The Sixties

LE JOLI MAI (1962) (A) - Chris Marker's masterpiece still feels raw and relevant. In the manner of Wiseman and the Maysles brothers, this verite documentary takes a snapshot of Paris in May 1962, just after the end of the hostilities with Algeria -- in fact, in the wake of more than two decades of continuous war, including WWII and Vietnam.

Marker, working with Pierre Lhomme and a team of eager young filmmakers, creates what is essentially a two-and-a-half-hour man-on-the-street segment. With minimal editing, he films a wide cross-section of Parisians discussing what they want out of life now that, for the first time in a generation, they need not be in daily survival mode. The ending includes a recitation of statistics about the city's consumption during the month of may, from electricity usage to Gitanes produced.

It is difficult to translate the substance of the interviews in a review. And while there are moments of profundity, what matters here is the mood and the miracle of forever bookmarking a specific time and place, a time of hangover and the licking of wounds and the eve of the explosion of the earth-shattering Sixties.

Here, folks just want to run a small business, start a family, petition the government for fair wages, or buy a television to enjoy the burgeoning medium. They want a simple, pleasant life.

The filmmakers' cameras don't just blankly record interviews. The cameras yearn and search, they thirst for human interaction, like a castaway newly loosed upon the general population. The cameras are restless, peeling away from the main subject to nervously survey other people or details of the surroundings. They zoom in across distances to lock in on faces, both pensive and playful. Marker is particularly partial to random shots of cats.

In the end, this timely documentary is focused on big ideas revolving around the question of what kind of society the French wanted to create in a time of of relative peace with the hope of prosperity. What is truth? How can we eliminate poverty? What does it mean to be truly free?

BURNING BUSH (A-minus) -  Agnieszka Holland ("Europa, Europa") plunges into the late '60s with this three-part, four-hour dramatization of the student protest movement following Prague spring. The unbearable heart-wrenching story of Jan Palach, who immolated himself in Wenceslas Square, hangs over Czechoslovakia, as Holland turns this into a highly personal police procedural.

At times this echoes "The Lives of Others," in its depiction of low-level communist apparatchiks struggling to survive under Soviet occupation. Trust is in short supply. The official truth often has no legitimate relationship with the real truth.

Holland leans on a heroine to push the narrative along: Dagmar Buresova (Tatiana Pauhofova), the attorney who represented Palach's family in a defamation suit against a Central Committee member who criticized the 21-year-old who had become a symbol of the resistance (and remains so to this day). Dagmar and her husband (raising two daughters) suffer career repercussions from her challenge to power. Dagmar, an attractive doe-eyed redhead, fends off the sexist remarks of the era, and Holland often suggests temptation in various places but avoids cliched relationship potholes throughout.

Some of the scenes focusing on the student movement feel undercooked, and Palach's suffering mother lays the sorrow on thick, but David-vs.-Goliath tale churns along powerfully. Part 3 turns into a fairly traditional police/courtroom procedural -- "Law and Order" meets "A Separation" -- leading to an anti-climactic ending.

Holland richly renders the era in loving detail. The opening scene of Palach flailing in flames to the horror of those in the square jolts things into place. In other scenes she quietly shocks the viewer with the subtle horrors inflicted on individuals by the totalitarian system. The result is a pensive three hours that zip by in gripping drama.

BONUS TRACK
From "Burning Bush": the rockin' little number that opens the film from Petr Novak, and some quiet soundtrack music:

Late Boomer

BRINGING OUT THE DEAD (1999) (B) - Martin Scorsese has spent the past two decades making above-average movies or creating really good scenes in average movies. He had his time, and it's long past.

This Nicolas Cage fever dream certainly has zip and color, but it suffers from the director's late-era excesses -- kinetic camerawork and loud classic overplayed pop songs. (10,000 Maniacs, anyone?) It's an '80s aesthetic that he never evolved from.

This Paul Schrader adaptation of Joe Connelly's novel is certainly entertaining, and it has a strong narrative arc that is compelling. It's just too full of shtick to not feel dated.

Cage is Frank Pierce, a graveyard-shift NYC EMT who is beyond burned out and is haunted by the lives he could not save. Over the course of the film he pairs with three partners, one crazier than the other. John Goodman is rather subdued as desensitized Larry; Ving Rhames slings spirituality as Marcus; and finally, Tom Sizemore is off his rocker (and, apparently, his meds) as wild Tom Wolls, the spark this movie desperately needs in its final act.

