Art and the folk who make it, sell it and buy it get a good going-over in Michael Walker's terrific little indie, PAINT

The best movie about art that I have seen in a long, long time, PAINT, written and directed by Michael Walker, plays fast and fair with all its characters -- most of whom are all too hypocritically human and a little too full of  themselves -- from the Pratt students determined to make great art and their cynical professor to the older successful artist, and especially the people who sell that art, along with the wealthy public that buys it. 

Paint may be a comedy -- much of it is gleefully funny -- but it is also serious about the desire to create art, where this comes from and how it is manipulated every which way on its journey from imagination to creation to sale (or not). The beauty and surprise Mr. Walker (the filmmaker is shown at right) has in store comes from his understanding that this need to create is genuine -- even if, especially if, the creators are often so unformed and clueless that they unable, at this point in their life and career, to achieve anything resembling their best impulses and ideas.

So these three art students/friends, played by (above, left to right) Olivia Luccardi, Josh Caras and Paul Cooper, bumble along in art, life, love, sex, theft, marketing and much else, and that bumbling is often so much fun that anyone genuinely interested in art and/or creativity will want to come along for the ride. 

The filmmaker mixes in young and old artists (the wonderful David Patrick Kelly plays the funniest and maybe smartest character in the film), students and teachers (Austin Pendleton, above, gets a lovely rant early on in the film), parents and children, buyers and sellers -- and all to great effect. His plotting and pacing are as much fun as his people, so that the 95 minutes whiz by in no time.

As one of our main character notes early on, "Is it my fault I haven't suffered? I just think there's more to life that that!" But what? And so he comes up with an idea -- oh, my! --  that is indeed something rather new, and then he gets his best buddy to help him. Which leads to a lot more fun and games at the same time that the female in this crew is finding her own success via a road not so often taken, at least not via the very amusing route we have here.

Along the way filmmaker Walker fills us in on all kinds of art theft, even as he gives us a group of characters who, for all their insecurities, occasional nastiness and naivete, are rather sweet, fun and almost always funny. 

The third wheel in this group finds his own way of connecting to the art world and its wonders (including sex), and the film's finale could hardly be bettered, giving us not just a sudden and surprising look at another kind of  "real" art, but also showing us the unintended consequences that creativity can sometimes bring. 

From Gravitas Ventures (though I dare you to try to find it on the firm's web site), Paint was released via VOD on most major platforms last week. It is definitely worth a watch, as it introduces quite a raft of talent -- in front of and behind the camera. Click here and/or here for more information.

Prime Video discovery: Simone Godano's delightful AN ALMOST ORDINARY SUMMER

More than mere coincidence, almost every time TrustMovies sees the Warner Brothers logo on a film from Italy, that movie turns out to be a good one: fun, intelligent, mainstream entertainment. But when that same logo appears on an American movie, it is likely to be one of that studio's schlock blockbusters and a major waste of time for any thinking adult. How can two such divergent reactions keep occurring? Well, Italy has long been known for making wonderful films about family, which this new one -- directed by Simone Godano (shown below) and written by Giulia Louise Steigerwalt (with some input from Signore Godano) -- definitely is. 

AN ALMOST ORDINARY SUMMER (its Italian title is Croce e Delizia, which translates as Cross and Delight) tracks the journey of two Italian families in which the fathers/grandfathers of each have fallen in love (and lust) with each other. 

One family, headed by that highly talented icon of sexy smarts, Alessandro Gassman (below, left), is salt-of-the-earth working class with ultra-traditional values, while the other, under the rule of suave Fabrizio Bentivoglio (below, right), is wealthy, elitist but maybe only a tiny bit "woke."

These patres familias may be in love with each other, but the two families are definitely not. So when one grown child of each -- played by Jasmine Trinca, below left, and Filippo Scicchitano, right -- decides to work with the other to sabotage his and her parent's relationship, the movie grows consistently funnier, earthier, sadder, smarter and simply tons of fun. 

