One of the most interesting directors to enter the world of arthouse cinema in the past 15 years is Apichatpong Weerasethakul. Perhaps best known for winning the Palme d’Or in 2010 for Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, “Joe” (as he is affectionately referred to by his fans in the West) has a unique type of cinema that is all his own.

Weerasethakul often shoots his films in rural Thailand, his native country, finding powerful and unsettling links between humanity and the world around us through magical realism that is typically shocking in the way it creeps onto the screen seemingly unannounced. By playing with the concepts of narrative and artifice, Weerasethakul is one of the most influential directors working today, and at 45, he seems to have a long career ahead of him.

Weerasethakul’s newest film, Cemetery of Splendour, is about a group of soldiers suffering from a mysterious sleeping sickness in a hospital. It premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival this year, receiving near-universal praise from critics. The film just had its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (read our review here), and will be making its US premiere at the New York Film Festival. Strand Releasing acquired US distribution rights for Cemetery of Splendour after its Cannes premiere.

Below we rank each of this auteur’s feature-length works, excluding Cemetery of Splendour.

Perhaps Weerasethakul’s only outright “bad” film, this can almost be forgotten, as Joe created it when he was having trouble raising funds for Tropical Malady, and it is the only feature in his filmography for which he is not credited as the sole writer and director. The Adventure of Iron Pussy is a parody of Thai action films, but it is unsuccessful in its satire, as the mere presence of tropes common in Thai action cinema does not make an effective parody. The critical eye toward the conventions of narrative cinema that characterizes much of Weerasethakul’s work seems to be absent, as The Adventure of Iron Pussy revels in the ridiculous elements of its genre rather than commenting on them.

Mekong Hotel is an interesting beast. The oft-cited claim that it is a docu-fiction hybrid is true, but a better description might be that it is a documentary about fiction. The film tells a fictional horror story involving zombies and cannibalism, but while doing so, it documents its own making, capturing the players as both their characters and as themselves, contextualizing the ostensibly non-diegetic score within the same space as the narrative, and showing Weerasethakul himself at times. The idea here is that, by overtly separating fiction from non-fiction, there is some inherent cacophony when attempting to weave the two together, an idea that is touched upon in a more subtle and nuanced manner in most of Weerasethakul’s other work. Mekong Hotel is less complex and developed as his masterpieces, but the concepts explored in this work are certainly interesting.

Weerasethakul’s first feature film was a documentary similar in subject matter to Mekong Hotel, as it explores the nature of storytelling and the concept of narrative. In Mysterious Object at Noon, the supernatural tale of a disabled boy and his tutor is conveyed through the “exquisite corpse” structure, in which a number of narrators each tell a small portion of the story. We experience a cinematic retelling, a staged retelling, and oral retellings by a number of different narrators, each adding their own manner of narration that changes our understanding of the story. Though it is not the most coherent of Weerasethakul’s films (deliberately so), it creates an interesting thought experiment and immediately identified the director as one worth listening to.

Winner of the Un Certain Regard Prize at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival, Blissfully Yours was Weerasethakul’s sophomore feature and the one to establish the ideas and elements that would become common throughout his filmography. It is a slow-moving yet thematically striking film that takes place in rural Thailand, using nature as a lens through which the characters learn about themselves. Nature becomes more than just a place to be in; it becomes a place to be with. The discreteness of the human body is contrasted frequently with the continuous expanse of trees and other foliage characterizing the jungle setting, allowing the film to establish a cosmos of the human body, a method of exploring one’s own sense of being through one’s surroundings. Though difficult to pierce at a first viewing, its mysteries will stick with you long after the credits roll.

Weerasethakul’s first film to play in competition at Cannes won him the Jury Prize, and for good reason: this two-segment anthology film is pure genius. The first part tells a love story between two men, while the second utilizes the same actors to tell a fairy tale of a soldier who gets lost in the forest and meets the mysterious spirit of a tiger. Though initial reviews were mixed, Tropical Malady is now celebrated as a masterpiece, earning the #8 spot on Film Comment’s decade-end critics’ poll. The tangencies and similarities that the film finds between the forbidden love of the first half and the intense mystery and strange confusion of the second are complex and conversation-starting, and while an initial reading might find the film to be rather simple, it is in this narrative simplicity where Weerasethakul’s filmography is able to make the grandest statements about the human experience.

