Front lines

"New Directors/New Films" finds new recruits.

Every spring, New Yorkers head up to Lincoln Center and MoMA to discover the freshest finds of “ND/NF.” Here are Team TONY’s faves, winnowed down after hours and hours of intense scrutiny.

Ballast
This cryptic, intimate tale of three people dealing with tragedy in the Deep South has earned director Lance Hammer the nickname “the third Dardenne brother.” The comparison is a high compliment, and Hammer’s poetic sensibility and sensitivity to people living below the poverty line feel like a fresh breeze blowing through stale contemporary Indiewood.—DF

La France
Featuring two of Gaul’s greatest actors, Pascal Greggory and Sylvie Testud, Serge Bozon’s World War I drama transcends battlefield bathos, thanks to four rapturous musical numbers that sound like outtakes from Rubber Soul or Pet Sounds. Yet the mid-’60s harmonies never drown out the profound melancholy that thrums throughout, culminating in an otherworldly reunion.—MA

Megane
The films of Japan’s Naoko Ogigami are soft, serene affairs—not psychobabbly or sentimental, but certainly committed to internal processes and their considered expression. A middle-aged Japanese woman is reborn on a tropical island; her new sense of purpose will come as a revelation to viewers willing to give this film a chance. It’s been an unlikely hit at home.—JR

Munyurangabo
Lee Isaac Chung’s graceful feature debut about two boys traveling on a vengeance mission says more about the horrors of Rwanda’s genocide than bloated Hollywood epics could ever hope to. With its entirely nonprofessional cast working in a largely improvisational style, Chung’s film is just as potent for its depiction of friendship and familial betrayals.—MA

Wonderful Town
A corporate architect arrives in a tsunami-damaged ghost town and starts romantically circling the owner of the ramshackle motel he’s staying in. Thai filmmaker Aditya Assarat’s attention to minute details and ravaged architecture screams Antonioni, but his ability to switch from dreamy to ugly in a heartbeat suggests a singular voice in the making.—DF

XXY
A quiet, discomfiting drama from Argentina’s Lucía Puenzo, this teenage meltdown does what few others manage to: accommodate the perspectives of caring, nonstereotypical parents. The central subject matter is tough: Alex (Inés Efron), born a hermaphrodite, suffers from serious identity issues at puberty. Puenzo presents those issues with uncommon grace.—JR

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