An original look at the meaning of "family" via Bettina Oberli's MY WONDERFUL WANDA

What a strange and interesting film is MY WONDERFUL WANDA (Wanda, mein Wunder) co-written, with Cookie Ziesche, and directed by Bettina Oberli. It appears to begin as one thing, then morphs into another and another until it somehow quite gracefully combines all those 'morphings' to arrive back where it began, with almost all the things we originally thought and felt turned on their head. At least twice.

Ms. Oberli (the filmmaker is pictured below) is dealing with "class" here: the 

wealthy and those who must work (and work and work) to earn their living. And while many of the expected tropes do show up, the movie's richer and more inclusive than you'll expect. Characters expand, and the very change they resist also allows them to grow. 

The plot kicks off with the arrival at the local bus station of the eponymous care-giver, Wanda, a Polish woman who is returning to the lakeside home of a wealthy Swiss family to care for the aging father who has suffered a stroke. Why Wanda left in the first place is never baldly stated  (the care-giver who replaced her did not work out) but once we get a load of the family itself -- elitist father, cheapskate mother, nasty sister and weakling brother -- it's not difficult to imagine myriad reasons for her departure.

The smart and serious Wanda is played by Polish actress Agnieszka Grochowska (above, right, with her charge, played by André Jung), and this character is both active and reactive in terms of setting the plot in motion. What happens involves and is due to the actions of all the characters, so much so that any blame you're ready to portion out soon becomes beside the point.

Marvelous Marthe Keller (above) handles the role of the mother with expected aplomb, and the weak son is given a careful, caring reading by Jacob Matschenz (below, left). The standout performance, however, comes from the actress who plays the sister: Birgit Minichmayr (center left, below), whom you may remember from the terrific film, Everyone Else. Ms Minichmayr runs the gamut here, and she takes us with her all the way home.

By its finale, My Wonderful Wanda might even qualify as a feel-good film, but as my spouse pointed out, there's an awful lot of sadness here, too. It is also the kind of movie that Hollywood -- even American independent cinema – rarely gives us. In so many ways, it's simply more adult, offering an idea of life in all its messiness, rather than pre-digested pablum. Films like this are the reason why TrustMovies began seeking out foreign-language movies back in the 1960s. And why he's still doing that.

From Zeitgeist Films and Kino Lorber, the movie -- in German with English subtitles and running 111 minutes -- opens in a limited run nationwide in theaters (both virtual and real) this Friday, April 23. Click here then scroll down to see all listed cinemas, along with more information on the film.

Lynne Sachs' FILM ABOUT A FATHER WHO breaks new ground in the "family" documentary department

Every year there seem to be a couple (if not more) of new docs that, in telling their strange and troubling stories -- often about a family that the movie-maker is exploring (sometimes his or her own) -- practically cry out, Can you top this?!  2021, which has barely even begun, offers one that pretty much tops them all: FILM ABOUT A FATHER WHO. 

The filmmaker here is Lynne Sachs (shown above), who has spent 35 years -- 1984 through 2019 -- researching, compiling her information and finally turning her film and video into a very compact 74 minutes of footage. That's barely over two minutes per year, yet the result is something for which running-time seems quite beside the point. (Before you start to feel too badly for Ms Sachs, know that she has completed a number of other films over that same time period: Click on her IMDB profile, at the link above). 

All of us, TrustMovies would guess, are at some point in our lives, interested in our parents and their history, however checkered it might be. As Ms Sachs explores this regarding her father Ira Sachs, Sr., shown above and below (her sibling, Jr., is himself a noted filmmaker: Leave the Lights On, Love Is Strange), she learns more and more that becomes so increasingly jaw-dropping that you will eventually have to pick that body part up from the floor. Ms Sachs also explores, to a lesser extent, the history of her mother and grandmother. But it's Dad who's key here. 

