Alison Maclean is back -- with her oddball, enticing, problematic movie, THE REHEARSAL

It seems to TrustMovies rather shocking that Canadian filmmaker Alison Maclean has made no full-length motion picture since her little 1999 amazement Jesus' Son, which was based on the Denis Johnson novel, helped put Billy Crudup on the movie map, and added some oomph to the then-current indie scene. Ms Maclean, shown in the photo below, has since done some work in TV and cable, and yet the 2016 film THE REHEARSAL, just now getting a very limited theatrical release in the USA, would appear to be her return to narrative storytelling. (She also made the well-regarded hour-long documentary Persons of Interest in 2004.)

The Rehearsal, a New Zealand film, tracks the life of a young Maori student named Stanley (played by the quietly hunky actor, James Rolleston, shown on poster above and in the penultimate photo below), who auditions for and gets a place on the roster of new students at a prestigious drama school run by one of those scary-but-caring martinet teachers (that always interesting actress Kerry Fox, shown two photos below).

We follow Stanley during his drama studies and his interaction with his classmates (below), see the oddly distant-but-friendly relationship with his father, and watch as a budding romance begins with a younger girl (played by Ella Edward, shown three photos below).

There's wonderfully improvisational feel to the much of the dialog and the performances here, which carries the movie along quite well for some time. The classroom scenes offer a nice whiff of both menace and release, as our hero learns how to please his master/mentor and then, to an extent, himself. (The surprising and amusing scene in which Stanley portrays his own father in front of the class proves a kind of break-through for the lad.)

Yet the story -- written by Maclean and Emily Perkins -- seems anything but organic. Instead, it rather bumpily and lumpily coalesces Stanley's drama-student tale with that of his romance with the younger sister of an still under-age girl who is all over the current news, due to her affair with her older (and married) tennis coach. Soon we're being served up very large doses of betrayal and even death, as the drama group of which Stanley is a part decides to use that sister's story as fodder for its end-of-year drama presentation.

For some reason the movie is divided into ongoing months, but so what? Even without these monthly "signposts," we'd very well know where we are. As art begins to imitate life (and makes a botch of both), arbitrariness and coincidence abound and character pretty much goes missing. We don't see nearly enough of the students' presentation to know if it's any good, but we get plenty of back-and-forth wavering from Stanley regarding his ongoing betrayal of his girl and her family.

Maclean and Perkins open up a lot of topics here -- from inspiration and the art of acting to the responsibility of teachers to their students -- yet little that's incisive or original emerges from all this. And the sudden death of one of the students seems so haphazard and out-of-the-blue that it can't begin to carry the weight that it should. The movie's finale, however? Ah, now that is quite something: metaphorical, metaphysical, surprising and lots of fun. More like what you'd expect from the woman who directed the excellent Jesus' Son.

Distributed by Mongrel International and running 98 minutes, The Rehearsal (what this title actually means or refers to is interesting all on its own) opens this Friday, July 7, in New York City at the new Metrograph theater. Elsewhere? No idea. But the movie's web site would seem to indicate that it is available via Google Play and iTunes.

Taika Waititi's sweet but overpraised kids' adventure, HUNT FOR THE WILDERPEOPLE

OK: It's kind of cute, for awhile. But what in the world is all this lavish praise about? Taika Waititi (shown below) -- who earlier gave us the charming and oddball movies Eagle vs Shark and Boy, as well as co-writing, co-directing and co-starring in the funniest vampire comedy ever made -- has now come up with a film which he both adapted (from Barry Crump's book) and directed that is being hailed critically as though it were some kind of second coming. It ain't -- at least not for any film goer who's been around the block a time or two.

HUNT FOR THE WILDERPEOPLE tells the tale of an overweight but quite charming adolescent boy who has been moved from foster home to foster home until he has one final chance at success and family by living with an older couple in the wilds of New Zealand. Fair enough. And as played by Julian Dennison (below) with so much talent and charm that the actor almost immediately counters the wretched reputation that this boy supposedly has. No matter. Young Mr. Dennison is enjoyable enough to watch that you'll initially give in to this rather silly conceit.

Unfortunately, filmmaker Waititi doubles down on the cutesiness and charm, as well as telling his tale in the most obvious manner so that we know everything important that is going to happen almost from the get-go.

If a character mentions a final resting place, we know that character's gonna get there soon enough. And if another character happens to be a crusty, unpleasant old codger (the fine Sam Neill, above, plays this role), you can be sure he'll warm up to our boy just fine.

