Lots of great movies never make it to your local multiplex — here are six worth seeking out, and where to find them.
About Elly
The Cinema Guild
It's not inaccurate to describe About Elly as a thriller, though that implies wild twists and stunts that the movie doesn't include. It doesn't need them. It finds more than enough stomach-sinking suspense in the everyday lives of its set of middle-class thirtysomethings spending a weekend by the seaside when one of their party, a relative stranger invited as part of a matchmaking scheme, vanishes.
Did she leave without telling anyone? Is she lost to the water? In the aftermath of the mysterious disappearance and in the near drowning of one of the children she was supposed to be watching, secrets are revealed, lies are piled on, and schisms form between the couples, old friends from law school who in times of stress turn out to be less liberal than they'd like to pretend.
About Elly was made in 2009 but only reached U.S. theaters this year. In the time since, writer-director Asghar Farhadi won a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar for his tremendous divorce drama A Separation. Like that film, About Elly is a masterfully well-made feature that rounds out its every character with an unequalled deftness, and in doing so creates an incisive, delicately critical window into modern Iran.
Where to see it: About Elly is now on Blu-ray and DVD and is available for digital rental.
Call Me Lucky
MPI Media Group
If great comedy often comes from dark places, then Barry Crimmins, the subject of fellow stand-up turned filmmaker Bobcat Goldthwait's new documentary, has seen enough to be a big star. Instead, he's a comedian's comedian, a local legend, and a furious funny man turned unexpected activist. And while Call Me Lucky trots out plenty of famous stand-ups to attest to Crimmins' talent, including Margaret Cho, David Cross, Marc Maron, and Patton Oswalt, it doesn't try to put him on a pedestal or force the case for him as a man denied the celebrity he deserves, which is part of its gentle charm.
Instead, Goldthwait's affectionate film pays tribute to the gruff man he looks at as a mentor, exploring his fearless political outspokenness, his influence on the Boston comedy scene, and the way that he went on to crusade against child pornography and abuse after being repeatedly sexually assaulted as a boy. It is, in its own modest way, triumphant, a look at someone who's been through terrible things and hasn't forgotten his pain and his anger, but who's channeled it into something good.
Where to see it: Call Me Lucky is now playing in select theaters and is also available for digital rental.
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