Big ideas done with subtlety and care in Ira Sach's new urban family film, LITTLE MEN

How do the decisions we make about right and wrong, friends and family, and whom to help when the chips are down -- as well as those made for us by our parents -- affect our lives to come? A sterling example of all the above can be found in LITTLE MEN, the new film from Ira Sachs (Keep the Lights On, Love Is Strange) that offers up the conundrum of gentrification and modern-day real estate in Brooklyn, New York, and how this impacts the lives of two families.

As has always been his wont, Mr. Sachs places character, followed by situation, above all else, although I must admit that his plots have become increasingly interesting and rich (compare The Delta, from 1996, with his current film). The filmmaker, shown at right, seems to bite off a bit more "story" with each new work, chew it up properly and then let us digest the results -- which, in this case, produces plenty of food for thought.

The tale here is of a middle-class Manhattan family -- actor dad (Greg Kinnear, above, left), therapist mom (Jennifer Ehle, above, right) and middle-school-attending son (Theo Taplitz, below) -- that, due to the sudden death of its estranged patriarch, moves to Brooklyn to take over the brownstone left to dad and his sister (Talia Balsam).

On the ground floor of that brownstone is a dress shop run by a South American woman (Paulina García, below) whose relationship with the deceased father is never quite spelled out. But she owns and has been running the shop for more than a decade (with nary a rent increase) and is in no mood to move out or have anything changed monetarily. Her teenage son (Michael Barbieri, two photos below) quickly becomes fast friends with the family's son, and so the set-up for real estate (excuse the expression) "trumping" relationships becomes front and center.

How this plays out is both expected and not so. No one is an out-and-out villain, and surprisingly enough the dress shop owner proves the most intransigent of anyone. But thanks to a keen grasp on character and motivation (and the truly troubling attempt by Kinnear's dad to somehow "do the right thing"), we viewers are brought up-close-and-personal to the idea of family vs friendship, money vs morality and not-so-simple betrayal and the results thereof.

Performances could hardly be better, particularly those of the two boys, both of whom shine in their own special ways. Kinnear, one of the most under-rated actors working today, is as fine as always. Notice his ability to let us understand that dad is not so hot an actor (his Trigorin -- they're doing The Seagull -- looks good but lacks a lot) yet his performance as the beleaguered dad is quite wonderful.

By the finale of Little Men, it is clear that everyone has moved on. But the family's son must quietly accept and live with his betrayal of his friend, and we get a dark, rich sense of the past having impacted the future in ways that will likely not be undone. And Mr Sachs has created another quiet, small movie that resonates strongly and beautifully.

From Magnolia Pictures and running a mere 85 minutes, the movie, after opent in major cities over the past few weeks, hits South Florida tomorrow, Friday,. August 19, at the Coral Gables Art Cinema, and then the following Friday, August 26, at the Bill Cosford Cinema, Miami. On September 9, it opens at the Movies of Delray and the Movies of Lake Worth, and at the Lake Worth Playhouse. You can view all currently scheduled nationwide playdates, cities and theaters by clicking here.

Read more »

"family" movies, American independent cinema, betrayal, friendship, gentrification, Ira Sachs, LITTLE MEN, New York City movies, real estate,

Rate it :

FAREWELL TO HOLLYWOOD: Henry Corra & Regina Nicholson's doc about dying and films

Diagnosed with a fatal disease at age 16, a freckle-faced, snaggle-toothed young girl with close-cropped hair named Regina "Reggie" Nicholson who dearly loves movies decides that she wants to make one before she dies. So filmmaker Henry Corra agrees to help her, and the result is the new documentary, FAREWELL TO HOLLYWOOD. There is no way that a subject like this one is not going to make the viewer emotional. The film would have to border on horrible not to wring some emotion out of you. Fortunately, the film that Mr. Corra and Ms Nicholson (the pair is pictured below) have made is a pretty good one, so the emotion we feel here is earned.

It is what we've learned, however -- about family, end-of-life demands and untimely dying -- the makes Farewell to Hollywood the keeper that it is. It is difficult to imagine what it must be like to lose a daughter at this terribly young age. Even so, the behavior of Reggie's mom (and somewhat that of her dad, too) is startlingly ghastly. Normally, I would think that parents would want to keep and cherish a final testament from their dying daughter. In this cast, probably not.

As Mr. Corra and Ms Nicholson grow more and more attached, the two parents grow angrier and crazier. The question of an unseemly closeness between filmmaker and subject is broached, but appears to be laid to rest -- at least until Reggie turns 18 and moves out and into her own small space atop a hill overlooking L.A., to be cared for by the filmmaker and a team of aides.

In the course of the film, we get the girl's history (which seems relatively normal, given what happens to the family later on). Mom alternates between helpful and nutty, while Regina sometimes seems like a typical rebellious teen. And yet we do see the girl grow in degrees. Eventually we realize how her condition has forced upon her a kind of maturity that she would not otherwise possess.

Along the way, to give us the sense of Reggie's movie love, are intercut scenes from various famous films -- from Pulp Fiction and The Dark Knight to Silence of the Lambs, The Graduate and Apocalypse Now. (Clearly, this girl was not into light romantic comedy.) Soon Mr Corra is becoming ever more a part of his own movie -- for good reason: the filmmaker as activist, helper and friend.