If cinema is about dreaming, then Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives might be the ultimate film, or at least the ultimate statement on cinema, for what is more dreamlike than the remembrance of past lives? There are a number of seemingly unrelated strands in this film, each of which ostensibly represents one of Boonmee’s previous existences. It is difficult to tie these narratives together, even after having seen the film multiple times, but that is absolutely fine, for the purpose of the film is not to provide a cohesive biography of Boonmee but simply to dream, to show us the magic that can exist in the world around us and in the stories that we create. It does not force relationships between the multiple narratives, instead allowing us to formulate the relationships ourselves, engaging the viewer in the storytelling process. Though many were surprised by the film’s winning of the Palme d’Or over competition that included Another Year and Of Gods and Men, the decision has certainly gone down as one of the Cannes jury’s best in recent memory.

Weerasethakul’s best film is the only one out of his past five (including Cemetery of Splendour) to not play at Cannes, instead finding a spot in competition at the Venice Film Festival. To say too much about Syndromes and a Century would be to spoil one of the most befuddling, frustrating, maddening, and ultimately rewarding cinematic experiences of all-time. There is an unsettling feeling throughout the film not only that everything that happens has happened before and will happen again, but also that the characters are aware of this fact. The line between fiction and reality is crossed multiple times, often unnoticeably. Calling it self-aware would be a reductive and patronizing oversimplification, and calling it a fever dream ignores its calculated insanity. With Syndromes and a Century, Weerasethakul made his grandest and most complex statement on the nature of narrative while keeping it his subtlest. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives and Tropical Malady might be the most entertaining, but Syndromes and a Century is the most mysterious and powerful of his works. Weerasethakul’s filmography seeks to unlock the full potential of cinema, and in Syndromes and a Century, he succeeds majestically.

Seeking Asian Female

Director Debbie Lum set out to make a documentary about “yellow fever”—the infatuation some older white men have with younger Asian women that can border on fetishism. What she got instead was something extraordinary, something she couldn’t have planned for. In the film, she interviews an array of men who are afflicted with the “fever”, but partway through the process, makes the decision to focus her story on Steven, a 60-year-old, creepy, off-puttingly enthusiastic man who loves his Asian women (including, to her chagrin, Debbie.) In his online search for a mail-order bride, Steven finds Sandy, a 30-year-old small town girl from China who, upon only meeting Steven twice, agrees to move to California and marry him. Debbie films the fledgling couple through their growing pains and emotional outbursts and reluctantly gets dragged into their plight, acting as their translator and surrogate marriage counselor. Ethically compromised as a filmmaker, Debbie finds herself stuck in the middle of a volatile culture clash that she doesn’t know how to escape.

Seeking Asian Female is an endlessly surprising film that’s as enlightening as it is entertaining. The taboo subject matter is sure to elicit moans, groans, cynicism, and perhaps even disgust, but Lum’s decision to focus exclusively on one couple elevates the story, transcending the original premise. This is a love story, and a fascinatingly dark and unique one at that. It’s as engaging a documentary as I’ve seen in a long time; there are peaks and valleys, twists and turns, moments of dire conflict, and moments of revelation. The ending is unexpected, a complete wake-up call.

RATING: 9

Old Romances

Unbridled nostalgia fuels Old Romances, a warm-hearted homage to Singapore by a native, the infamous Royston Tan. A sort of sequel to Tan’s 2010 film, Old Places, Old Romances follows the same simple and straightforward format as its predecessor: Tan shows us footage of various public meeting places in Singapore—cafes, shops, parks, etc.—and accompanies it with audio of people sharing their fondest memories of the local spots. It’s a cinematic time capsule, capturing these places as they were before they inevitably vanish (several of the locations from Old Places are now gone.)

