Yes, American women, you have your beloved Sex and the City, and you may or may not want your Friends in the future, but you have nothing to compare to the female population in Japan, who are singing, en masse, the praises of Boys Over Flowers!

Currently sweeping the nation, Boys Over Flowers: Final shoved old Indiana Jones and his silly old Crystal Skull out of the way, Box Office Mojo tells us, wresting the #1 spot away from the Spielberg-Lucas devil child, whose fridge has indeed been nuked. Crystal Skull is in its second week of release in Japan; playing on 788 screens, it averaged $7,810 per screen, while Boys Over Flowers: Final averaged more than three times that amount. What's the Japanese word for "ka-ching!"?

As you might suspect from its English-language title, the phenomenom is not new, beginning with a manga series (Hana Yori Dango) published from 1992 to 2003. Among other spin-offs, an anime series was broadcast (available on Region 1 DVD), as well as a hugely popular live-action television series that aired in two 11-episode arcs in 2005 and 2007, following the travails of a "working-class girl [Inoue Mao] at an elite prep school who must contend with a four-man clique of rich, gorgeous guys," as Variety summarized. The movie wraps things up. Kevin at Nippon Cinema has a good synopsis of the whole thing, along with a teaser and a trailer from the Japanese-language official site.

Boys Over Flowers: Final proved very popular with young women aged 16 through 19, who supplied 25% of the audience, according to lunapark6. Owing to its popularity, perhaps an enterprising US company will pick up DVD rights and make the movie available in the US.

Tell No One is a decidedly modern thriller that also, wisely, respects the great examples of the genre's past; strip away all the e-mail and web video and it's a classic Hitchcockian thriller, where a regular-but-resourceful man is squeezed between those who have committed a crime and the cops who think he's committed it. Based on a novel by American best-selling author Harlen Coben, Tell No One is transplanted -- gently -- to France by writer-director Guillame Canet, who turns Coben's breezy summertime page-turner into a breezy summertime movie. Yes, there are plot points in the film where you'll later go back and puzzle over how who knew what when, but trust me, you won't be thinking about that while Tell No One's running up on the big screen.

Alex (François Cluzet) and Margot (Marie-Josee Croze) are happy, childhood sweethearts who've made a real and adult marriage out of that foundation; they're relaxing at the family's country estate enjoying a little night swimming when Margot gets out of the water to check on something. There's a shout, a scream; Alex swims to help her ... and is knocked unconscious by a blow. And then a title jumps the film "Eight Years Later." It's an eye blink for us; for Alex, it's been an eternity.

You say you've got an indie jones? A desire to see something that's not playing on every single screen in America? Then you've come to the right place. "Indie Spotlight" is a new column that will appear each Friday at Cinematical, listing the films that are opening in limited release that weekend. We'll tell you what they are, where they're playing, and what the critics are saying about them, to give you something to see beyond the multiplexes.

This Fourth of July is a fine time to declare your love of independents, as these films are opening in art houses across the land: Diminished Capacity, Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, Holding Trevor, Kabluey, Tell No One, The Wackness, and We Are Together.

Diminished Capacity
What it is: Matthew Broderick plays a man suffering from memory problems who returns to his hometown to hang out with his uncle (Alan Alda), who has Alzheimer's. He connects with an old girlfriend (Virginia Madsen), too; not sure on whether she can remember things or not. Oh, and it's a comedy.
What they're saying: Cinematical's Christopher Campbell gave it a so-so review; boss man Erik Davis liked it better, but he's in the minority.
Where it's playing: New York City (Landmark Sunshine Cinema; Clearview's 62nd & Broadway), Chicago (Landmark Century Centre Cinema), and Los Angeles (Laemmle's Music Hall 3, Beverly Hills).
Official site: IFC Films.

Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
What it is: Sadly, Gonzo is not the long-awaited biopic of the misunderstood Muppet. It is instead a documentary about the legendary writer/journalist/hallucinogen-enthusiast whose work you might know from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. The doc, by Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room), premiered at Sundance.
What they're saying: Cinematical's James Rocchi reviewed it favorably and interviewed Gibney. Our Nick Schager liked it, too.

Even the weirder artists of the twentieth century have been attracted to the allure of Hollywood filmmaking, and Salvador Dali was no exception. In the fall of 1941, the surrealist painter hosted a masquerade party at Pebble Beach during one of his regular visits to the town. Called "Surrealism Night in An Enchanted Forest," the fundraising event, intended to assist European refugee artists, brought out a number of stars, including Bob Hope and Ginger Rogers. It was here, the story goes, that Dali became attached to a major studio production called Moontide. The great German emigre Fritz Lang was hired to direct the movie, and asked Dali to create a three-minute nightmare sequence for the film. Unfortunately, after the incident at Pearl Harbor later that year, Twentieth Century Fox deemed the project too bleak. Lang was replaced, and Dali's nightmare sequence went with him.

