Mafia offshoots, teen variety, in Claudio Giovannesi's Italian melodrama, PIRANHAS

We get so few Italian movies opening theatrically here in the USA of late that TrustMovies tends to be thankful for just about any new movie from Italy that comes our way. (He greatly misses being in New York City for the yearly Open Roads series of new Italian cinema that turns up each June.)

Consequently, he was pleased to hear about and then view PIRANHAS (Italian title La paranza dei bambini, which translates, I believe, to something like a netful of children), a film directed by Claudio Giovannesi from the novel by Gomorrah scribe, Roberto Saviano, with a screenplay co-written by Saviano, Giovannesi and Maurizio Braucci.

As with Gomorrah, the new Piranhas deals with the mafia/cammora as so integral and longstanding a part of Italian society as to be practically inseparable from what we might call "life itself." Taking place in the streets, clubs and homes of Naples, Italy (some of those homes are impressive indeed), the film begins as a gang of Naples teenagers steals a huge Christmas tree from a public place, while warding off an attack by a rival gang.

Giovannesi, pictured at right, has staged this, along with a number of other "action" scenes quite well, initially pulling us in via a single character then expanding to more and more, until his movie opens up in surprising, often impressive, ways.

If Piranhas tells us little that is new, as this small gang of willful, mischief-making but rather sweet boys (above) turns into a batch of profiteering murderers, it tells its tale in smart, swift, gorgeously photographed scenes (by Daniele Cipri, who directed and shot It Was the Son and handled cinematography on several of the recent films of Marco Bellocchio).

Piranhas also thrusts into prominence a young man appropriately named Francesco de Napoli (above, right, and below, left) who, at 15 years of age, gives a star-making debut performance in the leading role of Nicola, the boy who leads this gang of newbies. Signore Di Napoli, has a face that the camera eats right up and then asks for more. He's beautiful (he may remind you in certain scene of the young Alain Delon), but he's also full of energy and specificity in terms of his performance. He's not content to simply look good (though at all times he certainly does).

As Nicola turns from a somewhat tender, intelligent, hopeful young man (who wants to protect his mom and her dry cleaning establishment from camorra predators) into a killer, Di Napoli charts the course with plenty of energy and character-defining detail. His attraction to and maybe love for the young girl (Viviana Aprea, below) from a neighboring community is handled with the kind of youthful bravado and carelessness rife among youth in just about all western cultures.

The film also offers yet another object lesson in the danger to society of kids with guns, as consequences -- intended and unintended -- come to pass with a finality that these youthful idiots simply cannot or will not appreciate. Though the end results here will clearly go against our protagonists eventually -- as newer, smarter, younger folk come into power --  filmmaker Giovanese (who also gave us the sweet and unusual prison love story, Fiore) spares us the sadness, pain and bloodshed by simply ending on the road to an oncoming act of vengeance.

If this seems too easy, it is also somehow appropriate. Younger audiences can revel in the immediate thrill, while us older folk shake our heads and murmur, "Sure, kids: just wait...."

From Music Box Films, in Italian with English subtitles and running 112 minutes, Piranhas opens in New York City this Friday, August 2, at Film at Lincoln Center, and then expands to another 17 cities -- including Los Angeles at the Landmark NuArt on August 9 -- over the coming weeks. To see all currently scheduled playdates, cities and theaters, click here and then scroll down to click on Theatrical Engagements.

Carla Simón's SUMMER 1993: a fine autobiographical slice of Catalonian life

In annals of rigorously unsentimental cinema of a child working through trauma into some kind of acceptance, there are not a whole lot of examples that TrustMovies can name off the top of his head. (Forbidden Games comes to mind, but it has been so very long since I've seen that gem of a movie that it may be more sentimental that I remember, and The Two of Us, as lovely as it often is, is most definitely sentimental.) Both these films deal with World War II, and the latter with the Jewish Holocaust -- which is often the case with these movies about childhood.

What is quite different about SUMMER 1993, the new autobiographical Spanish film from Catalonia (in Catalan with English subtitles) opening this week, is that it takes place nowhere near wartime. In fact, much of the movie unfurls in the bucolic Catalonian countryside. You could hardly ask for a more gorgeous, verdant setting, and yet the trauma that our heroine, the seven-year-old Frida, must endure -- the recent death of her mother, following that of her father some time before -- is not at all placated by that beauty.

