TOKYO SONATA, I LOVE YOU, MAN Buzz

At GreenCine Daily, Vadim Risov on Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Tokyo Sonata, which opened this weekend in New York (it'll open in Los Angeles on March 27):

"Two-thirds of the way in, Tokyo Sonata is a nicely observed low-key drama just unnerving enough to keep you on edge: Kurosawa's framing is always a bit cluttered and claustrophobic, and his willingness to sit and watch for a little too long makes it seem like violent disaster is always just on the verge of breaking out. And then suddenly it does and all hell breaks out."

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At Cinematical, Eugene Novikov is enthusiastic about Paul Rudd's star turn in the comedy I Love You, Man, directed by John Hamburg, written by Hamburg and Larry Levin, and co-starring Jason Segel and Rashida Jones, which opened the 2009 SXSW Film Festival:

"I Love You, Man is a sweet, amusing, and perfectly acceptable comedy all around, but it's exciting because it marks the point where Rudd finally begins to stake out his territory as a comedian and a leading man. As Peter Klaven, the happy and level-headed real estate agent who discovers, upon proposing to his girlfriend of eight months, that his total lack of guy friends will result in an all-female wedding party if he doesn't act fast, Rudd combines a nice-guy earnestness with a simmering nervous energy – he's like a less sarcastic Albert Brooks or a more self-conscious Steve Martin."

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At Variety, Todd McCarthy was considerably less enthusiastic about I Love You, Man:

"A Judd Apatow clone that's one of the few recent R-rated raunch fests the ubiquitous auteur of larky crudeness actually had nothing to do with, I Love You, Man cranks out the kind of lowball humor that makes you gag on your own laughs. Ever alert for opportunities to drop dirty bombs — and compelled to repeat every below-the-beltjoke at least one time too many — pic never surmounts a deeply lame central premise that makes most of the action seem fraudulent and thoroughly unnecessary."

MIDNIGHT COWBOY at the DGA in New York City

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New Yorker Films Closes Its Doors

LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN at Film Forum