NEW THIS WEEK May 31, 2024 (IN THEATERS AND ON HOME VIDEO)
NEW THIS WEEK IN THEATERS, HOME VIDEO AND/OR VOD:
BABES--After being impregnated by a one-night stand (Stephan James) who inconveniently dies before she has the chance to break it to him, Eden (Ilana Glazer) begins leaning on her married-with-children BBF Dawn (Michelle Buteau) to an increasingly discomfiting, potentially friendship-ending degree. The first film directed by Pamela (FX's late, great "Better Things") Adlon looks and sounds like the chick flick that John ("A Woman Under the Influence," "Faces") Cassavetes never got around to making. The edges are deliberately gnarly and the performances, not to mention the (frequently profane) dialogue, seem more improvised than rehearsed. Buteau and especially "Broad City" breakout Glazer are both letter-perfect in their characters' eminently relatable, albeit frequently maddening imperfection. Bravo. (A MINUS.) https://youtu.be/g4mICRkuT00?si=ZrGx2AVYtAvZGviE
BACKSPOT--Although it's being sold as a lesbian cheerleader movie, first-time director D.W. Waterson's Canadian drama is a lot closer to Robert Towne's "Personal Best" than LGBTQ cult flick "But I'm a Cheerleader." High school gymnast Riley ("Reservation Dogs" alumnus Deverly Jacobs) is overjoyed when she and her girlfriend Amanda (Kudakwashe Rutendo) are both chosen for the all-star Thunderhawks cheer squad. Part of the appeal for Riley is being mentored by legendary Thunderhawks coach (Evan Rachel Wood's Eileen). Riley is a "backspot" (hence the title), the person at the back of a stunt who supports the "star" and holds it all together. Ironically, her personal life is a bit of a mess. Suffering from frequent panic attacks, she also has a largely uncommunicative relationship with her divorced mom (a sympathetic Shannya Sossaman) who she ignores whenever possible. The fact that Eileen also identifies as gay makes her a role model for the impressionable Riley. But iceberg Eileen's hard-nosed approach to coaching--"You need to make it look easy!" is her constant refrain--only adds to Riley's ever-growing neurosis. Despite generally strong performances (Wood, not surprisingly, is the standout), the film is ultimately as bleak and depressing as its wintry suburban Toronto setting. (B MINUS.)
DAISY MILLER--Paramount's 1974 still ranks as one of the greatest single years ever for a major Hollywood studio. They had two Francis Ford Coppola masterpieces ("The Conversation" and "The Godfather, Part II," both of which were Best Picture Oscar nominees), Roman Polanski's "Chinatown" (another B.P. nominee), Robert Aldrich's "The Longest Yard," Karel Reisz's "The Gambler," Ted Kotcheff's "The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz" and, especially dear to my heart, this exquisitely rendered Peter Bogdanovich adaptation of Henry James' 1879 novella. Unlike many of those '74 Paramount titles, however, "Daisy Miller" wasn't widely embraced at the time of its release. After a trio of critically acclaimed box office smashes ("The Last Picture Show," "What's Up, Doc?" and "Paper Moon," all certified classics), Bogdanovich gambled big time on attempting something completely different from his earlier successes. (It would be more than a decade before audiences would become receptive to similarly tony literary adaptations, with the Merchant-Ivory team being the chief beneficiary of that cultural seachange.) Bogdanovich also engendered antipathy from critics for casting then-girlfriend, Cybill Shepherd, in the lead role. Despite knockout performances in "Picture Show" (her screen debut) and Elaine May's "The Heartbreak Kid," Shepherd was still considered just a pretty face. (Beautiful women have always made non-beautiful people suspicious.) And most agreed that the role of James' headstrong nouveau riche American tourist in 19th century Italy was beyond her purportedly limited reach as an actress. There were some fans. Newsweek's Jack Kroll loved the movie, and it made New York Times critic Vincent Canby's 10-best list. (Interestingly, Canby panned both "Chinatown" and "Godfather II" that year.) But the most unforgivable sin was its failure at the box office. "Daisy Miller" didn't even play Youngstown; I had to take a Greyhound bus to see it in downtown Pittsburgh (I was 15 at the time). Like Bogdanovich and Shepherd's even more derided follow-up, 1975's sublime Art Deco Cole Porter musical "At Long Last Love," "Miller" managed to engender a passionate cult following over the ensuing decades and is now rightly considered one of his greatest films. Despite the naysayers, Shepherd is positively incandescent here: her rat-a-tat screwball delivery of James' prose makes perfect sense for the character, and I defy anyone not to shed a tear at Daisy's ultimate comeuppance. The cast is positively stacked: "Picture Show" veterans Cloris Leachman and Eileen Brennan as, respectively, Daisy's flibbertigibbet mother and an American expatriate who rules Italy's societal roost; screen veteran/John Ford repertory player Mildred Natwick; Duillio Del Prete (who reunited with