Sundance

One man's struggle to rise above his circumstances prompts him to try a career in music in this acclaimed drama from writer and director Craig Brewer. Djay (Terrence Howard) is a low-level pimp and drug dealer who scraped together a living in the ghettos of Memphis, TN. Djay isn't happy with his life, and the realization that he's reached the same age when his father unexpectedly died has made him start thinking about changing his ways. Djay has always had a gift for spinning stories, and after picking up a cheap keyboard, he begins picking out beats to go along with his rhymes. After bumping into an old high-school buddy who works in gospel music, Key (Anthony Anderson), Djay decided to take the plunge and remake himself as a rapper. With the technical know-how of Key and the musical input of a local beat maker named Shelby (DJ Qualls), Djay begins turning his way with words and his first-hand knowledge of the street life into music, as his two live-in girlfriends, Lexus (Paula Jai Parker) and Shug (Taraji P. Henson), add their musical input and emotional support and Nola (Taryn Manning) continues to turn tricks to pay the bills. When local boy-turned-nationwide hip-hop star Skinny Black (Ludacris) comes to town to pay a visit to Arnel (Isaac Hayes), a club owner friendly with Djay, he sees an opportunity to put his demo in the hands of someone who can bring his music to the masses, though it turns out to be far more difficult than he expected. Hustle & Flow had its world premiere at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, where it received a number of rave reviews and took home the Audience Award. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Actor and playwright Tom McCarthy makes his feature film debut as a writer/director with the quirky comedy drama The Station Agent. In New Jersey, Finbar McBride (Peter Dinklage) is a four-foot-tall lonely man who chooses to live the life of a hermit in an abandoned train yard following the death of his friend. While he is there, he unexpectedly meets and befriends a couple of fellow loners. Troubled Olivia (Patricia Clarkson) is an artist devastated by the loss of her son and separation from her husband, while carefree and friendly Joe (Bobby Cannavale) runs a hot dog stand. The three unlikely friends each deal with their urge to connect compared with their individual need for isolation. Also starring Raven Goodwin, Paul Benjamin, and Michelle Williams. The Station Agent won the Audience award at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

Sam Rockwell and Vera Farmiga star in director George Ratliff's uncomfortable psychological thriller Joshua, as Brad and Abby Cairn, an affluent young stockbroker and his wife, raising children in New York City. Their firstborn, the nine-year-old Joshua (Jacob Kogan) is a frighteningly intelligent child - to such a degree that he thinks and acts decades ahead of his age. Nearly always clad in formal wear and demonstrating limitless brilliance as a pianist - with a marked predilection for "dissonant" classical pieces - Joshua gravitates toward his gay aesthete uncle (Dallas Roberts) as a close friend, but distances himself from his immediate kith - particularly when Abby brings a newborn baby sister home from the hospital and unwisely alienates the young tyke. As the days pass, one at a time, the mood at the house regresses from healthy and happy to strange, unsettled and disorienting; meanwhile, bizarre events transpire. As the baby's whines drive an already strained Abby to the point of a nervous breakdown, Joshua devolves from eccentric to downright sociopathic behavior, discarding all of his toys, disemboweling a stuffed animal, and killing off pets. One at a time, family members also begin to suffer tragic fates - but are they Joshua's fevered and psychotic doings or merely the result of happenstance? ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

Filmmaker David Sington merges the magnificence of science with the compelling drama of the human quest for advancement with this compelling and visually stunning meditation on the historic Apollo space program. In the four remarkable years between 1968 and 1972, American history took a defining turn as nine NASA spacecraft made the trip to the moon, and twelve bold explorers became the first men ever to set foot on ground beyond planet Earth. In this documentary, space enthusiast Sington allows the surviving crew members from each Apollo mission the unique opportunity to recount their memories of those missions in their own words as vintage, original NASA film footage offers a tantalizing glimpse of this extraordinary era in American history. Candid interviews with the astronauts reveal the sensitive and fun-loving souls whose fearlessness would lead a nation into a new era of progress, and audio recordings from Mission Control lend a newfound sense of poignancy to a variety of oft-recounted historical milestones. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

The struggles of a young Japanese who leaves her home to marry an stranger are chronicled in this historical drama based on true stories. Picture brides were Japanese women contracted to marry Japanese sugar-cane laborers working in Hawaii. The couple would agree to marry based on the photos they sent to one another. Riyo, an orphaned 17-year old, sails from Yokohama to Hawaii to marry Matsuji. She is appalled to see that Matsuji sent her an old photograph and that he is 25 years older than she. Angered, the spunky bride refuses to sleep with her new husband. She is however obligated to work on the plantation. The miserable girl finds solace with her new friend Kana, a young mother. Riyo decides she will earn her way back to Japan even though, at only sixty five cents per day, it could take years to save the $300 for the return fare. She meets more obstacles and continues to stay away from her husband until a tragedy befalls Kana. This serves to bring the two together and leads Riyo to accept her new life. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Independent filmmaker Debra Granik makes her feature debut with the drama Down to the Bone, based on her award-winning short Snake Feed. Vera Farmiga stars as Irene, a working-class mother living in upstate New York. She struggles to keep her marriage together and raise two sons while keeping her cocaine addiction a secret. Hoping to make a change in her life, she tries to kick her drug habit. However, this proves even more difficult with the oncoming winter and a developing affair. Also starring Hugh Dillon and Clint Jordan, Down to the Bone premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2004. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

