While blockbuster movies like X-Men 3: Last Stand and The Break Up get nationwide release, most indie films have to gain significant interest in New York City or Los Angeles before they get the green light to open in unimportant cities like Seattle and Portland. If a movie’s limited release doesn’t go well, chances are you won’t be seeing it until it comes out on DVD. Here’s a look at what’s opening in New York in the next week or two, along with my prediction whether they’ll make it to Portland or not:
Coastlines
Josh Brolin, Scott Wilson, Sarah Wynter
After released convict Sonny gets his house blown up for asking for money he was owed by a crime boss, he moves in with married couple Dave and Ann (Josh Brolin and Sarah Wynter). While Sonny and Dave were once both wild men, Dave has become a cop, causing Ann to become attracted to wild man Sonny.
Prediction: Considering this movie has been in distributor limbo since it was screened at the 2002 Sundance Festival, my guess is that it won’t make it past NYC. People don’t come out in droves for movies about ugly, complicated characters.
50 Ways of Saying Fabulous
Rima Te Wiata
This is the story of a New Zealand boy’s misadventures coming out, most notably his lack of understanding of how gay sex actually works.
Prediction: If this movie is quirky, foreign and has a happy ending, then it will probably run at Fox Tower for a couple of months. If it’s quirky, foreign and complicated, look for it on DVD.
District B13, or Banlieue 13
Starring: a bunch of French actors you’ve never heard of
Set in the ghettos of Paris in 2010, the plot concerns an undercover cop and an ex-thug trying to infiltrate a gang that has a neutron bomb in its possession.
Prediction: I think it will make a nationwide release, if only because its American distributors are hoping viewers will look past its French origin and appreciate its action sequences and hyperactive editing. But with the disappointment at the box office generated by Kung Fu Hustle, distributors might be wary to take a chance on another foreign action film.
The War Tapes
This is a documentary of video filmed by three American soldiers during their time in Iraq.
Prediction: This is a “no duh.” I’ll eat my shoe if this doesn’t get national distribution.
Woodenhead
This bizarre animated film from New Zealand tells the strange tale of Girt, a lowly assistant who has to escort mute princess Plum on a journey to her prospective husband. The film borrows from Grimm fairy tales, Hans Christian Andersen and Jungian archetypes.
Prediction: It might play for a week at Cinema 21, but a movie this weird is bound to become a cult classic on DVD.
Agnes and His Brothers
This German movie is about three brothers – one a transsexual, one a sex addict and the other an uptight father figure. Its press release claims it’s a “metaphor for Germany today.” Yikes.
Prediction: Like Whale Rider and Bend It Like Beckham, this film’s got sleeper hit written all over it. Sadly, it’s written in feces.