Fun from Mexico -- no kidnappings, minimal drugs -- in Manolo Caro's screwball rom-com, TALES OF AN IMMORAL COUPLE

If one purpose of movies is to take us away from the horrors and drudgery of reality -- all too evident these days -- young Mexican filmmaker Manolo Caro is certainly doing his job to a "t." His latest work, the first to find theatrical release here in the United States, TALES OF AN IMMORAL COUPLE  (La vida immoral de la pareja ideal), is quite the little charmer. In it, ex-lovers who first bonded during high school, meet again 25 years later and, sure enough, romance blooms anew, even as screwball comedy quickly rules the roost.

Señor Caro, shown at left, has created a trifle as adorable and pixie-like as he himself seems to be: full of fun and amusement, even as it probes themes as everlasting as love, sex and the meaning of fidelity -- with dollops of satire tossed in, the welcome objects of which are religion and politics.

His movie, while breaking little new ground, manages to cover the ground it trods with energy, sparkle and enough wit to keep us with it all the way. Its introduction into the kids' lives of heterosexuality, as well as homo- and bi-sexuality is handled well, too. Of enormous help to all this is the near-constant inter-cutting of past and present, as we see the couple as youngsters and then as adults.

The smart flashback-and-forth conception (by Caro) and on-the-mark editing -- from Yibran Asuad (Güeros and We Are the Flesh) and Miguel Musálem -- helps keep the pacing swift and fun, while the excellent ensemble cast (pictured on poster, top, and above) help bring each character to amusing life.

As the two love-struck kids, Sebastián Aguirre (above, right, from A Monster With a Thousand Heads) and Ximena Romo (above, left ) prove lovely, sensitive and youthfully ignorant, while Manuel Garcia-Rulfo (below, left) and Cecilia Suárez (below, right) bring the pair to more hesitant, suspicious and cynical adult life.

Supporting characters -- kids to adults -- are specific and funny, as well, while Caro's plotting brings us pleasantly and fairly speedily to a close, at last solving the mystery that will be foremost in viewers' minds: How come these two "seahorses" remained apart for so long? You'll find out, and I suspect the answer will satisfy you every bit as much as has the fun leading up to it.

From Hola Mexico and running a just-right 91 minutes, Tales of an Immoral Couple opens this Friday, August 25, nationwide in limited release. In the Los Angeles area, look for it at Laemmle theaters and elsewhere. Click here (and then click on THEATERS on the task bar midway down) to see all currently scheduled playdates, with cities and theaters listed.  But be careful and maybe check with your local theater before heading out, as some of these supposed playdates appear not to be happening....

A parenting/parentage problem brought to life in Anna Muylaert's smart DON'T CALL ME SON

The last time we heard from Anna Muylaert was just last year with her Oscar-submitted for Best Foreign Language Film, The Second Mother, a wonderfully complicated movie in which ironies abound and everything from class and economics to pride and parenting are involved. Ms Muylaert's latest endeavor, DON'T CALL ME SON (Mãe Só Há Uma), is a lot less complicated, while sporting a half-hour shorter running time, too. This does not mean that the movie is any less rich or deep, however. In fact, in just 77 minutes (plus credits), this writer/ director (shown below) manages to believably probe a very fraught situation.

What happens here is that an adolescent son and his slightly younger sister are yanked away from their mother who, it turns out, stole them when they were both babies. Via DNA matches, both kids are reunited with their birth families (or, in the case of the daughter, what's left of that family), whom they neither know nor care to know, while the only mother they have known is tossed into jail.

A situation like this one is unfair to everyone involved but must somehow be handled as best as it can, and in Ms Muylaert's hands it becomes an opportunity to make us think and feel and even smile -- if not outright laugh at times -- without ever getting near anything "fake." (The line, "He looks like my dad," has seldom seemed so moving.) This would be accomplishment enough, but the filmmaker also tosses a few more bombshells into her mix.

