Philippe Falardeau's CHUCK: an under-the-radar movie that will knock your socks off

French-Canadian filmmaker Philippe Falardeau ought to be a lot better known that he is. With seven full-length films behind him -- four of which TrustMovies has seen and found exceptional, each in its own way -- this fellow has the knack of directing a movie (and sometimes writing it, too) with exactly the tone, style, pacing and all the rest that the subject requires. That the four films I've seen are wildly divergent in subject, tone and style, makes Falardeau's work all the more impressive.

There's no way you could watch one of these films and pronounce, "Ah, yes: a typical Philippe Falardeau movie!" (The filmmaker is pictured at right.) They're simply too different, one from another. Congorama (2006) is like little seen before or since: a search-for-family movie that goes from real to surreal and beyond without missing a beat. It's Not Me, I Swear! (2008) is all about a oddball ten-year-old with growing pains, and it's as good a film, in its own way, as is The 400 Blows. His next movie, Monsieur Lazhar (2011) was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film and might easily have won. It's that good, as it takes in everything from education to immigration, suicide to sacrifice. Based on a one-man theater piece, the manner in which Falardeau opens it up to include a whole world is in itself stunning. (You can read my earlier interview with M. Falardeau here.)

Now comes CHUCK, another "little" movie that turns out to be big in every important way. Here, the filmmaker is working with his starriest cast yet -- the likes of Liev Schreiber (above and below), Elizabeth Moss, Naomi Watts and Ron Perlman -- as he tells (with the help of a four-man writing team, including Mr. Schreiber) the tale of the boxer, Chuck Wepner, whose life story appears to have inspired a certain Oscar-winning movie named Rocky.

So, this time Falardeau is dealing with a bio-pic coupled to a period piece (most of the film is set in the 1970s), and -- surprise! not. -- the filmmaker gets everything right.  Performances are stunning without ever once calling attention to themselves by offering us "great acting" in quotes. Every actor simply lives his/her role and is utterly convincing at every moment. And the sets, hairstyles, cars, clothes and all the other "period" details? Perfect, again without calling undue attention to this fact. In addition to being period, everything looks quite "lived in."

Mr. Wepner's tale is also a warts-and-all kind of story, in which Chuck hardly comes off as any great guy. But this, too, makes the movie seems all the more real. This fellow cheats on his wife (Ms Moss, above right, makes her so much deeper and more "felt" than the usual wronged woman), takes dive after dive into booze and dope, and -- when he finally get the chance at a small role in Rocky 2 -- he can't even manage to arrive on time or sober for the audition.

Yet so real and so deeply does Mr. Schreiber probe into character and need that his performance -- were Chuck the kind of movie that Academy members made sure they saw -- would be a shoo-in for a nomination. This actor is as good here as he has ever been. And that is saying a lot.

Perlman (above, right) is just fine as Chuck's trainer/manager, and Ms Watts (at left below and further below) excels, as usual, at disappearing into a role so thoroughly that you may not even recognize her at first. She is as good here as she was in Mulholland Drive, though the role itself is not nearly as major.

As appears to be the constant case, M. Falardeau has again given us one terrific movie that seems to be disappearing without a trace -- despite mostly excellent reviews and a "look" and a cast to die for. This is the kind of film that will find its audience over time, probably on cable to streaming, and will have people saying/asking, "This was a great little film. Why haven't we heard more about it?" Indeed.

From IFC Films and running a solid, entrancing 98 minutes, Chuck hit the cultural centers a couple of weeks back (in Los Angeles, look for it at Laemmle theaters; in New York City, you can view it at the AMC Lincoln Square 13), and it will open here in South Florida this Friday, May 19, in the Miami area at the AMC Aventura 24, Regal South Beach 18, and AMC Sunset Place 24. On May 26 it will open in Boca Raton at the Regal Shadowood 16 and in West Palm Beach at the AMC CityPlace 20.

Yikes -- Martian zombies! Ruairi Robinson's "B" movie in space, THE LAST DAYS ON MARS

More satisfying, if more conventional, than the recent exploration-of-life-on-other-planets-themed Europa Report, the new sci-fi/horror/thriller THE LAST DAYS ON MARS is a fast-moving genre jumper that eventually morphs into, yes, a zombie movie. If you follow this blog at all, you'll know that TrustMovies is not particularly keen on the zombie genre. That said, this new one, directed by first-time/full-length filmmaker Ruairi Robinson (shown below) and written by Clive Dawson (from a short story by Sydney J. Bounds), proves pretty much worth your time and interest.

Despite all the genre jumping done by Last Days On Mars (LDOM), I'd call the real genre of this entertaining film an old-fashioned "B" movie -- Pushover, The Killer Is Loose and Invasion of the Body Snatchers come immediately to mind -- and it should recall  those tight, smart, low-budget genre films that usually did their job well without nearly all the fuss-and-muss of the big-deal studio films. LDOM is, like the old "B"s, well-written, -directed and-acted. Mr. Robinson proves especially good at making everything from the sets to the dialog appear real in a mostly low-key manner -- except for the gorgeous and scary Martian sandstorm that begins the film and becomes (unless you're particularly fond of zombie make-up) the film's highlight in terms of special effects. The dialog, in particular -- thanks Mr. Dawson and the acting crew -- has the ring of real behavior to it.

With an international cast led by the exceedingly butch and no-nonsense Liev Schreiber (above), an actor who, throughout his whole career, has specialized in "real," the actors -- initially loose and playful -- rise quickly, as does the movie itself, to the occasion of a life-and-death situation.