The weak link here is Patricia Arquette as sad Mary Burke, who's father has a heart attack in the opening scene and survives on life support for a couple of days after Frank's initial rescue. Arquette's whispery affect and flat tone betray her weaknesses as an actress. (Schrader's hard-boiled Big Apple patois doesn't help her, as she has to spit out trite lines like this: "This city -- it'll kill ya if you're not strong enough.") Even in her better roles, like last year's "Boyhood," her awkward delivery can take a viewer out of the narrative.

Meantime, Scorsese shoots scenes like a meth addict playing paintball. The wee hours in grim Hell's Kitchen are often dimly lit but rendered in bursts of primary colors. He pens a valentine to the city in the form of a drug dealer impaled on a 15th-floor balcony spike and deliriously exhorting his love of life while a welder's sparks create a symphony of fireworks splashing across the midnight skyline.

Cage is in that just-right zone of maniacal without going over the top. Like his turn in "Moonstruck" he manages to exude melancholy and rage, ratcheting up the stakes to the end. Thankfully, Frank's relationship with Mary -- they slowly bond as she monitors her father's condition -- is rendered in a mature and shaded manner.

But Scorsese can't help turning the pathos up to 11. Frank is devastated by one dead person in particular, a young woman named Rose (Cynthia Roman) whose face is superimposed on nearly every body he glimpses from his ambulance. That ham-handed story line keeps this from joining the pantheon of great films that Scorsese made before 1991.
 

Now & Then: Stay Small

We assess Ava DuVernay's first and latest films, and we start a new occasional series of pairing new releases with a film from the director's past:

SELMA (C+) - If you had told me that this was a TV movie made in 1985, I would have believed you.

This highly reverential biography of Martin Luther King in Selma, Ala., in 1965 seems stuck in amber, and comes off as dim and flat on the big screen. Ava DuVernay's would-be epic is deferential to a fault; it's like all the characters are dressed up for church on Sunday and can't let loose in a meaningful way.

I found the story suffocating. It was boring to the point that I dozed off for about 10 minutes halfway through.

This is a good example of the major pitfalls of biopics -- reducing a larger-than-life figure to two-dimensional fiction. David Oyelowa is a fine actor, as he proved in "A Most Violent Year," but here he has huge shoes -- and vocal cords -- to fill, and he is dwarfed by the challenge. Every time he took a shot at soaring oratory, it was painfully obvious that no one has the charisma that King oozed. Oyelowa doesn't have the pipes, frankly, and it's a distraction. (I refused to watch "Ali," because I lived through the Ali era and didn't need to have it fictionalized by actors playing dress-up, including Will Smith, who I can only imagine came off as a 12-year-old wearing Daddy's shoes.)

The film also suffers from a flaw similar to that in "12 Years a Slave" -- the actors playing the bad white guys get the tone all wrong and wallow in cartoon villainy. Tom Wilkinson is clueless as to how to find an entry point to playing Lyndon Johnson, and Tim Roth plays George Wallace as if he had never heard of the Alabama governor until the day before his scenes were shot.

I have to say that as far as capturing the civil rights era, Lee Daniels' "The Butler" had a much more satisfying take. The actors playing the presidents (inspired choices like Robin Williams as Eisenhower and John Cusack as Nixon) brought nuance to the roles. And Oprah Winfrey was miles better in that movie than she is in "Selma." She like other fine actors -- Wendell Pierce as Hosea Williams, Colman Domingo as Ralph Abernathy and young Lakeith Stanfield (amazing in "Short Term 12") as Jimmie Lee Jackson -- are mummified by DuVernay in her breakthrough film as an A-list director. The result is a movie that's as solemn as a museum piece.

I WILL FOLLOW (2010) (B) - As you'd expect, DuVernay's debut film is at the opposite end of the spectrum, a quiet, intimate study of life and loss.

Maye (Sallie Richardson-Whitfield) has spent the past year tending to her aunt, Amanda (Beverly Todd), a former session drummer who played out her final stages of cancer shunning western medicine. After Amanda's death, Maye is clearing out Amanda's house in Topanga Canyon. During those two days, she deals with gruff movers, a recalcitrant lover and her contentious cousin Fran (Michole White) -- Amanda's estranged daughter. Flashbacks show Maye bonding with her dignified aunt, as Maye ruminates on her own choices in career and relationships.

