STORIES WE TELL

Canadian actress turned filmmaker Sarah Polley turns the camera on her own family and friends for this fascinating documentary which could have also been titled  'All About My Mother'.  To tell her story Polley has enlisted her interview subjects that she calls 'The Storytellers' to help piece together the life of her mother Diane Polley who died in 1990 when Sarah was just 12 years old.

Diane Polley from all accounts was a vivacious woman who was determined to live life to the fullest. She was a TV announcer/actress who fell in love with Michael Polley the actor when she saw him performing on the stage.  It turns out that she was more in love with the character he was playing than the man himself as Michael and Diane were complete opposites.  The only two things that they both loved was acting and their children.  From all accounts, Diane felt held back and frustrated by the quiet and introverted man she has chosen for her husband, and jumped at the few opportunities she could get   to have some fun.  This was Diane's second marriage, her first ending in an acrimonious divorce and losing custody of her two sons.

As Polley interviews her siblings and some of her parent's friends, there are two very strong narratives that feature very consistently. One is the fact that everybody has their own take on Diane's life : there is no right or wrong version, but just simply that different people choose to remember essentially the same story in their own way.  'Truth about the past is essentially ephemeral' Polley comments. The second point was the discovery that several interviewees had the notion that Diane had a brief affair whilst on tour and as a result gave birth to Sarah!  Learning that she may in fact have a totally different father after all these years added an intrigue which naturally she was determined to uncover. 

What we learn mainly from all these interviews is that Diana spent her whole life looking for love, whilst Michael, a somewhat frustrated writer too, was more of an observer and it's his words that provide most of the narration that links the stories together.  The interesting thing is that the final revelation about Sarah's parentage actually bought her and Michael closer together in the end.

What wasn't clear until almost the story was concluded is that some of the 'archive' footage of the family was in fact newly reconstructed using actors playing the young family, a very effective devise that blurred the lines between documentary and fiction.  We may all have stories of our own like this to tell, but I doubt that we could present them in such a fascinating manner that we would remain so completely intrigued until the very end as with this movie.  

This is the third film that Miss Polley has directed ..... the first being the stunning 'Away from Her' with Julie Christie playing a women with Alzheimer's that got the director an Oscar Nomination.  She is definitely a filmmaker whose output should be on the 'must see' list! 

★★★★★★★★

THREE WORLDS

Al is about to win the Lottery. Or the equivalent of it.  In 10 days time he will be promoted to General Manager of car dealership in a Parisian suburb where he started out as a lowly mechanic years ago,  and he will be given a 25% stake in the business, and he gets to marry the Boss's daughter too.  Things are going swimmingly for him until the early hours of one morning when he is driving home rather too fast after a night of celebrating and he runs over a pedestrian who gets hit badly. His friends persuade him to jump back in the car quickly and drive off before they are caught, but unbeknown to them the whole accident has been witnessed.

Juliette has seen it all from her apartment balcony and its she who calls for the ambulance and police.  She is still in shock when questioned but anyway wasn't close enough to get too much detail of the car and driver to help the Police a great deal.  She does however persuade her boyfriend to take her to the hospital next day to visit the victim in intensive care and discovers that he is an illegal immigrant with false papers. As the Authorities seem to care little about establishing the man's true identity, Juliette decides to do this herself and manages to track down Vera his Moldavian wife who also has no legal status in France.

A distraught Vera is quick to seize on Juliette as a friend and a support, and on one of the occasions they are are visiting the hospital together, Juliette is convinced that the young man seen leaving the ICU could in fact be the hit and run driver.  Her assumptions are correct as since the incident Al has been racked with guilt and is desperate to discover the condition of the victim.

The drama gets worse when the poor man dies and leaves his widow with a large unpaid hospital and an unsolved crime.  Vera takes it upon herself to recruit her brothers in law to hunt the driver down to get some revenge and extract some blood money too to pay her mounting debts.

Meanwhile Juliette has kept it quiet that not only has she located Al, but she has confronted him with the realities of the situation. Somewhere along the line this do-gooder of a student falls for Al who by now is so beset on making good that he is exploiting ways of robbing his wealthy future father-in-law to repay Vera and has even lost all desire to even get married now in a few days time.  He seeks solace in Juliette and in a moment of weakness, she succumbs.

From here it all spirals out of control and Al gets found out by everybody, and the only time his luck holds out is when the brothers-in-law get disturbed when they are about to pummel him to death.