As directed and co-written (with Valentina Viso) by first-time full-length filmmaker Carla Simón (shown above), the movie is made with the kind of deceptive simplicity that seems almost off-hand and improvisational. Performances are first-rate -- the two leading children are particularly amazing: as real as you could want -- and the adults on view give beautifully calibrated performances, as well.

The two young girls are played by Laia Artigas (as the seven-year-old Frida, above, right) and Paula Robles (as the four-year-old Anna, above, left), while the two major adult roles belong to Bruna Cusí (below, left) and David Verdaguer (below, right, of 10.000 KM), as the aunt and uncle who take Frida into their family as someone as close to their own child as possible. The movie never shies away from showing Frida as a child problemed enough to create additional problems -- some minor (a comb tossed out a car window) others major (jealousy toward her little cousin) -- for herself and her new family. All this provides additional heft in keeping sentimentality at bay.

Another great strength of the movie is the manner in which Ms Simón shows us almost everything from a child's-eye view, smartly replacing the usual exposition with realistic behavior and speech. The manner in which the adult family members talk "around" things so as to protect Frida; how non-family reacts to the child's skinned and bloody knee after a small accident; the question of what caused the death of Frida's parents (those who remember the late 80s and 90s, along with drug users, hemophiliacs and the gay community, will probably come to the right conclusion more quickly than others) -- all this is given us via dribs and drabs of very well executed dialog and visuals.

Though appearing almost improvisational, Summer 1993 is filmed with a careful precision that brings to life each small moment and situation. And though there is no war either imminent nor recently finished, because this is Spain, the Spanish Civil War and the dictatorship of Francisco Franco rest always just below the surface, mirrored in the political/cultural attitudes and actions of the different generations we view. (That's Isabel Rocatti, below, as Frida's grandmother.)

The movie is extremely episodic, and this may turn off some viewers. And yet, because each episode is handled so well, the resulting movie manages to build to a finale that is both surprising and somehow hoped for. No explanation is given for Frida's sudden outburst, but discerning viewers will, I think, understand and appreciate the psychological truth -- about loss and acceptance, love and hope -- that underpins the behavior on view here.

Stick Summer 1993, a major award-winner in its own country and at festivals worldwide, on your must-see list. From Oscilloscope Films and running 97 minutes, the movie opens this Friday, May 25, in Los Angeles at Laemmle's Royal and in New York City at the Film Society of Lincoln Center, before making the rounds of more than 20 other major cities across the country. Here in South Florida, the film will open June 15 at the Tower Theater, Miami, and the Living Room Theaters in Boca Raton. Click here then scroll down to view all currently scheduled playdates.

THE FLORIDA PROJECT: another small but strong movie from indie filmmaker Sean Baker

I've been following the films of Sean Baker since his 2004 sophomore effort, Take Out (you can find my review and Q&A with the filmmaker here) and finding that work evolving, growing richer and stronger with each new film. Baker has now made six full-length features, with his latest THE FLORIDA PROJECT, the most precious jewel in the crown. Word was out early regarding how special is this movie and, for those who love narrative films with a documentary feel, as all of his films have so far seemed, this one will not disappoint.

Mr. Baker, shown at right, loves children -- both of the small sort, and those who, though they may look like adults -- see Starlet and Tangerine for a couple of examples -- still mostly act like the kids they've never been able to move beyond. How they manage (or don't) to begin to make that move comprises the arc of those two films and their characters' stories. With The Florida Project, Baker gives the actual small kids their lead and lets them run with it. The result is initially bubbly, bracing and enormous fun, but as the movie moves along, its dark side surfaces almost equally. What's missing for most of these kids is not only proper parenting but the kind of safety net any decent society needs. The movie does not "tell" us this; it doesn't need to because it shows us so clearly everything we need to know.

The film takes place in the Orlando, Florida, area -- far enough away but also near enough to Disney World to make that place resonate without our ever actually having to see it (throughout most of the movie, at least). Instead we and our scrappy heroine, Moonee, played by a very young actress, Brooklynn Prince (shown above, center, and below, right), who makes an indelible impression here, hang out at the low-end motel in which the kids and their caretakers live. All the children are terrific and seem as real as kids get, but Ms Prince receives the major screen time, and she's worth every minute of it.

