (aka Police, Adjective) was an official selection at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.

Prodigal Sons - documentary - Kimberly Reed
Rotten Tomatoes: 80 Metacritic: 68
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oz2BHFH4fc
Debut filmmaker Kimberly Reed addresses issues of identity, sexual orientation, childhood trauma, and family love as she returns to her small Montana hometown for her high school reunion, and attempts a long overdue reconciliation with her estranged adopted brother. As intense sibling rivalries come into focus and startling revelations emerge (including a blood relationship with Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth), intimate family discussions lead the filmmaker on a journey from Montana to Croatia in order to understand her family's ongoing struggle to come to terms with the past, and accept the present.

A Prophet - foreign - Jacques Audiard
Rotten Tomatoes: 95 Metacritic: 89
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1ELQLDzZwo
Jacques AudiardAn impressionable and vulnerable Arabic man gets thrust into a hellish prison, and ironically discovers greater opportunities for success than he ever possessed outside of the bars, in this violent melodrama from French succès d'estime Jacques Audiard (The Beat That My Heart Skipped). Tahar Rahim stars as Malik El Djebena, a petty criminal incarcerated for six years. Once inside and subjected to all of the standard brutalities that most prisoners endure, he is quickly educated in the "ways" of the prison, an institution torn violently between gangs of Corsicans and Arabs. The head Corsican thug, César Luciani (Niels Arestrup), offers Malik an ultimatum: either he rubs out an Arab inmate named Reyeb (Hichem Yacoubi), or he himself dies. Not only does Malik succeed with the hit, he earns the begrudging respect of the other prisoners, and -- after securing several days' release for good behavior -- uses off-time to forge a deeper and more multi-layered network of criminal ties than he ever dreamed possible. But as his own power and confidence grow, they threaten to outstrip César's own insistence on submission and obedience at all costs.

Red Riding Trilogy - crime/drama - Tony Grisoni
Rotten Tomatoes: 77 Metacritic:75
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nx5rqw9tXB8
This most unusual film project from Britain - which clocks in at just over 5 ¬Ω hours - actually consists of three separate features, each by a different director and done in a unique style, recounting the search for the notorious Yorkshire Ripper - a serial killer who terrorized the female population of Yorkshire, England on and off between the mid-1970s and the very early 1980s. Screenwriter Tony Grisoni and directors Julian Jarrold (1974), James Marsh (1980) and Anand Tucker (1983) shape the material into an epic chronicle not simply about the Ripper, but about the depravity that lurks on all levels of society, turning up most potently in the interworkings of law enforcement, big business, clergy and organized crime. The trilogy originally aired on Britain's Channel Four network, but received a theatrical and on-demand release in the United States courtesy of IFC Films.

Sweetgrass - documentary - Ilisa Barbash
Rotten Tomatoes: 95 Metacritic: 70
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdC2OvtzdE8
Filmmakers Ilisa Barbash and Lucien Castaing-Taylor continue their work capturing the stark beauty and danger of the Western landscape with this documentary. With only a soundtrack as narration, Sweetgrass tracks shepherds through Montana as they take their flocks on the long trek to the Beartooth Mountains.

Terribly Happy - drama - Henrik Ruben Genz
Rotten Tomatoes: 91 Metacritic: 75
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsslA308XV8
Temporarily reassigned to the provincial Danish town of South Jutland after being accused of professional misconduct in Copenhagen, a by-the-books policeman begins to sense that the flowery facade of this picturesque hamlet masks something truly sinister in this dark drama based on author Erling Jepsen's novel of the same name. Constable Robert isn't used to life in the country, so when he's first confronted by the small-town customs of South Jutland he begins to feel as if he's drifted into some kind of all-too-quaint alternate reality. But perhaps his suspicion that everything here is just a little too perfect isn't just the result of simple culture shock, because the more Constable Robert gets to know about his new surroundings the more convinced he becomes that the community of South Jutland harbors a disturbing secret.