DuVernay takes her time with the set-up, which makes the first half drag. A confrontation midway through the film kickstarts a much strong second half.

Richardson-Whitfield has the classic beauty of Pam Grier and Beverly Johnson, but she has the chops to overcome such superficial distractions and carry the entire movie on her shoulders. White has an out-sized personality that threatens to take over the film before she reins in her energy at just the right point.

By the end, the characters are finally fleshed out, and you care about the ending. This is mature, subtle filmmaking, a genuine articulation of the black experience that feels familiar and lived-in.

BONUS TRACK
The trip-hop song that plays over the closing credits of "I Will Follow," Donn T's "Waiting":

New to the Queue

Getting acquainted with the new year ...

The brash homage to classic European softcore porn films, "The Duke of Burgundy."

The story of a three oppressed free spirits forming a female gang in France, "Girlhood."

It's complicated: What happens when Islamic extremists take over a town? Abderrahmane Sissako explores in "Timbuktu."

A look at the folks who broke into the FBI's office in Media, Pa., and stole files on anti-war surveillance, "1971."

A vampire mockumentary from the "Flight of the Conchords boys, "What We Do in the Shadows."

A documentary about the first year at a hippie-dippy alternative school, "Approaching the Elephant."

A collection of six short stories from Argentina, "Wild Tales."

Lagging

LAGGIES (B-minus) -  It takes a lot to take a full movie's worth of Keira Knightley, especially when she tries to be funny. But this toss-away from indie heavyweight Lynn Shelton ("Humpday," "Your Sister's Sister") is not without its charms.

Knightley plays Megan, a 20-something who is frittering away her life 10 years out of high school. On the brink of an engagement, she disappears after meeting a bunch of high schoolers who ask her to buy booze. She befriends Annika (Chloe Grace Moretz) and quietly crashes at Annika's house, helmed by her quirky but lovable attorney single-dad Craig (Sam Rockwell flailing at playing Fred McMurray by way of Hugh Grant). 

You can guess the rest. Shelton is in a bit of a slump lately; this comes on the heels of the ho-hum "Touchy Feely." She has now graduated to swooping aerial shots of her beloved Seattle, but her filmmaking is not being well served by a bigger budget and brighter movie stars.

Yet I couldn't turn away. Knightley sells the thin script. (Luckily, others handle most of the comic scenes, including the irresistible Kaitlyn Dever from "Short Term 12" as Annika's best friend.) New writer Andrea Seigel can turn a phrase, and Shelton knows how to spin a few good lines into familiar patter.

FREE RIDE (B) -  Anna Paquin carries this slight but affecting period piece about a mom escaping domestic violence by taking her two daughters to Miami, where she gets caught up in the drug trade.

Set in the late '70s, actress Shana Betz's autobiographical tale has a whiff of "Night Moves," without the heft of that '70s noir classic. Betz's avatar here is the younger daughter, doe-eyed Shell (Ava Acres), who occasionally narrates. Older sis MJ (Liana Liberato) is 15 and restless. She gets corrupted by one of mom's druggy friends at a concert, the movie's flattest scene that, unfortunately, leads to the climax.

The supporting crew doesn't really register. Drea de Matteo struggles to bring depth to the role of Sandy, Christina's old stripper pal who introduces her to the drug ring's main players. Betz loses control of her movie in the final third, when she lazily manufacturers a car crash to bring everything home.

But there's something here that keeps you tuned in. Paquin's character reminded me of Janet McTeer's turn in the obscure mother-daughter road movie "Tumbleweeds" from a decade ago. Betz puts a nostalgic shimmer on the story but she never gets maudlin. A few small touches -- an outfit here, a "Waltons" reference there -- make this memorable.

And she wisely brings this home in under 90 minutes. 

BONUS TRACK
"Free Ride" features a strong, rootsy soundtrack. Here are the Figs over the closing credits with "To Sail the Sea": 

Early Warnings

Scouring the reports from Sundance, we flag the following titles:

"Results" - Indie pioneer Andrew Bujalski is back to follow up his comeback film, "Computer Chess."

"Tangerine" - The latest from Sean Baker, who wowed with his last effort, "Starlet." It's another seedy setting: a street-walker hunts down her pimp.

