Happy Independent’s Day! Celebrating This Summer’s Indie Films

The Stars: Charlotte Rampling, Ludivine Sagnier, Charles Dance;
directed by Francois Ozon

The Skinny: Uptight Sarah Morton (Rampling) is a famous
British mystery author who needs some time off from the hustle and bustle
of London so she accepts an offer from her publisher John Bosload (Dance)
to vacation at his home in the South of France. Peace and quiet is interrupted
by the arrival of John’s rebellious daughter Julie (Sagnier), whose reckless,
sexually charged lifestyle sets off an increasingly unsettling series of
events, including a possible real-life murder.

The Scoop: French director Ozon directs
his first film in English and reunites two actresses who have worked with
him before–Rampling from Under the Sand and Sagnier from 8
Women. Agatha Christie, watch out.

Opens:
July 2

The Stars: James Woods, Nick Nolte, Duel Farnes, Darryl Hannah,
Anthony Edwards, Kyle MacLachlan; directed by Michael Polish

The Skinny: In a near-empty Northfork, Montana, orphanage,
Father Harlan (Nolte) gently tends to Irwin (newcomer Farnes), an eight-year-old
who lies near death. Harlan tells him the story of Northfork’s history,
including how the town was forced to evacuate to make way for a hydroelectric
dam. In his comatose state, Irwin hears the stories and imagines characters
from the Northfork’s history coming to life, preparing him for his own impending
"evacuation."

The Scoop:
Brothers Mark and Michael Polish wrote this third film in a trilogy, including
Twin Falls, Idaho and Jackpot. Sounds like you’ll
need more than one hankie for this one.

Opens:
July 11

The Stars: Romola Garai, Rose Byrne, Henry Thomas, Marc Blucas,
Tara Fitzgerald, Bill Nighy; directed by Tim Fywell

The Skinny: Set in the 1930s, 17-year-old Cassandra Mortmain
(Garai) lives unhappily in her eccentric family’s decaying English
castle with her exquisite and flighty sister, Rose (Byrne), their father
(Nighy), a washed-up writer who hasn’t written a word for 12 years, and
their bohemian nudist stepmother Topaz (Fitzgerald). Salvation comes in
the form of their American landlord Simon Cotton (Thomas) and his brother
Neil (Blucas). Cassandra watches as everyone around her is drawn into a
maelstrom of interconnected relationships and before the summer ends she
experiences frustrated desire, first love, and a broken heart.

The Scoop: This period comedy is based on the Dodie
Smith novel that was published in 1948, before she wrote the classic children’s
tale 101 Dalmatians The book was an instant and enduring
success–and the film version could be just as delightful.

Opens:
July 11

Dirty
Pretty Things

The Stars: Chewitil Ejiofor, Audrey Tautou, Sergi Lopez;
directed by Stephen Frears

The Skinny: In this offbeat not-quite love story, Okwe
(newcomer Ejiofor), a kindhearted Nigerian doctor on the run, and Senay
(Tautou), a Turkish chambermaid desperate to go to New York, work at the
same seedy West London hotel and eventually form an attachment. The hotel,
run by Senor "Sneaky" (Lopez), is the sort of place where "dirty
business" like drug dealing and prostitution takes place. Okwe and
Senay resort to desperate measures to escape their hell.

The Scoop: Frears (Dangerous Liaisons; The
Grifters) returns to his gritty British roots so vividly displayed
in his earlier indie films Prick Up Your Ears and My Beautiful
Launderette, telling another story of depravity–with some hope of
redemption.

Opens: July 18

The Stars: Bob Dylan (yes, the Bob Dylan), John Goodman,
Jessica Lange, Luke Wilson, Jeff Bridges, Penelope Cruz, Angela Bassett,
Ed Harris, Val Kilmer and many more; directed by Larry Charles (Seinfeld)

The Skinny: Set somewhere, sometime in an unnamed country
torn by civil war, concert promoter Uncle Sweetheart (Goodman) is scheming
to find a headliner for a benefit show–benefitting himself, that is. Veteran
TV producer Nina Veronica (Lange) is put on the job to make sure the concert
is an international spectacle. The clincher? Uncle Sweetheart manages to
get the iconic cult star Jack Fate (Dylan), just released from prison, to
perform.

The
Scoop: Did you see that cast lineup? Something must be intriguing
about the film to attract such a high-powered list. Or maybe they all just
wanted to act with a folk singin’ icon making his feature film acting
debut.

