Julia

Like John Cassavetes’ Gloria, Erick Zonca’s Julia is an uncompromising character study of a tough-as-nails lady who wants to protect a boy from an unforgiving world full of people who want nothing more than to exploit him. The difference between the two films is that where she was a cop before, now she’s a self-destructive alcoholic.

We meet Julia (Tilda Swinton) at a party where she knocks back drink after drink with the gusto of a frat boy, and flirts with almost any man that comes into her path -- something she does with such ease that it’s obvious she’s spent many nights doing this. After waking up half-dressed the next morning, in a car n...