Branded: Crack the Code, Take Back Your Mind (2012)

Early in his career, advertising guru Misha is experiencing much success. He can figure out the best ways to cause his company’s partnerships extend their profits through targeted and successful marketing. When he meets Abby, he decides to split from longtime friend, Bob, and develop his own company while working on a new television Extreme Cosmetica. Everything looks like it is going to be a huge success until Bob chases after Misha’s success and the focal point of their show does not wake up from the anesthesia. Broken and woeful, Misha escapes to the countryside. Several years later, Abby finds the lonely man and happens upon him at the moment of a breakthrough. Attending to the ritual of sacrificing the red calf, Misha’s eyes are opened to the hidden world of brands and their affect on the world around him. Determined to bring down the marketing industry, he sets out to develop a campaign to destroy them all.

Starring: Ed Stoppard (Misha Galkin), Leelee Sobieski (Abby Gibbons), Jeffrey Tambor (Bob Gibbons), Max von Sydow (Joseph Pascal), Ingeborga Dapkunaite (Dubcek), Andrey Kaykov (Pavel), Jamie Bradshaw (Mr. Johnson), Ulyana Lapteva (Veronika), Oleg Akulich (Ivanov)

Mostly focusing around the insanity of a man confused by his profession, Stoppard made for a believable visionary who could not seem to get his thoughts reigned in. His insanity was really one of the only bright parts to this film. Tambor simply came off as an executive jerk, though that was the point of the film. Sobieski was a decent partner for Stoppard but does not add too much to the film. When confronted with Stoppard’s crazier scenes, she seemed to have very stunted emotional reactions. Sydow’s character also seemed somewhat pompous and underdeveloped.

  

Jamie Bradshaw’s and Aleksandr Dulerayn’s film looked to make a statement about the power and abuse of marketing on today’s society. The scene for the film was not set too far off in the future so as to make the development of a brand-obssessed populous (not unlike today) believable. The premise of the film surrounding a man chosen to see the hidden world of marketing by a power greater than himself was a bit “trippy” even though the point was to show how the supernatural can sometimes make a visionary appear like a maniac. By sacrificing the red calf, Misha allowed himself to see weird creatures that clung to people and buildings that represented the automated desires feeding the larger brand-oriented creatures. Having finally realized the dangers of marketing, he used his marketing skills to take out the unhealthy brands one by one, though he was not going to go unnoticed by the government and the confused but angry populous.

While avoiding the use of any actual brand names, it was clear what the writers and directors were going for when they showed which brands were dangerous to people. On the board in Misha’s office, there was a list that included company names that represented real brands like McDonalds, Apple, Microsoft, Johnson & Johnson, Coca-Cola, Burger King, Samsung and more. Even though it can be difficult to figure out some of the connections, it was clear that every industry was under attack in this film. The problem with this film was that this message was lost behind how dark and freaky the whole concept was presented. There was no widespread appeal for a film that used blob-like monsters to represent major company brands, when the cast was also not A-list and whole presentation seemed a bit droll.

While the film failed to take off, there are some redeeming qualities, mostly in the message of the dangers of brand loyalty and obsession. Without a more compelling, connected presentation and stronger acting, this one will simply stay faded in the background of other politically-themed movies.

Dan’s Rating: 2.0/5

2 Days in New York: Families, You Can’t Take Them Anyway (2012)

Having returned in New York, Marion is trying to start her life anew following her breakup with her boyfriend in Paris. Marion meets Mingus, a writer who sweeps her off her feet. Now after they begin to live together with their children, Marion invites her family to come visit her from Paris. Starting immediately upon their arrival, the tension mounts between the language barriers and challenges with accepting each others’ quirks and personalities. Jeannot does not speak a word of English and is intrigued by Mingus’s racial identity. Rose, Marion’s sister, has brought her boyfriend, both of whom cannot seem to control their confrontational issues. With Marion rushing to make sure she has a great art show and Mingus trying to put together his next great article, those tasks seem to pale in comparison to just being able to corral the family.