The clever screenplay lets us explore the Italian look at prejudices of all sorts, sexual to class-related, and nobody here comes out super-clean. One of the great strengths of the movie is how mixed a bag each of the characters really is. Yet thanks to the clever plotting, smart writing and excellent performances from the entire ensemble, we end up rooting for them all. 

An Almost Ordinary Summer is mainstream and feel-good, all right, but it never loses its hold on a reality in which the divergent must be brought together somehow. Boy, we could use this in the USA these days, but instead we have Donald Trump, his lock-step Republicans, and his idiot base doing all they can to hijack this past election -- chanting  "Stop the Vote" in one state while screaming "Count the Vote" in another. Can somebody please pass out a few spare brains to these folk in need?

But I digress. If you need something lovely -- set in a gorgeous locale with sumptuous interiors, verdant seaside exteriors, and lots of delicious-looking food -- that will make you think and laugh and feel very nice indeed, Croce e Delizia  is the film for you. 

From Wolfe Releasing (and available to view via Amazon Prime), in Italian with English subtitles and running  just 100 minutes, give this Italian mainstream gem a whirl.

Charm and goofy fun from New Zealand in Hayden J. Weal/Thomas Sainsbury's DEAD

Other than Canada, TrustMovies would say it's New Zealand whose films overall have a distinct enough feel and attitude that they can, whatever genre in which they might appear, be pretty quickly identified as to their home country. (Of course, with New Zealand the accent certainly helps.)  DEAD -- a most aptly titled otherworldly rom-com, murder, mayhem and mama movie -- proves another such film, one that builds slowly but significantly toward its low-key giggles, slight-but-effective scares, and a number of very nice surprises along the way. I  do not want to oversell this little oddball, but if you stick with it, the rewards are plenteous and lovely.

From the outset as one of our heroes (the dead one, a former cop) comes back as a ghost -- dressed only in a vest, shirt and skivvies -- this bizarre and quirky gem gathers steam and smarts. Our other hero (the live one), a pothead who likes to indulge, has the ability to see ghosts and then try to unite them with their loved ones, thanks to a combination of a certain medicine and other drugs to which he's partial. (Yes, you either suspend your disbelief and accept this or move along to your next movie.)

As co-written and directed by Hayden J. Weal (shown above and at left below), who also plays the dead hero, and co-written by Thomas Sainsbury (below, right), who plays the live one, their movie is in one sense similar to a whole lot of others you've seen, while in another sense proving to be utterly original via its own witty style, charm and, yes,  that specific New Zealand "attitude."

This is a kind of buddy/bromance in which our live hero also begins to bond with the dead's one's very living sister (the gorgeous and funny Tomai Ihaia, below, right), even as he is trying to work out his problems with others (his drug dealer, his mother, and his various bereaved clients).

In addition to our dead cop, a number of other ghosts populate the film and are often nearly as funny as the living characters. On top of all this, the movie deals with another important subject/theme which I am going to refrain from even naming because the way in which Dead handles this one is exemplary: subtle, witty and with increasing humor that reaches its delightful zenith during the end credits, set in a heaven where one's genitalia is covered in, well, the most adorable manner.

This movie is simultaneously dark, dirty, endearing and often off-the-wall hilarious. It also takes its oddball place amongst memorable "mother" movies, for reasons I will also not go into here. Dear reader, you deserve all the goofy surprises in store. (That's Jennifer Ward-Leland, below, as our live hero's mater dearest.) 

I was so thoroughly enjoying this film that I forgot to take any notes. So this review may be shorter than usual.  But I would not be surprised to find Dead ending up on my best-of-year list -- not because it is anything approaching great but simply due to its being such an original: an eccentric, satisfying little bit of the unexpected.

From 1091 Pictures and running 91 minutes, Dead hits certain theaters and virtual cinema today, Friday, September 25, and will reach home video -- for purchase or rental -- on October 6.

(Mostly) lovable losers populate Will Addison/ Ben Matheny's road-trip indie, EASY DOES IT

Losers have a long and storied history on film -- particularly, I suspect, in the independent realm -- but losers of the actually lovable type prove fewer and farther between. To the array we can now add the characters of Jack (Ben Matheny) and Scottie (Matthew Paul Martinez), two really dumb dolts who just about never get anything right.

