Conventioneers

A contrived premise—former college pals, one a GOP delegate (Mabe) and the other a liberal activist (Koons), fall for each other during the 2004 NYC Republican convention—makes for one of the freshest indie films in a while. The scale is small, but the leads exhibit range and chemistry, the documentary-style protest footage and romance narrative mix for real cinematic tension, and the introduction of love into what seemed so loveless an event is daring. Be prepared for a bleak ending—but then you knew that. (Opens Fri; Village East.)—Mark Holcomb