The big films this week came out on Wednesday, timed to American Thanksgiving. But the best one, Manchester by the Sea, starts today, a bit tentatively I’d say considering its growing reputation.
Also give some thought to a couple of festivals. Turkish films play at the VanCity theatre through the weekend, including the cat charmer called Kedi. It sold out three times at VIFF. There’s info at VTFF.ORG.
And the European Union Festival continues until mid-week at the Cinematheque. Among the highlights still to come is an off-beat comedy mystery called Schmitke, a tale of four generations of “crazies” called Mom and Other Loonies in the Family, a documentary about aboriginal people in Scandinavia and a drama with “horrid behavior and dark farce in Family Party.You can read more at http://www.thecinematheque.ca/eufilmfestival
These are new this week:
Manchester By the Sea: 4 ½ stars
Rules Don’t Apply: 3
Moana: 4
Nocturnal Animals: 3 ½
Allied: 2 ½
Bad Santa 2: 1 ½
MANCHESTER BY THE SEA: It’s only in one theatre so far but that will change. This film is enjoying major awards buzz because the writing, acting and staging are superb. Kenneth Lonergan, who wrote and directed it, delves into some tangled family connections, regrets from the past and a difficult recovery from a breakdown. Surprisingly, it’s also very funny at times. The emotional territory is similar to Lonergan’s breakthrough film, You Can Count on Me, but not as intense because it’s more understated and leavened with that humor.
Casey Affleck, as a handyman and janitor wasting away at a Boston apartment building, is called back to his old hometown when his brother dies. He doesn’t want to be there because of some incident from the past which he knows people remember and we slowly learn about. But he can’t get away because he’s appointed guardian of his nephew (Lucas Hedges) a teen who, with two girlfriends and a spot on the hockey team, is pretty well his opposite. That leads to some funny interchanges. As he tries to get free of the obligation and avoid his past, he runs into old friends, including his ex-wife (Michelle Williams), hears bits of gossip and resumes a habit of getting into bar fights. The film melds all these elements into a realistic drama of small town life and a poignant study of a character trying not to blame himself for what’s past. I’m not going to overthink this one like some critics are doing. Sure there are many themes here, but some are only for context and to enrich the background. The upfront story is moving enough and Affleck is perfect living it. (5th Avenue) 4 ½ out of 5
RULES DON’T APPLY: I for one am glad he’s back. Warren Beatty as Howard Hughes just fits. He brings out more of the movie-and-airline billionaire’s eccentricities than I’ve seen before. Tommy Lee Jones, Jason Robards and Leonardo DiCaprio got some of them. Warren got the spooky side; as well as the drifting mind, the paranoia, the impulsive imagination, the self-importance and the charm. As a Hollywood insider he probably saw some of it first hand and so the film, in which he plays him, wrote the story and the script, produced and directed, feels authentic. At times it’s a semi-affectionate view of him.
We get it through two characters who play out their own story and now and then interact with him. Lily Collins shines as a would-be starlet being groomed by Hughes’ people and promised a screen test sometime soon. Alden Ehrenreich, as a driver assigned to her, becomes her confidant, and in violation of a strict rule, her lover. He also wants Hughes to invest in a real estate project. That’s the short version.
They’re a sweet couple inside a loony whirlwind 50 years ago. Hughes flings orders about, hires and fires his Mormon aides (Alec Baldwin, Matthew Broderick, Martin Sheen among them) stonewalls Congress and travels in a fit to London and Nicaragua (though sadly not to Vancouver, where you might remember he stayed holed-up in the Bayshore Hotel for six months). Beatty’s first movie in 18 years (six years if you count a TV movie) is entertaining and a timely caution about capricious billionaires. (International Village, Marine Gateway, suburban theatres) 3 out of 5
MOANA: The Disney Corporation took some lumps for this one, although they thought they were doing something good. Cultural appropriation is the charge, and insensitivity the proof. Unintentional, I say. This is a beautiful film for children, and their parents, with a pertinent message: know who you are and be yourself. There’s a strong female empowerment lesson too. None of that is new but worth expounding one more time.
The story draws on Polynesian legends. A young girl (voiced by Auli’i Cravalho) wants to save her island society from stagnation. They used to be seafarers but are now forbidden to sail out beyond the reef. “It calls to me,” she sings in one of several tunes by Lin-Manuel Miranda. He’s famous for creating the Broadway smash hit Hamilton.
