Again in NYC for the 2015 Rendez-Vous with French Cinema at Lincoln Center and New Directors/New Films.
And again I'll be watching some New York commercial releases and list them briefly with thumbnail reviews and a note as to where I saw them.



WHITE RABBIT (Tim McCann 2013). The potential of Nick Krause (smart in real life and good enough to play Shailene Woodley's boyfriend in The Descendants) is largely wasted in this doggedly explanatory drama in which he's depicted as Harlan, a po' white southern boy who carries out a massacre at his school. Is it because his father and classmates bullied him? Or that his edgy girlfriend turned conventional? Or that he talks to his rock 'n' roll comic books? Or that he gets held back in eleventh grade? Way below treatments of the theme like Elephant and We Need to Talk Abut Kevin. McCann has won prizes for other features he directed. The acting and cinematography here are better than the screenplay. At Quad Cinema 14 Feb. 2015.



THE TALE OF PRINCESS KAGUYA (Isao Takahata 2013) The critics love this beautiful hand drawn animation amalgam of Japanese printmaking and painting with delicate French watercolor à la Ernest & Célestine, plus a touch of anime for the teenage-romance parts. Its 2+ hours indicate a certain lack of economy in the storytelling and some of the transitions are awkward or inexplicable, suggesting more than one traditional folk tale has been mashed up. The music sometimes really sweeps you away. The representations of nature like a garden are delicate and lovely. Closeups of people tend to have more a cruder, cutsier, more anime look. Simpler visually and some think more touching than Miyazaki, but also Studio Ghibli. Shown in English dubbed version, good for the small theater's small children, but Japanese would have been better, I felt. At IFC Center 15 Feb. 2015.



1971 (Johanna Hamilton 2014). Documentary about the Medea, Pennsylvania FBI office break-in by eight "ordinary citizens" to remove documents and the consequences of the revelations that followed -- immense. "COINTELPRO" was one of the revelations. The Washington Post chose to publish and a congressional investigation foillowed. The Good Old Days: you could pick a lock and crack the most powerful government agency. In the wake of the Patriot Act, things are not so easy. Lots of good period footage, talking head interviews with key figures, and a few reenactments to recreate the suspense of the break-in. They were never caught. At Cinema Village 15 February 2015.



FIFTY SHADES OF GREY (Sam Taylor-Johnson 2015). This is a mainstream, correct, humorless advertisement - perhaps not very knowledgable - for S&M sex. Its dominant male who seeks an ideal submissive female is himself made appetizing to the viewer not only by being trim and perfect-looking but young and very rich. The two main actors, little known, but in this glossy production aren't bad at all, nor is this un-sexy as some say, just bland and inexplicable, perhaps implausible, and with a strangely lame ending. Surely it only makes sense as an appendage of the bestseller that is its reason for existing. Real-life practitioners of BDSM say this is too "vanilla." At Regal Union Square 16 February 2015.



LAST DAYS IN VIETNAM (Rory Kennedy 2014). The last weeks, and hour-by-hour last day, of Americans in South Vietnam. Well-researched and detailed with personal accounts but conventional in format. If you know this era there isn't much new in the outlines. Notable: when the communists ditched the Paris accords and invaded the South, the US Ambassador Graham A. Martin's blind resistance to withdrawal. This meant no evacuation plans -- which explains the awkward necessity of using helicopters and leaving so many behind. Yet in the final hours, Martin also fought to have as many evacuated as possible. One talking head who didn't get evacuated did 13 years hard labor before escaping to the US. One of the five 2015 Best Documentary Oscar nominees. At Quad Cinema 16 February 2015.



KES (Ken Loach 1969). The champion of the working man's feature film debut, and a quiet classic. Study of Billy Casper (David Bradley), a small, scrawny 15-year-old Yorkshire schoolboy who on his own catches and trains a kestreal falcon he calls 'Kes.' He has little interest in school or future work but has exceptional survival skills, despite abuse from all sides, and is a great runner and climber. And the film is remarkable for its authentic feel and emotional purity. Named one of the ten best British films of the century by the British Film Institute. This was with the original sound track with the nearly impenetrable accents that were previously redubbed for mainstream audiences. After this remarkable debut, Bradley has had a busy career as an actor ever since, including Harry Potter and Game of Thrones. See Graham Fuller essay , "Kes: Winged Hope." At a press screening, Film Forum, 17 February 2015. YouTube.



