'Cowboy Del Amor'

(4 stars)

Ivan Thompson is an unlikely relationship expert, but the man knows his stuff. Thompson, an amiable ex-cowboy, brings together lonely American men and Mexican women. Michelé Ohayon's wildly entertaining documentary follows Thompson as he makes matches and reflects on life and love. "Cowboy" has a dilly of a main character, and it would be difficult to make Thompson less than entertaining. But Ohayon tells his story with unusual wit and compassion. The film sees the humor and irony in Thompson's business (his own union with a Mexican bride failed — twice), and the icky undercurrent (some unkind things are said about American women) but it clearly roots for him and the couples he brings together. The surprising thing ends up being just how normal the relationships are — filled with all of the awkwardness and aching and miscommunication of more conventional unions — despite their unusual provenance. Love is a business, Thompson tells us, and an odd one at that, but he, and the film, buy in wholeheartedly.

4 p.m. March 15 and 2 p.m. March 17 at the Austin Convention Center.

— Sarah Lindner

'The Boys of Baraka'

(4 stars)

In this documentary from directors Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, boys from inner-city Baltimore head for an experimental boarding school in Kenya. Confident Richard, aspiring preacher Devon and trouble-prone Montrey are children on the edge. They burst with hope, but their bleak lives wear on them. Their bravery in chasing opportunity across the ocean — and their families' in letting them go — charges the film with emotion. 'Boys' takes an unexpected turn, and there are no pat solutions. The conclusion inspires frustration, sadness and awe in equal measure. It's invaluable that the filmmakers documented these boys and their journey.

11 a.m. March 15 and 7 p.m. March 18 at the Austin Convention Center.

— S.L.

'Cavite'

(3 stars)

Smart, tense, raw and uncompromising, "Cavite" throws you into a verité first-person nightmare with the bruising, single-minded intensity of "The Blair Witch Project" and the topical fervor of today's headlines. Ian Gamazon and Neill dela Llana's feature thriller follows one man's descent into the scary gloaming of Islamic terrorism. The twist is that the terrorists, who hold the young man Adam's sister and mother hostage, are in the Philippines, where Islamic fanaticism has carved pockets of lethality equal to those in the Middle East. At the Manila airport, Adam, a Filipino American arriving for his father's funeral, takes the terrorists' call. From that moment on he is umbilically attached to his cell phone as the captors omnisciently dictate his every move. They march him through a sick treasure hunt that culminates in an agonizing moral choice, thrusting into relief gnarled notions of Islamic belief and ethnic pride. With hyperactive visual spunk the filmmakers evoke a squalid sense of dislocation draped in dread. This powerful film suffers only from its relentless insularity, high-concept taken to claustrophobia.

1:30 p.m. March 15 at the Austin Convention Center; 10 p.m. March 19 at the Dobie.

— Chris Garcia