The Last Mistress

Paris, 1835--On the eve of his marriage to frigid French aristocrat Hermangarde (Roxane Mesquida), Ryno do Marigny (Fu-ad Ait Aatou) tells his fiancé’s grandmother, Marquise de Flers (Claude Sarraute), the sordid details of his ten-year relationship with his fiery Spanish mistress Vellini (Asia Argento), a woman of unquenchable desire. Fraught with leaden exposition, melodramatic outbursts of billowy emotion, and dispassionate sex scenes, the movie ultimately fails because of its lack empathetic characters, and because their situation remains stagnate regardless of the objectively tumultuous episodes they endure. Lush cinematic compositions, locations, and costumes compensate for some of the story's lacking impact, but not enough to recommend it as anything more than a guilty pleasure.

Not Rated, 115 mins. (C-)

Three Monkeys ("Uc Maymun")

On first sight a strong contender for the Palme d’Or, Turkish director/co-writer Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s ("Les Climats") film is about a father, mother, and son caught in a web of corruption, betrayal, and murder makes thoughtful use of its see no, hear no, speak no evil, metaphor. Troubles begin when Servet (Ercan Kesal) an ambitious politician kills a pedestrian at night with his car and bribes his regular driver Eyup (played by popular Turkish folk singer Yavuz Bingol) to take responsibility and serve the nine-month jail sentence that comes with it. Eyup’s lazy teenage son Ismael (Ahmet Rifat Sungar) talks his mother Hacer (Hatice Aslan) into requesting an advance on the bribe from Servet, and the family spirals down a self-perpetrating path of depravity. This sparsely-told story speaks volumes with a cinematic poetry that you would expect to find in Cannes.

Not Rated, 109 mins. (A)

A Christmas Tale (“Un Conte de Noel”)

It wouldn’t be Cannes without at least one French movie about familial angst, social ennui, and the specter of death. Arnaud Desplechin brought the goods this year with his irreverent, multi-layered story, set in his hometown of Roubaix, about Abel (Jean-Paul Roussllon) and his wife Junon Vuillard (Catherine Deneuve) whose loss of a son to lymphoma informs their existence. Now years later with three grown children—Ivan (Melvil Poupaud), a hopeless romantic, Henri (Mathieu Amalric), the family black sheep, and Elizabeth (Anne Consigny), who disowned Henri five years ago--reunite for Christmas. In need of a bone-marrow transplant, Junon has limited choices for a donor, but doesn’t let even the threat ruffle her Gallic feathers. There are no martyrs in this anti-sentimental ironic movie that nevertheless percolates with emotion and accepts its quirky characters for all of their flaws. 

(B+)

Lorna’s Silence

Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne craft an evocative story about Lorna, a young Albanian woman (played flawlessly in the festival’s most impressive break-out performance by Kosovo-born Arta Dobroshi) in cahoots with Fabio, a Belgian mobster, to make money so she can open a snack bar with her boyfriend. Lorna suffers through a fraud marriage to Claudy (well played by Jeremie Renier), a junkie that Fabio plans to kill in order to put Lorna in another sham marriage, this time to a rich Russian. If the plot sounds convoluted it doesn’t impede an inevitable flood of surprising physical and emotional responses from the poker-faced Lorna. “Lorna’s Silence” was one of the strongest films in competition.

(A-)

Gomorrah

Roberto Saviano’s tell-all mafia expose provides rich narrative soil for director Matteo Garrone to weave together five stories of mob-related corruption sucking dry the province of Naples and Caserta. A tailor, enslaved to his occupation since childhood, two would-be teen gangsters, a pair of illicit toxic disposal contractors, and a young boy living in a drug-infested housing project, make up the indelible characters in this devastating picture of social collapse.

(A)

The Unknown Woman

From its silly treatment of prostitution and sexual bondage you’d never imagine that Giuseppe Tornatore, the same director who created the magnificent "Cinema Paradiso," made "The Unknown Woman." Disparities widen as a misjudged story unfolds about Irena (played by Xenia Rappoport), a Russian immerge living in Italy were she was kidnapped into a vile prostitution ring and she made to birth children to be sold on the black market. Now free of her sexual servitude, middle-aged Irena goes to great lengths to become a maid to an affluent couple that adopted her daughter, in an effort to regain connection with the girl, if not steal her away. Tornatore co-wrote the script as a suspense thriller puzzle, but comes away with an annoying movie that defies logic and defeats empathy.

