Movies to See Right Now

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Photo caption: Robert Caro and Robert Gottlieb in TURN EVERY PAGE. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.

This week on The Movie Gourmet – watch for a new review of Turn Every Page, which I recommend.

Along with big Oscar winners Everything Everywhere All at Once and All Quiet on the Western Front, three of the top four movies on my Best Movies of 2022 are newly available to stream:

  • The Whale, with its spectacular performances by the Oscar-winning Brendan Fraser and by Hong Chau.
  • Aftersun, with its Oscar-nominated performance by Paul Mescal.
  • Broker, which was spurned by the Oscars despite being a masterpiece.

REMEMBRANCE

Sadly, the actor Robert Blake will be remembered for the horrific childhood and sordid post-career detailed in his NYT obit, a hit TV show with a parrot and an absence of personal boundaries on TV talk shows. He was a child star, exploited by an abusive parent, in Our Gang and even The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. But he proved his underlying talent in In Cold Blood.

CURRENT MOVIES

  • Turn Every Page: two masters, two obsessives. In theaters.
  • Broker: in the margins, finding a profound humanity. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
  • The Whale: regret to redemption. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
  • Everything Everywhere All at Once: often indecipherable and mostly dazzling. back in theaters plus on Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
  • Aftersun: who’s coming of age is this? Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
  • The Fabelmans: a mom, a dad and their genius kid. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
  • All Quiet on the Western Front: the trauma of war. Netflix.

WATCH AT HOME

Debargo Sanyal (center) in VENUS

The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE:

  • Venus: Meeting your kid for the first time while transitioning. Amazon, AppleTV.
  • Mustang: repression challenged by the human spirit. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • Truman: how to say goodbye. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • Love & Mercy: a tale of three monsters and salvation. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • Searching: A ticking clock thriller that captures the Silicon Valley vibe. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
  • The Sapphires: Here’s a crowd pleaser: Motown meets Aborigines. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu.
  • Wind River: “This isn’t the land of backup, Jane. This is the land of you’re on your own.” Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
  • Radio Dreams: stranger in a strange and funny land. Amazon, AppleTV.
  • Little Dieter Needs to Fly: an unimaginable escape and a quirky guy Project Nim: .Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • We Believe in Science: denying science on a monumental scale. Amazon, Vudu, YouTube.

ON TV

A scene from Whit Stilman’s METROPOLITAN

On March 24, Turner Classic Movies airs Metropolitan from 1990, the work of writer-director Whit Stillman, who is essentially his own genre. What Stilman does really well is bring us unto the world of old money Eastern preppies with their refined manners and their odd customs like debutante balls.  His well-educated characters have earnest late-night existential conversations in complete sentences.  Nobody else does this, and Stillman’s dialogue has always kept me wholly absorbed.  I keep thinking, I should despise these people, and yet their ruminations are kind of intoxicating. Stilman’s next movie, Barcelona, is enjoyable, too.

A scene from Whit Stilman’s METROPOLITAN

Wrapping up Cinequest’s Cinejoy

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CATCHING THE PIRATE KING. Courtesy of Cinequest.

Cinequest’s online festival Cinejoy ran through March 12. Here are the films that in the program that I hadn’t posted about yet:

Egghead & Twinkie: In this remarkably funny, sweet and genuine coming-of-age film, high school senior Twinkie (Sabrina Jie-A-Fa – real talent) is trying to navigate her sexual awakening as a lesbian, and goes on a roadtrip with her lifelong bestie, the neighbor boy who is now sweet on her. Perfectly paced, with just the right amount of whimsical animation sprinkled in, Egghead & Twinkie is an impressive debut feature for writer-director Sarah Kambe Holland. IMO this is one of the best coming-of-age films of the decade.

Catching the Pirate King: The enthralling Belgian documentary is two movies in one. The first is a play by play of the hijacking of a Belgian ship by Somali pirates and the negotiating of their ransom. The second is about the Belgian law enforcement’s dogged campaign to bring the pirates to justice – in Belgium. We meet the ship’s captain and crew, the shipping company’s negotiator, the cops and prosecutors and even some pirates. Absorbing, exceptionally well-sourced and very well-crafted.

