St. Louis Film Festival 2011: 'Shame,' 'Butter,' Rin Tin Tin, Sigmund Freud and more

A friend of mine told me about this. I didn't know anything about this film festival next month, and it's right on my doorstep. Coriolanus will be showing, as well as two films with Michael Fassbender. I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for details.

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http://www.stltoday.com/entertainment/movies/joe-williams/article_8f4f65e8-eb28-11e0-a2fa-001a4bcf6878.html

It starts with a silent movie and ends with a Clooney comedy.

In between, the 20th annual St. Louis International Film Festival, Nov. 10-20 at locations on both sides of the river, will feature a double dose of Michael Fassbender, five films from Japan, the two-headed monster of mumblecore, a comedy about 40-somethings reliving the '80s and more award contenders than you can count on your fingers and toes.

Last year, SLIFF gave St. Louisans their first look at eventual Oscar nominees “The Black Swan” and“127 Hours.” This year's must-see movies include:

“The Artist”, a crowd-pleasing pseudo silent movie about the arrival of talking pictures, with Our Town's John Goodman as a hamstrung Hollywood director

“The Descendants,” the long-awaited new dramedy from Alexander Payne (“Sideways”), with Clooney as a Hawaiian dad whose comfy life unravels when his wife is seriously injured

“Shame,” the controversial new film by visual artist Steve McQueen in which Fassbender plays a sex addict on the prowl in Manhattan

“A Dangerous Method,” a heady David Cronenberg film in which Fassbennder plays Carl Jung, Viggo Mortensen plays Sigmund Freud and Keira Knightley plays the troubled women who comes between them

“I Melt With You,” a comedy about a college reunion, with Rob Lowe, Jeremy Piven and Carla Gugino as aging new wavers who can't stop the world

“We Need to Talk About Kevin,” an acclaimed drama about a suburban couple (Tilda Swinton, John C. Reilly) whose son is involved in a high school shooing rampage

“Jeff, Who Lives at Home,” a slacker comedy from sibling directors Jay and Mark Duplass (“Cyrus”), starring Jason Segel and Ed Helms

“Coriolanus,” a contemporary spin on the Shakespeare play, with Ralph Fiennes' as a disgraced Roman warrior and Gerard Butler as his foe-turned-ally.

“Butter,” a curdled comedy about conniving cow sculptors, with Jennifer Garner as the queen of mean at a Midwestern dairy fair.

There also will be documentaries about St. Louis designer Charles Eames, French crooner Serge Gainsbourg, Anglo-African primatologist Jane Goodall, Manhattan real estate developer-turned-birther Donald Trunp, L.A. punk rocker-turned-addiction counselor Bob Forrest, and Southern Illinois roots rocker-turned-con man Hugh DeNeal.

Special guests at the festival will include documentarian and Illinois native Steve James (“Hoop Dreams”) who will present his new urban-violence film “The Interrupters” at the Wildey Theater in Edwardsville; New Yorker magazine journalist Susan Orlean, who has written a new book about canine movie star Rin Tin Tin and will screen one of the German shepherd's early serials; hand-drawn animation legend Bill Plympton, who will accept a lifetime achievement award; Pamela Yates, whose “Granito” updates the Guatemalan peasant struggle documented in her acclaimed film “When the Mountains Tremble”; and at least one of the Duplass brothers, whose micro-budget comedies “The Puffy Chair” and “Baghead” helped popularize the genre dubbed mumblecore.

Check the Post-Dispatch or stltoday.com for a complete schedule with times, dates, venues and ticket information as it becomes available.