Chock Full Of Spock

Outed politicians and a Dalí-fied Robert Pattinson do battle with the U.S.S. Enterprise.

The arrival of “Star Trek” signals the start of blockbuster season (in our orbit, “Wolverine” doesn’t count), and the indie world wastes no time with responding in kind with a few big name players of its own.

Download this in audio form (MP3: 10:00 minutes, 13.7 MB)

Subscribe to the In Theaters podcast: [XML] [iTunes]

“Adoration”
Atom Egoyan landed himself a Palme d’Or nomination at last year’s Cannes for the latest of his patented multi-stranded narratives of introspection, this one a meditation on the marginalization of truth and the role of technology in the post-9/11 mindset. Devon Bostick stars as Simon, an orphaned student whose class assignment translating a newspaper article about the would-be martyrdom of a pregnant woman has personal ramifications when he writes a fictionalized op-ed from the perspective of the now-grown child that takes on a life of its own once it hits the web.
Opens in New York and Los Angeles.

“Audience of One”
Pastor-turned-director-turned-studio-mogul Richard Gazowsky appealed to his congregation’s generous spirit after receiving what he described as a “prophetic whisper” to make movies for God. Documentarian Mike Jacobs shadows the proceedings, as Gazowsky, having transformed the church into a makeshift movie studio, invites his dedicated team of true believers to hunt the white whale with him in the form of a $50 million biblical science-fiction epic which, he maintains, will reshape the landscape of faith-based filmmaking.
Opens in New York.

“Flower in the Pocket”
True to the style of emerging Malaysian New Wave cinema, first-time filmmaker Liew Seng Tat’s no-frills parable about a trio of plucky prepubescents maintains a strict emotional distance, inviting viewers to dictate their own level of involvement. With their workaholic father too busy tending the mannequins he fixes for a living to pay them mind, spirited brothers Li Ahn and Li Ohm roam the neighborhood with friend Ayu (Amira Nasuha), a fatherless misfit whose mother radiates a warm, nurturing glow that is at once both alien and alluring. In Mandarin with subtitles.
Opens in New York.

“Julia”
Inspired by John Cassavetes’s 1980 thriller “Gloria,” which landed star Gena Rowlands her second Oscar nomination, French arthouse director Erick Zonca makes his English-language debut, transplanting the action from New York to Los Angeles. Tilda Swinton, who could make a car insurance commercial compelling, stars as the titular shambolic drunk who assists in kidnapping the son of a fellow AA member (Kate del Castillo), but finds the ransom hard to come by after her booze-fueled antics run her afoul of some Mexican thugs.
Opens in limited release.

“Kabei – Our Mother”
Prolific Japanese helmer Yoji Yamada marks the awe-inspiring career milestone of an 80th feature film with a traditionalist period piece musing on his nation’s ever-present burden of post-war shame and the all-important role of family. In 1940s Tokyo, professor Shigeru Nogami (Mitsugoro Bando) finds himself imprisoned for transgressions against the official record of the Japanese invasion of China. In the outside world, the sympathetic but silent community rallies to the aid of his wife (Sayuri Yoshinaga), who struggles to raise her two daughters without her husband’s support.
Opens in Hawaii.

“Little Ashes”
Brit director Paul Morrison (“Wondrous Oblivion”) takes the reins of writer Philippa Goslett’s debut script, with the latter taking creative license in depicting the fiercely debated homosexual relationship between the young Salvador Dalí and poet Federico García Lorca (which Dali has always flatly denied) as fact. A pre-”Twilight” Robert Pattinson stars as the renowned Spanish surrealist, who becomes Bella Swan to Lorca’s Edward Cullen as the gay dramatist and poet (played by Javier Beltrán) pursues Dalí with relentless vigor throughout their long friendship.
Opens in limited release.

“Love ‘N Dancing”
Despite its well-intentioned escapist premise, this latest offering from “She’s All That” director Robert Iscove seems the sort of sickly sweet affair where you wonder how people this wholesome and good-looking can pretend to have the type of problems anyone real can relate to. Amy Smart stars as a bored English teacher whose untapped talent on the dance floor catches the eye of a swing dancing champion (Tom Malloy, who also scripts and produces), leading to an invitation to partner with him at the upcoming national championship.
Opens in limited release.

Pages: 1 2