Under Water: This dark Dutch dramedy (or extremely dark Dutch comedy) starts out as the insistent effort of a pushy woman and her estranged husband to get her aged mother into residential care. The mother, a paranoid survivalist, resists every entreaty by the woman and her estranged husband to leave her isolated, condemned house – and even imprisons them in her basement. The husband’s role evolves, and we eventually see that this is a portrait of generational mental illness.

Sweet Disaster: This zany German comedy is driven by the protagonist’s ever-unleashed impulsiveness and utter lack of boundaries. Frida (Friederike Kempter) encounters and falls for an airline pilot and audaciously charms him into a relationship; their affair lasts just long enough for her to become impregnated and for him to abandon her for his ex. Consumed by the urge to win him back, Frida throws propriety to the winds. Frida’s zany roller coaster is tempered by sweet relationships with her apartment neighbors, a precocious teenage neighbor and a Greek Chorus of card-playing older women.

Sloane: A Jazz Singer: This is another laudatory doc on an overlooked musical artist. Now 82, she’s a lot of fun. I wasn’t wowed by an advance version that I screened, but I understand that revisions have since made this film very strong.

The Secret Song: This doc is an uncomplicated movie about a visionary and saintly public school music teacher. He has touched hundreds of lives; this movie won’t.

The Movie Gourmet’s 2023 Oscar Dinner

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The Movie Gourmet’s 2023 Oscar Dinner

Here’s tonight’s Oscar Dinner, with dishes inspired by each of the Best Picture nominees.. Clockwise from lower left:

  • Peanut butter, bacon and banana sandwich, grilled in butter for Elvis: Had to go with Elvis’ favorite comfort food; it can’t be any worse than the Baz Luhrman movie. I actually ate this sandwich, which I later determined was unwise.
  • Fruit Loops, with a cell phone on the table from Top Gun: Maverick: When Maverick staggers into a rural diner after electing from his test flight, the kid is eating Fruit Loops. And Maverick has to buy a round at the bar because he puts his cell phone on the bar. BTW the diner is director Joseph Kosinski’s reference to Cecil’s Cafe, a beloved, now defunct, diner in his hometown of Marshalltown, Iowa.
  • Severed finger ice sculpture and Guinness Stout for The Banshees of Inisherin. Colm and Pádraic shared pints of Guinness every day until Colm started thunking his fingers on Pádraic’s front door. We tried floating the fingers in the Guinness, but it was a failure.
  • Applesauce for Women Talking: A kid is given a dose of medicine in applesauce. And it just seemed like a Mennonite kind of thing.
  • Everything bagel from Everything Everywhere All at Once: It’s obvious. And we could have gone with hot dog fingers, Chinese noodles or birthday goodies.
  • Blueberry shrub for Avatar: the Way of Water: We’re prompted by the vivid color palette, and we’re not alone. Avatar: The Way of Water has spawned a food experience with its own Satu’li Canteen at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Park.  The Ocean Moon Bowl, for example, is made with tuna, blue noodles, watermelon radish, pickled daikon, rainbow carrots, avocado, cucumbers and red cabbage with a miso and sweet soy drizzle.
  • Nutella from Triangle of Sadness: One of the film’s wry jokes is the express delivery to the luxury yacht of what must surely be something exquisite, and it turns out to be Nutella, Europe’s least magical food item.
  • Roast goose wing from All Quiet on the Western Front: Paul’s squad steals a goose from a farm near their trench and enjoy a rare moment of culinary bliss.
  • German macaroni (käsespätzle) and endive salad for Tar: We used an Austrian recipe from The Wife’s family. And Lydia Tar would want a bougie salad like this endive salad with apples and pecans.
  • Scrambled eggs from The Fabelmans: In an emotionally loaded kitchen encounter, Sammy’s mom Mitzi distractedly messes up the eggs (but Sammy eats them anyway).

The Movie Gourmet’s 2023 Oscar Dinner – the menu

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The Movie Gourmet’s culinary tribute to 127 HOURS and WINTER’S BONE

Every year, The Wife and I watch the Oscars while enjoying a meal inspired by the Best Picture nominees. For example, we had sushi for Lost in Translation, cowboy campfire beans for Brokeback Mountain and Grandma Ethel’s Brisket for A Serious Man – you get the idea. Here’s the 2022 Oscar Dinner, complete with the licorice pizza.

