In the Name of My Daughter (2014)

Directed by: Andre Techine
Country: France

Movie Review: Apart from André Techiné’s “In the Name of My Daughter”, I’ve no memory of another recent film that had seduced me so much in the first two-thirds and then completely let me down in its conclusions. The film charmingly captivates at first, retrieving that old virtual French cinema that he created in the 90’s with “Wild Reeds”, “Thieves”, and “Alice and Martin”. Co-written by Téchiné and Cedric Anger, this is a fictional account of the true story of Agnes Le Roux, and was based on the memoir from her mother and casino’s heiress, Renée Le Roux. Counting on the incontestably talented trio of actors - Catherine Deneuve, Adele Haenel, and Guillaume Canet - the 72-year-old filmmaker was unable to finish strong what he had started, rushing the story into something faint, somewhat hazy, and consequently unsatisfying. The narrative begins in 1976 with the arrival of Agnes le Roux (Haenel) to France. She returns to Nice with no bags and a failed marriage, being welcomed by Maurice Agnelet (Canet), an ambitious divorced lawyer and father, who works as a business advisor for her mother, Renée (Deneuve). Struggling against financial decline, the latter soon becomes the president of the Palais de la Mediterranée, one of the fanciest casinos on the French Riviera. This is a crucial time for the scheming Maurice, who tries to persuade Renée to give him the position of assistant director. Simultaneously, he gets closer and closer to her daughter whose impatience grows broodingly due to her mother’s decision to momentarily retain her share of the inheritance left by her late father. In love, the candidly naive, Agnés, shows a dangerous availability to a man who transparently assumes other lovers and a cunning posture that only envisions wealth and power. When Renée ignores Maurice request, he unites forces with a mobster, and one of her strongest rivals, Fratoni. It doesn’t take too long for Agnés to join them in their destructive plan. Sadly, the final 30 minutes are feeble, an uncontrollable narrative calamity that blurs the, until then, absorbing portrait.

Straight Outta Compton (2015)

Directed by: F. Gary Gray
Country: USA

Movie Review: Hip-hop was part of my childhood in a small scale. I was never an aficionado of the genre, but have to admit an initial curiosity about the multiplicity of grooves and especially about the messages conveyed by its performers. The vibrantly paced “Straight Outta Compton” isn’t just a film about hip-hop but much more. It competently covers the episodes around the formation of the band N.W.A. in 1986 Compton, California, and all the subsequent happenings that led to its end and division of its members: Ice Cube (his son O'Shea Jackson Jr.), Dr. Dre (Corey Hawkins), Eazy-E (Jason Mitchell), DJ Yella, and MC Ren. The director, F. Gary Gray (“The Negotiator”, “The Italian Job”), counted with Cube and Dre as part of the production crew, guaranteeing a biopic as precise as possible. For obvious reasons, these latter two members, together with the ambitious leader, Eazy-E, are the ones whose paths are followed in more detail. The strong social-political context is accurately pronounced, formulating an exultant combination of music, attitude, and action. These aspects fiercely mirror what the musicians were going through in the ghetto - police brutality and intimidation, racial discrimination, and social tensions with emphasis on violence and drugs. In addition to this, we also penetrate into the ‘business’ of the record labels, and the contractual disagreements that first put away Ice Cube, and then Dr. Dre, and later on Eazy-E. Playing both the hero and the villain, Jerry Heller (Paul Giamatti), was the opportunistic manager that claimed ‘I can make you legit’, after discovering their raw talent. However, the creepiest case is the erroneous association between Dr. Dre and the gangster/producer, Suge Knight. At a certain point the divergences among the musicians were beneficial, conducting them to record meaningful albums. “Straight Outta Compton”, whose title was taken from N.W.A.’s debut record, flows at an appropriate steady beat, in defiance of some narrative gaps. Best moment? Playing ‘fuck tha police’ in concert and its tumultuous effects.

