Here at Way Too Indie, we have plenty of love for foreign language films. Not only do foreign films provide an easy way to travel to new lands and learn about different cultures, but they can also push boundaries, provoke new ways of thinking, and offer unique views from what we’re generally accustomed to. Some of the best films of 2015 came from places like Argentina, Israel, Spain, and Hungary. So if you’re looking to explore new boundaries and look beyond what’s available in English, be sure to check out the following list of diverse films.

Way Too Indie’s Best Foreign Films of 2015

10,000 KM

It’s hard to believe 10,000 KM was a debut feature considering how Carlos Marques-Marcet’s film is so mature and expertly crafted . Right off the bat, Marques-Marcet demonstrates his filmmaking abilities with a remarkable 20-minute take that follows a couple from room to room around their cozy Barcelona apartment. This single scene isn’t just impressive from a technical standpoint, it also provides exposition on their relationship and introduces the central conflict of the film. Just when they decide to settle down together, one partner receives a once-in-a-lifetime job opportunity in Los Angeles. But they won’t let geography put their intimate relationship on hold, especially when modern technology allows them to be just a click away from video chat, Facebook updates, and instant messaging. However, Marques-Marcet illustrates the frustrations from a lack of a physical presence, and how being digitally connected simply isn’t the same. It’s an up close and personal film, with both characters confined by the interiors of their apartments and bound by their laptop screens. 10,000 KM features a simple yet universal love story told in a bold, unapologetic, and genuine way. [Dustin]

Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem

A pressure-cooker courtroom drama for the ages, Ronit and Shlomi Elkabetz’s Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem is both a direly important film and a stunningly artful one. The story is one of frustration, frustration belonging to the eponymous Viviane, an unhappy Israeli wife desperate to be free of her marriage. The injustice is this: In Israel, divorce can only commence if the husband consents; the wife has no say. The film takes place entirely within the cold walls of the Rabbinical courtroom in which Viviane’s pleas for separation are squashed over and over again. Few films are as frustrating, and few films are as inspired. Ronit Elkabetz is transcendent as Viviane not just because she’s a great actor, but because the pain she’s expressing is same pain felt by thousands of women in Israel today, ones who can’t escape the horror when the camera stops rolling. [Bernard]

Hard to Be A God

Conceived in the 1960s, shot in the 2000s, and finally finished in 2013, Aleksei German’s magnum opus Hard to Be a God could easily claim the title of filthiest movie ever made without anyone batting an eye. German’s sci-fi adaptation takes place in the future, but the setting is a recently discovered planet that’s just like Earth, except the planet’s civilization is currently living out its pre-Renaissance era. The camera, always moving and in deep focus, captures it all with a realism and sense of immersion that few films have achieved before, making Hard to Be a God a simultaneously grueling and exhilarating experience. Not many people will be up for German’s challenge here, but those willing to roll around in the mud will find themselves awestruck at the staggering, groundbreaking vision on display. Some films are hard to shake off, but Hard to Be a God is in a class of its own; this is a movie you have to scrub off. [C.J.]

Mommy

Xavier Dolan’s emotional tale of a single mother’s struggle to raise her troublemaking teenage son is one of the most unexpectedly intense films to come along in quite some time. Utilizing a strange yet aesthetically pleasing 1:1 aspect ratio, Mommy feels contained and dangerous. The teenage boy, Steve (Antoine-Olivier Pilon), has a tendency to grow uncontrollably violent, giving the film a suspenseful aura. The bizarre nature of the mother/son relationship, led by a fantastic lead performance from Anne Dorval makes Mommy an absolute must-see and one of the best of the year. The remarkable soundtrack is merely a bonus. [Blair]

Phoenix

German filmmaker Christian Petzold and the always stunning Nina Hoss have already collaborated with one another on multiple cinematic endeavors, but it seems their developing actor-director chemistry has, at long last, culminated in a masterpiece. Petzold’s post-Holocaust psychodrama is a slow-burner focusing on the fragile and traumatized Nelly Lenz, a facially disfigured (and essentially unrecognizable) concentration camp survivor who emerges from the War as the sole survivor of her family. From there, the audience follows her on a covert journey not only to discover whether her husband—in her “previous existence”—might have given her up to the Nazis, but if so, whether she’d be able to accept that fact and readjust to the exhausting task of simply living again. Hoss’ tour de force performance is a behemoth exertion of emotionally realized acting ability, and the film concludes on a such a remarkable note that you may need a fellow viewer to help peel your jaw from the floor once the end credits start rolling (unless they, too, are stuck in the same predicament). [Eli]

