Rent It!...

...when these come out on DVD. Alas, they've both left the theaters too soon:

The Dead Girl
Fascinating character study of people associated with a dead girl. Sounds morbid and uninteresting, right? But wrong you would be! (I know that's annoying Alannis Morrissette-speak, i.e. Under Rug Swept, but I digress). The film captures moments in people's lives that were, are, or will be affected by a dead girl, for example, the medical examiner, the mother, the stranger who found her, the girl, etc. Each has their slice of life story told as a separate vignette, but the impact of this one incident on their lives combined -- as an observer of all of their stories -- leaves a bigger impact. In a way, its kind of like Babel in structure and goal, except the goal is executed better. And what a cast! Toni Collette, Mary Steenburgen, Giovanni Ribisi, Mary Beth Hurt. Nominated for Best Feature Film at the Independent Spirit Awards, Best Actress Mary Beth Hurt, others.

Sweet Land
OK, I haven't seen this, but its in my Netflix queue. It was here for about a week in October; I noticed several rave reviews but missed it. A delicate story set in Minnesota two generations ago about immigrants, ignorance and love, it won the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature (and was nominated for others). I don't know what I was thinking when I saw "Bobby" up in Minneapolis over Christmas instead of this movie, which was playing next door! (must have done better up in Minnesota still playing in December). This film is my priority to see when it hits DVD.