Fort Tilden (2014)

Directed by: Sarah-Violet Bliss, Charles Rogers
Country: USA

Movie Review: Even understanding the motivation and intentions of the filmmakers who plunge into this very New Yorker microbudget mockery, I couldn’t avoid being stupefied by its pathetic occurrences and futile tones. The story follows two roommates, Allie (Clare McNulty) and Harper (Bridey Elliott), who dwell in a fantastic apartment (the best the film can present in terms of visuals) of the trendiest Brooklyn's neighborhood, Williamsburg. Both are very competitive in terms of men, and their conversations resume to stupid sex jokes about the perfect dick and what they’re thinking to do with their vaginas. Apart from this humdrum, we follow the two clumsy protagonists in their interminable trip to Fort Tilden where they are supposed to join two young men they had met at a rooftop party. Along the way, the spoiled daddy’s girl, Harper, pays everything by check, including an iced coffee bought in a bodega located in the same ghetto where a kid steals the bike Allie had borrowed from her weirdo neighbor. The same Allie is having problems with the Peace Corp.’s chief after she has skipped work due to a faked sickness, compromising her planned trip to Liberia. There’s still time for a cranky cab trip where the Indian driver dumps them in the middle of nowhere when he finds out that Harper’s father is an executive shark operating in India. At the beginning of their adventure, Harper states that there’s nothing better than biking through the streets of Brooklyn in order to bring fresh air and fresh ideas. Well, those are attributes that “Fort Tilden” definitely doesn’t deliver because its script is not just weak, it’s vulgar! The writers/directors, Sarah-Violet Bliss and Charles Rogers, making their debut on feature film, gave life to two characters that speak, act, and think as children. The film’s climax couldn’t be more basic than Harper attempting to rape a teen guy in the freezing sea. It could have been funny, but redundancy prevails over wit.

Prince (2015)

Directed by: Sam de Jong
Country: Netherlands

Movie Review: “Prince” starts staunchly as an expressive coming-of-age tale, but finishes as a forgettable, self-content phony. Set in a small neighborhood located in the suburbs of Amsterdam, the drama follows the complicated life of the 17-year-old Dutch-Moroccan, Ayoub (Ayoub Elasri), who lives with his depressed mother and easygoing half-sister. He occasionally meets with his homeless, drug-addicted father, a helpless Moroccan who religiously expects him to bring money for the ‘stuff’. Assuming himself as the man of the house, Ayoun acts sweetly and supportively toward his fragile mom, who never asks questions and keeps looking for the perfect man, and super protective toward his handsome sis, whose excessive freedom leads her to hang out with a trio of bad guys. One of these thugs is Ronny, a violent boaster whose little brother, Franky, is best friends with Ayoub. Despite of participating in some of their dirty work, Ayoub gives rise to mistrust and is treated with contempt; firstly, because he’s seen as an inferior due to his descent, and secondly, because he has a crush on Laura, the girlfriend of one of the bullies. Often humiliated by this small group of gangsters, Ayoub’s best wish would be rapidly building muscles out of his skinny body. As he knows this won’t come true, he comes to the conclusion that his only chance of gaining their respect and conquer Laura’s heart is through the ‘king’ of the thugs, Kalpa (the musician Freddy Tratlehner), a creepy, uncontrolled freak who whimsically runs a sausage factory in his own house and exhibits his over-the-top Lamborghini throughout the streets. One tempestuous night will be enough for the ascension and glorification of Ayoub, crowned ‘prince’ on the first call to work for the untouchable Kalpa. The first-time director, Sam de Jong, has a knack for setting up maniacal moments, combining them with a vigorous score in order to establish stylishly frenzied scenes. The main frustration comes from the film's script, in particular the final act, which abruptly changes the tones from chaotic to cheesy, and the scenarios from rowdy to lenient.

Beloved Sisters (2014)

Directed by: Dominik Graf
Country: Germany / others

Movie Review: “Beloved Sisters” is a biographical film that portrays the long-lasting love triangle lived in the 18th century between the German poet and philosopher, Friedrich Schiller, and the aristocratic von Lengefeld sisters, Charlotte and Caroline. The drama, written and directed by Dominik Graf, a filmmaker with a three-decade career of TV movies and series, was unable to hold my attention apart from the first half-hour. Despite handsomely crafted in its attempt to revive the period and attractively photographed by Michael Wiesweg, the film gradually loses impact and even drags itself on several occasions, during its protracted 138 minutes of the same cadenced maneuvers focusing on the noble German social and literary society. Faith has determined that the young Schiller (Florian Stetter), exiled from its country and lost in the streets of Weimar, will meet Charlotte (Henriette Confurius) in a time when she was preparing herself to get married with some illustrious, wealthy man, following the steps of her sister Caroline (Hannah Herzsprung), who had done it, not for love, but to guarantee financial stability for her family. Defying both society and family, both sisters fall in love with the amiable and yet revolutionary thinker, consciously assuming their affair and understanding whenever they need to get out of each other's way. Regardless the many obstacles, like looking like a beggar and being broke, Schiller ends up marrying Charlotte and having a child with her, but never ceases from seeing her unhappily married sister, who starts a successful literary career under the name of Agnes von Lilen. Resorting to close-ups of the protagonists in an attempt to draw the emotions that the plot couldn’t assure, the slightly staged “Beloved Sisters” is leisurely paced, never flowing conveniently to escape its shallowness. Here, we get more lethargic and bored than invigorated or excited, and the film leaves no positive memories.

