Vanity, thy name is Lynne Alana Delaney and/or THE REMAKE. Take your pick.

Normally, TrustMovies does not mark a film with the term "vanity production." But when the movie in question is written, directed and produced by and has as its star the very same person (who also had a hand in the film's casting, production design, set decoration, and even the costume and wardrobe departments), one begins to suspect.

Now, I realize that some of that heavy work load may be due to a small budget, so I must give Lynne Alana Delaney (at left, above, and on poster, top) the benefit of that doubt. Otherwise, this woman must take responsibility for handing us THE REMAKE, one of the most obvious, by-the-numbers, what-a-surprise (not), senior-style rom-coms in a very long while. This is too bad for a couple of reasons: One, the movie will bore anyone who wants even the tiniest challenge and genuine surprise; two, its premise is really not bad. In other hands it might have been stylish fun.

That premise is this: A down-on-his-luck Hollywood director seeks to reunite the two actors who starred in his big hit a few decades ago. The problem is that, soon after this, the male actor (Ruben Roberto Gomez, at right in the two photos and poster, above) stood up his co-star at the altar, and the two have not seen nor spoken since.

In the meantime the woman married, raised a daughter (the lovely Tessa Munroe, above, right) and had a decent career, while the man went back to Italy and nursed his wounds. What really happened seems to take an eternity to unfurl here, though the film lasts only 97 minutes. Further it repeats itself unnecessarily (we get it, we get it) and its couple of big would-be surprises telegraph themselves a mile or two away.

So we're left with the writing and direction (perfunctory at best) and the performances, most of which are OK -- with the exception of Ms Delaney herself, who bugs her eyes, overdoes things and wears too much make-up. She is an attractive woman and is probably talented but perhaps has simply taken on way too much here.

In the supporting cast are old-timers like Sally Kellerman (the blond at far left, above, and always fun to watch), Patrika Darbo (near left, above), and especially June Lockhart (shown at bottom, left), who plays one of the nastiest and most clueless grandmothers to be seen in some time. (And, yes, the movie even includes a cameo by Larry King, below.)

And that's about it. Considering that this movie is supposed to be about the remake of an old film, we see almost nothing of that film itself, but spend most of our time on the same old boring romantic problems that seem so obviously fixable -- if only certain people would just talk to each other. Ah, well: How, then, would all these crummy roms-coms and situations comedies exist to reach their foregone conclusions?

Opening today, so far as we know, at a single theater in the Los Angeles area (Laemmle's Moncia Film Center), The Remake will maybe eventually make its way onto DVD or streaming, where, if you don't live in L.A. area, you can still see it and judge for yourself. 

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Lynne Alana Delaney, parentage and parenting, the movie business, THE REMAKE, vanity productions, would-be love stories,

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An Israeli gem worth treasuring: Shemi Zarhin's family road trip, THE KIND WORDS

A trio of grown children get a surprise jolt about their parentage in one of this year's most joyous and enjoyable movies, the new film from Israeli writer/director Shemi Zarhin, who, a decade or so back, gave us the lovely Bonjour, Monsieur Sholmi. His latest work -- THE KIND WORDS -- is even better: one of the most beautifully acted family comedy-dramas I can recall in a long while, and one that always maintains its grip on reality, no matter how bizarre the situation appears to grow.

This is due to absolutely spot-on and first-rate dialog, and characterizations of the four family members -- two brothers, a sister and a brother-in-law -- that are so precisely attuned to the way siblings (along with that one slightly outsider) act and think and feel that the movie, at times, is often so specific and real that it will make you shiver. I can only assume that Mr. Zarhin, shown at right, is himself a sibling and perhaps from this kind of large family. If not, he is just about the most astute observer of this special sort of sibling behavior that one could possibly imagine.

He gets enormous help, it must be said, from his fine cast, who bounce off each other with the kind of grace and ease that seem to have come from decades of sibling competition, interaction and love. How this little group speaks, touches, watches and understands each other is so full of specificity, history and especially humor that near-constant delight is served up.

The cast includes as the three siblings (above, clockwise from top) the hunky/funny Roy Assaf (seen just last week as the weakling hero of Wedding Doll), Assaf Ben-Shimon (playing, and very well, the bisexual brother with a child living in Bulgaria), and the standout Rotem Zissman-Cohen as their angry, witty, frustrated sister. The smart and stable brother-in-law Ricky, played with infinite patience and caring by Tsahi Halevi, is shown at left, two photos above, while that sort-of father, whom we warm up to more and more as the film frolics along, is played by Sasson Gabai, below.

The story? Via a sudden revelation by their "father" followed by some astute investigation (all three of these kids are bright), the siblings discover that their paternity may lie elsewhere, perhaps in France. The movie takes us from Israel to Paris to Marseilles, from posh hotel to hospital, dance club, sauna, the home of a famous actress and a very unusual restaurant.

All along the way, our delightful quartet of kids -- plus their tag-along dad -- keeps us chuckling, smarting and hoping for some kind of closure for them all. How that closure finally comes is, I suspect, nothing like what you will expect -- or even imagine that you want. But filmmaker Zarhin is determined to make us consider and wonder and finally appreciate what our inner and most secret lives -- and those of our parents -- might actually be about.

Some secrets need to stay secret, in fact, and that "identity" we seek can as often be based on things outside our own body and mind (and control), so it is salutary to occasionally be reminded of this. Which is something that The Kind Words -- damned few of which are uttered throughout the movie, which is perhaps another of the filmmakers' points and is all to the good, so far as expert entertainment is concerned -- manages in spades.

The movie -- a delicious road trip that takes in themes of Jewish and Arab identity, GLBT concerns, history, religion, orthodoxy and so much more -- refuses to indulge us in any expected happy ending (it does not offer up an unhappy one, either), and it is all the better, smarter and special for this refusal.

From Strand Releasing, in Hebrew and French and English subtitles, and running a long but consistently enjoyable two hours, The Kind Words opens this Friday, June 24, in New York City at the Lincoln Plaza Cinema and in Los Angeles on July 1 at Laemmle's Royal and Town Center theaters. Here in South Florida the film opens on July 22 at Miami's Bill Cosford Cinema and at the Cinema Paradiso in Hollywood. Elsewhere? Absolutely. Click here and then scroll down to the task bar midway and click on Screenings.

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"family" films, comedy-dramas, family secrets, Israeli cinema, parentage and parenting, road trips, Shemi Zarhin, THE KIND WORDS,

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