Burning Man (B) - Rarely has a movie left me so alternatively and repeatedly riveted and exasperated as this Australian drama. Studly Matthew Goode is beyond intense as a restaurant chef constantly on the brink of a freak-out as he deals with a serious loss by being alternatively sullen and brutish. Two things stand out for me. The direction (by newcomer Jonathan Teplitzky) reminded me a lot of classic Adrian Lyne (mainly "Nine and a Half Weeks" and "Lolita"), for better and for worse, especially the arty (over)use of out-of-focus shots and Cinemax-like sex scenes. The second observation: the cast is full of incredibly appealing women, most of them Australian, but also including Serbian actress Bojana Novakovic in a key role. The beauty on display -- even in the form of the straight-laced cop and the Nurse Ratched character -- can be breathtaking. Co-starring Rachel Griffiths of "Six Feet Under."
Nobody Else But You (B+) - Speaking of beauty, this French crime procedural riffs on the legend of Marilyn Monroe. A crime novelist (Jean-Paul Rouve) becomes obsessed with the apparent suicide of a local TV commercial actress, the Monrovian Candice Lecoeur (Sophie Quinton). This all plays out like a poor man's "Twin Peaks," carried by the strong performance of Rouve as our rugged hero who is suffering from writer's block. This is a finely crafted whodunit wrapped up in dark comedy.
Alps (A) - Half the time I wasn't quite sure what I was watching or what was going on exactly, but I was mesmerized by this Giorgos Lanthimos' follow-up to the equally outre "Dogtooth." Here, a ragtag group of individuals run an underground business in which they impersonate the recently deceased to help the survivors cope with the grieving process. Lanthimos stubbornly refuses to explain much of the absurd story, and that will be frustrating for many viewers. But this works simply as a moody set piece. Put it on for 20 minutes. If it hooks you, let it do its thing. If you can't stand it, turn it off and move on with your life. I found it mesmerizing.
Bonus Track: "Nobody Else But You" makes perfect use of raw American music, including Jose Feliciano's stark version of "California Dreaming." And it's not the first movie to feature the Sonics' "Shot Down." At one point, our hero is driving while jamming to a song on the radio, loses reception, and backs up and parks so that he can listen to the rest of the song. I can't remember if it's "Shot Down" in that scene, but here's your '60s garage punk fix of the day:
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