Movies Released February 15, 2013

Based on a true story, when Chilean military dictator Augusto Pinochet, facing international pressure, calls for a referendum on his presidency in 1988, opposition leaders persuade a brash young advertising executive, Rene Saavedra (Gael García Bernal), to spearhead their campaign. With scant resources and constant scrutiny by the despot’s watchmen, Saavedra and his team devise an audacious plan to win the election and free their country from oppression.

Like Someone in Love revolves around the brief encounter between an elderly professor (the wonderful 81-year-old stage actor Tadashi Okuno, here playing his first leading role in a film) and a sociology student (Rin Takanashi) who moonlights as a high-end escort. Dispatched to the old man by her boss—one of the professor’s former students—the young woman finds her latest client less interested in sex than in cooking her soup, talking, and playing old Ella Fitzgerald records (like the one that gives the film its allusive title). Eventually, night gives way to day and a tense standoff with the student’s insanely jealous boyfriend (Ryô Kase); but as usual in Kiarostami, nothing is quite as it appears on the surface. Are these characters—who conjure in one another the specters of regret and roads not taken—meeting by chance, or is it fate? Is this love, or merely something like it?

Fresh off a stellar collegiate basketball career, aspiring professional basketball star, Damon Sharp, returns to his hometown in Chicago quickly to discover a more challenging game off the court. His former life and old bad habits abruptly challenge his newfound faith in God. Damon’s dreams of playing pro ball hang in the balance while he faces the circling demons of his past, which are being beckoned by his brother Darrin, who’s on a fast track to jail.

Devastated when he doesn’t make the draft pick, weakness takes root and the downward spiraling ensues. Damon’s extended stay at home unveils his mother’s severe depression and his brother’s growing penchant for trouble despite being a single dad, exposing his young nephew’s vulnerability.

An intimate portrait of the two brothers emerges when they are suddenly forced to re-examine their lives, loyalty, love and their own limitations. Ultimately the choices they make reveal their true character when one of them takes a shot in life that will set the course for everyone’s life forever.

The film takes an unconventional journey with a true “comic’s comic”. Eddie Pepitone, a startling voice in the alt-comedy scene, has been battling on-stage for over 30 years. Now in his fifties, he is attempting to take his comedy to the next level. Throughout the film, we follow Eddie as he struggles to break through his cult status while dealing with self-doubt, sobriety and a challenging past.

Original animation, stand-up material and hilarious interviews with Patton Oswalt, Sarah Silverman, Marc Maron and others help us gain insight into this fascinating character. Above all, “The Bitter Buddha” is an unhinged portrait of creativity, enlightenment and rage.