Tan chose to have the different members of the public share their memories over the phone and use that audio in the film, a brilliant decision that gives the sense that we’re having an informal chat with the Singaporeans about their beloved haunts. The soundtrack is eye-rollingly generic and often unnecessary; the ambient sound from the locations is as much a part of the story as the images and would serve as the perfect sonic backdrop for the film. Old Romances is an earnest, pleasant film that’s also somewhat underwhelming.

RATING: 6.9

Mekong Hotel

A fourth wall-breaking experimental film from Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Mekong Hotel has a few thoughtful and resonant moments, but is ultimately flat, indulgent, and doesn’t provide enough to chew on for it to be worthwhile. The film makes shifts from an existential love story about a boy and girl, to scenes of an intestine-eating, soul-possessing ghost mother, to footage of the actors not acting at all, speaking about their real life experiences. The only constant throughout the film is the titular hotel and the ever-present Mekong River.

Part fiction, part documentary, Mekong Hotel’s experimental shifts in reality, reminiscent of Abbas Kiarostami’s work, would be exciting if only there were something more to latch on to. There is some interesting symbolism going on here—the ghost mother eating her daughter’s intestines illustrate Thailand’s desperation—but the impact of the symbolism is stifled by Weerasethakul’s lingering…lingering…lingering camera and the tiresome, overused guitar songs that are plastered over nearly every moment. There’s something interesting going on under the hood here, but it’s a chore to watch.

RATING: 4.8

The Cheer Ambassadors

A slightly above-average underdog sports documentary, The Cheer Ambassadors provides everything you expect from the subgenre; an undersized, underrated, hard working team with a dream, their battle through obstacles and hardships on their rise to the top, and of course, the team’s nail-biting, exhilarating performance on the biggest stage in the world. Following the cheerleading squad from Bangkok University in Thailand on their journey to the cheerleading world championships in Orlando Florida, The Cheer Ambassadors tells a remarkable story in an all-too-familiar fashion. You won’t find anything unexpected here, but it’s a well made film that succeeds in endearing its subjects to us—you will undoubtedly feel compelled to get up and…ahem…cheer the kids on by the film’s climax. Team Thailand’s story is extraordinary, but as a film, The Cheer Ambassadors is nothing special.

RATING: 6.1

Memory of Forgotten War

We often forget how devastating and life-changing war can be on a personal level for the individuals involved. The broader world implications are typically given all the attention, but Memory of Forgotten War puts a spotlight on how the aftermath of the Korean War changed the lives of Korean families forever. The 38th parallel, the resulting division of Korea into North and South after World War II, literally split families in half, forbidding them from making any contact with each other. Director Deann Borshay Liem interviews Korean civilians who immigrated to the United States following the war as they share their harrowing memories and mourn the lost time with their families that they will never get back. It’s a heartbreaking situation that is sadly still relevant today, and Memory of Forgotten War is an important and well-constructed insight into the issue.

RATING: 7.2

With TIFF only weeks away, the festival has just dumped another massive amount of titles that will be playing come September. Today TIFF rounds out its Galas and Special Presentations program, announcing Paul Andrew Williams’ Song for Marion as the closing film. That brings the total number of Galas to 20 and Special Presentations up to a whopping 70. Highlights include Spike Lee’s Michael Jackson documentary Bad 25, Brian De Palma’s Passion and Harmony Korine’s Spring Breakers. Titles from Cannes that are showing up in Special Presentations include Lee Daniels’ The Paperboy, Walter Salles’ On The Road and Pablo Trapero’s White Elephant. And, despite being revealed yesterday, one of the biggest announcements for TIFF is that Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master will be screening in 70mm for its North American Premiere.

Contemporary World Cinema, a massive programme dedicated to showing off cinema around the world, revealed the rest of its line-up. With 62 films, highlights include Christian Petzold’s Barbara, Edward Burns’ The Fitzgerald Family Christmas, Sergei Loznitsa’s In The Fog, Sion Sono’s In The Land of Hope, Ulrich Seidl’s Paradise: Love, Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Penance and James Ponsoldt’s Smashed.

