Tribeca Cinemas

This semi-autobiographical classic deals with the iconic French youth Antoine Donel, as he navigates a difficult childhood both at school and at home. The delicacy of the narrative is still unmatched, but it’s the heartbreaking reality at the core of the film that will keep it in your mind long after the credits roll.

Rian Johnson’s debut film follows a dynamic Joseph Gordon Levitt as a teenage gumshoe investigating the disappearance of his girlfriend. Johnson takes all recognizable elements of film noir and plops them down in the middle of a suburban high school. The resulting disconnect is both mesmerizing and amazingly entertaining. This Fall, JGL re-teams with Johnson for the sci-fi drama Looper. After witnessing their chemistry with this underappreciated gem of a film, I’ll be first in line.

This overblown drama follows a group of teenagers who react with apathy and bizarre acceptance after discovering that one of their friends has killed a young woman, also a member of their tight knit clique. The odd performance choices and flatness of dialogue only serve to reinforce the sad truth of the narrative. Based on a true story, the film looks at the characters as honestly as possible (for an 80′s flick starring Crispin Glover & Keanu Reeves, that is). While some of them are paralyzed by their own strange loyalty to their friend, others simply don’t seem to care. Bonus points go to the best element of the film…Glover’s unforgettable mullet.