Endless Cookie is a documentary/animation hybrid about the relationships between Seth, a white man from Toronto, and his Indigenous half-brother, Pete, who lives in Shamattawa. Pete's dogs and children get involved, too, including his daughter, Cookie, who's represented as a chocolate chip cookie. Co-writers/directors Seth and Peter Scriver have made a bizarre, inspired and unconventional, but underwhelming and tedious experience that's ultimately forgettable and less than the sum of its parts. Its offbeat and quirky tone, reminiscent of the recent Boys Go to Jupiter, gets monotonous and eventually tiresome after a while. None of the comedic beats land, so what's left is a story that's not very engaging or illuminating enough to rise above mediocrity. At a running time of 1 hour and 38 minutes, which feels more like 2 hours, Endless Cookie opens at Quad Cinema via Obscured Pictures. In a double feature with Sita Sings the Blues, another documentary/animation hybrid, it would be the inferior B-movie.

 

       In Happy Holidays, Hanan (Wafaa Aoun) suffers from financial struggles and has a son, Rami (Toufic Danial), who has an Israeli girlfriend, Shirley (Shani Dahari), and a daughter, Fifi (Manar Shehab) who's having an affair. Shirley plans to have an abortion initially, but then changes her mind while distancing herself from Rami. Miri (Meirav Memoresky), her sister, deals with her teenage daughter who's depressed. Writer/director Scandar Copti has made an overstuffed, convoluted and undercooked portrait of a dysfunctional family. The non-linear plot, reminiscent of the kind of structure found in Robert Altman's films, often feels disjointed as it jumps back and forth between the four interconnected stories. The performances are natural  and there's not schmaltz or melodrama. However, it's hard to remain emotionally engrossed in any of the characters' lives or in any of their conflicts. Moreover, there's not nearly enough levity. Perhaps the poorly titled Happy Holidays would've worked better with more focus, fewer characters and more emotional depth---and a more revealing and appropriate title that doesn't make it sounds like a Hallmark family movie. At a running time of 2 hours and 3 minutes, Happy Holidays opens at Film Forum via Film Movement.  

Number of times I checked my watch: 3




 

        At a running time of 1 hour and 30 minutes, Jujutsu Kaisen: Execution, directed by Shota Goshozono and written by Hiroshi Seko, opens in select theaters nationwide via GKIDS.  

Number of times I checked my watch: 3




 

       Little Trouble Girls is a poignant, nuanced and poetic coming-of-age story about a 16-year-old girl, Lucija (Jara Sofija Ostan), who experiences a sexual awakening when she joins her Catholic high school choir and befriends a classmate, Ana-Marija (Mina Švajger). The screenplay by writer/director Urška Djukić and co-writer Maria Bohr doesn't chart new territory in the coming-of-age genre, but it nonetheless feels engrossing with exquisite cinematography that, in turn, become part of its substance. Jara Sofija Ostan, who resembles Adèle Exarchopoulos from Blue is the Warmest Color, delivers a natural and convincingly moving performance that grounds the film in authenticity from start to finish. Little Trouble Girls isn't as powerful as Young Hearts or Show Me Love, but it's close enough. At a running time of 1 hour and 28 minutes, Little Trouble Girls opens in select theaters via Kino Lorber.  

Number of times I checked my watch: 2

      Peaches Goes Bananas is a mildly engaging, but often dull and undercooked documentary about Merrill Nisker, a musician known as Peaches. Directed by Marie Losier captures Peaches' eccentric personality and a few glimpses of her snark, but for the most part, this is a biodoc that fails to transcend. Losier doesn't manage to find the right balance between entertaining the audience and provoking them emotionally as well as intellectually. At a running time of 1 hour and 13 minutes, Peaches Goes Bananas opens at Anthology Film Archives.

Number of times I checked my watch: 4

      This Ordinary Thing is a powerful, vital and emotionally engrossing documentary about the non-Jewish heroes who saved the lives of Jews during the Holocaust. Director Nick Davis combines archival footage and excerpts from the transcripts of the heroes with the voices of many actors and actresses, namely, Helen Mirren, Jeremy Irons, F. Murray Abraham, Lily Tomlin, and David Hyde, among others. It's a straightforward and focused documentary, but it's nonetheless inspirational to observe the heroes' courage, compassion, empathy and love during a time of adversity. So, in a way, This Ordinary Thing can be seen as a protest against hatred, anti-Semitism, war and cowardice. At a running time of 1 hour and 2 minutes, This Ordinary Thing opens at Cinema Village.

Number of times I checked my watch: 1

      WTO/99 is a mildly engaging and somewhat provocative, but dry and underwhelming documentary about the protests against the WTO in Seattle back in 1999. Director Ian Bell merely bombards the audience with archival footage from those events as well as the TV reports of the protests. There's no analysis of the footage nor does the film stop to examine its complex, multifaceted issues like globalization which the protesters were protesting against. Why not find some of those protesters and get to know them to hear what they remember from that event like in the superior documentary Ain't No Back to a Merry-Go-Round? Unfortunately, WTO/99 never feels cinematic enough to transcend as a documentary; it feels academic, dull and ultimately forgettable while squandering its potential to be powerful, enraging and poignant. At a running time of 1 hour and 42 minutes, WTO/99 opens at DCTV's Firehouse Cinema.

Number of times I checked my watch: 3