Gemma Bovary is a French film that was released in 2014, but coming to the US soon. The French dialogue is subtitled and there is some English. It was one of the latest movies from the Arthouse Film Festival.

This movie follows the life of Martin, a well-read baker in a small town in the Normandy section of France. One day, while tending his garden, new neighbors move in across the lane. They introduce themselves as Charlie and Gemma Bovery [sic]. They have decided to leave England for a while, and start a new life elsewhere. Charlie restores furniture, and Gemma has decided to embrace the country life wholly and completely. She loves all the breads that Martin bakes, and they become acquainted over time.

Martin begins to see parallels between the lives of Gemma and the literary character, Madame Bovary. She has become the lonely wife of an uninvolved husband, much like the Madame in Gustave Flaubert’s novel, which, coincidentally also took place in Normandy. He becomes a voyeur of her comings and goings, hoping that Gemma’s fate is different from the Madame’s.

The film is a bit of a black comedy. I can’t comment on the parallels between the book and the movie, since I never read it. Perhaps that made it more appealing, but even so, I found this movie entertaining in its own right. Recommended to those who enjoy a bit of French Cinema.

The Seven Five was the first of two from last night’s session of the Arthouse Film Festival. It’s a documentary detailing corruption in the NYPD in the 1980s. It follows the case of Michael Dowd and Ken Eurell, officers in the 75th precinct of Brooklyn.

This part of Brooklyn was tough, claiming hundreds of murders in the 80s. There was a lot of decay in the city’s infrastructure, and people were finding ways to survive, many of which included less-than-legal means. Corruption is rampant within the police, all across the city. Dowd, and more than a few officers at the 75th, decide that they can earn more than just their paycheck by ‘other means’, such as skimming off the top of any money and drugs confiscated during all the busts that were occurring.

The documentary starts with Michael Dowd and his partner, Ken Eurell. There’re rumors about Dowd, and Eurell doesn’t want to be paired with him. There’s a mistrust between Michael and Ken, but over time, they build a bond that makes them thick as thieves. Trust between officers, especially partners, is vital to their ability to skim and steal. Their bond builds over time. Eventually, they decide they can make more money by going to the source – the druglords themselves. Initially, they reach out to the owner of a car audio shop that works on the expensive cars owned by the criminal element, and through him, make contact. They offer ‘protection’ services, meaning that they’ll tip off the people who run the storefronts where drug sales are taking place, for a fee. They’ll also work to bring down the competition, thus guaranteeing stability. Information is passed, both ways, and money changes hands.

Michael and Ken get over confident. They live it up on the extra income. Both are married and have children, so they share the wealth. Then involve other officers and former officers in their doings. They get bolder and become careless. The stories they tell were better, in my opinion, than some of the stories you hear in Scorcese movies, but not as lucrative.

Speaking of Scorcese, even though this is a documentary, it was told in Scorcese’s signature style, as much as a documentary could be. Vintage footage is used, and events unfold. Internal Affairs and the DEA are involved in the film, and their stories are told from the participants. It’s a very compelling story, and I do recommend it.

Here’s a link to the official Teaser Trailer for the movie.

Some spoilers of the outcome are discussed below, so you can stop reading if you don’t want to see them.

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As a follow-on to the screening, the host, Chuck Rose, brought a special guest – Michael Dowd. He was arrested, and served 10 1/2 years in federal prison, and survived. The interview was quite strange, as I think everyone in the audience was a little taken aback by his presence. He claimed the documentary was mostly true, but left out key components. He felt the story made him more of a mastermind than he actually was, and his partner Ken shared more of the guilt. You got the sense that he felt Ken should have suffered as much as he, but didn’t. He indicated he has realized the error of his ways, but audience members were not inclined to believe him. I’m not sure if I was, either. His life was forever changed by all this, and it’s up to him to demonstrate that he’s on the right path, now. His said his decision to participate in the documentary was so he could indicate how criminals like him could be caught. The documentary was originally going to be about the Mollen Commission, which was formed after Dowd was arrested to investigate corruption in the NYPD. After initially speaking to Dowd, the filmmakers realized they should do the story of the downfall of the 75th precinct instead, so that’s what this became.

Dowd also indicated that he’s in the process of writing a book about his experiences, which should clear up a few things.

Only time will tell.

El Critico was the second film screened at the Arthouse Film Festival this week. It’s an Argentinian movie from 2013 that we finally got to see. It’s in Spanish and French, with English subtitles.

