NEW THIS WEEK: Lynch's "Empire" Arrives, and More

David Lynch's three-hour DV experiment "Inland Empire," featuring the acclaimed stellar lead performance from Laura Dern, leads the roster of new films arriving in theaters this weekend. Its been popular among many critics, including overwhelming praise from The New York Times' Manohla Dargis, but at the same time other viewers were simply left perplexed. In her review earlier this week, Dargis praised the film as art and wrote, "Inland Empire" isn't a film to love. It is a work to admire, to puzzle through, to wrestle with. Its pleasures are fugitive, even frustrating."
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NEW THIS WEEK: "Dance Party," "Fast Food," "Piano Tuner," "Consideration," "Pajamas," "Who the $#%&...?" and More

Director Richard Linklater returns to the big screen with "Fast Food Nation" Friday. The fictional adaptation of Eric Schlosser's best-selling non-fiction book of the same name is a look at the industrialization of food, starring Wilmer Valderrama, Catalina Sandino Moreno and Greg Kinnear. "I think the film can be seen in political terms, but most of the characters are not thinking that way," explained Linklater in Cannes where the film premiered in May. "This movie is really about unveiling things and becoming aware. We've become very separated and divorced from where things come from."
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NEW THIS WEEK | Imagining Arbus in "Fur"; "Iraq," "Morning," "Fuck" and More

Among the new films opening this week is "Fur," director Steven Shainberg and writer Erin Cressida Wilson's provocative take on the life of famous photographer Diane Arbus. With the full title "Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus," the film stars Nicole Kidman as Arbus, a woman who made her name photographing outcasts. The challenging, artistic, and curious new film reunites the key team behind 2002's "Secretary" -- Shainberg, Wilson and producer Andrew Fierberg -- for a biography that evokes both "Beauty and the Beast" and "Alice in Wonderland," as Arbus falls under the spell of a masked figure (played by Robert Downey, Jr.) who himself is afflicted with a rare medical condition.
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NEW THIS WEEK: Almodovar's "Volver" Arrives, "Romantico" Debut, and More

Two acclaimed Spanish language films are the highlights this week: "Volver" by Pedro Almodovar and "Romantico" from Mark Becker. Perhaps the most acclaimed foreign language film of the year so far, Almodovar's "Volver," which debuted to considerable acclaim at Cannes this year and has garnered growing awards season buzz, particularly for the lead performance by Penelope Cruz. Widely considered a lock for a best actress Oscar nomination, Cruz stars in a film that Almodovar said (back in Cannes) is his, "deepest return to my roots." The Spanish auteur returned to La Mancha, where he was born, to explore the story of a group of women, with characters inspired by women from his own childhood.
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NEW THIS WEEK: "Babel," "God," "Sing," "Cocaine," and More

This week welcomes a bevy of new specialty releases, including two-time Oscar winning director Barbara Kopple and co-director Cecilia Peck's Dixie Chicks doc "Shut Up & Sing," which screened at last month's Toronto International Film Festival. The film examines the popular American band, including the aftermath of lead singer Natalie Maines' anti-Bush quote 'heard around the world.' The film will join fellow Toronto title, "Death of a President" by Gabriel Range and others in theaters this weekend. The film has sparked controversial debate over its depiction of a fictitious assassination of George W. Bush. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's "Babel" will also be opening in limited release. The film, which earned Inarritu this year's Best Director prize at the Festival de Cannes in May, is a drama/thriller taking place primarly in three countries: Morocco, Mexico and Japan.
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NEW THIS WEEK: "51 Birch Street" Bows; "Requiem," "Sleeping Dogs," "Jonestown" and More

Hailed by New York Times film critic A.O. Scott this week as, "one of the most moving and fascinating documentaries I've seen this year," Doug Block's "51 Birch Street" seems to be off to a great start, particularly given the fact that the release was initiated by the filmmaker himself. The film debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival last year and when the right distribution deal didn't come along, Block decided to take matters into his own hands. He and producer Lori Cheatle secured financing for a theatrical release from his executive producers, Priddy Brothers Entertainment. The "51B" team opted for a release through Landmark Theaters' Truly Indie initiative, kicking off a planned eight city release this week in New York and Los Angeles.
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NEW THIS WEEK: "Sweet Land" Kicks Off in Minnesota; "Deliver Us From Evil" Debuts

