Outlaw Country

NEVER LOOK AWAY (A-minus) - Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck has been dismissed as a one-hit wonder during the more than 10 years since his masterpiece "The Lives of Others."  He has finally dispelled it with "Never Look Away," a three-hour postwar epic based roughly on the life of artist Gerhard Richter, and a moving story of creativity and perseverance.

Reminiscent of Francois Ozon's "Frantz," this one is held together by an unabashedly corny love story. Artist Kurt Barnert (Tom Schilling) is influenced by the mental breakdown of his aunt Elisabeth (Saskia Rosendahl) when he was a child during World War II. The aunt was subject to the Nazis' sterilization program, eventually euthanized over her schizophrenia. Kurt, as a young adult, meets and falls in love with her doppelganger, Ellie (a nearly identical actress, Paula Beer), whose father happens to be the physician who oversaw Elisabeth's case.

The film effortlessly passes from national socialism to communism to capitalism, as the couple eventually end up in Western Germany. Von Donnersmarck sublimely captures the creative process, avoiding the pitfalls of most biopics that oversimplify an artist's actual inventive process and development of style. Schilling is sturdy as the idealistic auteur, and both Rosendahl and Beer can be heartbreaking. Sebastian Koch, the hero from "Lives of Others," plays the evil doctor. Divide this one into two or three nights like a mini-series, and you'll be rewarded with powerful storytelling, gorgeous camerawork (truly mesmerizing at times), and a fascinating thread to follow through the second half of the 20th century.

THE OLD MAN AND THE GUN (B-minus) - This innocuous swan song for Robert Redford is all sweetness and light, and thus it goes down pretty easy. He and Sissy Spacek have a nice banter as an inveterate bank robber and his new love interest.

Casey Affleck, however, is unbearably tedious in the cliched role of a 1970s/80s cop and family man tracking his unlikely prey. He and writer/director David Lowery ("Ain't Them Bodies Saints," "A Ghost Story") have gotten way too lazy together. We've seen this story before, but Redford carries the load here with the charm of a performer calling it a career. Tom Waits and Danny Glover have fun as Redford's grey-haired accomplices.

There's not much heft to this whole series of escapades, but it passes the time inoffensively.
 

Complicated Relationships

AFTER EVERYTHING (B) - This fascinating little two-handed character study follows a 20-something couple as they meet-cute, bond over his cancer treatment and then struggle to make things work in the aftermath. Jeremy Allen White and Maika Monroe ("It Follows") are dynamic together as realistic millennials Elliot and Mia, who are feeling their way through uncharted territory.

Hannah Marks and Joey Power offer a debut that neatly captures the cadences of conversation, the beats of friendship and the rhythms of relationships. They are blessed with a deep cast. Gina Gershon plays a mom and Marisa Tomei is an oncologist. Sasha Lane ("American Honey") and Olivia Luccardi are precious as Mia's stoner roommates. DeRon Horton is solid as Elliot's neglected buddy.

The plot has a familiar arc to it, but Marks and Power have something unique to say, and this one doesn't necessarily end up in the safe space it could have retreated to.

A TASTE OF HONEY (1961) (B+) - This early dose of postwar realism from Tony Richardson (coming two years after his breakthrough "Look Back in Anger") follows a mother and daughter's travails through working-class Manchester, England. The kitchen-sink drama tackles some tough issues for its time, including interracial relationships and homosexuality. Rita Tushingham stars as Joe, a plain-Jane teen who learns about male-female relationships from her tart of a mom, Helen (Dora O'Brien, daffy) and instantly falls for a sailor, her first relationship.

The sailor goes off, as expected, and his place is taken by Geoffrey (Murray Melvin), one of cinema's original Gay Best Friends. The odd couple live together in a rundown loft. That's where Jo decamped to after her mother abandoned her in favor of a marriage proposal from a club loser (Robert Stephens, delightfully crude). Richardson -- coming off "Look Back in Anger" and headed toward "Tom Jones" -- luxuriates in the harsh urban landscape in moody black-and-white. Nothing here is easy for the characters, but it's easy to bond with them in this brutal slice of life.
 

