(Craig Zobel, US 2007, 106 min., 35mm)

Acclaimed at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, this unique American indie plays like a mix of Glengarry Glen Ross and American Idol. A close-up look at the practice of “song sharking,” the story focuses on pensive Martin (Pat Healy) and garrulous Clarence (Kene Holliday), salesmen recruited by a shady record label to seek out new “talent” and sell phony recording deals. At first oblivious to the scam, the duo soon realize they’re being conned just like the musicians. “Its sense of place, of lonely hotel rooms and fly-by-night offices decorated with spray-painted gold records, is as nicely observed as its morally compromised characters.” (Manohla Dargis, The New York Times). Craig Zobel and Pat Healy will not appear at this screening.