Bogdanovich and Shepherd for "Love" the following year); and the wonderfully expressive, achingly sensitive Barry Brown, two years after his screen debut opposite Shepherd's "Picture Show" boyfriend Jeff Bridges in Robert Benton's wonderful "Bad Company." Unlike another Paramount adaptation of a literary masterpiece from that same year (Jack Clayton's stillborn "The Great Gatsby" with Mia Farrow's anesthetic Daisy Buchanan), Bogdanovich's film does its esteemed source proud while very much being its own unique thing: a period film minus the cobwebs and with a modernist sensibility that, like all of Bogdanovich's best picture shows, still manages to honor Old Hollywood verities. The KL Studio Classics' Blu Ray (from a 4K scan of the original 35 mm negative) includes two separate audio commentaries, one with Bogdanovich and the other with critic Peter Tonguette; a retrospective interview with Shepherd; Bogdanovich's introduction to the film (like his commentary track, it was recycled from an earlier Paramount DVD); and the original theatrical trailer. (A PLUS.) https://youtu.be/_NhciYKjWEA?si=TY-0D-O8Fi7UfH6v
THE DEAD DON'T HURT--When Danish immigrant Holger (Viggo Mortensen who also directed and composed the elegiac score) meets French-Canadian Vivienne ("Phantom Thread" breakout Vicky Krieps) in 1860's San Francisco, it's love at first sight for the two immigrants. After moving to Elk Flats Nevada, the (now married) couple live an idyllic existence on their new farm until the Civil War intervenes and Holger joins the Union army. While he's away, the bad seed son (Solly McLeoud) of the town's resident land baron rapes and impregnates Vivienne. Upon his return, Holger is shocked to discover a young boy (Atlas Green) living with Vivienne in their cabin. Instead of bolting, he instead chooses to raise him as his own son. Holger eventually becomes Elk Flat's sheriff which requires forging an uneasy alliance with the town's corrupt mayor (Danny Huston, deliciously venal). Yes, there's a lot of plot to navigate in this revisionist-feminist western--maybe too much--and the non-linear storytelling takes some getting used to. But Mortensen has made an unstintingly handsome film and does fine work with his actors (Krieps is a particular standout). It's also a marked improvement on Mortensen's first directorial outing, 2020's uneven "Falling." (B.)
DEUCE QUEEN--Greek-born Holocaust survivor and future porn entrepreneur Chelly Wilson, the subject of Valerie Komtakos' Ripley's-worthy documentary, was a veritable force of nature and then some. Although she was married twice--the first time in an arranged marriage before emigrating to America with $5 to her name--Wilson was an out-and-proud lesbian, as well as a classic Jewish mother (and grandmother) who lived in a gilded cage above one of her many 8th Avenue porn theaters. (Her grandkids were understandably confused by all the paper bags stuffed with cash whenever they visited, as well as security cameras monitoring activity in the lobbies of her theaters.) Komtakos' mix of talking heads interviews, archival footage and animation isn't terribly imaginative, but her subject is so fascinating that the film's aesthetic shortcomings ultimately seem irrelevant. Wilson not only shattered glass ceilings, she pulverized them. Whether cozying up with Mafioso or producing and distributing softcore (and eventually hardcore) porn to play her chain of theaters, Wilson unapologetically did it her way. I'd love to see a big-screen biopic about this extraordinarily colorful trailblazer someday. Sadly, the Greenwich/Kino Lorber DVD doesn't include any extras. (B.) https://youtu.be/wWvp6pvEEkY?si=ELUJJYhkGIxTwgV1
EZRA--Struggling New Jersey stand up comic Max (Bobby Cannavale) takes a road trip to Los Angeles with his autistic 11-year-old son (newcomer William A. Fitzgerald's titular Ezra) for an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! The fact that he didn't clear the cross-country drive with his exasperated ex (Cannavale's real-life wife, Rose Byrne) causes no end of problems for all concerned, including Max's blustery dad (Robert De Niro channelling his Oscar-nominated performance as another long-suffering dad in David O. Russell's "Silver Linings Playbook"). Directed by Tony Goldwyn--who previously helmed the wonderful 1999 film, "A Walk on the Moon"--and inspired by screenwriter Tony Spiridakis' relationship with his own neurodivergent son, the movie is clearly a labor of love for all concerned. I just wish that it was better: less sitcommy, less contrived and more grounded in reality instead of merely recycling beats from older, better family dramedies. (At times it almost plays like an unofficial sequel to "Little Miss Sunshine.") Not helping matters is the fact that what we see of Max's stand-up act is really pretty terrible. It's a huge leap to think he could have ever landed a guest spot on a late night network talkshow. The performances are all perfectly fine--Byrne is especially affecting--but the film wore out my patience long before Max and Ezra finally hit L.A. (C.)
