This week: a wildlife documentary unlike any you’ve ever seen and two movies about human wild life. Korean zombies, too.
ON VIDEO
Sibyl: The sex-filled melodrama from director Juliet Triet is trashy, but in that sly and expert French way. Sibyl is streaming on Virtual Cinema; I watched it at the Laemmle.
#Alive: A Korean Home Alone with zombies. Streaming on Netflix
DTF: The wild and unpleasant DTF is not the documentary that filmmaker Al Bailey planned, but instead it’s an unexpected descent from prurience into menace.
Rodents of Unusual Size: This charmingly addictive documentary features 5 million orange-toothed critters and a Cajun octogenarian. Streaming from Amazon and iTunes.
The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE:
- The August Virgin: searching for reinvention. Best Movies of 2020 – So Far.
- Apocalypse ’45: I never imagined hell being that bad
- Coup 53: uncovering what we suspected
- An Easy Girl: summer school in Cannes
- Moka: whodunit mixed with psychological thriller
- Lucky Grandma: tour de grouch
- She Dies Tomorrow: you have not seen this before
- Prime Suspect: binging one of TV’s greatest episodic characters.
- The Speed Cubers: odd, and then profound
- Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind: no, I hadn’t thought of him for decades, either
- Yes, God, Yes: learning that hypocrisy is a choice.
- Dateline-Saigon: the truth will out
- Mucho Mucho Amor: The Legend of Walter Mercado: gentleness and flamboyancy
- The Truth: Reconciling your truth with another’s. Best Movies of 2020 – So Far.
- The 11th Green: a thinking person’s conspiracy
- Inmate #1: The Rise of Danny Trejo: redemption never gets old
- Driveways: I can’t think of a more authentic movie about intergenerational relationships than this charming, character-driven indie. Best Movies of 2020 – So Far.
- The Lovebirds: A rom com with a playful plot and a truthful relationship.
ON TV
On September 19, Turner Classic Movies will play the 1957 classic Western 3:10 to Yuma. This may the career-best performance by the underrated Van Heflin, who plays a financially ruined rancher who bets his life for a chance to support his family. All he has to do is to guard a cruel and resourceful outlaw (Glenn Ford) against rescue attempts by his gang. Heflin’s rancher is totally outmatched and his only chance comes from his desperation-fueled adrenaline. It’s an edge-of-your-seat countdown until help is scheduled to arrive. The 2007 remake with Christian Bale and Russell Crowe is very good, too, but Van Heflin reigns supreme.