As her problemed mom, newcomer Bria Vinaite (above) is equally real and twice as troubling, as the character stumbles from one bad move to the next and yet keeps caring for her daughter as best she can -- which is, unfortunately, not really very well.

The filmmaker mixes professionals actors with non-pros and does this with such ease that if you did not already recognize performers such as Caleb Landry Jones, Macon Blair and especially Willem Dafoe (shown above, and who is as incredibly fine here, playing what you might call a "normal" character, as he has ever been), you would think them all just part of the real people Baker has recruited for his project.

Baker's choice of incident builds carefully and very well to what will be a turning point. We don't know quite in what direction it will turn, nor whether it will help or hinder, but by then we've spent nearly two breathless hours watching, smiling, wincing, frowning and feeling childhood, its joys and discontents, as strongly as you could want -- and all with characters from an economic/social class of which many of us don't rub up against at all often. When we do, we're likely to somehow discount them. Mr. Baker (as with all his films) makes certain that doesn't happen here.

The Florida Project, from A24 and running 115 minutes, opened on its home ground, Orlando, last weekend and will hit Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton and West Palm Beach this Friday, October 20, along with elsewhere throughout the country now and in the weeks to come. To discover the theaters nearest you, simply click here.

That popular Herman Koch novel, THE DINNER, gets a second go-round via Oren Moverman

Comparisons may be odious, but they're unavoidable when two movies, based on the same popular novel (The Dinner by Herman Koch) follow each other to the screen with only a couple of years in between. TrustMovies did not read the original work, but he did see and cover the first of those films, a fine Italian version with an all-star cast, some 18 months ago (you can find his review here). That initial version is, in every way, better than the latest rendition of THE DINNER, which opens this week. That said, there are a number of good reasons to view this new film, adapted and directed by Oren Moverman (the filmmaker is shown below).

The best reason is to see actor Steve Coogan (below) -- long a terrific comedian who's very good at impersonations, too -- give the performance of his life (so far). Coogan plays one of two brothers (Richard Gere plays the other) who are usually at odds with one another, and what this actor slowly unveils is something to see. To call this performance a revelation is to short-change it entirely. Where your sympathy lies will turn upside down and sideways before the film is finished.

Essaying the roles of the brother's wives are two of our finest actresses -- Laura Linney (below, left) playing Coogan's, and Rebeccs Hall (below, right) as Gere's -- and both are as good as we've come to expect, though Ms Hall and her enormous talent are nowhere near embraced by this far too circumscribed role.

Gere himself, below, continues to give one excellent performance atop another, and he is first-class here, as well, playing the very successful brother (a politician about to begin a run for higher office). Coogan plays the "lesser" brother, always in his sibling's shadow.

The plot hinges on the two couple's children, one of which is heavily involved in a violent incident at a local ATM (below). How all this comes out, and what the quartet of characters intends to do about it makes up the meat of the movie.

As we learn more about that ATM incident, and about the people we're dealing with, sympathies waver, change, and then perhaps change again. Front and center is the narcissistic and entitled culture in which so many of us live today, whether we be the folk who can afford the five-star restaurant at which the titular dinner takes place, or simply those who are the hangers-on.

Mr. Moverman makes far too much of that restaurant, its food and the presentation (above), for we've seen this sort of thing too many times before. He also goes all out in a section of the film midway along in which Gettysburg (below) and its place in the mind and heart of the Coogan character is explored in too much length and detail. While it may make clearer what all this means to the character, it also stops the movie dead in its tracks for a time.

And yet, those four excellent lead performances, together with the engrossing tale that is spun, are good enough to carry the film, keeping us more than hooked and, of course, wondering what we might do if pushed into similar circumstances.

The original Italian version, which I highly recommend, can be purchased or rented/streamed via its U.S. distributor, Film Movement, and can also be streamed currently on Netflix. Meanwhile, you can view the new American version via the information below.

