Two Harbors” reminds us of one of Hollywood’s greatest conceits: Most characters in the fictional world of film are assumed to care for one another.

But that’s not the way it is in this cell phone-crazed, iPod-listening real world. We don’t care for most people; we ignore them.. We don’t edge closer, we back away.

And so it begins in “Two Harbors,” as Vic (Alex Cole), a seller of sci-fi collectibles, walks around a flea market in Two Harbors, Minn., with a chip on his shoulder. He criticizes everyone he meets, before stumbling upon Cassie (Catherine E. Johnson), whose craft booth only has two dolls for sale, and who isn’t about to take any guff from him.

A few days later, after a fateful stroll down an unfamiliar street, the two reunite by chance and forge a most unusual relationship. Vic could be Cassie’s father, but they realize they have more in common than they imagine. This level of empathy is tested as the film first stretches the boundaries of reality then takes a dramatic, unexpected turn for the tragic.

It’s an exercise in exploring what most films take for granted: that period of befriending, in which director James Vculek bears the burden of showing real people breaking out of their shells, one word at a time.

In that sense, “Two Harbors” is an unusual, engaging and ultimately beautiful expression. (Steven Snyder)

“The Fearless Freaks” is not just a passionate tribute to alternative band The Flaming Lips told through the eyes of a devoted fan. It is a revealing expose from a trusted close friend who was given unprecedented access to the group.

Still an active band in concerts and on the radio, the only segment really missing from Bradley Beesley’s documentary is the scars of a successful band that flew too close to the sun and got burned. From “Metallica: Some Kind of Monster” to The Beatles’ “Let It Be,” most documentaries about bands examine a bit of turbulence — or that tragic downfall — that makes them into tantalizing melodramas.

Then again, Beesley, as both director and friend, does manage to get flavors of that angst in to the film. He contrasts the band’s early days of rock ’n’ roll glory with its later days of drugs, interpersonal conflicts and crisis of confidence about its direction.

A masterful production for a first-time filmmaker, “The Fearless Freaks” is far more intimate than most films of this sort (particularly in a sequence involving a band member’s real-time reactions to heroin). This is a must-see for any fan of The Flaming Lips, the wider rock scene or the perversely bizarre world of pop culture. (Steven Snyder)

Making its world premiere Saturday at the Lagoon Cinema, the hilarious and endlessly quirky “Anytown, USA” should have a strong, popular future ahead of it. Indeed, directed by Kristian Fraga and produced by John Sikes, “Anytown, USA” mixes the humor of the best Christopher Guest films with both the scrutiny and pathos of a political satire based in the woeful, all-too-real world.

Steeped in the do-or-die politics of a mayoral race in the less-than-bustling burg of Bogota, N.J., Fraga chronicles the absurd vitriol with which both the residents and their elected leaders approach their political contests. But “Anytown, USA” goes further in presenting a balanced picture of flaws, egos, hopes and the sincere desire of the candidates.

And then, there’s the unexpected involvement of Dean Barkley, former Gov. Jesse Ventura’s past campaign manager.

This is undeniably a comedy about how silly we get over politics. But it’s also a well-rounded portrait of a town, its personalities and its rhetoric that resonates with all the universality implied by its title.

“Anytown, USA” is one of the liveliest entries of the festival. (Steven Snyder)

In the late 1950s, boxing was to poor, inner-city children what basketball is today — a way out of a life of poverty and an opportunity for a select few to make a fortune.

To Emile Griffith, who immigrated to New York from the Virgin Islands in 1957, boxing began as a way to bring his family to the United States, one knockout at a time. It ended up as a career, with Griffith seemingly living the American dream.

But his life took on nightmarish qualities after an infamous knockout put him at the center of a national controversy questioning the morality of boxing as a sport.

This incident, the central focus of the film, becomes an imbroglio with ties to race, moral responsibility and sexuality. The combination makes the film intriguing even for those who are not boxing fans.

“Ring of Fire: The Emile Griffith Story” is helped by numerous interviews (nearly everyone involved in Griffith’s boxing career, including Griffith himself, is still alive) and extensive footage of actual Griffith fights.

