The Saturday before Christmas tends to be the biggest shopping day of the year (the idea that it's the day after Thanksgiving is an urban legend) -- so that's all the more reason to skip the malls and go to the movies instead! The multiplexes have a variety of offerings in store for you, but the Indie Spotlight is here to tell you about what's happening at the art houses. 'Tis the season for limited-release Oscar-bait!

Today's new offerings are: The Class, Moscow, Belgium, Nothing But the Truth, Scott Walker: 30 Century Man, and The Wrestler. Here's the lowdown on each of them:

The Wrestler
What it is: OK, it stretches the definition of "indie," but this drama about a washed-up professional wrestler seeking redemption certainly feels like a non-studio film.
What they're saying: This one's been getting raves ever since it won the top prize at the Venice Film Festival in September. Cinematical's James Rocchi, reviewing it at Toronto, called it "one of the best American movies of 2008." At Rotten Tomatoes, all but two of the 58 critics weighing in have praised it -- and one of the two naysayers is Armond White, who can usually be counted on to have the opposite opinion of everyone else and who I think might be a fictional character anyway.
Where it's playing: New York City (Lincoln Plaza, Landmark Sunshine), Los Angeles (ArcLight Hollywood, The Landmark).
More info: The official site has a long list of release dates for other cities, including some next week.

400 Screens, 400 Blows is a weekly column that takes an in-depth look at the films playing below the radar, beneath the top ten, and on 400 screens or less.

With awards season in full bore, I thought I would go back and look at some of the year's most wonderful sleepers, the films that "fell through the cracks" and are not appearing in awards lists or on top ten lists -- one reason being that they came out earlier in the year and were not issued on "for your consideration" Academy DVD screeners. I'd like to start with one of the most overlooked great films of the year, one that was virtually ignored by both the press and the public: The Dark Knight.

Just kidding. Let's start by looking at The Violin, which is very much worth tracking down. 2006 was the year of the much-publicized "Mexican New Wave," and most writers focused on three major films (Pan's Labyrinth, Children of Men and Babel), while passing over of the terrific smaller ones, like Duck Season and Battle in Heaven. Directed by Francisco Vargas, The Violin was made at around the same time, but didn't surface until 2007 in film festivals, and then early in 2008 for a tiny theatrical release. At the risk of cheapening the film with a cursory plot summary, it's the story of an aged, one-handed man who -- more or less -- helps his guerrilla son by serenading a sensitive but sinister military captain (he has to strap the violin bow to the stump of his hand). Vargas shoots in gorgeous black-and-white, cannily switching between hand-held and still shots.

400 Screens, 400 Blows is a weekly column that takes an in-depth look at the films playing below the radar, beneath the top ten, and on 400 screens or less.

Awards season has begun, and I doubt you'll be seeing much mention of Charlie Kaufman's Synecdoche, New York (115 screens), except possibly in the "production design" categories. And the truth is that the film only partially works; it's quasi-insane in a good way, but it hits upon ideas that were better explored in Being John Malkovich (1999) and Adaptation (2002). It does have a great cast, however, and it's a shame that they'll all be overlooked. Philip Seymour Hoffman, of course, will shake it off and probably win some honors for Doubt. He's one of the greatest actors of our time, and we'll probably be watching high-quality Philip Seymour Hoffman movies for decades to come. No, I'd rather focus on the many great women that drift in and out of the film. Thank goodness for them.

Catherine Keener has been nominated for two Oscars (for Being John Malkovich and Capote) and for my money she'd be nominated for her devastatingly funny performance in Hamlet 2. She's clearly smart and amazingly versatile; she can play a bored housewife, but she can also turn men's heads with very little effort. Her gift is that she can hook you and then play with you by switching gears so fast you can't see them. She's lately segued into a series of wonderful character roles and will probably be around for some time.

Not that it's any of my business, but are your halls decked? Is your gay apparel donned? Good! Then you have time to go to the movies, and the Indie Spotlight is here to tell you what's playing beyond the multiplexes!