The high point has been the Severed Hands Ice Sculpture in 2011 for 127 Hours and Winter’s Bone (photo above). The Wife is building on that earlier work with more ice sculpture – the severed fingers from The Banshees of Inisherin.

Here is this year’s complete menu:

Severed finger ice sculpture and Guinness Stout for The Banshees of Inisherin. Colm and Pádraic shared pints of Guinness every day until Colm started thunking his fingers on Pádraic’s front door.

Everything bagel from Everything Everywhere All at Once: It’s obvious. And we could have gone with hot dog fingers, Chinese noodles or birthday goodies.

German macaroni (käsespätzle) and endive salad for Tar: We’re using an Austrian recipe from The Wife’s family. And Lydia Tar would want a bougie salad.

Peanut butter, bacon and banana sandwich, grilled in butter for Elvis: Had to go with Elvis’ favorite comfort food; it can’t be any worse than the Baz Luhrman movie.

Roast goose wing from All Quiet on the Western Front: Paul’s squad steals a goose from a farm near their trench and enjoy a rare moment of culinary bliss.

Fruit Loops, with a cell phone on the table from Top Gun: Maverick: When Maverick staggers into a rural diner after electing from his test flight, the kid is eating Fruit Loops. And Maverick has to buy a round at the bar because he puts his cell phone on the bar. BTW the diner is director Joseph Kosinski’s reference to Cecil’s Cafe, a beloved, now defunct, diner in his hometown of Marshalltown, Iowa.

Blueberry shrub for Avatar: the Way of Water: We’re prompted by the vivid color palette, and we’re not alone. Avatar: The Way of Water has spawned a food experience with its own Satu’li Canteen at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Park.  The Ocean Moon Bowl, for example, is made with tuna, blue noodles, watermelon radish, pickled daikon, rainbow carrots, avocado, cucumbers and red cabbage with a miso and sweet soy drizzle.

Scrambled eggs from The Fabelmans: In an emotionally loaded kitchen encounter, Sammy’s mom Mitzi distractedly messes up the eggs (but Sammy eats them anyway).

Applesauce for Women Talking: Just seemed like a Mennonite kind of thing.

Nutella from Triangle of Sadness: One of the film’s wry jokes is the express delivery to the luxury yacht of what must surely be something exquisite, and it turns out to be Nutella, Europe’s least magical food item.

I’ll post a photo tomorrow, on Oscar night.

Movies to See Right Now

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Photo caption: Lashana Lynch in THE WOMAN KING. Courtesy of TriStar Pictures.

This week on The Movie Gourmet – my Cinequest coverage, some thoughts on The Woman King and remembrances of two actors who were not-so-well-known, but massively talented. And watch this space for The Movie Gourmet’s 2023 Oscar Dinner, coming imminently.

At the urging of The Wife, we caught up with The Woman King. It’s a very well-crafted movie, and a pretty good one. Like any war movie (or Western), there are the familiar elements of assembling the team, training for the mission, combat, rescue of comrades and the climactic battle. Of course, The Woman King is novel because we aren’t used to seeing a war movie with women warriors, and especially not African-Ancestry women warriors – and let’s not underestimate the importance of that. I was struck how much better The Woman King was than Top Gun: Maverick, even though they follow the same war movie conventions.

Viola Davis, of course, is one our most emotionally powerful screen actors, and it’s fun to see her cut loose as an action hero at age 58. Lashana Lynch is really excellent in The Woman King, just as she impressed me so much as Nomi the new Agent 007 in the Bond movies. Vetting the claim “inspired by true events”, I was impressed by this Wikipedia article on the Agojie.

REMEMBRANCES

Tom Sizemore in THE LAST LULLABY

Actor Tom Sizemore is most remembered for his Oscar-nominated performance as Tom Hank’s sergeant in Saving Private Ryan. Sizemore was intense and charismatic and hugely talented, but his longtime cocaine addiction kept him off the screen and in the tabloids, rehab and jail. In a rare leading role, Sizemore carried an excellent little neo-noir, The Last Lullaby; see it on Amazon (included with Prime), Vudu and redbox.

Julie Christie and Gordon Pinsent in AWAY FROM HER.

Prolific Canadian actor Gordon Pinsent was unforgettable in Away from Her, Sarah Polley’s Alzheimer’s movie with Julie Christie (my choice for the best movie of 2007). Pinsent piled up 152 screen credits, much of it lesser material on TV. He played a bad guy in one of my favorite neo-noirs, Chandler with Warren Oates.

