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

Persepolis

Marjane Satrapi's acclaimed graphic novel about her adolescence during the Iranian Revolution quickly reached the status of modern classic, and it appears the filmed version is headed in the same direction. Satrapi herself co-directed the adaptation, and instead of attempting to three-dimensionalize her bold black and white artwork, she and co-director Vincent Paronnaud opted to transfer directly the look of the book's artwork. The result is a defiant and unapologetically politically charged coming of age story that makes this year's Best Animated Feature race at the Academy Awards into a much more diverse contest than usual.

View the trailer.
Opens tomorrow at E Street and Bethesda Row.

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Rambo

Sylvester Stallone surprised critics and audiences last year with a return to the Rocky series that not only didn't suck, but was a surprisingly subtle sendoff for the Italian Stallion. While it hewed close to inspirational sports-movie formula, the snapshot of the aging fighter looking for one last shot at glory had a sensitive sentimentality that steered clear of maudlin territory. We'd do well not to expect the same from Rambo, which sees Stallone resurrecting his other franchise player, the half-crazy 'Nam vet with a tendency to stand up for the rights of the oppressed by blowing up lots of stuff. When even the movie's trailers are showing full-on beheadings, it’s a safe bet that subtlety isn't on the menu. In this installment, the aging killing machine is called back from a quiet life of working boats in Southeast Asia when a group of American missionaries disappears and Rambo is forced into the middle of the Burmese Civil War to get them out. Why should you care about what could easily be written off as a mindless shoot-'em-up? Check out this excellent essay by Bob Brumfield that comes to us by way of the Heck's Kitchen blog about how Rambo can make you, too, into a better person. As Brumfield says, "There is no better measure for how the Collective American Penis is doing than Rambo." If that's the case, we may be in trouble.

View the trailer.
Opens tomorrow at theaters all around the area.

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Samuel Beckett's Film

This 25-minute short brings together two giants, Buster Keaton (in one of his final film roles) and Samuel Beckett (in his only foray into writing for the screen). Beckett's symbolically charged, and dialog-free piece concerns a man attempting not to be seen - he walks close to walls as if hoping to blend into them. A powerful meditation on perception and how we see ourselves when no one else is looking, Beckett casts a central role in the film for the camera itself, which all leads to a surprise ending that even sends the normally stone-faced Keaton into looks of shock and awe. In fact, it's the aged Keaton's reputation that makes the closing moments all the more effective; through 95 percent of the film, we don't see his face, and he is filmed exclusively from behind or with something covering his head. When we do see it, our expectations are completely subverted. In that sense, it's a good thing that Beckett's first choice for the role, Charlie Chaplin, wasn't available. Keaton's less exaggerated everyman physicality allows the audience to identify more closely with a character that really does represent something in every man. The Smithsonian's American Art Museum will be showing this under-seen gem this weekend with a discussion with Consulting Senior Curator for Film and Media Arts John Hanhardt.

Screens at the Smithsonian's American Art Museum's McAvoy Auditorium one week from tonight at 6 p.m. Free.

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Hamilton

The AFI and Montgomery College have teamed up to form the Mid-Atlantic Regional Showcase for a rare opportunity to see the work of local filmmakers in a setting like the Silver Theatre. This weekend, Baltimore writer/director Matthew Porterfield's debut feature takes the screen, a touching story of a teen mother attempting to bring together her child and the father before she leaves town. The film has earned the young filmmaker raves from The New York Times, The Village Voice, and The New Yorker.

One screening only at the AFI Silver on Sunday night at 7 p.m., tickets only $5.

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El Cid

Before he was the go-to guy for the National Rifle Association, and before he was the go-to guy for apocalyptic sci-fi movies, Charleton Heston was the king of the historical epic. During that period, he played Ben-Hur, Michelangelo, Mark Antony (twice), and Moses. In El Cid, Heston plays the medieval Spanish warrior and leader who helped drive the Moors out of Spain in the 11th Century. Of course, the historical story is a little dry all by itself, so Sophia Loren was thrown in as a smoldering love interest, and a romantic epic for the ages was born. The film has been lovingly remastered and restored, and is being screened in digital HD one time only next week.

One screening only, at the AFI Silver on Monday night at 7 p.m.