Finally, the Wavelengths line-up was fully revealed. Dedicated to avant-garde films, the program has expanded this year to include more film choices. On top of its 4 wavelengths sections, the programme includes Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Mekong Hotel, Tsai Ming-Liang’s Walker, Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel’s Leviathan, Carlos Reygadas’ Post Tenebras Lux and Ying Liang’s When Night Falls which just won 2 awards at the Locarno Film Festival.

The line-ups for Galas and Special presentations are listed below. You can read the rest of the line-up for Contemporary World Cinema and Wavelengths at the festival’s official site. Once again, WayTooIndie will be covering the Toronto International Film Festival next month where we hope to discover some amazing new films from around the world. More information about the festival, including the full line-up and how to get tickets, can be found on www.tiff.net/festival. The Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 6th – 16th.

Galas:
Song for Marion Paul Andrew Williams, UK World Premiere (Closing Night Film)
A feel-good, heart-warming story about how music can inspire you. Song for Marion stars Terence Stamp as Arthur, a grumpy pensioner who can’t understand why his wife Marion (Vanessa Redgrave) would want to embarrass herself singing silly songs with her unconventional local choir. But choir director Elizabeth (Gemma Arterton) sees something special in the reluctant Arthur and refuses to give up on him. As she coaxes him out of his shell, Arthur realizes that it is never too late to change.

Emperor Peter Webber, Japan/USA World Premiere
In the aftermath of Japan’s defeat in World War II and the American occupation of the country, a Japanese expert (Matthew Fox) on the staff of Gen. Douglas MacArthur (Tommy Lee Jones) is faced with a decision of historic importance, in this epically scaled drama from director Peter Webber (Girl With a Pearl Earring).

What Maisie Knew Scott McGehee, David Siegel, USA World Premiere
Based on the Henry James novella, the story frames on 7-year-old Maisie, caught in a custody battle between her mother – a rock and roll icon – and her father. What Maisie Knew is an evocative portrayal of the chaos of adult life seen entirely from a child’s point of view. Starring Joanna Vanderham, Onata Aprile, Alexander Skarsgård, Julianne Moore, and Steve Coogan.

Special Presentations:
Arthur Newman Dante Ariola, USA World Premiere
Wallace Avery is tired of being a loser. Once a hot shot in the world of competitive amateur golf, Wallace was dubbed ‘The Choker’ when he hit the pro circuit. Unable to shake off a monumental loss of nerve on the greens, Wallace retired from the pro tour and slipped into the ranks of the quietly desperate. Deciding to address a radical problem with a radical solution, he stages his own death, buys himself a new identity as Arthur Newman, and sets out toward his own private Oz of golf. An offbeat love story set in a perfect storm of identity crisis, Arthur Newman looks at how two people try to remake themselves and come around to owning up to some basic truths about the identities they left at home. Starring Emily Blunt, Colin Firth, and Anne Heche.

Bad 25 Spike Lee, USA North American Premiere
Bad 25 celebrates the 25th anniversary of the Michael Jackson “Bad” album with unseen footage, content shot by Jackson himself, and a treasure chest of findings. The documentary is divided into two parts: artists today who were influenced by Michael, and people who worked by his side – musicians, songwriters, technicians, engineers, people at the label – all committed to Michael and the follow-up to the biggest record of all time, “Thriller.” Interviewees include: Mariah Carey, L.A. Reid and Sheryl Crow.

Disconnect Henry Alex Rubin, USA North American Premiere
Disconnect interweaves multiple storylines about people searching for human connection in today’s wired world. Through poignant turns that are both harrowing and touching, the stories intersect with surprising twists that expose a shocking reality into our daily use of technology that mediates and defines our relationships and ultimately our lives. Directed by Academy Award® nominee Henry Alex Rubin (Murderball), and starring Jason Bateman, Hope Davis, Frank Grillo, Paula Patton, Michael Nyqvist, Andrea Riseborough, Alexander Skarsgård, and Max Theriot, as well as Jonah Bobo, Colin Ford and Haley Ramm.