That Evening Sun - drama - Scott Teems
Rotten Tomatoes: 78
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-lcFrjUqCo
An aging farmer fights to keep the home that is rightfully his after fleeing from a nursing home and discovering that his son has leased the family farm to his old nemesis. Placed in a nursing home by his son and promptly forgotten, Abner Meecham (Hal Holbrook) realized that waiting to die was no way to live. Determined to enjoy his last days, Abner packed his bags and set his sights on the family farm. At least there he could die on his own land, in familiar surroundings. But Abner is in for a rude awakening, because upon returning home he discovers that his son has leased the farm to Lonzo Choat. Abner never cared much for Lonzo, and when Lonzo refuses to leave, Abner takes up residence in an old tenant shack on the property. Before long, their dispute becomes volatile, each man believing himself to be in the right, and refusing to back down from his position. Betrayed by his son and haunted by dreams of his beloved deceased wife, Abner draws a line in the sand in an attempt to reclaim his life. As threats are made and tension begins to brew, it's only a matter of time before the situation turns savage.

A Town Called Panic - animation - Stéphane Aubier and Vincent Patar
Rotten Tomatoes: 83 Metacritic: 71
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9l-Cp5EAg1E
This unusual feature (a French-Belgian-Luxembourgian co-production) stylistically recalls the work of Art Clokey (Gumby, Davey and Goliath), with its lead cast consisting entirely of stop motion-animated children's toys. The premise concerns two such toys -- Cowboy (Stéphane Aubier) and Indian (Bruce Ellison) -- who plan to buy a birthday gift for their friend Horse (the voice of Vincent Patar) but accidentally destroy his house. A series of wacky, often hallucinatory adventures ensues that finds the trio journeying to the center of the earth, wandering across icy tundra and discovering a strange aquatic world inhabited by oddball beings with pointed heads. Benoît Poelvoorde (Man Bites Dog) provides one of the voices.

(Untitled) - drama - Jonathan Parker
Rotten Tomatoes: 69 Metacritic: 58
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9myaiQs3GI
The uncomfortable merger of art and commerce leads to an unstable romantic triangle in this satiric comedy from director Jonathan Parker. Madeleine (Marley Shelton) is a beautiful young woman who runs an upscale art gallery in New York City. While Madeleine prides herself on exhibiting the most daring and cutting-edge work on the East Coast, her dirty little secret is that she's able to keep the place open by selling the bland but accessible work of her boyfriend (Eion Bailey), whose paintings are quite popular with corporate clients. However, Madeleine is drawn to moody creative types, and her boyfriend makes the mistake of introducing her to his bother (Adam Goldberg), an avant-garde composer whose music is built around breaking glass and the clatter of metal objects. Before long, Madeleine has fallen for the pretentious composer and has to choose between him and the man who can keep her gallery in the black.

Vincere - biography/drama - Marco Bellocchio
Rotten Tomatoes: 100
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeaRJxJcp7E
This unusual and offbeat historical drama rests on a little-known conceit. Though seldom discussed in history books (and reportedly undisclosed for half a century), fascist dictator Benito Mussolini conceived an illegitimate son by a woman named Ida Dalser -- a son Mussolini allowed to be born, acknowledged, and then promptly denied for the duration of his life. The tale begins in early 20th century Milan, with Benito (Fabrizio Costella) working as the socialist editor of a controversial newspaper called Avanti. His dream in life involves triumphantly leading the Italian masses away from monarchy and toward a "socially emancipated future." He met the young and wealthy Ida (Giovanna Mezzogiorno) once before, in Trento -- where they enjoyed a brief exchange; they re-encounter one another during Mussolini's period at Avanti and it becomes clear that Ida has fallen deeply in love with Benito; she believes wholeheartedly in his ideals and his future as the leader of Italy -- to such an extent that she sells everything she has (her apartment, furniture, jewelry, and the beauty salon she owns) to fuel the development of his newspaper, Popolo d'Italia. While the two become romantically entangled, with Ida positively magnetized by Benito's charisma and Benito hooked on a lust for power, Benito quickly switches spiritual and political allegiances overnight, changing from an atheistic socialist to a deeply Catholic fascist -- Catholic, because an allegiance with the Vatican will enable him to wrest and retain control over Italy's government. Benito and Ida marry and parent a son together, Benito Albino Mussolini (circa 1915), but the marriage certificate soon conveniently disappears and Ida learns, to her horror, that Benito has married someone else. She unwisely begins to protest the situation -- so loudly and persistently that she's first forced into house arrest and then shoved permanently into an insane asylum -- raising key questions about the fate and future of her young son. On a stylistic level, director Marco Bellocchio films this historical material with the passion, theatricality, lyricism, and tragedy of a classicist Italian opera.

