Limited Releases - Getting into the Game
June 8, 2006
This week's list of limited releases doesn't contain any films that are sure shots at earning mainstream success.
However, most of them should do well in their particular markets.
Agnes and His Brothers - Reviews
Chup Chup Ke - No Reviews
Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul - Reviews
The Heart of the Game - Reviews
Psychopathia Sexualis - Reviews
The first of two films on this week's list that have a strong focus on sex that might shock the viewer.
Strangely, these two films, which should be the easiest to promote, are the ones that are the least likely to be breakout hits.
The movie is about three brothers in a dysfunctional family: a success politician who is despised by his wife and son, a librarian who is addicted to sex, and a transsexual, the titular Agnes.
There are some parts of the movie that work, but not enough of them to create an overall enjoyable movie.
Agnes and Her Brothers opens tomorrow at the Quad Cinema in New York City.
Jeetu is a small time hustler who is constantly in debt and getting his family into trouble.
One day he tries to kill himself only to be caught up in the net of two fishermen, who think he is rich and decide to use him to pay off their debts.
Jeetu decides to play along acting like a deaf mute to avoid giving away too much.
This is were the plot gets really complicated...
The latest Bollywood musical is a remake of the 1998 film, Punjabi House.
It looks likely to repeat the success of other recent Bollywood films like Water and Fanaa but is unlikely to break out into the mainstream.
The second German film on this week's list, this one is the better of the two movies and documents the travels of the band, Einsturzende Neubauten.
They travel to Istanbul (and not Constantinople), to listen to and record the wide variety of music played there.
This is a must see for fans of either the local music, or those who are interested how Western music interacts with other cultures.
Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul opens tomorrow at the Angelika Film Center in New York City.
Not your typical Basketball documentary, this film deals with a girls High School basketball team in Seattle and in particular their star, Darnellia Russell, who becomes pregnant and is forced to leave the team.
This is a very compelling story and the movie is worth seeing even for those who are not fans of the sport.
The Heart of the Game opens tomorrow at the Angelika Film Center and the Lincoln Plaza in New York City as well as the Arclight Cinemas in Los Angeles.
Since the movie deals with some sexual practices almost everyone would consider deviant (like necrophila, for instance), one could assume that the film would be steeped in controversy.
However, it seems that the filmmakers were determined to limit that aspect of the film and as a result have scrubbed it of anything titillating, or even entertaining.
Psychopathia Sexualis opens tonight at the Pioneer Theatre in New York City before expanding to the Grand Illusion Cinema in Seattle and the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago tomorrow.
Filed under: Limited Releases, The Heart of the Game, Chup Chup Ke, Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul, Psychopathia Sexualis, Agnes und seine Brüder