Boy, oh, Baye! Nathalie is terrific in Ali & Bonilauri's French thriller, THE ASSISTANT

If you haven't yet met Nathalie Baye, here's your chance, in a new French thriller just making its VODebut entitled THE ASSISTANT (La Volante). This four-time César-winning actress is always good and usually a lot more than that. In her current movie -- directed by Christophe Ali and Nicolas Bonilauri, and co-written by the two, along with Philippe Blasband and Jacques Sotty -- she plays Marie-France, the mother of an adult son on whom befalls an accident that changes her life and, it turns out, the lives of a number of others some years after.

The movie begins with both death and birth via a sudden shocking situation that no one would ever want to endure. We catch our first sight of Ms Baye in the scene just after, and the manner in which her character handles her grief is so awful and intense that this enables us to accept and believe what follows. And what follows is, as they say, something else.

The filmmakers Ali and Bonilauri (shown above, with Ali on the left) intend their film to be first and foremost a thriller, and they succeed in this regard quite well. Ms Baye, being the fine actress she is, intends to give us character above all else, and this combo of character and thrills make the movie a cut or two above the usual for this genre. This is the duo's third full-length film, though TrustMovies has only previously caught their second one -- a bizarre little character study/thriller released to DVD stateside as Wild Camp starring two indelible French actors Isild Le Besco (A tout de suite) and Denis Lavant (Beau Travail).

In The Assistant, the filmmakers begin with a whoppingly intense few minutes, after which they quickly cut to a few years later. It is here than the "revenge" would seem to start (though the plans for it have clearly been laid for some time previous). Or is this wholly about revenge? Perhaps, we wonder, it might be something more. The directors and their fine cast keep us ever alert and guessing, with Ms Baye in particularly good form as an obsessed woman whose many talents -- if used toward other ends -- could probably have made her President of France.

Baye's Marie-France is a force to be reckoned with, all right, and if the filmmakers use a good deal of shorthand in piecing together their fraught tale, they give us enough info to follow along without keeping too far ahead of the game. There are a couple of moments when we might not quite buy what is happening (how come the young boy is so suddenly disenchanted with his teacher/grandma/mother surrogate?), yet so fast is the pacing and propulsive the motion (the film lasts but 87 minutes), that we can't easily get off this roller coaster. Nor would we want to.

Also prominent in the fine cast are Malike Zidi (three photos above) and Sabrina Seyvecou as the hapless couple who starts the ball rolling, Johan Leysen as Zidi's all-too-trusting dad, and Jean-Stan Du Pac (above, left, and center right, two photos above) as the innocent object of revenge.

From Distrib Films US, The Assistant is heading straight for VOD, where it will make its debut on iTunes this coming Tuesday, August 23 -- for some end-of-summer fun and games -- and then hit theaters for a very limited release in late September.

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"family" films, character studies, Christophe Ali, Nathalie Baye, Nicolas Bonilauri, revenge thrillers, THE ASSISTANT, the workplace,

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Alice Winocur's DISORDER proves a paranoid thriller with excitement, depth and character

The first thing you may notice about DISORDER, the new film from Alice Winocur (shown below, who gave us the unusual Augustin three years back) is its sound design. As we follow a young soldier with PTSD, we're aware of a kind of pulse, beeps and background noise of all sorts, sometimes quite subtle, other times more forceful. I had to stop the disc once, just to be sure the sounds were not coming from somewhere in my apartment. No, they're in the mind and feelings of our protagonist, Vincent, played by Matthias Schoenaerts (of Bullhead, Rust and Bone, A Little Chaos, Far From the Madding Crowd and The Danish Girl), in what may be the best of his many good performances so far.

You could hardly ask for two more disparate movies - in terms of theme, content and genre than Ms Winocur's Augustine and Disorder (the filmmaker, who also co-wrote the screenplay for Mustang, is shown at right), yet she handles both films with an assured hand that gives us what those themes and genres need -- plus something more. Character would seem to be paramount to this filmmaker, and she provides it beautifully in both movies, while also adhering in her latest to some of the important conventions requires by the thriller genre.

That "character" is shown most prominently and importantly via Vincent (Schoenaerts is shown above and below), whose PTSD appears to have made him unable to continue his military service. He wants to, but things don't look promising. A compatriot gets him a security gig with a group who are protecting the home of a wealthy Lebanese businessman. When that businessman is simultaneously called away on emergency business and after Vincent has shown a bit more than mere competence on the job -- or maybe it's simply due to his friend's influence -- he is asked to stay on until the businessman returns to guard his house, his wife and his son.

