Possibly You Shouldn’t Watch This

The Austrian film Michael is chillingly effective and profoundly disturbing. Only a few will care to view it.

The title character (played by Michael Fuith, who looks a bit like American actor Tony Hale) works at an insurance agency. Every day he drives home from work, goes down to his basement, and unlocks the door to a room where he is hiding a 10-year-old boy (David Rauchenberger).

Perhaps the viewer hopes for some plot twist that will provide an innocuous explanation for the situation.

This is not a twisty movie.

The things that happen are about what you would expect. The film does not wallow in explicit horror. It doesn’t need to. It’s a dispassionate, mostly discreet depiction of a dreadful circumstance. Quite well made.

Michael (reviews)
Directed and written by Markus Schleinzer
Language: German
Running time: 96 minutes
DVD release date: May 15, 2012

* * *

I cannot gainsay the praise some critics have heaped on Aurora, but I have to admit: I found the movie pretty dull. We’re in blah Bucharest, and a colorless man (played by Cristi Vuiu, the writer/director) spies on a woman dropping kids off at a bus stop and buys firing pins on the sly. He’s got something violent in mind, and if we’ve got three hours to spare, we can sit through the whole thing, from planning to violence to aftermath. It’s a meticulous show, like a Wiseman documentary of a revenge plot, and hooray for those who dug it. But on the day I streamed the movie, I was not in a mood to stay interested and work out all the motivations myself. This film requires an ambitious audience.

You won’t get cooties from watching That’s What I Am, but … it’s not great. It’s a too-earnest message film, a middle-school melodrama about a kid learning tolerance in 1965. Andy Nichol (Chase Ellison) is that kid, and, if you can believe it, some of his classmates ostracize homely girls and gawky boys. But the true crisis starts when some kids whisper that the English teacher, Mr. Simon (Ed Harris), is a “homo.” Harris is better than fine, but the movie seems intended to teach heavy-handed compassion lessons to middle Americans (particularly, open-minded Christians). As narrator, Greg Kinnear is given the flattest of prose to work with; one longs for the stylings of Jean Shepherd. Over the closing credits, we get where-are-they-now updates on the main characters. Spoilers: The good guys live charitable, prosperous lives, while the worst of the baddies goes to prison for being in a motorcycle gang, or some such. Meh.

Heroic

In Search of Beethoven gives us two hours plus in the presence of the great composer–a good thing in itself. It employs the usual documentary tools–voiceover (here by Juliet Stevenson); talking heads; slow pans over photos and paintings–and adds fragments of performances of his works. This is a presentation for general audiences; the filmmakers don’t get too precious with details. I would like to have heard the circumstances behind the paintings of Beethoven shown in the film, and I’m a bit scandalized that there’s no mention of Schiller’s authorship of the Ode to Joy used in the ninth symphony.

The experts are well-chosen; I particularly enjoyed the pianist’s viewpoint brought by Emanuel Ax. But the most remarkable visual may have been another expert’s examination of the autograph score for Beethoven’s third symphony, known as the Eroica (or Heroic). Beethoven had intended to dedicate the symphony to Napoleon; but when Bonaparte crowned himself Emperor, Beethoven violently scratched out Napoleon’s name on the first page. The speaker held up the page, showing where the erasure had torn through the paper. I’m amazed that the score was made available to be handled in front of the camera. Or did we see a replica?

For a deeper look at, say, Beethoven’s music, try and find a copy of the third of Leonard Bernstein’s Norton Lectures. But for a feature-length bio of Beethoven, this film will suffice.

In Search of Beethoven (reviews) (official site)
Directed and written by Phil Grabsky
Running time: 139 minutes
DVD release date: April 27, 2010

Caplan, Brie, Starr, Webber, and a Few Others

As Save the Date begins, Sarah (Lizzy Caplan), an assistant librarian and cartoonist, is moving in with her boyfriend Kevin (Geoffrey Arend), a musician in a band called Wolfbird. Assisting Sarah with the move is her sister Beth (Alison Brie). Beth is also sending out “save the date” announcements well in advance of her planned wedding to Andrew (Martin Starr), another member of Wolfbird. When things go awry between Sarah and Kevin, she discovers she has another suitor, Jonathan (Mark Webber), a marine biologist, waiting shyly in the wings.