CURRENT MOVIES

  • Women Talking: safety and its costs. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • Broker: in the margins, finding a profound humanity. In theaters, but increasingly hard to find.
  • Living: what is it to live? In theaters, but increasingly hard to find.
  • Empire of Light: a woman, revealed. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox and included with HBO Max.
  • The Whale: regret to redemption. In theaters, but increasingly hard to find.
  • Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery: skewer the rich. Netflix.
  • Everything Everywhere All at Once: often indecipherable and mostly dazzling. back in theaters plus on Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
  • Babylon: “wanton excess” is inadequate to describe this movie. In very few theaters.
  • The Eternal Daughter: consumed by mom. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
  • Kimi: an adequate REAR WINDOWS ends as a thrilling WAIT UNTIL DARK. HBO Max.
  • Aftersun: who’s coming of age is this? Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
  • The Fabelmans: a mom, a dad and their genius kid. In theaters and on Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox..
  • Decision to Leave: he’s obsessed, and she asks, “Am I so wicked?”. Amazon, AppleTV, Mubi.
  • Causeway: affecting and uplifting. AppleTV.
  • The Menu: immune from pretension. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox and included with HBO Max.
  • All Quiet on the Western Front: the trauma of war. Netflix.
  • Armageddon Time: coming of age – right into a moral choice. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
  • The Banshees of Inisherin: no limits on stubbornness. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox and included with HBO Max.
  • Tar: a haughty spirit before a fall. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
  • Triangle of Sadness: more subtlety, please. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.

WATCH AT HOME

John Cho in SEARCHING

The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE:

  • Searching: A ticking clock thriller that captures the Silicon Valley vibe. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
  • Mustang: repression challenged by the human spirit. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • Truman: how to say goodbye. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • Love & Mercy: a tale of three monsters and salvation. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • Venus: Meeting your kid for the first time while transitioning. Amazon, AppleTV.
  • The Sapphires: Here’s a crowd pleaser: Motown meets Aborigines. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu.
  • Wind River: “This isn’t the land of backup, Jane. This is the land of you’re on your own.” Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
  • Radio Dreams: stranger in a strange and funny land. Amazon, AppleTV.
  • Little Dieter Needs to Fly: an unimaginable escape and a quirky guy Project Nim: .Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • We Believe in Science: denying science on a monumental scale. Amazon, Vudu, YouTube.

The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE:

ON TV

THE CANDIDATE – Robert Redford learns that running for elected office has its disadvantages

On March 15, The Candidate reappears on Turner Classic Movies’ 31 Days of Oscar. The Candidate may still be the greatest political film of all-time, with a searing leading performance by Robert Redford. My day job, for 38 years, was in politics, and so many moments in The Candidate are absolutely real. Excellent supporting performances by Peter Boyle, Don Porter and Melvyn Douglas. (Significant parts of The Candidate were shot in the Bay Area, including San Jose’s Eastridge mall and Oakland’s Paramount Theatre.)

TCM is sandwiching The Candidate between two other great films of American politics, Seven Days in May and All the King’s Men.

SHARE?: bread and circuses

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Melvin Gregg in SHARE?

In the very funny sci fi think-piece Share?, an unnamed Everyman (Melvin Gregg) finds himself locked up in his civvies in a high tech cell – and he’s on camera. Through trial and error, he learns that he can acquire necessities – and also on-screen social interaction with other captives – by performing for the camera; the currency is not unlike the likes and follows of social media. There are many layers of metaphor in this exploration of human behavior and the human appetite for bread and circuses.

Our protagonist is able to connect through his screen with others in his situation. One veteran (a great Bradley Whitford) is jaded and burnt out, sometimes a sage life coach and sometimes bursting into a nihilistic frenzy. Another noobie (Alice Braga) is a brilliant, driven strategist who immediately turns to organizing their escape; she proves that rage and fear are clearly the most effective motivators of human behavior (Fox News essentially runs on this fuel), but is the trade off in mental health worth it? A third star of the computer screen (Danielle Campbell) advocates for complacent acceptance and exudes a creepy serenity.

So, how about our current addiction to social media? Is it all one big Distraction that steers us away from addressing real challenges, like injustice, socioeconomic inequality and planetary survival? It’s great to see sci fi that is once again about ideas, not just about blowing shit up in space.