Do Not Disturb Yvan Attal, France World Premiere
Jeff unexpectedly shows up on Ben’s doorstep at 2am. Since their college days, they’ve taken very different paths. Jeff is still the wild man, a serial lover, an artist and eternal vagabond who’s never stopped roaming the world. Ben has settled down with chilled-out and wonderful Anna; they bought a small and comfortable house in the suburbs and started trying to make a baby. But this quiet life is disrupted by the whirlwind that is Jeff, especially when he takes Ben to a wild party, from which they return at dawn, having made a decision that is about to turn all of their lives upside down. This provocative, hot and funny new film by award-winning French director Yvan Atta stars François Cluzet and Charlotte Gainsbourg.

Greetings from Tim Buckley Dan Algrant, USA World Premiere
Greetings from Tim Buckley follows the story of the days leading up to Jeff Buckley’s eminent 1991 performance at his father’s tribute concert in St. Ann’s Church. Through a romance with a young woman working at the concert, he learns to embrace all of his feelings toward the father who abandoned him – longing, anger, forgiveness, and love. Culminating in a cathartic performance of his father’s most famous songs, Jeff’s debut stuns the audience and launches his career as one of the greatest young musicians of his time. Starring Imogen Poots and Penn Badgley.

Lines of Wellington Valeria Sarmiento, Portugal North American Premiere
After the failed attempts of Junot and Soult in 1807 and 1809, Napoleon Bonaparte sent a powerful army, commanded by Marshal Massena, to invade Portugal in 1810. The French easily reached the centre of the country, where the Anglo-Portuguese army, led by General Wellington, was waiting. Starring John Malkovich, Nuno Lopes, Soraia Chaves, Marisa Paredes, and Victoria Guerra.

Love is All You Need Susanne Bier, Denmark North American Premiere
Love Is All You Need is a new film by Academy Award-winner Susanne Bier. Philip (Pierce Brosnan), an Englishman living in Denmark, is a lonely, middle-aged widower and estranged single father. Ida (Trine Dyrholm) is a Danish hairdresser, recuperating from a long bout of illness, who’s just been left by her husband for a younger woman. The fates of these two bruised souls are about to intertwine, as they embark for Italy to attend the wedding of Philip’s son and Ida’s daughter. With warmth, affection and confidence, Bier has shaken a cocktail of love, loss, absurdity, humour and delicately drawn characters who will leave only the hardest heart untouched. This is a film about the simple yet profound pains and joys of moving on – and forward – with your life.

On The Road Walter Salles, France/Brazil North American Premiere
Directed by acclaimed filmmaker Walter Salles and based on the iconic novel by Jack Kerouac, On The Road tells the provocative story of Sal Paradise (Sam Riley), a young writer whose life is ultimately redefined by the arrival of Dean Moriarty (Garrett Hedlund), a free-spirited, fearless, fast-talking Westerner and his girl, Marylou (Kristen Stewart). Traveling cross-country, Sal and Dean venture out on a personal quest for freedom from the conformity and conservatism engulfing them in search of the unknown, themselves, and the pursuit of it – the pure essence of experience. Seeking unchartered terrain and the last American frontier, the duo encounter an eclectic mix of men and women, each adding meaning to their desire for a new way of life. The screenplay is by Jose Rivera (Academy Award nominee for The Motorcycle Diaries), while Executive Producer Francis Ford Coppola has been developing the project since 1978. Also stars Viggo Mortensen and Kirsten Dunst.

