Quinn Shepard's BLAME proves a humane, if diffuse, look at high school misfits and meanies

The movie may begin as a relatively typical, if darker, Mean Girls look at high-school life. But hold on. By its finale, BLAME, the first full-length endeavor as writer/director by Quinn Shepard (who also stars in the leading female role) stands out from the pack in its ability to find some complexity in both its protagonists and antagonists, as well as in the sometimes fantasy/dream-like quality it brings to occasional scenes along with a welcome refusal to dot every "i" and cross all the "t"s. This subtlety, if you will call it that, also arrives with some possible drawbacks, as some viewers may want a bit more explanation regarding "Did they or didn't they?" and a climax that suggests but does not hammer home its point.

Ms Shepard (above and on poster, left) plays Abigail, a high schooler who, as we learn upfront, has had some problems earlier but is now back in class. Some of her nastier classmates refer to her as Sybil (though one wonders how they even know of a book, along with its popular TV movie versions, as old as that one is).

Abigail's main tormentor is Melissa (played by Nadia Alexander, above), a girl who, as we eventually learn, has her own major problems. When their pregnant drama teacher must take a maternity leave, into class comes a hunky new substitute teacher named Jeremy (the always fine Chris Messina, below), who immediately replaces their production of The Glass Menagerie with The Crucible -- and then, to Melissa's chagrin, casts Abigail in the leading role.

Tempers flare and nastiness ensues, yet each of these three lead characters have their own deep problems to work through, and they use each other to do this -- with results both good and bad. As a fledgling filmmaker, Ms Shepard proves generally adept at both dialog and mise en scene, though her pacing is a bit slow and the film, even at 100 minutes, could either be a bit shorter or explore more within its time constraint.

Among the supporting cast, Tate Donovan (above), as Melissa's step-father, and Marcia DeBonis, as a school administrator, stand out. But the grunt work is handled by the three leads. Ms Shepard proves unsettlingly odd (just how problemed is she?), and Ms Alexander is properly sexy/ugly while setting us up for a little surprise or two. But it is Mr. Messina who makes the film work as well as it does.

His character, weak but willing, and with as many unresolved and maybe even unexamined problems as our two girls, lets things get just far enough out of hand to be maybe culpable, too. I don't know that there is another American actor working today who can smoulder as well as Messina (and without seeming to do a damned thing but just be there). Innately sexy, highly intelligent, and able to consistently make the right acting choices, he's always a pleasure to view. He's worked a lot over his 20-year career, and maybe one of these days, he's going to get the right, major role in a movie that will at last put this guy on the "star" map. Let's hope.

Meanwhile, Blame -- a nicely appropriate title of which there is plenty to go around -- is overall a pretty good addition to the sub-genre of high school angst. From Samuel Goldwyn Films, it opens today, Friday, January 5, in New York City at the Village East Cinema, in Los Angeles at Laemmle's Music Hall 3, and simultaneously around the country via VOD.

Chris Messina shines (again); Marin Ireland, too, in Matt Ross' smart stunt film, 28 HOTEL ROOMS

As good as this movie is (and it is often very), you also must admit to yourself that its concept remains something of a stunt. Seeing two people -- even actors as hot-damn good as Chris Messina and Marin Ireland -- playing characters whom we see only during their many trysts in hotel rooms all over this country (and who knows where else) is a clever idea that allows for a lot of fun and games but not the chance to see this man and woman in other ways that might complete them. (But then, that's perhaps the whole point: Their own sense of each other as rounded human beings must be quite incomplete.) In its way, 28 HOTEL ROOMS reminds you of Same Time Next Year with people who've decided, Hell, why wait for next year?  It also may bring to mind the French film An Affair of Love (Une liaison pornographique), with its needy but skewed liaison.

The writer/director (who's much better known as an actor), Matt Ross, does a commendable job of pulling us in via short, sharp scenes that feature all kinds of lovemaking and dialog that is never more expository that the real thing might be. This helps keep us glued to the characters and what they'll let slip. There's little sense, going in, that they will want this odd affair to continue, and yet, as it does, we know that it will -- and must. Before too long, and as they grow more comfortable and even a little... maybe... bored, whoa: They're beginning to act like an old married couple!

Well, why not? They are married (eventually): Just not to each other. We learn a little about their significant others but a lot more about their careers. He's a successful writer (he met her on the book tour for his first hit novel); she's some kind of corporate "accountant" who takes her job a lot more seriously than he takes it. (The scene during which their biggest fight occurs has to do with their "work" and its respective importance.)

In film like this one, so very much depends on the quality of the performers, and I don't think you could ask for a better pair. TrustMovies has previously called Mr. Messina (above) a kind of versatile "everyman." He's capable of so much, though he often ends up in good ensemble movies, in which he fits like one of the fingers in the proverbial glove. Not since Ira & Abby has he had a role this good, this demanding, or this well-written, and he is terrific in it. His is a brave performance, at full throttle inwardly and outwardly, too. (For a change, there's as much full-frontal male nudity here as female, and yes, Messina looks as good unclothed as clothed.)

Ms Ireland (above, in tight close-up) matches in bravery her co-star word for word, action for action. She's always an interesting actress, making choices that are sometimes unexpected but that most often work. Delicate but steely when required, she creates a memorably caring, confused, anguished and angry character.

The movie tackles the thorny question of how we can love more than one person fully and successfully -- and what happens when we try. If I called the film a kind of stunt in my opening paragraph, it is one that is done so well that I don't think you'll mind. In the filmmaker's choice of what and what not to show us (as above), these odd and circumscribed lives open up slowly and sadly, with but an occasional flash of humor. And just about the time we're beginning to grow restive and thus realize that -- pace Mr Beckett -- This can't go on. This will go on, suddenly, quietly, the movie ends.

28 Hotel Rooms -- from Oscilloscope and running just 82 minutes -- is available to stream via Netflix and can also be seen via Amazon Instant Video and on DVD.

A late-coming-of-age movie, Tom O'Brien's FAIRHAVEN finds something genuine and kind in our ordinary, everyday life....

FAIRHAVEN is a nice little movie, and if that sounds like damning with faint praise, so be it. I don't imagine the cast and crew of this labor of love (for that is what is appears) will mind the description. What this group, led by co-writer/
director/cast member Tom O'Brien (shown below), has produced is a small film full of character (and characters) that's heavy on place and mood and is filled with smart, well-observed dialog brought to life by a well-chosen ensem-ble cast. What intelligent movie-goer wouldn't welcome this?

To begin with, Mr O'Brien's screenplay is a nifty piece of work: weaving exposition casually, calmly, unobtrusively into dialog that always sounds real. A funeral is taking place over the weekend we spend with three old friends: Dave (played by Chris Messina, who also co-wrote the screenplay), whose estranged father has just died; Sam (Rich Sommer, of Mad Men, here playing a role that has a little sex appeal for a change); and Jon (played by O'Brien), who proves the centerpiece -- but not by too much -- of this resolutely ensemble movie that plays remarkably fair by all its people and that is never misogynistic, even though the central characters are all guys.

The enjoyment of movies like this -- aside from their choice rendering of place and time (above and below: the ace, widescreen cinematography is by Peter Simonite, whose shot of morning over the ocean is a keeper) -- comes from watching and listening carefully, as character and situation are slowly revealed. There is nothing here that will set the screen afire (or, more likely, your at-home monitor, as I suspect VOD and DVD will prove the biggest venue for the film). On the other hand, it is always a pleasure to see a creative piece in which a new filmmaker (this is O'Brien's first first-length work) bites off just about what he is able to chew.

O'Brien also manages to surprise us somewhat by setting up what at first appears to be one of those bad-boy-returns-home-to-wreak-havoc-on-his-town-and-former-friends scenarios, and then slowly subverts this. Messina (below, right, with Sarah Paulson, and at bottom, center), in the bad boy role, is terrific, as always. Is there anything this actor cannot do? If so, we haven't seen it yet.

As noted, Sommer (below, right) brings a nice maturity and even a little sex appeal to his role. His scene, late in the film, with Natalie Gold (below, left) is just lovely, with every tiny emotion and hesitant bit of dialog beautifully rendered by both actors.

O'Brien's character -- an ex-high-school football star now involved in less "manly" pursuits like writing, relaxation classes and therapy sessions -- is an interesting one. Someone who appears to have always taken the easier option, this guy must at last actively pursue something. Or someone:  maybe his relaxation instructor, played with verve and charm by Alexie Gilmore (below). These two make quite a pair.

In the roles of the older generation, Maryann Plunkett and Phyllis Kay do well as, respectively, Jon's and Dave's moms; and especially good and so interesting in a quiet, nurturing way is Donna O'Brien as Jon's therapist and Paul O'Brien as Jon's boat captain/boss. Technically, the movie is more than up-to-snuff, and the locations -- the film was shot in the actual Fairhaven and in New Bedford, Massachusetts -- are well-used.

The downside of nice little movies is that there is usually nothing really new involved, and that is true in the care of Fairhaven, too. If you must have new and exciting, look elsewhere. But for a good, solid ensemble dramedy, this one brings home the bacon. It opens theatrically this Friday, January 11, in New York City at the Cinema Village and in Boston at the Sommerville Theater. Beginning Tuesday, January 15, the film will be available via VOD -- and pretty much everywhere across the USA.

Man behaving badly, Messina acting well, in Dana Adam Shapiro's dark-ish MONOGAMY

Look up undersung in your dictionary and there will not (but there should) be a head shot of actor Chris Messina as the prime visual example. This always on-the-mark performer fuses with such certainty to each character he plays -- from the goofy Mr. Right in Ira & Abby to the troubling "pot" grower in Humbolt County to the by-the-book detective in Devil -- even blending beautifully and believably into the wallpaper when required (Julie & Julia), that probably only real film buffs jump at the chance to see him tackle a new role. We know who he is. And we love him. If this chameleon ability has the unintended result of keeping a fine actor unheralded for far too long, I guess we can live with that (whether Messina can is another matter).

Here he is again (laughing, below, left, and engrossed, at bottom of post) in MONOGAMY, the new film from Dana Adam Shapiro (shown at right), creating a full-bodied character -- a photographer named Theo -- whom we can love, hate, identify with and finally want to give a hard kick in the ass. Why? Because we're back again, as ever, with the guy who just can't grow up, take responsibility, or be honest with himself (let alone others). The recipient of Theo's diddling is his fiancee Nat (Rashida Jones, below, right). And while we can see from the start of the film that all is not right on either end of this relationship (do you know of any relationship in which everything is running smoothly?), it seems clear within a very few scenes that Theo has the lion's share of growing-up to do.

Whether or not you'll gladly tag along as our non-hero does or does not manage this may depend on just how many movies of this kind you will have by now encountered. For TrustMovies, Monogamy proved at least one too many, despite the fine work of Messina and Jones, and of their supporting cast, and of Mr. Shapiro, as well -- who has worked hard to supply some interesting plot detail, such as it is.

Some of this involves Nat's attempts at songwriting and perfor-mance, but most of our time is spent with Theo and his photog-raphy.  He does pre-wedding shots (above) as his day job but his real love seems to be photographing people who either want their photos taken semi-anonymously or who may not know they're being shot. One of these is a cute blond with the internet name of Subgirl (Meital Dohan, below), whose activities we follow to distraction -- and who proves not nearly as interesting as either Theo or the filmmaker seems to think. (Though Subgirl speaks not a word, she is given almost as much screen time as Ms Jones.)

Finally, the film succeeds neither as mystery (Blow-Up, Rear Window and a number of others got there first), love story, nor even a very good "relationship" movie. As fine as are the performances, the characters on view are simply not deep nor interesting enough to be worth our time.

From Oscilloscope Laboratories, the movie opens this Friday, March 11, in New York City at the Village East Cinemas, and will expand to several cities next week, and even further in the weeks to come.  Click here for all upcoming dates, cities and theaters.