COWTOWN BALLROOM...SWEET JESUS!

Robert Butler The Star 5/21/09

Our guide to some of summer’s little films that might make it big

Summer traditionally belongs to the big tent pole pictures, the franchise titles that feature superheroes or raunchy comedy or wisecracking cops or spaceships.

But here in River City audiences have a tradition of embracing little offbeat movies during the summer and nurturing them for many weeks. Last year the local art-house scene had big-time hits in the documentary “Young @ Heart,” in the indie drama “The Visitor” and in the French thrillers “Tell No One” and “Roman de Gare.”

Which little off-the-grid movies will find a loyal audience this été? Here are the prime suspects. Where possible we’ve given opening dates (which are subject to change), but mostly these flicks will sneak in when you least expect them.

“Whatever Works”: For his latest comedy Woody Allen has cast Larry David (“Curb Your Enthusiasm”) as a misanthropic (what else?) physicist who has never gotten over “almost” winning a Nobel Prize. Evan Rachel Wood (“The Wrestler”) is an outgoing gal from Mississippi with whom he forges a platonic romance.

Set in Allen’s beloved New York (his last four films have been shot in Europe); the film boasts a supporting cast that includes Patricia Clarkson and Ed Begley Jr. as the young lady’s parents. (July 3)

“Shall We Kiss?” Some regard Emmanuel Mouret as France’s Woody Allen; this romantic comedy should prove an effective introduction to American audiences.

A man and woman meet, have dinner and, at the end of the evening, he tries to kiss her. She declines, saying that an innocent kiss can have devastating consequences. To prove her point she relates a long story (the setup is sort of like “The Princess Bride”) about an unlucky-with-women guy (Mouret) who asks his best female friend (Virginie Ledoyen) to coach him in the ways of amour.

“Little Ashes”: A pre-“Twilight” Robert Pattinson plays young surrealist artist Salvador Dali in this speculative-but-inspired-by-fact examination of his possibly homosexual relationship with poet Federico Garcia Lorca (Javier Beltran). Matthew McNulty appears as filmmaker Luis Bunuel, a third wheel in the relationship. (July 3)

“Limits of Control”: Idiosyncratic indie auteur Jim Jarmusch delivers a brooding tale of a silent hit man (Isaach De Bankolé) in Spain for a job. He travels the country, always ordering the same thing at cafés and conversing with people like Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, Gael Garcia Bernal and John Hurt. (June 5)

“The Baker”: Another hit man, played by Damian Lewis of TV’s “Life,” botches a job and decides to retreat to the countryside to get some perspective. He gets hired as a baker in a tiny Welsh village, where the argumentative locals decide that having their own professional killer might come in handy.

“Sin Nombre”: Critics have been going gaga for this terse drama set aboard a northbound freight train loaded with Latin American laborers hoping for a new life in the USA. A young gang member from southern Mexico (Edgar Flores) has defied his lethal running mates and is now a hunted man. On the train he befriends a Guatemalan girl (Diana Garcia) when she is separated from her father and uncle on the perilous journey. (Friday)

“Away We Go”: Sam Mendes, best known for serious films like “Road to Perdition,” “American Beauty” and “Revolutionary Road,” delivers a flat-out comedy. John Krasinski (“The Office”) and Maya Rudolph (“SNL”) are young parents-to-be touring America to find the perfect place to raise their child. The supporting cast features some very funny folk: Jeff Daniels, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Catherine O’Hara, Allison Janney, Jim Gaffigan. (June 26)

“Rudo y Cursi”: Young Mexican thesps Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal, who co-starred in “Y Tu Mama Tambien,” reunite for this tale of two dissimilar brothers who both become soccer stars, though for different teams.

Behind the camera is first-time director Carlos Cuaron, little brother of “Y Tu Mama” and “Harry Potter” helmer Alfonso Cuaron. (June 5)

“Cowtown Ballroom … Sweet Jesus”: Local filmmaker Joe Heyen has turned his fascination with Kansas City’s short-lived rock emporium into a documentary that captures the music, conflict and attitude of the late ’60s and early ’70s. (Friday)

“Outrage”: The latest doc from muckraker Kirby Dick (“This Film Is Not Yet Rated”) is an expose of closeted homosexual politicians who regularly oppose gay rights measures. “Outrage” names names, and in doing so has offended even some liberal gays who think that coming out is a personal decision that should not be forced on anyone. Bound to be majorly controversial.

“Every Little Step”: While following a group of dancers auditioning for a Broadway revival of “A Chorus Line,” this documentary investigates the hit musical’s background and the people who made it happen. (June 12)

“Enlighten Up”: Think of it as a healthy “Super Size Me.” Documentarist Kate Churchill is a longtime yoga buff who decided to put a non-practitioner through a six-month regimen with yoga masters around the world. She chose for her guinea pig New York journalist Nick Rosen, a skeptic with little interest in spiritual chitchat and a resistance to New Age ideas. (June 12)

“O’Horten”: Norwegian director Bent Hamer (“Kitchen Stories”) specializes in deadpan comedies about just plain folks. Here he follows a bachelor train engineer (Bård Owe) who must start life over after retiring at 65.

“Soul Power”: While editing the boxing doc “When We Were Kings,” about the 1974 Rumble in the Jungle between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte became fascinated with the three-day concert that preceded the bout. “Soul Power” features James Brown, Miriam Makeba, Celia Cruz and the Fania All-Stars, B.B. King, Spinners lead singer Philippé Wynne and Sister Sledge.

“Lorna’s Silence”: Belgium’s Dardenne brothers, the gritty realists behind slice-of-life dramas “The Child” and “The Promise,” focus their latest on Lorna (Arta Dobroshi), an Albanian who gained admittance to the country by marrying a local addict. Now the gangsters who arranged that deal want payback — she’s to dump her druggie husband and marry a Russian businessman who wants to set up shop in Belgium. Except that the hoodlums don’t want to wait for a legal divorce.

“Summer Hours”: Stylish French director Olivier Assayas (“Boarding Gate,” “Irma Vep”) gets all Chekhovian with this yarn of grown siblings (Juliette Binoche, Charles Berling, Jeremie Renier) who must decide what to do with the family heirlooms of their late mother.

Sell their heritage? Keep it all, even though the three live on opposite sides of the globe and don’t want the burden of possessions?