IN A VIOLENT NATURE--Chris Nash's Canadian indie certainly lives up to its foreboding title: the frequent onscreen killings achieve a near-"Terrifier" level of graphic carnage. Yet the skill level evinced here separates it from Damien Leone's rather slapdash horror franchise. Think of it as the 1980's arthouse slasher flick that time forgot. When a group of (predictably annoying, barely differentiated) twentysomething campers abscond with a necklace found in an abandoned forest fire tower, they unwittingly revive the corpse of "White Pine Massacre" slayer Johnny (Ry Barrett). And because Johnny still has an axe to grind (literally), he naturally begins offing them one at a time. Nash's choice to depict the grisly action entirely from the killer's POV is both ingenious and deeply unsettling: it actually makes the audience feel complicit in Johnny's slaughter-fest. As "Final Girl" Kris, Andrea Pavlovic impresses, as does Lauren Taylor as the loquacious Good Samaritan who comes to her rescue. The rest of the performances are functional at best, but this is still the best horror film since John Hyams' "Sick" from early 2023. (B PLUS.)
ON THE ADAMANT--Winner of the Golden Bear at the 2023 Berlin Film Festival, the latest observational documentary by Nicolas ("To Be and To Have," "In the Land of the Deaf") Philibert examines a French day program for mentally ill adults that operates out of a floating barge on the Seine. Besides therapy with the staff's clinical psychologists, participants attend art workshops, music programs and watch movies in a screening room. (There's even a Starbucks-like cafe on board!) The most defining characteristic of this unconventional approach to mental health is its humanistic approach to healing: accordingly, the staff treats all of their patients with dignity and respect. Like the documentaries of Frederick ("City Hall," "Menus -Plaisirs Les Troisgros") Wiseman, Philibert merely absorbs the rhythms of daily life minus any hand-holding offscreen narration or agenda-driven editorial choices. No extras on the Kino Lorber DVD. (B PLUS.) https://youtu.be/i1FB4AWer5c?si=YxkOl3BSGy_DegcL
SUMMER CAMP--Poor Diane Keaton keeps making one witless, pandering-to-AARP-members rom-com after another. Keaton's latest misfire casts the "Annie Hall" Oscar winner as workaholic C.E.O. Nora who reverts to nerdy adolescence while attending a 50 year reunion at her old summer camp. The bait was the potential of reconnecting with former BFFs Ginny (Kathy Bates) and Mary (Alfre Woodard), but she spends more time catching up with work emails than renewing old friendships. Bates (as a Tony Robbins-style self-help guru) and Woodard (an E.R. nurse who put her dreams of becoming a doctor on hold to pacify her controlling husband) are reliably good in one-note roles, and it's amusing-weird that director Castille (forever infamous for helming three of the ghastly "After" movies) Landon casts Eugene Levy as the camp's resident hearthrob. While Keaton's "Book Club" movies were nobody's idea of Restoration Comedy, they seem positively Lubitsch-ian in comparison with this drivel. Only 2022's woebegone "Mack & Rita" ranks lower on Keaton's 21st century IMBD resume. (D PLUS.)