This is a gentle comedy, eschewing wackiness and for the most part avoiding gross-out humor. The story elements are familiar, even bland. The enjoyment is spending an hour and a half basking in the presence of some of one’s favorite players, performing perfectly acceptable scenes in a film that won’t embarrass anyone involved.

Save the Date (reviews)
Directed by Michael Mohan
Written by Jeffrey Brown, Michael Mohan, and Egan Reich
Running time: 96 minutes
DVD release date: April 16, 2013

Lowest Comic Denominator

The Comedy opens with a party scene featuring some unpretty nudity, followed by some deliberately off-putting scatological talk in a hospital room. This is how the lead character, Swanson (Tim Heidecker), presents himself to the world. If your entire manner says, “I am a douche bag,” how can anyone’s disapproval hurt you?

Swanson lives on a boat in Brooklyn harbor, burdened with the knowledge that his family’s wealth will always be there to prop him up. His self-worth suffers because he has no way to prove himself. And so he lives as a man-child, often hanging out with a set of equally douchey friends.

Eventually he takes a job as a restaurant dishwasher. He bonds with a waitress–she turns his insulting talk back on him, making it a sort of tribal (or generational) signifier. Heidecker is great here, showing his misery and neediness through a hangdog expression, and in one scene he becomes genuinely charming when he presents his degradation as a Three Stooges bit.

This is mumblecorish, so don’t expect a hero’s journey; it’s more like a snapshot of a shlub.

The Comedy (reviews)
Directed by Rick Alverson
Written by Rick Alverson, Robert Donne, and Colm O’Leary
Running time: 94 minutes
DVD release date: March 26, 2013

* * *

Bullhead is a Belgian take on Beauty and the Beast. We first see the title character, Jacky (Matthias Schoenaerts), loom over a cattle rancher, threatening dire consequences if the rancher doesn’t sell his stock in the manner ordered. Jacky doesn’t have a large ring through his nose, nor does he paw the ground before charging; but in most other respects, he is a bull: torso muscular, head thrust forward, eyes either vacant or aggressive.

Jacky belongs to a gang of Flemish thugs who sell illegal growth hormones to cattlemen. He isn’t the worst of the lot, but he has no problem instinctively pounding a man into jelly. A flashback shows us the childhood catastrophe that set Jacky on his bestial path.

The Beauty of the tale is a girl who figures in that flashback. As an adult, she lives in an apartment building that resembles a castle turret. (Sic.)

The filmmakers have tasked themselves with making their Beast into a sympathetic character, but I can’t say they have succeeded. More interesting are a pair of chop-shop Walloons, thrown in for comic relief. We also get a couple of police detectives, and an informant with divided loyalties, who add a tiny bit of life. The movie itself is lovely to look at, but with no hero worth cheering I found myself watching it more or less dead-eyed, like a … like a….

The critics raved about the Swedish crime thriller Easy Money, but, regrettably, I was not drawn in. Johan, a finance student living beyond his means, is lured into an alliance with Chilean and Arabic drug dealers, who promise a big payday for his help with a drug heist. A Serbian gang wants the action for themselves. Johan is clearly in over his head.

The film has a frenzied, fractured look that should hop up the excitement for those into the story; for the rest of us, the style is an annoyance. Joel Kinnaman plays Johan. Perhaps I could try to develop an affection for Kinnaman by watching a season or two of The Killing, in which he stars, and then rewatch this movie to see if I like it better.

I feel a bit churlish classifying John Dies at the End as “not recommended.” The movie resembles a combination of Naked Lunch, the Evil Dead series, Buckaroo Banzai, and maybe even Save the Green Planet!, plus a bit of the TV series Supernatural. There’s some fun to be had here–I can imagine repeatedly turning to my seatmate in the theater and happily saying, “This is crazy! This is just nuts!” But after a while the lunacy wears, and the plot holes (presumably inserted deliberately) lose their charm. Any of the aforementioned films would be a better choice.

Raising Amy

After her husband unexpectedly asks for a divorce, Amy Minsky (Melanie Lynskey) moves in with her parents, who occupy a stylish home in suburban Connecticut. Amy mopes around in an old T-shirt, watching Marx brothers movies on TV; her mother Ruth (Blythe Danner) is more than ready for her darling to leave the nest (again). Ruth is looking forward to the retirement of her husband Stan (John Rubinstein). Stan, an attorney, can afford to retire only if some neighbors (Julie White and Damian Young) will steer some business his way. At a dinner with the neighbors, Amy meets their 19-year-old son Jeremy (Christopher Abbott), an aspiring actor. Later, Amy is asked to show Jeremy around town. Jeremy shows an interest in Amy, and things get complicated.