Passion Brian De Palma, France/Germany North American Premiere
An erotic thriller in the tradition of Dressed To Kill and Basic Instinct, Brian de Palma’s Passion tells the story of a deadly power struggle between two women in the dog-eat-dog world of international business. Christine possesses the natural elegance and casual ease associated with one who has a healthy relationship with money and power. Innocent, lovely and easily exploited, her admiring protégé, Isabelle, is full of cutting-edge ideas that Christine has no qualms about stealing. They’re on the same team, after all… But when Isabelle falls into bed with one of Christine’s lovers, war breaks out. Starring Rachel McAdams, Noomi Rapace, Karoline Herfurth and Paul Anderson.

Rhino Season Bahman Ghobadi, Iraqi Kurdistan/Turkey World Premiere
After thirty years spent in prisons of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Kurdish-Iranian poet Sahel finally walks free. Now the one thing keeping him alive is the thought of finding his wife Mina, who thinks he is long dead and has since moved to Turkey. Sahel sets out on an Istanbul-bound search. Starring Behrouz Vossoughi, Monica Bellucci and Yilmaz Erdoğan.

Spring Breakers Harmony Korine, USA North American Premiere
Four sexy college girls plan to fund their spring break getaway by burglarizing a fast food shack. But that’s only the beginning. During a night of partying, the girls hit a roadblock when they are arrested on drug charges. Hung over and clad only in bikinis, the girls appear before a judge but are bailed out unexpectedly by Alien (James Franco), an infamous local thug who takes them under his wing and leads them on the wildest spring break trip in history. Rough on the outside but with a soft spot inside, Alien wins over the hearts of the young spring breakers, and leads them on a spring break they never could have imagined. Starring Selena Gomez, James Franco, Vanessa Hudgens and Heather Morris.

The Master Paul Thomas Anderson, USA North American Premiere
A striking portrait of drifters and seekers in post World War II America, Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master unfolds the journey of a Naval veteran (Joaquin Phoenix) who arrives home from war unsettled and uncertain of his future — until he is tantalized by The Cause and its charismatic leader (Philip Seymour Hoffman). Starring Amy Adams, Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Dern.

The Paperboy Lee Daniels, USA North American Premiere
A chilling sex-and-race-charged film noir, The Paperboy takes audiences deep into the backwaters of steamy 1960s South Florida, as investigative reporter Ward Jansen and his partner Yardley Acheman chase a sensational, career-making story with the help of Ward’s younger brother Jack and sultry death-row groupie Charlotte Bless. Starring Matthew McConaughey, Nicole Kidman, John Cusack, David Oyelowo and Zac Efron.

The Son Did It Daniele Ciprì, Italy/France North American Premiere
The Son Did It is the story of the Ciraulos, a poor family from South Italy whose young daughter is mistakenly killed by the Mafia. As compensation, they receive a large amount of money from the State but this sudden richness will change their life in a completely unexpected way. Starring Toni Servillo, Giselda Volodi, Alfredo Castro and Fabrizio Falco.
The Suicide Shop Patrice Leconte, France/Belgium/Canada International Premiere
Imagine a shop that for generations has sold all the accoutrements for the perfect suicide. This family business prospers in all its bleak misery, until the day it encounters joie de vivre in the shape of younger son, Alan. What will become of The Suicide Shop in the face of Alan’s relentless good cheer, optimism and determination to make the customers smile? Starring Bernard Alane, Isabelle Spade, Kacey Mottet Klein, Isabelle Giami and Laurent Gendron.

Thérèse Desqueyroux Claude Miller, France International Premiere
In the Landes region of France, near Bordeaux, marriages are arranged to merge land parcels and unite neighbouring families. Thus, young Thérèse Larroque becomes Mrs. Desqueyroux. But her avant-garde ideas clash with local conventions and in order to break free from the fate imposed upon her and live a full life, she will resort to tragically extreme measures. Starring Audrey Tautou, Gilles Lellouche and Anaïs Demoustier.

White Elephant Pablo Trapero, Argentina/Spain North American Premiere
In a poverty-stricken and highly dangerous Buenos Aires slum, two men – both friends, both priests, both deeply respected by the local community for their tireless endeavours on behalf of the poor and the dispossessed – take very different paths in their struggle against violence, corruption and injustice. Starring Martina Gusman, Ricardo Darin and Jérémie Renier.