The entire set-up here is geared for high stakes security, and therefore paranoia, and Ms Winocur very quietly and cleverly allows us to feel all of this without ever being certain whether what we're experiencing is actual danger or merely professional paranoia. Add to this Vincent's own unsettling symptoms, and we're on very shaky ground. For nearly the first half of the film we're kept on our toes and a bit breathless, wondering and waiting for one of those shoes to drop.

When the moment comes for action, the filmmaker proves to be more than up to the task. This scene is absolutely crackerjack -- thrillingly you-are-there -- and its aftermath (why are the authorities behaving in this odd way?) even more so. And Winocur brings everything to completion in a strangely satisfying manner than manages to bring a kind of closure, even as it honors its quest for character with a marvelous combination of strength, precision -- and doubt.

Despite its genre, the movie really has only four important characters, Vincent, the businessman's wife (a fine job by the always glamorous and usually expert Diane Kruger, above), his young son (a good, unfussy and believable job by Zaïd Errougui-Demonsant, below, left), and Paul Hamy as Vincent's friend, Denis (center, two photos below) who, due to all the paranoia surrounding us, we can't help but wonder just how good of a friend he really is.

The filmmaker captures well that initial distance and class difference between employer and employee, and she allows this distance to properly lengthen or shorten, as things take turns for worse and better. For their part Schoenaerts and Kruger do a fine job of making their relationship count, while keeping it as off-balance as is all else around us.

Finally, as it becomes clear that we can no longer trust police, government and who knows who else, we must reply on character.  It is here that Winocur makes her final and finest stand. Disorder gives us much of what genre fans will demand, and then a little more. I think you will remember it oddly and fondly -- right up until its final moment, which you will discuss and perhaps argue over.

From IFC Films and running a nicely-paced and just long-enough 98 minutes, Disorder opens in New York City this coming Friday, August 12, at the Lincoln Plaza Cinema and IFC Center -- while simultaneously becoming available via VOD. We're told that a nationwide, limited-release rollout will follow.

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Alice Winocour, character studies, DISORDER, French cinema, paranoia, PTSD, security thrillers, thrillers,

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A love story, finally, and a believable one, too, centers Nicole Garcia's drama, GOING AWAY

The routinely titled GOING AWAY (in its original French, it was the much better Un beau dimanche, or "A Beautiful Sunday") is so much more interesting and specific than that silly moniker lets on that you might want to take a chance on this strongly character-driven drama about fitting in and opting out. As co-written (with Jacques Fieschi) and directed with economy and the kind of realistic style at which actress/ writer/director Nicole Garcia excels (this is her tenth film, among then the very good Place Vendôme and The Adversary), Going Away turns out to be an easy watch: burgeoning and scattering small surprises as it moves along.

Ms Garcia (shown at right) has cast her film quite well, with the two leads played by an actress I like better each time I see her, Louise Bourgoin, and an actor, Pierre Rochefort, whom I've seen before but never in a leading role until now. Both play characters who are afraid to commit, and their behavior, while understandable if annoying, is also quite enjoyable to watch. Garcia and her co-writer give the pair plenty to do and say and feel, and the duo comes through in fine fashion, with the beautiful Ms Bourgoin (below/above) adding another good role to her versatile resume.

For his part M. Rochefort (above) proves a fine co-star for this actress; he's attractive, manly (if diffident and retiring), and something of surprise in the sudden-fisticuffs department. Also along for the ride is the Bourgoin character's little son, Mathias (played well by newcomer Mathias Brezot, below), who also proves to be the set-up for the movie's combination character-study/road-trip plot.

In a relatively large and somewhat starry supporting cast (members of the Comédie-Française make appearances, as is often the case in French films), most prominent and welcome is the opportunity to see Dominique Sanda (below) once again, looking older, yes, but still sporting those special qualities of class and classic beauty we remember so well from The Garden of the Finzi-Continis and The Conformist.

All about parenting, family and responsibility (in ways that movies don't generally demonstrate), Going Away is, finally, a love story that arrives slowly (which is all the better) but seems that much more believable for taking its own sweet time.

With locations that range from a small provincial town to the seaside (above) to a verdant mountain range and a quite impressive French estate, the movie (which, visually, is a vacation in itself) -- from Cohen Media Group and running just 95 minutes -- arrives on DVD, on Amazon Instant Video and on VOD this Tuesday, June 21, for purchase or rental.

