Must See Movies: March

Spring is busting out all over, even if Squally is currently looking out at several inches of snow at this writing. While the past few months have offered slim pickings for cineastes on a budget, March comes in with returning masters and new discoveries. So many, in fact, that we’ve extended our usual handful to a mighty six. Among the delights in store: Zoe Kazan, fascist mistresses, Lolitas in platforms, and Ben Stiller turning his neuroses up to 11. Sorry funseekers, no Hot Tub Time Machine. Click on the titles for trailers and more.

The Exploding Girl
Release date: March 12
The pitch: Ivy (Zoe Kazan) juggles a distant boyfriend and a close pal while taking a break from college.
Fun fact: Writer-director Bradley Rust Gray is married to Treeless Mountain helmer So Yong Kim!
Why it could be great: Zoe Kazan’s had us since her delicate turn in Me and Orson Welles. And who doesn’t like a summer-set mood piece released in the middle of March?
Why it could suck: Oh.

Green Zone
Release date: March 12
The pitch: Matt Damon reunites with director Paul Greengrass to fight the war in Iraq. Based on the acclaimed book Imperial Life in the Emerald City by Rajiv Chandrasekaran.
Fun fact: Greengrass collaborated with onetime M15 agent Peter Wright on Spycatcher, a 1987 bestseller which lifted the lid on Britain’s Secret Service.
Why it could be great: Damon and Greengrass’s Bourne films made palm’s sweat glands work overtime.
Why it could suck: Iraq? Again?

Madeo (Mother)
Release date: March 12
The pitch: A determined mother fights to clear her mentally handicapped son of a murder charge.
Fun fact: Star Kim Hye-ja is known in South Korea for her portrayals of matriarchs in Mayonnaise and the TV series Princess Hours.
Why it could be great: It’s the latest from Bong Joon-ho, director of The Host and Memories of Murder.
Why it could suck: Menopausal sleuths may bring back unwanted memories of Murder She Wrote reruns.

Release date: March 19
The pitch: Social misfit Greenberg gets his head together housesitting in L.A. and falls for Greta Gerwig.
Fun fact: Squid and the Whale director Noah Baumbach’s new film also boasts an LCD Soundsystem soundtrack.
Why it could be great: Fuck yeah Greta Gerwig. And Ben Stiller doing something other than being Ben Stiller.
Why it could suck: Baumbach is determined to make films about people you’d move to the back of the bus to avoid.

The Runaways
Release date: March 19
The pitch: The amazingly true story of the girl glam “Cherry Bomb” hit-makers, replete with drugs, Svengalis, and Sapphic interludes.
Fun fact: Kim Fowley, the jailbait band’s sinister mentor, does not know how to drive a car.
Why it could be great: The prospect of a lesbian Kristen Stewart, grown-up Dakota Fanning and sleazy Michael Shannon indicates this is a camp classic in the making. Music’s not bad, either.
Why it could suck: Band biopics’ three acts are pretty much set in stone, and Stewart has yet to be acquainted with that skill known as “acting.”

Release date: March 19
The pitch: Italy’s angriest filmmaker Marco Bellocchio tells the story of Benito Mussolini’s mistress, their child, and her unfortunate end.
Fun fact: Following World War II, Il duce’s body went missing for five months after being dug up by Fascist sympathizers. The corpse was found in a trunk in Certosa di Pavia.
Why it could be great: Bellocchio has elder statesman status among the new generation of Italian filmmakers who have brought us Gomorrah and Il Divo.
Why it could suck: The complexities of Italian politics can give Squally a migraine faster than Paul Greengrass huddled over a Steenbeck.


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