The Assassin

Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s wuxia masterwork is one of the most beautiful films I’ve ever seen. Its detractors accuse it of being unbearably slow, but I found myself unable to keep up with it. Each image contains so much content to observe and digest, from the props and costumes to abstract items like the placement of shadows or the nuance of facial expressions. Shu Qi’s marvelously restrained performance anchors Hou’s limitless vision. The cinematography is unspeakably gorgeous, and some of the shots are all-timers. The artistry is so unfathomably gorgeous and immersive that, unless one is an expert at cinematic self-discipline, unpacking its narrative and how the characters precisely relate to one another will require multiple viewings. The Assassin is the only film released this year I’ve had the pleasure of watching four times, and each time the experience was equally rich, if not richer, than that first overwhelming, borderline spiritual experience in theaters. This is the kind of film that reminds me why I love cinema — its ability to transport the viewer to exotic, wondrous realms, its power to make ancient characters immediate, and it’s breathtaking ability to leave me in a state of borderline paralysis. [Cameron]

The Look of Silence

Three years ago, Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Act of Killing was a complete revelation—a cathartic, powerful documentary about a genocide told from the perspective of those who perpetrated it. When I heard about the follow-up project, called The Look of Silence, I doubted it could possibly recapture the unique quality. It’s true, The Look of Silence isn’t as big as The Act of Killing, but it is just as (if not more) visceral. The new film lacks the other-worldly personalities of the gangsters, but turning the perspective to the victims allows for Oppenheimer to tone down the style for a straight-forward emotional gut punch. The film absolutely keeps Oppenheimer’s edge, though, by bringing together the victim subjects face-to-face with the men responsible for their personal loss—this happens a few times within the film with different groups, but each play out in different and surprising ways. The Look of Silence isn’t just a supplement; it stands on its own, captures new voices in this larger story, and creates a number of incredible moments of emotional release that stand apart from the original. [Aaron]

When Marnie Was There

In 2014, people endlessly praised Studio Ghibli’s The Tale of Princess Kaguya as yet another masterpiece from the slowly dwindling company (after Hayao Miyazaki’s retirement, Ghibli announced they would be taking a bit of a break). But in my opinion, this year’s When Marnie Was There blows Kaguya and other recent Ghibli titles out of the water. Adapted from Joan G. Robinson’s novel, Marnie follows depressed adolescent Anna as she spends the summer with relatives of her adopted mother. Feeling alienated and alone, Anna’s expectations of a dismal summer change when she meets Marnie, a mysterious girl who lives in an isolated mansion right next to the sea. By Ghibli standards director Hiromasa Yonebayashi’s visual style is subdued, but it’s still stunning in its naturalistic beauty, and the film’s honest portrayal of depression is both welcome and seemingly unprecedented for a children’s movie. When Marnie Was There may not showcase the same fantastical imagery of Kaguya or classics like Spirited Away but its story, a supernatural tale of friendship that travels through time, has just as much imagination and power as the company’s best work. [C.J.]

White God

Rare is the film whose animal actors are more compelling than its human ones, but such is the case with the brutal, rousing, sharply allegorical White God, written and directed by Hungarian filmmaker Kornél Mundruczó. The beating heart of this arresting tale of doggie rebellion is the collective canine presence, dogs playing deadly, desperate revolutionaries in a more convincing, emotionally stirring manner than the throwaway fodder in most wartime period pieces. It’s hard to imagine a revenge fantasy wilder and more unique than Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds, but Mundruczó’s film is exactly that. Suspenseful, powerful, sentimental, technically honed—few moviegoing experiences were as rich in 2015. Watching the dogs rip and claw at each other for the sake of their despicable owners’ entertainment isn’t an easy thing to stomach, but through a parabolic lens, there’s a profundity to all the thrashing and gnawing, particularly when fang meets human flesh. [Bernard]