"Mistress America" & "While We're Young" - Two from one of our key generational co-horts, Noah Baumbach. The first film brings back his trophy girlfriend, Greta Gerwig ("Frances Ha" was our favorite of 2013), and the latter resuscitates Ben Stiller (director and star made another favorite, "Greenberg").

"Mississippi Grind" - This one is from writer/directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck ("Half Nelson," "It's Kind of a Funny Story") and stars Ryan Reynolds and Ben Mendelsohn ("Starred Up").

"The Forbidden Room" - The legendary quirk of Guy Maddin is back.

"James White" - The team behind "Martha Marcy May Marlene" returns with a depressing story about a 30-year-old dealing with his parents dying of cancer.

"The End of the Tour" - James Ponsoldt ("The Spectacular Now," "Smashed") fictionalizes a meeting of two writers, one of whom is David Foster Wallace (played by Jason Segal).

THE DOCS
"The Wolfpack" - A look at a group of siblings who were raised almost entirely in their New York apartment, with only occasional outings.

"Going Clear" - The prolific Alex Gibney takes on Scientology.

"Pervert Park" - About a group of mobile homes in St. Petersburg, Fla., housing registered sex offenders.

"Dreamcatchers" - More prostitutes. Similar to "The Interrupters," women in Chicago conduct outreach to sex workers.

"Welcome to Leith" - An examination of the town in North Dakota taken over by white superemacists.
 

Smallville

CAUCUS (B+) - Here in one fine collection are the Greatest Hits (and Misses) of the 2012 Republican presidential candidates in the run-up to the Iowa caucuses that January.

Long ago I was a fan of C-SPAN's quadrennial "Road to the White House" series, which often streamed raw video of candidates on the campaign trail. One memorable moment was Bob Kerrey, in 1992, greeting workers as they exited a factory at the end of their shift. It consisted entirely of Kerrey repeatedly introducing himself to mostly indifferent blue-collar grunts. It exposed the tedium of running for office.

Similarly here, director AJ Schnack ("Kurt Cobain: About a son") captures the indignities of slumming for votes among the plebians of small-town Iowa.

I'm not embarrassed to admit that this film did little to mitigate my unsettling longtime attraction to Michele Bachmann. The Minnesota congresswoman (a native of Iowa) has the most energy among the candidates and the greatest fervor for engaging voters. Of course, she's as dumb as a box of boxes, but that only makes her more appealing. In many ways, she's the star of the show.

The revelation here is Rick Santorum. This is somewhat painful to admit: He comes off as, by far, the most genuine of the candidates. It doesn't hurt that he's got one dead son and a dying daughter to bring out some raw emotion that connects with the crowds. But he's also self-effacing; he seems genuinely amused, for instance, by a New York Times graphic showing him to have the leanest of campaign operations -- essentially a body man and a pickup truck.

Many of the candidates must vamp when confronted by left-wingers who slip through security and challenge them. Mitt Romney comes off as a heartless robot. (He has the greatest of the hits -- "Corporations are people, too, my friend," the $10,000 bet, etal.)

And don't miss the final shot after the credits roll; it's a perfect punchline.

THE IDENTICAL (C-minus) - This bizarre little Christian film -- which essentially asks the musical question "What if Elvis Presley's twin brother had lived?" -- is not without its charms. One of them is Ray Liotta's devoted performance as a preacher who, with his wife, adopts that twin at birth

This has the production values of a '70s TV movie and the plot of a '50s teen-rebellion film. Newcomer Blake Rayne certainly has the Elvis look down, if not much range as an actor or singer. The extended cast is fairly impressive: Naomi Judd, Joe Pantoliano, Chris Mulkey, Amanda Crew ("Silicon Valley"), Danny Woodburn (Mickey on "Seinfeld").

New director Dustin Marcellino and writer Howard Klausner ("Space Cowboys," "The Last Ride" and other cheesy inspirational fare) clunkily take us through the '50s, '60s and '70s, straining on a lean budget to make it all believable. Rayne has flashes of competence playing both twins, but mostly the obscure one, named Ryan Wade, who wants to sing his own songs but ends up getting pigeonholed in the role as an impersonator for his superstar twin Drexel Hemsley, especially after the latter's tragic death in an airplane crash.

The narrative is sluggish, the tone is maudlin. We get a lot of "Mama Liked the Roses" type of schmaltz. But the filmmakers are quite earnest and the cast gives it the old college try, and despite the ridiculous premise, the final product has a certain dumb charm.

