Identity, change, freedom and responsibility in Atsuko Hirayanagi's oddball debut -- OH, LUCY!

When the performance of Shinobu Terajima (the blond on the poster at left) in OH, LUCY! walked away with a nomination for Best Female Lead at this year's Independent Spirit Awards, this surprised a lot of us.

Once we'd seen the movie -- which opens in New York and Los Angeles this week -- we understood. (The film, written and directed by Atsuko Hirayanagi, also garnered a Best First Feature nomination.)

This is the unusual tale of a depressed and repressed middle-aged Japanese woman who, via an odd turn of events, ends up taking a course in the English language that very quickly sends the life she's been used to into a tailspin.

Ms Hirayanagi, pictured at right, has made a very strange but completely compelling movie that pulls you in from its initial scene, in which a hushed, almost sweet, suicide occurs, as a young man whispers goodbye into our heroine's ear before jumping in front of one of those Tokyo subway trains. As we find out more and more about this woman named Setsuko, who will soon be calling herself  "Lucy," it becomes increasingly clear how problemed she is.

Her English teacher, with whom she has but a single session before her life is thoroughly upended, is played by Josh Hartnett, an actor who could upend just about anything or anyone. Hatnett took a brief respite from acting a few years back, and since then his choice of roles, as well as his performances, have only grown richer and more interesting.

As an English instructor with quite an unusual teaching style, Hartnett (shown above, center, and at bottom) soon doubles as a unlikely romantic lead, the kind of guy who just can't resist sex when it is forced upon him aggressively enough. The actor gracefully goes from teacher to heart-throb to heel without missing a beat, and there are scenes here in which he seems to have regressed to an overgrown kid, losing ten years in the process.

While Hartnett helps hold some disparate pieces and places together (the movie moves from Japan to Southern California and back), the film belongs to its star and leading lady, Ms Terajima (above and below, right), who uses that blond wig to help effect a personality change that seems at once bizarre but absolutely necessary.

We meet Lucy's sis, another angry lady (played with ferocity and confusion by Kaho Minami, above, left) and her daughter, Lucy's niece, Mika (the adorable Shioli Kutsana, below, right), who is the catalyst for those English lessons and just about everything else that follows.

Oh, Lucy! goes from dark to delightful, sweet to sad without losing its footing. The workplace in Japan is not presented as anything very good, and the fact that suicide occurs or is mentioned a number times throughout doesn't say a whole lot positive about the culture or the society. Sure, America presents a kind of alternative, but this is clearly just a stopgap before real life intrudes again and must finally be faced.

From Film Movement, in English and Japanese (with English subtitles) and running 96 minutes, the movie opens this Friday, March 2, in New York City at the new Landmark 57 West and the Village East Cinema, and in Los Angeles at the Landmark NuArt. The film's director will be making personal appearances in both New York and L.A. Check theater schedules for details.

Pierre Godeau's DOWN BY LOVE: the old set-in-prison, forbidden-love-story told anew

TrustMovies would guess that just about every country has its own tale -- probably many of them -- like this one (god know, the U.S. has had its share down the decades) in which a prisoner and a prison guard/warden/ worker fall in love/lust and get it on, with consequences that vary from unpleasant to all-out death and destruction. DOWN BY LOVE (Eperdument). Pierre Godeau's intelligent and mostly riveting new film, based on a true tale of just this sort of situation that occurred in France some five years ago, is most interesting for what it leaves out.

M. Godeau (shown at right), who both directed and adapted his screenplay from the book about the case co-written by Florent Gonçalves (the actual warden in the case), seems to me to have tried to give both of the lovers' points of view so as not to weigh things too heavily in favor of the warden. Godeau does not, for instance, deign to let us know for what crime, exactly, our heroine has been imprisoned. (Some research on my part leads me to conclude that the girl had acted as the "lure" in entrapping a young Jewish man who was then kidnapped, tortured and died at the hands of a gang of thugs who were Muslims. That case, in turn, was the basis of another good film covered here two years back entitled 24 Days.)

The relationship between the warden and his prisoner is first shown and then grown via small increments that demonstrate the connection between the two, which appears quite mutual. Before long, the passion is so strong and intense that it begins to topple all else, including intelligent behavior on the part of the warden, if not the prisoner -- who, after all, remains "under his thumb" because of her status. In many ways, however, it is clear that she calls the shots.

In the leading roles are two César-winning actors of growing international renown: Adèle Exarchopoulos (of Blue Is the Warmest Color) and Guillaume Gallienne (practically unrecognizable here as the man who gave us Me, Myself and Mum). Their performances are reason enough to see the film: rich, strange and always believable. If you've ever been "head-over-heels," you'll understand perfectly the actions of both characters, even as you roll your eyes in recognition of the stupidity of it all.

By concentrating on the ups and downs of the love relationship above all else, M. Godeau ensures that we'll stick with the tale, no matter how egregious some of the actions are. So good are both actors at convincing us of their absolute dedication to this "amor fou" (even if the motives of one of the two are often foggy) we -- just as do many of the film's supporting characters -- forgive their idiocy, even as we realize that there will probably be hell to pay.

Down the decades, the French have proven awfully good at love stories -- crazy love in particular -- and this is one of the better examples of the (sub)genre. Godeau's attention to detail, as well as his refusal to divulge too much, carries the day. His ending is especially succulent. He doesn't bother to tell us what happens to these characters, as so many based-on-real-events movies choose to do. But just one look at the final expression of the faces of our two lovebirds makes everything clear enough.

