Movie with Abe: Mia Madre

Mia Madre
Directed by Nanni Moretti
Released August 26, 2016

Films about filmmakers rarely serve as portraits of happy, fulfilled people. One of the main reasons for directors and writers to tell stories in cinematic form is that they’re trying to cope with or understand what’s going on in their own lives, either mirroring events or masking them entirely in a fantasy of some sort. Sometimes a filmmaker disconnects himself or herself so much from his or her project that there seems to be nothing in common between the two, and when do intersect or overlap it’s all the more glaring. “Mia Madre” presents one such scenario.

Margherita (Margherita Buy) is in the midst of making a major film about workers’ rights. Scenes are already complicated to shoot before the arrival of the American star, Barry Huggins (John Turturro), whose inability to speak Italian and lack of commitment to learning and nailing each line further frustrate things. At the same time, Margherita spends time running to the hospital to visit her sick mother Ada (Giulia Lazzarini) and struggling to accept the truth about her decline that her supportive brother Giovanni (Nanni Moretti) already knows. All of this stress predictably leads to Margherita turning inward to figure out where her life is headed.

“Mia Madre” is in many ways a very typical story about a professional overrun by personal troubles that threaten to take down both parts of her lives. What only stretches out the pain is that Ada is not unconscious or on death’s door. Instead, she is fully lucid and conversational and gradually begins to decline, mistaking her daughter for someone else and then apologizing as she realizes her error. That coupled with Barry’s seemingly deliberate forgetting of his lines makes for a very frazzled Margherita ready to come apart.

This film comes from director Nanni Moretti, whose last film was the entertaining “We Have a Pope.” Like in that film, Moretti casts himself in a supporting role, that of Giovanni, quietly steering the film in the right direction as the one truly stable thing in Margherita’s life. Buy, who won Italy’s equivalent of the Oscar for Best Actress, is terrific, displaying a range of subtle emotions throughout her performance. Lazzarini, who also took home a David di Donatello Award, turns in a strong and endearing portrayal of a declining matriarch. And then there’s Turturro, who could stick out like a sore thumb but instead portrays an American moderately more sophisticated and adjusted than might be expected. As a whole, this is an engaging and involving experience that is at the right times amusing and at others resounding.

B+

Movie with Abe: Level Up

Level Up
Directed by Adam Randall
Released August 26, 2016

Films that define themselves only as thrillers expressly have just one intent: to enthrall. These aren’t the movies that double as dramas or include undead elements that could recategorize them as horror. These are the blockbusters that start the clock when the opening credits roll and then don’t let up until the hero hopefully saves the day and then relaxes until whatever post-film future hassles await him or her. The new British film “Level Up” isn’t hoping to be a modern-day one-person “Die Hard” or “Speed” - the aim here is just to provide nonstop action and little substance.

John McClane was ready to deal with a hostage situation, even on Christmas, because he was a tough New York cop. Matt (Josh Bowman) is not. He spends most of his time on his couch playing video games, rarely rising to the occasion and making something of the life that he shares with his far more successful girlfriend Anna (Leila Mimmack). Only a group of masked thugs literally breaking his door down and strapping a bomb to him can motivate him to get up off the couch and try to accomplish something, even if that something is doing a number of deplorable things to save the woman he loves who doesn’t always feel appreciated.

Though its scenarios and scenes change quickly, “Level Up” isn’t a terribly fast-paced film. Clocking in at just eighty-four minutes, this film instead emphasizes moments in which things explode and then spends at least two as long after finding its protagonist in a state of recuperation. Its title couldn’t be any more accurate - this all plays out as if Matt is trapped inside a video game. Each time he defies his instructions or does something unexpected, he has the opportunity to start again and make a new choice as the next challenge or threat presents itself.

The possibilities for creative filmmaking here were endless, and if this had actually mirrored a video game in its execution, it could have been pretty cool. There are definitely weird moments and strange things afoot, but it doesn’t have the resounding effect it could if it was programmed the way that Matt’s life was already playing out from his comfortable seat on the couch. Instead, it’s a generally unambitious and relatively unpleasant race to the end of a film that doesn’t bother to get to know its characters, assuming that someone being taken as a bargaining chip is reason enough to save them. Of course that’s how most would react, but even a little bit of substance in this mindless thriller might have been nice.

C-

Movie with Abe: Is That You?

Is That You?
Directed by Dani Menkin
Released August 26, 2016

Films that employ a question as a title invariably take on the challenge of answering that question. This Israeli film, which debuted at festivals in Israel and the United States nearly two years ago and arrives in New York this week, takes its title from the simple phrase its protagonist uses to identify whether he has achieved his goal, which is to find the woman he loved who long ago was no longer part of his life. Best described as a meandering road movie, this harmless journey is filled with some decent if fleeting entertainment.

Ronnie (Alon Aboutboul) is sixty years old and works as a projectionist and finds himself released from his steady job with what he describes as a generous severance package, including a ticket to the United States. His first stop is his brother, who he hasn’t seen or spoken to since their mother’s death, and nostalgia prompts him to, with the aid of his technologically-inclined nephew, begin to search for Rachel (Suzanne Sadler), best defined as the one who got away. An almost directionless road trip gets even further off course when he meets Myla (Naruna Kaplan de Macedo), an aspiring filmmaker who barters her way out of tough spots by offering to make every person she speaks to the subject of her documentary, which conveniently enough is focused on regrets.

Ronnie’s quest to find the woman he loved seems destined to end one of two ways: either he’ll find her or he won’t. Whether they get to live out the rest of their lives together is a separate matter, but Ronnie seems to have grown lonely and solitary enough that the thought of being with someone he remembers fondly is substantially appealing for him to just get in a car and drive. Pairing him as a protagonist with Myla is effective because they’re both on journeys to discover something, with hers a more open-ended investigation into what exactly she’s trying to find. As a concept, this film works fine, but it’s far from the most vital cinematic export from Israel to reach the United States. Aboutboul and de Macedo are fun together on screen, and do a decent job carry this lighthearted drama, which is at times engaging but ultimately not terribly memorable.

B-

Movie with Abe: Complete Unknown

Complete Unknown
Directed by Joshua Marston
Released August 26, 2016

Movies have a set period of time – usually between an hour and a half and two hours – to create a universe with living, breathing characters. There are those that take time to truly get to know a person, actual or fictional, over the course of their entire life, while other films focus on just one day, night, or week of someone’s existence. In most cases, the more you know and learn about a protagonist, the better. The new film “Complete Unknown” supposes the opposite, crafting a mysterious drama centered around a woman who personifies its title.

“Complete Unknown” has two main characters, Tom (Michael Shannon) and Alice (Rachel Weisz). Tom is a successful man with many friends, and he is at a turning point in his sometimes strained relationship with his wife, Ramina (Azita Ghanizada), as he considers moving with her to a new job across the country. As he celebrates his birthday, Tom meets the woman his friend Clyde (Michael Chernus) has started seeing recently. Alice is a charming, alluring find with many interests more than capable of sustaining living conversation with Clyde’s friends. But Tom seems acutely aware that there is something wrong, and little time passes before it is revealed that their stories are interlinked even though they haven’t seen each other in years, and she is most definitely not who she claims to be.

This is one of those films where it’s better to go in without knowing much, and even just providing a bit of a summary might detract from the experience. This reviewer saw the title and the cast and figured that was a good enough reason to check it out, and interested audiences should do the same. What can be said without giving too much away is that Alice is a fascinating character whose story merits such cinematic consideration, and Tom provides an effective standard, stable foil to her more unpredictable chameleon.

Weisz is a terrific actress who won an Oscar in 2005 for “The Constant Gardener.” After her supporting role in “Youth” last year and her eager portrayal of a free thinker in “The Lobster” earlier this year, this is a superb showcase for Weisz to really shine. Shannon, who is starring in so many films this year, is at his most quietly formidable best opposite her. Ghanizada, who starred on Syfy’s great series “Alphas” a few years ago, and Chernus, who does plenty of underpraised supporting work in film and on television, contribute to the ensemble in their roles, as do Kathy Bates and Danny Glover in a key extended scene. Joshua Marston, who made his feature film debut with “Maria Full of Grace,” has found another very interesting subject matter and created a film that is well-constructed and often engaging but ultimately unsatisfying, set on where it wants to start out but hardly as certain of where it wants to end up.

B

Movie with Abe: The People vs. Fritz Bauer

In theaters today is the award-winning German film "The People vs. Fritz Bauer," which may end up being the German selection for Best Foreign Film in this year's Oscar race. Check out my take on the film over at Jewcy.

Movie with Abe: A Tale of Love and Darkness

It's only fair that my review of Natalie Portman's feature directorial debut, "A Tale of Love and Darkness," was written for Jewcy. Portman pulls double duty in front of and behind the camera in this story of famed writer Amos Oz's childhood during the infancy of the State of Israel that's fully in Hebrew. Check out the review over at Jewcy.

Movie with Abe: The Tenth Man

The Tenth Man
Directed by Daniel Burman
Released August 5, 2016

Coming home is always a momentous occasion, one guaranteed to produce a variety of reactions from different people. When someone lives abroad and returns to a place where most locals rarely leave the city let alone the state or country, it can be a jarring adjustment for all parties involved. In “The Tenth Man,” an Argentinean man living in the United States returns to Buenos Aires and finds that easing back into the life he knew so well as a child is not the simplest of tasks, and his outlook on what he has and what he wants must shift accordingly.

As he prepares to leave for Argentina, planning to introduce his fiancée to his family, Ariel (Alan Sabbagh) gets repeated calls from his father, Usher (Usher Barilka), asking him to bring Velcro sneakers with him so that he can give them to a kid who is in the hospital. As is the case with any big trip, the minutia of an errand such as that can be lost in a sea of things to do and loose ends to tie up, and though Ariel tries and looks, he ultimately cannot find the requested pair of shoes.

Arriving in Buenos Aires, Ariel is immediately drawn back into the charity foundation that his father created, making new use of things left behind by those who no longer need them. Try as he may, he is unable to actually meet Usher face to face, constantly getting phone calls about the shoes and errand after errand, yet an audience proves elusive. Eva (Julieta Zylberberg), a religious woman who barely speaks, becomes an unlikely friend, and it feels in a way as if Ariel never left, once again depended upon to live his father’s legacy.

This film’s title and its Spanish title both have an interesting and layered meaning rooted in Jewish practice. “El rey del Once,” which means “The King of Once,” matches the film’s poster, which shows Ariel driving around the district of Once with a crown on his head in celebration of the festive Jewish holiday of Purim. “The Tenth Man” refers to the number of people needed to make a minyan, or quorum of ten Jews, required to recite certain prayers. Both titles represent an intriguing but unfulfilled connection to Judaism as it permeates the culture in Buenos Aires, something started and unfinished. The film, which follows Ariel as he explores his hometown, is equally interesting when it begins but also has trouble finding its eventual direction, unsure of what specifically it wants to achieve.

B-

Movie with Abe: Finding Dory

Finding Dory
Directed by Andrew Stanton and Angus MacLane
Released June 17, 2016

If there’s a movie that’s been in the works for a long time, it’s this one. “Finding Nemo” was an Oscar-winning smash hit beloved by audiences of all ages when it was released in 2003, and many have been clamoring for a sequel since then. It took thirteen years, but it’s finally here, winning over all those who enjoyed the first one for the past month and a half. Like any sequel, it’s not quite as resounding or refreshingly endearing as the original, but it does a pretty great job of revisiting popular characters and accompanying them on their next great journey across the ocean to reunite a family.

Ellen DeGeneres earned much praise for her film-stealing vocal performance as Dory, the blue tang fish with short-term memory loss, in the original film, keeping everyone entertained with her upbeat attitude and tendency to repeat conversations, often getting distracted in the middle of a sentence. Giving her a vehicle of her own is a risky thing since she might have worked better as a supporting player, but fortunately it pays off very well with a delightful and heartwarming spotlight on Dory getting lost as a child and now, as an adult, starting to remember things that help her to get back to the family that she has just realized has to exist somewhere. Now, Marlin and Nemo are the ones helping her on this quest.

The ocean and the many creatures that live in it serve as the basis for the storyline in this film that does a more than suitable job of making creative use of its premise and surrounding. The incorporation of a conservatory and its aim to rehabilitate sea life and then put in on display for people to see is interesting and serves the story well, changing the perspective on what a zoo or aquarium actually means. The minimal science and educational value is woven seamlessly in to a sweet narrative that should easily please all ages.

As with any animated comedy, it’s the voices that make the real impact. Joining returning anchors DeGeneres and Albert Brooks as Marlin are Ed O’Neill, Kaitlin Olson, and Ty Burrell in crucial roles as the three people most instrumental in aiding Dory’s journey towards discovering who she was and where she came from. It’s clear that everyone is having fun, and it’s hard not to enjoy this movie when the spirit of adventure and excitement is so positively pronounced.

B+

Movie with Abe: Wrestling Jerusalem

As promised, this summer has been sadly sparse on movies, but you can expect reviews of new films coming more frequently starting very soon. Right now, you can check out my take on the extremely intriguing and educational new documentary "Wrestling Jerusalem" for Jewcy. See it no matter how you feel or think you feel about Israel - it's worth it. Check out my article over at Jewcy.

Israel Film Center Festival Spotlight

I've been busy catching up on television over at TVwithAbe.com, but check Jewcy every once in a while for articles, like my recent post about three premier Israeli films showing at the JCC Manhattan at the Israel Film Center Festival happening this week. Check out my article over at Jewcy.

Movie with Abe: Maggie’s Plan

Maggie’s Plan
Directed by Rebecca Miller
Released May 20, 2016

There are people who have plans and those who are happy to let their lives be steered by events beyond their control. There are levels to which those with notions of how their lives will go are set in their ways and are willing to see other forces interact with and affect that. The expression “Man plans, God laughs” is perfectly descriptive of one such planner, the protagonist in “Maggie’s Plan,” who seeks to have a baby on her own and finds her life thrown into chaos when she starts to fall for a married man.

Maggie (Greta Gerwig) is a wide-eyed young professor in New York City who has decided that she will ask a high school friend, Guy (Travis Fimmel), to donate his sperm so that she can start a family since she has found no luck in pursuit of a boyfriend or future husband. Just as she is beginning that process, John (Ethan Hawke), a fellow professor and novelist, enters her life. Maggie begins to read his work in progress and can’t get him out of her head, and he finds himself similarly transfixed, a fact complicated by his marriage to intimidating Danish intellectual Georgette (Julianne Moore). Maggie thought she would follow the road that was best, but all that is disrupted when she realizes she might have to take another path.

This film comes from Rebecca Miller, who is married to Daniel Day-Lewis and directs and writes films about as sporadically as her husband stars in them. This story, written by Miller and Karen Rinaldi, is a highly entertaining one that incorporates academia in a very effective way. John’s field is ficto-critical anthropology, which is equally pretentious and aggressively counterculture. The conversations these characters have border on absurd, but there is an intellectual grounding to all of them that enhances each scene greatly.

Gerwig has established herself as a respected independent actress, and it’s hard to imagine anyone else in this part as she inhabits yet another free spirit guided mainly by her desire to be her own person and hardly prone to any directing pulls that don’t align with her sense of self. Hawke has fun with a role that allows him to depart from his “Boyhood” archetype, and Moore in particular seems to be having a blast with a thick accent and exaggerated character. In supporting roles as Maggie’s friends, Bill Hader and Maya Rudolph contribute controlled comedy, and Fimmel makes an impression as the undeniably peculiar Guy. This film is a fun journey full of missteps with a strong script and committed cast, and a particularly clever second act.

B+

Movie with Abe: Money Monster

Money Monster
Directed by Jodie Foster
Released May 13, 2016

There’s a lot to say about the economy. Especially in recent years, the general consensus is that it’s an unstable entity that is only made more volatile by manipulative and self-promoting actions taken by those with plenty of it who feel a burning desire to make more. Predictably, people get hurt, and there are outcomes that can’t be reversed. “Money Monster,” a flashy new film with three high-profile stars involved, dramatizes one potential implication as a man who believes that he has been misled by those in power and ruined his life in the process and is determined to make someone pay.

Lee Gates (George Clooney) is the host of a television show that serves as this film’s title in which he analyzes the economy and gives stock tips to viewers. The extent of his ridiculousness is made clear in the film’s opening scenes as Lee is seen dancing on stage with elaborate costumes and flanked by two dancing women, emphasizing the nature of his show as sensational and difficult to be taken seriously. He is guided and kept in line by his longtime producer Patty (Julia Roberts), who is forced to think fast to try to keep him alive when a disgruntled viewer (Jack O’Connell) shows up in the middle of a live taping with a bomb and a score to settle with the man who encouraged him to invest his life savings in a bad stock.

This is a film that stars two of the biggest and most well-known actors around and is directed by an actress who has now become a respected director. They all won Oscars for extremely dramatic roles that represent the higher tier of films in their respective genres. Clooney, Roberts, and Jodie Foster would seem like the perfect team to tackle a premise like this, especially on the heels of the success of “The Big Short” and the American intellectual public’s apparent craving for someone to blame for the country’s economic woes. While this film is undeniably engaging, it’s hardly the cinematic masterpiece that it could have been. The characters are too broadly drawn and the dialogue is uninspired, and while the film may have lofty ideas about the message it wants to send, it doesn’t convey them in the most technically competent way. Clooney is a capable talker and the versatile O’Connell does his best to make the human villain of the story credible, but as one member of the screening audience said while walking out behind me, this is a film that audiences will love and critics will hate. I can’t say I hated it, but this is a piece of entertainment much more than it is a quality film.

B-

Movie with Abe: High-Rise

High-Rise
Directed by Ben Wheatley
Released May 13, 2016

The daily routines of a person’s life take them to many different places. Necessary errands like buying groceries, filling up gas, and going to the doctor facilitate human contact with those from other walks of like. Those who reside in the same building share certain traits but can also look nothing alike, and when the only thing they know is what immediately surrounds them, the world can begin to come crashing down, as it does in a magnificent way for the residents of a luxurious high-rise in this furious depiction of social chaos at its most outrageous.

Dr. Robert Laing (Tom Hiddleston) is a man who says little and observes plenty, rarely contributing to the conversations around him and subsisting on not being noticed. His work involves the rather brutal examination of dead bodies, something that makes students queasy but doesn’t faze him at all. His move to the high-rise introduces him to a self-sufficient system in which he can even shop in the massive supermarket on the fifteen floor, leaving work as his only reason to leave the building. Robert watches as those around him begin to go to war – the rich on the top floors eager to quash the rebellious poor on the bottom floors – and everything devolves completely out of control.

Set in London in the 1970s, “High-Rise” boasts dazzling costumes and interior visuals. Those contrast greatly with the desolate nothingness of the outside world, devoid of much color with the high-rise looming alone above a giant parking lot and with little in the sky around it. Robert is seen at work and in the car, but otherwise, the high-rise is everything. The lavishness of what the high-rise provides despite the great disparity of wealth that separates its playboy intellectuals and working-class families is incredible, and the potential for destruction is immeasurable, yet the characters give it their all as they delight in ripping each other to pieces.

Hiddleston, best known to American audiences for playing Loki in the Marvel universe movies, has the right sedated aura to make Robert an almost nonexistent player in his own story, immune to the allure of the chaos and therefore able to best take it in as it rages around him. Standouts from the supporting cast include Jeremy Irons as the architect of the building, James Purefoy as a conniving upper-floor resident, Luke Evans as a committed liberal documentarian, and Elisabeth Moss as his neglected pregnant wife. The film’s visual style is an extraordinary asset, contributing just as much to its storytelling as its characters. This is an unsettling and wild journey, one that shows the true depths to which humanity can sink when given the opportunity.

B+

Movie with Abe: The Lobster

The Lobster
Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos
Released May 13, 2016

Not everyone has an easy time finding love. That's why singles events tend to be very popular and so many people go on so many first dates. Some relationships work, and some don’t. Most societies encourage people to find love, but one oppressive dystopian future demands it, damning those who are unable to couple to a fate worse than being alone. That disturbing worldview is the premise for "The Lobster," in which finding a mate is far from optional.

David (Colin Farell) checks himself into the Hotel, a place where single people are given thirty days to find a partner. If they succeed, they are celebrated and sent to a happy life of tranquility. If they fail, they are turned into an animal of their choosing. As a way of extending their stay, guests at the Hotel take to the forest, where they hunt for Loners, those who have escaped and choose to live alone away from society.

Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos earned an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Film in 2010 for "Dogtooth," the story of three adult children who are taught so many incorrect and untrue things by their possessive parents to keep them from ever leaving the house. This film pairs well with that one, expanding such a frightening mindset into a whole community. It's a fervently engaging and unsettling concept that plays itself out very interestingly, finding people at their worst as they struggle to stay alive and to survive in this harsh reality.

Farell is an intriguing choice to play the lead of this dark, dark comedy, tempering his enthusiasm to create an unfriendly, matter-of-fact man set on achieving his goals without much drama. Rachel Weisz serves as an effective narrator, humorously detailing David's thoughts and adding her opinions to his experience. John C. Reilly, Ben Wishaw, and Jessica Barden contribute memorably as other guests at the hotel, and Olivia Colman and Léa Seydoux both turn in strong performances as the quietly tyrannical rulers of the Hotel guests and the Loners, respectively. Calling this film a comedy disregards its extremely troubling nature, though moments are considerably more wickedly entertaining than “Dogtooth,” while its effects aren't quite as haunting or potent. Still, it's a massively interesting film which paints a truly horrifying picture of what dating could become if it gives in too much to what society wants and expects.

B+

Movie with Abe: Dough

In case you missed it, head over to Jewcy to read my take on "Dough," which opened last week and tells the story of a kosher bakery in London with a special ingredient. I enjoyed it a lot - click here to read the review!

Movie with Abe: A Bigger Splash

A Bigger Splash
Directed by Luca Guadagnino
Released May 4, 2016

Vacation – or holiday, as it is called in Europe – can mean many things. Even those on the same trip or in the same place may have completely different perspectives on the time they are spending away from the real world. There is a state of mind that comes with being purposely cut off from regular routines that can lead people to do crazy things they would otherwise not do simply because the repercussions are not the same and they are not messing with their normal lives. “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” is an expression for a reason, and it applies to so many locales.

Fiennes and Swinton in the film
“A Bigger Splash” finds two of its protagonists, Marianne (Tilda Swinton) and Paul (Matthias Schoenaerts), living peacefully in Pantelleria, an Italian island described by those involved with the film as a gateway between Europe and Africa, attached to the former but more similar in culture to the latter. Marianne is a singer who has recently had surgery on her throat. As a result, flashbacks to scenes of her very loud career contrast strongly with her present state of silence. Record producer Paul doesn’t make much more noise, and the two spend their time together relaxing and working, far from the hubbub of metropolises. The arrival of their boisterous friend Harry (Ralph Fiennes) and his young daughter Penelope (Dakota Johnson) means an unwelcome infusion of drama, energy, and excess that disrupts the calm serenity of their lives.

Swinton discusses the film
This film, which serves as a remake of sorts of the 1969 film “La Piscine,” is not heavy on plot. Its primary focus is on the relationships between its characters, a complicated dynamic for just four people. Marianne and Harry used to date, and the fact that Harry introduced Paul to his new girlfriend has only increased his jealousy and inability to get over her. His recently discovered daughter certainly catches Paul’s eye, and there are even undertones that the promiscuous Harry is sexually attracted to the daughter he never knew for most of her life. Away from the prying eyes of society, there is no need for judgment, but there is still an enormous amount of awkwardness to be experienced, with foreboding secret feelings ready to bubble over. Even Marianne’s celebrity status merely means respect from those who recognize her rather than constant harassment by paparazzi.

Guadagnino discusses the film
Discussing the fact that this film and his next project are based on existing material, director Luca Guadagnino shares an uncommon sentiment: there is too much emphasis put on the value of originality. There is no issue with reusing stories and characters because there is also no limit to the level of creativity possible. Some defining aspects, like Marianne’s inability to speak, weren’t even in the original conception of the film, yet the process of making it led to an energizing and intriguing way of looking at a character defined by her voice when she can’t speak.

Fiennes discusses the film
Swinton is an actress known for challenging and bizarre roles ranging from “We Need to Talk About Kevin” to “Snowpiercer,” and here she turns in what may well be her most normative performance yet. She does a masterful job with pointed looks and deeply emotive mannerisms of conveying all that Marianne wants to say but either cannot – or chooses not to – say. Schoenarts, who recently appeared in “The Danish Girl,” keeps his native accent and, just as much as Swinton, lets unspoken long glances seem volumes. Contrasting them deeply is the usually mellow and villainous Fiennes, who speaks more than everyone else in the film combined, incessantly going on about his many exploits and conquests to an uninterested audience. Guadagnino reveals that Fiennes was cast because of his talkative turn in “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” a role in which Fiennes’ character lets his ego motivate him to a standard of professionalism rather than just boast. Johnson follows her more silent costars in saying less, and her limited verbal interactions are all the more fascinating and poignant because their inconsistencies indicate just how much of an enigma she really is, seemingly so mature one moment and childlike the next.

The film's poster
This film has a certain dazzling look and feel that takes the utmost advantage of its destination setting. The actors describe how the physical beauty of the place was complemented by strong winds and an air that doesn’t come through on screen but which added immensely to the experience of making the film. Its tone is initially casual and in no rush to get anywhere, and it experiences some strange shifts throughout that make it immensely intriguing if not completely satisfying.

B

Talking Tribeca: The Last Laugh

Head over to Jewcy to read my take on "The Last Laugh," a documentary that showed at Tribeca about whether it's okay to make jokes about the Holocaust. Click here to read it.

Talking Tribeca: A Kind of Murder

I’ve had the pleasure this year of screening a number of selections from this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, which took place April 13th-24th.

A Kind of Murder
Directed by Andy Goddard
Festival Screenings

Films often tell more than one story, and while they may seem to be unconnected at first, figuring out how they are related is a big part of a film’s exposition. “A Kind of Murder” begins with two parallel stories, one of a man whose wife has been found murdered at a bus rest stop and the other of a man whose wife drives him crazy. The former’s situation entices the latter, who moonlights as a crime novelist, and the line between fact and fiction is hard to decipher in this dark, brooding drama set in the 1960s.

Walter Stackhouse (Patrick Wilson) is an architect who lives in a beautiful, spacious home that he designed. He hosts lavish parties with his wife Clara (Jessica Biel), but it is evident that, despite the presence of many people around her, she latches on only to Walter’s extended conversation with an attractive young woman, Ellie Briess (Haley Bennett). Her jealous behavior infuriates Walter, who is no angel given the fact that he does indeed lust for an affair with Ellie, anything to get him away from his possessive and sometimes suicidal spouse. His fascination with the unsolved case of the murdered Helen Kimmel and her husband (Eddie Marsan), the prime suspect, leads to events that seem to suggest that Walter is going to kill his wife too.

This is a film that very much frontloads its plot, with its title giving away a good portion of the film’s events and leading to the big question of what crime exactly both Walter and Kimmel have committed if they are indeed innocent of the actual physical murder of their wives. Aside from short, spoken protests, neither man does much to argue for his innocence with his behavior. Kimmel is a man who keeps to himself and seems not to enjoy conversation with anyone, and Walter is a boastful, social man who couldn’t be any less interested in his wife. The dogged, aggressive nature of the detective (Vincent Kartheiser) in hot pursuit of both of them is just about the only thing that makes either of them sympathetic.

Wilson spent time recently in the past on the other side of the law hunting criminals in the second season of “Fargo,” and while he was an endearing hero there, he can definitely play the part of the smarmy smooth talker. Marsan is a talented actor extraordinarily suited for this role. Kartheiser makes the eccentric and passionate Detective Corby hard to forget, giving the film three layered characters, none of whom can be described as likeable. While it presents interesting questions and intriguing characters, this film doesn’t do a great job of taking them anywhere, leading to a middling and unexciting resolution.

C+

Talking Tribeca: Always Shine

I’ve had the pleasure this year of screening a number of selections from this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, which took place April 13th-24th.

Always Shine
Directed by Sophia Takal
Festival Screenings

The best films in a given genre work hard to expand upon typical tropes and other recognizable features and formats, experimenting and transforming expectations into something more. Such efforts often please fans of that genre and also attract those who are not usually part of that group. “Always Shine,” at first glimpse, is a film about two actresses taking a weekend away from Los Angeles and traveling to Big Sur. Close-up audition takes, creepy music, and frantic scrolling opening titles indicate that this story of friendship is a much more intense and frightening adventure.

Beth (Caitlin FitzGerald) is first seen reading lines for a horror film, and is told repeatedly after she pauses that the part she is reading for contains extensive nudity. She is relatively quiet and rarely speaks up, but she has a sweet nature that seems to make people like her. Her friend Anna (Mackenzie Davis), on the other hand, is considerably more boisterous and unfiltered, usually cast in louder and bolder parts than the innocent girl running for her life. It is clear that Beth has achieved more success in their field than Anna, and Beth’s casual downplaying of the mediocre nature of her latest role, while perfectly well-intended, does not sit well with Anna, setting the stage for a foreboding build-up to an explosion of emotions far removed from the rest of civilization.

“Always Shine,” which is probably most accurately described as a psychological thriller, sets itself up as a horror movie from the start, with frequent flashing images laced with fear and death accompanied by short, high-pitched musical notes designed to make the spine tingle. Even when the two are sitting together in a crowded restaurant before they leave for their trip, the mood is tense and dark. For this particular story, that works well, but the film does seem unnecessarily dreary and brooding at times. That’s all in the service of its path to a trippy transition and a mind-boggling ending that has probably delighted some but left this viewer far from satisfied.

There are a few supporting actors who appear throughout the film, but this is a two-woman show. These two actresses have very different styles, and those work well to create a complex friendship for their characters that is based largely on a craft which unites but also divides them. FitzGerald, who stars in “Masters of Sex,” does a strong job of firmly establishing Beth’s discomfort and general squeamishness, while Davis, who stars in “Halt and Catch Fire,” holds nothing back in the most terrific and compelling way as Anna refuses to let Beth get away with silently usurping her. This is a strange and disturbing film, one that may entice but one that it is also perplexing and off-putting at the same time.

B-

Talking Tribeca: Special Correspondents

I’ve had the pleasure this year of screening a number of selections from this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, which took place April 13th-24th.

Special Correspondents
Directed by Ricky Gervais
Festival Screenings

Journalism can be one of the bravest professions. Getting the story, and more importantly exposing the truth to a wide audience, can require entering dangerous territory and putting one’s life at serious risk. That isn’t usually the premise for a comedy, but apparently it can be. In “Special Correspondents,” a cocky radio reporter and his eager sound engineer are sent to Ecuador to cover a worsening political situation, but their plans change when their tickets and passports are lost, leading them to shack up across the street from the radio station and do their best to pretend that they are actually reporting live from a war zone.

As odd couples tend to be, our two protagonists couldn’t be any more different. Frank Bonneville (Eric Bana) walks around like James Bond, posing as a detective to get a major scoop and acting like a rock star despite really being a radio host. Ian Finch (Ricky Gervais) is a kindhearted technician whose wife Eleanor (Vera Farmiga) hates him, and he is often prone to unintelligent decisions and choices. When Frank decides to bring Ian along to Ecuador, he can’t regret his choice quickly enough, as Ian’s bumbling results in a preposterous plan to make up news and make it seem like it is the real thing.

Predictably, this film hinges on a considerable amount of suspension of disbelief, compounded by the fact that Frank and Ian decide that a hideout directly across the street from the radio station, which means that they can see the reaction to their false reports, was the smartest plan. As a grander statement on society and the digestion of news, however, this film has plenty of mildly intellectual things to say. Its most memorable instance of parody is when Frank decides to make up a source so that he will have some credibility and other news outlets immediately report that they too have been in touch with this totally false person.

Australian actor Eric Bana hasn’t always found the right roles in American films, and this part is a pretty good fit for him, allowing him to have a great time being a cocky jerk who unintentionally starts to turn into a nice guy as the film goes on. Gervais has, as usual, cast himself as a good-natured, idealistic man who gets walked all over by most people, one of his two typical archetypes. This isn’t Gervais’ first time behind the camera or as the author of a script, and unlike his racy Golden Globes routine, this moderately R-rated (or TV-MA, since this is a Netflix original film premiering on the streaming service this Friday) movie contains some swearing but still feels a bit simplistic and censored, which is a shame given its potential for raunchiness. It’s a fine parody that does contain some funny moments, but there’s nothing extremely memorable about it.

B-