The lull in Hollywood summer tentpoles opening this weekend means now’s a great time to catch an indie. With the much anticipated new take on “Much Ado About Nothing” that Joss Whedon shot at his own home over 12 days, the first adaptation of a Judy Blume novel, and two teens gone wild in “Violet & Daisy,” here’s your list of the indies opening today across the country. Synopses courtesy of the distributors.
“Hey Bartender”
Opening In: New York (June 14 in Los Angeles, San Diego, Tulsa, Seattle and Denver)
Synopsis:Two bartenders try to achieve their dreams through bartending. An injured Marine turns his goals to becoming a principal bartender at the best cocktail bar in the world. A young man leaves his white-collar job to buy the corner bar in his hometown years later he struggles to keep afloat. The bar is three deep and the bartenders are in the weeds at the greatest cocktail party since before Prohibition. Hey Bartender is the story of the rebirth of the bartender and the comeback of the cocktail. Featuring the world’s most renowned bartenders and access to the most exclusive bars in New York with commentary from Graydon Carter, Danny Meyer and Amy Sacco.
“Evocateur: The Morton Downey Jr. Movie”
Opening In: New York and Los Angeles
Synopsis: Long before O’Reilly and Beck, Morton Downey, Jr., was tearing up the talk-show format with his divisive populism. Between the fistfights, rabid audience, and Mort’s cigarette smoke always ’in your face,’ The Morton Downey Jr. Show was billed as ‘3-D television,’ ‘rock and roll without the music.’ “Evocateur” meditates on the hysteria that ended the ’80s and ultimately its most notorious agitator.
“Much Ado About Nothing”
Opening In: New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco (June 21 Nationwide)
Synopsis: Leonato (Clark Gregg), the governor of Messina, is visited by his friend Don Pedro (Reed Diamond) who is returning from a victorious campaign against his rebellious brother Don John (Sean Maher). Accompanying Don Pedro are two of his officers: Benedick (Alexis Denisof) and Claudio (Fran Kranz). While in Messina, Claudio falls for Leonato’s daughter Hero (Jillian Morgese), while Benedick verbally spars with Beatrice (Amy Acker), the governor’s niece. The budding love between Claudio and Hero prompts Don Pedro to arrange with Leonato for a marriage. In the days leading up to the ceremony, Don Pedro, with the help of Leonato, Claudio and Hero, attempts to sport with Benedick and Beatrice in an effort to trick the two into falling in love. Meanwhile, the villainous Don John, with the help of his allies Conrade (Riki Lindhome) and Borachio (Spencer Treat Clark), plots against the happy couple, using his own form of trickery to try to destroy the marriage before it begins. A series of comic and tragic events may continue to keep the two couples from truly finding happiness, but then again perhaps love may prevail.
“As Cool As I Am”
Opening In: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Toronto
Synopsis: “As Cool As I Am” is a coming of age story about a smart, young girl caught in small town America. Dreaming of a bigger life, Lucy (Sarah Bolger) is subjected to her parents’ Lainee (Claire Danes) and Chuck (James Marsden) disintegrating marriage. Finding it tough to navigate her own relationships, Lucy not only confides in, but relies on best-friend, Kenny (Thomas Mann), for emotional and physical support. Ultimately, she finds hope and her dreams are within reach.
“Wish You Were Here”
Opening In: New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, San Diego, Berkeley, San Francisco, Denver, Atlanta, Boston, Minneapolis, Washington D.C.
Synopsis: Four friends indulge in a carefree Cambodian holiday, but their sun-soaked retreat quickly takes a horrific turn when one of the travelers disappears. As the search ensues, the others return home, racked with guilt and struggling to return to their daily lives. Does one of them hold the answer to the fate of their lost companion? Tightly-held secrets from their life-altering trip are brought to light, revealing clues to the whereabouts of their missing friend.
“Lost and Found in Armenia”
Opening In: California, Boston, Detroit, New Jersey, Washington D.C.
Synopsis: A US Senator’s son (Jaime Kennedy) who attempts to forget the break up of his fiance, is forced to vacation in Turkey by his best friends. A para-sailing trip mishap lands him in a small village in Armenia, where he is accused of being a spy. It is there he meets a young woman (Angela Sarafyan) who helps him to escape from misfortune.
“Tiger Eyes”
Opening In: Nationwide
Synopsis: From iconic author Judy Blume, comes the story of a girl on a journey from heartbreak and confusion to life and love after tragedy. Set in the mountains and canyons of New Mexico, where Davey meets Wolf, a young Native American with a secret.
“Dirty Wars”
Opening In: New York, Los Angeles, Washington D.C. (June 14 Nationwide)
Synopsis: Follows investigative reporter Jeremy Scahill on an unexpected journey as he chases down the truth behind America’s covert wars.
“Syrup”
Opening In: Santa Cruz, California
Synopsis: Based on the best-selling book, “Syrup” is an edgy comedy that exposes the cut-throat world of advertising through the eyes of a young prodigy chasing fame, fortune, and the woman of his dreams. Fresh out of school with a degree in marketing, Scat will do anything to prove that he has what it takes to swim with the rich and wildly successful. Scat comes up with a brilliant new product that gives new meaning to the old saying sex sells. He is sure it will send him right to the top if only he can convince his boss, that it’s an idea worth millions. Betrayed by his best friend Sneaky Pete,a Scat stumbles through an industry riddled with deception. As he begins to realize that fame and fortune have cost him his morality, he must rediscover his true self behind the elaborate image he has created or risk losing the love of his life. In a world where the average person sees over eight hundred ads in a single day, “Syrup” takes a biting look at the insidious and often ridiculous side of advertising.