It's a strange melodramatic story that at times seems to get lost in too much detail, although very wisely at the end it redeems itself totally when things are left untied and we are left wondering.  It's a very classy thriller which, as indicated by th title, crosses over  three different worlds: Al's blue-collar roots, Juliette's middle-class well-meaning bourgeois, and Vera's undocumented underbelly of society. Directed and co-written by filmmaker Catherine Corsini, but it is not nearly in the same class as her 2009 superb movie 'Leaving' starring Kristin Scott Thomas.  There are strong performances from Raphaël Personnaz as the frenetic Al whose world is coming apart, and from Clotilde Hesme as Juliette  who tried to please everyone and in doing so pleased no-one.

P.S. Even though Al ended up winning nothing, he was still left with that stunning face of his. Shallow? I know!   But I defy anyone not to go weak at the knees at the sight of him in the final frame. 


★★★★★★★

Available from Film Movement NOW

WHAT MAISIE KNEW

For a 6 year old child Maisie knows a lot, primarily because the two main adults in her life act like pretentious spoilt brats right in front of her all the time. She lives with her parents in a fancy duplex apartment in Manhattan where there is much screaming and slamming of doors until one day it gets too much even for them and when her father is out, her mother has the locks changed. Now separated, a battle royal begins over Maisie.  It's not that her father and mother don't love her in their own warped ways but they are both so completely self-absorbed that most of the time they conveniently forget she exists.  Now they are prepared to fight for the custody of Maisie purely to spite each other.

Mother Susanna is a rock star and so the apartment is now full of musicians and hangers on who just love to party through the night even when wee Maisie is trying to sleep.  Father Beale is a Brit Art Dealer who has his ear permanently attached to his cell-phone into which he is constantly screaming his orders.  After a vicious battle in Court they win Joint Custody and each of them starts to overload Maisie with gifts and toys, yet when it is their turn to have her stay, they all but ignore her.

Dad has lured away young innocent Margo the Nanny who is the only stable influence in Maisie's life and although he ends up marrying her she receives the same scant attention as the child.  Not to be outdone, Suzanna marries Lincoln an easy-going barmen and makes no pretence of the fact she has done it so Maisie has a live-in child-minder.  Yet when Suzanna dumps the child on Lincoln one day he actually is surprised to find that he really likes her and they form a tight bond, which in turn makes Suzanna mad with jealously.

Lincoln and Margo are soon estranged from their new spouses who hardly seem to notice their absence, and they find more than solace in each other and together are able to provide Maisie a real family environment for the very first time.

This movie adapted a Henry James novel to which I will readily admit I have never read so will not join the whole clamouring conversation about unfortunate comparisons.  This tale is about the abuse that two mean and destructive people inflicted on their child just to satisfy their own narcissistic needs.  What made the telling so powerful was the wide eyed looks of the remarkable Onata Aprile playing Maisie, who with very few words gave this distinct impression that she was taking every act of their childish behaviour in .... even though that I know that in reality it a ridiculous assumption to make of a 6 year old.

Julianne Moore was perfect as the epitome of mean-spiritedness as Suzanna and she was always wonderfully bedecked in her trashy rock star clothes that were too tight, too short and too shiny.  Steve Cooghan played Beale the father just like he plays every other part he has had; Joanna Vanderham had the less glamorous roll of being the slightly too perfect Nanny, but at least she got to make out with the handsome lanky Alexander Skarsgård who played Lincoln.


It's a rather devastating story that had me invested in the outcome from the word go, and whilst I thought it would annoy me from either a moral standpoint, or the fact that the parents were such hideous people, I will readily admit that I thoroughly enjoyed the movie.  And no, it wasn't because I was envious of Suzanna's skanky wardrobe!

★★★★★★★★

EAST SIDE STORY

Diego is 30 years old, and although a Culinary School graduate, is stuck working as a waiter for his Grandmother's family style Mexican restaurant 'Tio Pepe' in East Los Angelas. The restaurant, like the neighborhood, has seen better days but all that is about to change as white gay men (gringos) are about to invade the area. These fearless pioneers are forsaking all the comforts of West Hollywood knowing that they will get more house for their dollars even if it means there is no gym, no Starbucks or no A.A. meeting in the area yet.

