It’s Memorial Day weekend in the US. That’s why we have two giants, the X-Men and Alice, duking it out at the box office right now. But look closer. There are several smaller gems to consider.
Here’s the list:
X-Men Apocalypse: 3 stars
Alice Through the Looking Glass: 2 ½
Love & Friendship: 4 ½
Sunset Song: 3 ½
Borealis: 3
The Boy and the Beast: 4
Truman: 3 ½
X-MEN: APOCALYPSE: Now that’s extreme, even for a comic book movie. How can you possibly spin a bigger peril and follow that? They’ll find something though. This is the 6th film in the series (9th if you count the spin-offs) and since they make so much money, there are sure to be more. Meanwhile, there’s a great ado about this one between critics (who are not raving) and fans (who are themselves split between those who love it and others who are griping). I’ve not been a fan myself but found this one entertaining and one of the best, despite some glaring problems.
Number one: the story. Apocalypse is a guy, a god from ancient Egypt who’s been unwillingly hibernating for some 5,000 years and now, in 1983, wakes up and sets out to cleanse the world by destroying everybody in it. He comes off like a religious fanatic as he rants about “false gods” and “the day of reckoning”. Oscar Isaac does what he can playing him but it’s not enough to overcome the daft plotline. Number two: too many characters. They’re mutants and analogues for minorities but some we hardly get to know. The stage gets crowded as new arrivals join the regulars-- James McAvoy, fine as Xavier, Jennifer Lawrence, seemingly not interested anymore as Mystique, and Michael Fassbender, skillfully exuding inner conflict and anger as Magneto, although bringing in Auschwitz into the story is pretty tasteless. Sophie Turner, from Game of Thrones, is a fine addition. She takes over as Jean Grey and conveys anxiety over the powers she’s just learning to use. Bryan Singer, back a 4th time as director, stays true to these characters as well as delivering chaotic battle scenes. He builds momentum right at the start and doesn’t let up. (5th Avenue, Scotiabank, Marine Gateway, suburban theatres) 3 out of 5
ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS: Here’s what earning a billion dollars will do. You get a sequel, probably mandated by the Disney money men. You bring the characters back from the 2010 film that made the billion: Mia Wasikowska as Alice, Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter, Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen and Anne Hathaway as the White Queen. Now what to do with them? Forget Lewis Carroll’s book. Linda Woolverton did. She wrote in feminism, sibling rivalry, grief over parental rejection and time travel. Yes, check it out.
Alice, now grown and captain of her father’s sailing ship, is faced with losing it and her mother’s house and dives into a mirror to visit Wonderland, here called Underland. Not long before she had uttered her philosophy about achieving the impossible by believing it is possible. So it’s not an escape. She’s encouraged to by Absolom (in a last voice-performance by Alan Rickman) to go help the Mad Hatter who is weak with sadness. To go back in time and find his family, she steals a device called the chronosphere from Time himself (Sasha Baron Cohen, speaking in a nifty Werner Herzog accent), flies over churning oceans and through dark skies and draws shrieks and stares from the Red Queen and bland words from the White Queen. (On the side she finds out what caused the rift between those two). The upshot of all this is a bland lesson about family loyalty, a meager payoff after all the activity. The film is over-designed, every set is way too busy. But the visual effects, most created here in Vancouver, are potent. Now if only the movie as a whole were as powerful, not just soulless. (Dunbar, Park, Scotiabank, Marine Gateway and suburban theatres) 2 ½ out of 5
LOVE & FRIENDSHIP: We’ve now seen many films from Jane Austen’s writing but I can’t remember one as acerbic as this. Sure the usual elements are here, elegant people, country houses, bright conversation, genteel behavior. But there’s more, caustic asides and undertones, written in or perhaps just emphasized by Whit Stillman who adapted a lesser-known Austen work called Lady Susan. She wrote it when she was young but left it for posthumous publication. He’s known for brittle and witty studies of American preppies in films like Metropolitan and Last Days of Disco.
