Contents BRING THAT BEAT BACK: When Dave Chappelle needed someone to film what he planned as the greatest hip-hop concert ever, he called Eternal Sunshine genius Michel Gondry. The result is not only a great concert film but also a fantastic portrait of the actor/comedian as he harnesses the healing power of music. By Matthew Ross

THE SCHIZOID MAN: Director Richard Linklater creates an animated allegory for our times with A Scanner Darkly, an adaptation of sci-fi great Philip K. Dick's darkly comic tale about drug-using undercover agents. By Scott Macaulay
PLUS: The ins and outs of Scanner's postproduction.

SHOW ME LOVE: Cinematic provocateur Caveh Zahedi continues to turn his life into art with I Am a Sex Addict, a wickedly clever new autobiographical comedy. By Andrew Bujalski.

PLUS: Zahedi's self-distribution manifesto.

AGGRESSIVE TENDENCIES: In his riveting and informative new doc, Why We Fight, filmmaker Eugene Jarecki takes a revealing personality profile of America and the military-industrial complex it supports. By Matthew Ross

EIGHT HOURS ARE NOT A DAY: With Bubble, the first in a series of low-budget HD features, Steven Soderbergh reunites with his Full Frontal screenwriter Coleman Hough to explore the mysteries of wage labor. By Matthew Ross

THE WALKING DEAD: With The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, Tommy Lee Jones has moved his laconic, hard-weathered persona behind the camera to tell a simple, moving story about race and class in the vanishing West. By Jason Guerrasio

ONE SHOT WONDERS: Shooting in their Belgian hometown and focusing their intense dramas on people in crisis, the Dardenne Brothers tell simple stories with big dramatic impacts. Their latest, L'Enfant, deals with illegal adoption and is their second Palme d'Or winner. By Tom Gilroy

THE WAR WITHIN: With his second feature, the challenging and sexually provocative Battle in Heaven, Jap?n director Carlos Reygadas confirms his status as one of the boldest film storytellers of his generation. By Matthew Ross
RUDE BOY: Adapting the Athol Fugard novel set among the South African underclass, Tsotsi director Gavin Hood and debuting screen actor Presley Chweneyagae have created a cinematic punch to the gut. By Matthew Ross

Contents PRIME TIME: With Good Night, and Good Luck and Syriana, George Clooney continues to defy the expectations of Hollywood stardom. Matthew Ross speaks with Clooney.

CASUALTIES OF FAME: Wiith a deeply layered performace by Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bennett Miller's Capote explores the great cost of artistic creation. By Peter Bowen.

THE WILD MAN: Matthew Ross talks with master cinematographer Chris Doyle about Asian pride and the problem with America.

RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY: After two grueling epic movies, Ang Lee makes Brokeback Mountain, a small film with an awfully big heart about gay cowboys. By Peter Bowen.

THE PARENT TRAP: Noah Baumbach's Sundance Award-winning The Squid and the Whale is a richly observed, semi-autobiographical tale about a Brooklyn family struggling with divorce in the 1980s. By Howard Feinstein.

NEW GIRL IN TOWN: Walter Salles speaks with Scott Coffey, who's made a sly and hilarious ode to the world of struggling L.A. actors with Ellie Parker.

ASIA EXTREME: For her second feature, The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things director and actress Asia Argento pushes limits with a harrowing depiction of child abuse adapted from the JT Leroy story collection. Travis Crawford catches up with Argento.

A QUESTION OF CONTROL: Chris Cunningham may be the most important film- maker who has not yet made a feature. While we wait, he's released a new short, 'Rubber Johnny,' and extends his mastery of special effects to new dimensions. By Dan Ouellette.

MASCULINE/FEMININE: Duncan Tucker's Transamerica, about a pre-op transsexual's relationship with his newly discovered son, premiered under the radar at Berlin before landing a deal with the Weinstein Company and IFC. Jason Guerrasio details the making of the film.