Reconciling History

BISBEE '17 (A-minus) - Director Robert Greene has a flair for the avant garde, but his output has been hit ("Actress") and miss ("Kate Plays Christine"). Here his quirky style of storytelling pays off as he explores Bisbee, Arizona's, centennial celebration of -- and reconciliation with -- the union-busting campaign at the local mines in 1917.

Colorful local characters populate the story as they plan for the re-enactment of the labor dispute that pitted brother against brother and resulted in the expulsion of strikers by train across the New Mexico border and into exile. Greene takes dramatic liberties with the re-enactors, creating a dream-like quality at times, particularly during a surreal trip through the mines. The filmmaker has always had an eye for compelling actors, and here he alights on Fernando Serrano, a visually arresting young man portraying one of the striking miners. One extended tracking shot of Serrano walking through the streets and into a theater while gradually transforming into his character is worth the price of admission in this captivating historical document.

THE OTHER SIDE OF EVERYTHING (A) - This mesmerizing tone poem uses one family's story since World War II to catalogue the political history of Serbia and Yugoslavia through the decades. Director Mila Turajlic profiles her mother, activist Srbijanka Turajlic, cataloging the postwar years under Tito's communist Yugoslavia and later the Serbian nationalist movement, led by Slobodan Milosevic, which led to the breakup of the nation in the early 1990s.

Srbijanka, an academic, was on the front lines during the 1990s protesting the government (before briefly joining as education minister in the early aughts). The narrative device here, though, is the house that Srbijanka grew up in and raised Mila in. It was divided up after the war, as the Communists sought to redistribute wealth and create equal housing. The family was sealed off in one half while another family moved in on the other side of that sealed door. Through gorgeous cinematography (her own), Mila Turajlic elegantly dramatizes the political, psychological and emotional effects of that deprivation. And her examination of Milosevic's nationalist movement raises undeniable parallels to that movement's global creep in the present day. Even if you did not follow the breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s, you should appreciate this deeply moving history lesson.

HAL (B) - Maybe this is for fans only, but this is a loving portrait of an outsider whose films were so powerful that they broke through into Hollywood honors and mainstream acceptance. One of the joys of the documentary is the methodical march through the impressive string of great films directed by Hal Ashby at the forefront of the American New Wave in the 1970s, including "Harold & Maude," "Being There," and "Shampoo."

Amy Scott, an editor making her directing debut, keeps the format simple, pacing methodically through Ashby's '70s oeuvre. She employs a deep bench of insightful talking heads, including Jeff and Beau Bridges ("The Landlord"), Jane Fonda ("Coming Home"), and Cat Stevens, whose career took off, along with Ashby's, after they teamed up on "Harold & Maude." Ashby's early days as a film editor -- in particular his collaborations with Norman Jewison ("In the Heat of the Night," 1967, e.g.) -- and as a classic stoner are passionately covered. The downfall of his career and his premature death get glanced over somewhat, but Ashby was a colorful character, and this retrospective should deepen anyone's appreciation for his amazing run as a filmmaker.
 

Players

THE BLACK GODFATHER (B-minus) - This portrait of Clarence Avant -- a major connector in the music scene of the 1960s, '70s and '80s -- suffers from the classic ailments of hagiography. No one has an unkind word to say about the man who is now in his 80s and still a spitfire. Avant was a fierce advocate for not only black performers but also those who sought to break into the lily-white executive offices of the day.

Avant, in present-day interviews, is quite engaging, but you get the sense that he's pulling his punches while telling tales from the glory days. As an educational documentary (I had never heard of him), this is a winning overview of a man and a movement. His influence was felt from Bill Withers to Quincy Jones, through to Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis (and their transformation of Janet Jackson in the '80s). Countless talking heads pay homage, and their admiration and devotion is unshakeable.