One year after winning the audience award for best narrative feature at the Hamptons International Film Festival, Ali Selim's "Sweet Land" opens in Minnesota's twin cities Friday before hitting New York next weekend. Described as a "turn-of-the-century love story," the film stars Elizabeth Reaser, Tim Guinee, Ned Beatty and Alan Cumming, with Jeff Lipsky handling the film's release. It is based on a short story by Will Weaver and was filmed in Southern Minnesota.
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NEW THIS WEEK: "Shortbus" Arrives Without an Uproar (so far); "Angels," "Gold," "49 Up" and More Debut

John Cameron Mitchell's provocative new American independent film "Shortbus" opened in U.S. theaters on Wednesday (starting in NYC and then in LA Friday), without an uproar, or even the appearance of protest. While some in Cannes this year initially wondered whether the film might have trouble securing a theatrical release, within weeks as many as a dozen distribution opportunities emerged and the filmmakers abandoned their talk about having to distribute the movie themselves. The film is among a new group of movies opening in theaters this weekend, including Freida Lee Mock's "Wrestling With Angels: Playwright Tony Kushner," James D. Stern and Adam Del Deo's "...So Goes The Nation," Marc Francis and Nick Francis' "Black Gold," Todd Field's "Little Children," and Michael Apted's "49 Up."
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NEW THIS WEEK: "The Queen," "Broken Sky," "loudQUIETloud," "A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints," "The Last King of Scotland"

Venice winner "The Queen" by Stephen Frears will open theatrically Stateside Saturday. The film screens in the U.S. for the first time (officially) Friday night at Lincoln Center in NYC, where it has its North American premiere, opening the New York Film Festival. Dito Montiel's Sundance acclaimed "A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints" joins the mix, along with Kevin Macdonald's "The Last King of Scotland." The film, which recently had its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, stars Forest Whitaker and James McAvoy. "Forest's performance mesmerized..." co-star Kerry Washington said in Toronto of Whitaker's performance during filming in Uganda. Also on tap this week are Julian Hernandez's "Broken Sky" as well as Steven Cantor and Matthew Galkin's Pixies doc "loudQUIETloud."
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NEW THIS WEEK: "Mutual Appreciation," "This Film Is Not Yet Rated," "Lassie" and More

Festivals are in full swing with Venice underway, while Telluride gears up this weekend and Toronto opens next week, while the number of specialty releases is under a half dozen. Andrew Bujalki returns with his second film "Mutual Appreciation." Bujalski told indieWIRE earlier this week that his lead actor provided the inspiration for his film. Also in the mix is Sundance film "This Film is Not Yet Rated," as well as "Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles," Sprockets Toronto International Film Festival opener, "Lassie," and Tribeca title, "Looking for Kitty."
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NEW THIS WEEK: "LOL", "The Quiet", "Princesas" and More

A wide range of films are debuting this week, from the self-distributed indie "LOL" by Chicago filmmaker Joe Swanberg to "The Quiet," established director Jamie Babbit's latest feature, produced by Burnt Orange Productions in Texas (a division of the University of Texas at Austin's film program_. Background on both films, and their filmmakers is available in indieWIRE interviews linked below. Also on tap is the latest film from IFC Films' First Take label that releases movies in theaters and via VOD on cable television at the same time.
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NEW THIS WEEK: A "Pusher" Trio, "Factotum", and More

Nicolas Winding Refn's "The Pusher Trilogy," comprised of three feature films: "Pusher," "With Blood on My Hands," and "The Angel of Death," is among theatrical debuts this week. Announcing the acquisition of the trio back in February, Magnolia Pictures' Eamonn Bowles explained, "These three films are superlative, accessible entertainments and a complete revelation for me. The characters and milieu are indelible, and both individually and as a whole, the 'Pusher' movies represent a major film achievement."
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NEW THIS WEEK: Arriving in Theaters..."Half Nelson", "Viva Pedro" and More

Another acclaimed film from Sundance 2006 and the launch of a tribute to an international master director are among the list of new film opening in theaters this week. Ryan Fleck's "Half Nelson," starring Ryan Gosling, topped indieWIRE's first poll of critics and journalists who covered the Sundance Film Festival this year. The film was the overwhelming favorite among a group of 50 members of the media -- reviewers and writers -- who were informally surveyed after the festival. Stars Gosling and Shareeka Epps led the balloting, as best actor and best actress respectively, in indieWIRE's poll.
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NEW THIS WEEK: More Sundance Class of '06 Debuts, "Quinceanera" In The Spotlight