Starring: Chris Rock (Mingus), Julie Delpy (Marion), Albert Delpy (Jeannot), Alexia Landeau (Rose), Alexandre Nahon (Manu), Kate Burton (Bella), Dylan Baker (Ron), Daniel Bruhl (The Oak Fairy), Talen Ruth Riley (Willow), Owen Shipman (Lulu)

Delpy returned from her 2007 film to put a new spin on the craziness of love and family. Her character started out with such calm and sense of balance, only to be tested as her family clashed with Rock. Her father, Albert, also returned for this film with his brand of oddness and crazy. Rock is meant to be the more balanced personality but even he is tested in several scenes. Nahon and Landeau were supporting actors for the crazed side of the story. The only significant challenge was that any decent acting was overshadowed by the jumbled mess of a story.

Delpy’s second film attempted to take the magic of her first while infusing a more cultural clash to the story. Mingus’s race became a very significant plot point for the story, as Marion’s family struggles to communicate with him, find topics to talk about and understand the relationship between Mingus and Marion. Barrack Obama seems to be thrown into the mix of the drama, as Mingus has a bit of an obsession and uses his success as a sense of inspiration. Jeannot has a bit of a fascination about Mingus’s views of Obama as well. If it was not about race, it was about culture. Manu and Jeannot had no problems with causing a bit of mischief, using their foreign status as a crutch. While Manu did not escape everything he attempted, Jeannot was able to continue to drive Mingus crazy.

There are some redeeming elements of this film, but it also appears to suffer from a sense of chaos. The family’s antics are cute initially, but a little less believable as the story moves forward. Marion does not do much to calm their eccentricities but it just appears like they are trying to cause trouble and that it is not actually a misunderstanding of cultural differences. The inclusion of Barrack Obama is one of those elements that is more about being timely than truly relevant, particularly when the element of getting to meet him fizzles out without any sense of closure. The same went for the use of the kids, which seemed to be a point the movie missed on. This does challenge the ability for the actors to establish any significant connection with the audience.

While entertaining at times, 2 Days in New York does not have the appeal of the original film and missed the mark on managing to present a cohesive story.

Dan’s Rating: 2.0/5

Struck by Lightning: A Personal Raincloud Can Be Deadly (2012)

Reflecting back, Carson Phillips wonders if he made a difference in his short life. Having grown up in a broken family, he had gotten used to taking care of his drunk of a mother and his dementia-suffering grandmother. He had developed into a strong-spoken young man who had no trouble pushing his teachers to the limit. While talking with his guidance counselor, he explains that he wants to go to Northwestern and become a literary success but is informed that he would need to do something a little nontraditional to get noticed. Carson decides to develop a literary magazine but struggles to get help from his classmates until he starts to blackmail them into participation. While he is getting what he wants, he begins to alienate himself more than he had even realized. With a bolt of lightning end it all, was his life worth something?

Starring: Chris Colfer (Carson Phillips), Rebel Wilson (Malerie Baggs), Allison Janney (Sheryl Phillips), Scott Bailey (Officer Murray), Dermot Mulroney (Neal Phillips), Polly Bergen (Grandma), Kyle Burch (Riley), Roberto Aguire (Emilio), Angela Kinsey (Counselor), Ashley Rickards (Vicki Jordan), Matt Prokop (Dwayne Michaels), Sarah Hyland (Claire Mathews), Christina Hendricks (April), Robbie Arnell (Justin Walker)

Considering that the director focused all of the character development toward Colfer, he is the one that gets to showcase the greatest amount of development. While his character comes off a bit pompous and aggressive, you get a sense that he truly cares for his mother and grandmother while also struggling with what the people around him think of him. There is a sense that he wants to make a difference for people, and not just for himself. The only other characters to truly appear to evolve were Wilson, as she finds herself more confidence and a friend, and Janney, who seemed to have nothing to push herself to live for.

  

Brian Dannelly, director of the great comedy Saved!, tried his hand at something a little more morbid with a reflection after death. While he was able to show a lot of progression for his main character, Carson seemed to take a lot of time and ignore a lot of social cues that elongated his ability to improve his family relationships and friendships. His aggressiveness was the reason for his outcast status. His desire to get into a great school clouded his judgment but actually had an unintended side effect on his peers. Because of his mostly unmanageable personality and expectations, he forced his classmates to do things they did not want to do. In the end, they broke out of their self-obsessed lives and at least made little changes to their approach to their lives at school.

