Beyond the Multiplex: Cannes

"Buenos Aires 1977" -- This saga of abduction and torture under Argentina's infamous police-state dictatorship of the '70s, based on a real event that befell a minor-league soccer goalkeeper, was just picked up by the Weinstein Co. for U.S. distribution (and given its new English title). Viewed as the last strong Palme d'Or contender in competition, this still has been seen by very few people in Cannes, but the word-of-mouth buzz is considerable. Rodrigo de la Serna (of "Motorcycle Diaries") reportedly gives a devastating performance as the kidnapped athlete.

"Day Night Day Night" -- According to director Julia Loktev, who's been self-marketing with a vengeance, this is the only American film at Cannes this year without a big-name actor or director attached. I haven't triple-checked her claim, but "Day Night Day Night" is an extraordinary low-budget accomplishment. Loktev tells the hair-raising story of a would-be suicide bomber in New York's Times Square, but this isn't "Paradise Now, American Style." The young woman (astonishing newcomer Luisa Williams) is ethnically and linguistically non-specific; although she belongs to some group and is clearly religious, we never learn anything about her motives or goals. Instead, "Day Night Day Night" takes us through the painstaking preparation for her attack, in near real time, and concludes with guerrilla footage shot without a permit on the New York streets. A challenging, intelligent film, it got an explosive ovation at its Directors' Fortnight premiere.

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"Climates" -- To some cinema purists here, Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan's intimate study of a pair of lovers trying to resuscitate a perhaps-doomed relationship was the film of the festival. It's unquestionably a powerful and absorbing work for those with patience, and it's stunningly photographed. Ceylan and his haunted, androgynous, real-life wife, Ebru, play the film's two characters, a fact that ramps up the intensity, the artiness and also the tenderness. No, this won't become a U.S. hit -- it's too personal for that, and will strike some viewers as pretentious -- but somebody, somewhere in our country, will realize that this is an important film that deserves to be seen, if only by the few thousand people who will eat it up.

"Luxury Car" -- This doesn't seem like a great year for Un Certain Regard, the section of Cannes reserved for artier, smaller films. But the whole town loved Wang Chao's "Luxury Car," a note-perfect realist drama about life in postmodern capitalist China. An aging schoolteacher's quest for his son, in the city of Wuhan, becomes an exploration of various social roles and interactions: The teacher's daughter is a karaoke escort (that's about a half-step above street hooker) with a sympathetic cop friend and a shady older boyfriend who owns the eponymous vehicle. Although "Luxury Car" is a small and not amazingly ambitious film, it works wonderfully.

"How I Spent the End of the World" -- Romania is suddenly flavor of the month in European film circles, perhaps because of the international acclaim accorded Cristi Puiu's "The Death of Mr. Lazarescu," which played here last year. I haven't seen Catalin Mitulescu's debut feature, a comedy about a 17-year-old girl experiencing adolescent life crises and the collapse of the Ceausescu dictatorship in 1989, but it's been racking up rave reviews and European awards (and both Martin Scorsese and Wim Wenders have signed on as producers). There's still no real market for these movies in America, perhaps because we lack any significant Romanian population, but this will eventually show up in big cities and festivals.

"The Violin" -- As the failure of Fernando Eimbcke's wonderful "Duck Season" demonstrated, Mexican art movies are still a tough sell in the U.S. "The Violin" isn't likely to be an exception, but it's both a passionate tale of violence and music and a beautifully crafted work of black-and-white cinema. At the right (very modest) level, this will find its audience.

"The Bothersome Man" -- I'm probably an idiot for suggesting that anyone outside Scandinavia will want to see Norwegian director Jens Lien's black comedy, in which the afterlife is presented as a parody version of the welfare state, sort of a Scandi-Stepford. But on first viewing I thought it was great, or at least highly original, or at least funny and creepy and highly worth seeing. Fans of this particular kind of dystopian satire (e.g., the cult British TV series "The Prisoner") should put this in their Netflix queue today.

"Poison Friends" -- Well-respected French screenwriter Emmanuel Bourdieu (he wrote Arnaud Desplechin's "My Sex Life ... or How I Got Into an Argument") turns to directing with this story of two boys approaching manhood who fall under the spell of a charismatic but dangerous friend. I didn't see it, reviews were mixed, and it's likely to come and go quickly in the American art-house market. Still, for Francophile film buffs, this will be a must-see.

"Drama/Mex" -- In a banner year for Spanish-language films in Cannes, Mexican director Gerardo Naranjo's colorful character drama of intersecting lives and romantic destinies, set against the faintly seedy backdrop of contemporary Acapulco, didn't get the love it deserved. Yes, it may be time for Mexican filmmakers to move away from the three-part structure and the "Amores Perros" narrative tricks. Or almost time: This is a sexy, sultry, sharply observed picture, well worth watching out for.

"The Family Friend" -- It hasn't been a great Cannes for filmmakers from nearby Italy, and it's not like Paolo Sorrentino's strange, dark, rather misanthropic story about an ugly, 70-ish, stinking rich and thoroughly unlikable loan shark is going to make many friends. ("The Family Friend" played in competition and reviews were respectful, but awards are unlikely.) In America, this will be strictly a work for festivals and a few big-city venues, but Sorrentino is a distinctive figure in contemporary Italian cinema -- a world almost impenetrable to outsiders -- and Giacomo Rizzo gives an unforgettable if not precisely enjoyable performance.

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