Victor Tellez is a joyless man. He is also a film critic for a newspaper. His life is more or less drudgery. He hates most movies, and hasn’t given any film a 5 star review in years. His editor starts implying that if his behavior continues, he could be out of a job. He commiserates with Ágatha, his niece, who runs a video store that’s really a front for a loanshark. She loves movies, especially romantic comedies. Victor calls them unrealistic, unimaginative and uninspired. He rattles off the essentials of all romcoms and is unmoved and unfazed by the American movies she rattles off, dismissing them all. He is never satisfied.

After one movie screening, Victor is having coffee with the other critics, and is confronted by a director whose film Victor has recently eviscerated. The man will not let him be.

Meanwhile, Victor is being forced out of his apartment. His landlords are remodeling, which will eventually displace him. His real estate agent has shown him place after place, but he finds nothing worth living in. Eventually, he does find a perfect place, but someone else has beaten him to the punch – a mysterious woman named Sofîa, and he tries to convince her to relinquish her claim to the place. During this, his life starts to become surreal, and we, as the audience begin to notice that their relationship is starting to take the shape of those romcoms he finds abhorrent.

This is a lighthearted film, for the most part. There is some unpleasantness, but I rather enjoyed it. There were quite a few bits in the movie that went unstated, but were obvious to the audience. If they had been explained, it would have ruined what turned out to be an enjoyable experience. Recommended.

Iris is the last documentary created by Albert Maysles, whose previous works included Grey Gardens, Gimme Shelter, and others of note. He passed away earlier this year.

Iris tells some of the story of Iris Apfel, a “geriatric debutante” who became a style maven in the middle of last century. She is mostly known for her unique sense of style, and her overuse of accessories – baubles, necklaces, bracelets, etc – is her strongpoint. Her style is her own, and drives her even today. She learned that’s her strength, and she plays to it well. She’s still very active, and has a way of combining things that you wouldn’t consider. She is supported by her husband, who’s turned 100.

The energy this woman has puts many to shame. Despite her age, she’s always engaged in what she’s involved in, and doesn’t show any signs of letting up.

While fashion isn’t my thing, this documentary was certainly an interesting watch. You don’t get too much of her history, but instead, get a sense of how she does things her own way. Impressive, for anyone. Recommended.

This movie is premiering soon in NYC, and will be in more theaters soon enough. Here’s a link to the Official Trailer.

The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared is the latest film shown at the Arthouse Film Festival this evening. The film is from Sweden, and is based on a book of the same name, that’s sold over 6 million copies. The movie opens in NYC soon.

The story revolves around Allan Karlsson, and man who is in a nursing home, and has turned 100 years of age. He is momentarily distracted by a kid setting off fireworks, she he skips out on his birthday party, and wanders out to investigate. He decides to just leave the home, so he heads down to the local bus station and buys a ticket on the first bus out. While there, a punk forces him to watch his suitcase, but Allan’s bus arrives, so he takes the luggage. Little does he know what’s inside…

The chase begins. Allan meets people who join him on his “flight”. The film intersperses that story with flashbacks of Allan’s life, from birth onward. Allan has a meager upbringing, but after the deaths of his parents, he develops a wanderlust, never staying in any given place for long. He manages to stumble upon several world-changing events, like the Spanish Civil War, The Manhattan Project, and so on. If you’re thinking of Forrest Gump, add a touch of Being there, and you’ve got it. This movie plays like a farce, with a mix of black comedy, and, like those two films I mentioned, there are convenient coincidences aplenty.

Almost all of it is played for laughs. He rubs elbows with world leaders who befriend him and then want him to do things for them, but he can’t seem to be fully engaged or really let himself get distracted by the situation, even when things start crashing down on him. He has a sort of mellowness that evens him out. Allan is a “smarter” Chauncey Gardner, who never lets the circumstances affect what he wants to do.

This film has some occasional brutal violence, and is therefore not for the lighthearted. DO NOT watch the trailer for the film, it gives far too much away. The film is half in English, the rest in subtitled Swedish.

I wouldn’t rate it as a ‘must see in the theaters’, mainly because it’s a film focused on interpersonal relationships, but it’s worth watching nonetheless.

Home is the latest animated feature from Dreamworks. It is available in 3D, but it is totally unnecessary to see it that, unless you specifically want to. The animation style does not depend on it for telling the story.

The race of Boov are about to settle on a new planet. They are on the run, and have chosen their newest home. Their typical method of colonizing involves collecting all the native sentient species on whatever planet they choose, displace them to some less desirable location on said planet, and move in to whatever homes that species had. This time, they’ve chosen Earth, and they vacuum everyone up and deposit them in the Australian Outback, in organized communities.

The film focuses on the exuberant Boov, named Oh (Jim Parsons), who clearly doesn’t fit in. Most Boov are self-centered, and Oh is most certainly not. Oh was given his name due to when he greets other Boov, they roll their eyes and grumble, “Oh…” After finding his new home, he sends out an evite for a house-warming party, but mistakenly does a “send all”, which could reach the mortal enemy of the Boov, aka The Gorg. The Gorg keep chasing The Boov, destroying worlds along the way. The Boov’s leader, Captain Smek (Steve Martin, yes, that one), puts out a worldwide alert, and the Boov-hunt for Oh begins.

Meanwhile, a human girl, Tippy (Rihanna) was overlooked when the human culling began, thanks to her cat, named Pig. She was separated from her mother and is trying to figure out how to get to her, wherever she is. Oh and Tippy bump into each other at a convenience store, and an unlikely alliance is formed when Oh promises to reunite Tippy and “my mom”.

The Boov are a cowardly race, and avoid confrontation wherever possible. The trust that forms between Oh and Tippy is what drives this movie forward. It is a fish-out-of-water story, as Oh tries to understand Tip’s drive to be reunited. Some of the better jokes are spoiled in the trailer, but definitely not all of them. This film is clearly for children, but there’s enough of a story to keep parents and guardians happy, as well as adults who see the film non-ironically (like yours truly). Tip is trying to explain humanity to Oh, and it’s done with a childlike quality. There are plenty of jokes based on the Boov not understanding simple human culture and fortunately, it’s not too blatantly pandering. The behavior of the Boov is very fitting for Steve Martin, who plays his role almost as if he were Navin from The Jerk, a more or less benevolent fool, but this time, he’s in charge.

I found Home entertaining, and amusing. The title, however, really doesn’t work, for me. If given the opportunity, I’d change it, but I have no idea of what to change it to, though.

Recommended

Chappie is the latest film from South African Director Neil Blomkamp, who’s given us the films District 9 and Elysium, District 9 was a film about Racism, whereas Elysium was about the 1%-ers living the literal high life in a space station. The social commentary of Chappie is not so obvious. This film is about a hard sci-fi concept as it might apply to the real world.

In the near future, crime is rampant in Detroit Johannesburg, South Africa. The OCP Tetravaal Corporation has experimented with robotic police officers to keep the peace. The parallels to the movie Robocop are there, however, Chappie adds elements from Short Circuit into the mix. Current it-actor Dev Patel plays Deon, inventor of the robotic police force, who’s research has continued into the area of Artificial Intelligence. Tetravaal’s CEO Michelle (Sigourney Weaver) orders him to stop the project and just focus on their highly effective Robotic Officers instead. Determined, he steals a unit scheduled to be destroyed, and intends to load his new software into it, since it was too damaged to repair and return to active service.

Meanwhile, a small group of mid-level criminals owes a lot of money to the local gang kingpin, Hippo, and they need it fast. They figure that if they can hack the robots, they can steal what they need. Ninja and Yo-landi (played by rap-trance stars Ninja and Yo-Landi of the group Die Antwoord [The Answer]), kidnap Deon to force him to provide a way for them to hack the robots. They captured him as he was making off with the aforementioned broken robot, and Deon convinces them he’ll do what he can to help, so he installs his AI program into the robot, which is dubbed Chappie. While very much paralleling the early life of Johnny 5 and his growth, Chappie’s development seems more realistic, as Yo-Landi treats Chappie like a child, and Ninja introduces him to the reality of their existence.

Meanwhile, Deon’s rival at the company, Vincent (Hugh Jackman), wants to see the robots fail, as he has been developing a similar protection device, ED-209 MOOSE, but MOOSE would be directly controlled by humans, similar to how the military controls drones now. His funding’s been cut several times, and, well, that’s where the fun begins.

There are some odd choices made in how this film plays out. For one, I found South Africans’ dialect hard to follow, sometimes. Blomkamp must’ve agreed, because he inserted Subtitles for Hippo’s words, but no one else’s. Maybe the theater’s sound system wasn’t the greatest, because I had to strain to hear some of the dialogue properly. There were some other shortcuts taken in order to streamline the movie, but they were more technical, and would never have happened if Tetravaal was a real company and had better physical security. IMO, Chappie’s learning ability progressed too rapidly, too. Those concerns were bypassed to allow the story to flow better, and rightfully so.

This was an enjoyable movie. The story never really dragged, and the third act pulled it all together. It was an interesting take on the concept of AI, and how such an intelligence would accept a not-so-legal lifestyle. There is physical violence in the film, and several gun battles. I found it odd that there were several parents had brought their preteen children to the theater, however, the trailers for the film do not really describe the kind of story it is.

I suspect it will disappear from theaters soon, because the number of theaters showing it on a full schedule were fewer than I’d expect.

Kingsman: The Secret Service is an action movie about a secret British organization, so hidden that no government is aware of its existence. Funded by the English aristocracy, they affect change in the world and choose to remain discreet about it. The Kingsmen all have code names based on the names of the Knights of the Round Table. Manners, etiquette, and honor are the behaviors that all of them must follow.

The movie starts with a kidnapping. Professor Arnold (Mark Hamill) is kidnapped and is held for a meeting. Before that can happen, one of the Kingsmen starts to rescue him, but is foiled. The organization has to find a replacement for their fallen comrade.

Kingsman primarily focuses on Eggsy, a twenty-something that has had a rough and tumble existence. Unbeknownst to him, his father was a Kingsman who was killed in the line of duty. Galahad (Colin Firth) has kept an eye on him, and when Eggsy gets into trouble with the police, Galahad offers him the opportunity to enter the trials to become a Kingsman. The training is difficult and brutal. Only one Kingsman will be chosen from all the candidates.

Meanwhile, celebrities and heads of state are disappearing, and no one knows why, or who’s doing it. Galahad investigates, and the path leads to an enigmatic tech billionaire, Valentine (Samuel L Jackson), who has made it his life’s goal to solve the problem of Global Warming. He has a plan, but the details of it are unclear.

This is, essentially, a spy film, complete with all the requisite action movie tropes. However, it’s done with a certain style and flair that harkens back to the old Avengers TV series, with John Steed, Emma Peel, et al. The Kingsman organization emulates what I expect The Avengers’ organization was. If you’ve never seen that show, you should, and you’ll understand.

Kingsman was unfolding as you’d expect, and it was a typical movie of the genre. They even make several references to James Bond movies, and how they play out. At the very least, they weren’t trying to claim to be original in any way, shape, or form. However, that changed, once Galahad visits a church much like the Westboro Baptist. What he says, and what happens in that scene was as pretty entertaining, if not better, than almost anything Quentin Tarantino has ever done. It has a quite a ‘bit of the old ultraviolence’ that is Q’s trademark, but it was extremely well choreographed, and amusing in its own way.

That said, the rest of the film plays out in a more traditional manner that one would expect from such movies. That scene I’ve mentioned does elevate this from out of the pack of many such parodies and ripoffs, enough to make me recommend it. The very end of the movie is a bit more crude than I’d have expected, given what the Kingsmen supposedly stand for. However, in the movie itself, there’s a discussion about the old guard not being to embrace future generations and their ways, so in that respect, I guess I can almost forgive it. Almost. This is not necessarily a movie you need to see in a theater. You can wait to stream it later, if there’s nothing else on screens that you wish to see.

Of course, The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is the sequel to the original film. The gist of the first was a collection of pensioners in England who chose to move to Jaipur, India, on the promise of a nice relaxing set of golden years. Instead, their accommodations are far from perfect, so they struggle to make the best of an awful situation. The hotel’s condition is essentially their own. Do they accept their fate, or do they overcome it? The first movie ended on a positive note.

The Second Best… picks up a few months after the first. Sonny (Dev Patel) and Muriel (Maggie Smith) have managed to get the hotel into decent shape, and are looking to expand into providing more such facilities. They travel to San Diego to meet with an American corporation who funds retirement communities, to form a partnership.

Sonny and Sunaina became engaged, and the wedding is near. An old boyfriend of Sunaina appears, and interferes with Sonny’s plans to expand the business. New Guests arrive at the hotel, including Guy(Richard Gere), who Sonny guesses is an inspector for the company they are trying to do business with. The other guests are thriving, but failing in some ways to get their lives in order. It’s difficult to address these events without giving away too much.

This is a fine movie. The dialogue is really well written, and these actors give the words the appropriate gravitas. There’s one exchange between Muriel and Evelyn (Judi Densch) that really sunk home, and I doubt any other actresses could’ve done that scene as well. While this movie is a bit schmaltzy, and some of the revelations are telegraphed, I still recommend this film.