The Gift (2015)

Directed by: Noel Edgerton
Country: USA / Australia

Movie Review: Once a bully, forever a bully. This is an aspect that “The Gift”, a dark, twisted thriller directed, produced, and co-starred by Noel Edgerton, tries to emphasize when depicting the very strange re-encounter between Simon (Jason Bateman), a successful tech executive and a former colleague from High School, Gordon Moseley (Edgerton), who responds by the nickname ‘Gordo’. Simon moves from Chicago to a gorgeous, spacious house in a calm neighborhood of LA, in the company of his good-natured wife, Robyn (Rebecca Hall). For them, this change kind of works as a new opportunity after Robyn’s recent traumatic miscarriage. When the couple seemed to have gathered the perfect conditions in order to enjoy life unreservedly, the invasive Gordo, who had been severely bullied by Simon in the past, decides to gift the couple for several times. In addition to that inexplicable behavior, he keeps visiting Robyn when Simon is at work, and is caught in an embarrassing lie when he invites the couple for a dinner in a house that wasn’t his. Yet, also Simon, whose self-assurance is often transformed into arrogance, is caught lying when he says to his wife he doesn’t remember Gordo so well. The apprehensive Robyn ends up troubled by Gordo’s words ‘let bygones be bygones’, written in a letter addressed to Simon. She won't give up trying to find the truth behind these words and the reasons why this odd man stalks them. The film builds a few awesome Hitchcockian tense moments, even taking a recognizable path and adopting a typical mood while presenting us a couple of good twists, which maintain our eyes wide open. The ending, characterized by severity and sickness, evokes shocking final revelations such as those depicted in “Seven” and “The Usual Suspects”. It’s known that long-term abuses can lead to merciless actions and retaliations. This one, in particular, goes beyond the physical. Edgerton shaped the characters with insight and entered with the right foot in the filmmakers’ universe.

The Diary of a Teenage Girl (2015)

Directed by: Marielle Heller
Country: USA

Movie Review: In this successful screen adaptation of Phoebe Gloeckner’s autobiographical novel “Diary of a Teenage Girl”, first-time director, Marielle Heller, who already had adapted it for an off-Broadway play, managed to inflict a very peculiar and personal touch that makes the film rise above the standard levels within the so inviting and yet slippery coming-of-age genre. A glamorous cast was reunited, involving not only confirmed talents such as Alexander Skarsgard and Kristen Wiig but also a fantastic discovery, Bel Powley, who shines in the main role. She gives the body and puts all her soul in the promiscuous 15-year-old Minnie Goetze, a cartoonist wannabe, living in San Francisco in the 70’s, who is radiant for having lost her virginity. Nothing wrong with that, if the chosen man wasn’t her mother’s boyfriend, Monroe (Skarsgard), who wasn’t able to say no to her daring and direct approach - ‘I want you to fuck me’. The experience didn’t stop there since they start having sex on a regular basis for years. All these occurrences are narrated and recorded on audiotapes that Minnie hides in a small box underneath her bed. Minnie’s mother, Charlotte (Wiig), eventually finds the truth, confirming the suspicions already thrown by Minnie’s father, the firm and astute Pascal (Christopher Meloni), who only needed one visit to the house to figure out what was happening. One may conclude that Charlotte has responsibility in the matter since she acts permissively regarding her daughter, in particular during the course of her intoxicating home parties where alcohol and drugs were a constant. But Minnie’s story shows to have a more intricate complexity that can’t be simply explained by this or that aspect. Told from a very feminine perspective, and painted through occasional animation sequences and an insistently attractive light sepia tone that evokes the warmth of the 70’s, this Diary is subtly sweet, emotionally intense, and poignantly funny. The cycle experience-suffer-learn is exposed unreservedly without, however, being radical. And I liked that.