To even try to explain what we learn in this film would be to give away the entire store, as it were. Really: once the film gets going, a new spoiler crops up literally every few minutes. Eventually you will find yourself asking, Who the fuck is this man?, and it's clear that his offspring have all asked themselves the same question plenty of times over the years. In terms of film-making technique, Sachs has assembled her footage -- archival to near-present-day, with interviews conducted all along the way -- pretty much in the necessary manner to allow that "mystery of identity" to reveal itself, play out as it needs to, and still, yes, remain something of a mystery. 

According to her IMDB resume, Sachs explores "the intricate relationship between personal observations and broader historical experiences by weaving together poetry, collage, painting, politics and layered sound design," and she is "strongly committed to a dialogue between cinematic theory and practice."  In Film About A Father Who, she gets what I would call a little too creative and artsy once or twice, which, in the context of all we see and hear, simply calls attention to itself and not much more. Fortunately she and her editor Rebecca Shapass concentrate mostly on the faces, words and thoughts of the people we meet, and this is more than enough to keep us in tow.

As the movie came to a close (spoiler ahead: See the film before reading the rest of this paragraph), I found myself thinking that Ira Sachs, Sr., is the absolute and perfect poster boy for vasectomy. Though that, of course, would rob us of his progeny -- all of whom seem like decent enough folk. And, to his credit, the man at least monetarily cared for his offspring. I also would have liked to know, since DNA does count for quite a bit of our heritage, much more about the man named Harry Richman (I believe that's the spelling of the fellow who was our titular father's actual father). But perhaps there was simply no further information available on this guy.

In any case, Film About a Father Who takes its place as a whopping good exploration of family, parentage and parenting, secrets and -- if not outright lies, then some pretty heavy withholding of information. From The Cinema Guild and running 74 minutes, the documentary opens in virtual cinemas nationwide today, Friday, January 15. Click here for more information and venues.

ACASĂ, MY HOME: Radu Ciorniciuc's beautiful, provocative doc opens in virtual theaters

 

The theme of individual freedom against the power of the state only recently received an amusing, thoughtful and emotional workout via the Netflix movie from Italy, Rose Island, and now here it is back again, even more powerfully and movingly explored in the new Romanian documentary, ACASĂ, MY HOME, directed by Radu Ciorniciuc (shown below) who also produced the film and, along with Mircea Topoleanu, handled its often ravishing cinematography.

This "individual vs the state" idea also cropped up rather hugely and nastily here in the USA last week, as those protesters (or, depending on your viewpoint, domestic terrorists) attacked Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. TrustMovies' view of this individual vs state thing often rests on whether those individuals offer a live-and-let-live attitude rather than the inflict-damage-overturn-a-democratic-election-and-maybe-end-some-lives kind of clashing that these deplorable, brainwashed Trump & Fox "News" followers exhibited.

In Acasă, My Home, Mr. Ciorniciuc offers a situation in which a large Romanian family, having lived for years (the kids were born there) in a wild area that will soon become an official nature preserve -- "the largest urban nature park in the European Union!" as one official puts it -- is soon to be "relocated." From the start, as we follow the oldest brother and his young siblings as they fish (by mouth!) and glide over the water, playing with the local wildlife in a near-idyllic, gorgeously photographed paradise, it is clear that this is probably to be a losing battle for the family.

And yet, for the most part, the State seems to be trying to act at least somewhat justly toward the family, and the filmmaker lets us see and understand this -- even though we also know that bureaucracy almost never takes in the individual situation with the nuance and caring that it deserves. And yet, the family's head, a very set-in-his-ways father, is also shown to be too intransigent (there's a brief but devastating scene of "book-burning" midway along that will bring you up short). 

Ciorniciuc allows us to consider both the pros and the cons of "civilization" and, once the family is moved into its new quarters inside the city, we experience these ups and downs with them as their lives move ahead. All this is handled with such finesse and understanding that you might imagine the filmmaker had spent his life doing documentaries, yet this is but his first attempt. He plays fair, it seems to me, with everyone. Clearly, he managed to gain the trust of this family, as well as of the various bureaucrats with whom he and the family had to deal, and they, too, appear to have been fairly considered.

Early on we get one of those breath-taking surprise shots that shows, with a shock, nature and civilization, side by side, while at the nature preserve, we meet the Prime Minister, a female government minister, and even England's own Prince Charles. Later, in town, we get a little local prejudice and some police brutality. "Someone call the police!" is screamed out at one point, followed by (and spoken by the brutalizers) "We are the police!" Oh, right. Finally and just barely, the filmmaker takes us, with only a little kicking and screaming via the eldest brother, into the next generation.

Toward the end of this "family moves from the country to the city" saga, I was put in mind of Visconti's great narrative melodrama Rocco and His Brothers. Acasă, My Home is that powerful and meaningful. What it might lack in narrative plot, drive and force, it makes up in breadth, scope and good old-fashioned documentary realism. And it is so very beautiful -- in its generous images of people and place -- as to be both exemplary and memorable. 

From Zeitgeist Films and Kino Lorber, in Romanian with English subtitles, and running just 86 minutes, the documentary hits virtual  theaters this Friday, January 15. Click here and scroll down for more information on the film and the venues in which you can view it.

Victor Kossakovsky's much-heralded but little-seen doc, THE BELOVS, comes to Film Forum

A dog licks his master's face with a long, wet tongue -- adorable and, considering how long this goes on, just a little weird. Then we get the dog's master's explanation, which sounds both correct and intuitive, followed by "Here's my message to humankind: Leave each other in peace!" So begins THE BELOVS (Belovy) a documentary made back in 1992 by Russian filmmaker Victor Kossakovsky (shown below, whose newest documentary, Gunda, opened here in the USA to almost unanimously positive reviews last week). 

The man we see is one-half of the Russian farm household that includes his widowed sister, herself looking  and sounding initially like part of that hearty, healthy peasant stock that takes life as it is and makes the best of it. Wait a minute: Soon enough we are privy to a whole lot more about this pair, as Kossakovsky fills his film with beautiful images of nature, man and animals, and scores it with music that sounds (to TrustMovies ear, at least) utterly Russian -- until it switches to something probably Mexican or Cuban, and later to what may be an old American or British pop song, thus matching the mood of some of his wondrous images: water and trees to massive boulders, a tractor barreling along the road and a tiny hedgehog (who co-stars with the dog in perhaps the film's most delightful and amazing scene).

It's as though the filmmaker knew what conclusion we would jump to, let us do exactly that, and then threw us for a loop. Again and again. He's a filmmaker who brings to fine life that smart old trope: Never assume. Before long we become aware that the brother, among his other features, is a loudmouth drunk, while his sis can often be a whiny complainer, as well as a kindly old soul who loves animals. (How she converses with the animal life around her is exquisite: charming, funny, caring.)

There's a visit from the pair's two brothers, so very different from our drunken farmer. We get a little politics and philosophy, a lot of arguing and pleas for a quieter tone. Old squabbles resurface, along with the inevitability of aging and opportunities passed by. "The train has left the station. We missed it." When sis tells her brother, "I'm grey from life with you!", we fully understand what she means. 

But there's still time for a sauna and a swim and finally a goodbye, in which it seems at least a few things might be mended. I don't know if it was simply a flaw in the link via which I viewed the film, but at one point toward the end, the sound disappeared. It was as though we had heard enough from this drunken sod. When sorrow and submission come, perhaps it's best they be experienced quietly and alone.

The print of the film, which looks shot in sepia tones, is hardly hi-def, but this, too, works to great advantage. Only 58 minutes long, The Belovs, makes an indelible impression, even as lightness and charm turns to sadness and oppression. Hey, it's Russian. When Kossakovsky finally shows us an old photo of the five siblings (above) in their younger years, the effect is beyond moving.