KINGSMAN: THE SECRET SERVICE (Matthew Vaughan 2015). A sub-James Bond offshoot with hints of John Le Carré. Novelties are an even more vast arsenal of gimmicky weapons -- the filmmakers know how to add more violence and CGI special effects but not how to add new ideas. Except the arch villain (Samuel L. Jackson with stylish glasses and a lisp) is out to stop global warming this time, not just rule the world, doing it by "culling," radically reducing the human population, seen as a "virus" (not far from the mark); and the snobbish elitist candidates for the "secret service" position are challenged by a working class hero, Egsy (hot Welsh newcomer Taron Egerton) a rude boy from a grim housing estate. Michael Caine, Colin Firth and Mark Strong add gloss to the cast. At Regal Union Square 21 February 2015.



WILD TALES (Damián Szifrón 2014 2014). Aptly named, these six film short stories are over the top from the start. They at first revolve around revenge, but then devolve into other themes, hiding traffic crime and a marriage that goes seriously awry right during the wedding party. Car driving is a unifier, and travel: or maybe it's just anger, or letting emotion run out of control. The Argentinian director's third feature is a Best Foreign Oscar contender. I saw D'Angelo's descriptions of it in competition at Cannes and knew it should be seen. Not a pretty picture of human nature; but Szifrón is absolutely brilliant at staging elaborate, hyper-active scenes. At Landmark Sunshine 22 February 2015.



FOCUS (Glenn Ficarra, John Requa 2015). The latest vehicle for Will Smith has him as a jaded con man who teams up for a while with a pretty blond novice -- then dumps her. A few years later she turns up when he's working on a bigger con in Buenos Aires. It's all very glossy and complicated, coldly sexy, and the elaborate cons are fun to watch, but neither believable nor really fun. The filmmakers are trying too hard to impress us. Ficarra and Requa did better when they directed the amusing and tasteful Crazy, Stupid, Love. These con artists are crazy and stupid: they go to so much trouble to make $1.2 million: why not try real estate? Smith looks hardened and mean now, which fits his character at least. At Regal Union Square 28 February 2015.




THE SALVATION (Kristian Levring 2014).
Kristian Levring, abandoning Dogme severity (but this mode is a tight restriction too), delivers a bracingly stark and beautiful Western in The Salvation, with a Danish protagonist played by Mads Mikkelsen. There's a good cast to back him up, and the handsome photos of Jens Schlosser, augmented by CGI, make South Africa's landscapes look like the far West. There is almost nothing new here, only the spirit of Sergio Leone and John Ford in a skillful, elegant amalgam. But it is all done purely and well. At Landmark Sunshine 1 March 2015.



FAULTS (Riley Stearns 2014). A crude but effective first feature about a de-programmer for cults whose life is in a mess who gets more than he bargains for when, to pay off debts, he takes on the de-programming of a girl named Claire whose cult is called "Faults." Mary Elizabeth Winstead (the director's wife) is Claire. As Edsel, the de-programmer, we get Leland Orser, a little-known but effective character actor who's a mousy little guy like John Hawkes. I was not as taken by this as many small-publication critics who led to a Metacritic 70 rating, but it holds your attention and has a fresh twist. And sometimes life is a B-movie. A NYT Critics' Pick. Watched at Quad Cinema 7 March 2015.



STRAIGHT OUTTA TOMPKINS (Zephyr Benson 2014). Goodfellas meets Requiem for a Dream. Robby Benson's son Zephyr wrote, directed, and stars in this zero-budget NYC drug coming-of-age story playing an abandoned private school boy whose baseball pitching talents get neglected for selling pot cupcakes, then selling coke and doing Xanax and heroin, leading to very bad and dangerous involvements and much violence. Not groundbreaking but ambitious and amusing -- he dares to poke fun at his own character. "Gene's" voiceover assertions of street cred may seem largely boasting, and reviews may be mixed, but this is a bold and precocious effort with a good supporting cast. Uncredited cameo by Whoopi Goldberg; rap theme music. Most detailed review: here. Watched at Cinema Village 8 March 2015.



CYMBELINE (Michael Almereyda 2014). A radical, contemporary adaptation of Shakespeare like his Hamlet 14 years ago is fun but not as cool or clever. (Did he wait too long?) The play is not the Bard at his best, and cut down its baffling plot becomes uninvolving. Re-setting events to a motorcycle gang and Rome, NY doesn't have the punch of Hamlet's Manhattan corporation, and a name cast including Ethan Hawke, Ed Harris, Milla Jovavich, Dakota Johnson, John Leguizamo, Anton Yelchin, and Gossip Girl" hunk Penn Badgley do good work but can't save it. Something owed to Baz Luhrmann this time. The bright, beautifully-lit cinematography of David Gordon Green dp Tim Orr is a big plus. Watched at Quad Cinema 13 March 2015.



