THREE SWEET PICKS TO GET YOU THROUGH THE WEEK

by Leo Charney

What: David Lynch’s hallucinatory phantasmagoria.

Why: You haven’t lived until you’ve seen David Lynch make quinoa. And like everything else on this feature-packed double DVD, the cooking segment functions as an allegory of his filmmaking. On top of the movie itself—three hours of vivid nightmares and boxes-in-boxes storytelling—we see Lynch snap at his crew like an old-style taskmaster, tell stories on his patio like a groovy uncle, and dictate scenes, eyes closed, like a visionary surrealist. It’s this last moment that reveals his style: highly impressionistic and increasingly insular (see title).

What: Preview of new Wes Anderson movie.

Why: It’s all in the noses—blond Owen Wilson, dark Adrien Brody and hairy Jason Schwartzman as, yes, brothers. This trailer’s opening shots tie them together by their beaks, making them no less motley a family than any other Wes Anderson grouping. Putting three estranged brothers in India, Anderson gets to play off his favorite themes: real vs. makeshift families, geographical dislocation and human alienation. But it doesn’t bode well that the whimsy wears thin after just two minutes.

What: Spanish drama about corporate mind games.

Why: What is the Grönholm Method? It’s a mystery to the job candidates in a corporate boardroom, insulated from globalization protesters on the streets below. They learn it’s a way of picking them off until only one shark remains. It’s like Survivor by way of David Mamet and 12 Angry Men—a parable about multinational business that works best as a stagy, psychological cat-and-mouse game. The fully formed characters and incisive performances make the movie memorable, with an all-star Spanish cast led by Cruise-esque Eduardo Noriega (Open Your Eyes).