Although inspired by the movies, Dali didn't always have the easiest time making them. He would get another chance to inject his hallucinatory vision into American cinema with the hypnosis scene in Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound, but it's his unrealized projects that truly indicate the scope of the painter's ambition. So many ideas, such little time. Dali: Painting and Film, a breathtakingly unique exhibit currently on display at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, surveys Dali's completed cinematic works in addition to tidbits from the ones that never came to fruition. Marvelously structured to show how his paintings were intentionally cinematic, the exhibit contains all the obvious highlights from Dali's movie career alongside lesser-known productions. The importance in film history of his collaborations with Luis Bunuel remain uncontested; two large screens in separate rooms showing Un Chien Andalou (where the opening eye splicing retains its original gross-out impact) and L'Age D'Or attest to that. Fewer visitors, however, might know about Dali's collaboration with the Marx Brothers on a deliriously strange movie that sounded too good to be true.

A couple of weeks back, I wrote about the imminent release of three-quel Public Enemy Returns. Hopes were high that the Korean-made crime action comedy would enjoy a measure of success and thus buoy local filmmakers; Korean audiences have been avoiding local product for months.

Public Enemy Returns did indeed have a bountiful opening, grossing more than $7.2 million in its premiere weekend and smashing Get Smart, according to Box Office Mojo. In its second weekend, though, it fell victim to international action powerhouse Wanted, demonstrating that curving bullets and the even more curvaceous Angelina Jolie need fear no borders. Still, Public Enemy Returns has nothing to be ashamed of -- it made $4.7 million to Wanted's $5.4 million -- and provides hope that upcoming Korean movies such as The Good, the Bad, and the Weird, Sunny, and Eye for an Eye will find favor locally in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, Kung Fu Panda has been warmly embraced by China, in the words of The Hollywood Reporter. With $14 million in box office receipts in its first ten days, the animated animal adventure has already been declared "the most successful foreign animated film in China," as claimed by a government news agency. If accurate, that gross would place the film practically neck and neck with Iron Man and the Chinese-made Kung Fu Dunk for the #3 box office position for the year so far. I haven't seen Panda yet; is this is a good thing or a bad thing from a cultural and/or cinematic standpoint?

Despite dropping more than 50% in its second week of release, Kit Kittredge: An American Girl (Picturehouse) outdrew all other specialty releases over the weekend, earning $21,200 per screen at five theaters, according to estimates compiled by Box Office Mojo.

Directed by Canadian indie veteran Patricia Rozema (I've Heard the Mermaids Singing, When Night is Falling), Kit Kittredge has clearly benefited from a devoted fan base that convinced thousands of their parental units to fork over $20 per ticket -- which, to be fair, includes a limited-edition t-shirt -- to see the movie in advance of its wide release tomorrow. That's a very good performance when you consider its main competition was not, actually, a French-language flick that skewed very adult, but actually a heavily-advertised animated film.

Catherine Breillat's The Last Mistress (IFC Films), starring Asia Argento, took in $17,600 per screen at two locations, which probably owes as much, if not more, to the name recognition of Argento as that of the often-confounding Breillat.

Catherine Breillat is a director fascinated with the intricacies of desire. This does not, however, mean that her work is altogether sexy. Rather, the celebrated French director's esteemed canon - highlighted by 1999's graphic Romance and 2001's stunning Fat Girl - is cerebral even when steamily carnal, her films intellectual exercises that arouse the head as much as the nether regions. Her latest, The Last Mistress, is by and large no different. Based on Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly's taboo 1851 novel, it's a period piece revisitation of her interest in the ambiguous motivations of, and feelings born from, romance, here delivered not with her usual shocking transgressiveness but, instead, with the refinement, grace and sensuousness of a charged costume drama. This 19th-century setting results, on the one hand, in something of a startling change of pace for Breillat, whose cinema has long been infused with a decidedly modern strain of provocation. And yet on the other hand, her preoccupation with love's thorny complications feels right at home in the drawing rooms and boudoirs of indolent 1835 Parisian aristocrats, whose public civility masks private conduct of a much more lascivious sort.

Cinematical has just received two exclusive clips from The Last Mistress (watch one above, and the other after the jump). Based on the novel by Jules-Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly, Mistress comes to us from writer-director Catherine Breillat (Fat Girls, Romance) whose film's are known for carrying distinct personal and sexual flavor. Reporting from the San Francisco International Film Festival, Cinematical's Jeffrey M. Anderson called The Last Mistress "the most enjoyable of the three Breillat films I've seen," and says "It works on a gut level of sexual turmoil that her other films never approach ..."