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"family" films, character studies, French cinema, GOING AWAY, Nicole Garcia, parenting issues, road trips, Un beau dimanche,

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Lorenzo Vigas' mysterious FROM AFAR explores the dangers of becoming close

How very similar seems the new Venezuelan movie, FROM AFAR (Desde allá), to Robin Campillo's fine French film Eastern Boys, in which an older man trolls an urban hub to find young men to engage in sex, which leads to a relationship developing between him and one of the boys he meets. Yet by the finale of this relatively quiet, thoughtful and very disturbing film, the two movies could hardly seem more different in outcome and moral. Both are excellent examples of cinematic works that rise above their genre -- if, that is, you must place them in the GLBT category at all (they are both more inclusive that merely that) -- because both are built around and depend upon the personality, behavior and needs of their main characters.

In the case of From Afar, which was written and directed stunningly well by Lorenzo Vigas (shown at left), our protagonist is a fellow whose greatest sexual pleasure comes from having his boy face the wall then pull down his pants (uncovering only maybe two-thirds of his ass), while across the room he masturbates to this view. No eye contact at all. When one new encounter goes wrong and then begins to oddly right itself by developing into a relationship, that path taken by Eastern Boys again comes into view. But wait: The lead role in From Afar is played by Alfredo Castro.

This fine Chilean actor and muse of Pablo Larraín (from Tony Manero through last year's The Club), shown above, seems to have nearly cornered the market on dark, quietly demented characters, and here, as a man called Armando, he has been given one of his most interesting and dynamic roles to portray. How Castro handles this -- the twists and turns of the plot, the behavior of the young man (beautifully played by newcomer Luis Silva, below) -- is compelling at every step of the way.

So much in this movie seems both bizarre and appropriate, from Armando's job making dentures to the boy, Elder, and his conflicting responses to Armando. It seems to me that filmmaker Vigas uses as little dialog as possible, and yet via his choice of details and the excellent performances he draws from the actors, he gives us everything we need to understand not just what is going on -- but why. Not least of all this is the role that a long-missing and probably abusive parent plays in the formation of character.

From Afar is Vigas' full-length film debut, and it is one of the most striking I have seen in some time. Consistently riveting, it draws us into the needs and desires of its two protagonists so firmly that we feel enormously for each of them. As French as was Eastern Boys in its philosophical and nurturing approach, this film is South American in its hard-scrapple view of a Venezuela that has only grown more difficult since the movie was shot.

Among other questions the film asks is the seemingly eternal one, Can love be bought? Vigas' answer is Certainly -- but the price for the seller can be even more costly than for the buyer. The changes these two men go through, if viewed via the hands of other filmmakers, might seem phony. Not here. Young Silva imbues each permutation, small or large, with truth, while Castro, an amazingly subtle actor, continues to amass a resume of roles that makes him the go-to son-of-a-bitch of South America cinema. From Afar is first-class movie-making all the way. Don't miss it.

From Strand Releasing, the movie has its U.S. theatrical premiere this Wednesday, June 8, in New York City at Film Forum and will open the following Friday, June 17 in Los Angeles at the Sundance Sunset Cinemas in West Hollywood. To see all currently scheduled playdates around the country, click here and then scroll down and click the Task Bar on the word Screenings. 

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Alfredo Castro, character studies, FROM AFAR, GLBT movies, Lorenzo Vigas, movies that rise above their genre, mysteries, South American cinema, Venezuelan films,

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BUZZARD's memorable oddities: character, movie, and filmmaker/actor, Joel Potrykus

If you caught indie filmmaker Joel Potrykus' earlier film, Ape, and saw its lead performance from actor Joshua Burge, you're one up on TrustMovies. I came to the new film, BUZZARD, as a virgin to the work of Mr. Potrykus and so was promptly blown-away by the bizarre Mr. Burge and the film in which he takes center stage. What a face this guy has! Every bit as strange and memorable as that of Julian Richings (from last week's oddity, Ejecta), Burge's is younger and a tad more handsome (in a strange way), and the actor uses his face very well, passing from loony to nasty, vulnerable to empty and finally into something quite frigh-tening. And yet this actor manages to hold us and make us somehow care.

Burge is helped considerably by the filmmaking skills -- mini-budget as they may be -- of Mr. Potrykus, shown at right. The writer/ director sticks his camera in Burge's fluid face and captures those features, large and handsome-grotesque, in their constant and amazing mobility. Burge plays Marty Jackitansky (he's White Russian, rather than Polish) a slacker/scam artist who works as a temp at some kind of bank, where his co-worker and friend (were this guy capable of actu-ally having a friend), Derek (shown at bottom and played by the filmmaker himself) have fun and do very little work. Marty's scams, minor and funny as they initially seem, grow larger and more dangerous as the movie unfolds. As does our non-hero, as well.

Yes, Marty is an anti-social asshole, but he is also a medically-challenged, problemed person, with whom we ever so gingerly begin to empathize. This empathy, which actor Burge allows us to feel despite his character's huge flaws, is what makes the movie more than mere caricature or deadpan humor. Burge, shown above and below, lets us enter the mind and soul of Marty and, hellish place that this is, also allows us to engage with him.

Along the way, we see our guy taken advantage of by an even-more-powerful scammer, and then hightail it off to Detroit, where he stays in a posh hotel and eats spaghetti and meatballs (above) and get into even more trouble. The threat of violence hangs over Buzzard from the very first scene (involving an odd glove). And though this violence does come to fruition, it is both worse and better than we might have imagined.

There's a school-boy duel between Freddy Krueger and a Star Wars laser, and some back-story hints dropped now and again. But to Potrykus' great credit, he has turned Buzzard into a fine character study of a sad but fascinatingly marginal figure -- and in the process given his star a creepily star-making role to play.

The movie -- from Oscilloscope and running 97 minutes -- debuts tomorrow, March 4, at BAM in Brooklyn, and then opens theatrically this Friday, March 6, at 13 cities across the country, and further, too, in the weeks to come. (In NYC, it plays the Film Society of Lincoln Center; in L.A., Laemmle's Noho 7.) To see all currently scheduled playdates, with cities and theaters, click here and scroll down.

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American independent cinema, BUZZARD, character studies, Joel Potrykus, Joshua Burge, paranoia, scammers, thievery,

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Coal-mining country comes to life -- and death -- in Sara Colangelo's film, LITTLE ACCIDENTS

The first thing that came to mind as the credits began to roll at the end of LITTLE ACCIDENTS -- a film about which I had read nothing, except that it starred an actress whom I enjoy seeing, Elizabeth Banks -- was that it must have been directed by a woman. So full of feeling and empathy for the place, the people, the situation is this film that, unfair or not, I found myself thinking that a man simply would not have done it this way. When the director credit appeared, with the name Sara Colangelo attached, I was not surprised, though I knew nothing about the work of this young woman.

Little Accidents appears to be Ms Colangelo's first full-length film (the writer/director is shown at left), and although it's not a great one, it is a good one, worth seeing and quietly ingesting its feel for character and location. The movie moves slowly; you'll need to check your more typical expectation of fast pacing in order to fully experience this small town, propelled by the coal mine at its center that provides a living (and often a dying) for its men, disillusion for its women, and for its children -- unless they get out -- the chance to grow into one or the other when they reach adulthood.

The film begins as the miners go to work one morning, with some emphasis placed upon Amos Jenkins, (Boyd Holbrook, below), the character who is pivotal to the film because he soon becomes the only survivor of that morning's mine accident.

We don't see this accident, nor do we need to. We've by now seen and heard about so many of these that one simply follows in the footsteps of the next, though each also becomes a hotly contested battle ground between miners, owners and the union.

These accidents have left plenty of widows, one of whom is played by Chloë Sevigny (above), mother of the boy, Owen (Jacob Lofland, below, who was so fine in last year's Mud). Owen is responsible for the second, smaller accident that results in the death of another teenage boy.

How these two "accidents," both of which could have been avoided, come together and resonate in ways greater than either of them might have individually makes up the tale that Ms Colangelo tells. Class differences bubble up soon enough, for the missing teen is the son of the mine's "manager" (the under-used Josh Lucas, two photos below) and his wife, Diane (played by the always reliable Ms Banks, shown just below).

New liaisons are soon made, and various characters must confront their histories and their actions and take responsibility. All this happens very gradually. Nothing feels forced, and when we finally reach the finale, what we get is neither the usual feel-good closure or the rarer tragedy in the making. We see instead what looks awfully like life lived as it might be in a little town like this with people who seem sad and real and worth saving.  

If Little Accidents' snail pace at times threatens to derail our interest, the filmmaker gets back on track soon enough, and performances all seem genuine, place-specific and thus believable. 