Yellow Nick Cassavetes, USA World Premiere
Nick Cassavetes’ seminal work, Yellow, is a searing take on modern society and the demands it makes on people. Centered on Mary Holmes, a young woman who has a difficult time feeling things, and swallowing twenty Vicodin a day doesn’t help. We enter her hallucinatory world, peopled with Busby Berkeley dancers, Cirque du Soleil, Circus freaks, and human farm animals where nothing is quite what it seems. Starring Sienna Miller, Gena Rowlands, Ray Liotta, David Morse, Lucy Punch, Max Theoriot, Riley Keough, Daveigh Chase, Heather Wahlquist and Melanie Griffith.

The 65th annual Cannes Film Festival is underway currently and the staff at Way Too Indie wanted to highlight the Top 13 Films we are anticipating to see the most. We are still about a week away before we will be hearing from the jury which films they decided to give awards to. There are over 20 films that are in the In Competition category and if we had to guess who walks away with top prize of the Palme d’Or, it would be one of the films we listed below. Without further ado, Way Too Indie’s Top 13 Most Anticipated Films at Cannes Film Festival 2012.

Beasts of the Southern Wild (director Benh Zeitlin)

Immediately after watching the trailer to Beasts of the Southern Wild I made note that this is a film I need to see. Chatter around this film started when it won the dramatic Grand Jury Prize Award at Sundance this year. It looks like it could have some Where the Wild Things Are elements to it but perhaps with a more gritty and serious story to it. If Beasts of the Southern Wild is half as good as the trailer makes it out to be, we should be in for a real treat with this film. Roger Ebert recently tweeted that Beasts of the Southern Wild is the best film he has seen this year. Cue the goosebumps. [Dustin]

UPDATE: Our review of Beasts of the Southern Wild

Post Tenebras Lux (director Carlos Reygadas)

After Battle in Heaven, Carlos Reygadas must have had some sort of epiphany. His follow-up, Silent Light, was one of the best movies of the last 10 years and felt like it was light years ahead of everything he did previously. His most recent work, the short film This is my Kingdom from the omnibus film Revolucion, might be his best work to date. Post Tenebras Lux looks like Reygadas is only maturing and developing even more. The first images and clips from the movie are jaw-droppingly gorgeous, the director of Cannes has been more or less openly gushing about it, and it’s already being compared to Tree of Life. Reygadas is one of the more exciting directors working today, and if Post Tenebras Lux lives up to the hype it should be unlike anything we’ve seen before. [CJ]

Mud (director Jeff Nichols)

Director Jeff Nichols is on a hot streak. His first feature Shotgun Stories was an indie sensation and had a lot of people singing his name from the rafters as a promising young director. Then his second feature with Michael Shannon (who is one of the top actors right now), Take Shelter, was a great step for the director. Working again with Shannon and few other top actors including Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Sarah Paulson, Sam Shepard and Joe Don Baker (a personal favorite), Mud looks to be a winner with this pedigree working together. [Blake]

Moonrise Kingdom (director Wes Anderson)

The mere fact that it has been three years since Wes Anderson has graced us with his unprecedented style and passion is reason enough to want to see Moonrise Kingdom. The film is about capturing the feeling of being madly in love at the tender age of 12. Backed by the cast of his regulars, Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzmann along with some Anderson newcomers Edward Norton, Bruce Willis, Frances McDormand and Tilda Swinton is another reason why I am excited to see this film. [Dustin]

UPDATE: Our review of Moonrise Kingdom

Mekong Hotel (director Apichatpong Weerasethakul)

I’ve only seen two movies by Joe (his nickname for people who have a hard time pronouncing his full name) but they’re both masterpieces. Joe’s films are so hypnotic, bizarre and immersive with their lack of focus on time or narrative that they can feel like they come from another plane of existence entirely. Mekong Hotel sounds like a horror film from its synopsis involving a cannibalistic ghost but things are never that simple with Joe’s movies. Here’s hoping that Mekong Hotel can live up to at least half of the quality of his other films. [CJ]