The young man (played by newcomer Naomie Nero, at right, above, and center, below) -- originally named Felipe but known as Pierre for most of his life -- is one of those raging hormone adolescents who plays in a rock band, is an androgynous cross-dresser, and has sex with both boys and girls. The family he comes into is of a completely different economic and cultural class than he is used to. And the two mothers -- birth and thieving -- are played by the same actress. TrustMovies would never have realized this, had he not referred to the press information, post-viewing. In any case, that actress -- Daniela Nefussi (at left, above and below) -- is superb: hugely different and completely believable in both roles.

Via adeptly chosen scenes, we view and understand the feelings of everybody toward the situation at hand and how it evolves: the birth mom and dad; that family's younger brother who, of course, views this new addition as the supreme interloper onto his former secure territory; even the social workers involved in the case. The movie also brings up questions that are not so easily answered regarding identity and one's place in the family and the world. This is difficult enough for those of us living what we might call "normal" lives. Seen here, it seems initially maybe insurmountable.

Then the filmmaker gives us just one moment of sweet rapprochement that is simple, smart and rings absolutely true. Ms Muylaert, as they say, has done it again. Don't Call Me Son -- from Zeitgeist Films, in Portuguese with English subtitles and running 82 minutes -- opens today, Wednesday, November 2, in its U.S. theatrical premier at New York City's Film Forum. It opens in Los Angeles at Laemmle's Royal next Friday, November 11, and will hit at least another ten cities over the weeks to come. (In South Florida it opens at Miami's Tower Theater on November 18.) Click here then scroll down to see all currently scheduled playdates, cities and theaters.

Stephen Belber's MATCH gives Patrick Stewart, Carla Gugino and Matthew Lillard plum roles

Identity proves the pivot point in MATCH, the new film from Stephen Belber, who, back in 2009, gave us a very interesting, funny and charming rom-com entitled Management and also wrote the screenplay for Richard Linklater's Tape. One man's identity and why someone else might care about this are the questions that arise in the course of the film, written and directed by Belber and starring a very fine threesome: Patrick Stewart, Carla Gugino and Matthew Lillard, all working at close to the height of their not inconsiderable powers.

Mr. Belber, shown at right, is a writer who's very clever with dialog, as a look at his resume will demonstrate. Here his screenplay, extremely dialog-heavy, is also adapted from his original play and is full of exposition done smartly and for a very good reason. The film's beginning is all about a graduate student (Ms Gugino) and her interview with a famous dancer, choreographer and teacher (Mr. Stewart), abetted by the student's not particularly helpful husband (Mr. Lillard). A lot of history is covered quickly and smartly, with Stewart playing the ever-so-slightly preening celebrity, enjoying a new moment or two in the sun, as he regales his listeners with stories of his life and career.

It is not long before we realize that the agenda here is something other than the stated one, and from there onwards the movie -- highly enjoyable from its outset -- becomes even more so, as well as exciting and surprising.  This is a role different from anything Stewart, shown above and below, has previously tackled (in my memory, at least), and it requires him to run the kind of gamut of emotions we're not used to seeing from this actor. He nails every nook and cranny.

Ms Gugino, below, comes through beautifully, too. Always a gifted actress, as well as a beauty, she brings a special vulnerability to her role that becomes more endearing and moving as the movie rolls along.

Mr. Lillard (below, left) is probably the biggest surprise here. Too often relegated to bozo roles earlier in his career, he comes into his own quite beautifully as the hubby with issues too heavy for him to handle. He's angry, closed off, and frightened of his own strength, which he's beginning to use in ways not at all wise.

Match is a kind of chamber piece; we see a few other performers along the way but it's these three who count for everything, and they play off each other beautifully. I would think this movie must have been a joy to film; it certainly is one to view.

The movie -- from IFC Films and running 92 minutes -- opens this Wednesday here in New York City at, I suspect, the IFC Center; in Los Angeles look for it at Laemmle's Playhouse 7 and Music Hall 3. If you're located elsewhere than on either coast, fear not, for the film makes it VOD debut simultaneously with its theatrical opening. 