Wild Tales

A 2014 Academy Award nominee for best foreign language film, Wild Tales didn’t receive a U.S. theatrical release until early 2015. Typically, films released that early in the year don’t come up around award season—usually because films are often dumped there, but even the good ones are easy to forget over time. Wild Tales is an unforgettable exception. Made up of six independent short films, Damián Szifrón’s film packs a darkly-tuned punch, exploring revenge and retribution in a variety of situations. Each of the segments aren’t created equal (ranking them seems to be a necessary part of every review), but they bring together a similar style and tone that ties them all into a cohesive unit which builds upon it self from beginning to end. The standout piece is the opening scene, the shortest and most clearly defined by the film’s theme. From there, Wild Tales explores corrupt bureaucracy, personal slights, sexual infidelities and even more with humor and a definite dark streak. It might not have the emotional resonance of the other films on this list, but you won’t find a more entertaining one in the bunch. [Aaron]

Honorable Mentions

With a ton of exceptional foreign films to choose from, there are going to be some worth mentioning that just missed the cut. For instance, Deniz Gamze Ergüven’s emotional sister confinement film Mustang, and Jafar Panahi’s Taxi fell just a couple votes shy of making our main list. And it would be shame not to acknowledge the efforts of Céline Sciamma’s fresh coming-of-age drama Girlhood, the beautiful sensory experience of Blind, the Icelandic black comedy Of Horses and Men, and remarkable Holocaust drama Son of Saul.

It’s a very special episode this week as Bernard presents Sound Conversations, a collection of interviews with directors, documentarians, actors, festival programmers and, most importantly, sound designers, about the art of sound in film. Technique, philosophy, tradition, experimentation—all angles of sound design are covered as we explore one of the most underappreciated aspects of filmmaking with some of the most talented people in the biz. Joining the show are the sound-obsessed artists behind Love & Mercy, The Diary of a Teenage Girl, 10,000 km, Gett: The Trial of Vivianne Amsalem, Foxcatcher and many more. Listen in and listen close—it’s Sound Conversations!

Topics

• Bel Powley & Marielle Heller (2:23)
• Carlos Marques-Marcet (5:17)
• Shlomi Elkabetz (11:57)
• Chris Strachwitz, Chris Simon, Maureen Gosling (35:39)
• Bill Pohlad (21:45)
• Oren Moverman (25:57)
• Anita Monga (33:06)
• Paul Hsu (38:31)

Articles Referenced

The Diary of a Teenage Girl Interview
10,000 km Interview
Gett: The Trial of Vivianne Amsalem Interview
Love & Mercy Interview
Anita Monga Interview
Time Out of Mind Interview
This Ain’t No Mouse Music Interview

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Bernard is joined on this week’s show by video game guru Ryan Clements to talk about the ever evolving world of video games and what they can add to the art of storytelling in the future. What can games do, storytelling-wise, that movies can’t (and vice versa)? Also, Bernard’s review of Asif Kapadia’s unsettling Amy Winehouse documentary, Amy, and the Indie Pick of the Week. Pew-pew!

Sponsoring the Way Too Indiecast #27 is MUBI, a curated online cinema that brings its members a hand-picked selection of the best indie, foreign, and classic films. Go to www.mubi.com/waytooindie and try MUBI free for 30 days.

Topics

• Indie Pick of the Week (5:43)
• Video Game/Movie Convergence (11:50)
• Amy Review (38:30)

WTI Articles Referenced in the Podcast

10,000 KM review
Amy review
Interview with Asif Kapadia onAmy

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• and please leave us a rating and quick review!

In Carlos Marques-Marcet’s 10,000 km, a terrifically acted love story set in the digital age, we follow a couple jumping headlong into a long distance relationship in which technology is the only tether between them. Sergi (David Verdaguer) stays in the couple’s apartment in Barcelona while his girlfriend Alex (Natalia Tena) moves to Los Angeles for a year to further her art career. The story takes place entirely within Sergi and Alex’s respective apartments in Spain and the U.S. as we watch their Skype calls, read their text messages and watch one of them snoop around on Facebook

It’s an incredibly bittersweet movie that conveys perfectly how, despite all the different avenues of communication technology affords us, it actually amplifies the anxieties that come with geographical separation when you’re in love with somebody. It’s the best love story I’ve seen this year.

I spoke to Carlos about the film, which hits San Francisco tomorrow.

I thought the movie’s sound design was done very well.
It’s funny. Nobody has talked to me about it much, but I’m very obsessive with sound. It’s 50 percent of your movie. We shot in Barcelona—the part in Los Angeles, too—so we really wanted to create a soundscape to reflect the whole city just staying in these two rooms. We spent a lot of time recording sounds in Barcelona and Los Angeles. My sound designer researched all of the birds that fly through in every time of the year.

