There’s always more to the Maine movie-viewing scene than the latest blockbusters and whatever’s streaming from your sofa. This time our round-up of what’s playing at your local indie venues range from whimsical British classics to the darkest beloved Christmas favorite to a very different duo of documentaries. And if there’s one bit of big screen Oscar bait in the mix, it’s one destined to make you cry your eyes out. Here are our picks through December 21. 

‘Whiskey Galore!’

Wednesday and Dec. 13, Kinonik, 12 Cassidy Point Drive, Portland. kinonik.org

Who’s up for a draught of classic, boozy British comedy? It’s World War II and the tiny Scottish island of Todday has run completely out of liquor, thanks to wartime rationing. Cue a lucky shipwreck of a boat carrying 50,000 cases of precious whiskey, followed by the thirsty islanders rascally attempts to outwit the stuffy British officer out to confiscate the hooch. Directed by the perennially overlooked Alexander Mackendrick (‘The Ladykillers,’ ‘The Sweet Smell of Success’), this 1949 film is one of the most rightfully beloved products of Britain’s Ealing Studios, a woozy blend of colorful character turns and blarney just the tonic for a world-weary audience. Presented as ever on glorious 16mm film by the film preservationists at Kinonik. 

‘Gremlins’

Wednesday, Nickelodeon Cinemas, 1 Temple St., Portland, patriotcinemas.com.

With the holidays creeping up on us, Joe Dante’s poisoned candy cane of a Christmas classic remains just the treat. Best known then for sly horror flicks like ‘Piranha’ and ‘The Howling,’ Dante took on his first big-budget studio flick — a Christmas movie no less — with his signature subversive exploitation instincts intact. A perennial holiday favorite since its 1984 debut, the rambunctious “Gremlins” retains the capacity to shock unwary viewers with its undercurrent of nastiness and prankishness in this tale of an impossibly adorable little critter, a set of impossible-to-follow rules for care, and the scaly, slimy mayhem that takes over an idyllic Christmastime town. The inventive chaos only slows down for star Phoebe Cates’ audaciously dark monologue explaining why she really, really hates Christmas, suggesting that the equally impish Dante’s plans to lay a naughty surprise right under the holiday movie season tree. 

‘Zodiac Killer Project’

Dec. 15, Space, 534 Congress St., space538.org

Our ongoing obsession with serial killers and true crime documentaries gets a cheeky, insightful workout in this sort-of true crime documentary sort of about the infamous (and over-hyped) Zodiac Killer. Let me explain. Documentarian Charlie Shackleton was deep into planning a movie documenting the claims of former cop Lyndon Lafferty, who parlayed a spooky traffic stop into a book-length speculation on the ’70s-era killer’s identity. But then the deceased author’s family pulled the plug, perhaps fearing that the film would dig into the fringe nature of Lafferty’s work in the true crime community, leaving Shackleton wondering what to do with his own Zodiac obsession. What emerges is a sly deconstruction of the true crime genre with its attendant storytelling cliches, and of our collective desire to watch actual tragedy play out for our entertainment. Shackleton’s meta take on the documentary form is being compared to the likes of Errol Morris and Werner Herzog, for good measure. 

‘Hamnet’ 

Opens Dec. 19th, Maine Film Center, 93 Main St., Waterville, watervillecreates.org

Shakespeare nerds (like me) never tire of watching, reading and speculating upon the life and works of our favorite playwright. So this fictionalized rumination upon the real-life tragedy that inspired Shakespeare’s most enduring play is right up my alley. After the sudden death of their son Hamnet, young writer Shakespeare (Paul Mescal) and wife Agnes (Jessie Buckley) are left devastated, the aspiring playwright and the deeply spiritual natural healer pursuing different, anguished journeys as they try to understand the unthinkable.

Directed by Oscar-winner Chloé Zhao, “Hamnet” uses Maggie O’Farrell’s source novel to embroider the scant facts surrounding Shakespeare’s life into a wrenching, ultimately inspiring portrait of love, grief and the transformative power of art. 

‘My Undesirable Friends: Part I — Last Air in Moscow’

Dec. 17, 20 and 21, PMA Films, 7 Congress Square, Portland, portlandmuseum.org/films

When an authoritarian government seeks to control the truth, real journalists are the enemy. That’s the never-more-timely message of this massive (over 5 hour) documentary from Russia, playing in its entirety on the 17th (with two intermissions) and broken into two parts on the 20th and 21st. After Russian dictator Vladimir Putin declared the young reporters at sole independent news channel TVRain “foreign agents” for publishing stories critical of his oppressive regime, the idealistic, mostly female journalists there were put under surveillance, had their work censored, and faced all the very real perils that come from telling truth to power.

Director Julia Loktev’s film follows several of these women as they continue to do their increasingly necessary and dangerous job, take care of their loved ones, and make the daily decision that their work in reporting on the Putin government’s fascist abuses and corruption was worth doing, even at the risk of their freedom, or their lives. As ever, any parallels you take away about the current, Putin-loving White House’s campaign against American journalists and critics are up to you. 

Dennis Perkins is a freelance writer who lives in Auburn with his wife and his cat.