Movies to See Right Now

AMERICAN HUSTLE
AMERICAN HUSTLE

The Palestinian Omar is a heartbreaking romance inside a tense thriller; Omar is nominated for the Best Foreign Language Oscar. The Chilean drama Gloria is about an especially resilient 58-year-old woman. Harder to find, Stranger by the Lake is an effective French thriller with LOTS of explicit gay sex.

My DVD/Stream of the Week is the flawless true story thriller Captain Phillips, my choice as the best Hollywood movie of the year. It’s now available on DVD from Netflix and Redbox and streaming from Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube, Google Play and Xbox Video.

In theaters, you can still find Oscar nominees Nebraska, American Hustle and Her, which all made my Best Movies of 2013. I also strongly recommend Best Picture nominees The Wolf of Wall Street and Philomena. Dallas Buyers Club, with its splendid performances by Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto, is formulaic but still a pretty good watch. The Oscar Nominated Live Action Shorts is also a good bet.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is another fine thriller from that franchise, with another amazing performance by Jennifer Lawrence. I also like the Mumblecore romance Drinking Buddies, now available on VOD.

We’re still enjoying Turner Classic Movies magical month of Oscar-nominated films – 31 Days of Oscar. This week I recommend the brilliant 1971 drama The Last Picture Show and the classic Bogart/Bacall thriller Key Largo.

Movies to See Right Now

SHORT TERM 12
SHORT TERM 12

This week, I’m featuring three movies that are flying under the radar. The Chilean drama Gloria is about an especially resilient 58-year-old woman.  Harder to find, Stranger by the Lake is an effective French thriller with LOTS of explicit gay sex.

And my DVD/Stream of the Week is the compelling and affecting foster care drama Short Term 12. This movie made both my Best Movies of 2013 and my Most Overlooked Movies of 2013, with its star making performance by Brie Larson.   Short Term 12 is available on DVD from Netflix and streaming from Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube, GooglePlay and Xbox Video.

In theaters, you can still find Oscar nominees Nebraska, American Hustle and Her, which all made my Best Movies of 2013.  I also strongly recommend Best Picture nominees The Wolf of Wall Street and PhilomenaDallas Buyers Club, with its splendid performances by Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto, is formulaic but still a pretty good watch.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is another fine thriller from that franchise, with another amazing performance by Jennifer Lawrence. I also like the Mumblecore romance Drinking Buddies, now available on VOD.

I saw this year’s Oscar Nominated Live Action Shorts and was disappointed.  There was nothing to match recent gems like The God of Love or Curfew.  I liked the British short about a particularly bored and malevolent God masquerading as a convict, but that 13 minutes didn’t justify the two hours that I had invested.  A 30-minute Spanish film about child soldiers in Africa was to excruciatingly brutal to justify the trite attempt at a redemptive payoff.  (I haven’t seen the Oscar Nominated Animated Shorts, but I have heard good things about that program.)

Turner Classic Movies has launched its wonderful annual 31 Days of Oscar – filling the entire month with Oscar-nominated movies. This week I recommend the romantic French musical The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) which is notable for three things: 1) the actors sing all of the dialogue; 2) the breakout performance by then 20-year-old Catherine Deneuve; and 3) an epilogue scene at a gas station – one of the great weepers in cinema history.  I also recommend two great performances by Peter O’Toole screening on February 20, as a lethally driven movie director in The Stunt Man (1980) and as a gloriously dipsomaniacal screen icon in the comedy My Favorite Year (1982).

Stranger by the Lake: an effective thriller with LOTS of explicit gay sex

Writer-director Alain Giraudie uses the milieu of gay cruising to set his thriller, Stranger by the Lake (L’inconnu du lac), launched with great notoriety at Cannes. A young man frequents a secluded beach to hook up with other gays. He spots a dreamy newcomer, but he just can’t seem to meet the new guy. After a few frustrating days, he witnesses a murder by drowning – and the murderer is the guy that he’s hot for. The next day, the murderer comes on to him and our hero can’t resist…until his new boy toy suggests that they go for a swim.

Stranger by the Lake is notorious because of lots of genitals-in-your-face male nudity and LOTS of explicit gay sex acts. At least some of the sex is actual (not just simulated) sex. I saw Stranger by the Lake in an audience that must have been 80% gay male, and there were lots of knowing chuckles at the cruising behaviors (along with gasps at an episode of decidedly unsafe sex).

Stranger by the Lake does work as a thriller, and a limited US release is underway; in the San Francisco Bay Area, it’s currently playing in just two theaters – the Clay and the Shattuck.  It is unrated, but would certainly qualify for a NC-17.

French Cinema Now

RENDEZ-VOUS IN KIRUNA

I spent last weekend at the San Francisco Film Society’s French Cinema Now series, which features current French language movies that have not been theatrically released in the US (and may not be).   I’ve written complete posts on five of the eight movies that I saw. Here’s my summary (in order of my subjective ranking).

My favorite was the road trip to redemption, Rendez-vous in Kiruna.  A French curmudgeon takes an obligatory drive to northern Sweden, setting up some very funny moments as the film explores the oft unhappy relationships of fathers and sons.

In the drama Suzanne, a young woman makes some bad choices, and the consequences are shared by her father and sister.  Very well written and acted, Suzanne may be released in the US in mid-December.

Launched with great notoriety at Cannes, Stranger by the Lake (L’inconnu du lac) is a thriller set in a secluded gay cruising spot.  There is LOTS of explicit gay sex in this movie, and at least some of it is actual (not just simulated) sex.  It does work as a thriller, and it will get an NC-17 release in the US in late January 2014.

I liked Miss and the Doctors (Tirez la langue, mademoiselle), the kind of light romance that the French do so well and that Hollywood would turn into a series of sitcom moments.  Two pediatrician bachelor brothers fall for the single mom of a young patient – and then her ex returns to the scene to create a love quadrangle.  Miss and the Doctors is sweet and funny, and I think it would be popular with US art house audiences.  (The original French title translates as “Stick Out Your Tongue, Miss”.)

House of Radio (La Maison de la Radio), a wonderfully appealing observational documentary that takes us behind-the-scenes for a peek at the operations of Radio France.

Written and directed by its star, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, A Castle in Italy (Un château en Italie) tells three dark story threads but in a very funny, even screwball, movie.  It had me until the sentimental and almost pretentious ending.  Not bad overall.

Bastards (Les Salauds) is Claire Denis’ dark revenge tale – well made but gratuitously disturbing – and even too disturbing for me to recommend.

My pick for the worst movie in the series was a French language film from Canada, Vic + Flo Saw a Bear (Vic + Flo ont vu un ours).  A 61-year-old lesbian is released from prison and reunites with her fortyish lover/crime partner to go straight.  Unfortunately, there wasn’t much to commend this film except for a bad ass female villain.  The story was pointlessly dark, and the audience did not respond well.  Afterwards, I was standing in line in front of a Frenchwoman who ranted, “Stoopeed Canadians – what do zay know about making films…I am just so glad that Jean didn’t show up – he would have puked.”  I actually like Canadian films, but this one sucked.