A little of this kind of thing can go quite quickly to extremes, and while I must admit this keeps threatening to occur with EASY DOES IT, thanks to these two performances (plus a lot of good supporting work), the co-writing and direction of Will Addison (shown below, with this, his first full-length film after a bunch of shorts), and co-writing from Mr. Matheny, we stick around.

The movie's plot, such as it is, has Jack and Scottie owing money to the local crime lord (a funny, scary turn by Linda Hamilton, above, in dreadlocks), as simultaneously Jack receives a post card from his now-deceased mom telling him that she has left him something. So our pair hightails it across the country  toward California to claim that "inheritance," pursued by said crime lord's daughter and major "enforcer" (Susan Gordon).

Mayhem ensues, in addition to a lot of sprightly, fast-moving fun, with the entry -- and then re-entry -- of a new character named Collin, played with relish and delight by Cory Dumesnil at left, below), that gooses the movie into becoming even more enjoyable.

Along the way, we're treated to quite a number of lovely if oddball visuals -- from shards of broken glass that turn into stars in the night sky to a reflection of EMERGENCY in a rain puddle to a ton of thick red paint washing away in that rain --  while supporting actor Bryan Batt gets the film's funniest line, a surprised but dead-on assessment of our two heroes:
"You all are stupid!"

The writing occasionally rises to funny metaphorical heights, too: "America has gone and over-expanded itself: too little jelly over too much toast." Though the film is said to be set during the 1970s, because the locations are mostly America's south and southwest, you could practically believe these are current times, as well. (Actors/stars Matheny and Martinez are shown above, right and left, respectively.)

Can't make any claim to greatness for this little film, but if you're interested in viewing good performances (from both known and not-so-known actors), while watching new talent emerge, then take a chance on this one. From Gravitas Ventures and running 97 minutes, Easy Does It hits VOD and Digital HD this Friday, July 17 -- for purchase and/or rental.

Tyler Cornack's BUTT BOY arrives for Easter Sunday. And, no, it's not a gay porno film.

It is, however, just about everything else you can imagine, should you decide you mash one genre into another into another into another until you've exhausted the field, yourself and perhaps your audience, as well. 

BUTT BOY, the new film directed and co-written (with Ryan Koch) by Tyler Cornack (who also co-stars) is an utterly weird combination of (all deadpan) comedy, workplace/business satire, fantasy, family movie, kidnap thriller, police procedural, and neo-noir featuring kinky-sexual-pleasure. There's no science-fiction, however (even if the publicity material suggests there is), because there's absolutely no science present here, just some bizarre fantasy.

Mr. Cornack, shown at right and in some of the stills below, has created something different, all right, and for a good portion of this 100-minute movie, his initial quiet, suggestive style -- perhaps due to a very low budget not allowing for many special effects, which he saves in any case for his finale -- keeps us guessing and often in thrall.

The story here takes us into the seemingly tired, boring workplace and marital life of a man named Chip (Cornack, below), who, during a routine visit to his urologist/proctologist. experiences something so life-changing that he discovers he is able, and so begins, to suck various items -- these grow larger and larger -- up his butt. When a local child goes missing, things come to a halt and suddenly it's nine years later, when Chip's s addiction re-surfaces.

Oddly enough, the movie Butt Boy most reminds me of is the very recent film, Swallow, in which a newly-married and wealthy housewife begins swallowing small-but-dangerous items until something needs to be done about this.  The style and theme of both films are quite different however, but the premise of a woman who inserts odd objects down her mouth and a man who does this up his butt seems bizarrely similar. (Even one or two of the swallowed/sucked-up objects are rather alike.) 

Swallow is a serious film, while Butt Boy is anything but, and so, for a while, the deadpan comedy -- as a suspicious detective (Tyler Rice, above) tracks our non-hero -- helps keep things afloat. How and why this detective has managed to put together his theory is neither intelligent nor believable (one single clue is all it takes?), but once past this point the movie opts for total fantasy and then, during the final third, the special effects kick in and the film becomes downright silly/crazy.

