Spring Movies

by Zara Messano

Tuesday March 7, 2006

The month of March is a bittersweet time for cinema. The Oscars will come and go, leaving behind a desire for a year’s worth of top quality films right now. Many a college student will go on spring break, perhaps neglecting the local Cineplex. It is a strange period, in which many of us are still scrambling to see all the films of last year before the summer movie rush. Nevertheless, if you look carefully, there are quite a few diamonds in the rough.

Alfonso Cuaron’s Duck Season may very well be one of these gems. A far cry from the increasing number of highly glossed action-adventure types, this film follows two fourteen year-old boys, a beautiful girl and a tenacious pizza-man as they find ways to amuse themselves during a power outage. They must abandon playing Halo and embrace their surroundings, creating a recklessly youthful day of adventure. With the tag line "adulthood is a moving target," Cuaron’s black and white picture plays with the audience more non-traditionally then other films out this month.

Some other films coming out in March may not get such honorable mentions; mainly blockbuster-types. For example, Ultraviolet, a matrix-like action flick starring Milla Jovovich, will probably find viewers but not critical acclaim.

Unfortunately, the blockbusters will almost surely get more viewers than internationally acclaimed documentaries; this is the nature of the beast. Our Brand is Crisis, one such documentary, follows some U.S. advisors in Bolivia as they market a campaign by hyping crisis.

And wedged between the over-seen and under-seen films are those films that could be really good or really horrible. Among these are the Asia Argento film The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things based on the book by JT LeRoy; The Libertine starring Johnny Depp as a scandalous earl; 16 Blocks as a standard, though racially-charged, cop movie; the multifarious Don’t Come Knocking with Sam Shepard and Tim Roth; Spike Lee’s star-packed thief and detective film Inside Man; the post 9/11 Sorry, Haters; and the soul searching Lonesome Jim from awkward funny man Steve Buscemi. Many of these could turn out to be diamonds, while others won’t make much of an impact.

While the success of some films might be utterly unpredictable, the much-anticipated V for Vendetta, due March 17, is sure to hit its mark. Combined with the success of previous comic book adaptations and the brilliant Natalie Portman, this film is looking to be the biggest hit of this month.

Scheduled to open on the same day, Thank You For Smoking is a film that has certainly not received as much hype, but seems to hold a lot of potential. With a solid ensemble cast ranging from Adam Brody to William H. Macy, the plot follows Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart) as he relentlessly and slyly supports Big Tobacco. The film seems unforgiving and has been praised as "a slashingly hilarious comedy" by New York magazine.

While leaving out the turkeys makes this month look abundant with gems, for the best of them all you will have to wait until March 31—Rian Johnson’s Brick. Bursting forth with a seductive and high-spirited detective story, Brick is as visually astounding as it is strange. The allure of a missing girlfriend prompts So-Cal high school student Brendan Frye on a search that will lead him to people and places he only imagined. Praised at Cannes and sure to spark more interest in the film world, Focus Features has once again pushed the boundaries of cinematic experience.