  

The rushed or absent character development of the other characters really hurt this movie’s appeal. Vicki was head cheerleader and a clear stereotype of the cheerleader personality. The movie even mocked this concept fairly unsuccessfully. While sitting in their class board meetings, their conversations about ideas for their upcoming dances appeared overly expected for theme ideas and lacked any sort of respect for the creativity of today’s youth. The comedy just simply fell short of funny. In a short moment where Dannelly attempted to showcase Vicki’s development, she rushed out of the room and then just fell back into place until his death. Malerie was at least much more interesting with the way that she documented the world around her and justified why she video records it. Even Janney seemed a little more interesting but also fell back into place after one moment of trying to impress her ex-husband.

For a comedy that is supposed to be a little different than the typical high school movie, Struck by Lightning seemed to both be lacking the comedy and use stereotypical elements of high school films to showcase its limited character development.

Dan’s Rating: 2.0/5

Here Comes the Boom: One Teacher Still Believes in Fighting (2012)

Once a great science teacher, Scott Voss has let several years of the same lesson plans drag him down and now is lucky if he shows up for his first class on-time. When Principal Betcher and the board announce that the school is going to be going through major budget cuts and lose key programs like music, Scott gets an urge to stand up for his friend, Marty Streb the music teacher. Scott calls together a meeting of the teachers to figure out a way to raise the $50,000 needed to keep Marty’s job, but only Marty and Bella Flores show up. To start to raise the extra funding, Scott resumes his role as a night school teacher for citizenship and gives extra lessons to a man who happens to be a physical trainer. When he realizes that he could fight mixed-martial arts and earn money even for losses, he puts his body on the line for a friend.

Starring: Kevin James (Scott Voss), Salma Hayek (Bella Flores), Henry Winkler (Marty Streb), Greg Germann (Principal Betcher), Joe Rogan (himself), Gary Valentine (Eric Voss), Charice (Malia), Bas Rutten (Niko), Reggie Lee (Mr. De La Cruz), Marl DellaGrotte (himself), Nikki Tyler-Flynn (Molie Streb)

While his roles are generally more goofy and off the wall, Kevin James actually brings a little more heart to this one, which has a much more meaningful concept for the plot. He still has his periodically brutish sort of comedy but toned a little better for the progression of the story. Hayek is a nice compliment, though her character development is a little weak. Winkler seems to be a good fit but also does not really add much besides a character to center the film’s premise around.

  

Frank Coraci, most famous for working with some of Adam Sandler’s hit films, has moved his attention to the slightly more “in” Kevin James in his feature about trying to save a music teacher and his program. Scott Voss had let himself go as a teacher and only the threat to a friend pulled him out of his funk. Seemingly coming out of nowhere, Scott came across the opportunity to lose fights and still make money. He also learned that college wrestling only prepared him a portion of what he needed to know to fight. When he surprisingly won a fight, he changed his whole outlook on how to earn enough money by the deadline. His fighting eventually caught the attention of Joe Rogan, who decided to offer him a bigger shot and a bigger purse.

The central them of the film happened to be fighting for a cause. Scott had lost his way, but Marty was his inspiration to have something to fight for and Bella served as an added personal bonus. Scott was not alone in the fundraising, as Marty also did what he could to be in Scott’s corner and take on additional responsibilities. As he mentioned in the film, Scott determination to help him caused Marty to feel like he was inspired to keep fighting for his job. Niko joined the team as a man who wanted so badly to be out there fighting himself but limited by his physical injuries. While he supports Scott’s mission, he is also attempting to earn his citizenship (as exhibited by a few awkward scenes studying for the big test). The theme is a little too obvious, but it still gives the movie the heart it needs to be entertaining.

There are some scenes that are a little too hokey and unnecessary, but this film has heart and is an enjoyable rental.

Dan’s Rating: 3.0/5

Brooklyn Castle: Welcome to I.S. 318 (2012)

Considered the rulers of the grade school chess world. the kids of I.S. 318 in Brooklyn, NY live and breath the game of chess. While many schools focus on after-school programs related to sports or music, chess has its own sense of celebrity at this middle school. Consistently competing in national championships, the kids regularly bring home individual and grade-level trophies. Leading the way are Elizabeth Vicary (coach/chess teacher), John Gavin (assistant principal/coach) and Fred Rubino (principal). As a way to allow their students the chance to study the game and get to a level of competition, these educators allow the kids a chance to replace a few of their classes each week with chess. This helps them continue their dominance in competitions and high reputation in the world of chess.

