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The Cuckoo directed by Aleksandr Rogozhkin New on DVD and video this week is The Cuckoo, writer/director Aleksandr Rogozhkin's tale of three very different people who are, out of necessity, thrown together in close quarters and must learn to communicate and adapt to each other. Opening in September 1944, just before the end of World War II, the film introduces us to Veiko (Ville Haapasalo), a Finnish sniper and Ivan (Viktor Bychkov), a Russian army captain, both of whom have been separated from their fellow soldiers for various reasons. The men meet when taken in and cared for by Anni (Anni-Christina Juuso), a Lapp reindeer farmer who was widowed four years earlier when her husband was drafted into the war and killed. Though the men are from enemy countries and none of the three people inhabiting Anni's tiny house speak the same language, they manage to work together to create a livable situation, which is thrown off-kilter when Anni chooses to seduce the naive Veiko. The film builds on that same theme of slow, constantly-shifting emotions, culminating in refreshingly balanced outcome that feels completely unique when compared to much of today's cinema. Buy The Cuckoo on DVD     Ask A Filmmaker This week: screenwriter John August outlines the development of a concept into a film, Penelope Spheeris estimates the timeframe for the making of a film and explains why film titles change, and Oliver Stapleton elaborates on the politics of running a big crew. New to Ask a Filmmaker? Catch up on past columns in our archive. Indie Update... In Theaters Opening in limited release this week is What Alice Found, starring Judith Ivey, Bill Raymond and newcomer Emily Grace. Entering theaters with a handful of film festival awards, director/writer A. Dean Bell's story focuses on the titular Alice (Grace), who decides to escape her dreary life by accepting an invitation to visit an aquaintance at college in Florida, but finds herself marooned when her car dies en route. She meets a friendly couple named Bill (Raymond) and Sandra (Ivey), who offer her a ride to Florida in their RV. The couple's good deed is soon revealed to be one with ulterior motives, as they urge Alice to join them in their profession -- truck stop prostitution. Torn between the kindness of the two strangers, the chance to leave behind her dull life, and what she believes is right, Alice must choose whether or not to join them in their grim pursuits, and to deal with the consequences of whatever path she chooses. Read more about What Alice Found.        Indie/art house films in various stages of release: The Triplets of Belleville, Shattered Glass, In My Skin, Die Mommie Die, Luther, Returner, Pieces of April, Dopamine, Bubba Ho-Tep, My Life Without Me, Lost in Translation, Dummy, Party Monster, Once Upon a Time in the Midlands, Dirty Pretty Things, Swimming Pool

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