From The Orchard and running a little-too-long two hours, the film hits theaters around the country in one of the widest openings I think this little distributor has so far seen. Here in South Florida, it will play in the Miami area at Regal South Beach 18, AMC Sunset Place 24, AMC Aventura 24; in Ft. Lauderdale at the Silverspot Cinema, The Classic Gateway Theatre, AMC Broward 18 Pompano; and the West Palm Beach area at the AMC Indian River 24, The Living Room Theaters, Regal Shadowood 16, Regal Royal Palm Beach 18, and the Movies of Lake Worth and Movies of Delray, In New York City it plays the AMC Empire 25, the AMC Lowe Lincoln Square and the Landmark Sunshine; and in Los Angeles, it opens at The Landmark in West L.A. (and elsewhere), Click here to see all currently scheduled playdates and/or to find a theater in your area.

Lucile Hadzihalilovic's follow-up, EVOLUTION, proves another stylish, mysterious provocation

For all those hoping that more brilliant lightning might strike again, after Lucile Hadzihalilovic's earlier amazement, Innocence, I would suggests tamping down those expectations. Her new film, EVOLUTION does not begin to achieve the visual delights coupled to compelling tale that the earlier movie delivered. That said, there is still plenty to enjoy here -- visually, in particular -- if you don't mind some repetition and pacing of the snail variety. As I recall, Innocence ran a couple of hours, while this new film lasts but 81 minutes.

Content-wise, however, the bill remains unfilled. As in her earlier endeavor, Ms Hadzihalilovic, shown at right, takes us to a time and place that exists.... well, we know not where. It could be the future but it might also be some sort of dream or vision. Innocence told a story of a group of young girls and for what they were being groomed. Evolution does the same, but this time with young boys. And it is an even darker vision that the filmmaker presents this time around.

It is also a much less enticing world, in terms of the visuals on offer. Though the film takes place at the seashore, perhaps on an island, once we get inside (we stay there much of the time), the color palette is dark and drab, and although where we are appears to be a kind of  "hospital" located in a tiny village, everything looks about as clean and pristine as a shit pit. Perhaps this village's Health and Welfare budget has been decreed upon by our current Republican Party lawmakers.

The movie, like Innocence, is very spare regarding dialog. There is little of it, but the sense of mystery that hovers over all, together with the creepy visuals, help make up for this lack. Our lead character is a beautiful young boy named Nicolas (played by newcomer Max Brebant, above). In fact this village is peopled only with young boys and adult women: no young girls nor men of any age are ever seen.

What does this mean? And what in hell are the women doing to the boys? The answers slowly become clearer, if not transparent, as "mothers" (such as Julie-Marie Parmentier, above) are shown to be anything but motherly, and only one odd "nurse" (Roxane Duran, below) might possibly turn out to be a figure for good in the life of our little boy.

Evolution proves to be a very dark tale, ugly even. But it achieves its ends via quiet, disturbing images that often raise more questions than they answer. Ms Hadzihalilovic keeps us on track, however, and by the finale we can perhaps find a little hope for our beleaguered protagonist, although even this is rather "iffy," considering all that we still do not know.

What keeps the movie from resonating as strongly as it might is its very slow pace, during which -- for some of the time, at least -- we learn little that is new. Eventually this weighs the film down, especially given its dank, dark interiors and multitudinous nighttime scenes. What keeps it afloat, however, is Hadzihalilovic's fertile imagination and originality. No one that I can think of has made a movie much like either Innocence or Evolution. What's next, I wonder?

From IFC Midnight, Evolution opens this Friday in New York City at the IFC Center.  Elsewhere? Not sure, but as the film will simultaneously appear on VOD, if you want to see it anytime soon, you will surely be able.

Horror and parenting combine in Jennifer Kent's classy, psychologically riveting THE BABADOOK

If you're a fan of talented Australian actress Essie Davis, particularly of her hit TV series, Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, stick her new film, in which she is unrecognizable (so far as "Miss Fisher" is concerned) -- the first full-length endeavor from writer/director Jennifer Kent -- on your must-see list. Davis is simply amazing in this role of a hugely put-upon mother, trying to keep her body and soul (as well as her son's) together in the wake of an otherworldly intruder known as THE BABADOOK.

As writer/director, Ms Kent (shown at left) is onto something important and rather fierce: the idea that what we repress can take a physical form that might be our undoing. Now, you can approach this from platforms supernatural or psychological. Kent makes both work quite well, vying, as the film unspools, for our attention and decision. How we are pulled one way, then another, by the shocks and scares -- visual and audial (the exceptional sound design is by Frank Lipson) keep us off balance and forever questioning what is really going on here.

