Michael Winterbottom, who is turning out to be one of the best and boldest directors working today, switches gears from the punk-rock scene of 24 Hour Party People to a haunting story of immigration. Two Afghan boys — sixteen-year-old Jamal (Jamal Udin Torabi) and his older cousin Enayat (Enayatullah) — leave their Pakistani refugee camp and try to make it to London via Iran, Turkey and Italy. Though the film looks like a documentary, it isn't. Instead, without an ounce of phony Hollywood uplift, Winterbottom's film cuts right to the heart.

“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.”