Happy New Year! It's 2013, and school is back in session. Did we have a good winter break? What winter, you ask? Good question. I sat outside a coffee shop yesterday afternoon in a short-sleeve shirt and nothing else. Well, I was wearing pants. They weren't necessary, though. Probably.

And with the University of Louisville spring semester now convened, it means we can return to our regular weekly segment of What's Showing at the Floyd Theater, a cozy movie theater nestled in the Student Activities Center in which the Student Activities Board Film Committee provides two films a week on the cheap for cinephiles to enjoy.

The semester starts off this evening (Thursday) with the French film Holy Motors, directed by Leos Carax. This may be the most exhilarating film of 2012 you've never heard of, judging by the trailer (located below). Denis Lavant stars as Monsieur Oscar, a man who alternates between various parallel lives. Unfortunately, I can't really get any more specific than that, as the film appears to be a bright and colorful splatterfest of the strange and the surreal.

The weekend brings four chances to see the excellent Beasts of the Southern Wild, which was this morning nominated for four Academy Awards: Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Director (Benh Zeitlin), Best Actress (Quvenzhané Wallis - at age 9, the youngest actress to ever receive this nomination), and Best Picture. Wallis stars as Hushpuppy, a little girl living in a Louisiana bayou town called the Bathtub with her father. As floodwaters rush in, her father becomes increasingly sicker, and a herd of aurochs approaches from the arctic, Hushpuppy learns about survival and about life. (This is quite vague, I know - but this is a film which must be experienced for yourself. It is intensely beautiful. Don't miss it.)

The Floyd Theater is located on the third floor of the Student Activities Center on the U of L campus (look for the clock tower). Admission is $1.50 for students and $3 for the general public. Further information can be found at the SAB Film Committee Facebook page.

Image: Internet Movie Database