Whilst the bigoted local inhabitants are none to happy with this new development closeted gay Diego who has been wanting to move to Phoenix for years soon warms to having Wesley and Jonathan as his new neighbors .... well Wesley in particular who is realising now he is 'sober' that maybe  hooking up with a boyfriend at The White Party was not the smartest move since he has turned out to be a real pain.

Diego had been getting his 'action' via fantasy role-playing with local Real Estate Broker Pablo who wants to stop their clandestine rendezvous's as he wants to get married.  To a woman.  He's a Latino and its expected after all, even if you are gay.  For his 'intended' Pablo chooses Diego's flighty Aunt  Bianca who has just returned back to the family home after blowing yet more of her mother's money on trying to live the high life in Europe.

In this very affectionate romantic comedy that seems to have more than it's fair share of cliched stereotypes, there are no surprises at all to the somewhat predictable outcomes: cute and handsome Diego gets his man, tired Grandma gets to retire, pretentious Auntie gets to wake up and smell the roses, and the area gets a fab Nouvelle Cuisine Restaurant. (And a Starbucks ....thank God!).   Despite this ..... or maybe because of it .... its a throughly entertaining joyous wee romp with more than its fair share of laughs and bare-chested hot looking men. Enough to make one thing of moving into the 'hood even.

P.S. It does have some great one liners such as 'a four way is NOT an orgy'!   But we knew that didn't we?

★★★★★★★

THE SEX OF THE ANGELS

Bruno is a struggling student who gets mugged in a Barcelona street when he is watching a breakdance performance, and Rai one of the dancers comes to his rescue. There is an immediate bond between these two men who also happen to be very hot.  (I know that's very shallow, but it's that kind of movie). Rai puts the moves on Bruno who backs away in a panic as he has a girlfriend Carla whom he loves very much (she's also very hot).

Bruno is straight and Martial Arts Teacher Rai is maybe gay or just perpetually horny or both, and very quickly their new friendship gets physical. Well, sexual actually.  They get caught in flagrante delicto by Carla who naturally has a hissy fit.  Bruno moves out of the apartment they share and goes to live with Rai in the country.  That new arrangement lasts about a week when they both realize that he misses Carla too much for this to work.

Carla meanwhile is so distraught that she can hardly function on a day to day basis, much to the chagrin of her colleagues on the small struggling magazine where she works, and which is in danger of folding.  Its never clear if their real sympathies are with her, or the very fact that most of them also fancy Rai.  (Did I mention that he is hot?)

Rai persuades Carla to take Bruno back on the understanding that he can still see him on the side too.  She agrees to this because she thinks a part time Bruno is better than no Bruno, but she soon discovers she is way too jealous of Rai's relationship with him for this new arrangement to ever work.  She befriends her 'rival' and ends up falling for him physically and he does for her too (I did mention he is hot, didn't I?).  And before you can say W.T.F., now Carla leaves Bruno and runs off to the country with Rai.

I really wanted to like this new take on a menage a trois but the problem is that all three of the protagonists are barely skin deep. Albeit very pretty skin.  They are such lightweights that it's hard to really empathize with them at all, especially self-centered Rai who needs to fulfill his very active sex drive at any cost.  I will credit director Xavier Villaverde for the fact that unlike most movies that feature bi-sexuality, he doesn't flinch away from the man-on-man action which was both intimate and convincingly real.

If you like your romantic melodramas to have a happy ending then you will be OK with this one, except I am still convinced that once the credits stopped rolling, that Claudia would have start whining again as she just couldn't help herself.

P.S. I still cannot fathom out why they chose this title.  They were hot (did I mention that?) but hardly angelic.

★★★★★

THE LAW IN THESE PARTS

I am convinced that I will never ever be able to get a total grip on the complex realities of the continuing tribulations with Israel and the Occupying territories as much as I try.   And try I do ... and typically with me my chosen method is through the medium of film, and so  seized at the opportunity of watching Israeli filmmaker Ra’anan Alexandrowicz's award-winning incisive investigation into the legal system that is the Law in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

He interviews only the high-ranking military lawyers and judges who not helped to create and refine the laws, but then they were the ones who enforced them onto a reluctant civilian population. As the Occupying Forces they were very quick to point out that they have stuck rigidly to both the Geneva and the Hague International Conventions on War to create  the new Laws.  However when Palestinian residents, whose land had been forcibly taken, then took their cases to the Israeli Supreme Court and won, the Military Authorities simply ignored the rulings one way or another.

