Sleeping Beauty (2011)  Drama

Directors: Julia Leigh

Writers: Julia Leigh (screenplay)

Stars:

 http://Emily Browning, Rachael Blake and Ewen Leslie
THE BUZZ: Poor Emily Browning (Sucker Punch); her breakout year turned out to be a snoozefest instead. This film's sexually-charged content divided audiences at its Cannes Film Festival premiere, but not in a good way, and wound up generating more negative reviews than controversy.


Kinyarwanda (2011)  Drama

Directors: Alrick Brown

Writers: Charles Plath (storyline consultant), Alrick Brown

Stars:

 http://Cleophas Kabasita, Hadidja Zaninka and Marc Gwamaka
THE BUZZ: Alrick Brown's feature debut first scored an audience award at Sundance; most recently, it picked up a similar honor at the American Film Institute Festival. A coalition of black film organizations comprise the distribution company for this multi-layered character drama.


Autoreiji (2010)  Drama

Directors: Takeshi Kitano

Writers: Takeshi Kitano

Stars:

 http://Takeshi Kitano, Kippei Shiina and Ryo Kase
THE BUZZ: It's been many years since we've been treated to a new film from the always-welcome Beat Takeshi; last time out, he directed himself to his biggest Stateside success with Zatôichi. Can he top himself with a contemporary Yakuza tale? There's no major release set for this weekend, so one of these art-house films is poised for a breakthrough. Looks like Takeshi is developing a sequel, too.


Shame (2011)  Drama

Directors: Steve McQueen

Writers: Abi Morgan (screenplay), Steve McQueen (screenplay)

Stars:

 http://Michael Fassbender, Carey Mulligan and James Badge Dale
THE BUZZ: Like Drive before it, Steve McQueen's follow-up to Hunger has earned the strongest reviews of the year from the festival circuit, though this NC-17 foray into the world of sex addiction will be harder to market than an almost-mute Ryan Gosling action movie. Michael Fassbender, looking hollow but heaps more robust than his career launching performance in Hunger, will earn most of the headlines for his endowment, which is often on display, but the true focus should be on McQueen's artful, purposeful, and uncompromising direction. Okay, really I can't wait to see Fassbender naked.


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