NOW AVAILABLE IN THEATERS, ON HOME VIDEO AND/OR STREAMING CHANNELS:
DOGFIGHT--Nancy Savoca made three wonderful movies with producer/co-writer husband Richard Guay between 1989-'93 then essentially disappeared. In the process, the American cinema lost one of its most singular and distinctive voices. The fact that Savoca is largely unknown today, despite this being an era which purportedly champions female directors, makes her relative obscurity both depressing and infuriating. Fortunately, Criterion is doing their part to help auto-correct that grievous injustice by releasing "Dogfight," Savoca's greatest film, on Blu Ray for the first time. (In a happy coincidence, Kino Lorber just released Savoca's two other masterworks, "True Love" and "Household Saints," on home video as well.) Savoca's only major studio production, "Dogfight" was badly marketed and barely released by Warner Brothers in the fall of 1991. I remember driving three hours round trip to see it when a single Pittsburgh theater finally opened it months after the New York premiere. Part of a sub-genre I like to refer to as the "Doomed Love Love Story"--other exemplars include Elia Kazan's "Splendor in the Grass," Alan J. Pakula's "The Sterile Cuckoo" and John Sayles' "Baby, It's You"--"Dogfight" tells the heart-wrenching story of an impactful San Francisco night shared by an 18-year-old marine (River Phoenix's Eddie Birdlace) ready to be shipped off to Vietnam and waitress/folk singer aspirant Rose (Lili Taylor) in November 1963. After impulsively inviting Rose to be his plus-one at a party (the titular "dogfight") in which the grunt with the ugliest date wins a cash prize, Eddie tries to make amends by taking her on a real date. During the course of their enchanted evening, the two find themselves connecting in ways neither could have ever anticipated. Phoenix, who was on the cusp of officially becoming "The Actor of His Generation" before his untimely death two years later, gives a performance of such aching, lacerating vulnerability that he literally takes your breath away. (Amazingly, Gus Van Sant's "My Own Private Idaho," with an equally remarkable Phoenix performance, opened the same month.) And the mercurial Taylor, in an exquisitely modulated turn, matches her co-star's brilliance every step of the way. Extras include Savoca/Guay's audio commentary recycled from a no-frills 2003 DVD release; "American Psycho"/"I Shot Andy Warhol" director Mary Harron's 32-minute interview with Savoca and Guay; a 2024 featurette in which Guay interviews the film's cinematographer, production designer, script superviser and editors; and an insightful essay, "Love and War," by critic Christina Newland. (A PLUS.)
THE FALL GUY--After a work-related injury that nearly cost him his life, stunt man Colt Seavers (Ryan Gosling) reluctantly goes back to work as the stunt double for Tom Cruise-y superstar Tom Ryder's new action blockbuster, "Metal Storm." The fact that "Storm" is also the directing debut of the ex (Emily Blunt's Jody Moreno) Colt still pines for also factors into his decision to accept the gig. But when Tom (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) mysteriously disappears in the middle of the shoot (some shady mobsters are involved), Jody tasks Colt with helping locate her MIA lead actor. A glossy, big-screen spin-off of the long-running 1980's Lee Major tube series, director/former stunt man David ("Bullet Train," "Deadpool 2") Leitch's film has pacing problems, especially in the first half, and is maybe a half hour too long. But Gosling and Blunt evince beaucoup chemistry and their rom-com screwball banter helps you get over some rough patches. As Jody's conniving producer, Hannah ("Ted Lasso") Waddingham steals every scene she's in. (B.)
FURIOSA: A MAD MAX SAGA--The first "Mad Max" movie without a Max, Australian visionary George Miller's follow-up to 2015's Oscar-winning "Fury Road" is an origin story for Imperator Furiosa, the one-armed rig driver introduced in that film and memorably incarnated by Charlize Theon. Spanning 15 formative years in the eventful life of Furiosa--played alternately by Ayla Browne and "Queen's Gambit" breakout Anya Taylor-Joy--and divided into five chapters, it's more interested in (occasionally labored) world-building than mind-blowing action setpieces. Evolving from a gender-bending orphan into a hellion of Max-ian proportions, Furiosa ultmately finds her loyalty split between dueling post-apocalyptic underworld leaders Dr. Dementus (Chris Hemsworth) and Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme). At two-and-a-half hours, it's the longest entry in the 45-year-old franchise, as well as the first to incorporate more VFX than practical effects. Not surprisingly, it feels more like a Marvel movie at times than any of Miller's previous (and better) MM actioners. (B.)
