25 must-see movies at the Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival

The massive Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival is running now through April 23. Tickets are $7-$13. All films reviewed here are playing at St. Anthony Main, unless otherwise noted. For the full schedule go to mspfilm.org.

How important is music to the life of a community, a culture, a nation? In 2012 Islamic jihadists seized control in northern Mali, banning music outright. That campaign of silence forced some performers into hiding in the still-free south. Others were luckier. The jovial rockers Songhoy Blues, whose guitar-driven style has a remarkable resemblance to American blues, received support from international recording artists including Brian Eno, and big fan followings. This stunningly filmed, at times frightening, wartime documentary builds to a hopeful tone with an infectious dance beat. (105 min.)
COLIN COVERT

Alone
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7:05 p.m. Fri.; 6:55 p.m. Sun. (South Korea)

"This place feels like the inside of my brain," says Soo-min, a documentary filmmaker readying a shoot in his low-rent Seoul neighborhood. But any project that starts with accidentally filming a group of masked men killing a woman gets … complicated. Especially when the men smash you in the head with a hammer. And you wake up time and again in nightmares putting you in the city's inescapable alleyway mazes. Director Park Hong-min builds a Caligari-level horror fantasy relying less on plot twists than a deepening sense of dread. Its sleepwalking spell has little pretense of realism, but its hypnotic power held me prisoner for days. (91 min.)
C.C.

The Legend of Swee' Pea
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7:10 p.m. Fri.; 4:30 p.m. Thu. (USA)

Basketball cognoscenti know of Lloyd "Swee' Pea" Daniels; this candid documentary is the layperson's chance to see in action the player heralded on the New York City playgrounds as the second coming of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. What happened to the kid whose "almost mystical understanding of the game" had scouts drooling? Family dysfunction, addiction and gunshot wounds offer a hint. Without a high school diploma, Daniels landed at UNLV (though he never played a game there), bounced around the CBA and had brief, sometimes brilliant, stints with six NBA teams. But in the end, none of his well-meaning mentors, including Jerry Tarkanian, were a match for his demons. (80 min.)
CYNTHIA DICKISON

Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You
⋆⋆½
7:15 p.m. Fri. (USA)

Kaili Blues
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9:35 p.m. Fri.; 9:15 p.m. Wed. (China)

This heady deep dive into a mystical China that's only slightly left-of-center from everyday reality (echoes of Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Carlos Reygadas abound) is a slow burn, but the rewards are ample as the supernatural narrative loops back in on itself in this unique time travel story. It's gorgeous to look at, with an array of circular pans, slow dissolves, long takes (one near the end lasts more than 35 minutes!) and layering of images to create a truly cinematic piece of work. The heavy reliance on style is pitch-perfect, helping to deepen and in many ways tell the whole story. (110 min.)
ERIK MCCLANAHAN

The Invitation
⋆⋆⋆½
9:45 p.m. Fri.; 9:15 p.m. Mon. Uptown Theatre (USA)

SATURDAY

There's a mischievous wit and wonderful gentleness in this Kazakh story of love and tradition pushing a couple in different directions. Set in a rural village, it shows a good guy and his bride-to-be trying to plan their wedding. Unfortunately, her parents don't like the idea, and local custom insists that grooms need to steal their intended partner. It gets no simpler when babies arrive. While their way of life is unfamiliar, the tone of social satire crosses all barriers. What's funnier than a little girl who wants to burn down an annoying grown-up's house? The film shows that ordinary life is similar across the globe and well-delivered jokes are a universal language. Especially when they involve a shotgun. (81 min.)
C.C.

Tharlo
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4 p.m. Sat.; 4:40 p.m. April 18 (China)

Beautiful high-contrast black-and-white cinematography and a charming lead performance are the highlights of this effective tale about a sheepherder. Tibetan comedian and poet Shide Nyima gives an adorable performance as the middle-aged Tharlo, who lives in solitude in the mountains. Through bone-dry comedy and striking long takes, the titular character visits the messier modern world he doesn't know well and goes through levels of bureaucratic nonsense to get an ID card. Simple and quite nice. (123 min.)
E.M.

