Reel Love

Time Investment: 145 min.
Return on Investment: 60 min.
 
After a heavy run on the festival circuit, French-Canadian filmmaker Rodrigue Jean’s laborious diary of Montréal sex workers, Men for Sale, finally gets released on DVD from Breaking Glass Pictures. The film has received considerable buzz for actually managing to corral 11 unnamed street hustlers and get them to talk candidly on camera about their lives—from how they got into the seedy biz to their extended drug use—every month for a year. continue reading »

Time Investment: 100 min.
Return on Investment: 95 min.
 
Acontender for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2010 Academy Awards, the beautifully shot Peruvian drama The Milk of Sorrow (Olive Films) is subtle allegory for a county and a people recovering from tremendous violence. While it might be heavy on metaphor, the tender tale is a heartbreaking portrait of the long-lasting scars of war on our descendants. continue reading »

Time Investment: 89 min.
Return on Investment: 80 min.
 
What makes the existence of the Warsaw Ghetto so much more |upsetting, in many ways, than the infamous death camps that ultimately claimed most of its inhabitants is the fact that a semblance of life, however miserable, endured within those stifling walls, giving false hope to throngs of innocent victims who eventually lost it all. continue reading »

Time Investment: 99 min.
Return on Investment: 89 min.
 
What happens when a schlubby Greek slacker, an alcoholic Nazi chef and a gambling-addicted jailbird go into business together? You get Soul Kitchen (IFC Films), German filmmaker Fatih Akin’s goofy ode to youth, gentrification and food in Hamburg that won the Special Jury Prize at last year’s Venice International Film Festival. continue reading »

Time Investment: 89 min.
Return on Investment: 35 min.
 
The People I’ve Slept With (People Pictures) has a lot of potential, but its spunky premise—accidentally pregnant slutty girl plans wedding while finding and testing potential fathers/ grooms—is unfortunately stinted by an awkward sensibility and inconsistent acting. The writing is also hit or miss; aside from some requisite pithy one-liners, much of it seems trite even though it needn’t be. continue reading »

Time Investment: 112 min.
Return on Investment: 90 min.
 
The intense color-bars-and-punk-imbued opening credits for Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (Universal Pictures), Edgar Wright’s adaptation of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s graphic novels, sums up the overall movie well: an onslaught of visual stimulus punctuated with references to old video games and punk rock. continue reading »

Time Investment: 90 min.
Return on Investment: 75 min.
 
I would love to have been in the pitch meeting for the new gay indie Brotherhood (Olive Films). “Okay, so it’s got the tender love story of Brokeback Mountain mixed with the aggressive hatred of American History X!” But you can’t be too surprised by Brotherhood’s rather extreme setting— it comes from Denmark, the land of filmmakers like Lars von Trier and Susanne Bier, who have mastered the fine line between the public’s taste for compassion and for violence. And, like those masters of Dogma 95 cinema, filmmaker Nicolo Donato actually pulls off what seems a little far-fetched on paper: a delicate, passionate and successful modern tragedy. (No happy endings here, folks!) continue reading »

Time Investment: 107 min.
Return on Investment: 70 min.
 
Controversial Chinese director Lou Ye, whose work has often been censored or outright banned in his home country, is not afraid to show the gritty banality of urban Chinese life, as he does in Spring Fever (Strand Releasing). In this gay love triangle (quadrangle?) involving a husband cheating on his wife with another man and the private eye who ends up entangled himself, Ye infuses images of rainy Nanjing with a certain cool edge—the Chinese equivalent of French ennui. He is an apparent fan of dark, lingering visuals that, although at first atmospheric, soon devolve into just plain hard-to-see. As the characters meander from love to lust, the long, dark shots begin to feel…well, long and dark. continue reading »

 
Time Investment: 108 min.
Return on Investment: 93 min.
 

Reading Jonathan Ames’ 1999 novel, The Extra Man, the quirky characters and New York setting make it an obvious choice for transferring to the silver screen. Fortunately directors Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini have delivered a cinematic version of The Extra Man (Magnolia Pictures) that possibly improves on Ames’ outstanding book. continue reading »

Time Investment: 100 min.
Return on Investment: 80 min.
 
The premise of Get Low—a man throws his own funeral party—suggests a quirky “based on a true story” comedy. Instead, Aaron Schneider’s film is decidedly serious, with Robert Duvall in an impressive (Oscar-worthy?) turn as eccentric loner Felix “Bush” Breazeale. The film’s striking opening shot, a house in flames in the dark of night, immediately establishes the tone. David Boyd’s hauntingly beautiful cinematography and authentic Southern locations establish a strong sense of place as we are introduced to Felix and the 1930s Tennessee townsfolk who fear and shun him. After the hermit confounds the local preacher with his request, an undertaker’s protégé brings the idea to his boss, savvy salesman Frank Quinn (Bill Murray, always a pleasure). Soon, Quinn and Buddy (nicely played by Lucas Black) are putting together the service. When Mattie Darrow (Sissy Spacek), who has a mysterious connection to Felix’s past, enters the fray, he begins to open up to those around him. continue reading »