“Hello Herman”
Opening In: Nationwide
Synopsis: Set in the not so distant future, in Any Town USA, sixteen year old Herman Howards makes a fateful decision. He enters his suburban school and kills thirty nine students, two teachers, and a police officer. Just before his arrest he emails his idol, famous journalist Lax Morales, sending him clips of the shootings captured with Herman’s own digital camera. In the clips Herman tells Lax, “I want to tell my story on your show”. Lax, haunted by his own past, is now face to face with Herman. The movie explores why and how a massacre like this can happen in our society, desensitizing in America, youth violence and bullying, the impact the media has on our individual quest for fame, and ultimately our need for connection.
“The Prey”
Opening In: New York, Los Angeles
Synopsis: Franck Adrien (Albert Dupontel), a bank robber convicted of a heist and sentenced to six months in prison, shares a cell with seemingly weak Jean Louis Morel. Not long after Morel’s release, it is revealed that Morel is a sadistic serial killer, and knows private details of Adrien’s life. Adrien must break out of prison, pursue Morel, and evade the most elite French police teams hunting him.
“Gibonsburg”
Opening In: Ohio
Synopsis: Gibsonburg is based on the true story of a high school baseball team that had a regular season record of 6 wins and 17 losses in 2005. During the regular season they lost 13 games in a row, were mercy ruled 7 times, and lost the last game of the season by a score of 17 to 0. In a magical way, their first year coach got this same team to win 8 post season games in a row which took them to the State Championship. No team, in any state, has ever won a State Championship with a losing record. Although baseball is the backbone of the film, Gibsonburg is actually more of a coming of age film that deals with the many trials and tribulations facing high school
students today. Along the road to the State Championship a romantic love story unfolds as well as a mystery that rivals any discovery that has ever taken place in the
Midwest.
“Rapture-Palooza”
Opening In: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Toronto
Synopsis: Two teens battle their way through a religious apocalypse on a mission to defeat the Antichrist.
“Violet & Daisy”
Opening In: Nationwide
Synopsis: Violet (Alexis Bledel) and Daisy (Saoirse Ronan) are a pair of gum-cracking teenage assassins who casually snuff out crime figures in New York City, distracted only by the fact that a concert by their favorite pop idol Barbie Sunday has suddenly been canceled. Determined to raise cash for some Barbie Sunday dresses, the duo takes on a new hit job targeting a mysterious loner (James Gandolfini) who leads them into an unexpected odyssey of self-examination and catapults the junior enforcers into a world beyond Barbie Sunday and bullets for pay. From Academy Award-winning screenwriter Geoffrey Fletcher (“Precious”) comes a mesmerizing hybrid of New York City crime fable and existential coming-of-age drama. In “Violet & Daisy” teenage kicks match wits with adult-world turmoil, placing three wounded souls into a line of fire none expected– themselves.
“Finding Joy”
Opening In: Nationwide
Synopsis: A self-absorbed writer, stuck in more ways than one, rediscovers himself, his offbeat family, and what it means to be happy when he meets Joy, a spirited young woman who
asks him to write her obituary.
“Free China: The Courage to Believe”
Opening In: New York
Synopsis: In telling the courageous stories of Jennifer Zeng and Charles Lee, who were persecuted by the Chinese government for their spiritual beliefs in the ancient meditation practice of Falun Gong, the film exposes the widespread human rights violations that still take place today in China. It examines the conditions in the Chinese prison re-education program, the brutality of an authoritarian state against tens of millions of Falun Gong practitioners, and the efforts by people of conscience to stop the persecution.
“La Camioneta”
Opening In: Los Angeles
Synopsis: Every day dozens of decommissioned school buses leave the United States on a southward migration that carries them to Guatemala, where they are repaired, repainted, and resurrected as the brightly-colored camionetas that bring the vast majority of Guatemalans to work each day. Since 2006, nearly 1,000 camioneta drivers and fare-collectors have been murdered for either refusing or being unable to pay the extortion money demanded by local Guatemalan gangs. “La Camionete” follows one such bus on its transformative journey: a journey between North and South, between life and death, and through an unfolding collection of moments, people, and places that serve to quietly remind us of the interconnected worlds in which we live.
“The Rambler”
Opening In: New York
Synopsis: After being released from prison, a man known as “The Rambler” stumbles upon a strange mystery as he attempts the treacherous journey through back roads and small towns en route to reconnecting with his long-lost brother.
“I Send You This Place”
Opening In: New York
Synopsis: Part memoir, part travelogue, part philosophical rumination, “I Send You This Place” tells the story of a young woman whose wanderlust sparks an unexpected spiritual transformation. Andrea leaves her familiar life in Ohio and, accompanied by her new husband and filmmaking partner Pete, journeys to austere, exotic Iceland. There, Andrea encounters a landscape unlike anything she has ever experienced—a place where glaciers are more common than billboards, where inhabitants are known to speak to mountains, where summers bring twenty- four hours of daylight, and winters bring twenty-four hours of darkness.
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