What seemed to begin as a celebration has evolved into a tale of the human condition, Russia-style. Whatever you think of these Belovs and their movie --  I was so happy to have finally had the chance to see this storied film -- you will certainly agree that it is one-of-a-kind. 

Premiering this Friday, December 18, for only a one-week run, The Belovs opens at New York City's Film Forum virtual cinema. Click here for further information.

EMBATTLED: Nick Sarkisov & David McKenna's ode to abuse -- whether via family or MMA

Fans of Mixed martial arts (MMA) are likely to be most interested in the new film EMBATTLED, even though the movie also concerns itself with everything from family, feuding, abuse, raising a "special needs" child, betrayal, blackmail, and oh gosh, a lot more, too. But it's the abuse -- in the ring and out of it -- that quickly becomes the movie's main theme, driving it ever forward.

As directed by Nick Sarkisov (shown below), from a screenplay by David McKenna, the film traces the history of two MMA fighters, hunky and nasty current world champion (in one of those lesser-weight categories) Cash Boykins and his even hunkier (but much nicer) son, Jett, who is just now coming into his own as a fighter.

TrustMovies' main reason for even viewing the movie (he is no fan of MMA) is two of its stars: Stephen Dorff, who plays Cash, and Elizabeth Reaser, who takes the role of Cash's very put-upon ex-wife. 

Both actors never disappoint: Dorff, shown below, excels at playing assholes (he's got one hell of role here) and he's also fine at managing the beleaguered hero (see Brake, if you need any proof), while Reaser, though rarely getting the kind of starring role she deserves, is one of those empathetic actresses you simply go with, hook, line and sinker.

But since this is, first to last, a man's movie, the female roles are relegated to second class, if that, and Ms Reaser, shown two photos down, does what she can within the limitations given her.

The movie's "rising star" would be the young man who play's Cash's son, Darren Mann (two photos below), who acquits himself well as the sweet kid who cares for his handicapped brother, while trying to look out for his mom, get passing grades in school, and train to finally beat down his shitty dad who, even in the eyes of his current wife, is a real horror.

For an MMA movie, Embattled doesn't overly revel in the violence and blood -- though what's there is certainly plenty.  The fight scenes are staged well, and even the final showdown, which does go on for a lengthy while, spares us some of the usual in-your-face gore (oddly, the fighters throughout the film seem to recover a bit too quickly from facial injuries).

Embattled skips along and over its family problems a little too easily (the fights are the point here), though director Sarkisov does toss in a scene of remarkable power midway through the film, as dad's abuse and son's memory of it collide in some very well constructed moments that combine remembering and experiencing in a manner that hits home just about perfectly.

Performances are good all around (supporting characters are nicely drawn), the dialog is adequate and sometimes smart, and the direction is never less than serviceable and often more than that.  But while the film tries to makes its characters full-bodied, by trying to have things both ways -- dad's abusive, yes, but he also cares -- it mostly succeeds at watering down the important stuff to the level of cliché. Watch it, if you're so inclined, for the fight scenes.

From IFC Films and running a lengthy 117 minutes, Embattled opened in theaters and virtually yesterday, Friday, November 20. Click here for more information.

Prime Video discovery: Simone Godano's delightful AN ALMOST ORDINARY SUMMER

More than mere coincidence, almost every time TrustMovies sees the Warner Brothers logo on a film from Italy, that movie turns out to be a good one: fun, intelligent, mainstream entertainment. But when that same logo appears on an American movie, it is likely to be one of that studio's schlock blockbusters and a major waste of time for any thinking adult. How can two such divergent reactions keep occurring? Well, Italy has long been known for making wonderful films about family, which this new one -- directed by Simone Godano (shown below) and written by Giulia Louise Steigerwalt (with some input from Signore Godano) -- definitely is. 

AN ALMOST ORDINARY SUMMER (its Italian title is Croce e Delizia, which translates as Cross and Delight) tracks the journey of two Italian families in which the fathers/grandfathers of each have fallen in love (and lust) with each other. 

One family, headed by that highly talented icon of sexy smarts, Alessandro Gassman (below, left), is salt-of-the-earth working class with ultra-traditional values, while the other, under the rule of suave Fabrizio Bentivoglio (below, right), is wealthy, elitist but maybe only a tiny bit "woke."

These patres familias may be in love with each other, but the two families are definitely not. So when one grown child of each -- played by Jasmine Trinca, below left, and Filippo Scicchitano, right -- decides to work with the other to sabotage his and her parent's relationship, the movie grows consistently funnier, earthier, sadder, smarter and simply tons of fun. 

The clever screenplay lets us explore the Italian look at prejudices of all sorts, sexual to class-related, and nobody here comes out super-clean. One of the great strengths of the movie is how mixed a bag each of the characters really is. Yet thanks to the clever plotting, smart writing and excellent performances from the entire ensemble, we end up rooting for them all. 

An Almost Ordinary Summer is mainstream and feel-good, all right, but it never loses its hold on a reality in which the divergent must be brought together somehow. Boy, we could use this in the USA these days, but instead we have Donald Trump, his lock-step Republicans, and his idiot base doing all they can to hijack this past election -- chanting  "Stop the Vote" in one state while screaming "Count the Vote" in another. Can somebody please pass out a few spare brains to these folk in need?

But I digress. If you need something lovely -- set in a gorgeous locale with sumptuous interiors, verdant seaside exteriors, and lots of delicious-looking food -- that will make you think and laugh and feel very nice indeed, Croce e Delizia  is the film for you. 

From Wolfe Releasing (and available to view via Amazon Prime), in Italian with English subtitles and running  just 100 minutes, give this Italian mainstream gem a whirl.

Family, food, art and renovation fuel a sweet/ sad story in James D'Arcy's MADE IN ITALY

One of those feel-good movies that boasts a beautiful location (Tuscany), a big star (Liam Neeson) surrounded by excellent supporting players, and an estranged father/son story (with a deceased mother right out of the Disney cannon).

If you can't quickly figure out where MADE IN ITALY is going, you are probably somewhat new to the notion of the motion picture experience.

On the other, more productive hand, if you'd be interested in something to take you away from the threat of Covid-19, the idiocy of Donald Trump, and wherever the next big hurricane/tropical storm might be headed, this just might be the best medicine currently available.

As written and directed by noted actor James D'Arcy (shown at right, this is his first full-length film), Made in Italy  proves consistently lovely to look at, with dialog that -- if it doesn't exactly sparkle -- has at least enough intelligence and wit to keep your ears open and willing to continue, and it offers enough back story, incident and momentum to bring its tale home with a few mini-surprises that hold boredom at bay.

If all of the above sounds like "damning with faint praise," it is not. The experience of watching Made in Italy is probably as close as one can come these days to taking a gorgeous, enjoyable and safe vacation.

D'Arcy's plot has to do with the fractured relationship between Robert, a blocked-artist father (Neeson, above), and his son Jack (Micheál Richardson, shown below), who runs a London art gallery which is about to be sold out from under his control. The two still own a villa in Italy that, were they to fix it up and then sell it, could help Jack buy that gallery. Complications ensue.

Along the way to fixing up what is indeed a gorgeous villa in dire need of repair, dad and son encounter a couple of local women who prove invaluable to them and to the story. Lindsay Duncan (below, right) plays her usual strong, smart, classy character as the local real estate agent who helps the pair ready the house for sale,

while the beautiful Italian actress Valeria Bilello (below, from Honey and Sense8) takes the plum role of the local chef and restaurateur who provides some good food, romance and design suggestions for our boys.

It's all, if not quite paint-by-numbers, close enough for you to figure out most of it. But as you'll be sitting there enjoying the scenery and fine performances, TrustMovies suspects you won't mind much at all. Neeson is, as ever, very good, and it is particularly nice to see him in something other than an action film again. The whole shebang proves a thoroughly professional job, so I'll look forward to the next movie that Mr. D'Arcy writes and/or directs.

From IFC Films, running 93 minutes and in mostly English (with a few lines of English-subtitled Italian now and again), Made in Italy opens in theaters and via VOD this Friday, August 7 -- for purchase and/or rental.

Karin Viard stuns in Lucie Borleteau's based-on-real-life, parents'-worst-nightmare tale, THE PERFECT NANNY

Over her nearly 35-years as an actress, French-born Karin Viard (shown at right and below) has taken on almost 100 roles at this point in her prolific, multi-César-winning career. If this star is not that well-known to American audiences, it's only because she's not Catherine Deneuve or Juliette Binoche. (Regarding foreign-born actresses, we tend to stick solely with the biggest names.) TrustMovies barely noticed her in her earliest films, Tatie Danielle and Delicatessen (those films far overpowered their supporting performances), but as the star of the small, funny, incisive movie The New Eve, Ms Viard certainly came into her own, and she has remained there ever since, gracing such films as Time Out, The Role of Her Life, Polisse and My Piece of the Pie with her versatility and expertise.

Now with the new (to the USA, at least) film, THE PERFECT NANNY (Chanson douce), Viard gets one of of those roles so good -- simultaneously horrible, entrancing and powerful -- that this actress simply takes hold of and runs off with the movie. And she does it without benefit of the script giving her the usual psychologically explanatory back-story. What we learn of that, in any case, may be completely fabricated. Instead, Viard -- by virtue of her ability to draw us in to the mystery of what she may be thinking and feeling and still keep us guessing (and hoping) -- is able to create a full-bodied, hugely imposing character who is strange, sad, funny, almost hopeful, even sexy (her full-frontal nude scenes are among the most special and appealing/disturbing I've scene in a long while).

As directed and co-written and adapted (with Jérémie Elkaïm, from the novel by Leïla Slimani) by Lucie Borleteau, shown at right, the movie gives leading lady Viard the wherewithal to create her amazing character, the nanny Louise, out of perhaps the least obvious of tools. Instead of the usual information-filled and often heavy-handed backstory, it is the details we get of the day-to-day interaction Louise has with the two children she cares for, their parents -- well-played by Leïla Bekhti and Antoine Reinartz, shown left and center, respectively, below -- as well as the few other characters, mostly nannies and shopkeepers, the film allows us to meet.

Some of these people, in fact, are as impressed with Louise and how she relates to her two charges (shown below), as are the parents and we in the audience. If only the US distributor had kept something closer to the film's original title (which translates into English as either Sweet Song or Lullaby), rather than The Perfect Nanny, which will alert any vaguely intelligent adult that, hey, this nanny is going to be anything but perfect. Oh, well. Considering how dumbed-down so many audiences seem currently to be, I guess you've got to spell out fucking everything. Thank goodness the movie itself refuses to do this.

The other quite special thing about this film is how slow-burn/quiet-build it proves to be. Folk more used to the standard and probably expected approaching-horror-movie style will get antsy, of course, but those who appreciate character over fast-paced plotting will rejoice, as the film consistently gives its characters room to breathe, if not, unfortunately, the ability to grow.

Finally, if objections are raised such as "How could those parents relegate the care of their kids to this woman?", well, come on now: Working parents, which more and more people must be these days (or, as in this case, choose to be), have to use child care-givers, and the movie, the novel on which it is based, and in fact the true-life tale that began the ball rolling brings to life every working parent's worst nightmare. How the film so naturally, cleverly and effectively taps into this is a huge part of its strength. That, and the marvelous Ms Viard. The monster she creates here is as memorable as any you'll have seen.

From Distrib Films US and distributed via Icarus Home Video, in French with English subtitles and running just 99 minutes, The Perfect Nanny makes its American DVD debut today, Tuesday, June 23 -- for purchase (and eventually, I'm sure, for rental).