ARAYA (1959) (C) - A stunning achievement of cinematography from more than 50 years ago, this quasi-documentary about salt miners in Venezuela has not aged well.
 
Obscure filmmakers Margot Benacerraf and Pierre Seghers present images of salt miners in northeastern Venezuela with beautiful crisp black-and-white photographer. However, the story itself -- the dedicated natives slaving away day and night -- has an acute colonialist condescension and now feels embarrassingly dated.

The individual stories meanders. Everyone is portrayed as a selfless saint. It gets tiresome.

Into the darkness of heart

VIRUNGA (B+) - Orlando von Einsiedel and his team of brave cameramen venture deep into the forested area of east Congo to the Virunga national park to examine the dark heart of voracious humans.

The park, home to some of the last mountain gorillas on earth, happens to sit above a newfound trove of oil. That triggers the requisite grab for land, with a typically heartless oil company apparently conniving with local rebels to close in on the territory. The region is all-too familiar with civil war and western hunger for natural resources (precious metals in the past).

One reporter goes undercover to gain grainy footage of conversations with the company's representatives who don't bother to mask their greed or their underhanded methods. The camera operators embed with the ranger force that protects the park. All are waiting for the inevitable assault from a rebel group. Families in the area scamper onto vehicles, leaving possessions behind. The ragtag force of rangers steels for battle while bonding with the gorillas they tend to.

The storytelling here is impressive. The filmmakers don't flinch as they help hold down the fort.  The only real flaw here is the pacing. The run-up to the climax feels a bit dragged out, while the final confrontation seems rushed. The courageous effort here is undeniable; the final product feels just a little too manufactured to make it a great documentary.

BONUS TRACK
The movie's theme song, written by J. Ralph and performed by Salif Keita, Youssou Ndour and Fally Ipupa:


 

Femmes Fatalistic

TWO DAYS, ONE NIGHT (A-minus) - Marion Cotillard is amazing in the latest gem from Belgium's Dardenne Brothers as a depressed woman fighting to save her job by having to convince 16 co-workers to forgo their bonuses and vote to keep her on staff.

Cotillard, looking plain and wispy with little makeup, is Sandra, who has been on medical leave recovering from what apparently was a nervous breakdown. She still pops Xanax like Tic-Tacs, but she insists she's well enough to return to work. However, the company found out it could get by without her (through overtime and a short-term contract worker) and the supervisor took a poll of her co-workers, in which they overwhelmingly chose to accept 1,000-euro bonuses at the expense of letting Sandra go.

As a plot device, it's not without a hint of contrivance, but this is Belgium, so it's not out of the realm of possibility, and as the film evolves it actually starts to make some sense. A friend of Sandra's has convinced the big boss to allow another vote on Monday, so Sandra has the weekend to convince the majority of her co-workers to give up that promised bonus and vote her back in.

And that's the bulk of the action in this 95-minute study of capitalism and human nature. Cotillard is just powerful here. Clad in a salmon-colored tank top, skinny jeans, and cool boots, she tracks most of the co-workers down at their homes, with various results. It wouldn't be so difficult if she weren't so fragile that she struggles to keep her depression in check, lucky to make it a few hours without crying.

It's a simple story, with a low hum of purely human drama. Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne have written and directed some of the best films of the past dozen years -- "The Son," "The Infant," "The Silence of Lorna" and "The Kid With a Bike." This is their first time working with a movie star, but their signature style remains intact -- close, over-the-shoulder camerawork, following a lead character struggling with emotional pain.

Here, Sandra has a devoted husband, as well as a good friend, to push her throughout the weekend to not give up. The outcome remains in doubt till the end, with an understated twist at the climax. This movie would have been possible without Cotillard's powerful performance, but I can't imagine falling for this film without her magnetic presence transcending movie stardom.

IN BLOOM (B+) - Another compact drama (at 102 minutes), writer/director Nana Ekvtimishvili (with co-director Sam Gross) delves into the coming-of-age genre, this one following two teenage girls in Soviet Georgia in 1992 in the lawless aftermath of the breakup of the Soviet Union.

