PAPI CHULO: DVDebut for John Butler's comedy/drama of Latinos and Gringos in L.A.

A movie full of small surprises (and one major surprise), PAPI CHULO is the work of Irish filmmaker John Butler, the fellow who, back in 2016 brought us Handsome Devil and in 2013 The Bachelor Weekend (which I've not yet seen).  His latest film would seem to be his first time working in the USA, and TrustMovies must say that Butler has nicely nailed the peculiarly Los Angeles dynamic involving Latino and Gringos, class and economics, and especially those cliched attitudes that permeate so much of what goes on between the two.

Mr. Butler, shown at right, doesn't so much upend those cliches as he does simply lay them out in front of us (and the characters), simultaneously revealing their silliness. This is a smart way to handle a tricky subject, and the filmmaker manages it throughout the entire film, often leaving a smile on our faces, even as we wince in recognition.

The plot pf Papi Chulo has to do with Sean, a gay L.A. TV weather reporter suffering from a break-up with a longtime lover, from whom he is having a very difficult time separating. To complete the painting of his deck, Sean hires an older Hispanic laborer, Ernesto (Alejandro Patiño, below, right), who is waiting in one of those pools of men seen on the sidewalks of L.A., New York and now probably in most cities throughout the country, hoping to find work.  Slowly, haltingly and often humorously, a kind of bond begins to form between the two.

Sean is played by Matt Bomer (shown above, left, and below), an "out" gay actor who has often played gay roles, including an excellent representation of a trans woman in Anything. This role, however, seems to me different in some important ways because the character of Sean is so sad, silly and needy, often simultaneously, that he is as funny and charming as he is unhappy and sometimes even obnoxious.

Mr. Bomer is actually quite extraordinary in the role, so alternately loose and easy, frightened and protective is the actor that he makes Sean into one of the most vulnerable of gay characters I have seen on screen. He is also enormously funny, as he tries every which way to connect to his new friend. Mr. Butler's delicious dialog, coming from the mouth of Bomer, often sounds utterly spontaneous, and all the better for it.

How the movie, along with relationship of the two men, progresses comprises the simple plot, which takes quite a turn midway. In retrospect, this makes perfect sense but it may still throw you -- the way the certainty of an assumption proven wrong often does.

As complete and "out there" as the character of Sean is, Ernesto's appears quite the opposite. Guarded and near completely unable to demonstrate affection, he is a good example of Hispanic machismo, non-toxic variety, in which those signs of love must be shown via his wife and children. Señor Patiño imbues his character with clear-headedness and a quiet grace that is believable and touching.

As in Handsome Devil, Butler allows in sentiment without letting it gush into sentimentality. You'll be charmed, surprised, entertained and/or moved by just about everything here, without feeling ill-used the following morning. Think of it as a guilt-free pleasure.

From Breaking Glass Pictures and running 98 minutes, Papi Chulo hits the street on DVD  this coming Tuesday, November 5 -- for purchase or rental.

Home video debut for Michael Dunaway and Chris White's slick, surprising and commendable SIX L.A. LOVE STORIES

Just how much quality entertainment can be packed into a sextet of unconnected stories lasting only 77 minutes is demonstrated quite vividly in the just-released-to-home-video indie movie, SIX L.A. LOVE STORIES.

This proved to be one of those films TrustMovies agreed to watch, thinking that at least he'd be doing the publicist a favor, that turned out to be a delightful surprise he would not have wanted to miss.

A sterling example of what decent direction (Michael Dunaway)

and editing (Sean Valla), smart writing (from Mr. Dunaway and Chris White) and most especially the kind of terrific acting that some of tinsel town's finest supporting and ensemble actors can deliver, this little movie actually makes good on what many other vastly more storied and expensive projects fail at: an intelligent, funny, occasionally even moving and always entertaining piece of movie-making.

That cast includes Dunaway, shown at left, who plays (and very well) a big, cuddly teddy bear of an ex-husband to Alicia Witt's ex-wife, meeting ostensibly to discuss the proper school for their young daughter, but delving into other, much more personal things. Ms Witt (below) provides the dramatic high point here, as she navigates near-perfectly a most difficult and confusing few moments of self-revelation.

