“Summertime, child, your living's easy,” sang Janis Joplin and the big blockbusters this summer certainly appear to be slumming in some respects (I’m looking at you, Transformers). Like every serving of cinema sound and fury since Jaws opened the floodgates, the big movies aren’t going to tax your brain much - these ten selections (plus a bonus) could be what you need to keep your mind sharp while enjoying some classy “indie” cinema, if that term has any meaning anymore. Moving on, here we go!
1. Beginners
Opening June 3rd
Why You Should See It: Experienced music video director Mike Mills has a pretty decent feature debut under his belt (Thumbsucker) and this film is riling up some critical goodwill with a strong cast (Ewan McGregor, Christopher Plummer, and Mélanie Laurent) and what appears to be an astute exploration of love and grief. McGregor plays a man whose father declares he’s gay at the ripe age of 75 – and dying. McGregor attempts to deal with it while crossing paths with potential love interest Laurent.
What To Expect: A mix of the quirky and the relatable, apparently. There’s also a talking Jack Russell terrier (with subtitles!).
2. Submarine
Opening June 3rd
Why You Should See It: Because Maurice from The IT Crowd has directed a feature film. Yes indeed, multi-tasker Richard Ayoade has landed a great British cast, including Sally Hawkins and Paddy Considine, and apparently found that sweet spot between compositions that would make Wes Anderson swoon and an actual emotional center. Oliver Tate (Craig Roberts) is your typical atypical precocious, phobia-ridden 15-year-old fixated on losing his virginity to Jordana (Yasmin Paige) in this coming of age story.
What To Expect: Roberts hits all the marks as Tate, and Ayoade keeps the film moving with an engaging stylistic approach that doesn’t have to stoop to include the audience in on the fun.
3. Trollhunter
Opening June 10th
Why You Should See It: A found-footage mockumentary…from Norway…with troll(s)? We remain as enthusiastic about this film as we did since we discovered it in late April. As a group of student making a documentary about a poacher realize that his prey may not be bears after all, things get trolltastic.
What To Expect: A genre flick that sticks to its guns and doesn’t let its non-blockbuster limitations get in the way of showing off its choice beast.
4. The Trip
Opening June 10th
Why You Should See It: Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon spend most of this film confined in each other’s presence and that’s reason enough. Picking up where Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story left off, stylistically, director Michael Winterbottom let his talented thespians improvise and edited the results into both a TV show and this feature film. Sure, there is a plot of Coogan and Brydon touring restaurants in northern England – but that’s not what you’re here for.
What To Expect: Sometimes acidic, always funny and smart humor and some deadly impersonations.
5. Page One: Inside the New York Times
Opening June 24th
Why You Should See It: Director Andrew Rossi and his crew spent a year amassing footage with the journalists of the Times. Considering I’m writing this for online publication, I can’t extend a greater plea to you than to see this film. Good journalism is not dead, and if paper publications are on their way out, we may well be left with a collection of talented but largely anonymous authors who rarely work together.
What To Expect: A satisfying fly on the wall look at a widely read and respected publication that has been struggling for some time but shows no sign of strolling off into the good night. Also, those fast paced breaking news scenes that many self-important films utilize for a cheap thrill? This is how it’s really done.
6. Project Nim - Opening July 8th
Why You Should See It: It’s the follow-up documentary to director James Marsh’s Oscar-winning Man On Wire. This time, Marsh recounts the frankly astounding story of Nim Chimpsky, a chimpanzee plucked from the wild and raised by an Upper West Side family. Nim was expected to communicate via sign language and be exposed to the same interactions as would assail a human child. With Marsh at the helm, it’s sure to be a riveting piece of work.
What To Expect: Marsh did his research and dug up plenty of archival footage. That said, the man has a gift for scene recreation, as demonstrated in Man on Wire, and here appears to be challenging himself.
7. Another Earth
Opening July 20th
Why You Should See It: A planet appears in the sky one day – blue all over and looking every bit like ours. Rhoda (Brit Marling) sneaks a look at it at the wrong time and is involved in an accident that claims the lives of several people, leaving behind an aggrieved John (William Mapother). Rhoda seeks John out four years later, hiding her identity from him as the two drift closer together. Meanwhile, we reach out to the identical planet…
What To Expect: Mike Cahill’s debut film got a standing ovation at Sundance and is looking at a limited then wide release stateside. The trailer is appropriately melancholic and mysterious. In so many words, looking good.
8. Bellflower
Opening August 5th
Why You Should See It: Because it boasts a rare achievement: the camera used by DP Joel Hodge was a home brew, assembled Frankenstein style from various parts modern and vintage. The unique look is complimented by an unorthodox story of two layabouts building a post-apocalyptic fire spewing car and a woman who comes between them.
What To Expect: Style up the wazoo and a genuinely curious story of a romance gone apocalyptic. Bellflower promises to be divisive and that’s probably a good thing.
9. The Devil’s Double
Opening August 12th
Why You Should See It: Because sometimes truth is just as damned good as fiction. Dominic Cooper plays the unfortunate Latif Yahia, who was torn from his family and an obscure life because he had the incredible misfortune of looking a lot like Uday Hussein (the more psychotic of the Hussein sons, and that’s saying a lot). Director Lee Tamahori must have been biding time in director’s prison after the three strikes of Die Another Day,xXx: State of the Union, and Next, but it looks like he’s coming back in a big way.
What To Expect: The trailer looks a lot like Lord of War meets House of Saddam and Cooper’s young charisma really shines through. Hopefully it doesn’t sugarcoat the truly horrific deeds committed by Uday while his father reigned.
10. The Future
Opening August 17th
Why You Should See It: Miranda July’s follow up to 2005’s Me You And Everyone We Know is challenging to summarize, and the trailer is of no particular help. I think it deals with a couple (July and Hamish Linklater), who attempt to adopt a cat.
What To Expect: Then the film turns into Inception meets Bicentennial Man, or something of the sort. This is not a shot at the film, as July again demonstrates a rare sensibility of finding the relatable in the absurd. She’s also married to fellow artist Mike Mills, who directed the first film on this list.
Bonus:
Our Idiot Brother
Opening August 26th
Why You Should See It: Paul Rudd leads a cast including Elizabeth Banks, Zooey Deschanel, Emily Mortimer, Kathryn Hahn, Adam Scott, T.J. Miller, and Steve Coogan…are you sold yet? Rudd plays an idealistic, perhaps foolish man who causes havoc in the lives of his three sisters.
What To Expect: Punch Drunk Love with a lovable protagonist instead of an emotionally damaged Adam Sandler.
