Eight of my Best Films of 2018 – So Far are already available to stream. Here they are, and this week I’m featuring: Beast: finally unleashed … and untethered.Beast is a romance, a psychological thriller and a serial killer procedural. But it’s Jessie Buckley’s performance and Michael Pearce’s story that should bring you to see Beast. It’s a heckuva ride. You can stream it on Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
Also available to stream:
Leave No Trace: his demons, not hers. Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
The Rider: a life’s passion is threatened. n Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
The Death of Stalin: gallows humor from the highest of scaffolds. Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
Custody: the searing essence of domestic violence. Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
Three Identical Strangers: a Feel Good until we peel back the onion. Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
Quality Problems: a screwball comedy for the sandwich generation. My favorite film from last year’s Cinequest has been released on video this year: Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
Outside In: she finds herself finally ready. Streaming on Netflix.
Eight of my Best Films of 2018 – So Far are already available to stream. Here they are, and this week I’m featuring The Death of Stalin: gallows humor from the highest of scaffolds. The Death of Stalin is a savagely funny movie from writer-director Armando Ianucci (Veep,In the Loop), a master of mocking the ambition, venality and flattery of those reaching for power. In The Death of Stalin, he adds terror to his quiver of motivations, and the result is darkly hilarious. You can stream it on Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
Also available to stream:
Leave No Trace: his demons, not hers. Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
The Rider: a life’s passion is threatened. n Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
Beast: finally unleashed … and untethered. Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
Custody: the searing essence of domestic violence. Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
Three Identical Strangers: a Feel Good until we peel back the onion. Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
Quality Problems: a screwball comedy for the sandwich generation. My favorite film from last year’s Cinequest has been released on video this year: Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
Outside In: she finds herself finally ready. Streaming on Netflix.
Eight of my Best Films of 2018 – So Far are already available to stream. Here they are, and this week I’m featuring The Rider: a life’s passion is threatened. A young man’s rodeo injury threatens to keep him from his passions. Filmed in South Dakota with non-professional actors, The Rider is emotionally powerful and genuine – and not a bit corny. It’s also visually beautiful. You can stream it on Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
Also available to stream:
Leave No Trace: his demons, not hers. Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
The Death of Stalin: gallows humor from the highest of scaffolds. Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
Beast: finally unleashed … and untethered. Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
Custody: the searing essence of domestic violence. Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
Three Identical Strangers: a Feel Good until we peel back the onion. Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
Quality Problems: a screwball comedy for the sandwich generation. My favorite film from last year’s Cinequest has been released on video this year: Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
Outside In: she finds herself finally ready. Streaming on Netflix.
Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie and Ben Foster in a scene from Debra Granik’s LEAVE NO TRACE
Eight of my Best Films of 2018 – So Far are already available to stream. Here they are, and this week I’m featuring Leave No Trace: his demons, not hers. Leave No Trace is Debra Granik’s first narrative feature since her 2010 Winter’s Bone (which I had rated as the best film of that year). Leave No Trace is a brilliant coming of age film that stars Ben Foster and Thomasin McKenzie as a dad-daughter team who challenge conventional thinking about homelessness and healthy parenting. Winter’s Bone launched the career of Jennifer Lawrence, and Leave No Trace might do the same for newcomer McKenzie. Leave No Trace may be streamed from Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
Also available to stream:
The Rider: a life’s passion is threatened. n Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
The Death of Stalin: gallows humor from the highest of scaffolds. Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
Beast: finally unleashed … and untethered. Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
Custody: the searing essence of domestic violence. Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
Three Identical Strangers: a Feel Good until we peel back the onion. Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
Quality Problems: a screwball comedy for the sandwich generation. My favorite film from last year’s Cinequest has been released on video this year: Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
Outside In: she finds herself finally ready. Streaming on Netflix.
In his searing French thriller Custody, writer-director Xavier Legrand paints the most elemental and realistic depiction of domestic violence that I’ve seen. Custody begins with a child custody hearing over an almost 18-year-old daughter and an 11-year-old son. Neither kids wants anything to do with the dad, and there’s more than a hint of spousal abuse in their past, but the court awards the father weekend visits with his son.
The father (Denis Ménochet) is acting very reasonably at the custody hearing, of course, but we soon see signs of the need for domination and control that is the core of domestic violence. He can’t bear not knowing where his ex-wife (Léa Drucker) lives. He needs to be the “winner” in every transaction. With naked entitlement, he says “I get an extra hour because I picked you up an hour late”. Too vile even for his own parents, the father is an insistent stalker.
Especially through the eyes of the son (Thomas Gioria in a miraculous performance), Legrand helps the audience understand the traumatization of family violence. Every family member lives with dread of the father surprising them like a bogeyman. The boy takes on responsibility to protect his mom and sister by keeping the dad away from them – it’s an emotionally wracking burden that no child should bear. The mom is not a hero or a feminist icon – she just wants to survive and not be a victim.
Intimate partner violence is about power and control. In Custody, the father doesn’t react physically until the movie’s midpoint, and he doesn’t touch another character until almost the end. But, without hitting anyone, he is successful in terrorizing the family. By buzzing the mom’s doorbell in the middle of night, he proves that he really is a terrorist. And his lethality emerges in the thriller ending. LeGrand says that the thriller aspect of Custody comes organically from fear.
Léa Drucker and Denis Ménochet, in CUSTODY. Courtesy Kino Lorber.
Every performance is excellent, and Menochet’s has received plaudits. But the child actor Thomas Gloria goes places you don’t expect a child to go; his performance is stunning. Menochet discusses his performance and Gioria’s in this Inside Picturehouse interview on YouTube.
As the sister, Mathilde Auneveux delivers a mesmerizing performance of Proud Mary at her birthday party. She is clearly distracted by at least one event in her life, but which is it?
In Custody, Legrand has also filmed the most perfectly shot pregnancy test scene ever.
Custody is the remarkable first feature from Xavier Lagrand. The story grew out of his Oscar-winning short film with the same actors, Just Before Losing Everything. Custody won Legrand the Silver Lion (Best Director) at the Venice film festival. I saw it at Silicon Valley’s Cinema Club months before its release.
Custody can be streamed from Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