The students that are the focus of this documentary are at all skill, class and background levels. Seeking an opportunity to be the first black woman to earn the title of chess master, Rochelle anchored the 8th-grade team to start the film. After graduating to high school, she found herself in a difficult place of not yet having achieved her chess master goal but trying to balance her continued chess practice and competitions with her rigorous academic work. Stepping in as the leader after Rochelle’s departure, Pobo balances his passion for chess and his desire to get politically engaged. Pobo serves as the emotional leader of the group while also earning the honor of representing the student body as the student president. Alongside Pobo is the extremely talented Alexis. Dreaming of a chance to get into a great high school, chess appears to come fairly easily to him but he worries about needing to pass the standardized exam for acceptance to a top high school. Patrick is a newcomer who is battle ADD and self esteem issues in order to show improvement at the game. His goal rests upon simply showing progress in his ability to win at chess. Finally, Jutus had already achieved a high status prior to joining the chess team. His biggest struggles happen to be his own expectations, as he feels like all eyes are on him.

While the film focuses mostly on the impact of chess on the students’ lives, there are a number of threats they are facing to their success. The biggest of all of the threats happens to be the economy and the effect on the school’s budget. Before the cuts, the team traveled to 3 major tournaments and a host of smaller local competitions, bringing back a number of accolades after every one. After the budget cuts, they had to drop on of the major competitions and reduce the number of kids that could go to nationals. Pobo worked with Gavin and Rubino to get students and families to meetings to discuss how to get the attention of politicians and attempt to raise some money. The efforts manage to accumulate some gains and help to support the chess team, but additional cuts have continued to threaten the funding for the team.

Katie Dellamaggiore’s approach to this story was to really make the viewer pull for these kids, even though they were like the Yankees of the chess world. Each of the kids are highlighted for both their successes and challenges. Rochelle left the school on a high after her final 8th-grade competition but she was met with the challenge of losing the structure of the I.S. 318 team. Alexis and Pobo both get chances to exhibit their desires outside of chess to achieve other goals. Meanwhile, Patrick revealed his challenges with ADD but also shared how playing chess allowed him to focus and stay more in check. The camerawork is a little funky at times with choppy movements, but the cameras definitely capture the fluctuations in energy levels of the students as they practice and compete.

This is a wonderful little documentary that provides a compelling narrative while proving the importance of the need to advocate for more support for educational activities. The learn more about the story behind the film, click here.

Dan’s Rating: 4.0/5

House at the End of the Street: Fear Reaches Out (2012)

Starting anew after leaving a troubled marriage, Sarah and Elissa move into a beautiful house in a wonderful new town. Adjacent to their home is a dark and eerie home, which was the site of a double homicide four year earlier. The neighbors are all suspicious of the young man, and brother to the suspected killer, who now resides in the cursed house. Elissa starts to make a place for herself but is derailed when Tyler gets a little too aggressive at a party. This leads Elissa to meet Ryan, whose dark, brooding ways seem to attract her to want to know more about him and his family. As the two of them get closer, Sarah gets worried that her daughter is mixing with the wrong crowd. Meanwhile, Ryan appears to be hiding a dark secret in his basement that could spell trouble for the unsuspecting Elissa.

Starring: Jennifer Lawrence (Elissa), Max Thieriot (Ryan), Elisabeth Shue (Sarah), Gil Bellows (Weaver), Eva Link (Carrie Anne), Nolan Gerard Funk (Tyler), Allie MacDonald (Jillian), Jordan Hayes (Penn State Waitress), Hailee Sisera (Caitlin), Jonathan Higgins (Dr. Kohler)

Taking a slightly different acting role, Lawrence leads the cast as the curious teenager whose independence gets her into trouble. She maintains herself in this role without breaking the illusion of the moments of horror, though she also makes many of the same horror movie mistakes that are too iconic in other similar films. Thieriot tries to throw the viewer off with his shy but damaged personality but it is all too obvious that he is directly involved in the main plot.

Mark Tonderai’s film tries to blend the horror and thriller elements using a sense of mysticism and slasher elements. Elissa was a teenager who appeared to have a curiosity for the unknown or the unsafe. While she felt like she had to take care of herself, she also felt somewhat grounded by her mother. With Sarah wrapped up in her work at the hospital, Elissa’s relationship with Ryan seemed to flourish. His secret with hiding his “sister” in the basement was kept well-hidden for some time until Elissa crept in too close. The twist on the reality of Ryan’s situation with his “sister” brought multiple characters into danger and revealed the true state of Ryan’s mental state.