Back when Cinematical premiered the poster for this film, Monika provided this description: "Asia Argento stars as Vellini, a courtesan who has lust-filled and violent forays with Ryno (Fu'ad Aït Aattou) for years. But then he leaves her to marry Hermangarde (Roxane Mesquida), and she's not prepared to say goodbye." I'd see this based on the Breillat/Argento pairing alone, as one can only imagine the amount of devilish spice contained within.

The Last Mistress arrives in theaters today, June 27, in NYC at the IFC Center and Lincoln Plaza Cinemas, as well as On Demand. Look for it to expand in the coming weeks.

You know what I call 18 consecutive days of horror, sci-fi, action foreign, indie, obscure, and generally weird movies? Well obviously I call it heaven, but most normal people refer to it as Montreal's Fantasia Film Festival, which runs every July and throws a couple hundred features and shorts to a very ravenous crowd of genre freaks. And with folks like Mitch Davis, Tony Timpone, and Todd Brown (among others) on the programming end, you could probably just book a flight to Montreal without even checking the official Fantasia website.

I'm still not sure if I can make the trek up north next month, but I have been invited and (based mainly on the recently-released full lineup of flicks) I can pretty much guarantee that the current registrants are in for one hell of a good time. Among their selected titles, I can very strongly recommend All the Boys Love Mandy Lane, Dance of the Dead, Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer, Let the Right One In, Mother of Tears, [REC], Stuck, and Timecrimes -- plus they're offering solid titles like Fear(s) of the Dark, The Objective, Red, Second Skin, and Spine Tingler. Among the stuff I'm still drooling to see: Babysitter Wanted, Dark Floors, Midnight Meat Train, Pig Hunt, Repo: The Genetic Opera, and (of course) a new Uwe Boll flick. Plus this festival seems to offer more "Asian weirdness" movies than you'll ever find in one place. At least a dozen that look and sound certifiably insane, unless you'd define Tokyo Gore Police and Negative Happy Chain as "mainstream."

For a complete schedule, lineup, trailer bank, and tons of geeky goodness (in your choice of English or French!), click here and then here. (Montreal's not all that far away...)

A bit of math tells me that after this weekend, 2008 will be halfway over. But here at The (Mostly) Indie Film Calendar, we prefer to think that 2008 has only halfway begun. There are still six months left to participate in the many cool film-related events that happen every week outside the nation's multiplexes! If you know of something coming up -- special screenings, retrospectives, mini-festivals, etc. -- send me a link! My e-mail is Eric.Snider (at) Weblogsinc (dot) com.

This week, even if WALL-E is what you've always Wanted, try to make room in your life for these...

INDIE THEATRICAL RELEASES

• Gunnin' for That #1 Spot is a doc about the nation's top high school basketball players competing in a tournament -- and the film was directed by Beastie Boy Adam Yauch, so you know it's hip. Cinematical's Scott Weinberg gave it a rave review at Tribeca. It opens today in places where basketball is big, just in time for the NBA draft: New York, L.A., Phoenix, Portland, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington D.C.

• Finding Amanda stars Matthew Broderick as a TV producer who goes to Las Vegas to convince his niece (Brittany Snow) to enter rehab. Our Erik Davis tried to find something nice to say about it at Tribeca but was unsuccessful. Opens today in NYC, L.A., Chicago, Boston, Philly, D.C., San Francisco, and Palm Desert, Calif.

After the jump, more indie theatrical releases, plus the city-by-city list of special events....

With the film industry so busy that even the art houses are having trouble finding room for the indies they want to show, some execs are starting to look at more creative ways of getting their movies seen. That's why the Weinstein Co. is handing over one of its products to IFC Films, which will release it later this year in theaters and -- on the same day -- through Video-on-Demand, right into people's homes.

The movie is Elite Squad, a Brazilian drama about police corruption that won the top prize at Berlin in February and comes from a great pedigree: it was directed by José Padilha, who made the fantastic documentary Bus 174, and co-written by Bráulio Mantovani, who wrote City of God. (Cinematical's Scott Weinberg reviewed it mostly favorably at Tribeca.) It's the kind of foreign film that would normally do pretty well on the U.S. art house circuit, if the art houses weren't already overcrowded at the moment.

So the Weinsteins -- who actually helped produce the film, rather than merely buying the finished product at a festival -- have made a deal (with unspecified terms) with IFC Films. IFC will release it in a few theaters at the same time that it becomes available through IFC's Video-on-Demand service. Our Christopher Campbell wrote an excellent summary of this practice, known as "day-and-date," in April. Basically, day-and-date helps non-blockbuster films get seen by more people.