Wit and subtle dialogue are plentiful here too as Kate Beckinsale plays Lady Susan, a widow on a mission. She’s penniless and survives by visiting friends around the English countryside. Men are charmed; wives see through her conniving ways. She’s looking for a husband, and when her daughter shows up, having just been expelled from school, she’s seeking one for her too. The barbed tone appears most clearly up in chats with a friend, an American played by Chloë Sevigny. Her marriage (to Stephen Fry) doesn’t please Susan because he’s “too old to manage and too young to die.” A potential husband (Tom Bennett) comes across as a dolt. Another (Xavier Samuel) rouses displeasure from his parents who see the goldbricking machinations that lure him. The film is very funny and probably much more truthful about women’s status at that time than most Austen movies. (5th Avenue) 4 ½ out of 5
SUNSET SONG: This one also studies the condition of women though in a different place and time and through one alone. So much misfortune comes her way you’ll think it might be from a Thomas Hardy novel. Actually it’s from a novel published in Scotland in 1932 and considered a classic throughout the UK. A young woman who dreams of becoming a teacher is stuck on the farm. Her mother has committed suicide; her father is a tyrant with religious fervor; her brother escapes to somewhere and she’s compelled to work the land.
When dad dies and she falls in love and marries she’s still not free. Society shames her husband into volunteering for World War I. He comes back a much different man, a change that appears far too abruptly to feel natural but doesn’t weaken the generally astute view of the patriarchal system that controls her. Director Terence Davies brings out the heartbreaking progress of her life and her pursuit of independence with a slow and steady pace but with real impact. It’ll resonate strongly with women. Agyness Deyn, tall and thin like a model which she also is, gives a moving performance. Peter Mullen is properly stern as the father. Some of the writing is a bit fussy but the film is strikingly beautiful with its widescreen visuals of the land. (VanCity Theatre) 3 ½ out of 5
BOREALIS: Here’s a chance to support a Canadian film and it doesn’t even call on a sense of duty. Borealis is a gentle, often funny and ultimately quite moving film about a father-daughter reconciliation on a road trip. It’s worth seeing and Sunday evening after it screens at the Rio the three main actors will talk about it via skype.
Dad, written and played by Jonas Chernick, is a gambling addict in Winnipeg and a generally hapless individual. Nothing goes right for him. His wife has died, his daughter is losing her sight and he can’t quit blackjack. He already owes thousands and has a guy named Tubby (Kevin Pollak) hounding him. He convinces his daughter (Joey King) to come with him on a drive up to Churchill to see the northern lights while she still can. With Tubby and a thug in pursuit, the trip is a race against time, against more mishaps and to overcome the estrangement between them. The mix of drama, comedy and Canadiana is endearing. Chernick and King are wonderful together. Along with Pollack they’ll tell you more Sunday. (Rio Theatre at 6:30) 3 out of 5
THE BOY AND THE BEAST: At Studio Ghibli, Hayao Miyazaki has all but retired. So could Mamoru Hosoda at his own Studio Chizu become the new king of Japanese animation. Judging by Wolf Children from four years ago and now this one, I’d say he’s got a great chance. His stories are original, though rooted in Japanese folklore and his artwork is colorful, evocative and intricately hand drawn.
A boy from Tokyo’s Shibuya shopping district one day wanders down a narrow alley and finds himself in a parallel world of animals that talk like people. Their leader is about to retire and the two biggest in his realm will have to fight for his crown. The bout is delayed though and one of the competitors, a bull with more temper than smarts, adopts the boy to boost his respectability. Several years of mentorship and violent outbursts follow, while villagers talk of human beings as inferior because of a “darkness” within them. The boy starts questioning what he is and on trips back forth between the two worlds, meets a young woman who turns him on to reading Moby Dick, catches the big fight and endures a surprising aftermath. The film is long (2 hours) but multi-level engrossing and, of course, beautiful. (Rio Theatre, in Japanese with subtitles) 4 out of 5
TRUMAN: I’ve been a fan of the splendid Argentinian actor Ricardo Darin for some time and here is teamed again with one of Spain’s best, Javier Cámara. Neither is playing Truman. That’s a dog belonging to Darin’s character which he’s most concerned to find a home for. It’s also an indicator of the offbeat way this film deals with a grim subject: impending death. The dog is both a metaphor and an example of putting affairs in order. That’s what Darin’s character is trying to do, at least when he stops to think about it. He’s dying of cancer, refusing further treatment and, well, going on living as long as he can.
Cámara plays a friend who now lives in Canada but returns to Spain for a short visit which becomes long as they go on a series of almost madcap excursions and renew their friendship. In a restaurant Darin experiences a cool reception from people he knows. “They smell death and get scared,” he says. He also leads his friend on a touching visit to a son who lives in Amsterdam. None of this is gloomy; most of it is playful and devoid of sentimentality. It manages to sneak up a view of how people reflect on their lives when the end gets near. It’s very poignant and has been winning awards all over, including five top Goyas, Spain’s Oscars. (VanCity Theatre) 3 ½ out of 5