DCist's highly subjective and hardly comprehensive guide to the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week.

Indie: Into the Wild
Annandale native Chris McCandless had just graduated from Emory University in 1990 when he donated his substantial life's savings to charity and set out on the road under the name of "Alexander Supertramp." His highly publicized disappearance ended two years later when his body was found in the Alaskan wilderness, and the publication of Jon Krakauer's acclaimed 1996 book about McCandless' adventure only added to public fascination. Sean Penn has brought the book to the screen, and in doing so has produced a film that is both his most accessible directorial effort, and his most profoundly touching.

Penn runs the episodic pieces of McCandless' travels for the two years before he reached Alaska as a parallel storyline to the brief months he lived in a bus in the Alaskan wilderness, jumping back and forth between the two, and punctuating these with flashbacks and looks back at his family, narrated by his sister to supply more information on his character. The result is part On the Road, part Walden, and showcases beautifully the America that McCandless felt he had to withdraw from society to experience. The excellent soundtrack is dominated by solo songs by Eddie Vedder that range from surprisingly spare folk to vocal pieces that recall his earlier work with Qawwali legend Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Emile Hirsch, as McCandless, is a revelation, confident and sensitive in a role that is demanding both physically and emotionally. Into the Wild is a must-see.

View the trailer.
Opens tomorrow at E Street Cinema, Bethesda Row Cinema, and Loews Cineplex Georgetown.

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Special Event: D.C. Asian Pacific American Film Festival
We know the real reason you're excited about the Asian Pacific American Film Festival is the arrival in town of the director of The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. Justin Lin will be on hand for the kick-off of the Festival tonight, as he atones for past Hollywood sins with the local premiere of Finishing the Game, a mockumentary satirizing the famous decision of the producers of Bruce Lee's final film, Game of Death, to finish the film with stand-ins for Lee after the actor died early in the filming. What follows tonight's opening at the AFI Silver Theater is over a week of screenings of eclectic material from shorts to features to documentaries from a wide array of Asian Pacific American filmmakers. With selections ranging from romantic comedies to serious documentaries to zombie flicks, there's a little something for everyone.

Tonight through October 6 at over a half dozen venues all around town. Check the full schedule for times and locations.

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Foreign: Blame it on Fidel!
If there's one thing the French do exceptionally, it's making movies about children. From classics like The Red Balloon, The 400 Blows, and Au Revoir Les Enfants, to more contemporary films such as Ponette and To Be and to Have, the French have a knack for capturing the innocence, discovery, and oft-overlooked complexity of young minds, often coaxing surprisingly sensitive performances from their young actors. The latest entry in this list is the first non-documentary feature from Julie Gavras, daughter of the director Costa-Gavras, which focuses on a nine-year old girl, content with her conservative upbringing and Catholic education, who is forced to examine politics at a younger age than most when her parents make a radical lifestyle change in order to become activists. Blame it on Fidel has been receiving rave reviews for its depiction of political upheaval from an unusual perspective, as well as for the performance by young Nina Kervel in the lead role.

Opens tomorrow for one week only at E Street Cinema.

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Major Release: The Kingdom
We'll be honest, the studio fare this week isn't too inspiring, and with choices between a new vehicle for The Rock, a maudlin nouveau-Big Chill emo-fest, and an anti-terrorism shoot-'em-up, we might as well throw a dart. So, with half a heart, we'll say that if you want the big stars and the big budgets this week, maybe Jamie Foxx blowing things up is just the ticket. Peter Travers in Rolling Stone says it tends toward being "a jingoistic CSI: Riyadh," and that's one of the good reviews. Still, it sounds like the thrills may be genuine, so it may be a good popcorn flick at least.

View the trailer.
Opens tomorrow at a number of theaters throughout the area.

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Repertory: The Red Dwarf
The Washington Psychotronic Film Society has been screening the most bizarre and mind-blowingly strange films ever made at Dr. Dremo's for years, and next week's looks like a slam dunk. The Red Dwarf is a surreal and expressionistic film by an obscure Belgian film director that actually had its fans upon its 1998 release, including The New York Times and the Bratislava Film Festival (the Cannes of the eastern Danube!), where it won the top prize. We know the real reason you want to go, though: to see aging bombshell and former Fellini muse Anita Ekberg get it on with the titular dwarf.

At Dr. Dremo's Taphouse in Arlington on Tuesday, October 2 at 8p.m. Screenings are free, but WPFS is a non-profit, so throw a little cash their way if you come out. They suggest a $2 donation.