One of the biggest perks of my job is the cool stuff I get to see. Take this past week, for example: the Tribeca Film Festival was raging in full force, and along with a handful of great new flicks, I also had the chance to check out Regina Spektor, Sondre Lerche and Chris Thile of Punch Brothers at the ASCAP Music Lounge. If you've never seen Spektor live, I recommend grabbing tickets the next time she comes through your town. In spite of a painful looking leg injury (she'd fallen down some stairs at a screening of "War, Inc") that forced her to hobble around the stage, she blew the crowd away with her magical vocals.

But I digress. Below, five of the best movies I saw during my film fest whirlwind—be sure to catch these indie gems when they hit a theater near you this summer!

1. "Baghead"
"Mumblecore" darlings (and Gen Art film program alums) Mark and Jay Duplass are back with this charming follow up to "The Puffy Chair" about four struggling actors who retreat to a cabin in the woods to make their own indie film. After copious amounts of alcohol is consumed, they settle on a story about a killer who wears a paper bag over his head. Hilarity ensues.

2. "Bart Got a Room"
I'll be honest. After seeing set photos of Cheryl Hines and William H. Macy donning really bad wigs, I wasn't psyched about taking in this teen sex comedy. But I was wrong. This sweet little gem about a nerd's struggle to find a date for prom will give you John Hughes-style warm fuzzies.

3. "Boy A"
Newcomer Andrew Garfield delivers a heartbreaking performance as Jack, a rehabilitated child killer trying to make a fresh start under a new identity after serving a 14-year sentence. If it sounds dark, that's because it is, but what makes this drama brilliant is how it plays with your idea of a hero.

4. "Paraiso Travel"
After reading that this foreign indie about a couple illegally immigrating to the United States had swept Colombian's box office, I knew I had to check it out. Sexy? Check. Intense? Check. Romantic? Check. With welcome comic relief provided by John Leguizamo, it might be the perfect date movie.

5. "The Wackness"
Set in early '90s New York, this is a coming of a age story about an unpopular drug dealer who finds friendship in his classmate's shrink father (played impeccably by Ben Kingsley). Joints are smoked; walls are tagged; hearts are broken. In short, this movie is mad dope, yo.

- Caroline Stanley

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