Hello I Must Be Going, named after a song Groucho sings in Animal Crackers, is a comedy/drama about a young adult’s struggle to grow up. In this case, the adult-child layabout is female, and Lynskey puts her in the Drew Barrymore–Lena Dunham neighborhood. The film is populated with people who don’t quite connect with one another–a mother who misreads her son, a wife who misunderstands her husband, a husband who checks his text messages while talking to his wife. Perhaps not the best environment for a grownup to grow up. The film’s ending is not quite credible, but Amy’s journey is mostly worth watching.

Hello I Must Be Going (reviews)
Directed by Todd Louiso
Written by Sarah Koskoff
Running time: 95 minutes
DVD release date: January 29, 2013

* * *

In The Freebie, Annie (Katie Aselton, who also wrote and directed) and Darren (Dax Shepard) are a contented couple who have lost the zing in their sex life. They decide to spice things up by setting aside one night for each of them to hook up with a stranger. Annie’s sister warns that things will not go well. Things do not go well.

The film is sometimes engaging, but there are problems. The couple’s smug assertion that their relationship is built on honesty is a bit too on-the-nose–a metaphorical first-act gun mounted on velvet, displayed in a glass case. And perhaps because the story is so simple, the narrative employs some time fracturing: We keep flashing back to the nighttime discussion where Annie and Darren decided to give the hookup idea a try. The trouble is, this discussion isn’t very interesting.

Seattle Skyrocket

I confess: Pearl Jam Twenty was more like Pearl Jam 101 for me. I haven’t followed grunge rock (a name the band members don’t care for, apparently), and what I heard in this film doesn’t inspire me to do so. But Cameron Crowe’s documentary is a perfectly fine account of the band’s history, as told by the musicians themselves. We get interviews and archival clips, with bits of many of their songs, but only one or two complete performances.

Pearl Jam was an immediate success. The band had to cope with feelings of unearned fame; it’s remarkable that the group has held together after spending nearly its entire history in the spotlight. A couple of things certainly helped. Two band members had previously belonged to a band, Mother Love Bone, that lost its lead to a heroin overdose; that must have been a brutal lesson. And later, the counsel of veteran rocker Neil Young helped the band keep its focus. All of this is covered in the movie, along with a tragic concert in Denmark and the band’s quixotic battle against Ticketmaster. (While watching a clip of the anti-trust Congressional hearing, I wondered if there has ever been a corporation so loathsome that no Congressman will carry its water.)

Pearl Jam Twenty (reviews)
Directed and written by Cameron Crowe
Running time: 120 minutes
DVD release date: October 25, 2011

Wildlife Control, Norse Legend Division

Trollhunter is a nice little entertainment with just the right amount of ambition. Hans (Otto Jespersen) has the job of tracking down trolls in Norway that wander outside their reserved area. He is joined by a group of college students at a time when there is an unusual amount of troll activity. (The movie is in the “found footage” genre, with the college students as the filmmakers.)

Two circumstances, one a creative decision and one a budgetary reality, help the film. The creative choice is how the trolls are depicted. An overambitious filmmaker might portray the trolls as clever and diabolical, intent on killing as many people as gruesomely as possible. This might jack up the scare factor, but it would also make this a more generic monster flick. Instead, writer/director André Øvredal stays close to Norwegian folklore, keeping the trolls dangerous but relatively stupid. This adherence to “truth” helps the movie stand out. On the budgetary side, one can imagine producers with deep pockets aiming for jaw-dropping special effects. Instead, the effects are just good enough for viewers who are willing to play along–and that willingness is earned by some nicely drawn characters, particularly the troll hunter himself. A fancier production would have suffered from the special effects becoming the story.

The dry humor in this film is similar to that of the Finnish film, Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale, though slightly more subdued. The tension level throughout is adequate, but this is not a film to scare you out of your wits. It wants to entertain you and and maybe touch you a bit emotionally. In my book, it succeeds.

Trollhunter (reviews) (official site)
Directed and written by André Øvredal
Language: Norwegian
Running time: 103 minutes
DVD release date: August 23, 2011