THE GARFIELD MOVIE--This cookie-cutter CGI 'toon based on Jim Davis' long-running comic strip seems to exist solely to give the already overexposed Chris Pratt another potential movie franchise. After reuniting with his wastrel alley cat dad Vic (Samuel L. Jackson), lasagna-loving Garfield (Pratt) and beagle BFF Odie (Harvey Gillen) are suckered into joining Vic in the heist of 1,000 gallons of milk from a dairy farm. Naturally things end badly--but not as humorously as intended--for all involved. While Garfield survived two middling live-action/animation hybrids in the early aughts (Bill Murray provided sardonic vocal duties for the titular kitty), the latest incarnation just might close the chapter on any future big-screen outings. With Nicholas Hoult as Jon, Garfield's long-suffering human, and Snoop Dogg as "Snoop Cat" (that casting marks the quintessence of wit here), it's a movie only the youngest, least sophisticated viewers will embrace. (C MINUS.)
IF--Venturing beyond his hugely successful "Quiet Place" sci-fi-ers--a third entry is due this summer--director John Krasinski gives family fare a try with this only fitfully charming fantasy flick. After developing a superpower that allows her to see imaginary friends abandoned by their human pals after growing up, Tweener Bea (Cailey Fleming, best known as Judith from AMC's "The Walking Dead') makes it her mission to reunite everyone. While the movie's piece de resistance is the A-list cast tasked with providing the friends' voices (including Steve Carell, Matt Damon, Bradley Cooper, Emily Blunt, Sam Rockwell, Amy Schumer and George Clooney), all that star wattage ultimately overwhelms the movie's precious conceit. I was reminded of the sort of all-ages-friendly films churned out by Steven Spielberg's Amblin Productions back in the '80s. Unfortunately, it's closer to the deservedly forgotten "Harry and the Hendersons" and "Batteries Not Included" than classics like "Gremlins" or "Back to the Future." (C.)
KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES--The fourth entry in the rebooted franchise that launched with 2011's "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" ("Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" and "War of the Planet Apes" followed in 2014 and '17) picks up 300 years after the last movie. With apes now the dominant species--and humans regressing to near-primitive levels--the "Kingdom" is ruled by Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand) who repurposes ancient human weapons to enslave his fellow simians. Deeply alarmed by this perversion of the original Caesar's teachings, sensitive chimp Noa (Owen Teague) teams up with human Mae (Freya Allan) to take down Proximus' tyrannic regime. Directed by Wes Bell who cut his teeth on the "Maze Runner" trilogy, it's the first of the new breed of "Apes" films where you almost take for granted Weta FX's ground-breaking motion-capture CGI. Like 2022's "Avatar: The Way of Water," it's an indisputably dazzling technical achievement that ultimately feels a tad undernourished dramatically. (B.)
SIGHT--Ming Wang, whose journey from rural China to Harvard and MIT led to his spearheading of revolutionary laser eye surgery, is the focus of Andrew ("Paul, Apostle of Christ," "The Blind") Hyatt's boilerplate, Christian-proselytizing biopic. Played as an adult by Terry Chen (Ben Wang and Jayden Zhang assume the role in flashbacks which comprise more than half of the 100-minute run time), it's a movie you want to like because it was clearly made with the noblest intentions. But the filmmaking/performances are so rote--and the preachiness so off-putting for anyone who doesn't identify as an Evangelical Christian--that it feels like a missed opportunity. Dr. Wang's remarkable life and career deserved better. (C MINUS.)
THE STRANGERS: CHAPTER 1---After their car breaks down, Gregory (Gabriel Basso) and Maya ("Riverdale" alumnus Madelaine Petsch) take shelter in a remote cabin. Before the photogenic young lovebirds even have time to settle in for the night, three masked psychos break in to launch an all-out terror assault. The first installment in a proposed trilogy inspired by the queasily effective 2008 and 2018 "Strangers" home invasion flicks ("Chapter 2," also starring Petsch, is already in the can), Renny ("The Long Kiss Goodnight," "Die Hard 2") Harlin's creepy suspenser marks an auspicious start to a brand new horror franchise. (B MINUS.)
