For the "Memento" crowd, I'd say, and I'm one of them
so I liked it.

It's a murder mystery, so I would not want to give away
any of it. If you like Amanda Peet (as I do) she turns in
a pretty good performance.

Otherwise, not much of recent vintage to recommend.

I have lots of 'arty' tips though.

If I never mentioned "The Reflecting Skin" that's worth seeking
out. By Phillip Ridley.

It's kind of an oldie now. I don't even know if it has any
'cool index' ... like you are cool if you know about it.

On a lighter note (or maybe not) I just grabbed Giuseppe
Tornatore's _Malena_. Tornatore is most well-known for
_Cinema Paradiso_. This one is a coming of age film
set during WWII. Monica Bellucci (Mary Magdallen in Gibson's
"Passion" is the object of desire.

Both films are about youngsters going through difficult times.

But in Reflecting Skin, the difficult times are created by the
director. Hardly anyone's childhood is _that_ weird.

The vhs I found in the basic stock rack at the local
rental store emphasises more of the community aspects of
the film: smallItalian town, beautiful woman whose husband
is off at the war, kid's first crush-- that sort of thing.

I'll tell you this: the only hot shots, if you can call them
that, which persist on the screen no longer than a flash through
the boy's mind are not that pleasant.

Ms Bellucci has been in a few other things I've seen like
"Tears of the Sun."

Also this gives me a chance to go find the 'real'
poster art for Malena:

I got "Lost In Translation" on a whim from the local
library. I am sure glad I didn't spend any dough on it.
Without going into a long review, I believe that the
Autumn-Spring romances of the "As Good As it Gets"
sort is a Hollywood fiction I've just had enough of.

I turned it off after about 11 minutes of Bill Murray tedium.

• Malena original poster art

Thanks for finding the "Malena original poster art" link. I clicked on the image and found some still shots from the movie.

There were two images used on the two DVD releases. One was the theater release version, the other was an uncut version:

Theater Release Edition


Special Uncut Edition