STAYING VERTICAL: Alain Guiraudie is back once more -- with yet another jaw-dropper

People do the strangest things in the films of Frenchman, Alain Guiraudie, but damned if the guy doesn't make those things somehow work. After The King of Escape and to herald the debut of Stranger by the Lake, the FSLC in 2014 hosted a retrospective of Guiraudie's work which was in itself quite eye-opening. Now comes his latest movie, STAYING VERTICAL (Rester vertical) and it is every bit as bizarre, riveting and entertaining as the rest of his oeuvre. And definitely not for the mainstream crowd.

M. Guiraudie, pictured at right, looks to my eyes remarkably like an older version of his leading man in this new film (played by Damien Bonnard, shown below and further below). The fact that M. Bonnard plays a filmmaker who's having some trouble creating his latest work, simply adds to this connection. The plot of Staying Vertical ricochets all over the place, introducing characters who interact with each, often sexually, in ways that might seem crazy in a film by anyone else. But for Guiraudie pansexuality and polysexuality seem the norm, as does sexuality between folk of all ages, young adult to grandpappy.

And, yes, not only are sex organs on full display here (as is often the case with Guiraudie), you can expect to see the male ones engorged. (M. Bonnard, unless a prosthetic was used, is very well endowed.) And yet there is no trace of the snickering, shocked or shameful here. Sex, as usual with this filmmaker, is to be enjoyed, if often at a cost, especially when all the rest of the equation -- need, desire, jealousy, and the lot -- come into play.

The sex here, bizarre as it sometimes may look, is also more grounded and vital than in the other Guiraudie films I've seen. For instance, the first time we see the leading lady's sex, in voluptuous close-up, she is about to be pleasured orally by Bonnard's character. We soon after see a similar shot, but then -- suddenly -- a newborn emerges from that orifice. (India Hair, above, with rifle, plays this woman, and she she brings a very unusual combination of need, anger and strength to the role.)

There's a new wrinkle here, however: the introduction into Guiraudie's work of a baby and what this infant means to its father, mother, and the world at large. What this poor kid goes through may surprise and shock you -- wolf bait, anyone? -- but his appearance and importance to the film adds immeasurably to the humanity that holds this odd and careening movie together.

Unusual sexual couplings (even one of the medical sort, above), the difficulty of commitment, sheep and wolves, and anal sex as an aid to euthanasia -- all this and more are offered up in the filmmaker's look at what may seem to many viewers, TrustMovies included, as some kind of alternate universe. But it is one that we might gainfully learn from. And, oh, did I mention that this film is sometimes very funny, too? (The headline that appears on a newspaper toward the film's finale is as good as anything the National Enquirer has ever given us.)

All of Guiraudie's movies, I think, are political -- remember: he also gave us, back in 2001, that marvelous The Old Dream That Moves (Ce vieux rêve qui bouge) -- and this one is, too. Yet, if you try to pin it down to some single idea or another, it seems to half evaporate. Morality, creativity, religion, autonomy, the self vs the other: the connections are all here, but what they might mean dances deliciously in front of you and remains just out of reach. Yet the movie's hold on you does not let go.

I would not have missed this film for anything. And I'll want to see it again, down the road. But recommending it? Only if you're willing to drop, at least temporarily, your preconceptions and go with Guiraudie's flow. The rewards are spectacular. But they'll probably come to you piecemeal, and over some time, post-viewing.

From Strand Releasing and running 100 minutes, Staying Vertical opens this Friday, January 20, in New York City at the FSLC's Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center, and at the IFC Center. In Los Angeles, you can see it beginning this Friday at Laemmle's Royal, and (at morning screenings only on Saturday and Sunday: think of it as going to temple or church) at the Playhouse 7 in Pasadena. Eventually, it will arrive on DVD and digital, so if you're not on either coast, hold on.

The Daniels' -- Kwan & Scheinert -- SWISS ARMY MAN: great title, problematic movie

If you value originality above all else, SWISS ARMY MAN, might just be your cup of poop, piss or regurgitated liquids. Yes, it's gross, all right, and I suspect it wins hands-down the current movie record for the near-constant use of farting. But at least, unlike so many of those would-be comedies meant for the eight-year-old minds of stunted adults, the farts here are, yep, original. They're also amazing and usually amusing -- used as they are for bizarre plot devices, visual effects and finally as an all-encompassing symbol of what civilized society deems crass.