Really? Wow.
At this point, I’m obsessive. Of course nobody’s gonna know. Maybe bird specialists, but not even. But I think it’s these kinds of things that give you that feeling. You don’t know why, but it feels like Los Angeles. It feels like Barcelona. The most important thing was to create this off-screen space. Really minuscule stuff. There’s the sound of the butano gas people who make this *klink klink* sound as they go around outside in Barcelona. Also, it’s important to me to play with the quality of the image and sound. We knew every scene would have a specific sound to the [voices]. Basically, we recorded Skype on both sides so we’d be able to mix how we wanted. [We could make them sound] more metallic or closer as much as we wanted. There are scenes where you start with a very Skype sound, and then they start sounding closer to their natural voices. It’s something you shouldn’t realize; it creates a feeling rather than take attention for itself. You can feel how the characters feel, through the sound.

Another thing we did, if you see it in theaters, is something you almost never do. We played with the surround sound so that the voices come out [from different directions]. You can’t do that with a normal scene—the sound should come from the center, the screen, so that you won’t get distracted by voices coming from somewhere else. But in that scene, when you have the full Skype thing, you feel like you’re actually inside the computer, between the two actors.

Who are some sound designers or filmmakers you look up to?
There’s always Walter Murch as an editor and sound editor. He’s amazing. You can hear any of his music, and it’s like, “Wow!” I’m not a super Terrence Malick fan like my friends, but his sound is unbelievable. You can listen to how specific he is; he does that same thing with the birds. His narrative and images are a bit too much for me, but the way he uses sound is spectacular. There are more classical sound people, like Bresson and Tati. I like to use a more subtle approach to sound, but it’s pretty much the same function.

I read something you said that fascinated me. You said that, when people speak, we typically say much more than we intend to, as if language exists outside of us.
My mother is a psychoanalyst. For most people, psychoanalysis is something you read in a book or something or go to Brown to study. In my case, it’s something I grew up with, so it’s not a very theoretical approach to things. It’s something I experience. We sometimes think that we have thoughts in our mind, and then language transforms them and brings them out and you communicate them. But I feel sometimes you don’t have thoughts until you speak them. That happens very often. When you’re talking, you’re realizing things you didn’t know were there. It’s something created in the process of talking and associating ideas that’s unconscious.

The unconscious is not something that’s so deep. People have this idea that it’s about your mother and father and deep thoughts of killing and things like this. To me, psychoanalysis and Oedipus is a tale to explain how language works and how we function in these structures our minds are built with. It circulates when we begin to communicate, and it’s very tangled. The emotional and the rational aren’t separated. We think because we feel and we feel because we think.

We live in language. When you see a Béla Tarr movie that’s supposed to be non-language, you still see a woman and a man eating potatoes. You have these signs, somehow. You have a social lecture of this, and it brings you to all of these memories of the apocalypse and all these ideas. It’s language. Even if it’s with images, it’s storytelling. We cannot disassociate images and language.

There’s the kind of person who would say that, narratively, not much happens in your film, or in a Béla Tarr film. It frustrates me, because I know there’s a lot going on there—it’s just not spoken by the characters verbally.
I love films that aren’t very narrative. Sometimes I feel like my films are too narrative! [laughs] It’s well-plotted, even if it’s hidden. It’s actually a very classical structure, with three acts. It’s like a classical Hollywood script, if you look at it. It’s presented in blocks. It’s something I try to avoid sometimes, but I just fall into it. I’m very classical in the way I make movies. I did a short of my little cousin kicking a can. Years later, when I learned about the three-act structure, I saw that I just fell with A,B,C,D. It’s just a kid coming home from school, kicking a can. It’s am minimalist adventure film. He finds something on the way, he takes the trip seriously. It’s a hero’s journey. It’s just a kid kicking a can, but in the end, it’s a very classical structure.

I admire my filmmaker friends who go out there and try different things. Inherent Vice, to me, is all plot! [laughs] It’s just the plot doesn’t make any sense, in a good way. I feel like it’s a response to all these people you mentioned who say, “Nothing happened.” Okay. Here’s a movie where lots of things are happening, but it doesn’t mean shit! It’s not about things happening; it’s about it having an arc. I think people misunderstand storytelling and structure. There’s many ways of doing it. Michael Snow is one of my favorites, but he’s very classical at the same time. He makes experimental films that are very narrative; you have repetition, variation. Sometimes narrative is more complex than “things happening.”

