Cinematic joy

With film trailers lasting two, three minutes long, and press critiques delving into every little detail, there is a wondrous joy at walking into a movie theatre after only seeing a poster or hearing a whisper of the plot.

The less I know in advance, the more I enjoy the film.

I should know, having watched numerous films in recent weeks at Newburyport's one-screen community theatre, the Screening Room.

Last night, for instance, I was wowed out of my mind with 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, which won the Palme d'Or at Cannes and was ignored in the Oscar nomination process. Set in Ceausescu's Romania in the late 1980s when abortion was illegal (the original film title is "4 luni, 3 saptamani si 2 zile"), not to mention typically fatal for the women, the film follows two best friends: one who needs an abortion and the other who helps her through it.

But this is not an abortion film so much as it's about the "consciousness" (to borrow a word from Roger Ebert's review, which I read after I watched it) of abortion, with stunning cinematography and visuals, not to mention the lack of any music. Dialogue or the lack of dialogue carry the film.

Dialogue also carries In Bruges, a spell-binding drama and thriller I saw two weeks ago that kept me guessing the plot until the very end. Co-starring Brendan Gleeson, 53, who began professional acting at 34 after teaching high school English for a decade. Bless the man!

Living in Newburyport, and not typically following the blockbuster stadium movie theatres, I fell in love last night when I saw online that the Independent Film Festival returns to Boston later this month, playing shows at the Somerville Theatre, Brattle Theatre, and the Coolidge Corner Theatre.

Judging from simple descriptions on the website, my top three choices are:

• Stuck, a suspense drama with Mena Suvari and Stephen Rea, which plays Saturday, April 26 at 10:15 in Somerville;
  
• Mongol, an Oscar nominee for foreign language film, about Genghis Khan, which plays Sunday, April 27 at 7:00 in Brookline;
  
• Natural Causes, with no big name actors and no big award shows but is about relationships, which plays Friday, April 25 at 10:15 in Somerville.

That weekend in Newburyport is a literary festival, which I'll be volunteering at. I don't know my assigned shift yet, but it's fair to say I'd be able to see any of the nighttime films. Tickets are not on sale yet, or at least weren't yesterday.