The hormones just about drip off the screen in WATER LILIES (NAISSANCE DES PIEUVRES), a sexually charged story about teenage French girls coming of age and wrestling, both literally and figuratively, with hetero and homosexual urges. Set amid an all-girls synchronized water ballet group, the film abounds in locker room and shower scenes populated by pubescent girls in various states of undress. Dirty old (and young) men and lesbians of every stripe will be the enthusiastic audience for this ravishing, painfully perceptive depiction of sexual awakenings among the young and the horny.

WATER LILIES, directed by Céline Sciamma, opens at the Angelika Houston and the Angelika Dallas on Friday, June 27.

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Michael Haneke does Michael Haneke in this stunning remake of FUNNY GAMES, his own 1997 German cult film. Re-done in English and re-branded FUNNY GAMES U.S., the film may have some people squirming in their seats and some leaving them altogether - but those who stay will be treated to a daring onslaught of excruciating suspense and implied violence.

Director Haneke has assembled a top notch ensemble for this shot by shot remake: Naomi Watts and Tim Roth are stellar, but the revelation in casting is Michael Pitt - that pretty boy face conceals a sadistic monster that is somehow simultaneously alluring and horrifying.

FUNNY GAMES U.S. opens at the Angelika New York and the Angelika Houston on March 14. Don’t miss it.

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With a title perhaps more suited to a horror film based on a video game, TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE is actually a stunning documentary about what happened to an innocent Afghan cab driver when he became ensnared by US authorities and sent to Bagram, where he was tortured and killed. The ultimate present-day horror story, the film is an important and truly artistic document made by the man (Alex Gibney) who exposed the dark side of American capitalism and the Enron debacle in THE SMARTEST GUYS IN THE ROOM. But at least in that scandal - to paraphrase the bumper sticker – “those guys lied but nobody died”. TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE is a must see for all serious film goers.

TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE opens on January 18 @ the Angelika New York.

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Mark your calendars - our sneak recently caught a screening of Paul Thomas Anderson’s THERE WILL BE BLOOD and came back with much impassioned applause for the stellar adaptation of Upton Sinclair’s novel “Oil!”. See what he had to say below:

The Academy should just send the Oscar for Best Male Performance right now to Daniel Day Lewis for his mesmerizing role in There Will Be Blood. Director Paul Thomas Anderson’s stunning Citizen Kane-like saga of a ruthless oilman in the late 1800’s in a Western United States where entrepreneurs were as dangerous and deadly as any gunslinger. This is truly an American masterpiece.

Look for THERE WILL BE BLOOD @ the Angelika Dallas in early January ‘08.

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The French have always known that great animations features were not only for the kiddie- matinee set (the phenomenal grosses for RATATOUILLE proved to be a slam dunk in France), so it should come as no surprise that this stunning black and white animated adaptation of Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel (or what the intellectuals call “comic books”) about a young Iranian woman’s coming of age is such an unalloyed delight. This French feature has already won critical acclaim in film festivals from Cannes to Toronto, and will appeal to all ages - even the ones that can’t read the subtitles - either because they haven’t mastered English yet or because they left their bifocals at home.

Read one of PERSEPOLIS’ many glowing reviews here. The film opens Christmas Day @ the Angelika New York & January 18 @ the Angelika Houston. Don’t miss it!

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Director Jonathan Demme’s smart, low-key chronicle of former president Jimmy Carter’s controversial book tour for his book Palestine Freedom or Apartheid confirms Demme’s mastery of the documentary form (STOP MAKING SENSE) and of the inherent decency and intelligence of this subject. Leisurely building to a moving climax, this is a forceful reminder (along with Nobel Prize Winner Al Gore) that America can still produce leaders of integrity and intelligence even if we do not always agree with all of their positions. One of the year’s best documentaries in a year of terrific non-fiction films.

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