Avant worked tirelessly, mostly behind the scenes, to push for inclusion and integration, inspiring generations of performers, producers and A&R people. At a full two hours, though, this documentary sags under all of the gushing. But there is no denying that Avant's story was overdue for a thorough vetting before a wider audience.

GENERATION WEALTH (C+) - In 2012, Lauren Greenfield dove into the world of excess in 2012 with a fascinating study of wealth,"The Queen of Versailles," and now she has done off the deep end with a well intentioned but completely scattershot attempted takedown of our Kardashian Kulture. At times insightful, at other times exploitive, Greenfield also gradually gets snagged by self-indulgence, somehow thinking her own life (and her relationship with her mother) are more than mildly interesting. Granted, she went to an elite Southern California school, and as a photographer she chronicled her pampered classmates in a successful book, bringing some of them back here to report on their hits and misses either striving as captains of industry or avoiding the fray with ordinary lives.

But Greenfield also can't help veering into sidebar issues, and you wonder if anyone thought to remind her of a main thesis, whatever that originally was. Too often we have to sit through Greenfield's parents justifying their own actions or psychoanalyzing their daughter. Greenfield is perpetually thumbing through her collection of photographs. And about halfway through, her critique of capitalism segues into an extended treatise about body dysmorphia, a nod to her first film, "Thin." There is much to like in this jumble, but in the end, there's too much Greenfield and not enough America in this polemic.
 

Masked and Eponymous

ROLLING THUNDER: A BOB DYLAN FILM BY MARTIN SCORSESE (C+) - I can't give a passing grade to a fogeyish prank. This excavation of footage from Bob Dylan's monumental tour of 1975-76 through the northeast portion of post-Watergate America doesn't need embellishment. In fact, it needs as much footage as possible from Dylan and his troupe of merry pranksters during, arguably, the height of Dylan's powers and sensibilities.

Instead, Dylan and Martin Scorsese clutter the 143-minute excursion with faux footage and silly made-up stories. The goofs, listed and analyzed well by Variety, are embarrassing and pointless. Needless distractions. And that's a shame, because some of the footage, on stage and off, can be riveting. Scorsese, to his credit, gives us a few full songs, including the epic "Isis." Dylan seems possessed when onstage, his eyes burning with a punk-era conviction.

But the flab here cannot be ignored. As a curator, Scorsese is guilty of cinematic malpractice. Dylan, who has been pranking us all ever since he left Minnesota and Robert Zimmerman behind nearly 60 years ago, oversees the fakery sans a wink or wit. By the midpoint, you can't tell what is true and what is not, and you probably won't care. Dylan, however, doesn't mind being slathered with praise by his cohorts, whether it was back then or in bland talking-head interviews. Check it out for the music, because it is in those moments that Dylan and his bandmates -- including the indelible violin sounds of Scarlet Rivera -- live up to the hype.

BOB DYLAN: ROADS RAPIDLY CHANGING (B-minus) - This serviceable documentary chronicle's Dylan's folk days, right up until he plugged in and let loose with "Bringing It All Back Home" in 1965. We're spared footage of Pete Seeger threatening to take a hatchet to Dylan's electrified sound at the Newport Folk Festival, in favor of some heartfelt stories from Dylan's contemporaries in the pre-Beatles New York folk scene.

One talking head, a true Dylanologist, makes the point that I've made for decades -- Dylan could very well be last century's Shakespeare. It's hard to believe that his fevered run of six albums from 1963 to '66, through "Blonde on Blonde," can ever be matched.

"Rolling Thunder" is a Netflix original, and "Roads" is streaming on Amazon Prime.
  

New to the Queue

Everything after this is gravy ...

A documentary revisits an experimental crossing of the Atlantic by a group in 1973, "The Raft."