The word is a powerful tool that offers precise communication, as well as removal. But cinema is not about the word, it's about the scene. Matthias Glasner's The Free Will removes many of the words, and most of the padding that allows viewers a cushioned safety zone, leaving us to see, experience, and feel the pain and drama on screen in a way that forces us not to fall for cinematic tricks and clever writing.

The Free Will is the story of a rapist, Theo (Jürgen Vogel). However, instead of merely discussing his crimes and moving on, or revealing a carefully edited flashback, we're served the full, brutal force of his crimes. Much of the first half hour is a detailed account of one of his rapes -- no voiceovers, no chance for removal -- just the cries of his victim as he grabs her, savagely beats her, and sexually assaults her. It's a horrific scene to watch, and something that should definitely be missed by those with their own personal assault triggers, but this scene does serve a purpose. It makes rape real -- more than a word, and something you cannot ignore, no matter where the film takes you. It's not a removed crime like Kevin Bacon's portrayal of pedophilia in The Woodsman, where it's easier to sympathize with his character since the crimes are off-screen. We see Theo's crime, feel it, and know that what comes isn't just a simple love story.

Yes, this is the story of a man who is sent away for rape, and once he's released after almost ten years, tries to find love and live a normal life.

Let me tell you about a movie that outraged, angered, and sickened me -- and why it demands your attention.

The Free Will begins, basically, with a long, hideously-detailed and violent rape scene. Theo (Jürgen Vogel, who also produced and co-wrote) is convicted of his crime; the bulk of the film deals with his post-prison life, his struggles with rehabilitation, and his relationship with Nettie (Sabine Timoteo), seemingly a victim in waiting. I have strong reservations about The Free Will: it's filled with ugly, offensive actions, and I felt like I was dragged through the mire for 163 minutes for little reason other than to shove my face in the muck. Still, there is no denying the power of the performances or the talent of director Matthias Glasner. It is a provocative piece that inspires deep thinking about important issues.

Michael Guillén wrote a long and thoughtful review at The Evening Class -- my comments above are adapted from my response to his review -- which may help you decide whether to rent or buy The Free Will, which is out on DVD today. Benten Films has quickly developed a very fine reputation for their releases, so expect a good-quality transfer. Their edition includes an audio commentary by Glasner and Vogel, the original theatrical trailer, and a new critical essay by Time Out's David Fear.

"I am the other 7 foot Aussie giant actor," Conan Stevens commented on Friday in response to my recent post on the Thai action movie Somtum. That's the one starring Nathan Jones, a 7-foot tall Australian wrestling strongman turned actor. Jones stars as Barney Emerald, a gentle-spirited non-fighter who learns Muay Thai and encounters crazed foreigners and stolen diamonds. One of those "crazed foreigners" is none other than Conan Stevens.

Stevens linked to his entertaining blog, in which he writes about the launch of the movie in Thailand. He relates funny stories about the premiere showing for cast and crew, and admits that he and a fellow actor were more interested in seeing how they came across in the movie than in the movie itself, which is entirely understandable. Somtum was, unfortunately, not a big hit, but as Stevens notes, it was competing against several big Hollywood releases.

He says that production company Baa Ram Ewe is targeting overseas markets. I'd expect a DVD release in Thailand within 3-4 months, judging by how long it took previous action smash Chocolate to make its way to DVD. Stevens says the dialogue in Somtum is about half English, half Thai, so fans may still want to pick up the Thai DVD even if it doesn't have English sub-titles. Stevens' site is jammed full of good stories and photos, so check it out to learn more about making movies and living life in the "Land of Smiles."

In case you don't read Entertainment Weekly and didn't see this week's double issue on "The New Classics," or you didn't see my post last week about their list of the best movies from the last 25 years, here's a sad fact: only six foreign-language films made the list. They are: Wings of Desire (#28); Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (#49); The Lives of Others (#56); All About My Mother (#69); Y Tu Mamá También (#86); and In the Mood for Love (#95). OK, so 6% is not terrible for a mainstream entertainment magazine, but EW had to add insult to injury with an accompanying map labeled "Movies: Breaking Down the List," which points to a number of locations around the globe in which some of these new classics are set. The only continent on the map without any love is South America (Antarctica was not included in the visual aid).

Now, before I get into my love letter to new Latin American cinema, I have to note that no film produced in Africa made the list either. However, on the map the continent was at least given some minuscule bit of love via the filming locations for Casino Royale and Gladiator. Yet despite the fact that South America was definitely used as a location in a few of the 100 films, it's shown no respect. And on top of that, Central America isn't even included on the map. For some strange reason there's just a gap between Mexico and South America. Meanwhile, Latin America's sole representative on EW's list, Mexico's Y Tu Mamá También, is left off the map so that no location from this area of the world, from the Mexican-U.S. border to Cape Horn, receives any recognition.