“Get Out”
It may be smarter than it is scary, but when a film is as smart as Jordan Peele‘s deliciously subversive horror that’s hardly a criticism. Apparently just the first in a series Peele has planned that will give social issues a genre horror makeover, here he dives right in at the deep end, delivering a blisteringly accurate satire on the kind of racism that can exist within middle-class, purportedly liberal, white society — among people who fundamentally do not believe they could ever be racist. “I would have voted for Obama a third time if I could!” goes Bradley Whitford‘s jocular dad-joke. Daniel Kaluuya and Alison Williams are perfectly cast as the loved-up mixed-race central couple, with Kaluuya so effortlessly sympathetic that even white audiences have to stand and cheer at the film’s bloodily cathartic conclusion. It’s also a fantastic bellwether, feeling mischievously designed to elicit outraged bleats of “reverse racism!” from the kind of snowflake idiots who believe there is such thing as reverse racism. [Our review]
“Their Finest”
Released back in April to not much attention even from the grey-dollar audience that made movies like “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” and “Woman In Gold” surprise hits, “Their Finest” was the older-skewing British crowdpleaser done right – a deceptively melancholy love letter to the movies that deserve to find a bigger audience. Marking director Lone Scherfig‘s return to the form of “An Education” after a couple of misfires, it adapts Lissa Evans‘ novel about a Welsh copywriter (Gemma Arterton) hired to bring ‘a woman’s touch’ to British WW2 propaganda films, and is enlisted to help boozy misanthrope screenwriter Sam Claflin make a film about Dunkirk. There’s an almost Ealing-ish sense of warmth to the strong comic ensemble – Bill Nighy is a highlight, as ever. A glowing love for the camaraderie of moviemaking oddly reminiscent of Truffaut’s “Day For Night,” the film stands out for the sense of tragedy that underpins the japes: this is wartime Britain where every life is touched by death that can come at random, but it doesn’t stop people from wanting to live those lives. [Our review]
“My Life As A Zucchini”
Claude Barras‘ delightful stop-motion animation, written by “Girlhood” director Celine Sciamma, packs more pin-sharp observation and unsentimental heart into its slim, lo-fi 66-minute runtime than most Disney vehicles manage in twice that. The rag-tag story of a little boy sent to a home after the death of his alcoholic, neglectful mother, it’s a relatively straightforward narrative as little Zucchini finds love and acceptance among the other outcast children. The film is elevated by the curiously uncondescending way these young kids are characterized and differentiated and given real personalities with real-life challenges despite being made out of play-doh. “There’s nobody left to love us, of course, ” says one of the kids, as a pointed statement of fact, delivered without self-pity.Of course, there is: by its close Zucchini has not only found people to belong to (and with) inside this charmingly bug-eyed animated world, but literally every viewer with a halfway beating heart loves them all too. [Our review]
“The Lost City Of Z”
He’s widely respected by cinephiles (especially abroad), but James Gray often struggles to get much attention — modest hit “We Own The Night” aside, his films are often near-buried by their distributors, with his last movie “The Immigrant” getting a particularly disgraceful treatment. So it’s immensely gratifying to see that his latest, “The Lost City Of Z,” has done legitimately well at the box office, taking $8 million to date, especially because the film is one of his absolute best. Based on David Grann’s non-fiction book about explorer Percy Fawcett’s multiple trips through the Amazon to find a fabled city, it feels, thanks to the absorbing atmosphere that Gray conjures and Darius Khondji’s spellbinding 35mm photography, like a lost masterpiece from the 1970s, almost “Barry Lyndon”-ish in the magic it conjures. It’s a movie so great that even Charlie Hunnam is good in it. [Our review]
“Dean”
It could have been a sort of Zach Braff situation: a reasonably well-known comedian (in this case mop-top-haired one-time Comedy Central sketch star and “In A World” romantic lead Demetri Martin) makes his directorial debut in a Woody Allen-influenced melancholic romantic comedy starring himself, with a certain level of quirk (here, line-drawing animation that reflects Martin’s stage act), and with the omnipresent Gillian Jacobs as the female lead. But while it’s not breaking down new ground in any way, “Dean” works pretty brilliantly. Martin stars as the title character, an illustrator dealing with the loss of his mother, as his father (Kevin Kline, better here than in years) also grieves, prepares to sell his family home and faces the possibility of moving on, thanks to a realtor (Mary Steenburgen). It’s got a real, winning and witty specificity with the admittedly familiar subjects it tackles (a strong cast helps), and a big bruised heart at its center, leading to one of the more moving endings we’ve seen this year. [Our review]