While this film was never touted to be a true quality story or eventual classic film, there are a lot of challenges with the development of this movie. On a basic level, the story is too formulaic with little imagination in the twist in Ryan’s hidden truth. While the identity of his “sister” could be seen as a small surprise, it did not make sense that when she got out she failed to garner any attention from anyone. When she ran to Elissa’s house, she did not knock on any doors or attempt to make contact (though she may have still been drugged out and not thinking straight). It is never made clear who the Marie Ann in his basement really is and throwing in the surprise with Ryan’s involvement in his parents’ death just tries to complicate the ending of the story unnecessarily.

The acting in this film is not that bad but the story falls short in too many areas to warrant this much of a look.

Dan’s Rating: 2.0/5

Lola Versus: Sex, Love, Lola, the World (2012)

Enamored by her artist boyfriend, Lola is in a place where she truly feels happy and complete. Add to her joy and excitement a proposal and pending wedding, it seems as though nothing could bring her off of her cloud…except a completely unexpected breakup. Devastated by the shocking news, Lola struggles first the get herself out of her apartment and even allow herself to make any sort of connection with Luke. Focusing on the support of her friends and parents, she is able to get out of the apartment, continue her work on her dissertation and even engage in a little dating. The next several months become a mess of moments of loss, drunk mistakes, reliance on her friends for attention and short bursts of clarity. Slipping into some bad patterns and behaviors, it takes some serious mistakes to put her on the path to find herself and decide what is best for her to recoup her path in life.

Starring: Greta Gerwig (Lola), Joel Kinnaman (Luke), Zoe Lister Jones (Alice), Hamish Linklater (Henry), Bill Pullman (Lenny), Debra Winger (Robin), Maria Dizzia (Subletter), Jay Pharoah (Randy), Cheyenne Jackson (Roger), Parisa Fitz-Henley (Peggy), Victor Cruz (Bodega Owner), Ebon Moss-Bachrach (Nick)

Generally out of sorts and self conscious, Greta Gerwig represents a woman who struggles to know what she really wants in life. She explores a range of emotions as she navigates her friendships and ex-fiance. Serving as a point of conflict, Kinnaman seems in constant conflict with figuring out what he wants. Also serving as one of the film’s main writers, Jones is a rather fun element of the cast. She has her own brand of comedy with an ever-changing artistic personality. Linklater takes on his first film role and seems to have a potential movie career, but only as a supporting character due to his inability to carry a scene by himself.

Daryl Wein’s film explores the challenges with defining oneself based on their relationships. Lola was so focused on her life in her relationship with Luke that she was completely devastated when he decided to break off the engagement. He got spooked when the whole experience started to feel more real, but it left Lola in a place where she could not quite let go and move on. Focusing heavily on her friendship with Henry on complicated the situation as she began to juggle her growing feelings for him with the residual feelings for Luke and the awkward relationship with Nick. As the love triangle become more and more complicated, Lola fell deeper into feelings of dependence and caused her to at least temporarily damage her close relationships.

The film’s main message is that a person must feel confident in who they are before they commit to someone else. Lola started with the attachment to Nick, lost it, struggled to get it back and only finally got to the end with the decision to focus on herself. Her final scene also shows a sense of the loss of self in the way she no longer appears to be happy about trying to focus more on herself. She is sitting alone in her apartment struggling with the fact that she is finally and truly alone for the first time and not sure of what to do with herself. The director and writers are trying to get people to think about how they define themselves and recommend that each person must figure out how to figure themselves out in the context of the people in their world.

Though a rather entertaining film, Lola Versus struggles to find some consistency and make sense of a woman struggling to find herself. Lola seems to be missing a sense of direction that sometimes borders on misunderstood while getting redeemed by the humorous performance of Jones.

Dan’s Rating: 3.0/5

Ruby Sparks: She’s Out of His Mind (2012)

Though once more famous for his novel, Calvin is searching for that next great idea. Still somewhat riding on the laurels of his success at age 19, his confidence is low and he is either spending time with his brother or his therapist. Given the task of attempting to think about his social interactions, he awakens one night with a burst of ideas. His dreams had recently been filled with images of an unknown beauty and he had to get her story on paper. Using the therapy assignment as motivation, he did not seem to notice or pay much attention to the random array of women’s items appearing around his house. One morning when he was ready to rush off to meet his agent, he discovers that the women he had been writing about was actually in his house and cooking him breakfast. He realizes that his words and typewriter brought her into reality and that he had a control over her that was more powerful than he had even begun to realize.