The musical score augments the many moods of the film and follows the chronology of Griffith’s life, featuring songs by The Temptations and Jimmy Cliff.

Though the film’s “feel-good” ending feels authentic, one is left wondering what might have happened had directors Dan Klores and Ron Berger examined the many other issues surrounding boxing in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The role of sexuality in the sport and in Griffith’s life would have been particularly fertile ground.

That said, the film does justice to the humanity of a boxer whom history seems to have forgotten while exposing one of many skeletons in his closet. It raises more questions than it answers, which, after all, is what a good documentary should do. (Erin Adler)

In between travels from India to Israel, director Velcrow Ripper pauses in the midst of Cambodia. “What kind of person travels the world searching for these places?” he wonders.

“These places” refers to the countries and people we don’t like to think about but Ripper can’t stay away from with camera in hand. To think of the great suffering in war-torn countries, such as Cambodia, Bosnia, Afghanistan and many others, is a heavy weight on our consciousness.

“Scared Sacred” is certainly heavy — the suffering it portrays inspires tears as well as outrage.

Ripper, though, sets out on his journey with a distinct purpose. The film does not try to explain the politics that resulted in the Cambodian genocide or how Union Carbide Corp. could get away with poisoning more than 8,000 people in Bhopal, India. Instead, Ripper is interested in how people prevail under these intense circumstances.

In all the places he visits, Ripper finds hope. In Bosnia, he meets a husband and wife who dealt with war through creating art. In Afghanistan, he sees an underground school for girls.

Ripper wants to show there’s still hope in the world. But “Scared Sacred” is mostly about getting the audience to feel.

A man in India tells Ripper, “There’s possibility with compassion.” Ripper believes the best way to heal from these tragic events is to soak them in, to breathe in the suffering. (Keri Carlson)

“Seven Times Lucky” is a familiar film with a familiar character.

Director Gary Yates fills his scenes with musty reds and greens and untrustworthy characters. It’s not too different from other crime films in which everyone is cheating everyone else. But “Seven Times Lucky” throws in enough twists and turns to keep things interesting.

Kevin Pollack plays Harlan, a gambler and petty crook who happens to be down on his luck and in need of $10,000.

He meets the beautiful Fiona (Liane Balaban), and together, they set up a scheme to con some marks out of money.

But in their world, where everyone is a cheater, back stabbings are bound to ensue.

“Seven Times Lucky” makes up for its familiarity by keeping the audience in the dark about the characters. That way, the ending is a complete shock. (Keri Carlson)

It usually isn’t very hard to discern the message of a documentary. Filmmakers are as opinionated as anyone else, and the form and content of the movies they make tend to reflect their biases.

However, with “Plagues and Pleasures on the Salton Sea,” directors Chris Metzler and Jeff Springer provide a glimpse of a troubled region. The film does not take sides as much as it explains the futility of every side’s position.

The documentary’s subject is the Salton Sea, a huge artificial body of water in California’s

Imperial Valley. The film chronicles the booms and busts of the sea’s history through the lives of the people who live and work around it.

Unfortunately for those people, the Salton Sea is in serious trouble. Once billed as a tourist spot to rival neighboring Palm Springs, Calif., or Las Vegas, the sea has declined socially, economically and environmentally since its heyday in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Metzler and Springer contrast familiar stories of small-town decline with the bizarre specifics of the Salton Sea’s environmental crisis. Among other things, the sea provides food and habitat for thousands of local and migrating birds, which are threatened by avian botulism outbreaks. There are also massive fish deaths caused by low summer oxygen levels and persistent worries about pollution from farm runoff.

“Plagues and Pleasures on the Salton Sea” treats its human subjects with dignity, even as many of them spiral down into poverty and despair. While many of them disagree about the best ways to deal with the Salton Sea’s many problems, there’s no doubt those problems are legion.

The directors have created an issue-based documentary that manages to pack a huge amount of information, and pathos, into a compact 86-minute format. In not taking sides, they might have disappointed some of their interviewees, but they have succeeded in producing an excellent historical document. (Niels Strandskov)