Cop Car (2015)

Directed by: Jon Watts
Country: USA

Movie Review: I wonder how great could “Cop Car” have been if thoroughly put together and well concluded. Director Jon Watts, who co-wrote with Christopher D. Ford, didn’t know how to give the best sequence to a riveting first part where the film straddles between a rebellious teen misadventure and a sort of cat-and-mouse road thriller. The story focuses on two 10-year-old kids who set off for a walk throughout the immense surrounding fields of a small city, just to find a tempting and yet hazardous plaything: an abandoned police car with the key and guns inside, and a beaten guy stuck in the trunk. The car belonged to the disreputable sheriff Kretzer, played with a distinguished firmness by Kavin Bacon, who only wants to retrieve his car. For that, he will have to chase down the kids, now turned into reckless speed drivers, wherever they go. Regardless the trivial plot, which in any occasion satisfies completely, Mr.Watts was able to gear an attractive pace boosted by the energy of the two promising young actors, James Freedson-Jackson and Hays Wellford. Even enriching a few passages with refreshing doses of black humor, the film’s issues are maintained along the fabricated excesses of its plot, aggravated with a despicable finale that makes us think about the absurdity of the whole situation. This leaves us destitute of something palpable at the end of the overfamiliar third act, time for the usual shootouts and car chases. The tensest moments were designed when the kids play with the guns, putting us in an incessant state of alert. As for the rest, “Cop Car” brings nothing new, consisting in a mediocre course of events that keeps oscillating between favorable and fatal. With this being said, the last thing I want is to discourage Mr. Watts, who showed capabilities as a filmmaker. Maybe with a tight screenwriting, he might conquer something more than a few grins when presenting some of his strenuous scenes.

They Returned (2015)

Directed by: Ivan Noel
Country: Argentina

Movie Review: From Argentina, country that usually spits out a lot of interesting dramas, comedies, and thrillers, comes “They Returned”, a part crime, part horror film that is nothing else than a spectral revenge tale set in a small Argentine town. The sixth feature by Ivan Noel starts with considerable mystery and was decently mounted, showcasing solid performances by Jorge Booth and Romina Pinto, joined by the newcomers Julio Mendez, Camila Cruz, Rosana Rossotti, and Edmee Aran. However, the film's finale demonstrates to be the main setback of a story that involves the murder of three kids in ‘The Shame’, an abandoned hospital that is the refuge of a secluded former Nazi known as ‘the lunatic’, the last of a known German family, the Himmels. The kids eventually return home, naked and sexually mutilated, drawing the attention of the country’s authorities that send an experienced inspector to clarify and solve the puzzle. The Jew inspector Cohen (Booth) reunites with the passive mayor, the arrogant local judge (Aran), a concerned psychologist (Pinto), and the school’s headmistress (Rossotti). All of them have their own secrets, but the suspicions fall on Sergio (Mendez), an ‘illuminated’ schoolteacher who keeps talking about an evil chain, with origin in the past, that he considers responsible for the occurrences. It’s him who brings the theory that the kids are already dead, the reason why they act so apathetic and unresponsive. Some of the kids’ parents might have something to reveal too. It’s the case of Paola (Cruz) who lives haunted by a sad past and resentful with her vague boyfriend. The filmmaker Ivan Noel has a strong sense of aesthetics, slyly bringing in spooky atmospheres created through the score that he composed. It was a pity that the finale let down the little quiet chaos he was able to immerse this little town in. Working more at the psychological level, “They Returned” was never creepy enough to make us forget its progressive quibbles and plot failures.

Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015)

Directed by: Christopher McQuarrie
Country: USA

Movie Review: Despite my reluctance over the general Hollywood action genre, I must admit I had great moments of fun with the fifth installment of ‘Mission Impossible’, which was given the title “Rogue Nation” and stars the unchangeable Tom Cruise as the experienced IMF spy, Ethan Hunt. The film was written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie, who already had directly worked with Cruise in his previous “Jack Reacher”. However, if Reacher was a failure, Rogue Nation is a triumph. Here, our resolute secret agent falls in disgrace and is turned into an international fugitive wanted by the CIA, whose director, Hunley (Alec Baldwin), intends to incorporate the IMF in his services. Nothing that stops the resolute Hunt from proving the existence of a shadowy criminal network called The Syndicate whose leader, Solomon Lane (Sean Harris), he caught a glimpse while being trapped in a vintage music store. Taken to a loathsome torturer known as Bone Doctor, he manages to escape with the help of an agile double agent, Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), a devious MI6 operative who never makes completely clear on which side she is. Despite of Hunt’s extreme efficacy in dealing with the challenging tasks – the peak is a breathtaking mission carried underwater – the ‘impossible’ mission wouldn’t have been possible without the help of his fellow IMF agents: Benji, Brandt, and the retrieved Stickwell. More inventive and gripping than I was expecting, the film was completely controlled by Mr. McQuarrie who smartly and with no unnecessary fanfare, set up fantastic tense moments replete of intriguing tech details, awesome scenarios, and invigorating action scenes that make our hearts beat as fast as their speed. Even the supposedly standardized motorcycle chase feels rejuvenated as it’s concluded with unimaginable outcomes. “Rogue Nation” is an action treat that provides boundless fun while shows Tom Cruise in a perfect shape.