I think a lot of your film’s story is communicated through David and Natalia’s body language.
That was actually our starting point. I took dancing classes to prepare for the movie. I was tired of working with the actors through motivation. I wanted to work physically. I was learning a lot of somatic techniques to try to figure out other ways to work with them. We started working with the actors just physically. Dancing was a big component of the movie. Dancing and sex are the two most intimate things a couple can do, I feel. We rehearsed a lot. Every day, before rehearsals, we’d spend half the day doing dancing exercises. I made them do a strip-tease to become comfortable with each other. We were trying to feel out who these people are. When you’ve been with someone for seven years, you have a body language that has a history. We had to find a way to compress this seven years into a week or two weeks! We had to make it feel specific, the way they touched each other.

The last scene is killer. What was it like shooting it?
It was so hard. People ask if it was difficult to do the first scene. That first scene was preparation. I was terrified of the last scene. Terrified. It’s funny, the night before shooting, I watched a lot of sex scenes. [laughs] I was like, “I don’t know what to do!” I had three days to shoot it, and I kept postponing the ending of the scene. The third day, my AD was like, “Carlos, you have eight hours. Carlos, you have six hours. Carlos, you have four hours.” So I had to. Even during rehearsals, I didn’t want to rehearse the ending, but my actors insisted. I couldn’t watch it! They were rehearsing having sex, and they look back, and they’re like, “Where’s the director?!”

It was crazy, because it was happening. We just jumped into it. The actors weren’t blocked because they’d been together for a while. It was very, very intense for the team. The DP was getting married, so a taxi was waiting at the door of the house to go to the airport! It was our last chance. I gave a couple of directions, and the magic happened. But we were very close to not having an ending. It was like a miracle at the last moment.

You get pretty inventive with how you use technology as a storytelling tool. Were there any ideas that didn’t make it in?
Of course. One of the things I had to cut that I really liked was, there’s this element when you talk on Skype or any video chat: you can’t look each other in the eye. There was this moment in the beginning where they’re trying to look at each other, but they can’t, because when you look at the screen, you’re no longer looking into the camera, and when you’re looking at the camera, you’re no longer looking at the person on the screen. It’s the impossibility of looking into each others’ eyes.

In Carlos Marques-Marcet’s debut feature 10,000 KM, the title refers to the distance which now separates a couple after a job opportunity forces them to face the challenges of dating remotely. Marques-Marcet, who previously edited the equally subtle relationship film It Felt Like Love, proves that long distance relationships are just as difficult now as they were before smartphones, the Internet, and social media made it easy to stay constantly connected. Instead of concerning itself with elaborate backstories or uplifting messages, 10,000 KM immediately focuses in on a pivotal point in an intimate relationship. Authentic presentation and relatable situations makes the film easy to sympathize with and difficult to look away from.

Alex (Natalia Tena) and Sergi (David Verdaguer) have recently decided they’re ready to have children after dating and living in Barcelona together for seven years. But fate has other plans when Alex gets offered a once-in-a-lifetime job opportunity. The catch? Accepting this residency position means Alex will be living in Los Angeles 10,000 KM away from Sergi for an entire year. Naturally, the decision doesn’t come easy for the couple, but eventually they agree it’s too important to turn down. Besides, one year apart can’t undo the seven they’ve already shared right? All of this (and more) happens with an impressive 20-minute shot that remarkably captures a whirlwind of emotions without a single cut.

In the beginning of their long distance stint, the adrenaline of starting a new chapter in their lives fuel Alex and Sergi’s excitement. Alex can hardly contain herself during a virtual tour of her new apartment to Sergi, exchanging laughs and making fun of Americans’ love of Ikea and everything king sized. Though like most new things, this initial excitement eventually diminishes. It’s not long before the sound of incoming Skype calls become a burden instead of a treat and frequent photos of L.A. start feeling like twisting knives. The two lovers find themselves growing apart when conversations never seem to be on the same page and become less and less meaningful.

In a similar fashion to Spike Jonze’s Her, Marques-Marcet explores how technology is unable to compensate for physical presence. Skype allows Alex and Sergi to live on separate continents yet still communicate visually, go on virtual dates (and other romantic gestures), and even cook with each other. Using Google Maps, Alex explores nearby neighborhoods and shares her favorite new spots in the city with Sergi.

On the flip side, Marques-Marcet illustrates how technology can have a negative effect on relationships. Communicating through text can be slow and frustrating and Facebook creeping grants an uncomfortably close vantage for partners. 10,000 KM also makes a keen observation that data centers are where many relationships physically exist in the digital era. Despite a wealth of information and instant communication being just a click away, the film reminds us there is no substitution for physical contact.

