The three young stars of Water Lilies (Fox Lorber)

Water Lilies (opened August 15 at Landmark's Ken Cinema) opens against the fitting backdrop of the summer Olympics. As athletes compete in the oft-ridiculed synchronized swimming (remember the Martin Short SNL skit?), Water Lilies uses the sport as a focal point in its tale of sexual awakening among a trio of teenage girls. The film marks the feature-directing debut of France's Céline Sciamma.

Set in 19th century France, The Last Mistress (opening August 1 at Landmark's Ken Cinema) is a steamy period drama that chronicles the love affair between a tempestuous Spanish mistress named Vellini (Asia Argento) and the well-bred Ryno de Marigny (impossibly beautiful newcomer Fu'ad Ait Aattou). The sultry, dark-eyed Argento (seen in the U.S. in Land of the Dead and xXx) brings her unique brand of feral sensuality to the role of Vellini. She creates a completely sexual being entirely consumed by her passions. She rivets viewers just as she beguiles Ryno.

Hanna Schygulla is one of six fine performers in The Edge of Heaven (Strand Releasing)

Hollywood was smart enough to clear the runway for the Batman landing. All mainstream studios served up were strong counterprogramming like Mamma Mia! for women and Space Chimps for kids. But at least those films had enough studio backing to let those demographics know that options to The Dark Knight would be available. But over at the Landmark art houses there's some counter-programming as well but their new openings may just get lost among this weekend. That's too bad because both Tell No One and The Edge of Heaven (opening July 18 at Landmark's Ken Cinema) are worth checking out. The Edge of Heaven is the fifth feature by Fatih Akin, but the first I've had a chance to see. But now I'm eager to seek out the others.

In reading about German-born Turkish writer-director Akin's other films, I can see that he's interested in cross cultural tales, most specifically those involving Turks and Germans. His lastest outing concerns four Turks and a pair of Germans whose lives fatefully intersect. The two driving forces here are love and tragedy, love bringing characters together and tragedy forcing them to connect with others. Dividing his film into three parts, Akin gives us fair warnings of the tragedies by labeling two chapters Yeter's Death and Lotte's Death, with the final chapter bearing a more ambiguous title of From the Other Side.

Although all the performances are top notch, it is great to see Fassbinder favorite Hanna Schygulla (remember her from The Marriage of Maria Braun?) again. Akin keeps his complex tale moving with careful efficiency and rich humanity.

The Edge of Heaven (unrated and in German, Turkish, English with English subtitles) serves up a tale of two divergent cultures and the individuals who reach across those cultural lines to connect.

Companion viewing: The Marriage of Maria Braun, Solino, Head On

Francois Cluzet finds himself a suspect in his wife's murder in Tell No One (Music Box Films)

I don't envy any film opening against The Dark Knight. That's tough. But I hope the new French thriller Tell No One (opening July 18 at Landmark's Hillcrest and La Jolla Village Theaters) doesn't get completely over shadowed by the Batman. Based on American writer Harlan Coben's novel, Tell No One serves up an obsessive love story wrapped up in a thriller about murder and deception.

Elsa y Fred (DistriMax)

Last year, KPBS, V-me and the San Diego Latino Film Festival hosted a screening of the charming Argentinean/Spanish film Elsa y Fred (now opening for a theatrical run on July 18 at Landmark's La Jolla Village Theaters). Screened at 2006 Palm Springs International Film Festival, Elsa y Fred features two Spanish language veterans, China Zorrilla and Manuel Alexandre, as seniors who have lost their respective spouses and who unexpectedly strike up a romance. Despite the film's popularity with the Latino Film Fest crowd, it has taken more than a year to gain a theatrical release here in San Diego.

Fred (Manuel Alexandre) is a hypochondriac that Elsa (China Zorrilla) diagnoses as more afraid of living than he is of dying. Elsa, by contrast, has a lust for life and dreams of visiting the Trevi Fountain in Rome, the site of Anita Ekberg's famous dip in Fellini's La Dolce Vita. The film succeeds essentially on the charms of its two leads and the contrast their characters strike on screen.

Director Marcos Carnevale co-wrote the screenplay with Marcela Guerty and Lily Ann Martin. Together they craft a feel good film for the senior crowd. The basic message is that it's never too late to start living.