One of the wry ironies in Share? is that the force that is sufficiently technologically advanced to have captured these people without their knowledge and imprisoned them in high tech cells employs a clunky user interface that resembles (and may even be) MS-DOS.

Here’s a novelty – all of Share? is entirely shot from one static camera position. As convenient as this must have been in working from a low budget and perhaps pandemic-driven restrictions, it figures to pose a challenge in keeping the audience interested. But, thanks to the collaboration between director Ira Rosensweig, Assistant Editor Peter Szijarto and Gregg (who’s on screen 99% of the time), that’s not a problem.

Melvin Gregg, with his energy and relatability, does an excellent job carrying the movie. The rest of the cast – Bradley Whitford, Alice Braga, Danielle Campbell – is great, too.

Share? is the first feature for director and co-writer Ira Rosensweig and the third feature for co-writer Benjamin Sutor. Cinequest’s online festival Cinejoy is hosting the world premiere of Share?, which tops my Best of Cinejoy recommendations. You can find the trailer and tickets at Cinequest.

DADDY: four guys, four chances to fail

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A scene from DADDY. Courtesy of Cinequest.

The dark sci fi comedy Daddy: is set in a future where only a limited number of men are approved by the government to father children. Four guys apply for the privilege and are isolated in a mountain lodge to wait for the expert evaluator, who doesn’t immediately show up. As they try to figure out what’s going on and what they should do, they succeed only in demonstrating how unfit they would be as parents – until things get all Lord of the Rings. It’s a very funny skewering of both male overconfidence and male angst.

Finally, the guys get an unexpected visitor, who may or may not be the evaluator that they expect. What’s impressive about this episode is how each man’s instinctual reaction, different from each other’s, can be so profoundly wrongheaded.

The mountain lodge is equipped with an artificial baby model (a doll). Co-writers Neal Kelley and Jono Sherman refrain from overusing this prop in slapstick. It’s far funnier to glimpse the doll as it seems to silently rebuke the foolhardiness around it.

Daddy is the second feature and first feature, respectively, for for co-directors/co-writers Kelley and Sherman, who also play two of the guys. Cinequest’s online festival Cinejoy hosts the world premiere of Daddy.

BROTHERS BROKEN: it was the cult

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The Levin Brothers during their time with People! in BROTHERS BROKEN. Courtesy of Cinequest.

The documentary Brothers Broken contains a singularly refreshing aspect on a familiar phenomenon – the breakup of a 60s rock band. But here, the band breaks up, not because of drugs or ego, but because of a cult. And the estranged band members are brothers. The band doesn’t last long, but the brothers’ arc covers a 58-year arc.

Those brothers were the creative force behind the San Jose band People!, which was poised for future success after their hit I Love You in 1967. But at that point, one brother joined Scientology, and was forbidden to have contact with the rest of the band, including his own brother.

That former Scientologist brother, Geoff Levin, has co-directed Brothers Broken and says, “This has been a 75 year journey. 8 years ago I was on the verge of death. A deep depression caused by close to fifty years in Scientology almost ended my life. I came out of the cult and I am very grateful to my family and friends who have helped me recover. “

People! band members today in BROTHERS BROKEN. Courtesy of Cinequest.

There have been excellent Scientology documentaries, most notably Alex Gibney’s Going Clear: The Prison of Belief. Here, the Scientology aspect benefits from the brothers’ relatability and authenticity.

Not all is happy in Brothers Broken, because Geoff’s decision is still costing him dear family relationships. But Brothers Broken is an audience pleaser.

Brothers Broken is the first feature for co-directors Geoff Levin and Lily Richards. Cinequest’s online-festival Cinejoy hosts the US premiere of Brothers Broken. Fitting for Cinequest, the brothers and the band are from San Jose!

DESTINY ON THE MAIN STAGE: anything but exploitative

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Photo caption: DESTINY ON THE MAIN STAGE. Courtesy of Cinequest.

In the brilliant documentary Destiny on the Main Stage, a female director (and almost all-female crew) chronicle three years in the lives of Dallas-area strippers – and it’s authentic and NOT sensationalist or exploitative. The strippers include both a 20-year veteran very comfortable in her vocation and a former stripper organizing to help women exit the business. And, of course there are the very young women who are puddles of bad choices. Over the three years, the subjects’ lives take some very gripping turns.