While the majority of 10,000 KM takes place in just two apartments, the film avoids feeling claustrophobic using a wide range of technology to explore new areas. Also, the film runs the risk of being too simple and monotonous with its minimalistic setup, but tremendous performances from Tena and Verdaguer provide enough emotional substance to overcome the modest plot. Both leads deserved their acting awards from SXSW, their convincing portrayals helped 10,000 KM avoid the relationship clichés often shown in movies. Marques-Marcet knocks one out of the park in his feature debut, providing an emotionally powerful look into long distance relationships that few are able to capture.

Originally published on Oct. 8 2014

Forget waiting for the weekend to bring in the heavy hitters, Mill Valley says “It’s Thursday. Let’s party!” And what better way to kick off an early weekend than with the stirring and emotionally sensational biopic of Stephen Hawking, The Theory of Everything. Already gaining significant accolade for his performance as Stephen Hawking, Eddie Redmayne was in attendance at the screening, and in the Q & A following the film was awarded the Mill Valley Award. The film comes to U.S. theaters November 7, and has already received our stamp of approval after seeing it at TIFF, but based on this early screening’s audience reaction, awards season competition should be plenty steep.

The Perfect Equation

[Ananda]

When the filmmaker of one of the best documentaries ever made, Man on Wire, decides to take on a narrative feature about one of the greatest minds of our time, viewers can breathe easy. There’s an appreciation for the full spectrum of a life story that a documentary director must possess, not to mention the patience that is requisite for such work. James Marsh does justice to not only Jane Hawking’s memoir, Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen, but provides incredible insight into the mind of one of the consummate theoretical physicists and cosmologists in existence, while providing a stunning view into the life of an ALS survivor. You can keep your ice bucket challenges folks, just go see Theory of Everything and soak up the insight therein.

Eddie Redmayne is a pillar of disciplined acting, contorting his body, speaking with his eyebrows, and encapsulating the debonair nonchalance of pure genius. His Mill Valley award is well deserved and it’s practically a given he should expect more statues in the months to come. With an entirely different sort of performance that’s equally fantastic, Felicity Jones is the life and energy of many of the film’s scenes, depicting the determined young woman who fell in love with the mind of a genius and took on the challenge of ensuring he’d live long enough to continue his brilliance. It takes a special person to support a person of such intimidating intelligence. It takes a special person to care for someone with such a debilitating disease; it takes an extraordinary actor to depict all of that AND instill this person with true humanity and grace. Jones nails it.

This cast + this director + this story = an absolute success of a film. A perfect reminder of the limitlessness in all of us — those who are caretakers and those who suffer — and an ode to those who have the capacity for enormous thought in our society.

Long Distance Never Works

[Ananda]

It’s sort of hard to have sympathy for the relationship depicted in 10,000 Km after seeing a film like The Theory of Everything, where a couple is challenged by an absolutely crippling disease that will affect every day of their lives together. In Carlos Marques-Marcet‘s film the couple in question, Alex (Natalia Tena) and Sergi (David Verdaguer) are tested when Alex is offered a photography residency in LA, far from the couple’s established home in Barcelona. After much discussion, they decide the offer is too good to pass up, and it’s only for a year, so Alex heads to LA and the two maintain their relationship via the Internet.

The film made our Must See Indie list recently, and while Marques-Marcet proves his worth with some expertly crafted filmmaking — long takes with little editing, maintaining viewer interest for a movie that basically takes place in two apartments and the imagery of Google Maps — what the film lacks is some perspective. Alex and Sergi are clearly the passionate sort of couple who find their separation to be incredibly difficult based on the chemistry that has fueled their relationship (the film is bookended with some intense sex scenes). But that’s where the film goes astray. The implication of the film is that technology is an ineffective tool in maintaining a relationship — even one with years of history — and can indeed lead to further destruction when Facebook becomes a stalking mechanism and video sex isn’t personal enough. But in the case of this film it doesn’t seem that the technology is actually the destructive factor in Alex and Sergi’s relationship, instead its their own hubrises: Sergi’s controlling and insecure temperament and Alex’s inability to defend herself and communicate her wants. They end up where you’d expect, but not for the reasons the film tries to suggest.