'Tis the season for limited-release pictures that are sort of indie films and sort of studio productions. For example, this weekend there's Doubt (in NY, LA, Chicago, Boston, and San Francisco), The Reader (NY and LA), and Che (NY and LA) -- but you've heard plenty about those films elsewhere. There's also Delgo, which is a truly independent animated film -- but it's opening on 1,800 screens, so you don't need me to tell you about it here.

Our focus is the stuff that might be under the radar, which this week includes: Adam Resurrected, Dark Streets, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, Timecrimes, What Doesn't Kill You, Where God Left His Shoes, While She Was Out, and Wendy and Lucy. For the details, read on!

Wendy and Lucy (pictured)
What it is: A quiet drama about a penniless woman (Michelle Williams) whose car breaks down in rural Oregon while she's heading West to find a job. Lucy is the name of her dog and traveling companion. The film is not, as I previously believed, a biopic about the red-haired girl from the fast food place and Linus' older sister.
What they're saying: Cinematical raved about it at Cannes earlier this year, and 89% of the critics at Rotten Tomatoes agree. The consensus is that it's a tender, beautifully shot, emotionally intimate little film.
Where it's playing: New York City (Film Forum), Los Angeles (Laemmle Sunset 5).
More info: The official site has a list of release dates for a few dozen other cities.

Put down that leftover-turkey sandwich and pay attention! There are movies to be watched! The majors have Punisher: War Zone, Cadillac Records, and Nobel Son to amuse and/or annoy you, but the Indie Spotlight is here to tell you about the independent flicks opening in limited release today. They are: The Black Balloon, Ciao, Hunger, and Let Them Chirp Awhile. See what strikes your fancy, and keep an eye out for when it comes to your neck of the woods.

Herewith, the lowdown on each of 'em:

The Black Balloon
What it is: An Australian drama about a young man and his autistic brother. Toni Collette plays their mom.
What they're saying: Wow -- that premise sounds fraught with peril, but so far 100% of the review at Rotten Tomatoes are positive. Now we're intrigued.
Where it's playing: New York City (AMC Empire 25, Clearview's Port Washington, Cinemart Cinemas) and Los Angeles (Laemmle Town Center 5, Majestic Crest).
More info: The official site is certainly precious-looking.

Hunger
What it is: A true story about Irish hunger-striker Bobby Sands, shot with brutal, unflinching realism by up-and-coming filmmaker Steve McQueen (no relation).
What they're saying: Cinematical raved about it at Cannes, where it won prizes. At Rotten Tomatoes, an impressive 93% of the reviews are positive, often saying it's hard to watch but undeniably well-made and unforgettable.
Where it's playing: Only at the Nuart Theatre in Los Angeles. It's there for a one-week run to qualify for Oscar consideration; it'll be released for reals in 2009.
More info: Here's the U.K. site.

Filmmaker Jean Renoir, the son of painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir, is inarguably one of the great cinematic poets. He established a fluid, almost unobtrusive style that allowed him to burrow directly into the souls of his characters. In his most acclaimed film, The Rules of the Game (1939), he appears as a kind of buffoonish party guest, and speaks a line of dialogue that has come to be associated with the real-life filmmaker and all his films: "Everyone has his reasons."

Just this week I caught up with Philippe Claudel's directorial debut I've Loved You So Long (52 screens), which some critics have compared to Jonathan Demme's Rachel Getting Married (216 screens). Both films feature contenders for Best Actress, both try to concentrate on human emotions and behavior rather than a forward-thrusting plot, and at least one film has been compared to Renoir. However, one film succeeds and the other fails, and it comes down to the issue of trust. One filmmaker steps back and lets his characters evolve within the film, and the other constructs the characters as specific types to drive the story (he tells rather than shows).

400 Screens, 400 Blows is a weekly column that takes an in-depth look at the films playing below the radar, beneath the top ten, and on 400 screens or less.

