MAY 23
THE BOSS OF IT ALL
Cast: Jens Albinus, Peter Gantzler
Director: Lars von Trier
Lars von Trier, director of the beautifully glum Dancer in the Dark and Dogville, lightens up considerably in this comedy about the owner of a computer company who hires an actor (Albinus) to impersonate him and thereby take the heat socks to the jaw included from pissed-off employees and shareholders. (IFC) Opens New York and Los Angeles May 23, with additional cities to follow.
I HAVE NEVER FORGOTTEN YOU: THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF SIMON WIESENTHAL
Director: Richard Trank
Nicole Kidman narrates this documentary that explores the life of Simon Wiesenthal, from his childhood in the Ukraine to the Holocaust and post-war, when Wiesenthal spent the rest of his life hunting down those who killed 89 of his family members, and some six million others. (Luminous Velocity Releasing) Opens New York May 23, with additional cities to follow.
MAY 25
AMU
Cast: Konkona Sen Sharma
Director: Shonali Bose
In this Indian drama from first-time writer-director Bose, a 21-year-old Indian-American woman (Sen Sharma) travels to Delhi to unravel a family secret, which is tied to the violent riots that followed the 1984 assassination of Indira Gandhi. (Emerging Pictures) Opens New York May 25, Los Angeles June 1, with additional cities to follow.
ANGEL-A
Cast: Jamel Debbouze, Rie Rasmussen
Director: Luc Besson
The first film in eight years from French writer-director Besson (Subway, La Femme Nikita) is a black-and-white love letter to his native Paris, centering on a one-armed vagabond (Debbouze) and the beautiful woman (Rasmussen) he saves from suicide. (Sony Pictures Classics) Opens New York and Los Angeles May 25, and additional cities to follow.
BUG
Cast: Ashley Judd, Michael Shannon, Harry Connick Jr.
Director: William Friedkin
Director William Friedkin (The French Connection, The Exorcist) returns with an adaptation of screenwriter Tracy Letts's intense off-Broadway drama about an Oklahoma cocktail waitress (Ashley Judd) who invites a Gulf War vet (Michael Shannon) into her motel room home. Over time, she gradually becomes caught up in his belief that the room they're occupying is infected with government-issued bugs the kind that crawl. (Lionsgate) Opens nationwide.
THE GOLDEN DOOR
Cast: Vincenzo Amato, Charlotte Gainsbourg
Director: Emanuele Crialese
This epic tale from writer-director Crialese (Respiro) moves from the Old World to the New as an early-20th-century Sicilian (Amato) sells his livestock and immigrates to America, passing through Ellis Island and into New York alongside a mysterious Englishwoman (Gainsbourg). (Miramax) Opens New York May 25, Los Angeles June 1, and additional cities to follow.
PAPRIKA
Director: Satoshi Kon
Animé buffs are jazzed about this latest film from Japan's Kon about a 29-year-old psychotherapist whose computerized alter ego, Paprika, can enter people's dreams and cure them of neurosis. If only. (Sony Pictures Classics) Opens New York and Los Angeles May 25, and additional cities to follow.
PARIS, JE T'AIME
Cast: Steve Buscemi, Juliette Binoche, Nick Nolte, Fanny Ardant, Ben Gazzara, Gena Rowlands
Director: Various
Twenty filmmakers from around the world, including Gus Van Sant, Alfonso Cuarón and Alexander Payne, direct their favorite actors in short vignettes celebrating the boundless romantic possibilities of the City of Light. (First Look) Now playing New York and Los Angeles, opens additional cities May 25, June 1, June 22.
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD'S END
Cast: Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley, Geoffrey Rush
Director: Gore Verbinski
Verbinski sends Jack Sparrow, Will Turner and the lovely Elizabeth to the edge of the known world, over which we pray they will sail, never to be seen again. (Buena Vista) Opens nationwide.
SEVERANCE
Cast: Danny Dyer, Laura Harris, Tom McInerny, Toby Stephens
Director: Christopher Smith
On a corporate retreat in Budapest, an international arms dealer and his six employees are attacked by crazed mercenaries, whoand we're just guessing heremust be pissed over not having received a bulk discount. (Magnolia) Now playing New York, opens San Francisco and Los Angeles May 25; Orange County, Minneapolis, Dallas and Seattle June 1, with additional cities to follow.