Chronic
⋆⋆⋆½
5 p.m. Sat.; 11:30 a.m. April 16 (Mexico, France)

I know what you're thinking, and no, it's not Dr. Dre's spinoff sequel for the "Straight Outta Compton" cinematic universe. Instead, this aptly titled (though not the way you're thinking) and truly devastating character study about an extremely gifted, devoted nurse (a near-perfect Tim Roth) for the terminally ill, is something of a mystery that only reveals half itself to the audience. The other half is up to you to decipher what you will from its coded, clinical perspective. It mostly works, despite the inherently depressing material. Don't be frightened by the heavy subject matter; it's worth going through the emotional wreckage on this one. (93 min.)
E.M.

Dheepan
⋆⋆⋆½
5:20 p.m. Sat.; 9:30 p.m. Tue. (France)

My Big Night
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7:30 p.m. Sat., Uptown; 9:50 p.m. Tue. (Spain)

Firebrand Spanish director Alex de la Iglesia turns a lavish, pretentious but tacky New Year's TV special into a lampoon of the country's long-running social, political and economic battles. Raphael, a real life singing star from the old days, plays a parody version of himself, the love child of Barry Manilow and Darth Vader. While he primps before taking the stage for hundreds of extras in formal dress, police and protesters clash outside and the corrupt producer tries to run off with every centavo of the budget. The nutty comedy probably plays best to Hispanic audiences, but the zany dance sequences and pedal to the metal energy is hard to resist. (100 min.)
C.C.

Aferim!
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9:20 p.m. Sat.; 4:55 p.m. April 21 (Romania, Bulgaria, Czech Republic)

Gorgeously filmed on 35mm black-and-white film, this Romanian western about a father and son looking for a gypsy slave who may have had an affair with a nobleman's wife is refreshing for appropriating a different look and feel than most modern output from the country (which has been producing vital films for more than a decade now). Also to be commended is the filmmakers' commitment to the project all the way through; the dialogue is viciously mean and period-accurate racism and xenophobia abounds the entire run time. It can be a tough ride, but also a darkly funny one. (106 min.)
E.M.

Chevalier
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9:50 p.m. Sat.; 9:45 p.m. Tue. (Greece)

Tim Roth plays ATF agent Hank Harris, who's taken hostage by small-time gunrunner Rubio after an arrest attempt gone wrong. As they cross the border toward their fate, a bond grows between the two. Both leads are fantastic, especially Roth's stoic officer, who truly surprises and reveals very little as a cop who's more capable and amoral than you might suspect initially. The setting and tone feel familiar to "Sicario" and "Traffic," but writer/director Gabriel Ripstein has built a strong foundation with his airtight, focused script. Everything builds to a thrilling, briefly violent climax (and a slightly shocking reveal after that), proof that a strong ending can often be a filmmaker's best special effect. (85 min.)
E.M.

Vore King
⋆⋆⋆6 p.m. Sun. Uptown Theatre; 9 p.m. April 19 (USA)

One of the weirdest Minnesota-made films since the Coens fired up the wood chipper in "Fargo." And this one is real! Well, real-ish. Raymond P. Whalen is a Midwest legend of sorts, a small-time video auteur specializing in fetish films of imaginary woman-eating sex beasts sold online. There's a market for everything, right? The film is a portrait of the artist as an odd man, swinging across a bipolar route of intelligence and savant genius. If you have never explored vorarephilia, the form of excitement brought about by monstrous creatures consuming ladies, this is very educational. Did I mention that it's very peculiar? (93 min.)
C.C.

