Also lost amid the clash of year-end titans is this hypnotic human drama from first-time director Debra Granik. If there were an ounce of taste left in Hollywood, the magnificent Vera Farmiga would be a front-runner for the Best Actress Oscar along with Transamerica's Felicity Huffman and Walk the Line's Reese Witherspoon. Yes, she's that good. Farmiga plays Irene, a blue-collar woman trying to juggle her roles as wife to Steve (Clint Jordan), mom to two boys and supermarket checkout cashier with her full-time avocation as a cokehead. Granik, who wrote the mercilessly blunt script with Richard Lieske, doesn't spare the graphic details. Shot by Michael McDonough, who brings a poet's eye to high-def video, the film is a low-budget winner. And Farmiga, named actress of the year by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, delivers a tour de force.

“Time to Pretend”

Listening to MGMT’s breakthrough song, one might interpret it as being about the excesses of rock stardom, but it’s actually about the duo’s pet praying mantis. Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden told Rolling Stone they got the idea from the insect's jerky movements. The mantis died, but the two bandmates kept the egg sack and allowed the hundreds of eggs to hatch. “We tried to name them all, but they died after a day,” said Goldwasser, with VanWyngarden chiming in, “But the praying mantis dance inspired us.”