A friendly documentary chronicles the life of music executive Clarence Avant in "The Black Godfather."

A debut feature considers the struggles of surviving gentrification in a big city, "The Last Black Man in San Francisco."

An old standby, Danny Boyle, imagines what culture would have been like had there been no Beatles, in "Yesterday."
  

Party Animals

BOOKSMART (B+) - This is a surprisingly sweet take on the end-of-high-school bacchanalian teen comedy. It's more John Hughes than Judd Apatow, thankfully, without that mothball smell of nostalgia. Kaitlyn Dever ("Short Term 12") and Beanie Feldstein carry this off effortlessly as two nerdy A+ students who realize on the day before graduation that the party kids got into the same elite schools that they did, and so the gals are determined to cram all their high school high-jinks into one debaucherous night.

The chemistry between the two leads is just right, and they are surrounded by Hughesian archetypes brought to life by a strong supporting cast. Olivia Wilde, in her feature debut as director, keeps the energy high. Dever's Amy is particularly well carved-out as the young woman who boldly came out as a lesbian midway through high school but -- in grand movie-geek fashion -- hasn't been able to get laid. The bond that develops between her and Feldstein's Molly can be quite poignant by the end.

ROCKETMAN (B) - Taron Egerton goes all-in as Elton John in this fantastical and charming biopic, which slots nicely in the treacly "A Star Is Born" slot for 2019. Egerton embodies the heart and soul of the former unhappy, chubby boy who blossomed into the most exciting pop star of the 1970s.

You have to buy in to both the gimmick and the stretching of the truth in various places, but if you let go, you will be rewarded with a heartwarming story and the sheer joy of music- and movie-making. The presentation of songs is way out of order in spots ("Crocodile Rock" in 1970?), but poetic license is granted by John himself as executive producer, one who doesn't mind exposing his personality faults for the world to see.

Egerton and Jamie Bell, as lyricist Bernie Taupin, interact beautifully, and while their meet-cute and apparent mind-melding as songwriting partners come off quite corny, there is no denying the zing of their collaborations. And the choice to have the actors sing the songs, rather than lip-sync the originals, is a wise one. The songs feel like demos, and the scruffy vibe avoids the pitfall of having John's indelible tones taking us out of the story. (Except for the obvious closing tune of redemption.)

The framing device of John impetuously landing, in costume, at a rehab group session bears fruit narratively. This is the kind of movie where a grown man gives his child self the hug that daddy never gave him; if you can't let yourself wallow in such blatant cheese, then too bad for you.

Neo Noir

AURORA (2011) (C+) - Another entry in our occasional series known as Fast Forward Theater, this Romanian touchstone is a serious challenge at three hours, chronicling the humdrum hours before and after a divorced man goes on a killing spree. Director Cristi Puiu follows up "The Death of Mr. Lazarescu," a droll but profoundly effective analysis of the state health system, with this character study. Puiu takes the lead role, showing little emotion but somehow conveying intense menace while, of all things, watching a woman peel potatoes.

Very little happens, thus the effectiveness of fast-forwarding through much of this mopiness. Cinephiles might be drawn to the shooting style, which favors cramped spaces and drawn-out scenes. But this truly is for die-hard fans of the Romanian New Wave only.

ANGEL FACE (1953) (B) - Good ol' Robert Mitchum burns up the screen as an ambulance driver lured into the drama of a rich family, in particular the sultry heiress (Jean Simmons) trying to lure him away from his steady gal (Mona Freeman). But Frank Jessup can't be tied down to just one woman. Mitchum smolders as the family's driver who plays all the angles.

A murder leads to a police investigation and then a trial. Can Frank keep his cool and avoid the femme fatale's trap? Stay tuned until the final shocking scene.

Spotted: Jim Backus (Thurston Howell III from "Gilligan's Island") as the scrappy district attorney.
 