The movie -- from Amplify and running a slightly long 105 minutes -- should make certain that this filmmaker is heard from again, and soon. It opens this Friday, January 16, in New York City at the Cinema Village and in the Los Angeles area at the NoHo 7 and simultaneously in another dozen cities throughout the country, with further playdates scheduled for the weeks to come. To see all currently scheduled playdates, cities and theaters, click here and scroll down.

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accidents, character studies, Class, coal-mining movies, good ensemble acting, LITTLE ACCIDENTS, Sara Colangelo,

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A Christmas present from Minnesota (but one you can't unwrap just yet): Dave Ash's 2021

It's always nice -- in addition to covering filmmakers based in California, New York and countries all around the world -- to have an independent movie-maker from some of the culturally lesser-known American states check in with us here at TrustMovies. Earlier this year we heard from Oklahoma via a lovely little narrative film called Home, James. Arizona's been represented by the taste-free Pizza Shop: The Movie and a nice little documentary, Underwater Dreams. And now, on Christmas Day we're covering a film (his second) from Minnesota-based filmmaker, Dave Ash. If his 2021 (the title doubles as the year the film takes place) is any indication, this oft-frozen state is a hotbed of sublime talent.

Mr. Ash, shown at right, has done something rather remarkable here. He's combined several genres -- rom-com, sci-fi, dystopian future, mystery, character study, and maybe a few more I'll discover via a second viewing -- into a single slim-but-bracing little movie. It looks very homemade, as indeed it is. Even a few minutes into it, however, I suspect you'll be hooked. This is because, in each genre he tackles, Ash finds the one thing that makes it matter -- the humanity at the heart of it all. 2021 may be lacking in certain stylish factors, but in terms of content and characterization, this is one special movie.

Who knew that such first-rate talent existed in the Minneapolis area as leading man Clarence Wethern (above), a New Orleans-born actor who relocated to Minneapolis after most of his family lost their homes during Hurricane Katrina. Louisiana's loss in Minnesota's gain, for Mr. Wethern excels in every respect as John, the nerdy, exceedingly bright and maybe Asperger-tinged fellow at the center of Ash's film, who falls hard for a young lady named Emily (Bethany Ford, below) who is something of a mystery and may be every bit as problemed as is our hero.

John, you see, is something of a programming genius, who is asked by his immediate boss, as well as by that boss' boss, to solve a certain singularity problem that is looming and, in fact, is en route to be solved, perhaps by his company's competition. Setting his movie a mere seven years hence, Mr. Ash makes it unnecessary to dabble much in any special effects, for our physical lives and environments won't have changed much in the intervening time.

The filmmaker is either a very smart guy, or he and the other fellow responsible for the story here, Michael Lent, have done their research and due diligence in order to make the "science" part of the equation seem real and even somewhat understandable to the viewer. Einstein, Gödel, Turing and Kurzweil all figure into this mix, though you don't have to be a scientist to understand how and why.

More important, the human equation is always in front of us -- and just as understandable, whether it is taking the form of John's therapist (a very intriguing and humorous performance by Charles Hubble, above); his best friend, Mitch (a sleazy-but-lovable Sam Landman, below, who notes pridefully to John that, "While you were out there searching for the perfect 'ten,' I nailed five 'twos'!"). The dialog here is often quite funny and on the mark, as well.

Also on tap is John's not-particularly-to-be-trusted boss, Brandon (played with just the right amount of enthusiasm and withholding by Scot Moore, below). But finally, it is the performances of Wethern and Ms Ford that makes this movie a don't-miss. Wethern, especially, is so real and unsettling that it often hurts to watch the guy. Your heart goes out to him, even as you're eventually frightened as hell by what he might do.

One of the nicest surprises of 2021 is that you won't really know what the film is about until it's over. The workplace, a promotion, therapy, love, success, science, technology and art -- all of these swirl around as the story works its way to a climax in which everything zeros in on exposing... what? Well, among other things, the content of our character.

In my headline above, I mention that this film is a kind of Christmas present that you can't yet unwrap. Too true, since 2021 is not now available for my readers to view. A release of some sort is planned for 2015, but because I love this film so much and want to see it reach as wide an audience as possible, I am beating the drum a bit in advance here. As soon as some kind of release is scheduled, I will re-post this review, with updated info on how you can see it.

Meanwhile, get ready, eventually, for your tardy and very unusual holiday gift from Minnesota.

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2021, American independent cinema, Bethany Ford, character studies, Clarence Wethern, Dave Ash, genre mash-ups, Minnesota movies, mysteries, rom-coms with heart, rom-coms with smarts, sci-fi,

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