Starring: Paul Dano (Calvin Weir-Fields), Zoe Kazan (Ruby Tiffany Sparks), Annette Bening (Gertrude), Antonio Banderas (Mort), Steve Coogan (Langdon Tharp), Elliott Gould (Dr. Rosenthal), Chris Messina (Harry), Deborah Ann Woll (Lila), Aasfi Mandvi (Cyrus Modi), Alla Shawkat (Mabel)

Cycling through periods of confidence and control, Paul Dano is an interesting performer and lead for this story. Zoe Kazan is an even more impressive specimen of acting. Her character struggles with experiencing the life documented by Dano’s character and only learns about her existence near the end. While Bening, Banderas and Gould were nice additions to the cast, Messina provides the necessary support as the brother to help guide some of the conflict Dano’s character tries to resolve.

Kazan actually served as the writer of this film and took on an interesting role of writing her lead character’s story of controlling the character she played. Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris looked to adapt and direct the controversy of creating and controlling another person. The sudden realization of the power of his writing threw Calvin into a bit of madness until he could prove that Ruby was really there. She seemed completely unaware of her lack of existence prior to the day she and Calvin discovered each other, yet she still had real world elements immediately in place. Though their relationship was perfect at the beginning, Calvin’s initial expectations were lost in his realization that there is life beyond the honeymoon period. As he realized that Ruby was not happy with just spending time with him, Calvin’s jealously and control started to take over and threaten to drag him down a spiral of distress and confusion.

  

The concept of this movie may be a little out there, but the symbolism is rather complex. Calvin struggles from not knowing how to deal with success or with maintaining interpersonal relationships. The fame he received at 19 skewed his perception of how to connect with others, which led to him having zero friends other than his brother. Ruby’s arrival gave him someone and something to look forward to but only as long as he maintained his perfect image and control over their relationship. The fact that he realized that he had the ability to control her was too much to resist once their relationship started to hit rocky grounds. When he encountered his former girlfriend at the house party, it solidified all of the elements he wanted to eliminate in Ruby, though it went too far to the extreme. It took him going mad with power to realize that life is uncontrollable.

There are some mystical elements that are never fully explained, but this is the next best romantic comedy/fantasy since 500 Days of Summer.

Dan’s Rating: 3.5/5

Rust and Bone: A Film by Jacques Audiard (2012)

Alain, a former fighter, leaves Belgium with his son to move in with his sister in Antibes, France. Upon his arrival, he is able to secure a job as a bouncer at a local club, where he meets Stephanie. While their first interaction is not on the best of conditions, a connection is made that is more important to both of them they could initially realize. While at her job as a trainer of killer whales, an accident happens during a show and she plunges into the tank when the supports collapse, leaving her a double amputee. Struggling with her new condition, she calls Alain to come see her. Convincing her to get out of her apartment, he helps her take a break from her depressive state and get back into the water for the first time since she lost her legs. As much as she needs him to help her out of her funk, he neglects to realize how much he needs her to find himself.

Starring: Marion Cotillard (Stephanie), Matthias Schoenaerts (Alain van Versch), Armand Verdure (Sam), Celine Sallette (Louise), Corinne Masiero (Anna), Bouli Lanners (Martial), Jean-Michel Correia (Richard), Mourad Frarema (Foued), Yannick Choirat (Simon)

With an incredibly gripping performance, Marion Cotillard portrays all of the sadness and struggle with an intense life change. She exhibits a wide array of emotions, from anger and frustration to depression to glimmers of happiness. Matching her performance is a very talented actor in Matthias Schoenaerts. Stubborn and short-sighted, his portrayal of a man who both tries to be good while oblivious to the results of his blindness to others. Armand Verdure provides a sense of connectedness to help keep Schoenaerts’s character grounded.

Jacques Audiard’s feature is an emotional roller coaster through pain, change and recovery. For Alain, he had never lived in comfort. Losing his wife for questionable reasons, Alain was left with his son. With no sense of how to care for them both, he convinced his sister to take them in and tried to find work in a new place. He was not shy about his sexual nature or lack of commitment, but the combination of his disconnect and aggression was a double-edged sword. It served him well in a fight but not for his personal relationships. To make a more significant commitment, he needed to experience turmoil to realize what he truly needed. For Stephanie, her life dramatically changed after the injury and she needed to contact someone…anyone when she felt left alone. Feeling uplifted by Alain consideration and attention, she found her strength to get back out into the world. She still struggled with the inconsistency of their relationship, but she committed hoping to eventually find something more serious between the two of them.