Nothing is ever in the slightest doubt here (which I suppose makes for easy viewing for the kids -- although even children do enjoy something scary and/or different now and again), while the would-be villains of the piece alternate between silly and stupid. Never are any of them -- from the social worker or the police (above) to the "vigilantes" hunting our two runaways (below) -- remotely believable.

What surprised me most was Waititi's use of the most obvious choices, which I would not have expected from this guy. Maybe this was built into the original book by Crump. But the tale, as told here -- with boy and codger going on the run for what seems like ages -- just meanders and meanders until we're ready to cry uncle. Ten or fifteen minutes could easily have been cut from this movie with no loss whatsoever.

And finally, when we're more than ready to end all this all, instead we have to put up with a tiresome extended car chase which, at this point, seems like undue torture. Still, the New Zealand scenery is often gorgeous (when is it not?), the use of haiku provides some fun, and a few of the performances rise above the silliness -- especially Dennison's, Neill's, and that of Rima Te Wiata, as the good wife, Bella.

Distributed by The Orchard and running 101 minutes, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, after opening in New York (and maybe elsewhere) last weekend, will hit Florida tomorrow, Friday, July 1, in Orlando at the Enzian Theater and over the next few weeks.at the following venues: on July 15 in Miami at the Regal South Beach 18 and the Classic Gateway, in Hollywood at the Cinema Paradiso, and in Tampa at the Tampa Theater; on July 22 in Fort Lauderdale's Cinema Paradiso, at St. Petersburg's Muvico Sundial 19, in West Palm Beach at the Stonzek Theater at Lake Worth Playhouse and at the Cobb in Jupter, in Tallahassee at the Tallahassee Mall 20, and in St Augustine at the Corazon Cinema and Cafe; on July 29 in Vero Beach at the AMC Indian River, and in Fort Myers/Naples at Merchants Crossing & Silverspot Cinema; and on August 5 in Jacksonville at the Sun Ray Theater. (By the way, someone ought to suggest to The Orchard that it update its web site. This movie is not "Coming Soon." It's already here.)

New Zealand vampires at play in Clement & Waititi's WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS

When vampires arrive in New Zealand, I guess you've got to admit that they've done it: They have finally and thoroughly covered the globe. There may have been another New Zealand-made vampire movie or two, but I think it's safe to say that there has never been a funnier one -- from anywhere on earth -- than WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS, the new comic mockumentary about a quartet of the undead who inhabit a very rundown house in some suburb or other (if I'm not mistaken, it's around Wellington, on the southern end of the north island).

The writers/directors of this sublime piece of nonsense are Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi (shown above, right and left, respectively), the guys responsible for, among other things, the cable series Flight of the Conchords, and while there have been other comic vampire movies over the decades, even the best of these don't come near the delights reached by this one.

Rather than ruin your surprise and appreciation by giving away the plot, the funny bits and all else that moviegoers should experience firsthand, I'll just concentrate on some of the reasons the movie works so well, then leave you to it. The premise, the knowing of which will not spoil a thing, involves a documentary crew invited in to film the household. This, of course, is the biggest crock of them all: No self-respecting vampire would ever OK something like this. The film's title, in fact, belies it completely, else they'd have called the movie We Live in the Bright Lights of the VideoCam. So you must simply stomp on your disbelief and go with the premise. It's worth it -- just to meet and spend some time with these guys.

How these four -- plus the couple of additions they add along the way -- manage and scramble the typical vampire's life and concerns makes for pretty consistent hilarity. The filmmakers certainly know their vampire lore and how to upend it with humor and surprise. They also understand the important of creating unusually rich and rounded (for this genre, anyway) characters for each of their four roommates and their two new friends.

While each fellow has his special and often spectacular characteristic, it's Mr. Waititi (above) as our host and sort-of narrator/guide who proves the most delightful. How he manages to capture so much charm and sweetness, as well as the sadness about what a vampire has to do (below), adds up to one of the great performances of this or really any other year. It's original and memorable.

Mr. Clement plays his character, Vlad (below), as the sexiest of the bunch, and does a number of nice turns along the way, while the the other two flatmates, Deacon and Petyr,  plus new arrivals Nick and Stu add to the oddity and jest.

Petyr is an ancient Nosferatu type (pictured in the second and third photos above, and at bottom), while Deacon has a difficult time keeping up his part of the bargain (which entails his doing the dishes -- which look to have been sitting in the sink for eons). Nick (a recently "turned" vampire) and Stu (Nick's best friend and a mere human who is tolerated by our boys for reasons that become funnier and funnier as the movie progresses) join another human enabler named Jackie (I believe she is what is called a "familiar") who has been promised eternal life but is beginning to wonder if she's ever actually going to get it.