IT FOLLOWS (David Robert Mitchell 2014). Much hyped horror film since Cannes has original premise and classic methods that nod to John Carpenter; use of everyday Americana suburban world is brilliant. People get infected by a menacing "thing" that follows and can kill them by having sex, can get rid of it by having sex, is the premise, but why the young people gather and move around as they do is hard to figure. Which keeps you watching. But it did not grab me as it has others, and the loud synthy music is constantly grating, the pacing slow. Is this about venereal disease, promiscuity? Metacritic raging 82. Watched at Angelika Film Centre 14 March 2015.



THE SECOND BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL (John Madden 2014). (Same director, writer, strung out from same book as the first film. ) Oh so colorful and delightful and full of great Brit actors older folks can relate to, with even more this time of the likable, silly, energetic Dev Patel, who gets a whole climactic Bollywood-dancing-wedding finale. Plus Richard Gere as a silver fox who drives older dames wild. Bill Nighy, Judi Dench and above all Maggie Smith art truly class acts & all are having a good time , & so will you. Production and cinematography gorgeous. But the plot is disjointed and choppy and makes little sense, a mess, glued together with corny philosophy. Aging and death are taken seriously amid the silliness.



THE WRECKING CREW (Denny Tedesco 2008). A documentary much like Twenty Feet from Stardom: the best people in music don't get any credit, only L.A. this time & the focus is on mostly white studio musicians, who turn out to have created many of the pop/rock hits of the 50's and 60's. This is made as a tribute to guitarist Tommy Tedesco by his son Denny. The usual talking heads plus stock and archival footage. Interesting to meet some of the most notable musicians in several group interviews, but date not given. Since Tommy is in them and he died in 1997 a lot of this must be old material. Learned one or two things, e.g. Glen Campbell was a very talented studio guitarist before turning singer and becoming famous. Seen at IFC Center 19 March 2015 (delayed release).



THE GUNMAN (Pierre Morel 2015). An exposure of multinational corporations' disruption of third world countries is Sean Penn's excuse for producing and starring in this pointless shoot-em-up that also wastes the likes of Ray Winstone, Javier Bardem, Idris Elba and Mark Rylance. The violence is flashy but messy. A colorful Hitchcockian chase in a Barcelona bullfight ring would be good if it only made sense. Pierre Morel's best job remains his first, the French banlieue thriller District 13. It's weird that some praise Bardem's performance. It's a preposterous one and an incomprehensible role. By the way this could have been called "The Sniper," but I guess that was taken. Watched at Regal Union Square 20 March 2015.



PLEASE BE NORMAL (Haik Kocharian 2014). Jeannette Catsoulis, the NYTimes' best stringer, made this a Critic's Pick. It's an alarming story in which a young playwright without economic ambitions with a pregnant girlfriend feels stifled by responsibility and by her rich father's manipulativeness. The twist, an unusual one, is that apparently Elizabeth Waterston is Louis Cancelmi's real life girlfriend and definitely Sam Waterston is her father, so they are playing "who they are," in relationship. The very limited budget and Haik Kocharian's love of long silent takes and extreme closeups create an excruciating intensity. Some behavior near the end is far-fetched & Cancelmi's line readings seem too unreadable. Elizabeth Waterston is good. Also with Dana Eskelson. Kocharian also wrote the screenplay. Watched at Cinema Village 20 March 2015.




AMOUR FOU (Jessica Haussner 2014) A cool, oddball, but also very beautiful depiction of Heinrich von Kleist, the important German romantic author, and his double suicide with the terminally ill Henriette Vogel in 1811. Not fair to Kleist, perhaps, but the point is to provide a droll new look at Kleist's tragic gesture, and at German romanticism. I wrote a review of this. Watched at Film Forum (US premiere site) 19 March 2015.



RUN ALL NIGHT (Jaume Collet-Serra 2015). Forgot even to mention this one, violent, intense, over-produced, generic, forgettable, but well-acted, it was deeply relaxing after a long run of festival/art films for one who enjoys New York gangster thrillers. This one has an Irish clan theme, and the overdrawn life-long love-hate relationship between Liam Neeson's and Ed Harris' characters is carried through even to the last breath. But after that last breath, you have nothing to take away. Neeson again, cranking 'em out, and Ed Harris always solid. Watched at Regal Union Square.

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©Chris Knipp. Blog: http://chrisknipp.blogspot.com/.