Rust and Bone (director Jacques Audiard)

Jacques Audiard made a great movie a few years ago called A Prophet which made my top ten list the year it came out. I then went back to watch his breakout feature The Beat That My Heart Skipped, which is one hell of a movie. Now comes Rust and Bone, with Oscar winner Marion Cotillard as a killer whale trainer who falls in love a man named Ali. There bond only grows stronger after Stephanie (Cotillard) suffers a horrible accident. [Blake]

The We and The I (director Michel Gondry)

Willing to overlook Michel Gondry’s previous Hollywood adventure The Green Hornet in hopes that he has returned to his old style of films that put him on the map as an acclaimed film director. His more avant-garde style of films like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The Science of Sleep show off his creativity as a visionary director. Not a lot is known about this film yet but the talk is the film is closer to his earlier work. Knowing his potential, it is hard not to look forward to see what Michel Gondry has come up with now. [Dustin]

Love (director Michael Haneke)

Michael Haneke is back from his massive success involving The White Ribbon with what looks like something on a smaller scale. As with most of Haneke’s films the information given out so far is limited. It involves a family whose lives change after the mother has “an attack.” Isabelle Huppert, who gave Haneke the Palme D’Or for White Ribbon, has what looks like a small role in this so hopefully their collaboration will be as good as when they got together for The Piano Teacher. Haneke is considered to be one of the best directors working today by some (including myself) so no matter what there will always be an excited audience for whatever Haneke does next. [CJ]

Killing Them Softly (director Andrew Dominik)

Formerly titled Coogan’s Trade, Andrew Dominik’s newest film has internet film geeks abuzz with its powerhouse cast being lead by the director who has made two fantastic features in Chopper and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and starring one of the biggest, if not the biggest actor on the planet Brad Pitt. Along with Pitt you got, Richard Jenkins, Sam Shepard (him again), James Gandolfini and Ray Liotta. Pitt plays a mob enforcer tasked with investigating the robbery of a mob run poker game. All this talent has me salivating at the mouth. [Blake]

Laurence Anyways (director Xavier Dolan)

The synopsis of Laurence Anyways, a man on this 30th birthday tries to save his relationship with his fiancé after telling her he wants to become a woman, made me curious enough to watch the trailer. After watching the trailer, it looks to be an emotional filled unique love story. Xavier Dolan’s first two films I Killed My Mother and Heartbeats also both premiered at Cannes cementing him as an acclaimed upcoming director. Unlike his previous films, in Laurence Anyways he decides to stay behind the camera instead of also acting in the film. [Dustin]

Cosmopolis (director David Cronenberg)

After making more conventional films for almost a decade, David Cronenberg appears to be diving head first into the weird-ass types of films that made him get so popular in the first place. It seems like people didn’t realize how much they missed the days of Dead Ringers or Videodrome until the first trailers for Cosmopolis came out, launching it straight into a position as one of the most anticipated films this year. Hopefully Cronenberg can live up to the hype that’s suddenly surrounded this movie in the last few weeks. [CJ]

Paradise:Love (director Ulrich Seidl)

Ulrich Seidl is a director I’ve never heard of before, but one that I will now follow, and the trailer has me completely sold. The subject matter sounds ripe for the picking and the style of the film, which looks like a documentary, will only add to how powerful the film could end up being. Taking place in a tropical paradise, a white middle aged woman who is on vacation becomes involved with a local a black man. Judging from the trailer, love and heartbreak look to be inevitable. [Blake]

You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet! (director Alain Resnais)

This wasn’t on my radar at all until I saw the fantastic trailer for it along with the bizarre synopsis involving the massive star-studded French cast playing themselves performing a play they’ve all been in at some point throughout their careers after the playwright posthumously invites them to see a young theatre company perform the same play (you might need to read that a few times to fully understand it). Resnais is still going strong in his later years, and if anything his new movie is going to be one of the more unique titles in competition this year. [CJ]