Rated R, 118 mins. (C-)

Reprise

Norwegian auteur Joachim Trier isn’t a close relative of Lars von Trier, but his debut feature film bares the characteristics of an ambitious if overreaching young filmmaker taunting his elders to scold him for his audacity. Pained and overwrought, the story involves the trajectories of two college-aged best friend writers attempting to get on Oslo’s literary map with novels that put their modern angst in perspective. Flashbacks and self-reflexive narration follow Erik (played by Espen Klouman Hoiner) and and Phillip (played by Anders Danielsen Lie) after sending their manuscripts off to agents. Manic-depressive Philip is the first to be published but attempts suicide over a life that has given him too much too soon. A stint in a mental hospital leaves Philip a washed-up romantic trying to win back the trust of his girlfriend Kari, while Erik does the heavy lifting of developing his voice as a writer. Precious and ponderous, "Reprise" is the film that Joachim Trier needed to get out of his system so that he can get on with the business of making films.

Rated R, 105 mins. (C) (Two Stars)

Roman de Gare

Claude Lelouch’s ode to the ‘train station novel’ is a perfectly balanced genre blend of romance and suspense thriller that shifts gears like an Aston Martin on Route One. Dominique Pinon ("Delicatessen") plays Louis, a self-proclaimed ghostwriter who may be an escaped serial killer fond of sleight-of-hand magic tricks. Louis rescues damsel-in-distress Huguette (Audrey Dana) after she’s been abandoned by her fiancé at a gas station on her way to introduce her would-be husband to her provincial family. Huguette also has a possible double identity as either a prostitute or a hairdresser. Lurking in the film’s core is Fanny Ardant as successful novelist Judith Ralitzer, whose upcoming book promises to put the icing on her career. This 41^st film from the director of the Palme d’Or winner "A Man and a Woman" (1966), is that scarce type of movie made with an overflowing joy of cinema that’s meant to be savored and enjoyed.

Rated R, 103 mins. (B) (Three out of 5 Stars)

CJ7

Fans of director Stephen Chow and his funny and inventive films "Shaolin Soccer" and "Kung Fu Hustle" will likely be disappointed with his foray into children’s cinema with a magical realist story about an impoverished boy oppressed by bullies at his school. Xu Jian plays Dicky, a cute 9-year-old boy whose father (played by Chow) works in construction to send Dicky to a private school. Dicky’s fantasy life comes alive when his dad comes home with a weird green ball that he retrieved from a trash dump. In Dicky’s hands the ball comes to life as an alien creature not unlike a big-headed dog. Dicky names the toy "CJ7" and fantasizes about it fighting off the bullies that make his school life miserable. "CJ7" has some moments of sweetness and CGI inflected humor, but comes off as slight compared to the filmmaker’s previous efforts.

Rated PG, 86 mins. (C)

The Counterfeiters

A new twist on the historic Nazi concentration camp movie, "The Counterfeiters" is about a group of Jewish prisoners hand-picked by the Nazis for their specific skills to create and print millions of counterfeit British pound notes. Salomon Sorowitsch (brilliantly played by Karl Markovics) is a master forger who leads his conflicted comrades to give the Nazis what they want without giving them everything. Based on actual events, this is a dramatic war movie that shows the inner conflict at work in a group of prisoners stuck in an ethical quandary over how the cost of their survival might cause the deaths of many others.

Rated R, 99 mins. (B+)

City of Men

"City of Men" is a by product of Fernando Meirelles impressive 2002 film "City of God," in that it's directed by Meirelles' constant collaborator Paulo Morelli and springs from the "City of Men" Brazilian television series that Meirelles produced. Best friends Ace and Wallace are on the brink of manhood amid Rio's ghetto violence that threatens to divide them. At 18, Ace is already married with a baby he can barely take care of, while Wallace is consumed with tracking down the deadbeat father he never knew. Little do the boys realize that Wallace's criminal father may have murdered Ace's dad 15 years earlier. Intimately filmed and filled with true-to-life non-actors, "City of Men" is yet another example of the exciting neo-realistic filmmaking coming out of Brazil today.