I'm thankful for Rachel Getting Married (300 screens), for making me feel as if I were at an excruciating wedding without actually having to be there, and for making me feel as if I knew the extraordinarily wounded lead character, Kym (Anne Hathaway), no matter how monstrous she acts sometimes. But most of all for making me feel something.

I'm thankful for The Dark Knight (345 screens), for being like a 1940s film noir, reflecting the utter despair we feel about the world in 2008, but for making it entertaining and making us feel as if there's still a tiny scrap of hope left. Mainly, I'm thankful for movies that took on despair as a theme, but didn't show it.

I'm thankful for smart villains, like Heath Ledger's Joker. But I'm also thankful for quiet villains, like Ralph Fiennes in The Duchess (154 screens), who does all those terrible things for what he thinks are pretty good reasons, not simply because he's hateful or evil. I'm especially thankful for no moustache-twisting (and no moustaches).

On a normal weekend, there are usually eight or nine new independent films opening in limited release, compared to three four wide releases. But for Thanksgiving, those numbers switch sides -- the multiplexes will be crowded with Twilights and Bolts and Transporters and Christmases and so forth, while the art houses have only a few new titles arriving.

In other words, there's not much to say in this week's Indie Spotlight, and there won't be any need for a Spotlight next week at all. So enjoy these few limited-release films opening today and next Wednesday: The Betrayal, I Can't Think Straight, Lake City, and Special.

The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)
What it is: A documentary about a family that emigrated to the U.S. after the bombings in their native Laos that occurred during the Vietnam War.
What they're saying: Wow -- all 12 reviews at Rotten Tomatoes are positive. "Lyrical, expansive, unbearably beautiful," etc.
Where it's playing: New York City (IFC Center).
More info: The official website has a list of release dates, most of which are several weeks hence.

Lake City
What it is: A drama starring Troy Garity as a man who returns to his Southern home and his mom (Sissy Spacek) after a tragedy separated them for many years.
What they're saying: Lake City is a lovely title, but the critics are saying it's all wet, or some other water-related metaphor. With 11 notices at Rotten Tomatoes, only one is positive, the rest indicating that despite Sissy Spacek's good performance, the movie is too serious, contrived, and banal.
Where it's playing: New York City (Quad Cinema).
More info: I can't find an official site anywhere.

I usually don't do this. Once I post or publish my year's ten best list, I try not to tamper with it. But 2006 has been gnawing at me. At the time, it didn't seem like such a good movie year, but the more I think about it, the more I realize there were gems right there in front of my nose. (It certainly seemed like a better bet than 2008.) Some of the films had to blossom a bit, to age a little. Some I had to see again. But now that a couple of years have gone by I feel the need to re-visit 2006 and once again sort through the best films of the year.

If I'm honest with myself, my favorite film from 2006 was Rian Johnson's Brick, which I included all the way down at #10 on my list. I've since seen it three times, and I'm continually astounded by just how delightfully perfect it is, from its language to its tone and plot. It even includes some emotionally devastating performances on top of its twisty crime story. Terry Zwigoff's Art School Confidential is another one I had to see three times, but it keeps getting better. Zwigoff is one of our singular American talents, absolutely incapable of making something impersonal. This was his darkest film, and I think it turned off most viewers upon initial viewings. But I've spoken with people lately who have been re-discovering it, and it may have a second life someday.

It's a light weekend at the multiplexes, with just one new wide release to take in. The good news there is that once you're done watching James Bond kill and/or sleep with people, you'll have plenty of time to head to the art houses and see what the independent scene has to offer. The Indie Spotlight is here to round 'em up for you, and there are nine diverse choices opening today: Bohica, A Christmas Tale, Dostana, The Dukes, Faded Memories, House of the Sleeping Beauties, How About You, Slumdog Millionaire, and We Are Wizards.