The movie itself? Alternately shocking, amusing and sometimes quite painful to watch, this is film as history, weapon, therapy, love story and advocacy. But is it art? I don't think so, for it is not, finally, that well done. It runs around all over the place, as though Mr Corra, having had to split his time between helper and filmmaker, opted for the former. As perhaps he should have. Yet considering what his movie gives us -- all of the above -- it doesn't have to be art. It ends up memorable enough, while Regina, by the by, has made her movie, and in the process given herself -- with Corra's help and as long as digital DVDs last -- a tiny bit of immortality.

Farewell to Hollywood opens this Wednesday, February 25 (the date of Reggie Nicholson's birthday), in New York City at the Cinema Village and in Los Angeles at the Laemmle Music Hall 3 (for one night only). It will then open at Laemmle's Noho 7 on March 13 and at the Playhouse 7 on March 14. A limited national release is expected to follow. 

Read more »

"family" movies, American documentaries, death and dying, FAREWELL TO HOLLYWOOD, filmmaker as participant, Henry Corra, Regina Nicholson,

Rate it :

Nanouk Leopold's IT'S ALL SO QUIET: small, truthful Dutch "family film" opens at AFA

What a tiny treasure is this film about father and son farmers in an isolated area of The Netherlands. The father, very old and very infirm, is cared for -- grudgingly but decently -- by his middle-aged son. The son, however, is cared for by no one and apparently never has been. (The little we learn of his growing up indicates that his father was unduly harsh with him.) This is the heart of the sad, engrossing movie, IT'S ALL SO QUIET (Boven is het stil) that is full of small details -- of caring for the elderly as well as for farm animals -- that builds into a quietly moving study of loneliness and the inability of some of us to ever be able to reach out to anyone else.

As adapted (from the novel by Gerbrand Bakker) and directed by Nanouk Leopold (shown at left), the movie may be slow-moving but it is never uninteresting due to its expert detailing and how simple and subtle it consistently is. Ms Leopold keeps her camera ever watchful regarding the connection between father and son and between son and farm and the few other people who attempt to bridge what seems an incredible distance between them and this sad and unresponsive farmer.

As played by the late Jeroen Willems (above, left), whose untimely death occurred soon after the film was completed, the son, Helmer, is a figure of enormous empathy by us viewers, even though the character himself barely seems able to empathize with others or understand himself and his own needs.

The scenes of Helmer caring for his father (played by Henri Garcin, above, left) offers a look at the day-to-day drudgery -- cleaning up the shit, showering the old man, and the increasingly difficult chore of simply carrying him up the stairs -- that goes into the care of the very elderly.

We also slowly get a sense of the kind of upbringing Helmer must have had, in which showing affection of any kind was frowned upon. Now, this man is so socially insecure and untutored in anything approaching the social graces that he simply cannot respond in any normal way to other people's overtures. (The milk delivery man, above, clearly would like to pursue a relationship with Helmer, but can draw no response except embarrassment from our man.)

When more help is finally needed -- with the farming and the caregiving -- a young hired hand named Henk is brought aboard (Martijn Lakemeier, above, right), and it seems that a kind of break-through may come for Helmer. Things do happen and change does occur, but in the barest of increments. Possibilities lie unseen and unused, and the movie remains sad but ever-so-slightly hopeful.

The film begins and ends with some lovely shots of nature, and the natural world breaks into the narrative now and then. But what you'll remember most, I think, are the shots of the faces here, especially that of Willems, who gives a remarkable performance, all the deeper and more resonant due to his character's inability to connect.

Its All So Quiet -- from Jonathan Howell's Big World Pictures and running 91 minutes, in Dutch with English subtitles) -- begins a one-week run this Friday, January 9, at Anthology Film Archives in New York City. Click here for tickets and here for directions. Elsewhere? I'm not certain. But, being from Big World, there will most likely be a DVD on offer eventually and/or some digital streaming.

Read more »

"family" movies, Anthology Film Archives, Dutch film, farming, father & son films, IT'S ALL SO QUIET, Nanouk Leopold,

Rate it :

Yael Reuveny's FAREWELL, HERR SCHWARZ: another strange and fascinating Holocaust tale

TrustMovies is beginning to think it's inevitable: the more Holocaust documentaries that appear, the better and more interesting they seem to become. This subject -- of the Nazi intent to destroy the world's Jewish population and its aftermath (it's that aftermath that has produced some of the finest of these docs) -- appears to be inexhaustible. Just when you think you've encountered the strangest of these true tales (take The Flat, for instance: see it, if you haven't yet; it's available to stream via the usual suspects), along comes another that surprises and seduces. Such a film is this week's opener, FAREWELL, HERR SCHWARZ.