Red Knot (2014)

Directed by: Scott Cohen
Country: USA / Argentina

Movie Review: Scott Cohen’s debut feature “Red Knot” doesn’t disappoint, capturing stunning images and extracting emotional heft from the drama of a freshly married couple who faces the possibility of separation during their very unusual honeymoon. Olivia Thirlby and Vincent Kartheiser give shape to the newlyweds, Chloe and Peter Harrison, two New Yorkers who decide to spend their honeymoon in a research vessel en route from Argentina to Antarctica. Everything pointed to a serene expedition, instructive at the most, if Peter had paid more attention to his forlorn wife instead of converting their first trip together into work. As a writer and enthusiast of nature, he takes the opportunity to write an article about the explorers who travel with them, which includes the respected marine biologist Roger Payne (himself) and his wife, Lisa. He often seems to forget that Chloe is present, and is more interested in listening to conversations about whales and penguins rather than provide an unforgettable, romantic trip to the one he loves. A silent tension installs itself, ready to explode at any moment, which eventually happens when she finds out through Lisa that Peter is already committed for another trip next year. Before, a conversation about having children had already set a conspicuous discomfort in their relationship, but now Chloe feels really hurt and deceived, without knowing how to fit there anymore. She can only request her own space. Peter has difficulty to grant her that, especially after seeing her engaging in a very friendly conversation with Captain Anderson, a lone wolf who chose the sea to forget a failed marriage. Narrated in a form of a diary, “Red Knot” sometimes feels like a documentary, punctuated with occasional dreamlike tones, and driven by metaphors and the sadness of uncertainty. Scott Cohen, who has a background in still photography, managed to untie this first knot with an unanticipated efficiency.

The End of the Tour (2015)

Directed by: James Ponsoldt
Country: USA

Movie Review: Once there was a masterpiece called “My Dinner with Andre” that consisted of two men engaged in conversation about their lives while seated at a restaurant table. Well, that movie, directed by Louis Malle and written/acted by Andre Gregory and Wallace Shawn, somehow came to my mind while watching “The End of the Tour”, which doesn’t match the brilliance of the cited, but is assuredly a great film. The reason for this resemblance, is that this compelling drama about the real short-term relationship between two novelists, David Foster Wallace (Jason Segel), who enjoys an incredible peak of fame after the launch of his acclaimed novel ‘Infinite Jest’, and his fellow interviewer and Rolling Stone reporter, David Lipsky (Jesse Eisenberg), relies almost totally on their engrossing conversations. The film, directed by the diligent James Ponsoldt (“Smashed”, “The Spectacular Now”) from a Donald Margulies’ screenplay, was based on Lipsky’s 2010 book ‘Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself’. Lipsky, is one of those committed men, eager for a good story, who leaves NY for a five-day tour with the secluded and enigmatically talented, Wallace. The attempts to figure out the latter’s character, which is a complex mixture of prominent ego, legitimate modesty, shyness, and solitude, play a fundamental factor to keep us avidly watching the ups and downs that arise from the protagonists’ interaction. The pleasure of gradually discovering each other suddenly takes a sour detour. At this point, they recognize not only the virtues of their humanity but also the faults, impossible to discern by reading a thousand-page novel. “The End of the Tour” is a subtle, genuine, and beautiful accomplishment whose enthrallment is as memorable for the viewer as the experience was for Lipsky. The film was a great opportunity for Segel to shine outside the comedy circuit and to confirm Eisenberg as one of the most solid actors of our days. Ponsoldt and Margulies were intelligent enough to set up a suitable narrative scheme to make the story work.

Horse Money (2014)