THREE REVOLUTIONARY FILMS BY OUSMANE SEMBENE--Unlike most Third World films of the 1960-70's which were unrelievedly grim and barely disguised Marxist tracts (e.g.,"The Hour of the Furnaces" by Argentinean directors Octavio Gettino and Fernando Solanas), the works of Senegal's Ousmane Sembene were often warm, funny and satirical. Although Senegal--a former French colony which won its independence in 1960--has a population of just four million, it produced the most important movies of Black Africa, notably those of Sembene, the continent's best-known filmmaker. Three of Sembene's finest, most controversial and politically incendiary films ("Emitai," 1971; "Xala," 1975; and "Ceddo," 1977) have just been released in a Criterion Collection box set. For fans and initiates alike, it's a cause for celebration in helping boost the profile of World Cinema. Sembene, the unofficial "Godfather of African Cinema," has finally received his due. Set during World War II, "Emitai" depicts the clash between native Senegalese and French troops over forcible conscription, heavy taxation and dwindling rice supplies. Although it won prizes in the former Soviet Union (Sembene studied filmmaking in Moscow and briefly worked at Gorki film studios in the early 1960's), the movie provoked considerable resentment in France where it was deemed "politically objectionable." Spoken in French and Wolof, Senegal's native language, "Xala" (roughly translated as "the curse of impotence") uses the story of an aging businessman (Thierno Leye's El Hadji) unable to consummate his third polygamous marriage for an expose of the nation's ruling class whose members have eagerly embraced the culture of their white colonial predecessors/oppressors. Although it's easy to laugh at El Hadji's absurd Europeanization (always speaking French, drinking Evian water and driving a Mercedes), we ultimately grow to sympathize with his ultimate downfall at the hands of others who are even more corrupt. The East-West clash of cultures also figure prominently in "Ceddo" which depicts a Senegalese village sometime between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as a heady microcosm of African political and social history. Set against the backdrop of an outsider community with animist beliefs, the narrative kicks into gear after the king dictates that everyone must convert to Islam. As retaliation, the king's daughter (Tabara Ndiaye) is kidnapped, triggering a series of cataclysmic, history-altering events. The Criterion set includes 4K digital restorations of all three titles; a dialogue between African Film Festival founder/executive director Mahen Bonetti and writer Amy Sall; Paulin Soumanou Vierya's 1981 documentary, "The Making of 'Ceddo;'" and a thoughtful essay by New York-based writer and film programmer Yasmina Price. (A.)
TO DIE FOR--Released at the apotheosis of the American obsession with tabloid culture--and a year after O.J. Simpson became the most famous man in the world thanks to his Bronco freeway chase and Oliver Stone's "Natural Born Killers" topped the box office charts--Gus Van Sant's gleefully amoral 1995 black comedy immediately catapulted Nicole Kidman to the top ranks of working actors. As Suzanne Stone, a TV weather girl with oversized ambitions and zero conscience, Kidman is alternately laugh-out-loud funny and utterly terrifying. Married to a nice guy (Matt Dillon's Larry) whose presence in her life has become increasingly extraneous, Suzanne somehow manages to seduce a trio of teenage stoners into killing him. Naturally her perfectly calibrated machinations ultimately self-destruct--what do you expect from high school potheads?--and Van Sant takes inordinate delight in watching his anti-heroine stew in her own malice. Joaquin Phoenix, Casey Affleck and Alison Folland play the luckless kids Suzanne ropes into her scheme and match Kidman every step of the way. (Trivia note: Phoenix and Affleck would both go on to win Best Actor Oscars for "Joker" and "Manchester by the Sea" respectively.) Co-written by Buck ("The Graduate") Henry and Joyce Manard whose novel the film was based on, "To Die For" spun the real-life Pamela Smart case in which a New Hampshire teacher coerced four students into murdering her husband into one of the defining American movies of the decade. The newly released Criterion Collection 4-K Blu-Ray lacks the usual plethora of Criterion extras (there's an audio commentary with Van Sant, cinematographer Eric Alan Edwards and editor Curtis Clayton, a handful of deleted scenes and an essay by Berlin-based critic Jessica Kiang), but the film itself is the real star. It'll make a great future double bill with Todd Haynes' "May/December." (A.)
---Milan Paurich