Elsa y Fred (rated PG for some mild thematic elements and language) displays mature appeal with Zorrilla bringing a joyous lust for life to the film.

Companion viewing: La Dolce Vita, Harold and Maude, Where's Poppa?

Tuya's Marriage (Music Box Films)

Last February mainland Chinese director Wang Quanan won the Berlin Film Festival's top honor, the Golden Bear, for his latest film Tuya's Marriage (opened July 11 at Landmark's Ken Cinema). Set in Inner Mongolia, the film focuses on hardworking woman who tries to provide for her two children and crippled husband. After winning the award, Wang said, "A very beautiful dream has become reality for me here. Perhaps this is the last glance at the herds people of the region. Ultimately they are going to disappear into the cities. I think that it is important, particularly in this time when the economy is booming, to ponder and reflect on what we're losing." And this tough, lovely film will be disappearing fast as well, its run ends July.

Tadanobu Asano stars as Genghis Khan in the new film Mongol (Picturehouse)

Genghis Khan is probably best remembered as a bloody conqueror. But to Russian filmmaker Sergei Bodrov the Mongol ruler was much more than that. Bodrov attempts to correct some misconceptions about the 13th century leader with his Oscar nominated film Mongol (opening June 20 at Landmark's Hillcrest Cinemas. (You can listen to our KPBS Film Club discussion of the film and to my interview with the director for The World.)

Genghis Khan is a well-known name in Russia, though the Mongol conqueror is not remembered fondly there, says director Sergei Bodrov.

SERGEI BODROV: "He was described as the cruelest person in the world but he was so bad in all my school books that when I was growing up that I started to be suspicious. His history was written by his enemies. And you have to question this."

And that's what Bodrov's new film Mongol does. It questions how history has depicted Genghis Khan. The film focuses on the Mongol ruler's youth, when he was known simply as Temudgin (played by an impressive Odnyam Odsuren as a boy, and with quiet confidence by Japan's Tadanobu Asano as an adult).

The mermaid and the princess? Jellyfish (Zeitgeist Film)

After suffering through the excruciatingly bloated Sex and the City last week, the trim Jellyfish/Meduzot (opening June 6 at Landmark's Ken Cinema) arrives like a breath of fresh air. Light on its feet, deeply human, and fresh in style, this French-Israeli co-production serves up an engaging tale about a group of women struggling with daily life in contemporary Tel Aviv. This isn't the glamorous, fashion and beauty obsessed world of the gals from Sex and the City but rather a much more relatable story about a diverse array of woman coping with disappointments and relationships, and yet still holding out for something better.

Woody Allen + Alain Resnais + hip-hop = Reprise... sort of. (Miramax)

Joachim Trier's debut feature Reprise has been racking up accolades for its hip, heady mix of pop culture, punk music and French poetry. It's one part Woody Allen (for romance, neurosis, and humor), one part Alain Resnais (for non-linear exploration of memory and identity), and one part hip-hop (for energy, improv and youthful rebellion). The story may be set in Oslo but its themes about growing up have universal appeal. (You can also take a listen to my radio feature.)

Something funny happened on the way to Joachim Trier's first film.

JOACHIM TRIER: "Yeah we were working on an English language thriller very, very experimental in its form but we kind of got lost."

So lost that Trier decided to return to his native Norway for a story about aspiring young writers. Reprise opens with two friends, Phillip and Erik, poised in front of a bright red mailbox. They are giddy with visions of fame, fortune, and romance. They weigh the importance of the moment, and then drop their manuscripts as well as their hopes and dreams into the mail slot.

Dominique Pinon and Audrey Dana in Roman de Gare (Samuel Goldwyn Films)

Roman de Gare (opening May 23 at Landmark's Hillcrest Cinemas) concerns a popular novelist and her ghostwriter. So in keeping with the spirit of the film, director-writer Claude Lelouch initiated the project under the pseudonym of Herve Picard. He only revealed the true authorship of the film when it screened at Cannes last year. This sense of playful deception manifests itself in the Roman de Gare and keeps you engaged through a plot piled high with twists and turns. [You can also listen to the discussion about the film on the KPBS Film Club of the Air by clicking on the player icon above.]