From fairy tale beasts in a mythical land to Napoleon's ghost wandering the halls of the Louvre during World War II, this week's recommendations from Up To Date's indie, foreign and documentary film critics provide a great weekend escape. Dive in to one of these flicks while they're still on area screens.
Cynthia Haines
Francofonia, not rated
- Part meditation on art, part history of how the Louvre avoided Nazi plundering, and featuring Napoleon's wandering ghost.
The First Monday in May, PG-13
- The making of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's most attended fashion exhibit; Chinese-inspired Western fashions by the curator of the Costume Institute.
Tale of Tales, not rated
- A visually splendid fable of neighboring kingdoms and the ogres, sorcerers, kings and queens, who live there, loosely based on a collection of fairy tales by Giambattista Basile.
Steve Walker
The First Monday in May, PG-13
- A dishy, behind the scenes peek into Vogue editor Anna Wintour's annual Met Ball to benefit The Costume Institute of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Men & Chicken, not rated
- Absolutely bonkers Danish film with Mads Mikkelsen as one of five deranged half-brothers striving to make sense of their polluted family tree.
Francofonia, not rated
- Innovative examination of the 1940 Nazi occupation of Paris asks, "Who needs France without the Louvre?"
