Opening This Week: PRIMATE Monkey Terror, OBEX Lo-Fi Charms, GREENLAND 2: MIGRATION Gerard Butler Action

Our guide to indie and international (mostly) genre films opening in movie theaters this week, the first complete week of the new calendar year, features just a handful of offerings. Let's start with the two known quantities:

Primate
The film opens Friday, January 9, only in movie theaters, via Paramount Pictures International. Visit the official site for locations and showtimes.

Official synopsis: "A group of friends' tropical vacation turns into a terrifying, primal tale of horror and survival."

Our own Kurt Halfyard saw the film at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival in October and wrote, in part: "Primate is some pretty glorious fan (as in Fangoria) service with a generous budget from Paramount, without the requisite smoothing off of its sharp edges most studios demand. It almost feels like [director Johannes] Roberts got away with something here, and is giddy about it."

OBEX
The film opens Friday, January 9, only in movie theaters, via Oscilloscope. Visit the official site for locations and showtimes.

Official synopsis: "In pre-internet 1987, Conor and his dog Sandy live a life of seclusion, lost in the slow-rendering graphics of early Macs and televisions aglow with late night horror movie marathons. But when he begins playing OBEX, a new and mysterious, state-of-the-art computer game, he finds himself trapped in a low-tech, but high-stakes analog hellscape as the line between reality and game blurs.

"Audacious and uncanny, writer-director Albert Birney's OBEX is a delightfully skewed lo-fi fantasy. Shot in striking black and white, this surreally nostalgic nightmare revisits the dawn of personal computing to reflect on the loneliness of our always-online present day."

Our own Mel Valentin saw the film at the Sundance Film Festival in January and wrote, in part: "Stands out as a vibe film through and through. If you're on OBEX's wavelength or frequency, i.e., attuned to its oddball charms, quirky humor, and irony-free, poignant exploration of its central themes, then OBEX will prove a deeply engaging, infinitely rewarding experience."

Next, here are two vastly-different titles to tempt you into theaters.

Greenland 2: Migration
The film opens Friday, January 9, only in movie theaters, via Lionsgate. Visit the official site for locations and showtimes.

After he saved his family from a worldwide disaster, good ol' Gerard Butler must do it again. Look for our review later this week.

Official synopsis: "In the aftermath of a comet strike that decimated most of the earth, Greenland 2: Migration follows the Garrity family (Gerard Butler, Morena Baccarin, and Roman Griffin Davis) as they're forced to leave the safety of their bunker in Greenland to traverse a shattered world in search of a new home."

All That's Left Is You
The film opens Friday, January 9, only in movie theaters, via Watermelon Pictures. Visit the official site for more information.

Look for our review later this week.

Official synopsis: "A deeply moving, multigenerational drama, All That's Left Is You follows a Palestinian teenager who gets swept into a protest in the Occupied West Bank and experiences a moment of violence that rocks his family.

"The film unfolds as his mother recounts the political and emotional threads that led to that fateful moment. Spanning seven decades, the film traces the hopes and heartaches of one uprooted family, bearing witness to the scars of dispossession and the enduring legacy of survival. Jordan's Official Selection for the 98th Academy Awards."

For fans of filmmaking brothers who always craft distinctively affecting work, here's one more that may prove to be a jewel.

Young Mothers
The film opens Friday, January 9, only in movie theaters, via Music Box Films.

Official synopsis: "In a shelter in Liège, Belgium, a group of young women face the challenges and exhilaration of motherhood. Looking ahead to an uncertain future, the new mothers aspire to break free of the past and not repeat the cycles of neglect, abuse, and abandonment that have defined their young lives.

"Jessica grew up in a foster family, and must understand why her biological mother could not keep her. Perla wrestles with the unreliability of her boyfriend, and confronts the possibility that she may need to raise her child alone.

"Julie has a more stable partner, but cannot imagine parenthood until she overcomes her drug habit once and for all. And Ariane must protect her baby at all costs, with the daunting recognition that her home may not be safe for her daughter.

"Winner of the Best Screenplay prize at Cannes, the latest film from master directors Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne (Rosetta; Two Days, One Night), Young Mothers is a delicate and hopeful study of women on the brink of new life."

Opening This Week celebrates the theatrical experience.