In so many of these would-be comic vampire tales -- from the Polanski debacle to Love at First Bite and Dracula: Dead and Loving It -- the humor is occasionally funny and always obvious. Here, it bounces off what we know and expect, instantly becoming something new and different -- used in a manner that relates hilariously well to the way we live now.

How do vampires prepare to dress up and go out, since mirrors won't work for them? What happens when they go clubbing but must first be invited in before entering that club?

Oh, yes, and what about those werewolves? What We Do in the Shadows puts utterly to shame the used-to-near-distraction "rumbles" of those tiresome Twilight movies. I can't go on, or I'll start giving away even more. So just hie your little tush to the nearest theater showing this treat, or see it soon via VOD or streaming.

From Paladin and Unison Films and running a swift 86 minutes, the movie opens this Friday, February 13 in New York City at the Landmark Sunshine Cinema and in Los Angeles at the Arclight Hollywood. It hits another dozen cities the following week. Click here and scroll down to see all currently scheduled playdates, cities and theaters.

Clement and Waititi, by the way, will be doing personal appearances in both NYC and L.A. -- at NY's Sunshine on Friday, Feb 13 after the 7 and 9 pm shows, and in L.A. on Sat. and Sun. after the 7:05 & 9:40 shows.

Streaming revelation: Toa Fraser & Alan Sharp's adaptation of Lord Dunsany's DEAN SPANLEY

One of those rare delights that you suddenly find dumped into your surprised lap via Netflix streaming, DEAN SPANLEY (or My Talks With Dean Spanley, as it is also called) is a splendid example of quiet British/New Zealand humor and character that slowly, delectably expands into one of the richest and most moving of movies. It is also, by the by, one of cinema's great dog stories -- not to mention perhaps the best piece of reincarnation folderol we've yet seen.

While it won't make a believer out of you, transmigration of souls-wise, it just might make you wish that you could believe -- so enchanting is its premise and so thoroughly brought to bursting life is the execution of that premise. This unusual film, directed by New Zealander Toa Fraser (shown at left) and adapted from one of the works of Ireland's Lord Dunsany by that very good late Scot screenwriter Alan Sharp (Ulzana's Raid, Night Moves), sneaks up on you, promising to be one thing (on which it actually delivers) but then morphing into something quite else. I'd call it a genre-jumper, except that jumping is an activity far too energized for this quiet little charmer. Let's call it a genre-glider. In any case, it is very nearly sui generis.

Here we are in Edwardian England sometime after the second Boer War, as a "good son" (Jeremy Northam, above, left) pays his weekly visit to his seemingly semi-doddering dad (Peter O'Toole, above, right, in perhaps his best final-decade performance). Ah, we think: one of those little British gems of understatement, family and buried wit.

It is all of those. But wait: Then we head for a speaking engagement by a Swami (Art Malik), where father and son meet the oddly reclusive "Dean" of the title (a role the likes of which that talented actor Sam Neill, above, will surely never see again) and a very working-class chap (Bryan Brown, below, left) who says he is in the "conveyance business."

Slowly, with the help of some hard-to-come-by Hungarian Imperial Tokay wine, the plot thickens very slowly until we're neck deep in one of movieland's more fabulous dog stories. In its odd way, this one rivals Lassie on the one hand and My Dog Tulip on the other. I am not sure I have ever seen a film which captured as well as this one the dog's life from the POV of the dog itself.

We also learn, slowly and sweetly, just what the connection between these four men actually is, even as the movie tackles the relationship between fathers and sons, masters and, well, servants.... One of the servants here is played by the swell Judy Parfitt, whose final scene will bring a tear to your eye without even the tiniest bit of arm-twisting.

In fact, this forswearing of the over-bearing is the key to the movie's great success. Mr. Sharp, when given the opportunity, was one sharp, uncluttered writer, and Mr. Fraser has achieved exactly the right pace and tone so that the film unfurls as a kind of perfect blend of location, presentation and performance.

Where the hell did this wonderful movie come from? I'd never heard of it until I noticed it one recent day on Netflix streaming. The "distributor" (and I use the word loosely) may provide a clue. That would be Miramax, which, when Dean Spanley first appeared (end of 2008 into 2009), was undergoing a separation from Disney (a company it never should have "married" to begin with), and so the film -- much better and subtler than so much of the Disney stuff -- seems to have been buried in the shuffle that occurs when a distribution company moves from one owner to another, receiving neither a theatrical nor a timely DVD release here.

