My pick of the week is the underseen Cautiva, a drama from Argentina. Cristina's biological parents were "disappeared" during the 1970s, but she knew nothing about it and is none too happy when she is torn away from her comfortable upper class existence to live with them. Cautiva (AKA Captive) does not dig very deeply into the political issues that it raises -- and I kept wishing that Cristina would react to her situation instead of simply slumping her shoulders -- but it is fascinating for its new twists on the old coming of age story.

More fully realized on every level, Away From Her marked the assured directorial debut of actress Sarah Polley. She paints a delicate portrait of a long-time marriage that reaches a breaking point from which it may never recover. In his Sundance review, our own James Rocchi wrote: "Away from Her is a truly romantic film, and it moves us because it knows the cruel, beautiful fact that how much love and life give us is often matched by how much they can cost." Julie Christie and Gordon Pinsent star. The DVD includes an audio commentary with Christie, plus deleted scenes and commentary by Polley.

Triad Election is a riveting drama starring Simon Yam as a Hong Kong mob boss who desperately wants to stay in power. Johnny To masterfully directed. Cinematical's Jeffrey M. Anderson says that "the movie's real strength comes in the performances, the interplay, and the unknown levels of trust." Triad Election is actually the second part of a drama that begins with 2005's Election, which details Yam's rise to power. Unfortunately, Election won't be released on Region 1 DVD until November. Taken together, they are powerful, but even separated like this, Triad Election is well worth a look.

Other indie titles that may deserve a rental include Hungarian sports drama White Palms, character drama Snow Cake (featuring Alan Rickman and Sigourney Weaver), and nightlife comedy The Boys & Girls Guide to Getting Down.

I don't know much about Melissa George because I haven't seen the majority of films she's appeared in. Actually, I haven't seen any of the films she's appeared in. I do know that her star is slowly rising, and we'll definitely get a much better look at her when she stars opposite Josh Hartnett in the upcoming vampire thriller 30 Days of Night. Thankfully, I'm not here to announce George's involvement in a sequel to Captivity -- although the two films do share similar themes. Moviehole reports that George has signed on to star in Captive, a new thriller written and directed by Amanda Gusack. Apparently the film is shooting in Canada this month, yet I, personally, haven't heard of it (and nether has IMDb).

In the film, George will play a happily married mother who wakes up after a bad car accident to find herself a hostage in a remote waterfront warehouse. Some dude named Vince (who's also a "masked killer") is holding her, and "shocking revelations are about to turn her formerly safe and orderly existence upside down." I'm not sure what those "shocking revelations" might be, but I'd say waking up in a warehouse next to a masked killer is shocking in and of itself. As Moviehole cleverly points out, George seems fond of this type of material. Either that, or it's all she can get. Aside from Captive, she was stuck in a loony house with Ryan Reynolds in The Amityville Horror remake, she was kidnapped by organ harvesters in Turistas and we'll watch her fending off a vampire attack pretty soon in 30 Days of Night. Is it just me, or does someone like it freaky?