Eka (Lika Babluani, below right) is a 14-year-old plain jane who misses her father, who is doing prison time for an offense that becomes apparent as the film unfolds. Her (slightly older?) pal is Natia (Mariam Bokeria, below left), who gets the boys' attention, including that of the creepy Kote (Zurab Gogaladze), who is intent on marrying her. But Natia has a tender rapport with Lado (Data Zakareishvili), who gives her a gun (paging Chekov) early in the proceedings, so she can protect herself. She and Eka take turns as the weapon's caretaker.

Meantime, Eka and Natia bond over their respective troubled households (Natia's father is an abusive drunk). The girls get harassed by street punks and scuffle with elders in the bread lines, and Natia can't shake Kote, who uses muscle to get her to the altar.

Babluani is riveting as Eka, holding the film's center with her repressed adolescent angst and longing. Bokeria has a Katie Holmes cuteness mixed with the edge of a young Charlotte Rampling. They effortless carry this film, which is a moving, quiet slice of life.

BONUS TRACKS
The French version of "Needles and Pins," by Petula Clark, featured in the middle of the Dardenne brothers' movie:



And, of course, the perfect original:

One-Liners: Outliers

VIOLETTE (B-minus) - Emmanuelle Devos is captivating as the troubled writer Violette Leduc, who pushed the boundaries of sexuality alongside Simone de Beauvoir and Jean Genet in the World War II era.

The story, however, is a bit of a plod, limping across the finish line at the 2-hour 18-minute mark. Devos transforms herself for the role, shedding her unique beauty for a homely, slump-shouldered wallflower -- to the point that I was convinced that Devos had doctored her face with prosthetics. She wallows in the role.

Leduc wrote provocative quasi-biographical novels, with the most scandalous topic involving the lesbianism of her early years. In this telling she is liberated after reading "Madame Bovary" and soon is trailing de Beauvoir like a puppy dog. Leduc struggled with the abandonment of childhood. (One of her titles is the memoir "The Bastard.") She was often penniless, rescued only by a generous secret benefactor working through her publisher.

The drama is touching, but it can be wearying and relentlessly dreary.

BIG SUR (B-minus) - This little oddity is salvaged by an inspired performance by Jean-Marc Barr as Jack Kerouac in a mental and existential tailspin while lying low in Lawrence Ferlinghetti's cabin in Big Sur, Calif., in 1960. Barr broods and battles demons, all the while narrating in the Beatnik stream-of-consciousness patter that echoes his speed-fueled writing style.

This is brought to us by Michael Polish, working without his brother, Mark. (They wrote and Michael directed such great early films as "Twin Falls, Idaho," "Northfork," and the slighted 2007 gem "The Astronaut Farmer.") Michael Polish, interpreting Kerouac's book of the same title, is unfortunately heavy-handed and fumbling throughout most of the film, and too many of his actors are off-key.

We get endless, repetitive Hallmark shots of the grandiosity of Big Sur's cliffs and waves. However, Polish is more enamored of that natural beauty than his Kerouac is. And the editing is stomach-flipping, whipping from shot to shot every couple of seconds. And I lost count of the times his camera swooped upward to capture the twinkling sunshine filtering through the majestic trees.

That's Kerouac looking heavenward a lot. He's haunted by death (a cat, a rat and a sea otter all perish)
 and slowly resigning himself to the idea that he's a drunk whose days are numbered. And if you can find your way into the character, you'll make it to the satisfying conclusion of "Big Sur." (And you'll be carried along by mood music from the Dessner brothers from The National.)

The supporting cast is forgettable. Radha Mitchell and Kate Bosworth (the director's fresh wife) fare poorly in the macho world. Character actors never click with this period piece: Anthony Edwards as Ferlinghetti, Josh Lucas ("The Mysteries of Laura") as Neal Cassady, and Patrick Fischler ("Mad Men") as Lew Welch.

This is mostly a misfire by Polish, salvaged by an admirable lead performance. 

ART & CRAFT (B) -  This quiet documentary tells the fascinating tale of Mark Landis, a spooky little man with incredible artistic talent who forges masterpieces and then -- rather than try to sell them -- pawns them off on museums, accompanied by elaborately crafted sob stories about his alleged family members. He creates alter-egos, including a priest persona.

Three directors (including noted cinematographer/DP Sam Bullman from "The House I Live In" and "Watchers of the Sky") take a deliberate approach, unspooling Landis' story while struggling to manufacture a detective narrative featuring Landis' Ahab, Mark Leininger. It's all quite straightforward and interesting, but the attempt at intrigue falls flat. The climax misses an opportunity to hit an emotional high note.

