Award Winning Movies
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Aurora
This Romanian murder mystery slash existentialist meditation ranked number four on J.Hoberman's (City Pages, Village Voice) list of the best films of 2011. Mahnola Dargis of the New York Times called it "A slow burning tour de force."
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Beginners
Ewan McGregor plays Oliver who, in this critically-acclaimed dramedy, we see beginning a romantic relationship with Anna (Melanie Laurent) while adjusting to his father's coming out as gay after 45 years of marriage. Christopher Plummer won the Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe for his performance as the father and has been nominated for the corresponding Oscar.
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Happy, Happy
Agnes Kittleson stars in this winning Norwegian comedy as Kaja, whose sunny disposition is not diminished by her dour, unloving husband Eirik. But when the new neighbors have something like the perfect life she's always dreamed of for herself, things start to get complicated. The Star Tribune's Colin Covert says, "The trysts and twists are handled with a Coen-esque sense of ironic melancholy." Winner of the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize at last year's Sundance and a hit at our own Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Film Festival.
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Moneyball
Moneyball accomplishes the unprecedented feat of being a baseball movie liked by people who don't like baseball and by people who do. It's ironic that the most broadly likeable movie of the year was adapted from the most controversial book the world of baseball has ever known. Moneyball has been nominated for Best Picture at the upcoming Oscars.
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Octubre
Octubre overcomes its cliched premise (single guy has to change his life with the arrival of a baby) with winning performances, sharp writing and deadpan humor. The debut feature from Peruvian brothers Daniel and Diego Vega won the Prix du Jury at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival and played to great acclaim at the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Film Festival.
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Project Nim
Winner of the World Cinema Directing Award at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, Project Nim details a controversial experiment in which a chimpanzee born in captivity was raised as a human child. Named Nim Chimpsky, we follow as he learns to speak (via sign language), is potty trained and navigates the other hurdles of childhood, but the film is as much about the humans in his life. Project Nim is director James Marsh's follow-up to the Oscar winning documentary blockbuster Man On Wire.
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Tiny Furniture
The Criterion Collection presents the debut feature of writer/director/actress Lena Dunham. Winner of the Best Narrative Feature award at the SXSW Film Festival and the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay, Tiny Furniture is a movie about passive-aggression, about family and about that awkward piece of life between the end of college and the beginning of everything else.