Following last week's release of "Little Miss Sunshine," and ahead of next week's opening of "Half Nelson," the latest in a crop of films that debuted at this year's Sundance Film Festival will open in U.S. movie theaters this weekend. But while Miramax will take one of its first acquisitions -- "The Night Listener" -- to nearly 1,400 screens this weekend, Sony Pictures Classics will debut its acclaimed indie, "Quinceanera" on eight U.S. screens this weekend. The film won both the dramatic grand jury prize and the audience award at the most important festival in the United States.
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NEW THIS WEEK: Hopes High for Sundance Hit "Sunshine" and More

The major acquisition deal -- one of the largest in the history of the Sundance Film Festival -- that was signed just hours after "Little Miss Sunshine" premiered in Park City has many watching to see how the film does at the box office this weekend. Not since last year's mega-deal for "Hustle and Flow" has a film taken Indiewood by storm so swiftly. But how do such major Park City pacts affect a film's eventual performance in theaters? On its first day, according to BoxOfficeMojo.com where anyone can track daily grosses, Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris' "Little Miss Sunshine" made $65,926 on 7 screens. By comparison, Fox Searchlight's big Toronto acquisition "Thank You For Smoking" earned more than $61,000 on 5 screens on its first day (a Friday), en route to a more than $52,584 per screen average over its first weekend (and it earned nearly $25 million in its total run earlier this year).
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NEW THIS WEEK: Short Films Among New Movies in Theaters

A number of short films are among the new movies opening in theaters. A collection of international short films are part of New Yorker Films' "The World According to Shorts," including Hugo Maza's "La Perra" from Chile, Daniel Askill's "We Have Decided Not To Die" from Australia, Andreas Hykade's "Ring of Fire" from Germany, Hans Petter Moland's "United We Stand" from Norway," Adam Guzinski's "Antichrist" from Poland and Jane Malaquias' "The Old Woman's Step" from Brazil. While Picture This Entertainment's "Boys Briefs 4" includes movies about hustlers, among them Welby Ing's "Boy", Greg Atkin's "Build", Armen Kazazian's "Gold", Tony Krawitz's "Into the Night", Bastian Schweitzer's "Gigolo", and Mary Feuer's "Rock Bottom." Both collections of short will be available in other cities in the coming weeks.
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NEW THIS WEEK: France and Brazil Seek Spotlight (and Mamet, too), Among Others

Films from France, and one from Brazil, mark this week in theaters. As was already well-explored in Anthony Kaufman's world cinema this week, no fewer than three French features by acclaimed Gallic filmmakers will be vying for Bastille Day audiences this weekend in a battle that pits Patrice Chereau and Andre Techine against Francois Ozon.
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NEW THIS WEEK: "Scanner Darkly" Opens On A (Relatively) Quiet Weekend

It is a relatively quiet weekend for new movies in theaters. With a number of current specialty releases already vying for moviegoers, just a couple of new titles will join the fray. Among the highest profile is Richard Linklater's "A Scanner Darkly," which will kick-off in 17 locations from Warner Independent Pictures. Company distribution head Steve Friedlander indicated that the movie will open in New York, Los Angeles, Austin, Toronto, Boston, Washington, Seattle, Chicago and San Francisco this weekend, followed by an expansion to some 175 theaters in week two.
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NEW THIS WEEK: "Electric Car," "Motel," and "Candy"

Adding more fuel to the environmental debate, which hit high gear with Davis Guggenheim's "An Inconvenient Truth," is Chris Paine's doc "Who Killed the Electric Car?" The film looks back at California's earnest attempt to solve its air pollution problem in the '90s by requiring an eventual condition that 10% of all cars sold in the state, the nation's largest market for automobiles, be run on alternative fuel. Enter GM's EV-1, which was an updated version of an old technology -- electricity. Although the car did not immediately capture a huge crossroads of the popular imagination, it became an icon for many Californians who drove them through its clogged highways sans the damaging ozone emissions. But, the EV 1 was not to be the roadmap to a greener world as the auto giant quickly snapped up the cars -- all were leased -- and promptly crushed them, much to the horror of its very loyal owners (well, leasers).
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NEW THIS WEEK: The Tragedy of "Guantanamo", Post 9/11 "Wonderful", Clark's "Rockers" and More

Perhaps the most timely and tragic films to come along in quite awhile, Michael Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross' "The Road to Guantanamo" is the unfortunately timely, true story of the "Tipton Three," a group of British Muslims who were held in an American military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The hybrid doc/dramatization blends news images, documentary footage, and dramatic re-creations of the lads' experiences as detainees for more than two years at the detention center. The film premiered this year at the 2006 Berlinale where it won the Silver Bear prize for best director and was among the most talked about films of the festival.
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