while she was out Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Not that it's any of my business, but are your halls decked? Is your gay apparel donned? Good! Then you have time to go to the movies, and the Indie Spotlight is here to tell you what's playing beyond the multiplexes!

'Tis the season for limited-release pictures that are sort of indie films and sort of studio productions. For example, this weekend there's Doubt (in NY, LA, Chicago, Boston, and San Francisco), The Reader (NY and LA), and Che (NY and LA) -- but you've heard plenty about those films elsewhere. There's also Delgo, which is a truly independent animated film -- but it's opening on 1,800 screens, so you don't need me to tell you about it here.

Our focus is the stuff that might be under the radar, which this week includes: Adam Resurrected, Dark Streets, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, Timecrimes, What Doesn't Kill You, Where God Left His Shoes, While She Was Out, and Wendy and Lucy. For the details, read on!

Wendy and Lucy (pictured)
What it is: A quiet drama about a penniless woman (Michelle Williams) whose car breaks down in rural Oregon while she's heading West to find a job. Lucy is the name of her dog and traveling companion. The film is not, as I previously believed, a biopic about the red-haired girl from the fast food place and Linus' older sister.
What they're saying: Cinematical raved about it at Cannes earlier this year, and 89% of the critics at Rotten Tomatoes agree. The consensus is that it's a tender, beautifully shot, emotionally intimate little film.
Where it's playing: New York City (Film Forum), Los Angeles (Laemmle Sunset 5).
More info: The official site has a list of release dates for a few dozen other cities.

Here's some Tuesday news flavor to whet your movie palate:

• While there is still no word on whether Waters will buy the Senator and turn it into a smelly haven for sleaze, there will be more Odorama, at least for lucky moviegoers who score tickets to the Polyester screenings at the Jacksonville Film Festival. As part of their special "The Talkies" series, the fest will have a dual-night Waters feature. On the first night, the film will be screened to reacquaint audiences with it -- in all its Odorama card glory. The next night the film with be screened again, but with a special, live commentary by John Waters. For fans of the cult director, you can't get much better than that! [via Twitch]
• In October, Erik mused about a screwdriver-weilding Kim Basinger in her upcoming film, While She Was Out. In the film, she witnesses a murder and is subsequently terrorized, in the woods, by a group of kids with only a toolbox to protect her. Now, Lukas Haas has signed on to play the leader of the menacing gang. While it's flattering for Hollywood to consider people older than me to be suitable for kids roles, it's about time Haas got to act his age!
• Jennifer Hudson is continuing on her seemingly unending wave of "Nah, nah-nah. nah-nah, nah - American Idol!" success. She's topped off an Oscar nomination for Dreamgirls with a history-making appearance on the cover of Vogue. She will be only the third African-American celebrity to make the cover of the 115 year-old mag (after Halle Berry and Oprah) -- and the first songstress to do so. The photo comes from Hollywood photographer extraordinaire, Annie Leibovitz, and it will be used for the yearly Power Issue. I wonder how crazy that is driving Fantasia...

Ok, so what's up with Kim Basinger and these "Help! I'm surrounded my thugs and there's no way out!" roles? First there was Cellular, in which she played a housewife who is taken hostage by a group of toughs with only a broken cell phone that dials one number to keep her connected to the outside world. Remember that one? Larry Cohen was going through, what I like to call, his "phone period," having written the screenplay for Phone Booth and the story for Cellular back-to-back.

Basinger has signed on to star in While She Was Out. Pic (which is neither a follow-up to Sandra Bullock's While You Were Sleeping nor a feature film version of the TLC show While You Were Out) revolves around a suburban housewife (Basinger) who finds herself lost in the woods and surrounded by a group of murderous thugs. Now, [cue cheesy closing line] all she has is a toolbox and her will to survive. A toolbox? WTF? Will she start by throwing screwdrivers at these guys? How much you wanna bet Craftsman invested a crap-load of money in product placement? Lifetime warranty baby! This way, if your wrench were to break while you were fighting for your life, simple return it to Sears for a new one. It's that easy. Anyway, Susan Montford is attached to direct and production is scheduled to begin this January.