Landis is quite the character study, though. The filmmakers peel away a few layers but not nearly all of them. It's hard to begrudge him over this lark. He's a lonely man who just wants to be a philanthropist, and he's really not doing anything illegal. It's a neat trick that he pulled off for years.

Most Violent

A pair from the macho files:

A MOST VIOLENT YEAR (B+) - Aiming for greatness, J.C. Chandor and his star, Oscar Isaac, can't quite pull it off, shouldering too much of the load themselves and somehow missing an undefinable layer or two that makes movies like "The Godfather" enduring classics.

Isaac, solid in "Inside Llewyn Davis" and the more recent "Two Faces of January," is the workhorse in this 1981 period piece, starring as Abel Morales, a driven business man who vows to play things straight as he seeks to grow his heating-oil business in New York's cut-throat market. His trucks are getting robbed and his drivers beat up, but he won't approve a plan to let them carry guns. His wife, Anna (a venomous Jessica Chastain), comes from a mob family, but Abel won't go there either. In her eyes, he's too virtuous to be a real man navigating a chaotic world. She has no problem with guns.

Isaac channels Al Pacino from "Godfather II," but Chastain reverses the gender roles, as if Kay had called the shots in Coppola's masterpiece. Chastain is swathed in Armani, exuding power in a cream-colored overcoat. Isaac never has a hair out of place.

Abel has put a downpayment on a prime piece of real estate that will establish him as a major player in the heating-oil game, but he has 30 days to come up with a couple million more; otherwise, the Hasidics he cut the deal with will rip up the contract and keep his money. Meantime, he's on shaky ground with his lender because of an investigation targeting his company by the local DA (David Oyelowo, more effective here than as MLK in "Selma"). Chandor (who wowed with his debut, "Margin Call," but disappointed with the follow-up, "All Is Lost") spends too much time setting this up but then hits high gear in the second half with Abel's race against time and with a side-plot involving one of his desperate drivers, Julian (a nicely jangly Elyes Gabel), who picks the worst time to fight back against the oil pirates.

Chandor steers his ship home, but the climax is too perfunctory, making it feel a little like an afterthought. He finely conjures the feel of the era, a time when New York still felt like it was falling apart. And his Job-like lead character is memorable. But the whole production is lacking a certain kind of dimension. We get bookended scenes between Abel and a rival in a barbershop, an iconic cinematic touchstone that signals epic violence and doom. But Abel holds back. Chandor holds back.

And maybe that's Chandor's long game here. Perhaps his message is that those bloody mob movies are just that -- movies. Real life isn't so pulpy. Sometimes a decent guy struggling to stay straight doesn't morph into a superhero, doesn't grow devil horns, doesn't massacre the bad guys. Maybe he just muddles through each day and tries his best to meet whatever challenges life throws at him.

STARRED UP (B-minus) - Unrelentingly violent. Pure savagery. You talk about lacking a bit of nuance. This British prison film has one speed, and it wears a viewer down.

Director David Mackenzie has two fine films under his belt, "Young Adam" and "Perfect Sense," both propelled by Ewan McGregor. Here, Mackenzie leans on Jack O'Connell ("Unbroken") as the bucking bronco of a young man (with the portentous name Eric Love), a 19-year-old who has been transferred from a juvenile facility to a maximum-security adult facility (i.e., he's been "starred up"). He immediately establishes himself as a force to be reckoned with -- by both his fellow inmates and by the prison guards.

The hook here, and it's a big one, is that the prison also warehouses Eric's father, Neville (Aussie Ben Mendelsohn), who abandoned him when he was a 5-year-old. Neville swaggers about the prison, but he struggles to control his son.

Eric is a feral animal with trust issues, but he softens under the group therapy sessions run by Oliver Baumer (Rupert Friend from "Homeland"). These group interactions feel authentic, which is no surprise considering that the screenplay was written by Jonathan Asser, based on his own similar experiences.

However, much of the rest of the action is a chore. I had to watch it with subtitles because of the mix of dialect, slang and general mumbling. The plot feels muddy. The father-son dynamic is undercooked. At times this is powerful. But the payoff isn't worth the slog.