Some decades into the conflict and the Israelis had supplanted some half a million Jewish settlers permanently in the Occupied Territories, and Palestinian residents were still being arrested tortured and prosecuted, although rarely found guilty of any felonies. It was obvious by then that there were two distinctly different sets of the Rule of Law for the two different peoples living side by side, but each is administered by the same Authorities.

The argument that Alexandrowicz makes, and proves beyond a shadow of a doubt, is very forceful and is simply that Justice and the Occupation are totally incompatible.

The film is totally riveting and dramatically staged with each of the interviewees sat at a desk on stage in front a giant green screen where footage of whatever incident/case they are discussing is played in the background.  Off screen Alexandrowicz is a courteous questioner as he takes each of his subjects through the cases they dealt with.  What is equally striking is the honesty of these now elderly men, and even though they may not give the answers one would have wished to hear, they are given with sincerity and candour (albeit the latter maybe a tad restrained at times).

Am I any closer to any understanding?  I would say a little, as the movie documented it all factual and without emotion.  And his message at the end was a very persuasive argument, in that when the Law is used to prop up power, and not constrain it as it is meant too, then it really loses its meaning.

★★★★★★★★

FRANCES HA

Frances Ha is a mess.  The rather charming thing is that she is the only one who doesn't see that. She's a 27 year awkward and gangly young woman living in New York whose headset has never moved on from being a college student.  She sails through her disparate life without a steady job, or an apartment or a boyfriend.  She is inseparable from her best friend Sophie and the two do simply everything together so much so that Frances claims that they are 'just like an old lesbian couple who never have sex' , except of course they are both straight.

Frances has never progressed from being an apprentice at the Modern Dance Group that she belongs too, but she never gives up hope that she will succeed even when the Principal gently fires her. In fact as everyone around her moves on with their lives and their loves, Frances's world seems to shrink, even though her energy and enthusiasm never does.

With such a totally captivating performance by Greta Gerwig (who co-wrote the script with her director/boyfriend Noah Baumbach), its so hard not to really like Frances, no matter how annoying she appears at times. She convincingly persuades us that her naivety is very real, and even a reluctant sceptic like me comes to accept that her disorganized childlike approach to everything is more than acceptable, and is actually quite delightful.

Even when the chips against her are stacked very high, Frances won't sell out, and rather than accept a consolation clerical job at the Dance Company, she takes herself off to Vassar, her Alma mater, to work as an Assistant at Summer School even though all her colleagues are teenagers.  And there she bumps into a very unhappy and drunk Sophie visiting from Japan, and the two confront each other and fess up to being disappointed with how their lives have turned out without each other.

Without risking a spoiler, I will say that there is a sweet and happy ending. And less I have imbued my description with too much angst, I should say Frances's free spirit madcap dancing her way through the streets of Manhattan makes it a very joyous and warm piece.

Shot in black & white which for some inexplicable reason seems oddly appropriate, this is very definitely Noah Baumbach finally back on the form  he had when he made 'The Squid and Whale'.  I never ever thought I would want to sit through another thing he directed after I so completely loathed with a real passion both of his last two movies, 'Margot At The Wedding' and 'Greenberg'.  But credit where it is due, this one was a real treat and so long may he date/work with Miss Gerwig.

★★★★★★★★

GIRL WALKS INTO A BAR

There is actually more than one girl in this group of apparent strangers who walk into 10 different Bars over the course of one night in Los Angeles.  In each bar there is a different story that sometimes has a tenuous link to the others in this engaging and somewhat fascinating movie.

The pace starts off very fast with a rapid firing conversation in the first bar between girl number 1 and a man.  Turns out that he is a nervous dentist who's contracting her, an overly confident ex police detective turned paid killer, to 'take out' his cheating wife.  The scene reels you mainly thanks to the two mesmerizing performances from Carla Guino and Zachary Quinto, and the momentum is kept up when Quinto's character leaves, and the Detective/Killer allows herself to be distracted by cute looking Hustler (Kevin Zegers) who pickpockets her purse.

There is a connecting thread throughout all the separate scenes which reveal more about this three characters and other people who seem to inhabit Bars that they are linked too in a rather uneven plot that drags a little too often.  The upside is the acting which is never less than excellent due to the fact that its from a whole string wonderful talent in cameo roles such as Rosario Dawson, Danny Devito, Josh Harnett, Amber Valletta etc.

