Room

4 out of 4 Stars

Lenny Abrahamson's new film, Room, is a harrowing, intense, and stunning tale of survival. Brie Larson plays Joy, a woman who lives in a confined space with her 5 year old son, Jack (Jacob Tremblay). After spending over seven years in the confined space, known only as "Room", Jack helps his mother escape. Throughout the film, we see and hear Jack narrate his interpretation of the world in the room. It isn't until he escapes that he experiences the real world with new eyes and sees the toll it takes on Joy when she reunites with her parents (Joan Allen and William H. Macy). 

 Jacob Tremblay is incredible as Jack; he gives a naturalistic and moving performance that cuts deep into this tale of sorrow and hope. Brie Larson gives a career defining performance as Joy. Like Jack, she is a survivor who treads between vulnerability and perseverance when confronting her past. Joan Allen gives one of her best performances in years as Joy's mother as she tries to heal the wounds she and her daughter have endured since her disappearance. 

Abrahamson, who directed last year's quirky and moving Frank goes deeper into the psyche of isolated people and how they try to adapt to a new world. His collaboration with cinematographer, Danny Cohen, is ingenious as the camera exemplifies the state of confinement Jack and Joy endure similar to Catherine Deneuve's experiences in Polanski's Repulsion. As Jack's perspective of the outside world grows, the camera captures more of an expansive view of the world. 

Room is difficult to watch without breaking out a few tissues. Not since Beasts of the Southern Wild has there been a film that has captured a child's perspective of the harshness and beauty of the world. This is, by far, one if the most endearing films of the year. 

Junun

3 1/2 out of 4 Stars

Junun, the new documentary by Paul Thomas Anderson, is a visual and aural treat for music lovers and film lovers alike. In February of this past year, Anderson went to Rajasthan to film the recording sessions for Jonny Greenwood's new album with Israeli composer, Shye Ben Tzur, and several Indian musicians. Anderson, only armed with a digital camera he managed to get through airport customs, captures the creative and radiant energy of the musicians as they record despite constant electricity problems. During their brief reprieves from recording, the musicians meditate and go into town to tune their instruments while Anderson follows them with his camera.

Although the film is fifty-three minutes long, Anderson brilliantly captures every second of the beauty of Rajasthan and the music with unbridled curiosity. Greenwood, the wunderkind guitarist for Radiohead and composer for Anderson's films, pensively plays with his guitar while Ben Tzur sways and sings getting lost in the music as the audience gets lost in the film.  This is Anderson's first documentary and film shot entirely in digital format and he plays with the digital camera and tests the limits of how far he can capture the ethereal aura of Rajasthan whether it be filming a circle of musicians in a 360 degree shot or strapping the camera to a drone and flying it around. Along with the dizzying and stunning cinematography, the film celebrates the union of different musical genres with the same vibrant energy as Wim Wenders did with The Buena Vista Social Club. All and all, Junun is a joyous spectacle of sound and vision.

Sicario

4 out of 4 Stars


Sicario, the new film by Denis Velleneuve, is a jaw dropping, knuckle-whitening experience. Emily Blunt plays an ambitious, chain-smoking FBI agent assigned to work with the DEA in bringing down drug cartels along the US/Mexico border. As soon as she sees the unorthodox methods used by a swaggering cowboy of a DEA agent (Josh Brolin) and a soft-spoken, yet intense protege (Benicio Del Toro), her outlook on going by the book falls along the wayside. Meanwhile, the film goes back and forth to the daily routine of a hard-drinking local police officer in Mexico going about his private duties leading to a surprising third act in the film.

Not since Traffic has such a film showed the drug trade in an unflinching and suspenseful manner. At times, the film goes into sensory override as you feel and empathize with the anxiety and pressure Blunt's character faces throughout the film. Velleneuve, who gained strong praise with his 2013 film, Prisoners, ups the ante by keeping you on the edge of your seat thanks to Talyor Sheridan's sharp screenplay and Roger Deakins award-deserving cinematography by showing the gore and fury of a world filled with corruption similar to his work with the Coen brothers, be it through close-circuit television sets or night-vision goggles.

Benicio Del Toro gives one of his most darkest and strongest performances in years as Alejandro. His world-weary presence and soft-spoken demeanor is underestimated by a compulsive drive similar to De Niro's Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver. Emily Blunt is great as she successfully walks the tightrope between being a no B.S. FBI agent and a lonely woman whose only merits she holds dear are loyalty and integrity. Josh Brolin brings out a wild and beautifully crass performance as a DEA agent who thrives on chaos like a stilted flower relying on rain to survive.