Best of 2014

In 2014, I started paying attention to the birds. Straining to divine their daily message. Toward the end of the year, I bowed to the familiar form of human communication and took it as a sign that "Birdman" and "Bird People" spoke to me in special ways. Director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki unleashed a mesmerizing visual display in "Birdman," with a touching story and powerful performances, in a film that feels both modern and old-fashioned.

The rest of my favorite films were mostly cynical and twisted, or just plain moody. The main exceptions were "We Are the Best!" about three Swedish girls discovering punk rock in the early '80s, and another retro treat, "The Grand Budapest Hotel."

There are a few glaring omissions here, from some of my all-time favorite directors: "Winter Sleep" from Nuri Bilge Ceylan and the Dardenne brothers' "Two Days, One Night" played or will play only in Santa Fe, and the timing was just off there.  Tsai Ming-liang's "Stray Dogs" arrives on video in just a couple of weeks. It's a good bet that one of those or all of them would have found a way into my top list.

Speaking of, here it is:

THE TOP 15

1. Birdman - The thrill of cinema, with a whirlwind story, great performances and the year's best director, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu.

2. Ida - Visually stunning, with a simple, heartbreaking story.

3. Foxcatcher - Bennett Miller establishes himself as a new American master with this deeply troubling tale.

4. We Are the Best! - A moving and wickedly funny tribute to grrrl power and the life-affirming qualities of rock 'n' roll.

5. Citizenfour - A true-life thriller expertly reported from behind the scenes.

6. Listen Up Philip - A mature offering from Alex Ross Perry, with a perfectly acerbic Jason Schwartzman in the title role. The best screenplay of the year.

7. The Grand Budapest Hotel - More uninhibited joy in another new world created by Wes Anderson.

8. The Skeleton Twins - I adored the chemistry between Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader in this emotionally powerful film.

9. Finding Vivian Maier - A fascinating character study from the Ordinary People genre.

10. Memphis - A lovely, haunting ramble that is all mood and style.

11. Frank - A quirky but affecting comic-drama, with an ending that goes straight for the gut.

12. Inherent Vice - A shambling mess of a movie that conjures up a distinct time and place, with a mix of hard-boiled storytelling and broad humor.

13. The Blue Room - A taut, smart little thriller about the risks of infidelity.

14. It Felt Like Love - Runner-up for best director, newcomer Eliza Hittman nails the ache of adolescence with her intimate camerawork.

15. Young & Beautiful - A quiet gem from the master storyteller Francois Ozon.

JUST MISSED THE LIST

• Gloria
• Top Five
• The Only Lovers Left Alive
• God's Pocket
• The Babadook
• Force Majeure
• Blue Ruin
• The Dirties and What's In a Name? (both technically from late 2013)

TOP DOCS

• The Unknown Known
• Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me
• Mistaken for Strangers
• I Am Ali
• Particle Fever
• Rich Hill

IT'S NOT YOU, IT'S ME

(Good films where we just didn't click)

• Boyhood
• Whiplash

GUILTY PLEASURES

• On My Way
• Space Station '76
• Bird People
• The Trip to Italy
• The Strange Little Cat
• The Road to Paloma
• Adult World

TOP PERFORMANCES

• Carla Juri in "Wetlands"
• Paulina Garcia in "Gloria"
• Tilda Swinton's teeth in "Snowpiercer" and "The Zero Theorem" and the rest of her in "The Only Lovers Left Alive"
• Ralph Fiennes, born to play M. Gustave in "The Grand Budapest Hotel."
• Philip Seymour Hoffman and John Turturro in "God's Pocket"
• Josh Brolin hamming it up and Katherine Waterston toking and smoldering in "Inherent Vice"
• J.K. Simmons on the brink of aneurysm in "Whiplash"
• Manuela Martelli in "Il Futuro"

THE DUDS

• Nymphomaniac
• Abuse of Weakness
• Under the Skin
• A Night in Old Mexico
• The Rover
• The Lego Movie
• St. Vincent

COMING ATTRACTIONS

(Wish I'd seen these)

• "Stray Dogs" from Taiwanese master Tsai Ming-liang.
• The aforementioned "Winter Sleep" and "Two Days, One Night"
• On DVD in time for Valentine's Day, "Beyond the Lights"
• Godard, "Goodbye to Language"
• Next in the queue, "Dear White People"
• The documentary "Actress"

Stay tuned for reports on those last seven titles once I catch up with them -- and plenty more -- as we forge ahead into 2015 . . .