Terri, played by newcomer Jacob Wysocki, is an overweight teenager who must endure the typical peer belligerence of adolescence. The high school scenes stir up some authenticity: the horniness, the misfits, the tenure-chasing teachers. John C. Reilly plays a well-meaning, if a bit clueless, principal. Director Azazel Jacobs’s style is …
Writer/director Céline Sciamma brings us a French meditation on the complexities of life for a gender-questioning youth. High marks go to Sciamma’s intriguing images and adroit angles. There are simply too many impressive shots to mention. Zoé Héran in the lead role has striking features that fit the part, softly …
The film opens with a bit of historical hogwash, suggesting that America’s Cold War Space Race was actually motivated by a crashed alien transport. The ship carries the technology to open a “space bridge,” by which instantaneous travel across the universe is possible. Everyone involved wants the tech, and the …
A generic story about two brothers on opposite sides of an elimination-style mixed martial arts competition. What makes Warrior interesting is that all the machismo is used to generate a theme: forgiveness. The arena for this is the tableau of family ruin between the two brothers and their ex-alcoholic, ex-abusive …
Director and cowriter Nanni Moretti presents us with a “what if” meditation on the passing of the papal torch. Following the death of the old Pope, the new elect (played with timid sincerity by Michel Piccoli) finds himself emotionally unable to face the responsibility of his new station. The film …