Shoot the Piano Player is a thriller that lightens its dark drama with a dash of comedy; this Nouvelle Vague homage to the American gangster flick is the final movie ias SIFF Cinema‘s Crime Wave series comes to an end, running from Friday through Sunday. Charles Aznavour takes on the title role as a man who tries to escape from his past only to find it catching up with him again in the most inconvenient of ways.

The 4th Annual Seattle Children’s Film Festival continues this week at NW Film Forum. Highlights include Hoppity Goes to Town, a look at urban development from a bug’s eyeview way back in 1941. A variety of features, documentaries and several excellent shorts collections round out the festival.

Moody and melodramatic, Thirteen is one of the most honest depictions of the turbulance of the teen years–the struggle to “fit in” and find out who you are as you shed your early childhood is tough for anyone; throw in a dangerous desire to please the cool kids and one seriously bad influence and you have a recipe for disaster. Co-star Nikki Reed, then still just a teen herself, co-wrote the script with director Catherine Hardwicke based on her own personal experiences, but the standout performance of the film is Holly Hunter as the mother who is trying to keep it together as her daughter is falling apart. Showing at Central Cinema.

Joss Whedon fans should be happy to know that Serenity is this weekend’s Midnight at the Egyptian selection.

The Grand Illusion presents what is perhaps the best of Alfred Hitchcock’s British films, The 39 Steps. Hitchcock was rather fond of “wrong man” stories and this is a fine example of the theme; the protagonist is a Canadian man visiting London who gets ensnared in an elaborate conspiracy scheme entirely by accident; after the British spy he takes back to his flat gets murdered with one of his knives, the hero takes a train to Scotland where he sets out to solve the mysterious plot swirling all around him. Fast paced and fun if a little implausible in parts.