Directed by: Pedro Costa
Country: Portugal

Movie Review: “Horse Money” is the new drama from the celebrated Portuguese filmmaker, Pedro Costa, author of the remarkable trilogy based in Fontainhas, an impoverished neighborhood in Lisbon, which includes “Ossos”, “In Vanda’s Room”, and “Colossal Youth”. This time the subject is a bit different, but Mr. Costa retrieves Ventura from his last film. This man, played by himself, is a confused Cape Verdean immigrant, a retired bricklayer, who was admitted in a Lisbon’s hospital where he keeps escaping through the gloomy back passageways, losing track of the space and the time, and being haunted by ghostly presences of his past. To complement the disquieting phantasmagoric images, we’re granted part of the disorder that goes on Ventura’s head. These particular sequences are arranged with a persistent exactitude, and yet some elements seem not to fit quite well, making us even more intrigued and sometimes lost in the darkness of his alienation. Suffering from a nervous condition, Ventura is stuck in time – he says he’s 19 and believes the date is March 11, 1975, time of a failed military coup led by General Spínola. This occurrence apparently destroyed the company where Ventura was working. In one of his visits to what remains of this company, Ventura finds his nephew, who seems a ghost waiting for the money that was never paid after a three-month absence due to an epileptic seizure. He often bumps into Vitalina Varela, an anguished widow, who blames Ventura for the death of her husband. Another visitor is a man who stabbed him and whose restless soul also wanders throughout the hospital. The most memorable scene is when Ventura is tormented by voices inside the hospital’s elevator, in the presence of a living statue of a revolutionary soldier. Costa brilliantly plays with past and present, truth and hallucination, desires and nightmares, songs and silences, politics and misery, life, death… My head is still spinning in a sort of a watchful dazzle, and I cannot forget the sad, vague, and embittered expressions of these lost souls…or ghosts.

Down, But Not Out! (2015)

Directed by: Miguel Gaudêncio
Country: Poland

Movie Review: This 71-minute small-scale Polish documentary, directed by the Portuguese, Miguel Gaudêncio, superficially gazes at feminine boxing in Poland. The director follows a team of four boxers and their trainer during 24 hours. Evincing pictorial qualities in its well-calibrated black-and-white images, “Down But Not Out!” doesn’t find much depth in the characters, failing to establish any exciting connection between the viewers and the protagonists. The film presents too much of unexciting fights, and too little about the brave Daria, Anna, Agnieszka, and Alicja, who keep being motivated by their talkative coach, Przemyslaw. The team spends one night in a small motel in the city of Poznan, where the next day they’re going to participate in a tournament. The pic deviates our attention from the women by also presenting men’s fights, more muscled and intense, but irrelevant to the story. After stepping into the ring for the first time, each pugilist shows more or less anxiety and eagerness to prove what they worth. But for me, these natural reactions weren’t enough to shape them accordingly because I still wanted to know more about their lives and personalities. There's a moment of frustration when an opponent decides not to fight Agnieszka due to health reasons, which is not particularly strong. An interesting aspect is when she makes reference to the diets and all the efforts put through, so they can be sufficiently prepared to compete. The combats are adorned with an often-intrusive synth score that projects the film more into a video clip rather than a real study. Boxing is not one my favorite sports, however, that fact wasn’t the motive for my detachment. I’ve found little substance here, and the only explanation is that Mr. Gaudêncio doesn’t have much of a story to consolidate his nice images.

Samba (2014)

Directed by: Olivier Nakache, Eric Toledano
Country: France

Movie Review: Aiming to please the masses, “Samba” is brought from France by the team of directors, Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano, who have made a smashing success four years ago with the enjoyable “The Intouchables”. As in the latter, Omar Sy is the main character, this time playing Samba Cissé, a Senegalese migrant who keeps trying to regularize his situation in France to avoid deportation, after ten years working as a dishwasher in Parisian restaurants. Therefore, and despite of the score featuring Gilberto Gil and Jorge Benjor, “Samba” the film, rather than enhancing the dance genre, tries to portray the sad reality of this man, even if using bland routines to do it. After being caught by the authorities, situation that requires a temporary detention and presence before a judge, Samba gets help from an NGO whose new volunteer, Alice (Charlotte Gainsbourg), a sleepless senior executive under medical leave, feels sympathy for him and his case. Despite the warnings not to get too close to the undocumented people, Alice falls for Samba who, in the meantime, sleeps with the ‘vanished’ girlfriend of his friend Jonas. Facing difficult situations in the occasional jobs he accepts, and under the pressure of sending money to his unfeeling mother, Samba will rely on his ‘Brazilian’ friend, Wilson (Tahar Rahim), to give him a hand, while he begins a relationship of proximity with the anxious, and sometimes frenzied, Alice. Some of the little fun that arises from watching this too polished drama comes from the difficult communication among aid workers and migrants. As for the rest, the film slips in a few scenes, which sometimes are feel-good in the cheesiest way, sometimes are awfully unreasonable. All this is aggravated by the fact that the romance between Samba and Alice doesn’t spark good vibes. The film might draw some interest to viewers who are looking for dramas with warm stories and happy outcomes. For the ones looking for something original and solid, “Samba” doesn’t dance so well.