From Bosnian-born Goran Kostic, as the initial loose-screw in the opera-tion as this crew prepares to leave Mars for good, to the always capable Olivia Williams (above) as the bitchy crew member (for good reason, as it turns out), the international cast of this British/Irish co-production delivers a raft of good performances that prove exactly what is needed.

The lovely Romola Garai (above, of The Crimson Petal and the White) is always space-suited here but proves up to her usual level, while Elias Koteas (at left, below, with Tom Cullen) lends a nice air of authority tinged with vulnerability to his role.

I call this a zombie movie, and indeed I believe it really is. What makes it different from the rest in this genre is how these particular zombies are initialized and then evolve. There's no rising from the dead here; in fact, it is almost the reverse.

That we actually begin to understand how these "things" were created is also a nice change for this genre, and we don't seem to spend half the movie on this subject, either, in the manner done by World War Z -- which, again, shows up the difference between the "B" movie and its overkill A-list counterpart.

At 98 minutes, LDOM is still around 10 minutes too long. Consequently its "thriller" aspect grows attenuated--but not enough to sink the (space)ship. This is a generally tight tale well told. The movie, from Magnolia Pictures/Magnet Releasing, complete with both Universal Pictures and Focus Features screen grabs, open this Friday, December 6, theatrically in New York City (Landmark's Sunshine Cinema) and Los Angeles (Landmark's NuArt in West L.A.). Additional theaters in some thirteen cities will be added in the weeks to come. Click here to see 'em all.

Note; this film is also currently available via most VOD outlets. 

Check your own TV reception provider to details.

DVD catch-up: Ang Lee's sweet, smart TAKING WOODSTOCK

Think of TAKING WOODSTOCK as the flip side of Woodstock, that 1970 movie with the music by Michael Wadleigh. If you must have the music, then rent that one. Meanwhile, if you -- like me and almost everyone else in these United States -- missed seeing the theatrical release (its box-office barely topped $7 million) of this lovely coming-of-age tale from Ang Lee (shown below), thanks to reviews that ranged from so-so to worse, I'd suggest you give the film a shot. The movie garnered only 49% fresh on RottenTomatoes' critical rating, but interestingly enough over 4,000 IMDB voters rated it a 7 out of 10, and nearly 17,000 Netflix viewers gave it a 3.2 out of 5. Sometimes film-goers are more astute than film critics as to what is worth seeing. Part -- only a small part -- of my enthusiasm may be chalked up to lowered expectations; I'll be surprised if this one does not end up on my list of favorite films for the year.
Might as well say it upfront, however: The main reason for the movie's critical drubbing and also for its lack of what we might term "popular appeal" is its gay element. In one of the more ham-fisted judgments on the film, Mark Peranson, in his Cannes 2009 assessment in the summer '09 (# 39) issue of Cinema Scope magazine, says: "Ang Lee made what probably can be called both the stupidest and gayest film about Woodstock imaginable". Mark, honey, when the main character of a coming-of-age movie is gay, are you really asking for more heterosexuality? But of course you are, as do, on a regular basis, maybe 70 to 80 percent of male viewers -- even though Woodstock and the hippie era was notori-
ously given to fomenting bi-sexuality and sexual experimentation. You're also younger than I, who remembers the whole Woodstock/
Hair/hippie scene from a more personal perspective.
I have no idea of the sexual proclivities of director Ang Lee (he's married with family, but then, so was TrustMovies for 20 years) but I do know that the film that first put Lee on the map (The Wedding Banquet) was gay-themed, as was the film that won him his Best director Oscar (Brokeback Mountain). In any case, Taking Wood-
stock (and yes, the word "taking" has ramifications political, social, economic and sexual) is all about a boy on the cusp of manhood and how he helps bring the fabled event into actual being by being himself smart, businesslike, forward-thinking -- and the head of his little community's Chamber of Commerce (and not coincidentally the co-author of the book on which the movie is based).

In (relative) newcomer Demetri Martin (above, center), Lee has found a delicious young actor with just the right mixture of "push" and reticence. In Martin's hands, his character Elliot seems a young man on the cusp of just about everything, trying his best to step forward gracefully without falling in. If this actor never makes another movie (or one anywhere near as good), I'll remember him well for this. In an enormous cast that includes everyone from Paul Dano (flanking Martin above, right: blond and gorgeous) and Kelli Garner (above, left: also blond and gorgeous, but we're used to that mix from her) to Henry Goodman and Imelda Staunton who play Elliot's sad parents (as Catskill Jews, both these Britishers are terrific), Emile Hirsch as a baby-faced VietNam vet, and Eugene Levy as the farmer on whose land Woodstock takes place, it's Liev Schreiber (above, right), who is most memorable. So centered, sexy, and on-target in each idea and thought he puts forth in his role of, yes, a transvestite security guard, he nearly steals the movie (this is the kind of part, and the playing of it, that Oscars were made for).

Ang Lee always likes to get "behind" the subjects of his films to see how things really work: the "key parties" of The Ice Storm, the Civil War in Ride with the Devil. In Taking Woodstock, he shows us how, via chance, timeliness and the various skills of a multitude of people, one of the most famous concerts in the world came to happen. Yet, rather than the concert itself, which we glimpse and hear only from afar, it's everything else that seems important: the fate of the rundown motel Elliot and his folks occupy, the bright-eyed concert promoter (played by Broadway's Jonathan Groff) and his retinue (among which is Mamie Gummer), the spaced-out hippies hoping for something special -- and mostly Elliot himself, who gives everything he has but then gets everything he could have hoped for from this wildest of weekends. I wouldn't be surprised if you do, too.

Taking Woodstock is available now for purchase or rent.