Well, it's got that "release" now via Netflix streaming, where it will no doubt pull in the huge cult following it so surely deserves. You can also find it on DVD and Amazon Instant Video. (I understand, from Wikipedia, that it has also been shown on cable TV at some point, so perhaps you were lucky enough to catch it there.)

Netflix Streaming Tip: TOP OF THE LAKE--Jane Campion/Gerard Lee/Garth Davis' study of power and the community, New Zealand-style

 

If you grew as quickly tired as I did of TOP OF THE LAKE, as viewed via the Sundance Channel (remember the old days when the whole point of cable was to provide commercial-free TV?), you should take another chance on this series now, as it has arrived on Netflix streaming, intact and with zero interruptions -- save those that separate the series' seven, approximately 50-minute episodes. The product of writer/
director Jane Campion, co-writer Gerard Lee and co-director Garth Davis, this is an alternately troubling and annoying six hours that may not leave you fully satisfied but will hold your interest, if only because it is so damn bizarre, full of crazy characters/situations, and for the most part exceedingly well performed.

Ms Campion, shown at right, is by now pretty much a staple of worthwhile cinema (with an occasional flub like In the Cut), who seemingly moves from genre to genre, while actually putting her own special stamp on each and thus pulling that genre out from under itself. In Top of the Lake, which brings her back to the kind of TV mini-series she did more than two decades ago with An Angel at My Table, she again takes on the New Zealand "community" and its power structure. But while Angel showed us the evils of conventional society and mores, Lake hands us an utterly bizarre community cut off from normal civilization, inbred with evil and a power structure that seems to emanate from a single despotic family run by a supremely crazy man (one hell of a performance from Peter Mullan, below).

The ever-wayward plot has a young police officer (Mad Men's Elizabeth Moss, below, right, doing a fair NZ accent) returning to the town to visit her dying mother and becoming embroiled in the disappearance of a young girl (newcomer Jacqueline Joe, below, left) who appears to be trying to drown herself in that titular lake.

Moss's character reports to a nattily-dressed, attractive and occasionally corner-cutting boss (the always reliable David Wenham, below) who seems to be almost too good to be true and who clearly likes our returning-home detective.

As the plot thickens in all kinds of directions, we get a good dose of our heroine's back story, which involves everything from rape to parenting issues, and an old boyfriend (played with a fine dose of reticent sex-appeal by Thomas M. Wright) who now re-enters her life and complicates things in ways suspected and not.

Meanwhile, the search is on for that missing girl, by our heroine, her father (Mullan's character) and some of her friends. Oh, yes: there's also a big-time drug operation going on; a pristine little restaurant, the purpose of which is to train wayward youngsters (that's another talented newcomer, Luke Buchanan, below) to become waiters, baristas and restaurateurs; and all sorts of other odd characters, such as a supposed child molester, who are incorporated into the tale.

What about the white-tressed Holly Hunter (below, center) and her gang of strange women? This is perhaps the most remarked upon part of Top of the Lake, and yet it is also utterly inessential to the plot of the mini-series. But, boy, it does provide some odd fun. Ms Hunter plays a bored guru to a group of sad and beleaguered woman who set up shop in the middle of some land, the ownership of which is, uh, somewhat disputed. (This leads to yet another plot line.)

Top of the Lake contains enough coincidence and nonsense to choke a large Kiwi. Things often happen so conveniently (or conversely, inconveni-ently) that you simply must suspend your disbelief. And yet the series is so chock full of the bizarre, the shocking and the unpleasant that you stick around, near-hypnotized by the evil on view. There are surprises afoot, right up until the second finale. And though the series does not neatly tie up all its loose ends, if you've been paying attention, they are indeed tied -- including the father of a certain character's baby -- if loosely.

Finally, Ms Campion and crew have delivered something that is not quite as new and original as it might initially appear. Many of the same "villains" -- sex, drugs, money, power -- are trotted out. Yet in its dark and slanted look at how power accrues in a small, cut-off community; how male trumps female, while something like polite, encouraging behavior increasingly disappears; and how the hypocrisy of society, even in as unconventional spot as this, deadens growth and life, the series does give us a view of end times, New Zealand style.