Here's the lowdown on each of them:

Slumdog Millionaire
What it is: It's the feel-good sensation of the year that has critics raving, that's what! It's about a kid from the streets of Mumbai who somehow makes it to the final round of India's "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" -- and in particular about the events of his life that brought him there.
What they're saying: Cinematical's Kim Voynar called it Danny Boyle's best film to date when she reviewed it at Telluride. It's rocking a 92% approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes, with an average score of 8.2 out of 10, making it one of the best-reviewed movies of the year. If this movie doesn't make you feel good it must be because your heart is gnarly and cankered.
Where it's playing: New York City (Angelika, Lincoln Plaza), Los Angeles (The Landmark), Chicago (Landmark Century Centre, Century Evanston 18), San Francsico (Embarcadero).
More info: The official site has a list of when it opens in other cities. Expansion starts next week.

400 Screens, 400 Blows is a weekly column that takes an in-depth look at the films playing below the radar, beneath the top ten, and on 400 screens or less.

Frankly, I'm a little surprised at the reception to Clark Gregg's Choke (12 screens). It has pulled in nearly $3 million, which is fairly respectable, although it's apparently still shy of recouping its production budget. Critics have banded together to rate it a low 56% on Rotten Tomatoes (I contributed a "fresh" review), but fans have ranked it a high 7.3 out of 10 on IMDB. I guess this means that the film has its fans, but only a small group of them. And so it goes when filmmakers try to adapt cult novels.

Cult novels are a far more difficult prospect than a mere best-seller or Pulitzer Prize winner. These are novels that people love fiercely, oftentimes written by a novelist that they love fiercely. Many of these novels resist filmic adaptation for some reason or another (The Catcher in the Rye, On the Road, A Confederacy of Dunces, The Crying of Lot 49, Kitchen, Snow Crash, etc.). But when a movie of a cult novel hits, it hits big. It crawls under the public's skin and nestles there beside the novel itself. David Cronenberg made a classic out of William S. Burroughs' "unfilmable" novel Naked Lunch. Danny Boyle made an energetic, powerful, disturbing crazy-quilt out of Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting, and Ridley Scott made a flat-out masterpiece out of Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (a.k.a. Blade Runner).

Considering Anne Hathaway in Rachel Getting Married (133 screens), Sally Hawkins in Happy-Go-Lucky (60 screens), Penelope Cruz in Elegy (21 screens) and Vicky Cristina Barcelona (52 screens), Kristin Scott Thomas in I've Loved You So Long (20 screens), Meryl Streep rising above the ineptitude of Mamma Mia! (178 screens), and several others, it has been an exceptionally good year for roles for women -- all except The Women (164 screens). To date, I've spent a good deal of time railing against that movie, without ever asking: what happened to some of those amazing actresses that they should end up here?

Meg Ryan, for example, was once a top star -- one of a trinity of "America's Sweethearts" (with Julia Roberts and Sandra Bullock) -- and a sure thing. She was irresistibly adorable, and she mastered a kind of self-conscious, nervous eye-flick that won over audiences time and again. And she made her debut in the final film by George Cukor, for goodness sake! Her highest point was probably When Harry Met Sally... (1989), where her effortless performance was not as easy as it looked. She had a hard time branching out into serious films, mainly because her cute, sweet, funny quality made it seem as if she had a lack of depth, and she looked out of place in hardcore, delirious movies like The Doors (1991). Her last ten years has given us a string of flops. But I maintain that her best films are the ones that nobody understood.

Boo! And I mean "boo" in the Halloween sense, not in the "opposite-of-hooray" sense. The multiplexes have plenty of films geared toward this sacred holiday season, but so do the art houses! The Indie Spotlight is here to tell you what's opening in limited release this weekend, and there are a couple of frightfests in the mix. Just because it's not on 3,000 screens doesn't mean it can't scare the skittles out of you.

Here's the lineup today: Able Danger, Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father, Eden Lake, The First Basket, The Matador, The Other End of the Line, and Splinter. And here's the lowdown on each of them, in my own highly subjective order of preference.

Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father
What it is: An emotionally devastating documentary made by a man after his best friend was murdered.
What they're saying: We've been raving about this film ever since Erik Davis saw it at Slamdance back in January. It's one of the most powerful films I've ever seen, and I know about a dozen people who've seen it who would say the same thing. A few of them are at Rotten Tomatoes, where the film currently stands at 100%. See this movie.
Where it's playing: New York City (Cinema Village).
More info: The official site lists upcoming release dates in other cities

Splinter
What it is: A grisly horror flick about four young people who are terrorized by a parasitic creature.
What they're saying: Ten out of twelve critics at Rotten Tomatoes give it a thumbs-up, saying it's an efficient, creative B-movie -- exactly what it's supposed to be.
Where it's playing: New York City (City Cinemas Village East), Austin (Dobie Theatre), Los Angeles (Mann Chinese), Dallas (Studio Movie Grill), Oklahoma City (Museum of Art).
More info: The official site has upcoming release dates, plus info on how you can watch the film through some cable systems' on-demand service.

For Halloween week, I thought I'd go back and challenge one of the biggest movie myths of recent years: that Gus Van Sant's Psycho (1998) is the worst remake of all time. On the contrary... it's actually one of the most fascinating of all remakes, and a great deal more satisfying than almost any other horror remake. Let me explain. If we go back and look at the history of horror movies, we can divide up the last 100 years into sections. There were the Expressionist horrors of the silent era, then the Universal monsters, then Val Lewton's RKO films, the British Hammer films, the Italian horrors, the American Renaissance of the 1970s, the 1980s tongue-in-cheek films, the Asian horrors of the 1990s, and now -- remakes.

There were three factors that made Psycho different from other horror remakes. It was based on a high-quality, undisputed classic rather than some slapdash, B-level monster movie. It was shot-for-shot, and a respected art house director made it. Van Sant had earned some fame, acclaim and an Oscar nomination (for Good Will Hunting), and so by signing on to do the remake he unconsciously indicated that he was stepping into Hitchcock's shoes, which was unforgivable, and also impossible. If a fourth-rate hack had tried it, it would have been laughed at, or ignored, out of existence. But Van Sant's skill and reputation made it stick.

'Tis the season for cinematic horrors, but a fright-seeker's options aren't limited to Saw V or High School Musical 3. The Indie Spotlight has the lowdown on a batch of limited-release films opening today that may also terrify or amuse you. Four of the five have gotten almost nothing but great reviews, too.

Here's what's new today: Fear(s) of the Dark, I've Loved You So Long, Let the Right One In, Roadside Romeo, and Stranded: I Have Come from a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains. Those are some great titles, if nothing else. Here's the scoop on each of them.

Let the Right One In
What it is: Twelve-year-old boy develops a crush on a girl who might be a vampire. It's Twilight, but with the genders reversed, and in Swedish.
What they're saying: Raves all around the board, including Cinematical's Scott Weinberg. At Rotten Tomatoes, the acclaim is almost universal. (Owen Gleiberman: Welcome to Contraryville, population 1.) Everybody I know who has seen it says it's something special -- scary, twisted, witty, and even sweet.
Where it's playing: New York City (Angelika Film Center), Los Angeles (Laemmle Sunset 5, Laemmle Playhouse 7, Edwards University Town Center in Irvine).
More info: The official site has a list of upcoming playdates in other cities. Let's make this one a hit, people!

I've Loved You So Long
What it is: A French drama about a woman released from prison after 15 years who must try to reconnect with her sister and her sister's family. (Does the title make anyone else think of Full Metal Jacket? "Me love you long time!")
What they're saying: Cinematical gushed effusively when the film played at Telluride, calling it a "masterpiece." The Rotten Tomatoes score is overwhelmingly positive (90% at the moment), and the buzz is that Kristin Scott Thomas is a lock for an Oscar nomination and a solid bet for a win.
Where it's playing: New York City (Lincoln Plaza, Angelika Film Center), Los Angeles (Laemmle Town Center 5, Laemmle Playhouse 7, Laemmle Royal, Regency South Coast Village in Costa Mesa).
More info: Sony Classics' official site.