Dans Paris makes the city seem like the ideal place to be clinically depressed.

A rather unfocused but ultimately provocative portrait of Eastern Europe.

There's a palpable element of honesty in Lapica's writing and lead performance that gives this indie production, the edge over other troubled teen dramas.

Those expecting a reflective Buddhist piece will be surprised. First-time director Neten Chokling's film actually is a powerful revenge drama.

An unsparing look at child prostitution is a hard sell for audiences, but this movie is a memorable achievement, far superior to the recently released "Trade," another movie about sex trafficking.

It's undeniably fascinating, but you might want to take a shower after hanging out with this unsavory bunch.

Ghobadi always uses non-pro actors but you would never know. In fact, professionals wouldn't do theses roles justice since the recruited performers are partly playing themselves and partly playing people Ghobadi has known since he was a boy.

A ramshackle but likeable story.

An unusually poetic and meditative eco-themed documentary, Laura Dunn's The Unforeseen is as beautiful as it is ultimately depressing.

Perhaps the best way to appreciate the picture, its few intellectual pretensions notwithstanding, is as a classy horror film with a particularly nasty edge. It's not exactly entertainment, but it casts a poisonous spell.

An eye-catching combination of cultural history, performer profiles and competition footage that should see enthusiastic response from niche audiences in urban and specialty venues.

Poirier is a master at dialogue. His script crackles with sharp lines and he gives all his scenes a splendid comic undertow.

Marianne Faithfull is unforgettable as a middle-class, middle-aged frump …in Sam Garbarski's crowd-pleasing comedy-drama Irina Palm.

Expired is a remarkable romance of no easy answers; to wit, like real life.

The average age of the band's members is 62. They don't even bother to disguise that fact. These men look like your grandfather, right up until the downbeat. Then the magnificence of their playing sweeps away all concepts of age. Rock on.

An amusing ensemble piece about the troubles of dislocated twentysomethings attempting to find their way through life and love.

Ex-Germs infect biopic with punk authenticity

An engaging if less than revelatory documentary.

Eska seems to be attempting an ambitious Mexican-American variation on "King Lear," another tale of an aging patriarch seeking refuge but ultimately rejected by ungrateful children.

The great strength of the film is that it is difficult to know where cinema verite leaves off and fiction begins.

Much has been made of supermodel Gemma Ward's doll-like features, but there's nothing plastic about her debut performance in the charming Australian indie The Black Balloon.

Presented as a straight documentary about an American pop singer who had one U.K. hit in the 1960s as a member of a boy band and has gone missing ever since, but it plays like the slyest of spoofs.

Webber's way with his young cast is as unforced as the movie itself, which easily could have been overwrought and maudlin but is instead oddly affirming.

A period suburban rites-of-passage story with a pitch-perfect cast.

This entertaining, inside-show-business documentary is greatly enhanced by the presence of the two engaging "boys" of the title -- brothers who found harmony through music and dissonance with each other.

Both informative and persuasive, Under Our Skin targets both the heart and brain to advocate for the Lyme disease community.

This small journey of self-discovery, even at an advanced age, mirrors the larger one Berinstein so fondly addresses here and leaves you with that oh-so-rare but genuine warm and fuzzy feeling.