Wendy and Lucy (2008)

This movie is not for everyone. Curious art-indie buffs, you know who you are. Others, look elsewhere. "Wendy and Lucy" is 'real' in such a way that it will delight a certain audience and bore the pants off everyone else.

   Drifter Wendy (Michelle Williams,) camping out in Oregon on her way to find work in Alaska, travels alone except for her beloved dog, Lucy. So when Lucy goes missing in a small podunk Oregon town, Wendy vows not to leave until she finds her best friend and traveling companion.

   Invested in her plight is a kind, otherwise unnamed Security Guard (Wally Dalton) who doesn't seem to do much work but instead gives her advice and comfort while she tries to find her dog. Wendy comes into contact with other people, some helpful, some detrimental, and in the end must make a painful and difficult choice.

Kisses (2008)

First, ignore the critic on the front cover who dubs "Kisses" 'irresistibly heartwarming.' This is a dark, gritty drama that pulls no punches in it's depiction of incredibly resilient Irish youngsters living lives of squalor and abuse.

   11-year-old Kylie and Dylan are underprivileged kids who fancy themselves a couple. Dylan is abused by his father, a volatile alcoholic, while Kylie is at the mercy of her unscrupulous Uncle Morris.

 One Christmas, the kids run away (after Dylan has a unusually bad fight with his father) and head for Dublin, where they hope to stay with Dylan's runaway brother. On their journey, they make confessions, share secrets, and try to survive in a city that swallows up it's weakest and offers little hope to two children trying to get by.