Soundtrack of Your Life: GBV in ATL

I found this unfinished and unpublished from a year ago. Let's not let anything go to waste. Here are some videos to brighten up the day:

 
By coincidence, Guided by Voices just happened to be playing in Atlanta during the same week of a law conference I attended in May 2018. Robert Pollard and the boys tore up Terminal West, an old iron smelting room converted in 2012 to a music venue.


Among the often-overlooked gems that Pollard polished up for this tour is "I Drove a Tank, the opening track from 2001's "Choreographed Man of War":



And he reached into his 2010 album "Moses on a Snail" for the ballad "It's a Pleasure Being You":



And his creative choice from "Mag Earwhig" -- aside from ceding center stage to Doug Gillard for Gillard's composition "I Am a Tree" -- was the '60s vamp "Jane of the Waking Universe":



Pollard, after downing his share of Miller Lites and swigging from a bottle of tequila (the second half of which he donated to the audience), exited stage left to the closing chords of, what else, "Recovering," from last decades comeback solo project "From a Compound Eye":




BONUS TRACKS
A month earlier, the Breeders made Albuquerque a stop on one of their intermittent tours. The Deal sisters were in fine spirits. (When are they not?) They struggled with making pithy stage banter, as if they were robots or merely a little too high. At one point Kim asked the crowd, "So do you all live in Albuquerque?" -- as if the city existed in the high desert merely as a tour stop, a filmmaking hub, or an oasis for Americans' road trips. They expertly mixed old hits and new songs. Here is one of their jauntiest new songs, "Wait in the Car":



Oh, and GBV, honoring the new album "Space Gun" came out in matching lamé tour jackets and their play-on music was the early '60s classic "Telstar" by the Tornados:


 

New to the Queue

Hotter than July ...

The title says it all: "Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese."

A look at the defining moment of the Baby Boomers and its legacy, "Woodstock: Three Days That Defined a Generation."

A teen comedy with heart, Olivia Wilde's directorial debut, "Booksmart."

Another hockey documentary, this one about the Detroit Red Wings and their Soviet connection, "The Russian Five."
  

Missing Links

CLARA'S GHOST (B+) - Chris Elliott and his wife and daughters engage in a semi-improvisational romp through a drunken family night.  Daughter Bridey Elliott ("Fort Tilden") writes and directs the story of her mom (Paula Niedert Elliott) losing her marbles and being haunted by the ghost of a woman.

Bridey and sister Abby are delightfully dark as they harangue their goofy father and reconnect with a childhood friend (Haley Joel Osment) who stops by to provide the pot to go with the gallons of alcohol consumed during a wild night at the homestead. The antics can be hit-and-miss, and you have to appreciate Chris Elliott's sense of humor (calling back to "Letterman" and "There's Something About Mary"), which he has generously passed on to his daughters.

Little moments help ground this in reality, like the only reason the girls returned home is for the birthday celebration of the family dog. Bridey creates a believable sense of horror through her mother's mental breakdown and the edginess of the celebration sliding into drunken reconciliation of the family's dark side.

MY NAME IS EMILY (2017) (B) - A teenage girl recruits a cute, nerdy boy from her new school to accompany her on a pilgrimage to northern Ireland to spring her father from a mental institution. Doe-eyed Evanna Lynch (Luna from the Harry Potter movies) brings true emotion and subtle humor to her damaged character, Emily, while George Webster brings a hang-dog, Johnny Depp-like competence to the role of her road buddy Arden. And Michael Smiley reins in the worst tendencies of a sometimes thankless role as the father, seen in flashbacks, losing his mind.

This quiet, affecting debut from writer-director Simon Fitzmaurice plays like a wholesome take on the classic road movie, not unlike "Microbe and Gasoline." Things can get a little too cute and quaint here (he overdoes the water metaphors throughout), but Lynch is a strong anchor, and Fitzmaurice has a powerful story to tell, with a clever-enough twist at the end to make it all work.