Close Your Eyes And I’ll Kiss You

[Bernard]

Now, let’s brighten things up a bit after all that romantic tumult. A fun-loving road movie set on the beautiful coast of Spain in the ’60s, Living is Easy With Eyes Closed follows Antonio (Javier Cámara), an optimistic, compassionate school teacher on a quest to meet his hero, John Lennon, who’s reportedly filming a movie in Almeria. Winding down the picturesque coastal roads on his way to meet the Beatle he picks up two companions: Belén (Natalia de Molina), a pretty, pregnant twenty-something, and Juano (Francesc Colomer), a runaway teenager with a Beatles haircut. Together, the trio share good times as they make their way to a small village just outside the movie set, where the indomitable Antonio must figure out a way to infiltrate the set and meet Mr. Lennon.

Directed by Spanish filmmaker David Trueba, the film is exhilaratingly upbeat, a three-way buddy movie that doesn’t hesitate when it comes to being adorable. It would be a mistake to scoff at the film’s relentlessly positive energy; you must be willing to let go of pretension and open yourself up to the good vibes to get the fully appreciate the film’s message. Cámara, with his knowing smiles and gentle eyes, serves as the perfect tour guide for this sun-drenched Spanish adventure. Those expecting the film to be set to a playlist of Beatles songs will be slightly let down (this is an indie film, after all, and The Beatles equals big bucks), but may be surprised to find themselves having so much fun they won’t miss the Fab Four classics.

The 37th annual Mill Valley Film Festival is upon us, a festival with a reputation of showcasing future Academy Awards Best Picture winners (12 years a Slave, Argo, The Artist), but we’ve decided to highlight some of our most anticipated indies at the festival because, well, that’s sort of our schtick. There are dozens of independent films in the lineup worth your attention (check out the full program here), but these are ten that have got us excited to drive across the Golden Gate, plop ourselves down in one of Marin County’s beautiful arthouses, and enjoy the indie goodness.

Like Sunday, Like Rain 

Frank Whaley is more often known as an actor than a director – I will forever picture him as the fast-talking slacker in the ’80s film Career Opportunities – but his fourth feature film follows the themes his previous films seem to like explore, namely the struggle of being a young artist with the weight of responsibility pushing in. Like Sunday, Like Rain features Leighton Meester as a struggling musician suddenly assigned legal guardianship of a 12 year old boy – who happens to be a musical prodigy. Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong plays her boyfriend, and Debra Messing plays the boy’s mother. Questionable casting choices, but the premise is indie-intriguing and ripe with dramatic opportunity.

10,000 KM 

Carlos Marques-Marcet’s first feature film has already received plenty of glowing reviews. His take on long-distance relationships, the technology involved, and the difficulty of maintaining closeness so far away is both timely and challenging. The film revolves around Alex (Natalia Tena) and Sergi (David Verdaguer), a couple in Madrid trying to decide how their future together will play out as Alex’s career as a photographer has not yet taken off and they contemplate having a baby. When Alex is offered a career-breaking opportunity in L.A. they decide to try and make it a year apart while she pursues her dream. This new development in their relationship, and the simultaneously helpful, yet prohibitive nature of online communication, sounds like it could make for a very intriguing drama.

St. Vincent 

Bill Murray. Let’s be honest that’s reason number one we want to see this hilarious looking film about a cantankerous man who is enlisted to help look after his neighbor’s precocious kid. Melissa McCarthy is the frazzled mother forced to work long hours and thus depend on the least dependable person available. Jaeden Lieberher is Oliver, the child Vincent forms an unlikely friendship with as he takes him on questionable adventures in babysitting. While the melting-heart premise of a gruff older person befriending a kid has been juiced dry, Bill Murray may be the only actor who is pretty much guaranteed to breathe some life into it. And with the onslaught of drama saturating fall films AND film festivals, we’re sure to be grateful for the break in monotony.

What We Do In The Shadows 

Much of our anticipation for this film stems from an undying love for the short-lived HBO comedy show Flight of the Conchords. Two of the film’s stars, Jemaine Clement and Rhys Darby, star in What We Do In The Shadows. Secondly, it’s a docu-styled vampire comedy. Yes there are too many vampire movies, yes there are too many faux-documentaries, but maybe the cocktail mixing them both will be an avenue to hilarity. The general premise of the film is that a house of vampires living together in New Zealand grant access (and safety) to a team of documentarists hoping to capture an annual masquerade ball in New Zealand attended by every manner of mythical monster, including werewolves, warlocks, and of course vampires. The four vampires are Viago (Taika Waititi), Vladislav (Jemaine Clement), Deacon (Jonathan Brugh) a younger more rock-n-roll vampire, and Petyr (Ben Fransham) an older, scarier sort of vampire. It sounds ridiculous, and if it has even an ounce of the humor and charm we’ve come to expect from Clement and his gang, it should be a lot of fun.

