Indie possibilities
By Ann Hornaday
Editor's note: Some of the films listed below were featured at the Hawaii International Film Festival's Spring Showcase last month. Firm dates for wider openings in Honolulu aren't available.
Starring: Bill Milner, Will Poulter
The buzz: This semiautobiographical coming-of-age comedy, from British writer-director Garth Jennings ("The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"), has been wellreceived on the festival circuit. This film was featured at the HIFF Spring Showcase.
Starring: Helen Hunt, Bette Midler, Colin Firth
The buzz: Hunt makes her big-screen directorial debut in this festival mini-hit, an adaptation the Elinor Lipman's novel about a teacher (Hunt) who reconnects with her birth mother (Midler). Screened at HIFF's Spring Showcase.
Starring: Oshri Cohen, Ohad Knoller, Eli Eltonyo
The buzz: An Oscar nominee this year for Best Foreign Language Film, the Israeli drama, set on the eve of Israel's pullout from Lebanon in 2000, won an award for best director at the Berlin film festival last year.
Starring: Marianne Faithfull
The buzz: The grand dame of post-Brechtian pop stars plays an aging widow who, to pay for her grandson's medical bills, takes a job as a hostess at a London sex club.
Screening at 1 p.m. May 27 and 1 and 7:30 p.m. May 28-29 at the Doris Duke Theatre, Honolulu Academy of Arts.
"Standard Operating Procedure"
The buzz: Documentaries have been made examining the Abu Ghraib scandal, but filmmaker Errol Morris ("The Fog of War") is sure to bring new intelligence and insight to the issues.
"Mongol"
Starring: Tadanobu Asano, Khulan Chuluun, Amadu Mamadakov
The buzz: Another of this year's Oscar nominees for Best Foreign Language Film, this one is a big-canvas biopic of Genghis Khan. Screened at HIFF's Spring Showcase.
"The Edge of Heaven"
Starring: Hanna Schygulla, Nurgul Yesilcay, Baki Davrak, Patrycia Ziolkowska
The buzz: German director Fatih Akin examines such elastic notions as borders, cultures and identity in this vividly textured portrait of Germany's Turkish community. Screened at HIFF's Spring Showcase.
"Alexandra"
Starring: Galina Vishnevskaya
The buzz: The Russian diva (and widow of Mstislav Rostropovich) stars as a woman searching for her grandson at a remote outpost in Chechnya in this film by Aleksandr Sokurov ("Russian Ark").
"Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson"
The buzz: Alex Gibney, who directed the Oscar-winning "Taxi to the Dark Side," chronicles the high times and high jinks of the legendary journalist, who died in 2005.
"Encounters at the End of the World"
The buzz: Werner Herzog ("Grizzly Man") takes his camera to Antarctica in what promises to be yet another broodingly fascinating investigation of man's constant struggle with nature.
"Henry Poole Is Here"
Starring: Luke Wilson, Radha Mitchell, Cheryl Hines
The buzz: The serio-comedy, about a disenchanted man who tries to escape his life. Directed by Mark Pellington ("Going All the Way," "Arlington Road").
"Boy A"
Starring: Andrew Garfield, Peter Mullan
The buzz: Garfield delivers an astonishing performance as a troubled young man in the sophomore effort of Irish filmmaker John Crowley, who made the lively heist comedy "Intermission."
"Man on Wire"
The buzz: Documentary filmmaker James Marsh ("Wisconsin Death Trip") revisits high-wire artist Philippe Petit's 1974 crossing of the World Trade Center's twin towers in this Sundance favorite.
"Crossing Over"
Starring: Harrison Ford, Ray Liotta, Sean Penn, Ashley Judd
The buzz: This multi-character story about immigrants trying to achieve legal status in Los Angeles sounds like "Crash" redux, but we like writer-director Wayne Kramer ("The Cooler").