What's equally intriguing is the whole back story to this whole movie which was made on a microscopic budget and released on Youtube the same day it was premiered at SXSW Film Festival.  This is not the first time that Argentinean writer/director Sebastian Gutierrez has made an impressive ensemble comedy for peanuts, and his 'Women In Trouble' in 2009 also starred Carlo Guino, who also happens to be Mrs Guteirrez.  Despite its lack of funds, this is hardly a hand-held camera mumblecore art film, but a remarkable movie with impressive production values.

If you don't want to watch it on Youtube, then you can find it on Netflix Streaming or Amazon VOD.

★★★★★★★

GOOD AS YOU

It's New Year Eve in Rome, and Adelchi is fussing around his apartment making sure everything is just perfect as he has a hot date. He's been chatting online with Claudio for some time now  ..... or has he? Turns out that his intended is rather an introvert so his room-mate sister has been pretending to him, and she only confesses all to her brother that very night before sending off to meet the man who is already besotted with (the idea of) him.

Adelchi lives with his neurotic sister Sylvia so rather leave her alone on such a night, he asks her to stay for dinner and also asks Claudio to bring his sister too. Francesca is a lesbian so she in turn invites her latest squeeze Marina, and her butch lesbian room-mate Mara.  If that is not confusing enough .... and not quite the first date I would have wanted .... Adelchi also invites his best friend campy Marco and his muscled Argentinean Rent Boy boyfriend Nico.

Maybe I should have started this review by telling you this hyper frenetic and rather confusing comedy is a farce!  And a very Italian one too boot where I would like to generously believe that the funny bits simply got lost in translation.

This is a gay comedy that has every single stereotype we have ever known .... and each one of them seems louder and larger than life. As the story follows these couples over the next year there are lots of major histrionics and very silly plot lines that may make you smile sometimes, but will mainly just drive you to distraction.

Hailed in Italy as the first totally gay comedy and it  gained what I think is a really fabulous review from the extreme Catholic group 'Milita Christ' who said it was 'a squalid apology of anti-natural and harmful behaviour'.   They should so put that on the poster as it would fill any theater.

It's a very camp piece of escapism that is about a very unrealistic group of gay people who I frankly didnt think existed anymore.  But maybe they do.  In Italy.


★★★★

THE EAST

Does the end ever justify the means? If agitprop is acceptable, where do we draw the fine line when it melds into environmental terrorism?  This gripping new thriller which pitches us all against the inequities of large industrial conglomerates who are poisoning and polluting both us and our planet raises these questions, although the network of militants who call themselves 'The East' seldom have any doubts.  

They are a  tough bunch of rather angry anarchists hidden away in an abandoned house somewhere in a wilderness in deepest Kentucky where they plan their attacks/revenge in what are called 'jams'. The East have been so successful in wrecking havoc and causing serious damage that Jane, en ex FBI Agent, is recruited by a somewhat scary Private Security Firm to infiltrate the group to eventually be able to stop them.

Each member of the small group have come from privileged backgrounds and they all seem to have some painful personal reason for their involvement here. Also all of them are equally sceptical of newcomer Sarah (Jane's cover name) and so they test her loyalty by throwing her head first into one of their most dangerous 'jams' to date without giving her any notice. This one involves lacing the cocktails at a party of CEO of a pharmaceutical company with some of the dangerous anti-biotics he has been peddling.

Jane, whose romantic life at home is bland to say the least, falls for Benji the enigmatic leader of the group as he is both hot and dangerous, although he  had repulsed her when she first arrived at their dirty headquarters. When she switches sides, somehow with her clean cut striking blond bombshell look there is an inference that maybe The East are OK after all.

As a movie: its a taut, tense and very tight thriller, well written & directed, and peppered with some really excellent acting.  Brit Marling who played Jane/Sarah also co-wrote the piece with director Zal Batmanglij.  The gang members are Alexander Skarsgaard, Ellen Page & Toby Kebbell.  And the impeccable Patricia Clarkson was a steely cold-fish Boss of the Security Agency.

As a piece of propaganda it didn't delve far past the basic generalisation that all Big Corporations are evil, and for the sake of more profit for their fat-cat rich owners will destroy our planet if we do not do something about it soon.  And as scary as this piece was (it seemed like science fiction at times), it will certainly not make anyone change habits/lifestyle once the afterglow of the movie wears off.

★★★★★★★