3 more movies you shouldn't miss

'Departures'

If there is such a thing as cheap sentiment, Tojiro Takita's "Departures" must be the expensive kind. This pensive, eloquent drama centers around Daigo (Masahiro Motoki), a laid-off cellist. He reluctantly becomes an assistant to a professional "encoffination" artist (Tsutomu Yamazaki) who prepares corpses for cremation. This movie is a father-son drama, a romance, a coming-of-age story and an insightful look at Japanese customs and culture. France's "The Class" deserved the 2008 Oscar for best foreign movie, but Takita's "Departures" won it fair and square. Rated PG-13 (for no good reason). 130 minutes.

At the Century Centre, Chicago.

Support Geneva film!

You can meet real, breathing filmmakers during a fundraiser for the upcoming Geneva Film Festival (April 15-17, 2010). Chicagoans Mike Houlihan and Greg Hollimon are among the filmmakers scheduled to appear. A $25 ticket includes hors d'oeuvres and a cash bar. Call (630) 377-8325 or go to genevafilmfestival.org for reservations.

7 p.m. Thursday, June 4, at the Wildwood Restaurant, 477 S. Third St., Geneva.

'What Goes Up'

Jonathan Glatzer's darkly comic drama overdoses on its own quirkiness when a troubled reporter (Steve Coogan) covers how the launch of the Challenger space shuttle affects residents of a small New Hampshire town. He becomes involved with local teenage misfits, one pregnant (Olivia Thirlby), another a temptress (Hilary Duff), and learns about honesty and heroism. Rated R (drug use, language, sexual situations. 104 minutes.

Opens today at area theaters.