Dogs Bark

Hail, Aphrodite! - - La Vénus À La Fourrure [Venus In Fur](2013, France) - - 31 December 2014

Strongly recommended. Having now filmed two claustrophobic plays, Carnage and Venus In Fur, about civilized people revealing their twisted inner selves, Roman Polanski (The Pianist) seems to be delivering a message. His astonishingly creative - - and deeply troubled - - life could not be possible without an ironic grin. In this latest, César-winning, cinematic metaphor, he casts his ethereal wife, Emmanuelle Seigner (The Ninth Gate) and a talented little Polanski doppelgänger, Mathieu Amalric, (The Grand Budapest Hotel) as the only characters, a director and his leading lady. As the actors playing actors shift back and forth, the viewer is dazzled by an interpretive disco ball on the abuse of power, the subjugation of women, the ambiguity of theater and ultimately . . . the cosmic silliness of sex. Seigner and Amalric skip between the light and dark in perfect elegance, accompanied by great Alexander Desplat (Philomena) score. It’s unbelievable that Desplat has never won an Oscar!

The Incomplete Walker - - Wild (2014, USA) - - 26 December 2014

Recommended. There are two distinct disasters that can befall a movie made from a good book. The first is disappointment to the fans of the published work.  That’s apparently not the case for Wild, given the box-office numbers. Cheryl Strayed’s story of a poorly prepared saunter on the Pacific Crest Trail had deep resonance for anyone seeking absolution in wilderness. Reese Witherspoon’s (Walk the Line) Golden-Globe-nominated performance goes into deep, dark canyons rarely navigated in her uneven career. Tracy Flick ain’t here.  Strong support by Laura Dern (Rambling Rose) as Strayed’s mother provides an essential story component and the Oregon countryside just shines. However, the second books-to-movies pitfall is that the read is required to fill the story gaps. Strayed’s trailside epiphany is clear in the book but in the movie . . . not at all. A non-reader is left suspended over the Columbia Gorge and the ending offers no support.

Dig Two Graves - - Blue Ruin (2013, USA) - - 24 December 2014

Strongly recommended. Blue Ruin was conceived by director, Jeremy Saulnier, and lead actor, Macon Blair, friends since childhood who had pretty much given up on ever making it in the movie business. Hat’s off to one last shot and Kickstarter because this is an excellent film, a feeling shared by the Cannes and Independent Spirit Award bigwigs.  Blair plays a fumbling, affecting executer of a family feud that first goes wrong and then horribly wrong. His portrayal is marvelously nuanced between warmly funny incompetence and - - ultimately - - cold-blooded savagery. Obviously this film evokes the dark back streets of the Coen Brothers and Tarentino. Saulnier admits their influence but Q would tell you that every murdering bastard is unique. And in that slashed vein, the violence is ultra . . . so be forewarned; however, in this spare, lusciously tense picture, nothing is gratuitous.  In the end, we find that revenge also is never free.

Vagrancy - - The Motel Life (2012, USA) - - 1 December 2014

Recommended. I don’t know anyone who’s seen The Motel Life; I don’t know anyone who read the excellent Willy Vlautin book it’s based upon. That’s a shame but not a surprise. Studios, even so-called independent ones, don’t always promote depressing movies. From their hard-scrabble childhood, Frank (Emile Hirsch, Into The Wild) and Jerry Lee (Stephen Dorff, Cecil B. DeMented) have been the Flannigan brothers, heroes of the Frank’s unpublished stories, as illustrated by Jerry Lee. Now they shuttle around Reno, Nevada. Frank’s past includes a part-time-hooker girlfriend (Dakota Fanning, War Of The Worlds) and Jerry Lee, a fresh hit-and-run killing.  Given all this, the only way this story works is if you care about the characters and these three actors make a strong case. Maybe it’s also the fact that the brothers Polsky, Gabe and Alan (Red Army) helmed the pic.  Kris Kristofferson (Blade) returns in a great supporting role.