Corn Island (2014)

Directed by: George Ovashvili
Country: Georgia / others

Movie Review: From the acclaimed Georgian filmmaker, George Ovashvili, author of the masterpiece “The Other Bank”, comes the subtler but no less poignant “Corn Island”, another perspective of the hardships of survival in a piece of land shattered by the cruel war that opposes Abkhazians and Georgians. As explained during the first frames, the title comes from the fact that small islands are formed with rocks and dirt resulting from the annual spring flood of the Enguri River. These islands are blessings to the few local inhabitants who cultivate corn from spring to fall in order to subsist the extreme winter cold. The diligent direction of Mr. Ovashvili together with the astounding work of the Hungarian cinematographer Elemér Ragályi, facilitate closeness when we follow the arrival of an Abkhazian old man (Ilyas Salman) on one of these islands to build a shed and prepare the land for the crop. This is a big effort for his advanced age, but the man finds precious aid in his orphaned granddaughter (Mariam Buturishvili), a helpful, innocent teen who still holds a rag doll in their hands, but commence fearing the avid looks thrown by the soldiers who occasionally pass by boat or pop up in the shore. Uneasiness increases when the old man helps a wounded Georgian soldier (Irakli Samushia), hiding him from the sight of the officials from both factions. Despite the shots heard in the vicinity, the action is limited since the mood here is taken from the suspicion, apprehension, and tension of the soldiers’ visits and the sometimes ominous weather conditions that can spoil their chances of being succeeded. “Corn Island” was conceived in a slow yet detailed way, which suits a story of patience and dedication. Besides portraying a family legacy, the film is also an anti-war letter whose good and clear intentions make us ponder about the whole situation. Wringing sturdy performances, calibrated in terms of narrative, and enveloped by silences that speak volumes, this is another great film from an undeniably stylish filmmaker who keeps surprising.

Unexpected (2015)

Directed by: Kris Swanberg
Country: USA

Movie Review: “Unexpected” is a drama of circumstances, set in an inner city of Chicago. It stars Cobie Smulders and Gain Bean, respectively as a high school teacher and student, who coincidentally find out they’re pregnant during critical phases of their lives. The third feature film from Kris Swanberg, wife of the film director Joe Swanberg (“Drinking Buddies”), is fictional, despite the filmmaker is living in Chicago and formerly had been a schoolteacher. The film starts with Sam (Smulders), reading online the top ten symptoms of pregnancy and the description for a job as coordinator in a museum. It’s not difficult to guess that she was pregnant indeed, and the museum was nothing less than her dream job, which she applied without high hopes. More difficult to guess was that one of her most liveliest and promising students, Jasmine (Bean), was also pregnant. Clearly, these women have different realities and options, and in both cases something in their actual lives has to be sacrificed for the sake of the new ones that are coming. Sam has all the support of her boyfriend, John (Anders Holm), and the couple doesn’t hide the happiness when they get married in secret; the only factor still in discussion is if Sam agrees on being a stay-at-home mother. In turn, Jasmine, carrying a tough past on her shoulders, breaks up with her immature boyfriend and ponders giving up college. A true friendship is established between Sam and Jasmine as they offer each other help and support while learning from their differences. “Unexpected” is evenly loaded with realism and familiarity, which are the best and the worst in the film. The direction of Ms. Swanberg is earnest and avoids fluctuations, but the material, treated with indelible comfort, blocked my true emotions, reason why I never felt anxious or worried for the protagonists’ future. The most memorable scene, also nominated as the nastiest of the year, has to do with 'drinking' Cheetos.

Paper Towns (2015)

Directed by: Jake Schreier
Country: USA

Movie Review: After a passable debut with “Robot & Frank”, director Jake Schreier proceeds to a bolder move with “Paper Towns”, a teen tale, set in Orlando, that even not breaking new ground, injects freshness and consistency in its characters and plot, and weaves a particular mood that is part mysterious, part charming. The film was based on the 2008 novel by John Green, feeling much more empathic than his opportunistically tearful success, “The Fault in Our Stars”. The 18-year-old college finalist, Quentin (Nat Wolff), is the narrator of the story, starting by telling us that he always had a crush for his quirky neighbor, Margo (Cara Delevingne). At the age of nine, when riding their bicycles, they’ve found a dead man. This happening was kind of a shock for Quentin, but represented a moment of excitement for Margot, who loved mysteries so much she became one. After that, the two friends have almost stopped talking to each other until a certain day when Margo incites Quentin for an all-night adventure, daring him to break into colleagues’ houses just for the pleasure of feeling free. She talks about paper towns and paper people in a way to show her disillusion with the world she lives. The reconnection was positive and Quentin gains new hopes in conquering his beloved’s heart. However, Margo skips school the following days, disappearing mysteriously with apparently no traces. Only Quentin was able to detect indecipherable clues, which take him for a memorable road trip to Agloe, a fictional place (paper town) located in the state of NY. He drives in the company of Margo’s best friend, Lacey, and his two loyal buddies: Ben (Austin Abrams), the film’s funniest character, and Radar (Justice Smith) who decided to take his girlfriend. Relentlessly obsessive, Quentin may be in good company, but he’s the only one who seems to believe that Margo is worthy and can be traced. Thus, this game of lost and found and self-discovery engenders a surprising, sweet ending.

