"Drunk in Public," about a man who has been arrested

more than 400 times for public intoxication,

screens Thursday, April 27th.

Get your tix for these flicks

Our picks for the must see films during the 2006 Newport Beach Film Festival

By JIT FONG CHIN
SqueezeOC.com

You haven't seen a single movie at the Newport Beach Film Festival and you're already googly-eyed - the festival schedule lists more than 350 movies from around the world!

To help you figure out which films to watch, we combed through early reviews (many movies were screened at other film festivals, such as Sundance) and selected our Top 10 picks.

BUY TICKETS AT: newportbeachfilmfest.com.

• "Drunk in Public" (102 mins.)

Screens at: Noon on Thursday, April 27, at Regency Lido Theater. $10.

Documentary. During the past 12 years, Mark David Allen has been arrested more than 400 times for public intoxication. Newport Beach jailer David Sperling struck up a friendship and filmed Allen's experiences.

• "De Nadie"
("No One," in Spanish with English subtitles, 80 mins.)

Screens at: 5 p.m. Friday, April 21, at Edwards Islands theater. $10.

Documentary. The impoverished Central Americans who come to the United States in search of a better life put their money, dignity and health on the line. Audience winner for world cinema at 2006 Sundance.

• "Neo Ned" (97 mins.)

Screens at: 6 p.m. Friday, April 21, at Edwards Island. $10.

An Aryan brother (Jeremy Renner) falls for a black woman (Gabrielle Union) who claims to be Adolf Hitler. "Ludicrous on paper, but it has ... atmosphere, humanity and just a dash of fantastic drama." - Variety. Won Special Jury Recognition for best film screening out of competition at Slamdance.

• "The Oh in Ohio" (88 mins.)

Screens at: 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 21, at Edwards Island. $10.

Orgasm has remained consistently elusive for Priscilla (Parker Posey) throughout a decade of marriage to Jack (Paul Rudd). Also stars Mischa Barton as an alluring student. "Amusing indie comedy blithely blurs the line between risqué and raunchy." - Variety.

• "Wassup Rockers" (111 mins.)

Screens at: 9 p.m. Saturday, April 22, at Edwards Island. $15 screening only, $40 screening and after-party.

A group of punk rock-loving Latino teens in South Central L.A. decide to travel by bus to skate at Beverly Hills High School. Written and directed by Larry Clark, director of the infamous 1995 movie "Kids." "Although racial epithets and bullets fly ... the Chicano teens' joyride is depicted in mostly madcap comic terms." - The Philadelphia Inquirer.

• "Typhoon" (In Korean with English subtitles. 125 mins.)

Screens at: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 25, at Edwards Island. $40 for screening and post-party.

After a failed attempt to defect from North Korea to South Korea, Sin (Dong-Kun Jang) witnesses the execution of his family. Sin feels betrayed by both Koreas and plots revenge 20 years later. The plot is standard action fare, but not the subplot, which deals with the issues facing North Korea escapees with "unrelenting grimness" - South China Morning Post.

• "The Tsunami Diaries" (50 mins.)

Screens at: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 25, at Regency Lido Theater. $10.

Documentary. Three surfers, including Huntington Beach resident Timmy Turner, go to the coastal countries that were damaged by the 2004 tsunami and try to bring aid to where they used to surf.

• "The Illusionist" (110 mins.)

Screens at: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 27, at Regency Lido Theater. Sold-out.

In this romantic thriller set in 1900 Vienna, a stage musician (Edward Norton) and a power-hungry crown prince (Rufus Sewell) pursue the same duchess (Jessica Biel). It's a "richly atmospheric drama" and Paul Giamatti, playing a shrewd inspector, "steals the movie" - San Francisco Chronicle.

• "365 Boots on Ground" (58 mins.)

Screens at: 3:30 p.m. Monday, April 24, at Edwards Island. $10.

Documentary. Casey Wayland, a fifth-generation Orange resident and student at Chapman University, strapped a lens on his helmet and filmed his military experience in Iraq.

• "The Bridge So Far - A Suspense Story" (55 mins.)

Screens at: Noon on Tuesday, April 25, at Regency Lido Theater. $10.

Documentary. Politicians, reporters and comedians weigh in on the building of the east span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, which State Senator Tom McClintock calls "one of the great fiascoes of the 20th and 21st centuries in California history."

"Very funny. And as a bonus, you'll find yourself learning something - almost against your will." - Sacramento Bee.