Visually the film is quite elegant, beautifully designed and a pleasure to observe. Ms Kent's command of character and her ability to keep us off-balance in this, too, is pretty remarkable. In the leading roles of mother and her son, Samuel, Ms Davis and a young actor named Noah Wiseman (in his film debut) are exceptional. Initially, we see Samuel as an adorable little boy who's also a handful -- but then we're soon ready to throttle the kid, given his manners and what he gets up to.

As the film rolls on, however, it's Momma who begins to worry us more. Yet as we also slowly learn the facts of the history of this sad family, nothing at all seems simple or easily judged. And Ms Davis is so good at keeping us in that fraught state between fear and hope that we eventually become about as shaken up as do the characters she and young Master Wiseman (above and below) bring to such moving, frightening life.

What, finally, is the titular Babadook? Primal fears, the nastier side of us, repressed anger we've never handled, or a full-fledged, never-to-be-destroyed monster man? You decide -- between your bouts of fright, fun and, yes, sadness. Because some things go beyond any possible repair.

The Babadook -- from IFC Midnight and running 94 minutes -- opens this Friday, November 28, in New York City at the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center and the IFC Center. In the Los Angeles area, look for it at The Cinefamily at Silent Movie Theatre, beginning tomorrow, November 26, at midnight, and then continuing from Friday, Nov. 28 through Tuesday., Dec 2. Simultaneously, the film will open via VOD, so consult your local cable carrier for specifics.

SHORT TERM 12: Brie Larson breaks out, as does fine new filmmaker Destin Cretton

The conversation that opens SHORT TERM 12 -- a new and bracing slice-of-(foster-care)-life from the gifted young filmmaker Destin Cretton -- is wonderfully indicative of what's to come. In it, a few young people stand around chatting about some things we don't fully understand but that seem pretty funny and odd, even enjoyable on some level. Then something very weird happens, after which we quickly catch on to what's happening here.

We're at (and soon inside) a foster-care facility in some large city (L.A. maybe?) where the young people are allowed to stay for only a limited time. Once we see these kids and the truly caring staff who oversees them, we can easily understand why they don't want to leave and, as that time draws near, they start acting out, frightened and unsure of what is to come. Filmmaker Destin Cretton, shown at left, who earlier gave us a short version of the film, as well as last year's I Am Not a Hipster, tosses us in media res and lets us catch on as we will. He threads his narrative with the necessary exposition so cunningly that we're eating it up even as we're breathlessly keeping up with what's going on.

The characters and their situation do double duty as the plot. Workers at the foster-care home -- Grace, played by Brie Larson, above (currently seen to good effect in The Spectacular Now), in what has to be her breakout role (actresses would kill for a part this juicy!), and Mason (an excellent John Gallagher Jr., below, of Margaret and Whatever Works) -- are also lovers who have what appears to be a truly meaningful relationship, even if Grace can't seem to "share" important things very well.

So far as the young people go, all of those at the short-term home look like kids you'd want to help and would grow to care about. Two of them and their stories stand out. Marcus (played by a real find named Keith Stanfield, below, right, with Ms Larson) is the kid about to leave -- and quite frightened at this prospect,

while Jayden (Kaitlin Dever, below) is a troubled youngster with a powerful father whose situation and response to it brings everything, including the relationship of Grace and Mason, to a head. In telling his story, Mr. Cretton places behavior front and center and lets everything flow from that. With a cast this talented, coupled to a screenplay and dialog -- semi-improvised or not, I don't know -- that seem spot-on, the story practically tells itself and only very rarely do its seams show.

The movie demonstrates, in a manner similar to the under-seen It's Kind of a Funny Story, how fair and loving care of patients can work toward growth and the assumption of responsibility in their movement toward autonomy.

This is no small achievement on its own terms. Couple it to acting, writing and direction of a high order -- there's even a bit of brilliant rap poetry along the way -- and you have one of the year's finest films. As happens in only the best of movies, this one often seems like life itself unfurling.

Short Term 12, via Cinedigm and running 96 minutes, opens this Friday in New York City (at the Landmark Sunshine Cinema and the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center) and in Los Angeles at the Arclight Hollywood and The Landmark. In the weeks to come the film will have a limited rollout across the entire country. Click here then scroll down to see all currently scheduled playdates, with cities and theaters listed.