Two Days, One Night

In Two Days, One Night, the Dardenne brothers, with their flawless technique and bare-bones storytelling, have teamed with Marion Cotillard, a mainstream star who can do anything, but shines brightest in roles that allow her to get her hands dirty. It’s a match made in heaven, really. If that isn’t exciting enough, the film’s outfitted with a boldly simple plot: Cotillard plays Sandra, an emotionally troubled factory worker who’s set to be terminated unless she can convince her co-workers to vote her back onboard and consequently forego their bonuses before the weekend is over. For the Dardennes, simple is better, and for Cotillard, simple material means open range to bare her soul and act her ass off.

After the Fall

Formerly titled Things People Do, After the Fall premiered at the Berlin Film Festival to favorable reviews and premiered in the U.S. at SXSW. Playing out like a condensed, less intense version of Breaking Bad, the film focuses on Bill Scanlon (Wes Bentley), an insurance sales man who loses his job and decides to become a robber rather than admit his situation to his wife. Word is that first time director Saar Klein has a quiet focused energy that sustains the film’s tension without too much need for action or violence. Clearly a skill he picked up as an Oscar-nominated film editor. Since we’ve been missing Breaking Bad pretty…well…badly, this nuanced suburban good-guy-gone-rogue tale sounds like it should hit the spot.

Imperial Dreams

Big things are on the horizon for British breakout John Boyega (Attack the Block), but before we get too excited about him leading the charge in next year’s Star Wars sequel, another performance of his deserves our undivided attention. In director Malik Vitthal’s Imperial Dreams, Boyega plays a reformed thug who, after discovering a passion for writing in jail, devotes his life to getting he and his 4-year-old son out of the hood and on to a brighter future where drugs and violence won’t find them. Vitthal and Boyega explore the sensitive side of street life, an approach that made Sundance audiences drum up a good amount of buzz, buzz which is likely to continue on as it passes through Mill Valley.

How I Came to Hate Math

In all of academics, few subjects strike fear in the hearts of men and women like mathematics. Long division, sines, cosines, complex numbers–it’s petrifying stuff (especially for lowly film critics like yours truly). But French filmmaker Olivier Peyon offers us a chance to re-familiarize ourselves with the art of numbers in his free-form, comprehensive doc, How I Came to Hate Math. From addressing the biggest misconceptions and myths about math; to chronicling its history; to explaining how it’s in its advanced forms a creative field; to exploring how a mathematician’s mind works, the film is dead-set on setting the record straight once and for all about everyone’s least favorite school subject. I’m open to have our minds changed about math, and though chances of that are slim (math was the bane of my existence for years), what’s more likely is that I’ll be treated to an entertaining, thought-provoking doc. That’s more than enough for me.

Soul of a Banquet

Culinary icon Cecilia Chiang had a huge impact on San Francisco food culture in the ’60s when she introduced the Bay Area to authentic Northern Chinese cuisine at her legendary Mandarin Restaurant. Over 50 years later, her influence reverberates throughout the city, and with the heartwarming homage Soul of a Banquet, filmmaker Wayne Wang chronicles the celebrity chef’s life and career while filming Cecilia in her element, cooking an epic meal for friend and fellow S.F. icon, Alice Waters. Food porn surely awaits, which is always a good thing, and there are sure to be some stories of culinary adventures woven in there as well. Just make sure you don’t watch on an empty stomach.

Living is Easy With Eyes Closed

Part of the festival’s “Viva El Cine” focus, Living is Easy with Eyes Closed is an uplifting road movie that comes to us from Spanish director David Trueba. Set in Spain in the mid-’60s just after the explosion of Beatlemania, the film follows a school teacher named Antonio (Javier Cámara) who teams picks up a runaway teen and a pregnant young woman on his way to meet his idol, John Lennon, who’s reportedly filming a movie in Almería. For those with a taste for adventure and whimsy, Trueba’s film will charm and delight–On the merry trio’s odyssey down the winding roads of Spain they find laughs, thrills, and romance. And strawberries. And fields. Together.