Road to Nowhere

Movies to See Right Now

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Don Cheadle and Breandan Gleeson in THE GUARD

I went to see The Guard for a second time and it was well worth it.  The Irish dark comedy stars Brendan Gleeson and Don Cheadle.   Sarah’s Key is an excellent drama starring Kristin Scott Thomas as a journalist investigating very personal aspects of a French episode in the Holocaust. The historical drama Amigo benefits from writer-director John Sayles’ typically excellent juggling of interconnected characters and from a fine cast. The Debt, with Helen Mirren, is a multigenerational thriller that addresses the costs of both truth and untruth.  Higher Ground (I’ll comment tomorrow) is Vera Farmiga’s provocative take on persons of faith.

Woody Allen’s sweet, funny and thoughtful comedy Midnight in Paris is continuing its long, long run. It’s on my list of Best Movies of 2011 – So Far.

Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone are excellent in the romcom Crazy Stupid Love. Despite Rachel Weisz’s performance, The Whistleblower is a misfire – a potentially riveting story clumsily told.

You can see trailers of upcoming films at Movies I’m Looking Forward To.

My DVD pick is Road to Nowhere.  Other recent DVD picks have been Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy (1979), Poetry, Queen to Play, Kill the Irishman, The Music Never Stopped and Source Code.

DVD of the Week: Road to Nowhere

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Road to Nowhere could be subtitled Monte Hellman’s Jigsaw Puzzle.  It’s the first film in twenty years from 79-year-old cult director Hellman, and he has delivered a multi-layered riddle that challenges the audience.  There is the story of a crime as it was originally understood, the story of what really happened and the story of a film being made about the crime.  The same actors play the characters in all three stories.  One of the actors in the movie may actually be one of the participants in the original crime.

It’s not a film for everyone.  You must be willing to accept that the story is not going to make sense for a while, and some issues are never going to be resolved.  If you can engage in the puzzle, there’s enough of a payoff.

My guilty pleasures include Hellman’s 1974 Cockfighter with Warrren Oates and his 1971 Two-Lane Blacktop with Oates and James Taylor (yes, the singer-songwriter James Taylor).  Road to Nowhere is far more stylish and ambitious than those films, but far more baffling.

In Road to Nowhere, the director of the film within the film discovers and becomes besotted, even obsessed, with his leading lady – and things do not turn out happily.  I had to think of the female lead in Two Lane Blacktop, Laurie Bird;  Hellman had a relationship with Bird, who later became Art Garfunkle’s companion and committed suicide in Garfunkle’s apartment.

 

Other recent DVD picks have been Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy, Poetry, Queen to Play, Kill the Irishman and The Music Never Stopped.

Movies to See Right Now

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Buck

The cream of the crop are still the sweet, funny and thoughtful comedies Beginners and Midnight in Paris, along with the riveting documentary Project Nim.  Buck is a wonderful documentary about a real-life horse whisperer with a compelling human story.  All four are on my list of Best Movies of 2011 – So Far.

If you have kids, Pixar’s Cars 2 is an excellent choice (adults will especially enjoy the James Bond spoof thread).  So is Super 8, a wonderful coming of age story embedded in a sci fi action thriller.  The Trip delivers some chuckles.  Turkey Bowl is a delightful indie comedy available from iTunes.  Page One: A Year Inside the New York Times explores journalism’s evolution in an age of new media, and I recommend it for hard news junkies.

In Bridesmaids, Kristen Wiig plays a woman whose insecurities keep her from seeing the good and the possible in her life; it’s funny, but not one of the year’s best. The Hangover Part 2 is just not original enough, and, consequently, not funny enough. Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life contains a good 90-minute family drama that is completely derailed by an additional hour of mind-numbingly self-important claptrap.

For trailers and other choices,see Movies to See Right Now.

I haven’t yet seen Sarah’s Key or Road to Nowhere, which open this weekend, or Tabloid, which opens widely. You can see trailers of upcoming films at Movies I’m Looking Forward To.

My DVD pick is the French comedy Potiche, one of my Best Movies of 2011 – So Far.

Movies on TV this weekend include the prison classics Midnight Express and Cool Hand Luke on TCM, both on my list of 10 Best Prison Movies.

Movies: Best bets for late July

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You can see trailers and descriptions of upcoming films at Movies I’m Looking Forward To.

Beginning on July 22, in Sarah’s Key, Kristen Scott Thomas stars in another French film, this time as a journalist tracking the story of a girl during the WWII roundup of Jews in France.  Co-stars Niels Arestrup (A Prophet) and Aidan Quinn.

Also on July 22, 1970s cult director Monte Hellman presents Road to Nowhere, just after he turned 79 on July 12.  His signature is the hard-edged road movie.

On July 29, we’ll have another showcase for Brendan Gleeson (In Bruges)  in The Guard,  an Irish dark comedy about a lowbrow cop happening upon an international drug conspiracy.

On August 5, we’ll see The Names of Love, in which Sarah Forestier has gotten great buzz for her performance as a flighty lefty Frenchwoman who seeks to educate and convert conservatives by sleeping with them.

Here’s the trailer for Sarah’s Key.