Julián Hernández is back with a new, nettlesome gay art film in tow, I AM HAPPINESS ON EARTH

Yes, Julián Hernández, the Mexican filmmaker who gave us A Thousand Clouds of Peace, Broken Sky and Raging Sun, Raging Sky has returned with a new film that should prove to most audiences every bit as illuminating/ obfuscating as his earlier work. I AM HAPPINESS ON EARTH is another long (two hours, two minutes) observation of and meditation on gay life, as filtered through the lens, heart and mind of its protagonist, who, this time, is himself a filmmaker. If this makes the movie more personal than usual for Señor Hernández (shown at left, below, with a couple of his cast members), no matter. It is still, as are all his films, concerned with gay life and attraction, sex and longing, meetings and partings. This time, however, the filmmaker seems to be moving a bit toward bi- or maybe pan-sexuality.

I Am Happiness on Earth (IAHOE from here on in) opens with a dancer and a film director who is checking him out. Both are beautiful, and the dancer (below) is lithe and exquisite, as well. An assignation occurs, but when a further date never materializes, our young dancer calls a halt and instead goes off with a couple of his girlfriends, who entice him into a threeway.

That's maybe the first half hour or 45 minutes. Then we cut to a graffiti-laden bathroom in which another man (two photos below) is waking up in a bathtub (this reverberates slightly from an earlier scene). Another dreamy hunk comes into the bathroom, as, downstairs, a young woman (below) writhes on the floor. Yes, weird. But then things grow even weirder.

The men are interested in each other, maybe, and in the woman, too. Cocks and a cunt are unfurled and sex takes place, both soft and hard-core. A lot of watching goes on, for both the audience and the filmmaker. This section reminded me visually of certain movies from the 1960s, and it is different from most else I can recall seeing from this director.

Then we're back with our filmmaker and a call boy he's hired, who eventually turns into a full-time lover. We also see our initial dancer once again (who by now is semi-famous), during which the longing re-surfaces, to which no real follow-up is possible.

Hernández (at left) is a certainly a major force in Mexican gay cinema. I wouldn't miss his films, even though, being rather long and paced somewhat slowly, they occasionally put me briefly to sleep. They're dreamy and erotic, with plenty of male pulchri-tude on display (this time some female, as well -- plus a more ironic commentary on film and filmmaking). They also embrace homosexuality's outsider status, its forbidden side, its treachery and betrayal, its longing, its love of beauty and need for connection. (Sort of like heterosexuality -- minus the outsider/ forbidden status, of course.)

The filmmaker does have some odd tics: His view of dance, in particular, seems weird, as he concentrates almost exclusively on the dancer's head and chest, as though the rest of the body didn't count for much. (Film this may be, but any real appreciation of dance it ain't.) Odd stylistic touches abound: the lack, occasionally, of any sound, and the switch, now and then, from color to black-and-white.

His film also seems to move in fits and starts and clunks, although this may very well have had to do with the Vimeo streaming link I was sent and how it merged with my wireless reception. (That's the trouble with these Vimeo, DAX and other streaming links we critics receive. You can never be quite certain if what you're seeing is an artistic touch or simply not-so-hot reception.)

As for the performances, they're all presumably just what the director ordered. Each actor does what's required -- which is mostly looking beautiful and sexy and full of desire. Not a lot is asked of this cast, acting-wise, while any questions regarding motivation -- "Hey, I'm just doing what the director told me!" -- probably never come up.

By the time IAHOE's two hours have come to a close, we (and presumably our movie-maker) have taken quite a journey. He is left watching a porno tape of himself and his lover engaging in sex -- which may be more real and important for him than was the actual sex itself. And we are left with what I guess is the moral here: Hey, kids: If you want a "real" relationship, don't get involved with a filmmaker!

From Breaking Glass Pictures, the movie opens theatrically this Friday, August 15, here in New York City at the Quad Cinema and in Pasadena at Laemmle's Playhouse 7. For anyone not near those two venues, the following week -- on Tuesday August 19, the film will hit the streets on DVD and across country via VOD/Digital (from all cable providers, iTunes and Amazon Instant Video).