The Other Lamb
Selah (Raffey Cassidy), a teenage orphan, has lived her whole life in the forest with a cult whose leader, The Shepherd (Michiel Huisman), is the only man she's ever met. As she nears maturity and starts to understand the true nature of her community, Selah begins to lose faith in The Shepherd and his abusive agenda. Cassidy, so memorable as the bad-ass android in Tomorrowland, plays a very different role here, more introspective and reactive, and she carries this film with impressive confidence. Marketed as a horror film, but I don’t really agree — this is an art-house drama infused with an otherworldly dread-laced tone. A glacially paced film that features many shots of characters looking intensely at each other, that contains numerous dreamlike sequences in which a character screams at the top of her lungs in complete silence. Polish director Malgorzata Szumowska succumbs to her most self-indulgent instincts here — though I suspect that her fascinating aesthetic would be better served by a stronger screenplay.
Distributor: IFC Films
Release date: Apr. 3, 2020
Grade: C
Resistance
Jesse Eisenberg as French mime Marcel Marceau, who — before he was famous — worked with the French Resistance during World War II, helping hundreds of Jewish children escape the Holocaust. Such a beautiful and heroic story... but sadly the film is a complete fizzle. Writer-director Jonathan Jakubowicz has mounted a dignified, handsome production — but it’s one that’s filled with predictable story beats and unremarkable characters. Lacks thematic depth as well: this means to be a rousing and inspirational biopic, but all its storytelling happens on the surface. Aside from a snowy climax in which the characters evade Nazis as they cross the Alps, few of this film’s scenes make a lasting impression. One can easily imagine the thrilling biographical melodrama a filmmaker with the skill set of, say, Spielberg could make with this rich material. This forgettable film, though, is merely a mediocre miss.
Distributor: IFC Films
Release date: Apr. 17, 2020
Grade: C
True History of the Kelly Gang
Unconventional “biopic” about legendary Australian outlaw Ned Kelly. Justin Kurzel and Shaun Grant (director and writer, respectively, of The Snowtown Murders) more interested in mood and tone than historical accuracy, and as such have adapted this screenplay from Peter Carey’s novel. So many atypical choices for a biographical film — the kinetic cinematography by Ari Wegner (at times sweeping and majestic, at others shaky and claustrophobic), the stressful score by Jed Kurzel, the unsettling sound design that travels in and out of silence. All this adds up to a movie-watching experience that often feels hallucinatory and hypnotic. And the sheer commitment of this cast! George MacKay (1917) as Ned, completely unhinged. Essie Davis (The Babadook) as mama Ellen, possibly insane, but she’d do literally anything to protect her family. Nicholas Hoult as a depraved English constable. Brutal and bloody and strangely homoerotic at all times. Maybe not quite as thematically ambitious as I’d normally have wanted... but with form and content this nuts, who’s complaining?
Distributor: IFC Films
Release date: Apr. 24, 2020
Grade: B+