Beginning with its spot-on title -- yes, one of our two "heroes" is very much like that famous uber-functional knife with which many of us grew up: packed with so many pull-outs it seemed an all-purpose life-saver -- the movie is clever and shocking but also very astute psychologically and cinematically. As written and directed by a pair of first-time/full-length filmmakers -- Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert -- who bill themselves as "Daniels" (as in "a film by Daniels"), Swiss Army Man was said to be the strangest movie ever to screen at Sundance. Now that we've seen it, TrustMovies feels it's safe to say that it may also be the strangest ever to screen in a mainstream movie house. (Those are the filmmakers, above, with Mr. Kwan shown center, Mr. Scheinert, center, right, flanked by stars Paul Dano, right, Daniel Radcliffe center, left, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead, left.)

The story here, as you may have by now heard, involves a young man named Hank (Mr. Dano) somehow stranded on an island in the middle of the sea who, having given up on any rescue, is about to "off" himself when he notices a body (Mr. Radcliff's) that seems to have washed up onshore. From there, perhaps the most bizarre of buddy movies begins to unfold.

Where and how the tale maneuvers is so strange and unsettling; funny, sad and unnerving; occasionally believable but more often the stuff of fantasy that you will find yourself trying to figure out just what the filmmaker' intentions really are. Is this a tale of desperation so severe and encompassing that the desperate man will of course invent/imagine whatever he must in order to survive? Sure looks that way.

But as the movie moves forward, there seems to be more at stake here. What kind of a fellow is our Hank? And is Manny (the name Hank gives to that washed-up body) entirely a whole-cloth creation of Hank's? What transpires includes everything from sex education to cross-dressing to the appearance of some very large and obstinate hard-ons from Manny, brought on by an old girlie magazine and a photo of Ms Winstead that occasionally appears on a cell phone.

How all this is possible on an island in the middle of the sea is one of the question that arise, as our buddies grow closer, while managing to avoid anything sexual between them. (Although an apology of sorts, using that old stand-by "I was really drunk last night!", does surface along the way.)

Above all else, it's the relationship between these two young men that matters most, except that the relationship is completely one-sided and serves mainly to build what we finally learn about Hank's character -- who he actually is and what has really happened. To this end, Mr. Dano proves yet again to be the sort of remarkable young actor who can handle whatever role comes his way. (And this may be the strangest and most difficult he'll ever have.)

For his part, Mr. Radcliffe seems bent on doing all in his power to counteract his Harry Potter image, and he's doing a fine job of it. From diverse Broadway roles to the most oddball movies (and they don't get more oddball than this), he is stretching himself and proving quite adept at the stretch. If here, he must play the "best pal" role as it has never been played before, he gives it his all -- which is more than enough.

In the home stretch, however, it must be said that the movie does fall apart (and then falls apart all over again). Things have been withheld from us that make all the difference, and while this might be perfectly OK for some movies, here it rather wrecks things. I cannot elaborate because that would result in a major spoiler. Suffice it to say that, of all things, the Daniels appear to want to offer up something as mainstream as "feel-good" -- after all they've done to work around that usual bill of fare. So Swiss Army Man becomes a movie by two very smart guys who don't quite know when to stop and consequently get a little too close to what you might call "smarty pants."

Their movie, distributed by A24 and running 95 minutes, opened in New York and Los Angeles over the past weekend, and hits a lot of other cities this week. On Friday, July 1, it opens here South Florida all over the place -- from Regal's Shadowood, Cypress Creek and Sawgrass to AMC's Aventura and Sunset Place, Muvico's Broward and Parisian, Delray's Frank Theaters Cinebowl, Fort Lauderdale's Classic Gateway, Coconut Grove's Cinepolis USA, and Miami's O Cinema Wynwood. Elsewhere? Absolutely. Click here and all the theaters near you should pop right up....

The photo of the actors and filmmakers, 

second from top, is by Jeff Vespa, 

courtesy of Getty Images.

Madeleine Olnek's back! THE FOXY MERKINS is another bizarre charmer with occasional guffaws

Remember Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same? If you managed to see that weird little movie, you're not at all likely to have forgotten it. Its creator, director-and-co-writer, Madeleine Olnek, is back two years later with another small wonder that is likely to have a similar effect on you. And if THE FOXY MERKINS is not quite all that its predecessor was, this may be due mostly to the subject matter -- space aliens -- mixed with a certain loose, low-keyed style. There is indeed something about this odd combo that has resulted in a few unfor-gettably charming successes on the independent film front: The History of Future Folk, One-Eyed Monster and Ms Olnek's earlier movie.

There's one other very good thing that inhabits the two full-length movies that Ms Olnek (shown at right) has made: their star (and co-writer of this film), a young woman named Lisa Haas, shown below, left, whose entire acting resume is made up of Olnek's two films plus two more shorts by another filmmaker, Laura Terruso. Ms Haas is something else. Once witnessed in either of these films, she will re-main in your mem-ory as one of the sweetest, most bizarre movie stars (and she is a star!) you've ever seen.