Moana gets encouragement from her grandmother, finds a hidden boat, and with the help of a fat demi god dares to sail. He (Dwayne Johnson) also sings, something about being just an ordinary guy. (His shape and his tattoos which comically reflect his moods are the main cause of the cultural objections). Together they search for a magic fishhook that he lost and try to return a magic heart-stone he stole from a goddess. High adventure follows: a storm, a boat flip, huge waves, lightning, all beautifully animated. Tiny pirates and a giant crustacean with a fondness for disco sounds bring comic relief. Directors Ron Clements and John Musker, veterans of previous Disney films, have sent us a treat. (International Village, Marine Gateway and suburban theatres) 4 out of 5
NOCTURNAL ANIMALS: I have to agree with Anthony Lane in The New Yorker. I don’t know what this film is about either. I can tell you what happens in it, but that’s not the same thing. It’s a compelling one to watch however, with two stories that connect in uncertain ways. They start in after a bizarre opening in which some of the most obese women you’ll ever see dance full-frontally nude and not briefly either. The scene tells us this is a most avant-garde art gallery and the owner (Amy Adams) is bold. Not for long. She spends the rest of the film reading a novel that an ex-boyfriend (Jake Gyllenhaal) of 19 years ago has just sent her and dedicated to her. That story takes over the film, except for times when she comes up gasping for air.
The events are harrowing. A couple (Gyllenhaal again and Isla Fisher) drive a desert road with their teenage daughter and get on the wrong side of a bunch of rednecks. They’re run off the road, intimidated and harassed. One car drives off with the women. The other takes him out on a dirt road where he manages to escape and get help from a world-weary cop. He’s played by Michael Shannon with his usual and perfectly-fitting gruffness. The lead redneck is played by a scary and grinning Aaron Taylor-Johnson. Tension alternates with anger. It’s a gripping second film by Tom Ford, who made his name in fashion design and directed Colin Firth to an Oscar in A Simple Man. He’s got two tales here, both nicely done but largely separate. (5th Avenue) 3 ½ out of 5
ALLIED: I don’t care what Angelina Jolie might have suspected. I never got the impression that her ex, Brad Pitt, had the hots for his–costar, Marion Cotillard, in this film. Even when they jump into bed, which they do several times, the chemistry isn’t strong. That’s important because the whole rest of the film depends on it. It’s a weaker film than it should be because of it.
Pitt is a Canadian (a French speaker from Ontario who dreams of buying a ranch near Medicine Hat). Cotillard is French. They’re both agents during World War II sent to work together in Casablanca and take out a German ambassador. Naturally they fall in love, marry, have a child and settle down in England. But a heartless V Section official (Simon McBurney) intrudes. He says Marion is actually a German spy and sets up a “blue dye” test to trap her. If she is a double agent, Brad must shoot her or be shot himself. He is not allowed to investigate himself, but of course, does. His sleuthing is the most interesting part of the film. If there was real chemistry, the test and his search would mean more to us. As it is the film is slow to start and runs mostly tepid although there’s a surprise ending and the visual re-creation of the time is excellent. (International Village, Marine Gateway, suburban theatres) 2½ out of 5
BAD SANTA 2: OK, I’ll grant there was some funny stuff in the original film. Although I didn’t like it much, it became a cult favorite and now 13 years later there’s a sequel that nobody needs. It’s absolutely obsessive at trying to be even more crude and rude. And worse, it’s not funny. Oh, there was a guy sitting behind me who laughed at everything and apparently a woman across the room doing the same. For most everybody else there was a lot of silence, interrupted only occasionally by a few guffaws. I imagine some Trump fans may enjoy it.
You won’t find anybody to like here. Not, Billy Bob Thornton, as a drunken misanthrope, Tony Cox, as his midget sidekick, or Kathy Bates (yes, the Academy Award winner) as his prison-familiar mother. She’s new to the cast but like everybody else her language is eternally foul and her comedy debases her. That trio conspires to rob a charity on Christmas Eve in Chicago (Montreal, if you look hard enough). The man who runs it is a thief, so that’s okay, and his wife (Christina Hendricks, ex of Mad Men) though pious is easily lured into sex in an alley and later into ecstasy with a backdoor version in a Christmas tree lot. Brett Kelly is back as the simpleton Thurman Merman, now grown-up and proud of his status as a “sandwich consultant” at a fast food joint. There’s a very low view of humanity here. (Scotiabank, Marine Gateway and suburban theatres) 1 ½ out of 5