Niki Caro's THE VINTNER'S LUCK -- now called A Heavenly Vintage -- may have gone straight to DVD, but consider it a must-see

Note: This film is currently (as of March 2019) 

available to stream via Amazon Prime

Every so often -- but not nearly often enough -- a film comes along that is so different and, in its way amazing; so rich and odd and emotionally resonant and yet, really rather simple; that deals with subjects dear to your heart: love and sex (both hetero and homo), history, work, family and... wine! that you think to yourself when the film is finished, "This is why they invented movies." Now, you could also have said, "This is why they invented novels" because THE VINTNER'S LUCK (currently being distributed under the less good title of A Heavenly Vintage), the new film from New Zealand director Niki Caro, is adapted by Ms Caro and Joan Scheckel from a novel by Elizabeth Knox, which is said to be (as are almost all novels made into movies) better than the resulting film. Fine. TrustMovies will accept that, while noting that the resulting film is also damn good in its own right.

Ms Caro (shown at left) has had an interesting, if lopsided, career. Heavily praised for her second full-length feature, the simple-minded, so-so Whale Rider (2002), that film still proved an international success. She went on to make a better American movie North Country (2005), with Charlize Theron, that did little business. Now comes Vintner/
Vintage, first seen under its original title at the Toronto International Film Festival way back in 2009 but only last month becoming available here in the USA via DVD. (And in a not very sterling transfer. A film this beautiful absolutely deserves a Blu-ray release!)

If Whale Rider put Ms Caro (and its star, Keisha Castle-Hughes) on the map, it's this film (also starring Ms Castle-Hughes, above) that will, over time, most burnish her reputation. While Whale Rider offered little content in a too-lengthy running time (granted, what there was probably seemed quite exotic to international audiences), this wine-and-love story is filled with content -- and character, history, mystery and... an angel. The manner in which Ms Caro handles this "other-worldly" creature is exemplary: We first see but a suggestion of the winged figure. And then, he is simply there -- bright as something white in the night -- and absolutely real. That he is played by the fine French actor Gaspard Ulliel, below, who makes at once the hunkiest and most beautiful (and intelligent!) angel ever (eat your heart out John Phillip Law) almost immediately takes the movie to new territory.

The time is the early 1800s and our hero, the vintner Sobran, played by another fine French actor, Jérémie Renier (below, who will soon have his day in the America sun when his hit film Cloclo -- about the performer/songwriter who wrote the original of the famous Sinatra hit My Way -- opens across the U.S. this summer), after a drunken night, falls into a stupor and wakes up, three photos below, in the arms of this angel. Man and myth bond warily, eventually warmly -- both have an great interest in wine and wine-making, and the angel has an interest in something else.

Into this mix comes a Baroness, set to inherit the vast estate and its vineyards upon which our vintner lives and works. As played by the wonderful Vera Farmiga, below, in one of her best roles (yes, she's has a lot of these), the character is reticent and proud, deep and genuine, and adds as much as do our two males to the richly evolving story.

Why, you may ask (as did I), is the angel even in this tale? Is he a metaphor? What does he represent? Well, in some ways, he is at the heart of things, and so beautifully is he acted by Ulliel that I would not have wanted to lose him. He may represent the other half of Sobran -- aren't we often, as Jacob did Biblically, wrestling with angels of our better (or worse) nature? Because the film is also about life, in all its complexity -- work, love, sex, creation -- this fellow also offers wisdom and help, as well as some other things. He's mysterious, sexual and loving, certainly beyond easy explanation and -- thank god -- beyond the ridiculous tenents of our worldly religions. And this is all for the best.

The movie is gorgeously photographed, and its sets and costumes seems both original and on the mark. And Ms Caro has either guided her actors well (the film is so perfectly cast that perhaps she needed only to trust their talent and intelligence) or let them have their lead in order to run with it. In her screenplay, she and her co-writer have allowed events and character to unfold gradually and graciously so that nothing seems forced.

The filmmaker does not over-explain but rather leaves it to us to do the moderately heavy-lifting it takes to satisfy our need for explanation, theory, closure. (The movie does have a nice arc -- with the beginning, in which we know almost nothing, coming home full circle by the finale.) We learn a lot in and from this movie -- and still leave it pondering. Which is, I think, as it should be.

The Vintner' Luck/A Heavenly Vintage is an original. It doesn't compare to anything else I've seen, and I am grateful for that, and it. (For its in-flight sex scene alone -- and I am not speaking of the usual carnality in an airplane rest room -- I'd call it a must-see.) Dividing audiences and critics, from its debut in Toronto, through its run in its home country of New Zealand, to its current appearance and member reviews on Netflix -- love it or hate it, the movie demands a viewing. So weigh in, and then scream at me, if you must. The film is available now on DVD, for sale or rental, from the usual suspects.