Beyond Hatred

A France rarely glimpsed in art-house fare is grimly highlighted in this reserved but draining doc bombshell chronicling the aftermath of a young gay man’s hate killing in Reims. The film focuses on the victim’s haunted parents, who struggle mightily not to succumb to loathing throughout the skinhead murderers’ trial, as well as the various officials who are drawn into the tragedy’s wake. Director Olivier Meyrou takes a potently oblique vrit approach, and his remarkable level of access reveals the limitations and equivocal mercies of human understanding with uncommon grace. (Opens Fri; Cinema Village.)—Mark Holcomb