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Blue Lock The Movie: Episode Nagi 
 
Chronicles of a Wandering Saint, written and directed by Tomás Gómez Bustillo, is refreshingly unpredictable, surreal and outrageously funny. Rita (Mónica Villa) lives in a small town, Santa Rita, with her husband, Norberto (Horacio Anibal Marassi), and works at the local church. One day, she finds an old monument in the church's basement and claims that she's miraculously found the monument of Saint Rita that has been lost for years. To disclose more about the plot would spoil the surprises. Chronicles of a Wandering Saint is the kind of film that's hard to adequately describe in a synopsis or to lump into one particular genre because it's more than just the sum of its parts. There's some humor, but it's absurdly funny and sometimes just dryly funny rather than laugh-out-loud funny. Fortunately, the film never runs out of steam or goes too over-the-top, although it does get somewhat bonkers during the second half. Mónica Villa gives a genuinely moving performance that grounds the film in authenticity. It's also worth mentioning the exquisite cinematography which provides some visual poetry. The pace moves slow, though, so it takes time and patience to get used to it, so patient audiences will be rewarded the most. At a brief running time of just 1 hour and 24 minutes, Chronicles of a Wandering Saint opens at IFC Center via Hope Runs High.
Confessions of a Good Samaritan is primarily about Penny Lane's experiences donating her kidney to a stranger. Directed by Penny Lane herself, the documentary delves briefly into the history of organ donations and how kidney transplants work today. For the most part, though, Lane talks to the camera about why she wants to donate her kidney, why she wants the donor to be a stranger and, more surprisingly, why she wants the donor to be someone who she doesn't like or get along with---i.e. Trump supporter. That last part is a bit of a head-scratcher and should've been elaborated on with more depth, unless she's just joking. Confessions of a Good Samaritan incorporates the director's humor and wit which is a double-edged sword because, while it makes the film less dry and more engaging, it also makes it euphemistic and sugar-coated despite the serious subject matter. Lane deserves to be commended for her intimately discussing her feelings on camera and for showing introspection while questioning the meaning of altruism and a "good samaritan". For some additional perspective, insight and balance, it's too bad that she doesn't refer to Richard Dawkins' book The Selfish Gene which claims that true altruism is actually something very rare. At a running time of 1 hour and 45 minutes, Confessions of a Good Samaritan is candid, introspective and stylishly-edited, but unfocused, tonally uneven and bites off more than it could chew. It opens at DCTV's Firehouse Cinema via Sandbox Films.
In Daddio, a young woman (Dakota Johnson) takes a taxi cab from JFK to her apartment in Manhattan. During the ride, she converses with her cab driver, Clark (Sean Penn). What sounds like a mundane premise turns into a surprisingly tender, provocative and engrossing slice-of-life thanks to the sensitive screenplay by Christy Hall. There are no villains or big twists. Like Richard Linklater and Eric Rohmer, Hall manages to find the spectacle with just two people talking. Exposition is kept at a minimum which makes both characters a little mysterious, but eventually you get to know more about their past without flashbacks. The woman works as a computer programmer and texts her boyfriend who's married. The discussion of "0s and 1s" becomes something more profound when Clark sees it as a metaphor that can be applied to life itself. Dakota Johnson and Sean Penn have palpable chemistry together as the woman and cab driver gradually bond. Without giving away any spoilers, they talk about very intimate things which makes the film have a voyeuristic aspect to it. In other words, the audience becomes a third character who's eavesdropping on these two strangers' conversations. Comparisons to Before Sunrise would be fair, but Daddio lets the audience's mind wonder whether or not they'll see each other again. For a film that takes place in predominantly one location, with a few shots of the city at night, it's actually somewhat cinematic without becoming tedious or dull. At a running time of 1 hour and 41 minutes, Daddio opens in select theaters on June 28th, 2024. It would be an interesting double feature with any Eric Rohmer film or, if you're looking for something much darker, Asphalt City which also stars Sean Penn.
How to Come Alive With Norman Mailer is a captivating, illuminating, warts-and-all documentary biopic about Norman Mailer, a novelist, playwright, filmmaker and journalist who wasn't afraid to go against the grain. Director Jeff Zimbalist covers a lot of ground from Mailer's childhood to his controversial novels to his many failed marriages to his attempt to enter politics to his arrest for stabbing his wife and more. Mailer is hard to fit into a box because he's many things all at once: he's a critical thinker, intelligent, pithy, provocative, brave, honest, arrogant, stubborn and at least somewhat narcissistic. So, Zimbalist is lucky to have such an interesting subject. He combines archival interviews with Mailer himself and contemporary interviews with his ex-wives, his son and his supporters like John Waters and Gloria Steinem each of whom provides insight about Mailer. There's enough material in here for at least three or four documentaries about Mailer, but at least the film is separated into chapters which makes it flow smoothly and in a way that's well-edited and organized. Audiences who aren't very familiar with Norman Mailer might feel a bit overwhelmed by How to Come Alive With Norman Mailer, though. At 1 hour and 42 minutes, it opens at Film Forum via Zeitgeist Films. Last Summer 
 