Velleneuve's harrowing vision on the war on drugs is complimented by Johann Johannsson's ominous score as you go into this two-hour abyss of action and suspense. Sicario is nothing short of riveting and raw that it stands head and shoulders over previous films that have dealt with geopolitical themes like Zero Dark Thirty. The film is not preachy as previous drug-war films as Velleneuve objectively looks at the thin blue line between honor and corruption.

Black Mass

3 out of 4 Stars

Black Mass is a straightforward and faithful adaptation of Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neil's book on the infamous Boston gangster, James "Whitey" Bulger and his partnership with FBI agent, John Connelly. From 1976 to 1994, Bulger and his Winter Hill gang ruled the streets of South Boston with violent intimidation and Irish charm. As Connelly, a childhood chum of Bulger's, takes the credit for taking down the Italian Mafia, Whitey's criminal enterprise grows along with his psychotic tendencies. As the body count grows, so does the suspicion over how deep Bulger has the FBI in his back pocket.

Scott Cooper does a solid job in diverting from the tropes of the Scorsese-styled gangster flick by presenting Boston's criminal underworld with a composed and chilling style similar to Yates' The Friends of Eddie Coyle.  However, the film does veer off into domestic, eye-rolling melodrama reminiscent of Donnie Brasco. Fortunately, the melodrama is overshadowed by the documentary-styled narrative penned by Mark Mallouk and Jez Butterworth along with the crisp and steady cinematography of Masanobu Takayanagi.

Johnny Depp gives a good and non-glamorous performance as Whitey Bulger. Apart from a stake dinner scene reminiscent of Jack Nicholson's flamboyant gangster in The Departed, Depp shies away from a Gonzo-esque performance as he invokes fear with his piercing blue eyes and rough exterior. Australian actor Joel Edgerton swaggers onto the screen as John Connelly with a mix of bravado and paranoia as the FBI agent who made a deal with the devilish Bulger. Benedict Cumberbatch is excellent as Whiteys brother and state senator who tries to look the other way when his brother is in the newspapers. Rounding up the cast are some memorable performances by Jesse Plemons, Peter Sarsgaard, and Rory Cochrane as Whitey's crew.

For publicity leading up to the film, Warner Bros. made Black Mass look like a cross between Heat and The Town, yet the film is calm and reserved to some extent.  Even though there's nothing that really jumps off the screen, the film is a solid piece that combines journalistic inquiry into Boston 's criminal underground.

The Diary of a Teenage Girl

3 out of 4 Stars

It's San Francisco, 1976. As the city shifts from the pot-fueled hippie idealism of the late-Sixties to the coke-snorting excess and sexual promiscuity of the disco era, 15 year old Minnie Goetz enters womanhood as if it were a baptism by fire. Based on Phoebe Gloeckner's semi-autobiographical graphic novel, The Diary of a Teenage Girl follows Minnie (Bel Powley) going through a gauntlet of sex, drugs, and comic books as the aspiring young cartoonist loses her virginity to her mother's boyfriend, Monroe (Alexander Skarsgård)leading to  a tumultuous affair. Minnie's sexual awakening leads to an array of encounters with men and women causing her freewheeling, yet sedated, mother (Kristen Wiig) and estranged stepfather (Christopher Meloni) to suspect their daughter's sudden transformation.


The Diary of a Teenage Girl is a frank and daring film that looks at the celebration and chaos of a young woman's budding sexuality. Unlike previous films about teenagers indulging in their sexual and excessive appetites- such as the immature American Pie or the scared-straight realism of Thirteen- the film walks the fine line at acknowledging teenage angst and sexuality without becoming exploitative. The sexual activity on the screen may cause some controversy, but it is tame compared to Minnie's highly-detailed sexual exploits in the book. However, the film succeeds in showing the active sex life of a teenage girl as opposed to the majority of films featuring horny young men keen on losing their virginity.

Bel Powley, the 22 year old British actress, gives a remarkable performance as Minnie as she walks the fine line between sexual confidence and emotional vulnerability. Alexander Skarsgård gives a moderately good performance as the perverted and manipulative Monroe that rings similar tones to Peter Sarsgaard's performance as the domineering Chuck Trainor in Lovelace. Kristen Wigg adds another successful performance under her belt as a depressed and inebriated matriarch trying to find love and raise her two daughters at the same time. Despite being on screen for ten minutes, Christopher Meloni managed to use every minute to his advantage playing an academic who pines for her two daughters and a stable family life. 

