Feel-good family fun, with some fine music included: Brett Haley's HEARTS BEAT LOUD

The best thing about HEARTS BEAT LOUD is its original music via Keegan DeWitt, sung to a fare-thee-well by the movie's stars, Kiersey Clemons and Nick Offerman. We hear this music almost from the film's beginning and it continues off and on throughout. You can easily believe it would get noticed, grow popular and perhaps even start some careers in the process.

Beyond the music is what TrustMovies is beginning to view as a typical Brett Haley movie (as with I'll See You in My Dreams and The Hero): low-key, pleasant, with properly calibrated ups and down, and although the subjects raised may be deep, the handling of them is not.

Yet each of Haley's films (the co-writer/director is shown at right) offers an enjoyable, feel-good time, and best of all, the filmmaker never wraps it all up too cozily at the finale. Some questions remain unanswered and things are always left open for further possibilities (both good and bad).

Haley's co-writer, as usual, is Marc Basch, and the screenplay the two have concocted this time around involves a Brooklyn father (Offerman, shown above, right, and below, left) and his late-teen daughter (Ms Clemons: above, left, and below, right) about to leave for a pre-med course at UCLA. The two have long made music together (the mom of the family having died some years back), so Dad wants one last jam session together, at which daughter suddenly comes up with a song she's been working on that has definite possibilities.

That's pretty much it for plot -- oh, daughter gets involved with an attractive local girl (Sasha Lane, below), even as dad finds himself attracted to his friendly landlord (Toni Collette, further below) -- the only big question arising here is whether daughter must or maybe will give up her medical studies to pursue a musical career.

Inserted into all this is a grandmother (Blythe Danner) suffering from dementia who occasionally shoplifts and create sort-of problems. While it's always a pleasure to see Ms Danner at work, this character seems so needless to the tale told, and her arc really goes nowhere, that the movie would be a bit tighter and shorter without her.

Better used and more germane is the bartender/old friend of dad's, played by Ted Danson, below, who gives his neightbors good advice and even better booze now and again. Otherwise, the movie is easy-going, pleasurable and rather predictable. But the music, as I say, is quite good, and so are each of the performances.

All in all, this is just about what we've come to expect from a Brett Haley movie, but, as someone once asked, What's not to like?  

From Gunpowder & Sky and running a pleasantly-paced 97 minutes, Hearts Beat Loud opens this Friday, June 8, in New York (at the Regal Union Square and the Landmark at 57 West) and Los Angeles (at the Arclight Hollywood and The Landmark in West L.A.). Here in South Florida, as well as elsewhere around the country, the movie opens the following Friday, June 15. In the Miami area, look for it at the AMC Aventura, the O Cinema Wynwood, and Regal's South Beach 18 and in Fort Lauderdale at The Classic Gateway.

With BROOKLYN, John Crowley and Nick Hornby come close to touching pure movie joy

BROOKLYN will knock your socks off. But so quietly and gently that you'll imagine you're still wearing them. It is difficult to explain how and why this movie is so special, but allow me to try.

First off, in the midst of our horrific modern world -- ISIS murderers abroad and hate-filled, stupid Republican Presidential "front-runners" funded by corporations and the wealthy bent on turning us all into minimum-wage slaves here at home -- Brooklyn exists as a reminder of an earlier, lost time. So, yes, this is nostalgia. But it's nostalgia done right, in which actions have consequences and the themes of family, homeland, coming-of-age, and the meaning of autonomy are treated seriously.

Secondly, in their actress/star, Saoirse Ronan (shown on poster, top; above, right; and variously, below), director John Crowley (at right) and screenwriter Nick Hornby have a winner and the strongest contender I have seen so far for the Best Actress "Oscar." Ms Ronan -- never a showy actress and, while quite attractive, no great beauty, either -- possesses the ability to display the kind of cool and collected inner strength that most actors would give up a year of Botox to be able to understand and use. But there it is in full view here -- in her speech, movement, face -- displayed in ways that none but the finest actors can muster. In every role -- from I Could Never Be Your Woman and Atonement through The Way Back, Hanna and Violet & Daisy to the more recent The Grand Budapest Hotel, Ronan shines differently and brightly. Here, at last, she becomes the movie's spine.