Ant-Man (2015)

Directed by: Peyton Reed
Country: USA

Movie Review: “Ant-Man” is far from constituting an outstanding presence among the extensive cinematic Marvel experiences, but is also true that the film, directed by Peyton Reed and co-written by Edgar Wright (“Shaun of the Dead”, “Hot Fuzz”), Joe Cornish, Adam McKay, and Paul Rudd who also stars as Scott Lang, doesn’t embarrass the voguish genre based on the comic books. The well-intentioned burglar, Scott Lang (Rudd), is released from prison after three years, and his only wish is to reconnect with his young daughter who lives with his ex-wife and her new boyfriend, Paxton (Bobby Cannavale), a well-known police officer. Unable to find a job because of his tumultuous past, Scott can’t provide the child support that would bring him closer to his daughter. Frustrated, he decides to join his former cellmate, Luis (Michael Peña), in one more criminal scheme for money. However, when infiltrating himself into a house to break a high-security safe, instead of jewels or cash or any other inestimable asset, he just finds a special suit, the one that he’ll be using to help the original Ant-Man, Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and his daughter, Hope (Evangeline Lilly), defeating a former protégé, Darron Cross (Corey Stoll), who just finished a jeopardous version of the Ant-man suit called Yellowjacket. Scott has a first bad experience as the Ant-Man, but after well instructed, he distinctively passes a tough test where he had to steal a device from the Avengers’ HQ. Once that mission is accomplished, he should be ready to steal the Yellowjacket suit from Darron who promptly uses it to shrink himself when sensing danger. From then on, we a have a series of moderately entertaining microscopic battles, and a complex voyage through the world of electronics, the solution found to destroy the enemy. Paul Rudd fits perfectly in the role of the anti-hero who suddenly is turned into a superhero for a good cause and for his own sake. The humor works sparsely and the scenes don’t throb with much creativity or originality, however, I’ve been more bored with some of the previous Marvel sagas.

Trainwreck (2015)

Directed by: Judd Apatow
Country: USA

Movie Review: “Trainwreck”, starring and written by Amy Schumer, is the best comedy directed by Judd Apatow, who never convinced me before with movies like “Knocked Up” or “This is 40”. This film succeeds on many fronts, and I left the theater with a big smile on my face, even disliking its totally staged ending, fancied at the New York Knicks’ Madison Square Garden, which if more extended could really have wrecked what had been done till there. Regardless the final slip-up, the merits go totally to Ms. Schumer, a stand-up comedian who shines with her engaging semi-autobiographical work. Here, Amy plays Amy, a writer who works for S’nuff, a men’s magazine whose unkind director, Dianna (Tilda Swinton), gives her the worst assignment ever: to write an article about the reputable sports doctor, Aaron Conners (Bill Hader). Obviously, sports are not part of Amy’s life. Instead, she prefers getting drunk, smoking pot, and sleeping with boring guys she picks on her nights out. The only one who’s recurrent is Steven (John Cena), a well-intentioned bodybuilder who gets devastated when he finds that she sleeps with many other men. At this point, we recall the first scenes of the film where, in her childhood, Amy and her sister were told by their father that ‘monogamy isn’t realistic’. If Amy opted for following the advice of her father, her sister Kim (Brie Larson), by contrast, did the opposite, living happily in the suburbs with her husband and stepson - a life that Amy simply doesn’t understand and constantly mocks. Everything changes abruptly when the generous Aaron and the disoriented Amy fall in love, in spite of her difficulty in accepting his true love and control her addictions. “Trainwreck” worked great as a romantic comedy, and the jocular tones are as pleasing as the dramatic side, where we can find a sort of bittersweet honesty. The presence of NBA stars, LeBron James and Amare Stoudemire, conveys a bit more of reality while also provides funny moments.