One must  give Butt Boy, along with Cornack, credit for doing something original, at least, even if his movie goes on for ten to twenty minutes too long. With this kind of thing, less is definitely more. And during the first half of the film, Cornack's elliptical, suggestive style works well with his deadpan humor; then the too-muchness takes over.

Those who prefer "too much" may embrace Butt Boy more easily than did TrustMovies. Either way, this is pretty much a one-off kind of film -- something you might have seen in days of yore from Troma Entertainment, but handled with more taste and subtlety (for awhile, at least.) And the film's final "they are risen!" moment makes it a shoo-in for coverage today, Easter Sunday.

From Epic Pictures and running 100 minutes, the movie makes its debut -- now that theaters seem a thing of the past -- via VOD, digital streaming and Blu-ray disc, beginning this Tuesday, April 14. Click here to learn how you can view.

Stream this year's Christmas hit: John McPhail's ANNA AND THE APOCALYPSE

Likely to become a holiday classic -- thanks to its delightful and original combination of high school musical, zombie pic and Christmas movie -- ANNA AND THE APOCALYPSE snuck into theaters in limited release at the end of last year (garnering some very nice reviews in the process) and is now available to stream via Amazon Prime. The movie's a winner, a keeper, and an all-round wonder as it unfurls its very charming, funny and bizarre "take" on high school, love, friendship, Christmas pageants and zombies. Really, this is the best zombie movie since Train to Busan and the best original musical in several years (for my money it beats the too-precious La La Land all to heck).

As directed with a remarkably intuitive sense of tone and tenor by John McPhail (at left) and co-written -- with not just exceptional "smarts" but also an appreciation of and love for the genres they send up and add to -- by Alan McDonald and the late Ryan McHenry (to whom the work is dedicated), this little film finds its footing so quickly and securely that I suspect film buffs will recall it fondly and lovingly when many other more trumpeted, high-budget movies will have long faded from memory.

The story is simple and initially rather sweet. As Anna and her loving dad drive along the highway discussing Anna's future (for which they each have a different plan), on the radio we hear, "The CDC has announced that what it initially thought to be a contagious--", at which point Anna switches the radio off, and we continue with high school and teenagers, the trauma of growing up, falling in love (of course with the wrong person), and putting on the yearly Christmas pageant. Talk about a pointed but relatively subtle manner in which to introduce the expectation of zombies -- and then having the chutzpah to simply leave them offscreen for quite some time!

By the time we do see them, Anna (Ella Hunt, above center) and her friends are so immersed in teenage narcissism and song (a lovely, funny one, too) that they don't even notice the undead cavorting in their slow, zombie fashion behind them. (These zombies adhere to the better, slower George Romero version, which allows for a lot more leeway, escape routes and fun.)

Anna's friends include her "bestie," John (a sweet Malcolm Cumming (above, center), who clearly loves Ella in more than a best-friend way, and student investigative journalist Steph (no-nonsense Sarah Swire, at left, below),

and especially the school bully, Nick (Ben Wiggins, below), who turns out to have a bit more on the ball than bullies in other films. Wiggins also gets a great song midway along that reinforces how cleverly Anna and the Apocalypse plays with the genre conventions of zombie movies, high-school rom-coms, Christmas movies and so much else.

The supporting cast is terrific, too, with Paul Kay, below, left, as the succulently sleazy school headmaster, and Mark Benton, below, right, the very picture of a kindly, loving, over-protective dad.

Who survives and who does not may surprise you, and this certainly adds to the film's thrills and sometimes to its sadness. (As one of the songs tells us, "There's no such thing as a Hollywood ending.") I can't remember when a zombie movie made me laugh and touched me in the way this one does, yet even the moving moments don't seem too sentimental. They're all delivered with a wit and a style that seduce. (Who'd imagine a Christmas candy cane as a prime zombie-killing tool?)