Rated R, 105 mins. (B+)

Live and Become

This overlong story of an Ethiopian boy's experiences attempting to pass himself off as Jewish in order to enter Israel, gets bogged down with a meandering script that fails to gain momentum. The story begins in 1984 at a refugee camp in Sudan where an Israeli mission is underway to rescue Ethiopian Jews to Israel. A non-Jewish mother sees the opportunity for her nine-year-old Solomon and sends him off on a journey that must necessarily come full circle in Africa. Romanian writer/director Radu Mihaileanu clearly cares deeply for his subject but gets sidelined from pulling it together. The use of amateur actors in primary roles also reflects poorly on a potentially touching story.

Not Rated, 148 mins. (C-)

4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days

The cryptic title of Romanian auteur Christian Mungiu’s 2007 Cannes film festival winner incites uncomfortable contemplation over the late term black market abortion that his lead character Gabita undergoes during the last days of communist Romania. The stark drama is a consummate cinematic example of a socially charged parable told from a deeply personal perspective. The negotiating that Gabita must go through with her manipulative abortionist leads to a crisis decision that is outrageous for its cruel depravity. Mungiu films each scene in single takes that give the film an authenticity seldom found. Do yourself a favor and see the movie that won last year’s Palme d’Or.

Not Rated, 103 mins. (A) (Five Stars)

The Kite Runner

Director Marc Foster ("Finding Neverland") adapts Khaled Hosseini’s novel and retains its biggest flaw, the loss of the narrative’s most compelling character Hassan. Set during the last days of Afghanistan’s monarchy child actor Ahmad Khan Mahmoodzada plays Hassan, the story’s protagonist apparent and son of a servant to the father of his best friend Amir (Zekiria Ebrahimi). Hassan’s renowned gift for recovering kites won during the popular Afghan game of kite fighting makes him an ideal friend to Amir until Hassan’s rape at the hands of local bullies exposes the limits of Amir’s friendship. Rather than facing his betrayal of Hassan, Amir irreparably deepens the rift before leaving Afghanistan for America. It is only years later that Amir returns to Afghanistan to repent for his sins. Stories of unethical treatment of its child actors by the filmmakers has tarnished "The Kite Runner" as a film made of the same brand of hubris that its lead character carries for most of the story.

Rated PG-13. 128 mins. (C) (Two Stars)

The Boss of It All

Lars Von Trier takes a break from his trademark approach to polemics to induce snide laughs with a light-hearted, at least light-hearted for Von Trier, office satire about an actor hired by an IT company CEO to pose as its President in order to sell off the company. Jens Albinius is hilariously deadpan as a pretentious actor caught in a world he can only appear to fathom. At ten minutes too long, "The Boss of It All" is Lars Von Trier poking fun at himself and the corporate veil that mystifies all those that attempt to defeat it. (In Dutch with English subtitles).

Not Rated, 96 mins. (C+) (Two Stars)

Day Watch (DNEVNOI DOZOR)

Timur Bekmambetov is a Russian director with a keen eye for apocalyptic spectacle and a taste for modern-day Russian and Central Asian black market sleaze. Adapted from the second and third parts of Sergey Lukyanenko's novel "The Night Watch," "Day Watch" is a sequel that follows the source material's bizarre mix of sci-fi and noir. Night Watch operative Anton works with his love interest Svetlana to spare his son Yegor who seeks the history-altering power of the Chalk of Fate that the Light and Dark Others desire. Its truncated plot and Russian pop culture references may be lost on Western audiences, but there is an undeniable cinematic talent at work here that transcends cultural differences. The film's unbelievably low 4.2 million dollar budget gives further credence to Bekmambetov's ability to mesmerize with stunning visual compositions and fierce action sequences. "Day Watch" is like a drone of cinematic House music for the eyes.

Rated R, 139 mins. (B-) (Three Stars)

Paris, je t’aime

This compilation of 6-minute short films, set in Paris, from 21 directors including the Coen Brothers, Alexander Payne, Wes Craven and Olivier Assayas, is predictable in its wild swings of mood and ultimately unsatisfying execution. Maggie Gyllenhaal plays an American actress trying to score drugs, Steve Buscemi plays a hapless American accosted on a subway platform and Gaspard Ulliel is the object of homosexual lust in Gus Van Sant’s helium-inflated short. I suppose you can take the anthology as a sampling of Parisian atmospheres, but this Paris is not a place you’d want to visit for long.