The Warlords - action - Peter Chan
Rotten Tomatoes: 57
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOr8Dj1PxJg
Love, politics, and loyalty threaten to tear apart three soldiers in this lavish historical epic from Hong Kong. In 1870, the power of the corrupt Qing Dynasty has been threatened by the rise of a revolutionary army, led by religious fanatics, and civil war is tearing the nation apart. Pang Qingyun (Jet Li), a good man who finds himself fighting for the Qing leadership, is one of the only survivors of a bloody battle in between revolutionaries and Qing troops, and is looking for someplace to go when he's offered shelter by a beautiful peasant woman, Lian (Xu Jinglei). Pang and Lian spend the night in each others arms, and he finds himself falling in love with her. Pang sets out to make his way home when he's befriended by Zhao Erhu (Andy Lau) and Jiang Wuyang (Takeshi Kaneshiro), a pair of bandits. When Jiang is attacked in an ambush, Pang helps save his life, and the three men become blood brothers in a gory ritual. Pang convinces Jiang and Zhao to join him in the fight against the revolutionaries, and with their help Pang is able to achieve some impressive victories. However, when Pang allows his own ego and dreams of glory to override his common sense and loyalty, Zhao and Jiang come to distrust their ally, and matters become worse when it is revealed that Lian is Zhao's wife. Tou Ming Zhuang (aka The Warlords) was a major box-office success in China and Eastern Asia before making its way to theaters in Europe and the United States.

The White Ribbon - foreign - Michael Haneke
Rotten Tomatoes: 88 Metacritic: 79
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BE_ByB2ocVk
In a village in Protestant northern Germany, on the eve of World War I, the children of a church and school run by the village schoolteacher and their families experience a series of bizarre incidents that inexplicably assume the characteristics of a punishment ritual. Who could be responsible for such bizarre transgressions? Leonie Benesch, Josef Bierbichler, and Rainer Bock star in director Michael Haneke's Palm d'Or-winning period drama.

Yasukuni - documentary - Ying Li
Rotten Tomatoes: 86
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YVLCaitzPg
For ages, the Yasukuni shrine of Tokyo, Japan has courted a tremendous amount of controversy for a ceremonial sword that it holds. Shinto Buddhists believe that the said weapon harbors some 2.4 million souls; as a result, the Japanese ascribe tremendous power to the blade and Japanese officers used it to lay waste to untold numbers of victims in 1930s Asia. The building and the weapon harbor tremendous personal significance for Chinese director Li Ying, given the torture inflicted by the Japanese soldiers on Chinese communists including his own father. With Ying's documentary Yasukuni, he visits the shrine and explores the violent history that belies the existence of the building and the sword, as Japanese Buddhists continue to gather at the site and honor their dead.

The Yellow Handkerchief - drama - Udayan Prasad
Rotten Tomatoes: 72 Metacritic: 64
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcLQepMAnvc
A band of outsiders takes to the highways in this touching independent drama. Brett (William Hurt) is a petty criminal who is eager to turn his life around after spending six years in jail. Brett is looking for a ride home to Louisiana, and happens upon a pair of teenagers up for a road trip -- Martine (Kristen Stewart), a 15-year-old girl whose attempts to catch the eye of a boy she loves have ended in failure, and Gordy (Eddie Redmayne), a geeky outcast wishing he could find somewhere to fit in. Brett persuades Martine and Gordy to give him a ride home, and together the three misfits bond over their shared need for acceptance. Driving toward a New Orleans that's been leveled by Hurricane Katrina, Brett can't help but ponder the biggest question in his life -- if his wife, May (Maria Bello), will take him back now that he's a free man. Based on a short story by Pete Hamill, The Yellow Handkerchief received its world premiere at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.