The writing includes a marvelous riff on Kurt Cobain's pancreas, delivered with in deliciously dry fashion by one of my favorite actors, Ross Partridge (below, whose film Lamb you really ought to see),

playing a "guest" at a rather typical L.A. pool party who has a yen for another guest, an angry young woman essayed with zest and finesse by Ashley Williams, below.

More delightful dialog comes as a recently cuckolded husband (a fine Matthew Lillard, below), confronts his abashed wife with a raft of questions: "Did he use a condom?  Was it one of mine?  Out of my sock drawer!?"

That poor wife (the always wonderful Carrie Preston, below), here as hang-dog as you are likely to have seen her, can only sit and hope and cope.

Meanwhile, in another part of town, a sort of mini-Ted-Talks-marathon is taking place, staged managed by Jennifer Lafleur (below, left), at which one of the guest speakers turns out to be her ex-lover (Ogy Durham, below, right), whose very appearance here has been stage-managed, too.

What L.A. movie would be complete without some "movie industry" fodder? This is provided by the tale of a ditzy would-be screenwriter (Marshall Allman, below) who seems to pride himself on insulting the very folk who try to help him,

and his ex-girlfriend (Jamie Anne Allman, below), who, despite his idiocy and maybe due to how f-ing adorable the kid is, continues to carry a torch.

The funniest story involves the historic home of the famous Will Rogers, and a tour guide/docent at that home (the fabulously funny Beth Grant, below) and her encounter with an academic writer who is not a fan of this Mr. Rogers but who has flown out from New York to visit the house.

The writer is played by that ubiquitous supporting actor Stephen Tobolowsky, and he and Ms Grant make quite the match. These tales, fortunately, are women together so that we spend two, three, maximum four minutes with one and then move to another and another before arriving back to the original again. The pacing proves just about perfect so that we never lose touch with the each plot nor its humor and drama, even though there is no connection between the characters or tales.

The movie has a nice, improvisational quality that carries through all the tales, and it helps immensely that each situation and each set of characters are different enough, one from another, that neither repetition nor similarity ever sets in. What is maybe most surprising here is how very involved we get in these short little stories -- thanks to the very high grade of acting, writing, directing and editing on view. Good job, all! (That's Peter Bogdonovich, below, who makes a guest appearance in the film as one of those Ted-ish-Talks speakers.)

From Random Media and running just 77 minutes, Six L.A. Love Stories made its debut on digital, DVD and VOD this past Tuesday, May 8. It's definitely worth a watch, especially for those who appreciate the movie equivalent of some good "short stories."

Dan Gilroy's dark 'n devious NIGHTCRAWLER offers Jake Gyllenhaal's best performance yet

A just-about-perfect (if awfully long) double bill of current movies might be Gone Girl and NIGHTCRAWLER, the two films offering the most sociopathic leading characters in many a moon. If these two were married, whom do you think would survive? I'd bet on Jake Gyllenhaal's Louis Bloom. This is both a character, and the perfor-mance of that character, that is bizarre and memorable -- like just about nothing you will have seen previously. In retrospect, you might have some questions (few, I think, that you won't be able to answer on your own), but while you're watching, you're absolutely in thrall.

Writer/director Dan Gilroy (at right) is best-known for his screenplays (The Bourne Legacy, The Fall and the highly under-rated Two for the Money).This is his first directing job, and he does his own screenplay proud. Nothing showy, mind you, but all is in its place. This is also a long film -- coming in three minutes shy of two hours -- but it moves so quickly and interestingly that you don't realize the length. And Mr. Gyllenhaal, below and further below, is giving such a rapturous performance -- strange yet graceful, measured, and as real as you could ask for -- that he, in one scene, almost brought me to tears.

This is doubly odd, since his character is such a sociopath, and though we know this from the initial scene, we don't learn the extent of it until the movie gets much further underway. How this character discovers his metier, as it were, and what he does with it, make for the most fascinating tale movies have told us this year.

