Forgive me, dear readers, for my tardiness of this month’s column. You probably know what they say about excuses, but I’m fine blaming this on the long holiday weekend getting in the way of work. Now that the grills have been shut off and the cooler is beer-free, we can get into what’s worth seeking out this July. Whether you need to escape into other worlds for the sheer joy of it or just need a few hours of air conditioning, I’ve got you covered for what’s coming out in theaters.
For the second month in a row, I’m giving my very prestigious Film Of The Month award to one I’ve not yet seen, but am greatly anticipating. The directorial debut of actor Brady Corbet, “The Childhood Of A Leader,” won awards while also garnering plenty of criticisms when it premiered at Venice last year. The trailers and overall marketing have been stellar, and I can’t think of a more perfect film to highlight, so be sure to keep an eye out. Check out what other films I’ve highlighted below, and see you at the movies.
“The BFG”
Synopsis: A girl named Sophie encounters the Big Friendly Giant who, despite his intimidating appearance, turns out to be a kindhearted soul who is considered an outcast by the other giants because, unlike them, he refuses to eat children.
What You Need To Know: This year’s seen more than one filmmaker attempt to capture that ineffable sense of Spielberg-ness — Jeff Nichols gave it a shot with “Midnight Special,” and David Lowery has “Pete’s Dragon” coming next month — but there’s nothing quite like the master himself. With the almost irresistible family-movie team-up of the director, Disney and Roald Dahl, this adapts one of the author’s later classics, blending live-action with motion-capture, and with Spielberg’s current muse, Oscar-winner Mark Rylance, as the title character. When we caught the premiere at Cannes back in May, we were mostly won over by its charms: “It certainly meanders on occasion… for the most part, ‘The BFG’ exceeds expectations in terms of Rylance’s performance, and joyously expounds the essence of a cherished children’s tale with imaginative glory and boundless love.”
Release Date: July 1st
“Microbe & Gasoline”
Synopsis: Two young friends embark on a road trip across France in a vehicle they built themselves.
What You Need To Know: When we caught this film at NYFF last year in September, our critic nailed what makes director Michel Gondry, here again making another smaller, personal effort as he’s been doing post-“Green Hornet,” so exciting and frustrating. “There’s almost no limit to the imagination of director, and as the incessantly precious whimsy of last year’s intolerable ‘Mood Indigo‘ made clear, that’s not always a good thing. It’s refreshing then, that for his latest film, the director tones down his usual quirky, ‘look-at-me’ visual spectacle, for a low-key tale… A charming coming-of-age saga in which Gondry channels his usual preoccupations through the prism of a Truffaut-esque tale of iconoclasts in search of themselves and their place in the world. For the acclaimed French auteur, less is usually more.” Gondry has always been a tad hit-or-miss for most of us, but he is responsible for “Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind” (a post-2000s masterwork) and the blisteringly entertaining, life-affirming Dave Chappelle doc “Block Party,” so he’s always worth catching back up with.
Release Date: July 1st
“Our Little Sister”
Synopsis: After their father’s death, three adult sisters ask their half-sister, who they meet for the first time at the funeral, to move in with them.
What You Need To Know: It’s easy to take Hirokazu Kore-eda for granted: The Japanese filmmaker has been knocking his films out at a steady pace for more than 20 years, with this year’s “After The Storm” marking his third film in just four years. But we shouldn’t undervalue him: His brand of delicate, understated melodrama is always welcome, with few filmmakers tackling the kind of subject matter that he does with the kind of sensitivity and nuance that he does. His latest, an adaptation of manga “Umimachi Diary,” might sound like a sort of Japanese riff on “Party Of Five,” but as our review from Cannes last year revealed, there’s little in the way of soapiness to it. However, Jess said that the film’s “sexless delicacy” and “frictionless tastefulness” perhaps marks it as minor Kore-eda, but its gentleness will surely be a good thing in this summer season, and even a minor effort from this humanist auteur is richer than most directors’ best work.
Release Date: July 8th (Limited)
“Men Go To Battle”
Synopsis: A Kentucky farmer learns that his missing brother is fighting for the Union Army.
What You Need To Know: This low-budget historical effort from Zachary Treitz and Kate Lyn Sheil (best known as an actress, showing up on recently on Steven Soderbergh‘s Starz series “The Girlfriend Experience“) sets its story in the 1860s, treating the Civil War period as a background prop on a minuscule stage, in an intimate and muted story about two brothers. When our critic saw it last year at Tribeca, he made note of its small-scale focus and pure indie roots: “Treitz and Sheil are more interested in the rift that grows between two brothers over the course of the war’s first year… ‘Men Go To Battle’ has a much more unassuming aura around it, interested in the quotidian moments of ordinary folk living on the outskirts of the war. It’s a profoundly vague piece of filmmaking that hides an undeniable magnetism beneath its bare-boned narrative.” It certainly sounds like a particular cinematic experience, but one in a trend of similarly low-budget genre and arthouse efforts that zoom in their focus. It’s a trend we hope continues.
Release Date: July 8th (Limited)
