Clockwise from left: stills from "Shotgun Stories," "My Brother Is an Only Child," "Alexandra" and "Priceless."
Flowers are bustin' out all over, folks, and so is a diverse and impressive spring crop of independent cinema, including several films over the next few weeks that may be among the year's best -- but definitely not the year's most hyped. Early spring, when the earth is still cold and the morning air still fresh, and before the drums have started beating for Hollywood's Memorial Day releases, is the best time of year to catch unexpected surprises -- sometimes even good ones! -- at the movie theater. This is one of those weeks when it's no good focusing on one or two releases. It's a spring-ucopia! It's a veritable vernal basket of indies, many with thorns.
All these movies contain some violence, either emotional or physical, although the comedy might be the meanest of them and the war film the sweetest. We've got a knockout American film, with the intimacy of a short story and the violent grandeur of myth, made in the flatlands of southeastern Arkansas. We've got a haunting, strangely moving allegory about a loving Russian grandmother, made under dangerous conditions in the war zone of Chechnya. We've got a big-hearted Italian family epic of two brothers facing the social and political crises of the '60s. Oh, and we've got a guilty pleasure too -- a sweet 'n' sour, high-gloss romantic farce from the French Riviera. Plant those Johnny-jump-ups! And then let's go to the movies. (Look for more updates Friday, and over the weekend.)