Once again, as in Codependent Space Alien, Ms Haas is playing a woman (this time named Margaret) who is apparently clueless-to-just-about-everything, including how our society reacts to obese people. Her style is utterly deadpan, but nothing like the knowing deadpan of a Bill Murray or the some of those irony-sotted comic performers who dot today's TV screen. No. Ms Haas remains always sweet and alert, hopeful and game. And this is her great strength as both a performer and as the character who holds together Olneks' films.

There is one scene here (I think it happens twice, actually) in which Ms Haas must rise from a bed in an extended few moments in which she is fully nude and full-frontal, with her folds of fat on the kind of display that we are not used to seeing. That she carries this off so beautifully and, well, so fully -- she is at once sad, funny, brave and utterly dear -- gifts us with one of the true amazements of this movie year, putting immediately in the shade all those great "acting" performances of the Birdman cast.

The story this time 'round has Haas intent on earning her keep by becoming a lesbian hooker. To this end, and after some unsuccessful early attempts, she falls in with a thinner and more conventionally attractive woman (the equally oddball Jackie Monahan, also from Codependent Lesbian Alien and a co-writer here) who proclaims herself heterosexual, even though she, too, earns her keep via lesbian liaisons. These two have their ups and downs, as we alternately chuckle, marvel, question and guffaw. (A particularly good scene takes place at New York's Cinema Village, where one or another version of Lassie -- yes! -- is screening.)

Much fun is made of everything from closeted Republican lesbians to role playing in police attire, Talbots clothing store, and composting -- and in the end we meet an adorably cute Italian young man (Gian Maria Annovi) who used to know Margaret's mother. We also get another chance to see the terrific Alex Karpovsky, who is now making his mark in Girls but earlier graced Olnek's other movie. He is, as usual, wonderfully weird, goofy, and slightly dark -- first as the merkin salesman (don't ask) the ladies meet in a cemetery, who later somehow graduates to become a high-level honcho at CNN.

So where can you see this unusual film? It opens tomorrow, Friday, December 5, at the Made in New York Media Center by IFP (30 John Street in DUMBO, Brooklyn) for a one-week run. You can procure tickets and/or directions by clicking either of the links preceding.

At NewFest: Yann Gonzalez's raunchy/sweet YOU AND THE NIGHT (yes, music is included)

At NewFest on this past Sunday evening, the nice-looking honcho who introduced the film (along with its writer/director Yann Gonzalez, who was there to say hello and do a Q&A after the screening), noted that the movie, YOU AND THE NIGHT, (Les rencontres d'apres minuit) harks back to the work of Ozon, Almodóvar, Cocteau and Araki. Sort of. You can certainly find traces of all four filmmakers, along with maybe a little Jean-Paul Sartre. But the best thing about M. Gonzalez's movie is that it seems, finally, quite its own thing. This young filmmaker may have been influenced by others (who of us is not?), yet he combines themes, styles and content in such a way that his film becomes what I hope we shall see more of: "a Gonzalez movie."

Before I get too far into over-praising the film (as the NewFest host proceeded to do), I should also say that this is the work of a young man, from whom further growth will surely come (consider the careers of Ozon, Almodóvar and to a lesser extent, Araki). Even now, however, M. Gonzalez (shown at right) possesses the energy and ability to gather up a bizarrely well-chosen cast and put them through paces that begin with what appears some sort of Almodóvarian farce. An orgy is planned for an apparently wealthy and very hot-looking couple -- Niels Schneider (below, center) and Kate Moran (below, left) by its crossing-dressing maid (Nicolas Maury, reclining, in the background). Then by noticeable degrees, the lightness and humor turns darker and lonelier, sadder and deeper, culminating in (as a much more popular and infinitely dumber movie called it), breaking dawn.

Orgy guests include The Slut (Julie Brémond, below, left, who brings an insouciance tempered with, as we soon find, some sadness; and The Stud (Eric Cantona -- below, right, and yes, the famous soccer star turned actor, who here plays a man known for his giant organ who would rather be writing poetry but has let said organ rule his life. We do get quite a lengthy look at the thing, which is itself quite lengthy (and thick). Prosthetic, most likely; if not, M. Cantona is one blessed Frenchman: looks, talent and a truckload  of "personality," as one of my female friends calls the male member.

Also appearing but making her entrance with the lights off, is The Star -- a aging diva played very well by Fabienne Babe, shown below, right.