When Dante Hicks (Brian O'Halloran) is reluctantly put in charge of the Quick Stop market on his day off, he tries, though half-heartedly, to perform his minimum-wage duties as efficiently as possible. This gets tough amidst the on-going fight with his girlfriend, Veronica (Marilyn Ghigliotti), and his attempt to get back together with his ex-girlfriend, Caitlyn Bree (Lisa Spoonhauer). Meanwhile, his friend and alter ego Randall (Jeff Anderson) is working behind the counter of the adjacent video store -- at least when he feels like it. Randall's unabashed disdain of his place of employment, a long with his self-admitted hatred towards its customers is a sharp contrast to Dante's feeble attempts at the niceties of customer service. Much of the film consists of Randall and Dante's criticism of their customers, their lives, and the world in general. Clerks, filmed in black-and-white on a budget of only $27,000, began the career of writer director Kevin Smith, who would go on to make Mallrats (1995), Chasing Amy (1997), Dogma (1999), and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

What do you do after love at first sight? That's the question posed in this romantic comedy-drama set in Chicago. Darius Lovehall (Larenz Tate) is a novelist who is giving a reading at the Sanctuary, an upscale club presenting jazz and poetry to a bohemian clientele. Shortly before his set, he meets Nina Mosley (Nia Long), a woman who is a gifted photographer, despite the fact that she just lost her job. They exchange small talk, and Darius makes his interest clear when -- on the spot -- he retitles a love poem "A Blues For Nina." A mutual attraction is sparked between them; soon Darius finds Nina's address on a check and shows up unannounced at her apartment, a visit resulting in a photo session that turns seriously sexy. So far, so good, but neither Darius or Nina are sure where to go next after this promising start. She's just gotten out of a relationship and isn't sure if she still cares for her old boyfriend or not, while Darius' buddies read him the riot act for wanting to give up his freedom so early on in the game. Love Jones was the debut feature for African-American writer and director Theodore Witcher; Isaiah Washington, Bill Bellamy, and Lisa Nicole Carson lead the supporting cast. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The documentary directing team of Robert Pulcini and Shari Springer Berman makes their narrative feature debut with the biographical comedy drama American Splendor. Harvey Pekar (Paul Giamatti) is a comic book writer inspired by the work of his friend Robert Crumb (James Urbaniak). Pekar writes his comics about the sad monotony of everyday life, based on his own life in Cleveland, OH, working as a file clerk at a veteran's hospital and spending his time reading books and listening to jazz. He meets up with Joyce Brabner (Hope Davis) and they enjoy a depressive relationship together. The filmmakers employ a combination of live-action film, video, and animation, including narration and commentary from the real-life Harvey Pekar. The screenplay was based on Pekar's comic book series American Splendor, which he has been writing since 1976 on Dark Horse Comics, and the 1994 book-length comic Our Cancer Year, written by Pekar and Brabner. American Splendor won the Grand Jury Prize in the Dramatic Competition at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

The feature-film debut of filmmaker Rodney Evans, who wrote and produced in addition to taking on directing duties, Brother to Brother explores the life and struggles of black, gay artists in the present and past. Anthony Mackie stars as Perry Williams, a young man dealing with the strife involved with being both African-American and a homosexual in contemporary New York. He is shunned by his father for his sexual identity and wary of being viewed as a sell-out by black peers when his work gains a white audience. When Williams meets an aging poet who was involved in the Harlem Renaissance of the 1930s, he suddenly finds himself transported back in time and cavorting with the likes of Langston Hughes (Daniel Sunjata) and Zora Neale Hurston (Aunjanue Ellis). Among such legends, Williams is able to gain perspective about his own life. Also starring Roger Robinson and Larry Gilliard Jr., Brother to Brother screened in competition at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

Although Jim Jarmusch made his directorial debut with Permanent Vacation (1982), Stranger than Paradise (1984) marked his breakthrough as a major American filmmaker. One of the most deadpan comedies ever committed to film, Stranger than Paradise suggests a Buster Keaton film written by Samuel Beckett and Jack Kerouac and directed by Andy Warhol. Willie (John Lurie) is a small-time gambler whose distant cousin Eva (Eszter Balint) is moving to America from Eastern Europe and informs him that she'll need to stay with him for ten days. Willie isn't happy to have Eva around, but after Willie introduces her to the joys of American cigarettes and TV dinners ("You got your meat, you got your potatoes, you got your vegetables, you got your dessert and you don't have to wash the dishes -- this is how we eat in America!"), Eva steals a frozen meal and a pack of smokes from the corner store, and Willie is both surprised and impressed. His buddy Eddie (Richard Edson) happens by, and they hang out with Eva just long enough to develop a fondness for her before she moves on to Ohio, where she'll live with her Aunt Lottie (Cecillia Stark). Months later, Willie and Eddie score $600 in a poker game and decide to visit Eva in Ohio. However, it's the dead of winter, and they have nothing to do except look at the frozen surface of the lake. The three eventually head down to the tacky paradise of Miami, where Willie and Eddie try their luck with the ponies and Eva decides what to do next. Stranger than Paradise is a film that defines the notion, "It's not what you say, but how you say it." Shot in long, static takes, its style is minimalism itself, but the post-beatnik cool of John Lurie, Richard Edson and Eszter Balint somehow betrays the fact that they care about each other, and a loopy charm and subtle but potent humor seeps through the film's stark black-and-white images. Stranger than Paradise began as a short subject which was made possible by German director Wim Wenders, who gave Jarmusch a supply of film stock left over from one of his projects, and it went on to become one of the most influential movies of the 1980s, casting a wide shadow over the new generation of independent American filmmakers to come. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide