Demange, Weiss & the brothers Miller's WHITE BOY RICK: a feel-bad film done very, very well

The only other full-length film we've seen from Yann Demange -- a born-in-Paris-but-raised-in-London filmmaker who has worked mostly in British television -- is the behind-enemy-lines action thriller, '71. His latest work, WHITE BOY RICK, is set in Detroit during the last half of the 1980s and is often as quiet and slow-moving as '71 was fast and slick. It is also a kind of real-life bio-pic about the sort of character most bio-pics might avoid: a not-very-bright kid from a not-very-bright family who makes just about all the wrong choices.

And yet, by the end of this sad and surprisingly moving tale of failure and family, I think you'll be glad you got to know Richard Wershe, Jr., and learned his unusual story. Filmmaker Demange, shown at right, along with his screenwriters Andy Weiss and twin brothers Logan and Noah Miller, take their time building story and characters -- especially that of their main one, the young man who became known as "White Boy Rick" because of his seemingly oddball entry into the Black bourgeoisie of the 1980s Detroit. (He was also a leading cog in the Black drug trade of that time and place, which we see and learn a lot about from this more realistic, less melodramatic film.)

The title role is played by a newcomer to film named Richie Merritt (above center), who offers a nearly affectless performance for much of the film that works surprisingly well. Rick seems like a fairly typical "dumb teenager" who keeps his thoughts and feelings close to the vest, only very occasionally letting them go "public." Because he and his family are borderline poor, always living on the brink, you can understand why Rick is so ready to embrace the drug trade.

Playing against young Merritt's affectlessness is that ever-energetic actor Matthew McConaughey as his dad, and the two make an appealing and believable combo. McConaughey tamps down some of his excesses (the kind that made his performance in Gold so much fun) but still brings "Dad" to vibrant life, never more so than in the sweet and moving scene in which he greets his new granddaughter (above).

The supporting ensemble includes a wealth of well-known and quite capable actors, from Jennifer Jason Leigh (above, center) to Rory Cochrane (above, right) and Bel Powley (shown two photos below, at left), plus a raft of excellent Black actors, each of whom nails his or her role and all of whom ought to be better known at this point.

The movie, however, belongs to its two leads, and to its tale of lower-middle class America, black and white, struggling to simply manage a decent life but being used, mostly ill-used, by the establishment and turning to crime to make ends meet.

This is an old story, which Demange and his writers give new life -- even if they do leave out where our "hero," Rick, resided after the end-credits sequence, which is all the more moving for simply using Rick's voice rather than an accompanying image of the "real" person.

From Columbia Pictures and running 110 minutes, the movie opens tomorrow, Friday, September 14, in a number of cities around the country. Click here to find the theaters nearest you.

  

THE PICKLE RECIPE: a charming, Detroit-set, (more or less) Kosher comedy from Michael Manasseri, Sheldon Cohn and Gary Wolfson

Pickles have a pretty good provenance so far as movies are concerned. From at least as far back as Crossing Delancey to the recent and quite wonderful short titled Pickle, the briney cucumber has provided movie-goers with tasty fun. The latest addition is a much-better-than-you-might-expect comedy set in modern-day Detroit and featuring a based-on-reality tale of an elderly grandmother whose famous pickle recipe remains a secret that certain of her family members would love to unlock.

Co-written by Gary Wolfson (at left) who jumps off from his own family history (his grandmother went to her grave carrying that prized pickle recipe along with her) and Sheldon Cohn (below, right), the film may be awash with cliches, yet many of these are given a smart little twist that will have you chuckling in appreciation: the goy who must impersonate a rabbi (and does it surprisingly well -- for awhile, at least) or the psychic who turns out to channel the dead, after all.

The screenplay and dialog set up various challenges that must be risen to -- a divorced dad who needs to DJ his daughter's bat mitzvah, a son who desperately wants his mom's famous recipe, and a bit of a developing romance to turn the film toward rom-com territory.  As directed by Michael Manasseri (shown below) with enough style and precision to make the laughs come to life, the movie simply bounces along from one enjoyable scene to the next, and before you know it, you're hooked and quite liking

the whole thing. Much of the enjoyment comes by way of the very good cast that has been assembled here, led by a veteran actress who is most often seen in smaller supporting roles: Lynn Cohen (shown below). How good it is to finally see Ms Cohen in a starring role, which, by the way, she fills out simply beautifully. This actress -- who has shone brightly in everything from Munich to Master of None to that little-seen-but-terrific indie, Hello Lonesome -- knows how to command an entire scene as easily as she does a small moment.

Supporting her are David Paymer (below, left), who plays her son, and Jon Dore (below, right), who plays her grandson. Both are just fine.

Kudos, too, to a couple of splendid further supporting actors who handle what, in other hands, might be paint-by-number roles with finesse and great good humor: Eric Edelstein (below, right), as the grandson's best friend, Ted, who must suddenly assume that Rabbi role, and Jean Zarzour (at bottom, right), who makes a marvelously quirky psychic.

Thanks to these fine performances, along with a consistently offbeat screenplay that appears to be tried-and-true but then adds that oddball touch that helps deliver the goods, THE PICKLE RECIPE proves not simply edible but pretty damned tasty overall.

The movie also, in its comedic-but-genuine way, manages to address the Holocaust. In a scene near the finale, with a sudden speech by the character played by Ms Cohen, the film becomes even more interesting and psychologically provocative. Does not what has happened here reflect what a lot of Holocaust survivors would do and feel?

The movie, from Adopt Films and running 98 minutes, opened here in South Florida this past Friday, October 28, and will hit New York and Los Angeles, this coming Friday, November 4. Click here to see all currently scheduled playdates with cities and theaters listed.