Run Away Home

2004

After her family moves to a conservative town, teenager Tamara finds friendship with Brenda and starts dating Rusty. But when her mother contracts tuberculosis and is sent away, Tamara becomes responsible for keeping her family together.

3.5 Average Rating

Amreeka

2009

Eager to provide a better future for her son, Fadi (Melkar Muallem), divorcée Muna Farah (Nisreen Faour) leaves her Palestinian homeland and takes up residence in rural Illinois -- just in time to encounter the domestic repercussions of America's disastrous war in Iraq. Now, the duo must reinvent their lives with some help from Muna's sister, Raghda (Hiam Abbass), and brother-in-law, Nabeel (Yussuf Abu-Warda). Cherien Dabis writes and directs.

3.5 Average Rating

Love and Mary

2007

After a bad review imperils her upscale bake shop, Mary plans to take her fiancé, Brent, back to Texas, with the hope of scoring some cash from the engagement party. But an outbreak of hives forces Mary to take Brent's jailbird twin, Jake, instead.

3.4 Average Rating

Fish Tank

2009

The life of hot-tempered teen outcast Mia (Katie Jarvis) takes an unexpected turn when her mother, Joanne (Kierston Wareing), brings home a handsome and mysterious boyfriend named Connor (Michael Fassbender), who pledges to bring sweeping positive changes to the household. British writer-director Andrea Arnold's sophomore feature won Best British Film at the 2010 BAFTAs.

3.4 Average Rating

Jesus' Son

1999

Nominated for an Independent Spirit Award, director Alison Maclean's reflective drama follows FH (Billy Crudup), a well-meaning drug addict who stumbles backward into redemption. When his longtime love (Samantha Morton) leaves, FH follows her but meets and falls for the older Mira (Holly Hunter). Amid his life's wreckage, a near-fatal car crash and a chance to save a child's life force FH to examine his existence and its meaning.

3.4 Average Rating

Strangers in Good Company

1990

When a bus filled with eight elderly women breaks down in the wilderness, the group of strangers is stranded at a deserted farmhouse with only their wits, their memories and eventually some roasted frogs' legs to sustain them. For several days, the women share their life stories and intimate thoughts. Director Cynthia Scott directs these nonprofessional actors delivering largely improvised dialogue to heartwarming effect.

3.4 Average Rating

Staying Together

1989

Brian (Tim Quill), Kit (Dermot Mulroney) and Duncan (Sean Astin) have always expected they'd take over their father's (Jim Haynie) restaurant once he retires. That may be why they've never taken life too seriously, given that their futures were always cemented. But when Dad decides without consulting them to sell the place to an outsider, they're forced to settle down and forge a path of their own, which isn't as easy as they expected.

3.4 Average Rating

B-Girl

2009

The first time filmmakers Emily (director) and Elizabeth Dell (producer) saw an all-girl break-dance crew perform, they were mesmerized -- and they wanted to see more. Thus was born this film about a girl break-dancer immersed in the hip-hop scene. Starring Julie "Jules" Urich, Wesley Jonathan and Aimee Garcia, the drama highlights the intensity and hard work the b-girls bring to an urban art form largely unrecognized beyond their communities.

3.4 Average Rating

Party Girl

1995

Mary (Parker Posey), a flighty, unemployed, 24-year-old Manhattanite, is trying to get her life in order. But instead of bothering herself with a real job, she throws a series of parties at her apartment to pay the rent. When she gets thrown in jail after one of her soirees is raided, she has to take a library job to repay her godmother, who bailed her out of the clink. Daisy Von Scherler Mayer directs this definitive "Generation X" comedy.

3.4 Average Rating

The Stone Angel

2007

Rather than succumbing to life in a nursing home, feisty Hagar Shipley (Ellen Burstyn) goes on the run. As she struggles to keep her mind clear, Hagar relives passionate moments from early in her life and reflects on the many difficult experiences she's faced. Featuring Christine Horne as the younger Hagar, director Kari Skogland's adaptation of Margaret Laurence's popular novel co-stars Ellen Page, Dylan Baker and Cole Hauser.

3.4 Average Rating

16 to Life

2009

On her 16th birthday, never-been-kissed Kate (Hallee Hirsh) decides to play cupid for two people she works with, pairing her boss (Theresa Russell) with a paraplegic customer (Jaime Gomez) and setting up short-order cook Rene (Shiloh Fernandez) with an oversexed co-worker (Emily Foxler). But in the process of matchmaking, Kate learns some surprising lessons about love and the mechanics of romantic relationships.

3.4 Average Rating

Handsome Harry

2009

For many years, small-town resident Harry Sweeney (Jamey Sheridan) has avoided confronting painful memories from his past. But when his best friend becomes seriously ill, Harry builds up enough courage to explore long-hidden secrets and uncover his true identity. Bette Gordon directs this character-driven drama that boasts a strong ensemble cast featuring Steve Buscemi, Aidan Quinn, John Savage and Campbell Scott.

3.4 Average Rating

Ping Pong Playa

2007

When a car accident sidelines his mother and brother, tough-talking slacker C-Dub (Jimmy Tsai) shelves his pipe dream of becoming an NBA star to run the family's ping-pong supply and coaching business. Indignant at first, C-Dub sets aside his resentment when he realizes that winning a table-tennis championship might also win over his dream girl. This quirky comedy earned producer Anne Clements an Independent Spirit Awards nod.

3.4 Average Rating

The Waiting City

2009

Radha Mitchell and Joel Edgerton star as adoptive parents-to-be, en route from Australia to Calcutta to pick up their new baby, in this unconventional love story infused with the exotic charms of India from director Claire McCarthy. To foreigners who have never been on Indian soil, the city is at once intoxicating and overwhelming. But it also has the power to pull the couple's already fragile marriage apart at the seams.

3.3 Average Rating

Me and You and Everyone We Know

2005

Miranda July writes, directs and stars in this poignant drama about both the unique and oftentimes humorous nature of people's idiosyncrasies. At the center is eccentric Christine Jesperson (July), who seeks emotional connections in the modern world. Meanwhile, shoe salesman Richard (John Hawkes) copes with his recent separation while his teen son (Miles Thompson) experiences a sexual awakening. Carlie Westerman and Brad William Henke co-star.

3.3 Average Rating

Me Without You

2001

In 1970s London, two young girls grow up next door to each other, share secrets and survive mutual traumas. Their lives are totally intertwined, and they make a pact of eternal friendship -- which is tested as they progress through young adulthood.

3.3 Average Rating