This is not an advocacy film that seeks to criticize or promote the industry. This is cinéma vérité, and the pivotal events in the women’s lives are depicted as they happen. Hearing the strippers’ voices through a female lens/gaze/perspective is both novel and insightful. Director Poppy de Villenueve says, “These events are revealed as part of life, filmed in a nuanced way, reflecting something these women rarely are given the opportunity to have revealed.“

What Destiny on the Main Stage is filled with, instead of titillation, is humanity. De Villenueve says, “It is difficult to find real intimacy and connection these days, but by highlighting it in the darkest environments, I believe we move the world towards a better, kinder place.”

This is a serious film that could become an audience favorite, too. Destiny on the Main Stage is the second feature for director Poppy de Villenueve. Cinequest’s online festival Cinejoy hosted the world premiere of Destiny on the Main Stage, and it’s playing the in-person Cinequest in August..

DESTINY ON THE MAIN STAGE. Courtesy of Cinequest.

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The Best of Cinequest’s Cinejoy

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Melvin Gregg in SHARE?

Cinequest’s online festival CINEJOY is underway. Here are my top picks:

Share? In this very funny think-piece, an unnamed Everyman (Melvin Gregg) finds himself locked up in his civvies in a high tech cell – and he’s on camera. Through trial and error, he learns that he can acquire necessities and on-screen social interaction with other captives, by performing for the camera; the currency is not unlike the likes and follows of social media. There are many layers of metaphor in this exploration of human behavior and the human appetite for bread and circuses. First feature for director and co-writer Ira Rosensweig. World premiere.

Destiny on the Main Stage: In this brilliant documentary, a female director (and almost all-female crew) chronicle four years in the lives of Dallas-area strippers – and it’s authentic and NOT sensationalist or exploitative. Hearing the strippers’ voices through a female lens/gaze/perspective is both novel and insightful. The strippers include both a 20-year veteran very comfortable in her vocation to a former stripper organizing to help women exit the business. And, of course there are the very young women who are puddles of bad choices. Over the four years, the subjects’ lives take some very gripping turns. This is a serious film that could become an audience favorite, too. Second feature for director Poppy de Villenueve. World premiere.

Daddy: This dark sci fi comedy is set in a future where only a limited number of men are approved by the government to father children. Four guys apply for the privilege and are isolated in a mountain lodge to wait for the expert evaluator, who doesn’t immediately show up. As they try to figure out what’s going on and what they should do, they succeed only in demonstrating how unfit they would be as parents – until things get all Lord of the Rings. It’s a very funny skewering of both male overconfidence and male angst. Second feature and first feature, respectively, for for co-directors/co-writers Neal Kelley and Jono Sherman, who play two of the guys. World premiere.

Everybody Wants to Be Loved: This German dramedy is a triumph of the harried mom genre. As a psychotherapist, Ina (Anne Ratte-Polle) spends her workdays listening to whining and naval-gazing. Then she goes home to her self-absorbed boyfriend and her teen daughter – and the job of teenagers is to be self-absorbed.-Nobody is most narcissistic and entitled than Ina’s mom. It’s the mom’s birthday, and she is rampaging with demands. The daughter is threatening to move in with Ina’s ex, and the boyfriend wants to move the family to Finland for his career. As Ina is swirling around this vortex of egotism, she gets some sobering news about her own health. As everyone converges on the birthday party, what could possibly go wrong? First feature for director and co-writer Katharina Woll. Second screening in the US.

Brothers Broken: The documentary Brothers Broken contains a singularly refreshing aspect on a familiar phenomenon – the breakup of a 60s rock band. But here, the band breaks up, not because of drugs or ego, but because of a cult. And the estranged band members are brothers. The band doesn’t last long, but the brothers’ arc covers a 58-year arc. Fitting for Cinequest, the brothers and the band are from San Jose! First feature for co-directors Geoff Levin and Lily Richards. US premiere.

This is the thirteenth year that I’ve covered Cinequest. The live, in-person Cinequest returns to downtown San Jose in August. My Cinequest coverage, including the current Cinejoy and past festivals, is on my CINEQUEST 2023 page.

DESTINY ON THE MAIN STAGE. Courtesy of Cinequest.