Your indie summer movie preview

In theaters Friday: Midnight in Paris[limited], Pirates of the Carribean: On Stranger Tides

New on DVD/Blu-ray: The Mechanic, The Rite, The Roommate

In the current issue of 225 you’ll find my summer movie preview filled with sure-to-be-box office hits loaded with giant budgets and, more often then not, capes, guns or super powers. But for a season that is typically filled with this type of teen-friendly fantasy fare, the summer of 2011 also promises a decent number of more thought-provoking pictures, little indie films that could. Here are five that I am looking forward to. Most of these are in limited release, so check local listings before heading to the theatre.

Midnight in Paris • MAY 20

Out in limited release this week, Woody Allen’s 41st film looks like his funniest romantic comedy in years after the venerable director flirted with more serious dramas like Match Point, Cassandra’s Dream and Vicky Christina Barcelona. Owen Wilson returns to awe-shucks leading man status and plays a struggling writer and Rachel McAdams’ fiancée. The couple travels to the French capital where he finds himself wooed not by her, but by the illusion—and the women—of the late night Parisian lifestyle. Kathy Bates, Marion Cotillard and Michael Sheen co-star. Rated PG-13.

The Tree of Life • MAY 27

Terrence Malick only releases a film every so often, so each time he does it is an event. The Tree of Life is no exception as its scope and ambition seem boundless. Besides, audiences have been waiting anxiously on this one for two years since it wrapped photography in 2009. Set largely in the 1950s, the film follows a stern Brad Pitt and his caring wife Jessica Chastain as they raise three boys to face the challenges and mysteries of the world around them. Sean Penn plays Pitt’s eldest son, all grown up and wrestling with the reasons for his father’s tough love and the meaning of life, even 40 years later. Rated PG-13.

Submarine • JUNE 3

Hailed as England’s answer to Wes Anderson, first-time feature director Richard Ayoade creates a whimsical and peculiarly insular world with Submarine, a coming of age story following a precocious teen with two objectives: ruin his mother’s relationship with a slimy self-help guru, and make the girl he has a crush on fall in love with his charms. The film borrows heavily from the French New Wave, but in a cheeky, knowing way. Ben Stiller is already a huge fan of Ayoade and even cameos in the movie that ought to signal the arrival of a future stalwart of the indie scene. Rated R.

Another Earth • JULY 20

Like director Duncan Jones’ engrossing sci-fi drama Moon, Another Earth tells a surreal, otherworldly tale on a tiny budget, and was a smash hit at Sundance in January. On the night that scientists discover a duplicate “Earth” in orbit on the other side of the sun, a brilliant young MIT student is distracted looking up to the sky when she causes a tragic car accident that kills a the wife and children of a celebrated composer and leaves him in a coma. Rising actor/writer Brit Marling stars as the young woman who, guilt-ridden, begins cleaning the composers home and doing other chores for him around the house. As this relationship evolves, the world waits on edge to learn what this planetary discovery could mean for everyone’s future. Rated R.

Higher Ground • AUGUST 12

The Departed and Up in the Air star Vera Farmiga delivers her first directorial effort this summer with Higher Ground, a semi-autobiographical film that follows one woman’s lifelong struggle with her faith in God. Set largely during the “Jesus movement” of the 1970s, Farmiga plays a middle-aged mother who seeks contentment and enlightenment though her own spiritual experiences both frustrating and joyful. Bill Irwin and Winter’s Bone Oscar nominee John Hawkes co-star. Rated PG-13.