Rated R, 120 mins. (C-) (Two Stars)

The Valet

Seasoned French auteur Francis Veber ("The Birdcage") creates an offhand romantic comedy that Hollywood rarely achieves. Veber’s reappearing humble protagonist Francois Pignon (played here by Gad Elmale) parks cars at a fancy restaurant overlooking the Eiffel Tower with his equally nerdy best friend Richard (Dany Boon). After Francois’ childhood sweetheart Emilie (Virginie Ledoyen) rejects his brave marriage proposal, Francois happens into a paparazzo’s photo of Pierre, a filthy rich businessman (Daniel Auteuil) with his supermodel mistress Elena (Alice Taglioni). In order to save his marriage to Christine (Kristin Scott Thomas), the woman responsible for 60 percent of his fortune, Pierre pays Francois to allow the gorgeous but blackmailing Elena to move in with him and pretend that she is really Francois’ girlfriend. Dueling private eyes keep tabs on the shenanigans that ensue with a sprinkle of physical comedy and humorous set pieces. "The Valet" is a charming little comedy that makes the genre look easy.

Rated PG-13, 85 mins. (B)

The Page Turner (La tourneuse de pages)

Style wins out over content in this delectable low-key French thriller by director Denis Dercourt about Melanie (Julie Richalet) a young would-be pianist who stores up her anger for years over a slight bestowed on her by music conservatory professor Ariane Fouchecourt (Catherine Frot). Ariane interrupts Melanie’s audition recital to sign an autograph for a fan, causing Melanie to lose focus and blow the tryout. Melanie, now in her early ‘20s gives up piano forever but comes back to haunt Ariane, when she is hired as a nanny to Ariane and her husband in their well-appointed mansion. Melanie extracts her revenge with a subtle and elegant flair that leaves barely a trace yet plenty of damage.

Not Rated, 86 mins. (B-)

Avenue Montaigne

This richly layered slice-of-idealParsian-life confection wafts with the smell of fresh croissants and Coco Chanel. At the advice of her inspiring grandmother, twentysomething Jessica (Cecile di France) rubs shoulders with the artistic and famous on the most glamorous street in Paris while working at a café on Avenue Montaigne. Jessica gets a crash course in the pop idiom of classical music from disaffected concert pianist Jean-Francois (Albert Dupontel). She goes behind the scenes with a television actress (Valerie Lemercier) performing in a play when she isn’t trying to impress a film director (Sydney Pollack) that she’s perfect to play Simone de Beauvoir for his next film. Writer/director Daniele Thompson has devised a mature and light comedy to transport you away to the orchestra seats on Paris’ most chic boulevard.

Rated PG-13, 100 mins. (B) (Three Stars)

Exterminating Angels (Les anges exterminateurs)

Writer/director Jean Claude Brisseau examines the conditions, events and unpredictable mental states that led two actresses to take him to court on sexual harassment charges for having them masturbate as part of an extended audition process for his last film "Secret Things." He does so with a genuine fascination with the correlation between the female head, heart and G-spot. Frederic Van Den Driessche plays Brisseau’s alter ego Francois, a mild-mannered French director attempting to cast an experimental film to explore the orgasm-heightening effects on women of breaking sexual taboos. Two ethereal fallen angels (Raphaele Godin, Margaret Zenou) in black evening dresses reappear as a polar opposite duo of personal advisors and supervisors to Francois’ doomed project. Francois’ naïve voyeurism attracts three volatile exhibitionist actresses intent on shaking up his world regardless of whether or not they are cast in his film. Brisseau’s simulated sex scenes of lesbian and solo female pleasuring are intriguing as much for their raw sensuality as for the provoking intent of the comely women that taunt Francois with their brazen acts. Provocative, erotic and unforced "Exterminating Angels" is a cautionary story about the perils of awakening useless desire.

Not Rated, 100 mins. (B-) (Three Stars)

The Lives of Others

Debut director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck presents a resonate drama about surveillance tactics of the Stasi, the secret police in East Germany before the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the effects of their eavesdropping on Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch), a subversive playwright. Equal time is given to Captain Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Muehe) the blank-slate bureaucrat assigned to listen in and report on Dreyman’s activities that include an intimate romance with his actress girlfriend Christa-Maria (Martina Gedeck). Donnersmarck’s confident direction, and exemplary ensemble performances, suggest a fundamental question about why governmental wiretapping seems fascistic and indefensible when performed in other countries, but somehow permissible at home.