As written, directed and narrated by Yael Reuveny (shown at left, who also appears throughout the documentary), the film tells of her family's experience during and after the Holocaust (mostly after) and spans three generations, beginning with her grandmother, Michla (shown below, pre-Holocaust, in the front row, second from left), who survived it, along with the grandmother's brother, Feiv'ke shown below, front row, at left), who did, too. In fact, early on the movie explains how Feiv'ke was a man who "died twice." If only it were that easy. Feiv'ke's story, which includes a kind of "identity" change that involves both name and history becomes one of those mysteries about us humans' ability to do some very odd things, while leaving all trace of reason or motive buried. And so Ms Reuveny's documentary becomes a search for answers, some of which are forthcoming while others remain shrouded.

Part of a good mystery lies in its unfolding, and so I must say little about what occurs here -- except to note that we meet quite a few members of the filmmaker's family, some of whom she knows quite well, others who prove a surprise.

What distinguishes Farewell, Herr Schwarz, besides its unfurling story, is the role Ms Reuveny plays in it all and how learning what she learns affects her. More than in most documentaries I can recall, we seem to be able to see here how the actual processing of information works: How the characters take in what they are learning and how they try to deal with it.

There are times here in which the camera simply watches and waits, as Reuveny struggles to understand events, motives and meaning. As we watch, we find ourselves trying to deal with all this, too.

This kind of processing is extremely important, I think, to families rocked by the Holocaust, the effects of which just keep unravelling from generation to generation. How each generation deals with that event -- whether by repression, shame, therapy, or even the embrace of Germany (one of Ms Reuveny's ways of dealing) -- proves something fraught and fascinating in itself.

We meet friends and relatives that take in the three generations, and they are all lively and interesting (one of the most enjoyable is the old woman friend of grandmother Michla (above) who has a number of thoughtful and sad things to tell us. Another new relative is a tall young German man (below) who proves as interested in Israel and Ms Reuveny is in Germany.

Another nice sidelight here is how certain folk discovered their Jewish roots and how they responded to this (Madeleine Albright could learn something). All in all, this small movie about one family and its continuing experience with the Holocaust is a quietly provocative experience.

The film -- from Kino Lorber and running 96 minutes -- opens this Friday, January 9, for a one-week run at New York City's Quad Cinema and on Saturday, January 10, for a two-day run at Manhattan's JCC on Manhattan's upper west side.

Read more »

"family" movies, documentary films, FAREWELL HERR SCHWARZ, Israeli cinema, multi-generation movies, the Holocaust, Yael Reuveny,

Rate it :

Michael Radford's ELSA & FRED, based on the better Spanish original, arrives on Blu-ray/DVD

It's never too late to fall in love. So, there. And if that idea appeals, this remake, ELSA & FRED -- from the original and internationally popular geriatric-rom-com of the same name from Argentina and Spain (made way back in 2005 but not receiving a theatrical release in the USA until 2008) -- should do the trick. If you were lucky enough to see the original film, which starred two aged and much-loved performers from, respectively, South America and Spain -- China Zorrilla and Manuel Alexandre -- you'll immediately understand why the casting of Shirley MacLaine and Christopher Plummer is both appropriate (these are two of our biggest, English-speaking, geriatric stars, after all) and much less interesting. MacLaine and Plummer look about as fit as possible -- svelte and attractive, given their age -- and absolutely made for each other. So what's the problem? The problem is: There ain't one.

In the original film (you can read my review of it for Greencine here), Zorrilla and Alexandre were, physically and emotionally, like oil and water: he a quiet, closed-off and aged runt, she a zaftig hurricane of a woman with enough vitality to blow anyone off the screen. How the two become close is fraught with problems that take the entire film to work out, and by its close, the movie leaves you in tears even while you're chuckling. In this remake, as good and glossy as it is -- the generally smart screenplay is by director Michael Radford (shown at left) and Anna Pavignano (who co-wrote the wonderful Casomai) -- the coupling seems a fait accompli from the outset. And while it is indeed amusing to watch these two old pros deliver their lines and have some fun doing it, all the quirkiness, the sadness and only-barely-hidden despair brought to the original by its two stars goes missing.

But let's concentrate on what's in the remake, shall we? MacLaine and Plummer (shown above and below) offer their usual spirited charm, as well as their usual (of late) crotchety onriness. If we don't quite buy Elsa's insistent dream of going to Italy's Trevi Fountain and playing the Anita Ekberg role in La Dolce Vita, that's probably because MacLaine seems far too smart for something like this. (Zorrilla had the vulnerability and girth, emotionally and physically, to make this work). Here, it seems a bit tacked-on.

The supporting cast surrounding our pair is certainly worthy, too: everyone from Marcia Gay Harden to Chris Noth, Scott Bakula to George Segal and James Brolin -- plus a nice little sub-plot concerning Fred's caretaker (played by Erika Alexander) and the building's superintendent (Wendell Pierce).

So, if you're in the mood for a geriatric rom-com with classy performers and a decent script, by all mean take a chance on this light and very dispensible movie. The original, however -- available on DVD via Netflix or Amazon -- is more of a keeper.

From Millennium Entertainment and running 97 minutes, Elsa & Fred arrives on Blu-ray and DVD this Tuesday, December 30 -- for sale or rental via the usual suspects.

Read more »

"family" movies, ELSA & FRED, geriatric rom-coms, Michael Radford, remakes,

Rate it :