Filtering through – The world of cinema is a world of filters.

In theaters Friday: Men in Black III, Moonrise Kingdom

New on Blu-ray/DVD: Perfect Sense, Red Tails, This Means War, Woman in Black

The world of cinema is a world of filters. Practically, this means the lenses, the actual filters, that cinematographers utilize to realize on screen the visuals they see in their heads. But creatively, movies are the culmination of the arts, a vast process that takes photography, writing, acting, construction, painting, lighting, costume design, fashion, song writing and sound recording and filters them all through the singular vision of the director, the artist of artists.

Movies can also be filters for how we view all manner of things—through the eyes of a character, to the heart of an issue, at the edge of an unknown world. They can reflect what we as a people are about or how things work—the government or a corporation, a relationship or the human heart.

I hope The Movie Filter can perform a similar function. It can be easy to look at the latest trash-mouthed, brain dead comedy, hokey comic book adaptation or sequel of the sequel of the sequel and lose faith in the power of cinema to be an art form that truly matters. I’ve always wanted this blog to do some small part to show movie lovers that, indeed, it does, and if we support those striving for more, it always will.

There was once a standard, now lost, for artistic quality, and it was gauged by the response to a very simple question: “Does it have something to say?” Maybe I’m being too much of an optimist, or just a plain old movie geek, but I am very hopeful for the films arriving in the middle and second half of 2012. Lincoln, The Master, Moonrise Kingdom, On the Road, Prometheus—many seem to have plenty to say.

Now, I may write about a comic book movie or an action thriller or even something light-hearted, but never frivolous. There are a lot of movie blogs and more critics than anyone cares to read. But if you find yourself looking for commentary and news about the actors and filmmakers that have something to say, read The Movie Filter. I’ll be here writing about and reacting to the movies that matter.

Two weeks ago I had the great privilege to attend an advance screening of Beasts of the Southern Wild, the feature film debut from New Orleans filmmaker Benh Zeitlin and winner of this year’s Sundance Film Festival. I’m under orders to hold my review until closer to the film’s early July release date, but I will say I was incredibly impressed with the film and its creator. When speaking to Zeitlin, he told me one of the missions of Beasts was to create a world without boundaries, without divisions. “I think it’s been appealing because it is not divisive,” he said. That’s the other amazing thing films can do. They can show us that there are no limits to our creativity or to our ability to connect with others who on the surface may seem so very different.

Zeitlin grew up in New York and attended an upper crust college in Connecticut, but after moving to New Orleans a few years ago, he fell in love with the people and the spirit of our great state, particularly those of rural Terrebonne Parish where his film was shot. Beasts is his love-letter to the undying heart of his adoptive home, and one of the most uniquely powerful narratives of the year. Watch the trailer below, and look for the film to arrive in theaters this July: