Amira & Sam
Martin Starr (HBO's Silicon Valley) as a former soldier living in New York City who falls in love with an undocumented Iraqi immigrant (Dina Shihabi). Lovely cinematography by Daniel Vecchione, who captures New York twilight at its most magical. First-time writer/director Sean Mullin particularly adept at character insights and unexpected detail — Sam's secret dream of being a stand-up comic, the way that people who haven't been to war just don't get it, the seeming contradiction that Amira wears a hijab yet enjoys dressing sexily. A most welcome perspective — Muslims are so rarely depicted as three-dimensional humans in American films, let alone as a romantic lead. No earth-shattering cinema here, but it's an engrossing love story and a topic that's never been more relevant than it is today under the dehumanizing politics of the Trump administration.
Grade: B
Appropriate Behavior
Amusing indie comedy from writer/director/star Desiree Akhavan about a bisexual Iranian-American woman searching for acceptance and direction after a nasty breakup. Very small and low-key in that mumblecore way, this is the kind of film that you know is set in Brooklyn before it's ever confirmed on-screen. Akhavan is hilarious and sexually frank, with movie-star charisma.
Grade: B+
Beloved Sisters
Biographical German drama from writer-director Dominik Graf about the intense triad relationship that Charlotte von Lengefeld and her married sister Caroline von Beulwitz shared with the poet Friedrich Schiller. Fascinating depiction of a very modern, non-traditional romance during a very conservative, ultra-traditional era — and the messy emotional and social challenges it posed. Gorgeously crafted: elegant costumes (by Barbara Grupp) and production design (by Claus-Jürgen Pfeiffer) that you’d be happy to stare at for days — which is great, because this has a punishing, entirely unnecessary nearly three-hour run time. Unusual cinematography by Michael Wiesweg, who favours a stately, static camera — except for when he goes for a sudden soap-operatic zoom. Claudia Messner best-in-show, as the beloved sisters’ hyper-intelligent and pragmatic, but melodrama-prone mother. So much of this is admirable and enjoyable and well-done; I just wish it wasn’t such a chore to get through.
Grade: B-
Black Sea
From director Kevin Macdonald (The Last King of Scotland) comes this dull, forgettable submarine thriller. The film is weighed down by a too-large cast, playing characters that are mostly interchangeable — even Jude Law's lead role is unremarkably written and performed. The story is some generic old thing about retrieving sunken Nazi gold. The film, while pleasingly shot, does not sufficiently exploit the claustrophobic paranoia inherent to this genre. The deep sea is a terrifying place, but this film doesn't do enough to convey this terror. It's not a bad film exactly, but you won't remember it for long.
Grade: C
The Duke of Burgundy
British lesbian erotic drama from writer/director Peter Strickland (Berberian Sound Studio) has fun subverting viewers’ expectations about the politics, and cost, of a BDSM-oriented relationship. Strong dual lead performances by Sidse Babett Knudsen and Chiara D'Anna, who navigate the tricky dynamics of their characters' relationship in unexpected ways. Sumptuously crafted, though — hilariously — scenes of scholarly lectures feature female mannequins sitting amidst humans in the audience. I can't tell if it's meant as an homage to another film or if it's an attempt due to budgetary limitations to make it seem as if a greater number of people are present, but it's REALLY obvious that there are a bunch of mannequins watching the lecture. Shot in the Hungarian countryside, and the exterior scenes are simply gorgeous. Ultimately not convinced that the heavy use of the butterfly and moth motif is resolved in a thematically satisfying way, but this is nonetheless an interesting and ambitious film well worth your time.
Grade: B
Girlhood
French drama from writer-director Céline Sciamma (Tomboy) about a teenage girl living in a poor neighbourhood outside of Paris who joins a gang in order to escape her life of bleak prospects and abuse. Intensely sad, despite moments of laughter and levity. Lead actress Karidja Touré a terrific discovery, such emotional depth in her eyes as she navigates Marieme’s remarkable trajectory from meek dejection to confident swagger, a young woman fighting to find her place in the world. Insightful understanding of adolescent female friendships, and especially the dynamics of this particular group of girls — that contrast between internal affection and external aggression. Narrative beats somewhat too familiar, but nevertheless how often do we get stories this rich and compassionate about women of colour? Features one of the best scenes of the year, where Marieme and her friends relax in a hotel room, dancing and singing along to Rihanna’s “Diamonds”, lit with smooth, deep, dreamlike blues — a rare moment of unguarded camaraderie, of drowning out the weight of stress for a brief moment and just being a kid.
Grade: B
Little Accidents
Elizabeth Banks leads a talented cast (including an utterly wasted Chloë Sevigny, who is given absolutely nothing to do) in this dull and dour indie drama about a tiny Appalachian community still in mourning after a tragic coal mining accident. I suppose the filmmaker's heart is in the right place... but, a little over a week after watching this film, I can barely remember it.
Grade: C
Match
Very good performances by Patrick Stewart and Carla Gugino. Direction very flat — Stephen Belber (who also wrote the play this is based on) is unable to make this cinematic. It's just a motionless camera filming three people in a room talking. Narrative is captivating, though the actors have been directed to react a bit too hard in foreshadowing the "twist". Matthew Lillard is the weak link among the three. Slight, but satisfying.
Grade: B-
Medeas
I need to see this one a few more times before I'm confident about this rating and my thoughts on the film in general. Nevertheless, after a single viewing, this film has climbed under my skin and haunts me. Largely plot-free (and with minimal dialogue), this film presents observational vignettes about the interior lives of a rural American family (led by Academy Award nominee Catalina Sandino Moreno and Tony Award winner Brían F. O'Byrne) some time in the recent past — specifically about the way the family members interact with each other and with the isolated environment they inhabit. The exquisite cinematography by Chayse Irvin is staggering in the way it finds beauty and art in everyday mundanity and in human connection. If this visual-poetry-of-rural-Americana stuff sounds to you like it's approaching Terrence Malick territory, you're not wrong. But director Andrea Pallaoro has grimmer, more unsettling themes on his mind than Malick (not to mention far less whispery spiritual voice-over). This is a film that you crawl into and get lost in.
Grade: A-
Predestination
Trippy sci-fi starring Ethan Hawke as a "temporal agent" who travels back and forth through time at will to stop crime before it happens. I refuse to tell you anything else about the plot, because this movie is INSANE. Do not read anything about it or allow yourself to be spoiled before watching. Writer/directors The Spierig Brothers (Daybreakers) have seemingly no buzz at all, but they're building an excellent body of work with smart, fully-realized ideas. Jaw-dropping performance by Sarah Snook, who is the next Great Australian Actress -- I can't tell you why she's so good without spoiling the film, but in a just world she would have been the Best Actress frontrunner for this. She's that amazing. The costumes by Wendy Cork, the editing by Matt Villa, the stunning make-up -- extraordinary display of immersive, world-building crafts. Brilliant exploration of the paradoxes caused by time travel. Not sure that it "says" anything that deep, but this is confident and engrossing storytelling not to be missed.
Grade: A-
Song One
Anne Hathaway delivers a lovely, lonely, lived-in performance in this micro-indie (which she also produced) as a woman who reaches out to — and finds a romantic connection with — her brother's favourite musician after said brother falls comatose following a car accident. That's basically all that happens, but the absence of plot never causes this to be any less moving. No, it's nothing all that original or ambitious; still, there's something very special about how gentle and earnest this is. Plus, those original folk songs are terrific!
Grade: B
Timbuktu
French-Mauritanian drama from director Abderrahmane Sissako (Waiting for Happiness, Bamako), about various characters in the titular Malian city dealing with occupation by extremist Islamist militants and how the latter’s presence disrupts their daily lives. Many fascinating vignettes showing the arbitrariness of the restrictions being placed on them — singing and dancing and sports are forbidden, women must wear gloves no matter what — and, interestingly, showing how the Islamists themselves do not/cannot hold themselves to the same requirements. There's also a main plot about Kidane (Ibrahim Ahmed dit Pino), a nomadic cattle herder whose cow destroys a fisherman's nets and, when the fisherman kills the cow in anger, Kidane confronts him and accidentally kills him. The aftermath of this encounter, the way Kidane is subjected to the protocols of sharia law, is excruciating to watch unfold. This is undoubtedly a very important story, offering a voice to a demographic who don't ordinarily get to have their stories told, and potentially a very dangerous one to tell at that. Also a rare work of African cinema able to make an impact on the world stage (winning awards at Cannes, sweeping the César Awards in France, landing an Oscar nomination), and that is well worth celebrating. I feel bad for saying this about such a personal and painful film, however, but I wish that it was slightly more memorable.
Grade: B