Rated R, 137 mins. (A-) (Four Stars)

Unconscious

Original, irreverent and filled with intermittent bawdy surprises Joaquin Oristrell's period comedy "Inconscientes" is set in 1913 Spain at a time when Sigmund Freud’s revolutionary theories have captured the imagination of Barcelona’s bourgeoisie. Pregnant Alma (Leonor Watling – "Talk to Her") and her psychoanalyst brother-in-law Salvador (Luis Tovar) team up to search for Alma’s missing psychiatrist husband Dr. Leon Pardo (Alex Brendemuhl) who mysteriously disappeared while on vacation on Vienna. Their investigation leads to her husband’s female clientele and uncovers many a family secret before opening a romantic can of applesauce for the comely Alma and the famously endowed Salvador, whose wife Olivia (Nuria Prims) remains incapable of accommodating her spouse. Joaquin Oristrell is a modern day Woody Allen, although with a better sense of rhythm and naughty buffoonery. You will laugh from corners of your subconscious you didn’t know you had.

Rated R, 108 mins. (B) (Three Stars)

Comedy of Power

Loosely based on the corporate scandal surrounding Elf Aqutiane (now "TotalFinaElf"), director Claude Chabrol casts longtime collaborator Isabelle Hubert as a take-no-prisoners judge obsessed with putting greedy rich thieving executives behind bars. At its best the movie savors Hubert interviewing her subjects to the breaking point with subtle strategies that demand all of her focus in spite of attempts on her life. However, the movie slips into an unsatisfying third act that eschews crucial scenes that are only alluded to, before ending with an anticlimax that neutralizes Hubert’s beguiling effect. In the end, Chabrol’s style overwhelms the substance of a script with a flat line of a dramatic arc.

Not Rated, 110 mins. (C) (Two Stars)

Volver

Pedro Almodovar adopts Penelope Cruz as his latest muse in a cross-generational narrative about the culture of death in his native region of La Mancha, Spain. Raimunda (Cruz) moves back to her hometown of La Mancha from Madrid to hide the corpse of her husband Paco after her daughter Paula kills the man who may or may not be her father when he attempts to sexually molest her. Following the death of their Aunt Paula, Raimunda’s hairdresser sister Sole finds herself covering up the presence of their mother Irene’s ghost who has moved into Aunt Paula’s house. Already, the entire pueblo already believes that Irene’s ghost has returned. "Volver" has all of Pedro Almodovar’s signature splashes of color amid a communal discourse on reconciling the death of family members. Almodovar’s rich emotional soup is filled with comedy, drama, music, and discovery within an all-female context.

Rated R, 106 mins. (B+)

Heading South

A trio of middle-aged white women from different backgrounds relish the tropical pleasures of ‘70s era Haiti, which includes local teenage gigolos, in writer/director Laurent Cantet’s problematic filmic adaptation of three short stories by Dany Laferriere. Brenda (Karen Young) comes back to the same Haitian beach resort where she enjoyed an affair three years earlier with Legba (Menothy Cesar) a local 15-year-old boy, but finds the object of her sexual exploitation lorded over by the jealous and cunning Ellen (Charlotte Rampling). Flanked by the two women, Legba struggles with local prejudices and violent conditions that threaten his life. The story unfolds to expose levels of discrimination within Haitian culture and the uncertain effects of exploitation from Western culture. Cantet uses a series of well-placed monologues from his female characters to describe their rationalizations for the cultural abuse they commit.

Not Rated, 105 mins. (B-)

L’Enfant (The Child)

Belgian filmmaking brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne create a loathsome and irredeemable protagonist in Bruno (Jeremie Renier) a petty thief who sells off his newborn son on the black market when his 18-year-old girlfriend Sonia (Deborah Francios) isn’t looking. Conceived as an anti-capitalist allegory, "L’Enfant" is a dark polemic that misfires due to the filmmakers’ feeble attempt at earning redemption for Bruno in the eyes of his abused girlfriend. Although "L’Enfant" won the coveted Palme d’ Or at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival, it is a grossly disappointing movie.

Rated R, 100 mins. (C-)

The Warrior

In ancient Northern India, a warrior to a brutal warlord has an epiphany that he should never pick up a sword again after he leads a barbarous massacre through a small village for unpaid taxes. As a single father to a handsome young boy, the warrior attempts to protect his son and himself from the warlord's mercenaries who hunt them. Irfan Khan is the charismatic actor who plays a simple man on a quest to turn away from revenge and violence in favor of a peaceful existence. "The Warrior" is a timeless and lyrical movie set against the stunning beauty of the Himalayan Mountains.

Rated R, 86 mins. (A-)