Movies about making movies need to be smart and fun if they’re going to avoid getting sucked into the black hole of their own navels. Director Pedro Morelli’s storytelling ouroboros does manage to keep things fun (and sexually frank), partly by presenting the making-a-movie part of the movie as a rotoscope- animated version of a young woman’s (Allison Pill) graphic novel about her dream guy: studly movie director Edward (Gael Garcia Bernal). That same young woman, perhaps influenced by her gig in a high-end sex-doll factory, also decides to pursue her dream breasts, but winds up unhappy with her overzealous attempt at physical perfection. So it makes sense that she turns out to be a character in a novel written by a gorgeous model (Mariana Ximenez) who longs to be valued for something besides her physical perfection. And that kind of interior longing is the perfect subject for a movie director who longs to do something besides exciting action pics — a movie director like, you guessed it, Edward. The self-conscious cleverness gets slippery once it’s time to deliver an ending, so for smarts, you’ll have to settle for some comment on the folly (and expense) of fantasy. With a special appearance by Jason Priestley. (2016) — Matthew Lickona
This movie is not currently in theaters.