Above and Below
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7 p.m. Sun.; 6:50 p.m. Mon. (USA, Switzerland, Germany)

Easily one of the best and most cinematic documentaries in the festival this year, this is the rare nonfiction film that demands to be seen on a big screen with a proper sound system. It follows five characters, credited only by their first names — April, Dave, Cindy, Rick and The Godfather. They're loosely connected (though Rick and Cindy are a couple) by their voluntary off-the-grid lifestyles. There are plenty of documentaries about people living on the fringes, but almost none of them sound this good. Swiss director Nicolas Steiner and his team have crafted a visceral, immersive experience that further blurs the line between fiction and documentary. (110 min.)
E.M.

Films about middle-class artists pursuing their dreams while resolving family issues are well-trod territory and, these days, prone to being tossed into the White People's Problems wholesale bin. But an understated sweetness, authenticity and relatable characters-- against a backdrop of familiar Twin Cities locations — save this one, although its uneven pacing can cause attention to wander. Cara Greene Epstein, writer, star, producer and co-director, has some great screen moments, like a drunken outburst at an art opening, and Terry Hempleman sets just the right tone as supportive divorced father. (76 min.)
K.T.

Schneider vs. Bax
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9:35 p.m. Sun.; 9:40 p.m. Thu. (Netherlands, Belgium)

Alex van Warmerdam follows up his near-masterpiece "Borgman" with a more brazenly entertaining and pure genre film. His particular brand of doling out pieces of a story is one of the most thrilling aspects of this one, which sees two hit men set up by the same boss to kill each other. Like his previous film, he puts to good use a unique and gorgeous location that serves as the stage for nearly all the action and plot. The penultimate shot in a dilapidated cabin that resolves the story is a head-scratcher, and maybe the movie would be better without it. Then again, it's still got me thinking about it. (96 min.)
E.M.

The Ardennes
⋆⋆⋆½
9:40 p.m. Sun.; 9:45 p.m. April 22 (Belgium)

A down and dirty Belgian crime story that begins as a family drama and graduates into brutal revenge. Two brothers, separated for four years after a botched robbery, follow different paths when they reunite at Christmas. Kenneth, who took the prison time alone to protect his brother Dave, wants to reconnect with his old girlfriend. Dave, who has been on the straight and narrow, can't tell his big bro that she's his girl now. Tension ratchets up at a shocking scale as Kenneth's violent habits reappear, triggering shocking (and at times absurd) repercussions.C.C.

How Love Won: The Fight for Marriage Equality in Minnesota
⋆⋆⋆½
7 p.m. Tue.; 1 p.m. April 16, Metropolitan State University (USA)

A kind-of glorious mixed bag. British arthouse filmmaker Peter Greenaway ("The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover") goes absolutely crazy over the top with style (even for him), throwing all kinds of color, editing, framing and special effects to bring to highly theatrical life the 10 days in Mexico that the famous Russian master filmmaker spent that shook his world. I enjoyed its boldness to a point; then its emphasis on style and provocation wore me down and became rather monotonous. Still, for the film history alone, and the chance to see a singular artist tackle a tired genre like the biopic, this is a must-see for cinephiles. (105 min.)
E.M.

Women He's Undressed
⋆⋆⋆½
7 p.m. Wed. Uptown Theatre, 11:20 a.m. April 16 (Australia)

This film does a remarkable job of tracing the life and influence of Minnesota's most important poet. Director Haydn Reiss stitches together the identities of Bly — farm boy, Harvard student, war protester, translator, rabble-rouser. He devotes too much time to "Iron John" (and not enough to "The Fifties"), but Reiss seems determined to rehabilitate Bly's reputation as a nutball drumming in the woods. The documentary is rich with photos and interviews, punctuated by graceful scenes of silent snowy fields. Bly, 89, has said he is done giving readings, so this film is worth watching if only to hear him read, once again, "Driving Toward the Lac Qui Parle River" and "Snowbanks North of the House." (81 min.)
LAURIE HERTZEL