Into that tale arrive two important characters. The most important is a woman (played exceptionally well by Rene Russo, above, right, who I'm told is the filmmaker's wife) in charge of news programming at an up-and-coming local TV station in the Los Angeles area who gloms onto Louis' video work. The other is the younger man (a fine Riz Ahmed, below, center, and minus his British accent) whom Louis hires as his assistant.

All the other characters, many of whom die or are already dead when we meet them, are important to our protagonist only in so much as they can be of use to him. And as the tale proceeds, this use becomes more and more shocking, though it never leaves the realm of believability.

Nightcrawler is dark, certainly, and unsettling too, but it is so well conceived and executed that it is impossible not to recommend. Its plotting is also more believable than some of the twists and turns taken by Gone Girl, a movie I thoroughly enjoyed but found wanting in the mystery department, though not at all in terms of its being a crackerjack exploration of today's 30-somethings -- so entitled and narcissistic.

Released via Open Road, the film is currently playing in theaters across the nation. I recommend a visit; failing that, be sure to stick it on your must-see list for Blu-ray, DVD or streaming.

From the archive: a smart, pre-millennium satire--Dan Zukovic's THE LAST BIG THING

There are all kinds of ways to learn about a good movie you've managed to miss. TrustMovies recently discovered this one via a (suspiciously self-serving) comment published under his review of the new French comedy Nobody Else But You (click on the link then scroll down to the end of the post and, if the comments have not already opened up, click on the word "Comments"). I don't recall ever hearing of THE LAST BIG THING before, but reading about it from my anonymous "commenter" peaked my interested. So I stuck the movie at the top of my Netflix queue and had a look at it last night.

Filmed in 1996 and making its debut at the Vancouver International film Fest that fall, the movie played various U.S. film fests over the next year, opening (to good reviews) in Los Angeles (the city in which the film is set) in spring 1997 and then in New York City in the fall of 1998. Repeated showings on the Showtime cable channel (according to that comment, at least) led to its achieving a kind of cult status, which I am thinking in turn led to its eventual DVD release in the U.K. (in 2010) and here in the USA last year. Written, directed and starring a Canadian named Dan Zukovic (shown above), the movie is a nasty, scathing satire of the pre-millennium culture of our capital city of mass entertainment.

Though it was made 16 years ago, little except the decor, fashions and cars seems to have changed. I suspect that, were it to have been made back in the time of Fatty Arbuckle, only the details would need to be adjusted, not the theme nor the very mean and wicked points scored throughout. These cover everything from the search for fame and ego gratification in the world of the "arts" to the recycling of other people's work to achieve one's own ambitions -- in the process dumbing-down the culture, the general populace, and oneself.

What holds up best about the film are its writing and performances. The direction, not so much. It's perfectly serviceable, but were he to shoot it all over again, I suspect Mr. Zukovic would have tightened things up, moved them faster, and maybe done away with some repetition. But the dialog is unusually good -- angry, snarky, malevolent -- and delivered quite well by all involved. These include Zukovic as the nasty satirist, making fun of everything and everyone; Susan Heimbeinder (above, right) as his significant other, clearly out of her element, along for the ride, and hanging on for dear life; Pamela Dickerson as a not-just-gorgeous, but smart and appealing young actress whom even the Zukovic character can't help falling for; and especially, one of the early roles done by everyone's favorite actor, Mark Ruffalo (above, left, and below), who proves as good back then as he remains now.

Everyone else is first-rate, as well, giving this stinky Valentine to L.A.-, and by extension American-, culture added zest. The fact that the people who most bemoan this terrible state of affairs actually want the culture to embrace them every bit as badly as everyone else simply makes the movie all too true. And none the less nasty. A bonus on the disc is a earlier, black-and-white, 10-minute short Zukovic starred in and directed titled Conjurer of Monikers that looks like a kind of precursor for this movie. Very funny and expectedly bleak, it deals with the "naming" of rock bands. Available on DVD for sale or rental, and also perhaps on VOD if you can find it, The Last Big Thing is definitely worth seeking out.