Samira (Lupita Nyong’o), a terminally ill cancer patient, and Eric (Joseph Quinn),a law student, struggle to survive an alien invasion in NYC. If they make a sound, the aliens will detect them and kill them. A Quiet Place: Day One, written and directed by Michael Sarnoski, is a prequel to the hit sci-fi horror thriller A Quiet Place. Although suspenseful, intense and well-produced, it's also repetitive and unimaginative. Sarnoski keeps the plot lean with little to no padding. Even the first act just briefly introduces Samira before the aliens invade NYC within the first 10 minutes. So, while it's great that the film cuts right to the meat of the story, it's at the expense of character development. Even the underrated Sting has more scares, imagination, wit and depth which this film lacks. Besides the fact that Samira is expected to die from cancer and has a cute service cat named Frodo, the audience learns nothing else about her---although she does have a craving for pizza from Patsy's in Harlem. There's little to no exposition, especially about the aliens. Why do they want to kill humans? What does the government know about them other than that they can't swim? Lupita Nyong'o gives a moving performance, but it's ultimately the cat that steals the scenes the most. To be fair, though, the film relies too heavily on cheap shots of the cat to generate laughs, especially in one of the jump scares. At least Sarnoski keeps the running time down under 2 hours. At 1 hour and 40 minutes, A Quiet Place: Day One opens nationwide via Paramount Pictures. Majority Rules 
 Midas 
 
In A Sacrifice, Ben (Eric Bana) works as a social psychologist who helps Nina (Sylvia Hoeks), a detective, to investigate a cult after mass suicides. Meanwhile, he struggles to reconnect with his daughter, Mazzy (Sadie Sink), who's falling for a mysterious local boy, Martin (Jonas Dassler). Based on the novel Tokyo by Nicholas Hogg, the screenplay by writer/director Jordan Scott has a systemic issue that might also be an issue with the novel: it reveals too many of its surprises too soon, so the suspense fizzles out once Martin's true intentions get revealed. Soon enough, a new character gets introduced and her true intentions are clear. The mysterious young man's hidden motives with Mazzy are also clear early-on. Beyond suspense and intrigue, A Sacrifice lacks emotional depth, although it tries briefly to provide a glimpse into Ben's emotional pain and trauma, but it feels clunky. This is yet another B-movie that's just going through the motions which makes it easy for you to hear the wheels of the screenplay turning while the character remain at a cold distance from the audience. Perhaps more focused perspectives on one or two characters would've helped instead of switching perspectives to many different characters including the perspective of the underwritten, one-note villain. In terms of production values, the cinematography is decent with some well-shot underwater sequences. The talented cast does their best to keep the film mildly engaging, but they fail to rise above the shallow screenplay. At a running time of 1 hour and 34 minutes, A Sacrifice is an undercooked and unfocused crime thriller that's low on suspense and intrigue. It opens in theaters nationwide via Vertical. 
Just in time for the Fourth of July comes the documentary Something to Stand For With Mike Rowe, directed by Jonathan Coussens. TV host/podcaster Mike Rowe guides the audience through short stories from events in American history involving the people who founded our nation. The reenacted stories include a wide variety ranging from U.S. Marines who fought in the Battle of Iwo Jima, Martin Luther King, the Berlin Wall, the Civil War and, the funniest and most bizarre story, the little-known history of rocky mountain oysters---bull testicles. There's an amusing, tongue-in-cheek cut to Rowe eating meatballs on a bench in Washington D.C. after that segment. Coussens is very wise to choose Mike Rowe as the narrator/guide because he brings warmth, charisma and a sense of humor to the film. By having Rowe break the fourth wall by talking to the audience like Bill Maher in Religulous, Something to Stand For With Mike Rowe makes every audience member feel as though they're right there with him throughout his journey. That's a great way to hook the audience, and it pays off. At 1 hour and 55 minutes, the captivating, enlightening, witty and genuinely heartfelt Something to Stand For With Mike Rowe opens in theaters nationwide on June 27th, 2024 via Fathom Events. Out of all of the films in theaters now, it's the most patriotic and the best celebration of Independence Day.
In The Vourdalak, Marquis Jacques Antoine Saturnin d’Urfe (Kacey Mottet Klein), an envoy of the King of France, gets robbed and ends up lost in the woods. He seeks refuge in the isolated home of a mysterious family, Piotr (Vassili Schneider) and Jegor (Grégoire Colin), whose father, Gorcha, has gone missing and might have turned into a "vourdalak." The screenplay writer/director Adrien Beau and co-writer Hadrien Bouvier, based on the short story by Tolstoy, is a wickedly funny, unconventional and zany blend of horror, comedy and satire. Admittedly, it takes a while to get used to the off-kilter tone that almost veers toward campiness at times while other times it's more serious, but around the 30 minute mark is when the film finally finds its footing. The plot isn't very complicated or intricate. However, there's not much exposition, so if you're expecting a backstory about the vourdalak or even an explanation of what it is precisely, you'll be disappointed. You'll also have to wait until the end to see the vampire-like vourdalak which is when the film escalates its horror elements. The production values are The Vourdalak's greatest strengths thanks to the stylish cinematography, costume design and make-up design. It's one of the most visually stunning horror comedies since El Conde which would make for an interesting double feature. At 1 hour and 30 minutes, The Vourdalak opens at IFC Center via Oscilloscope Laboratories. |