DON'T COME BACK FROM THE MOON (B) - In a miserable failed town by the Salton Sea in southern California, the fathers abandon their families, and we watch the kids cope with their form of separation anxiety. Jeffrey Wahlberg holds this all together as teenage Mickey, who does his best to support his mom and little brother while bonding with his male friends and indulging his budding sexual desires with Sonya (Alyssa Elle Steinacker)

This wolfpack of adolescents has literally nothing to do on a given day, aside from vandalize abandoned homes or strip them for parts. (One haul yields a trade for bicycles, which offer at least a hint of freedom.) It's only a matter of time before someone breaks from the pack and heads out in search of one of these deadbeat dads.

James Franco and Rashida Jones dirty themselves up to play Mickey's parents. Jones, deglamorized for most of the proceedings, plays maudlin pretty well, with her character allowing one of the local boys to hit on her after Franco takes a powder. The film is loaded with grit, both literally and figuratively. Leaning heavily on the lunar imagery and the ironic natural beauty surrounding this hellscape, Bruce Thierry Cheung directs an adaptation of a 2005 novel by Dean Bakopoulos.

BONUS TRACKS
From the closing credits of "Moon," Portland duo Glass Candy with "The Possessed":



The fine documentary "Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea," which chronicles the decline of the former postwar playground beyond Palm Springs (courtesy of KQED). We caught it long ago at a Santa Fe Film Festival. It is narrated by John Waters and features the music of Friends of Dean Martinez:


  

Life in Hell

We hand out the first straight A for a 2019 release (and walk out of another) ... 

HAIL SATAN? (A) - Filmmaker Penny Lane hits her stride and nails every angle of this profile of the satanism movement. She has fun trolling along with the provocateurs who take on free speech restrictions and separation of church and state.

Leaders such as Lucien Greaves and Jex Blackmore (and others with entertaining pseudonyms) are engaging company, and Lane ("Our Nixon," "Nuts!") comes into her own as a storyteller -- no fluff, no distractions, no cheap tricks. Just 95 minutes toying with hypocrisy and culture clashes. Some moments are very funny, and she even scores points documenting the inner conflict of the Satanic Temple. This is what documentaries are for.

***

BONUS TRACK: "HER SMELL"

Holy Crap! Damsel in Distress! Life is Short!
(Pick your category)

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to hang out backstage with Courtney Love and Hole or watch her melt down in a creative crater during a studio recording session? Yeah, me neither. We squirmed through the first hour of the 8 o'clock showing of "Her Smell" at the Guild Cinema and finally walked out.

Alex Ross Perry, who showed so much promise with his early films "The Color Wheel" and "Listen Up Philip," continues his slide into self-indulgence. He staggered with "Queen of Earth" in 2015, and he returns here with Elisabeth Moss again, over-indulging a great actor and weighing her down with ponderous, awkward dialogue, some kind of mix of Shakespeare and Mamet.

Perry concocts long scenes involving an intoxicated Becky Something (Moss) abusing the people around her (including a baby daughter) and romping with spiritual gurus. The other actors seem confused by what's expected of them. Agyness Deyn, as the perfectly cast tall androgynous bass player, seems particularly stripped of her dignity. A cacophonous soundtrack of noise-jazz distracts much of the time. (Was that supposed to represent the noises in Becky's head? Who knows/cares.) Eric Stoltz and Virginia Madsen look depressingly old.

Stilted expository dialogue is borderline laughable. At times this recalls Gilda Radner's famous Patti Smith goof, only dead serious and dragging on for more than two hours. Perry smugly chooses obscure pop-punk tunes for the soundtrack.

We were so offended that we immediately placed Perry on a watch list and took his previous film, "Golden Exits," out of our queue. That one raised a lot of red flags, and now we see why. At this point, misusing (and embarrassing) Moss is a sin.