Fortunately, this actress is surrounded by other fine performers that bring fully to life a past time and place, together with the people who inhabited it. The tale is of a young woman in Ireland smack at the moment of mid-last century, with seemingly no real opportunities ahead of her. Consequently, her sister and her local parish priest arrange for her emigration to America -- to Brooklyn, where most of the Irish seem to have ended up.

On the way there. Eilis (that is her name) endures a seasick sea voyage (above), and once she arrives, she is homesick to near distraction and feels greatly out of place. But as helped by a kindly local priest (a nice change of pace for Jim Broadbent), employed at a posh department store, and stationed in a rooming house for young women run by a delightful Julie Walters (below, center), our girl begins to blossom, if just a bit. (The scenes around the dinner table at that rooming house are so wonderfully real, alert and on-the-mark that you may feel you've stumbled into a legitimate theater piece and are suddenly watching live actors.)

Then love enters the picture -- personified by a young Italian kid who likes Irish girls. As played to perfection by Emory Cohen (below), who brings such an unusual combination of sweet masculinity and savvy decency to his role, this performance becomes an indelible portrait of first love.

How director Crowley -- who, by the way, has so far given us nothing but excellent, under-seen, independent films (Intermission, Boy A, Is Anybody There? and Closed Circuit) -- brings all this to fruition is key. He never pushes, but instead allows Hornby's excellent, full-of-specifics screenplay to keep things on track by making every moment count. It would seem that Crowley has at last connected with a subject that will resonate hugely with the masses -- and then done that subject full justice.

The odd thing about Brooklyn is that so much works out so well for our heroine that one might wonder along the way just where the "conflict" will come from. Interestingly, it arrives directly from Eilis herself as she returns to Ireland to visit mom and finds herself more than a little attracted to her former home and its people.

Holding the film together is Ms Ronan, who simply gleams with hope and promise. And strength. This actress will pull you into her world like nothing you'll have seen, then hold you in her strong, clear gaze until you imagine that, yes, anything is possible, after all. And you may feel, as though for the first time (certainly at the movies after a very long dry spell) real, radiant joy for characters you have come to love.

Brooklyn, from Fox Searchlight and running 111 minutes, opens today in South Florida and elsewhere. Click here, then scroll down and click on THEATER LISTINGS to find a theater near you in just about any state on the map. Your friends are probably already telling you that this is the movie to see. If not yet, they soon will be.

WILD CANARIES: Lawrence Michael Levine's new-fangled comedy/mystery throwback

Imagine Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys meeting as adults in modern-day Brooklyn and encountering murders and a lot of lesbiansim, and you might just come up with an idea of what you will get from the new independent movie WILD CANARIES.

Better yet, think of the 1950s television series, Mr. and Mrs. North, with Pam and Jerry played by the modern-day couple Lawrence Michael Levine and Sophia Takal, and you'll have an even stronger sense of this odd little concoction.

The press info for the film calls it a "freshly comic take on classic film noir" -- which is yet another way to approach the movie. As a kid TrustMovies couldn't get enough of the Mr. & Mrs. North series. Watching some of these half-hour programs again recently on video, he can understand why he loved them so back then, while realizing that, no, they're not all that entertaining for the adult mind. Something of the same effect transpires in the course of this new film, written and directed by Mr. Levine (shown at right).

Levine's movie begins promisingly enough, with some fine banter between its in-love protagonists, Barri and Noah (Ms Takal and Levine, above) involving everything from jobs and money to friends, landlords, employers and past loves -- several of whom we soon meet.

These folk include the likes of roommate Jean (Alia Shawkat, above), a young woman who has more than a passing interest in Barri, and Eleanor (the gorgeous Annie Parisse, below) ex-lover and current employer of Noah, who is herself now exploring a lesbian relationship of her own.

Then there are the couple's neighbors who include the aged Sylvia (Marylouise Burke) and her visiting son (Kevin Corrigan, shown in the penultimate photo), and the building's relationship-troubled landlord, Damien (Jason Ritter, below).

There are plenty more familiar names and faces for those of you who frequent American independent cinema, including even the likes of Larry Fessenden (playing poker in a non-speaking role). In fact, as it unfurls and because the plot is not a little far-fetched and the final explanation of which even more so (though Miss Parisse does a bang-up job of explication), the movie seems to almost be a kind of "inside" joke played upon us by the bougie-aspiring Brooklyn filmmaking set.

The excellent, if highly naturalistic performances here -- especially from Corrigan, Ritter, Lindsay Burdge and Eleanore Hendricks -- sometimes interfere with the movie's aspirations to the screwball comedy/mystery genre, while the performances of Takal, Levine, Shawkat and Parisse all handle the plot machinations with a lighter, more graceful touch. While some this can be attributed to the characters these performers play, at times it seems that half the cast is appearing in a different film.

One of those movies that you sometimes feel may have been more fun to make than to view, and despite its straight-ahead intent to charm and entertain above all, Wild Canaries raises some interesting questions that its filmmaker might have included here in an unconscious rather than conscious manner. Why are all five of the most prominent women in the film either involved in or toying with a lesbian relationship, while, among the men, there's not a trace of homosexuality to be seen. Are Brooklyn gals more open to exploring their sexuality to its fullest, while the guys are, as usual, completely closed off dunderheads? Or is this the too-often experienced male view of women as all possibly femme fatales, to which lesbian tendencies simply add? Interesting to consider. It makes one wonder what a female writer/director would have done with this story?

In any case, Wild Canaries -- from IFC/Sundance Selects and running just a little too long at 96 minutes -- is a well-acted and not un-entertaining bauble that I wish had been even more so. It opens this Wednesday, February 25, here in New York City at the IFC Center. On Friday, March 6, it hits Los Angeles (at the Arena Cinema), Seattle (at the NW Film Forum), and Miami (at the Cosford Cinema. Click here to check in as later playdates are posted.

A plea (for $$$, what else?) as Aaron and Jennifer Hillis bring movie culture to Bklyn

Yes, BAM exists. So Brooklyn does have some movie culture. But what if you want to stay home and curl up with a good film?

TM is often going on about how sad it is that your local neighborhood video store has died (we have but one left here in Jackson Heights, Queens, where a half dozen successful video stores were open and running when we moved here 18 years ago). So it seems but fitting that he tell you about a compatriot of his who, along with said compatriot's wife, has bought and renovated a local video store in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, where they are trying to make a go of things -- first off, by raising enough money to renovate the store properly.

I'll let Aaron Hillis himself explain it to you, via this email (below) that I received from him earlier today. I've given a (very small) amount toward the renovation, and if you have a few spare bucks, maybe you can, too. (Or more, of course, if you're anywhere near that fabled "one per cent"...) Together, we'll have helped make sure that smart movie-watching can continue -- at least in one small area of one of NYC's boroughs.

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As you may know, Jennifer and I recently bought a video store in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn...

Video Free Brooklyn is up and running/renting! We are currently in the final 5 days of our IndieGoGo campaign to fund necessary repairs and renovations to get the building up to snuff and create a clean, more inviting environment for patrons and employees.

Why take over a video store in the Netflix, Hulu and iTunes era? There are lots of ways of seeing movies, but we're setting out to reinvent an antiquated model, to help preserve our relationship with film culture. If you can, imagine a well-curated DVD/Blu-ray rental store staffed by some of the brightest minds working in the NYC film industry today (filmmakers, critics, publicists, distributors), which could transform into an intimate event space for free screenings (after-hours for adults, Saturday mornings for kids) and special behind-the-counter guests including actors and filmmakers. We imagine the joint as a film-cultural hangout.

Our campaign ends July 26. We plan to complete these renovations during the last two weeks of summer, and need your help. To find out more information, please visit our IndieGoGo page. (Editor's note: And watch the funny, charming video the Hillises have provided on the site.) In exchange for your financial support, we promise to reward you with free rentals (at any level), t-shirts, tote bags -- and for a lucky few, the opportunity to meet Patton Oswalt, David Cross, Bobcat Goldthwait, or Robert Downey Sr. (a prince), thanks to their generous support.

If you cannot donate, we would love if you would help spread the word through your Twitter or Facebook account, or personal blogs. We have less than a week left in this campaign and need all the help we can get!

Please check out our Twitter and Facebook accounts to see what’s new on the shelves, and find out more about Video Free Brooklyn. The Wall St. Journal filled in some of our history in a feature earlier this summer (Editor's note: the Hillises and their store were also featured as the lead-off to an article in last week's New York Observer.)

Thanks for the support, especially if you've already given!

WASTE LAND Lucy Walker's joyous journey into the social and economic uses of art

Joy of such immense proportion is provided by Lucy Walker in her new documentary WASTE LAND that it almost seems as though she is trying to make up for scaring the pants off some people, while driving others of us to annoyed distraction via her recent film -- the repetitive and heavy-handed antinuclear broad-side Countdown to Zero. That this great joy comes from the unlikely combination of art, garbage and the people who pick through it to find useable/
recycable materials is only part of the film's surprise and appeal. The rest is provided by the artist in charge, Vik Muniz and the half-dozen or so workers that he chooses to use and whom Ms Walker (shown below) captures fleetingly -- yet so fully and beautifully.

When Mr. Muniz -- a highly successful born-in-Brazil, lives-in-Brooklyn artist who had determined to give something back to his ever-beleaguered third-world country -- hit upon using Rio de Janeiro's Jardim Gramacho as a subject of his mixed-media art, he could hardly have know just how produc-tive this would be. (The artist is shown below, standing on a part of this, the world's largest garbage dump.) Of the workers Muniz meets, a few begin to stand out, and each has a fascinating history, which we soon learn.

We watch these workers on the job and visit them in their homes. What appears on screen carries not a whiff of condescension, neither toward the workers nor us viewers. The attitude toward these waste pickers from the general Brazilian public is made known, and how the workers deal with this soon comes clear. The pickers are savvy, caring people, who understand that, though their choices may be limited, they still have choices. How they put these to use is part of what makes Waste Land so involving and moving.

From this large group of men and women, Muniz concentrates on only a few: the workers' chief organizer Tião (above), who ends up posing for the artist's redition of Marat in his bath (Tião's discovery of a tossed-out bathtub leads to this) -- the finished art for which is shown on the poster at top and at the bottom of this post.

The friendly, happy, elderly Irma, who's been at the dump for 26 years, becomes an icon of stately beauty in the portrait the artist creates of her, below (and in close-up, above).

Isis and Valeria, below, and Suelem (further below, at left) are among the younger women whose lives and homes we enter, and who often surprise us with their attitudes toward work, love and the world outside this garbage dump.

One picker prefer night shifts -- cooler temperatures, less people to contend with -- while another offers helpful hints on how to bag one's trash ("You can always identify trash from the poor by the way it is bagged," he explains). Then suddenly the whole movie and its cast is staggered by a terrible event that seems to pull the rug from under everything.

But our workers bounce back, and what happens to the art they've helped create leads the movie into its final stage. Vic and Tião head for London to a museum (probably the New Tate) about which Tião seems bemused: "Art has to communicate something, at least," he decides. Back in Brazil, a local museum show brings together labor, self-esteem, cooperation and art into the kind of transforming event one rarely encounters.

The flow of Walker's film is just lovely: easy, sweet and fleet. The joy you're feeling by the end of Waste Land proves fine art to be not something merely beautiful or meaningful but absolutely essential to civilized society. Walker, Muniz and their subjects connect art to humanity in an insoluble manner.

The movie opens Friday, October 29, at NYC's Angelika Film Center, and on November 5, at L.A.'s NuArt Theater. Further showings can be found by clicking here, then scrolling from bottom to top for the more recent and upcoming screenings.