There is a rawness to this film that makes it so gripping. The tattered relationship between Alain, Sam and Anna ebbs and flows between periods of highs and lows. Anna struggles with Alain’s lack of attention, especially with a wildly explorative son. When Alain’s involvement with the security program goes south, the tension in his confrontation with Anna is intense and uncomfortable. Stephanie goes through some extremely difficult emotions when she first discovers the results of her amputation, clutching a scalpel underneath her sheets. Her neglect of taking care of herself when Alain comes over after the accident screams the sadness and depression she is feeling. Even as she is recovering and returning to a more regular lifestyle, her face is written with the pain and anguish of loss and defining her new life.

A somewhat overshadowed story, the gritty performances of its stars are something to see. Rust and Bone is one of the better foreign films to get press in the States in the past few years.

Dan’s Rating: 4.0/5

Safety Not Guaranteed: Take This Trip (2012)

While looking for the next great article, a group of three reporters from a Seattle-based magazine travel out to the suburbs to follow up on a strange advertisement they found in a newspaper. The ad claimed that the goal of the person’s mission was to travel back in time. While initially doing some recon work, the team attempts to send in Jeff but fails to make positive contact. In contrast, Darius makes an almost instant connection with Kenneth and gets him to accept her into his training program. As the two begin to spend a lot of time together, it is clear that Kenneth continues to feel more comfortable letting Darius get closer, while Darius seems to find something she had been seeking for quite some time…understanding. The big question that continues to remain is whether the time travel is real or if Kenneth has some sort of ulterior motive.

Starring: Aubrey Plaza (Darius), Mary Lynn Rajskub (Bridget), Jake Johnson (Jeff), Karan Soni (Arnau), Jeff Garlin (Mr. Britt), Mark Duplass (Kenneth), William Hall Jr. (Shannon), Jenica Bergere (Liz), Tom Ricciardelli (Security Guard), Kristen Bell (Belinda)

Mostly focused on the reporting team and the time-traveler, the single word to describe the group is quirky. Aubrey Plaza is quite charming in her dark, mysterious way. She exhibits an off-beat personality that is searching for meaning and understanding of her existence. Mark Duplass is able to be intense while also portraying the struggle of loss and regret through his time traveling project. Jake Johnson is a bit of an inconsistent member of the cast but is able to highlight some of the related concepts of time travel with his storyline.

  

This story is quite the odd comedy and Colin Trevorrow deserves some recognition for directing something more unique that other feature films. The discovery of this ad was a turning point for each of the members of the reporting team. For Arnau, his less-traveled life and timid personality met head-on with Jeff’s more boisterous attitude. Forced to break out of his comfort zone, he finished the film in a more experienced place than when it started. For Jeff, he had an opportunity to explore an old relationship and see if he could travel back in time to when he was infatuated with Bridget. It was not until they reconnected that he realized both of them had moved on. Darius’s story connected well with Kenneth’s, in that they both were trying to fill voids. For Darius, she had yet to find something that she could put herself whole-heartedly into, while Kenneth felt a loss from his past that he wanted to use the time machine to go back and fix.

  

The film’s message is actually two-fold: the title actually references the dangerous road of love while also highlighting the dangers of looking back. Kenneth had an infatuation with Belinda when they were kids and felt unable to love again after the incident with her then-boyfriend’s house. Meeting Darius gave him a potential partner for the time travel but eventually scared him by how close they had become. Arnau had avoided taking risks until this trip but found himself actually pursuing an intimate connection with someone through the coercion of Jeff. Uncharted territory or avoidance of taking a risk of love plagued these characters prior to this story. For the concept of looking back, Kenneth had been obsessed with the missed opportunity with Belinda from high school. Being so focused on trying to fix his mistakes had left him blind to new possibilities. Jeff became enamored with the possibility of reconnecting with Bridget but neglected to consider how life changes people’s desires.

While definitely a smaller budget and attention film, it packs in a lot of great moments and elements. The quirkiness is well balanced with the cast but may also not be attractive to everyone.

Dan’s Rating: 3.5/5