Title: HER SMELL

Running Time: 134 min

Elapsed Time at Plug Pull: 60 min

Portion Watched: 45%

My Age at Time of Viewing: 56 YRS, 5 MO.

Average Male American Lifespan: 78.69 YRS.

Watched/Did Instead: Went home and went to sleep

Odds of Re-viewing This Title: 300-1 (and that would be the second half, out of morbid curiosity)

BONUS BONUS TRACK

Becky and the gals cover this pop nugget at the beginning of "Her Smell," getting our hopes up way too much at the outset. It's the Only Ones' "Another Girl, Another Planet":

  

New to the Queue

"You are not swept up whole ..."

With serious trepidation, the feminine-focused story of the Manson Family, "Charlie Says."

A documentary about the pioneering French filmmaker and producer, "Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché."

A documentary about the horrific abuse of female gymnasts, "At the Heart of Gold."

A reminiscence about the classic Southern California sound of the early rock era, "Echo in the Canyon."

God help me: "Rocketman."
 

Rough Trade

LONDON TO BRIGHTON (2006) (B) - Pulp fiction avoids falling into lurid sex and violence in this tale of a young prostitute and a 12-year-old street kid on the lam after a bloody episode with a kinky john.

Writer-director Paul Andrew Williams has a fine touch with dialogue and character drawing. Johnny Harris strikes a perfect balance as the bumbling heavy. Sam Spruell is frightening as the mob boss and son of the skeevy victim of the girls.

Lorraine Stanley and Georgia Groome are endlessly appealing as the Mutt & Jeff women on the run. Williams uses flashbacks to snip apart the narrative. He also relies more on menace than actual violence, which is refreshing.
 

Past Masters

SPRING NIGHT, SUMMER NIGHT (A) - This perfect nugget of Americana filmmaking finally got some attention on its 50th anniversary last year. The Appalachian love story has been one of the lost gems of cinema, and its restoration is a triumph.

This BFI story explains the movie's phenomenon, including its connection to the Guild Cinema and its former co-owner Peter Conheim. This is essentially the only film J.L. Anderson ever crafted and sought to release, and it is flawless, essentially a blueprint for the American New Wave of the late 1960s and '70s.

Gorgeous black-and-white images abound in the rural setting. Anderson employs a pseudo-documentary style, melding a handful of professional actors with locals. A brother and sister -- who question whether they are actually blood siblings -- take their attraction a step too far, leaving Jessica (Larue Hall) pregnant. Carl (Ted Heim) flees for a while as the family grapples with the disgraceful situation. The hard-ass father (John Crawford) bickers constantly with his wife (the mesmerizing Marj Johnson, with that '60s Ethel Kennedy glow about her), who likes to flirt around town.

The bar scenes are covered in grit. The landscapes in southeast Ohio are stunning. One extended scene involving a sensuous young woman licking an ice cream cone while riding on the back of a motorbike is a master class in filmmaking. Just one element in an absolute masterpiece.

COLD WAR (B+) - There's something antiseptic about Pawel Pawlikowski's postwar love story set behind the Iron Curtain. Stunningly shot in crisp black-and-white, every scene is meticulously laid out and a feast for the eyes.

But "Cold War" can be a little too cold. Joanna Kulig and Tomasz Kot play star-crossed lovers whose off-and-on romance ebbs and flows along with the fate of the Eastern Bloc. Like the smooth jazz that dominates the soundtrack, the film itself can feel light and effervescent, not unlike "Roma" in the way it entertains visually but fizzes away with the aftertaste.

This is Pawlikowski's follow-up to "Ida," but it lacks the gravitas of that previous film. Kulig and Kot are moving throughout, but there is something off about their chemistry (which is partially the point). At 89 minutes, this is succinct storytelling and especially luscious on the big screen.

BONUS TRACKS
A representative clip from "Spring Night, Summer Night," including that motorbike sequence:



A fine analysis of "Spring Night, Summer Night":