Opens: July 24

The Stars: Joaquin Phoenix, Anna Paquin, Ed Harris, Elizabeth McGovern,
Scott Glenn; directed by Gregor Jordan

The Skinny: In Stuttgart, West Germany in 1989, just as
the Berlin Wall is about to fall, Ray Elwood (Phoenix) of the 317th Supply
Battalion has turned his military servitude into a blossoming network of
black market deals–more out of boredom than ambition. When a new top sergeant
arrives (Glenn) with the avowed intention of cleaning up the base, Elwood
thinks can handle the new blood. If he could only find out what to do with
the $5 million in stolen arms that just landed in his lap…

The Scoop: This U.S./U.K/German co-production is finally
making its way to the theaters thanks to Miramax after being postponed twice–once following the Sept. 11 attacks and again
after the invasion of Iraq, when studio executives worried that audiences
might interpret it as unpatriotic. MSNBC.com reports Miramax
is getting flack for the film’s poster, which shows star Phoenix,
dressed in military uniform, flashing a peace sign, with an American flag
behind him in which the stars have been replaced with dollar signs–the
caption reads "Steal All That You Can Steal." Miramax isn’t
changing anything.

Opens: July 25

The Stars: Geraldine McEwan, Nora-Jane Noone, Anne-Marie Duff,
Eileen Walsh; directed by Peter Mullan

The Skinny: Set in Ireland in the 1960s, this drama charts
several years in the young lives of four young Irish women who were rejected
by their families for being deemed “fallen” and abandoned to
the mercy of the Catholic Church. These women are stripped of their liberty
and dignity and are condemned to indefinite sentences of servitude in The
Magdalene Laundries in order to atone for their "sins." The last
Magdalene Asylum in Ireland closed in 1996, and only since has the true
horror of conditions in these institutions begun to emerge.

The Scoop: This
disturbing yet riveting movie gives the Catholic Church more than a bad
name–and as expected, it’s not very happy about it. Still, anything
that gets the Catholic Church pissed off has to be worth watching.

Opens: Aug. 1

The Stars: Naomi Watts, Kate Hudson, Glenn Close, Stockard Channing,
Sam Waterson, Matthew Modine; directed by James Ivory

The Skinny: In this modern-day comedy of manners,
American sisters Isabel (Hudson) and Roxy (Watts) come face to face with
the complicated social mores of French society. Pregnant and jilted by her
scoundrel husband, Roxy is headed for divorce, while Isabel leaps into l’amour
with a married French diplomat who happens to be the uncle of Roxy’s
soon-to-be-ex. Culture clash and scandal ensue as the sisters learn what
it really takes to be an American in Paris.

The Scoop: Director
Ivory (Howard’s End) tries his hand at something other than
a period piece and gathers an eclectic acting ensemble. Definitely has potential.
Plus, Watts hasn’t steered her fans wrong yet since wowing audiences
in Mulholland Drive.

Opens: Aug. 8

The Stars: Paul Giamatti, Hope Davis, Judah Friedlander, Harvey
Pekar, James Urbaniak; directed by Shari Springer Berman/Robert Pulcini

The Skinny: Harvey Pekar (Giamatti) has a boring job–and
an active imagination. He regularly scours Cleveland’s thrift stores and
garage sales for books and at one junk sale meets Robert Crumb (Urbaniak),
a greeting card artist and music enthusiast. Years later, Crumb finds international
success as an underground comic book creator and inspires Harvey to write
his own brand of comic book. He creates American Splendor,
a truthful, unsentimental, warts-and-all record of his working-class life.
First published in 1976, the comic book earns Harvey cult fame in the 1980s
and eventually leads him to the sardonic Joyce Barber (Davis), a partner
in a Delaware comic book store who ends up being Harvey’s true soul mate.

The Scoop: Talk about quirky. The film set this year’s
Sundance Film Festival on fire, winning the Grand Jury Prize for Best Feature
Film and earning numerous accolades for stars Giamatti and Davis. Comic
book enthusiasts who want more out of their movies than The Hulk
and Spider-Man take note.

Opens: Aug.
15

The Stars: Evan Rachel Wood, Nikki Reed, Holly Hunter, Kip Pardue,
Jeremy Sisto; directed by Catherine Hardwicke

The Skinny: At the edge of adolescence, Tracy (Wood) is
a smart, straight-A student–but also a little lost. When she befriends
Evie (Reed), the most popular and beautiful girl in school, Tracy is lead
down the wrong path of sex, drugs and self-mutilation. As Tracy transforms
herself and her identity, her world becomes a boiling, emotional cauldron
fueled by new tensions between her and her mother (Hunter) as well as teachers
and old friends.

The
Scoop: Winner of best director (Dramatic Competition) at the 2003
Sundance Film Festival, this unnerving look at young burgeoning teenagers
marks the screenwriting debut for star Reed, who, along with director Hardwicke,
began writing the screenplay at age thirteen. Definitely one to watch.

Opens: Aug. 20