Marielle Heller, who starred and produced an Off-Broadway version of The Diary of a Teenage Girl years ago, succeeds in making her directorial debut a faithful and audacious adaptation of Gloeckner's raw tale of relationships and growing up. She manages to capture the anything-goes attitude and drug-fueled turbulence of mid-1970s San Francisco by combining live action with Sara Gunnarsdottir's animated sequences. Even though the film could have gone an extra mile in delving deeper into the original text, The Diary of a Teenage Girl is a candid and moving film about the perils of adolescence and adulthood

4K Gold: The Third Man

In the seven years since I have worked on this blog, I’ve rarely talked about the films of the past since I’ve only talked about what’s currently in theaters. Last week, I went and saw a 4K restored version of Carol Reed’s 1948 classic film noir, The Third Man. It’s an extraordinary film that has not aged in terms of Graeme Greene’s brilliant screenplay, Robert Krasker’s cinematography, and Anton Karas’ beautiful, yet chilling, score on the Zephyr. I’ve seen the film five times and introduced it to my film students while I was working as a student-instructor in New Hampshire and it still manages to pack a punch 67 years later. 

For those of you not familiar with the film, Joseph Cotton plays Holly Martins, a down-on-his-luck pulp novelist who goes to Postwar Vienna to work at an unknown job for his childhood friend, Harry Lime. As soon as Holly gets into town, his estranged friend is fatally struck by a car. Trevor Howard plays Calloway, a British military police officer, who convinces Holly that Lime was a criminal and that he should be left as dead.  As Martin’s tries to find his friend’s assailant, the story unravels into deception and greed leading to a suspenseful conclusion within the sewers of Vienna. 

At the forefront of The Third Man is Orson Wells’ performance as the illusive Harry Lime. It has been argued that Wells played significant role in the production of the film and it’s hard not to refute that argument. Carol Reed must have had Citizen Kane on his mind when he decided to shoot The Third Man from tilted angles and from the floor up to the ceiling as Wells did with his director of photography, Gregg Toland. Also, like Wells’ Charles Foster Kane, Harry Lime is an opportunist who wants something more than wealth and companionship; power. 

The Third Man remains a canonical film within the film-noir genre. It’s hard to imagine films like Sunset Blvd. or Chinatown being made had it not been for The Third Man hovering over Billy Wilder and Robert Towne as a source of inspiration. Even Martin Scorsese’s Oscar-winning film, The Departed, pays homage to The Third Man and its chilling ending as Alida Valli walks past the camera before the credits roll. Currently, The Third Man is being shown in selected theaters in the United States and is soon to be released by Studio-Canal on DVD and Blu-Ray. Next to the cuckoo clock, The Third Man is one of the most celebrated works to come out of Vienna.                 

A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence

3 1/2 out of 4 Stars

One of the few comedies this summer that deals with mortality, Roy Andersson's A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence is hilariously disturbing and disturbingly hilarious. His third film in his cycle of death trilogy, Andersson builds on the humor and absurdity of everyday life like in his previous films (Songs from the Second Floor and You, The Living) by filming 39 vignettes capturing the bleak and funny aspects surrounding monotony and death. If there is a plot in this film, it focuses in and out on two depressed joke shop salesmen (Holger Andersson and Niles Westblom) with such irony and morbid humor reminiscent of characters in a Coen Brothers film. The plot is diverted by Andersson's surrealist visions of singing barmaids, 19th century soldiers taking over a local watering hole, and death by wine bottles. Winner of the Golden Lion at last year's Venice Film Festival, A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence is as thought-provoking as it is provocatively funny.

In interviews leading up to the film's release, Andersson said that he was inspired by De Sica's Bicycle Thieves while making the movie. The only reference to the film is seeing a cyclist on screen for three minutes. Apart from that, Andersson tips his hat towards the evocative imagery of Luis Bunuel and Terry Gilliam as he captures chaos of industrialist Sweden with static camera shots focusing on the offbeat nature of everyday life. Like Todd Solondz's films, Andersson's morbid humor leaves you embarrassed to laugh at some of the film's most uncomfortable scenes, such as a colonialist army whipping slaves into a revolving furnace or a dying matriarch unable to grasp the concept of "you can't take it with you."            

The humor of Andersson's film is accentuated by the polka and waltz-fueled score by Hani Jazzar and Gorm Sundberg. However, the humor is not as consistent as his 2007 masterpiece, You, The Living. All and all, A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence is another bold attempt by Andersson to capture death with a macabre sense of humor with a distinctive vision that is as beautiful as it is haunting.