Completing the seven -- a number so Biblical and mythic! -- is The Adolescent, played by Alain-Fabien Delon (above). And if that name sounds familiar, yes: This kid is indeed the youngest son of the man who was France's reigning beauty during the 1960s, 70s and 80s: Alain Delon. Hard to say at this point what lies in store for the youngest Delon, who can certainly manage all that is required of him here, but in terms of facial beauty, he's indeed his father's son.

Gonzalez's movie runs from the frisky and bizarre (a prison scene featuring Béatrice Dalle that's mildly, humorously S&M) to the sweet and artful (below) in which we follow our hot hosts' tale to learn the strange story of how the hunky hero's eye patch evolved.

The movie is poetic, as well, and if the poetry we hear (and read the subtitles for) is not great, it is also not bad. Not bad at all. Intelligent and thoughtful, it's the work of a young man still struggling to better his voice, and the struggle is what gives You and the Night its unusual feeling of, well, something genuine. 

On the filmmaker's mind is family and what it takes to make one. Toward this goal (which is atop so many of us GLBT folk's agendae), Gonzalez uses everything in his arsenal -- poetry to passion, satire to sex, fantasy to frisson -- in order to arrive. For me, what was most surprising about the film is that, rather than appearing pretentious (which you might easily ex-pect), thanks to the sincerity on view -- in the writing, direction and perfor-mances -- we get instead something funny, strange, sweet and moving.

As of now, You and the Night has no U.S. distribution. But it is such a singular objet-d'art that I can't help but think it will obtain a release here eventually. If a trite little trinket like Mortem (which was pretentious), can find an eventual theatrical berth, then this first full-length film surely will, too. It has now played its single Newfest performance, but to see what else is in store at this GLBT festival, click here.

Leos Carax's HOLY MOTORS opens in New York City -- and, come November, beyond

The phrase "best film of 2012" is being bandied about regarding the new Leos Carax movie, HOLY MOTORS, but I would take a step back before jumping on that particular bandwagon. The movie is certainly fun (for awhile), deals in weighty themes (among these: class, religion, the utter arbitrariness of life, and the ordeal of the filmmaker and his audience), and gives one of cinema's most spectacular performers -- Denis Lavant -- the chance to strut his stuff as eleven different characters (one with a full- frontal hard-on that just won't quit), all residing under the same actor's roof.

As writer and director, Carax, shown at right, goes on too long (as usual: Bad Blood, The Lovers on the Bridge, Pola X), yet much of what he shows us is at least interesting, sometimes riveting, and often original. Original, however, does not always signify worthwhile, and Carax alternates between the unusual and the pretentious, the pompous and the playful. Unfortunately, "playful," in this filmmaker's hands, is rather like having a game of soccer while using a 30-pound lead balloon as your ball. Heavy, man.

I suspect that this movie is a kind of "filling-out" or maybe a continuation of M. Carax's contribution to 2008's three-part omnibus film Tokyo (the other two parts were done by Michel Gondry and Bong Joon-ho), in which M. Lavant also starred as what pretty much seems like one of the "created" characters -- shown above, below (with Eva Mendes ), and further below -- that he plays again in Holy Motors.

Lavant always proves a can't-take-your-eyes-off-him performer, one of the most energized ever to, well, "grace" the screen is not quite the right turn of phrase. But he's fascinating, extraordinarily sexual, and beautiful/ugly in a manner that no one else I've seen can match.

If you don't know his work, check out Beau Travail, The Lovers on the Bridge or Wild Camp, for starters, out of the more than 60 performances he's so far given. Holy Motors allows him his best chance at complete versatility within a single movie that he (or probably anyone else) will ever see.

The plotline of the movie has Lavant as a classy French money mogul, going off one morning in his white limo, chauffeured by Edith Scob (the matriarch of Summer Hours) to "work," which turns out to be anything but what we might have imagined. This work involves his turning into various and quite different characters that seem to have to do with everything from poverty and class to art and love, involving hired assassins, working men, and the bourgeoisie.

All of this is interesting to watch but what it means is up for grabs, and it goes on for far too long, ending in a bit of leaden whimsy that brings the movie's title to foolish life and may put you in mind of a live action version of Pixar's Cars.

Dance, gymnastics, so-so musical numbers, murder, mayhem and that very stiff cock. They're all here and waiting for you to figure out how to put them together. Beginning today, Wednesday, October 17, Holy Motors, with a running time of 115 minutes and distributed by Indomina, opens here in New York at Film Forum and the Elinor Bunion Munroe Film Center (the latter is where you can meet the director at either the 6:45 or 9:30pm screenings today!) Starting in November, the film will make its way around the country in a limited released. Click here to see all the currently scheduled playdates.