Marli Siu (above) makes a sweet secondary love interest for the school's nerdy-but-nice photographer, a funny, on-the-mark Christopher Leveaux (below, center left). The musical numbers range from very good to OK, with more of the former than the latter, and they are produced and executed so well that they seem utterly organic to the rest of the film. In a movie that mashes this many genres, that took some doing.

Oh, yes, there's gore, too. This is a zombie film, after all. But even the blood is handled with the same kind of smart tone and subtlety as all else here. Boy, what a special little movie this is!

Streaming now via Amazon Prime, and also available for rental or purchase on DVD and Blu-ray, Anna and the Apocalypse is simply too good to miss. It'll take its place with other fine, dark Christmas movies, for folk who need a respite from the current feel-good holiday twaddle filling our network TV, cable and streaming services.

Daniel Schechter's AFTER CLASS (aka Safe Spaces) makes good on a 13-year-old promise

If there's a better ensemble dramedy this year than AFTER CLASS -- the new film from writer/director Daniel Schechter -- I haven't yet seen it. Beginning with a scene in a college classroom in which a professor goads a student into speaking more truthfully about a short story she's written, and in the process spilling the beans regarding some of her sexual activity, the movie starts out fast, fresh and full of energy and keeps its delightful pace going for all of its 93 minutes.

The "promise" TrustMovies refers to in his headline above is that of a wonderful movie -- the embodiment of what a true piece of American independent cinema can be -- entitled The Big Bad Swim that came out in 2006, the terrific screenplay for which was written by Mr. Schechter, who went on the adapt and direct the under-rated Life of Crime and now this new little gem. Schechter, shown at right, has a real gift for witty, fast-paced and utterly believable dialog and also for storytelling using ensemble casts.

The filmmaker gives everyone in his ensembles the chance to shine by making even the smaller roles full and resonant. He also has the smarts to give his characters just about as many annoying traits as charming ones, and he scrupulously shows us various sides to the many different characters and situations he creates. And, boy, does he create a bunch of them.

Beginning with a crash course in political correctness that of course crashes down on our chief protagonist -- played to perfection by the near-consistently marvelous actor Justin Long, above, left, in what may be his best role so far (and, no, it's not Tusk) -- the movie moves on to family matters. And what a family we have here.

There's Long and his rival brother (Michael Godere), sweet/sour sister (Kate Berlant, above, right), dying grandmother (the grand Lynn Cohen, below, right) and his mom and dad (played so very well by Fran Drescher , shown at bottom, center, and Richard Schiff). This is one of the best conceived, four-generation movie families to be seen in some time: They're funny, witty, sad, smart and always real, and best of all, while their Jewishness is alive and well, it is never beaten into the ground. It's simply a part of them, and so it eventually becomes part of us, as well.

After Class (which was initially called Safe Spaces, a better title, I think) bubbles along in high gear for its entirety. There's not a low point in the whole film, and its high points are so many they tend to simply run together, keeping us smiling -- and thinking -- throughout. Who's right and who's wrong are never crystal clear, not in matters of family, political correctness or sexuality. This, along with splendid performances, dialog and direction, makes After Class one of the most entertaining and surprising movies of the entire year.

From Gravitas Ventures, the film opens this Friday, December 6, at 16 theaters around the country. Here in South Florida, it will play the Cinema Paradiso, Hollywood, and in the Los Angeles area at Arena Cinelounge and Galaxy Mission Grove; Orlando - Old Mill Playhouse; Cleveland - Tower City Cinemas; Boston - Entertainment Cinemas Leominster; Minneapolis - Emagine Rogers 18, East Bethel 10 and Lakeville; Seattle - Galaxy Monroe; Dallas - La Gran Plaza 8; Reno - Galaxy Victorian; Las Vegas - Galaxy Theaters Luxury and Galaxy Cannery; San Francisco - 4 Star Theater; and Santa Barbara - Galaxy Colony Square. If you don't happen to live in any of these locations, good news: After Class will simultaneously be available on VOD via iTunes.