From Distrib Films US in French with English subtitles, and running a long but not too-long 110 minutes, Down by Love reaches the USA next Tuesday, January 31, on iTunes and then the following Monday, February 6 via Google Play, Amazon, Comcast, Charter, and Vudu.

Romance and history get a good going-over in Jenni Olson's hour-long doc, THE ROYAL ROAD

A combination of California (and U.S.) history, lesbian confessional, geography lesson and meditation on the human condition -- who we are and what we want -- THE ROYAL ROAD, from documentarian Jenni Olson, offers a good deal of pleasure via its unusual tone: quiet, inquiring and a little sad. The visuals, too, are equally quiet, staid & beautifully composed via a stationary camera before which passes a parade of boats, cars, water, birds, but no people.

Ms Olson, too, goes visually missing from the movie, though it is her voice that narrates the film. I would have liked to have seen what our narrator looks like, but I am sure it was intentional that the director leaves herself, along with all other human beings, out of the visual mix. (That is she, shown left.) You can see and hear more of her by watching the charming and interesting interview with the filmmaker by Guinevere Turner and Rose Troche that appears on the Bonus Features of the new DVD -- which makes its debut this coming Tuesday, Sept. 6, via Wolfe Video.

From its outset, The Royal Road (that would be California's famous El Camino Real that links northern and southern California) tackles Olson's pursuit of unavailable women (we hear about an earlier would-be "love" in Los Angeles and then in Chapter Two, a more current one residing up north). At the same time the filmmaker goes into at length the history of California's famous (or infamous) Father Junípero Serra and his bringing Christianity to the early indigenous population. From there, we jump off into U.S. history, the Mexican-American War, the Louisiana Purchase, and the early colonization of America by the British, Spanish and French.

What do these two themes -- personal love and national conquest -- have in common? Perhaps the kind of hypocrisy that would deliberately choose would-be partners who are by their very nature (maybe straight, certainly married) unavailable, and deliberately refuse to see or understand a history in which a country practices war and genocide in order to expand its borders. (God knows, they never taught us kids any of that in my California elementary school history class. Maybe they do now.)

Whatever, Olson's honesty about both subjects is quietly bracing, and when at last she adds the famous Alfred Hitchcock movie, Vertigo, to the mix, the results are even more invigorating. Her final statement (or one of them) about what both she Hitch managed to reveal via their films is smart, funny and as engaging as all that has gone before.

Although much that we see and hear will probably be obvious to history buffs (and therapists who deal with folk who fail at relationships), I did learn some new things from the film: Did you know that both Abe Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant were opposed to the Mexican-American War? And while I thoroughly love Vertigo, I had never made the connection that Olson makes about how the choice of the name of one of Kim Novak's characters, Madeleine, might be a nod to Proust. I also loved her idea that "the re-romanticizing of California's Missionary Era," occurred just as the state's tourism was burgeoning.

The film is full of just such contemplative and thoughtful asides, and those visuals -- a shot of the side of a Northern California house and driveway as the fog begins to roll in, a bird seen in the middle of an empty alleyway -- are so consistently interesting that you won't want to blink. (The fine cinematography is by Sophia E. Constantinou, while the precision film editing comes via Dawn Logsdon of the wonderful Big Joy.)

There is even a short side trip into the pros and cons of nostalgia, with the help of Tony Kushner. One might have wished for a bit more variation and energy in Ms Olson's narrative voice; on the other hand, it makes the film more personal because it's she who is speaking. All in all, if you're of a mind and in the mood for some quiet movie contemplation, you could do well spending 65 minutes with this lovely film.

From Wolfe Video, the documentary hits the street this coming Tuesday, September 6 -- for purchase and/or rental.

Manuel Martín Cuenca's Goya-laden CANNIBAL proves the Spanish answer to non-stop boredom

Possibly the slowest-moving movie ever made (other than the oeuvre of Andy Warhol), CANNIBAL, the latest from Spanish filmmaker Manuel Martín Cuenca, left us utterly unmoved and finally uninterested. "Well," noted my spouse post-viewing, "it was kind of interesting to keep waiting and waiting to see if something would happen." Unfortunately, nothing ever does. Though I enjoyed Señor Cuenca's earlier Malas Temporadas, this one -- for all its Goya awards and nominations, is a major dud. Even one of my favorite actors, the usually amazing Antonio de la Torre, is one-note and boring here. Considering how versatile and energetic this excellent actor always is, this is not an easy thing to achieve.

One of the dead (and deadening) give-aways here is how Señor Cuenca (shown at left) chooses to end his every scene: with a too-long pause before the screen fades to black. Over time this becomes expected, obvious and very tiresome. The filmmaker is clearly going for "art" here and is absolutely not about to give us -- even in movie in which our hero murders and then eats beautiful women -- any thrills, chills or gore. The single scene of blood-letting is so chaste and arty (and also quite derivative) that we can only sigh, Ah, lovely!

Why is our boy Carlos (played by de la Torre, above), the best tailor in Granada, doing these naughty deeds? The film gives us a hint now and then. Maybe it's religion. We get the "Take, eat, for this is my body" scene in church. But then why isn't Carlos killing and eating handsome young men in Jesus-type loin-cloths rather than preying on Virgin Mary stand-ins? Well, he's straight, of course. Psychology? Late in the movie we get an explanation laughably similar to the one given about the character played by Michael Caine in Dressed to Kill.

Really, it doesn't matter why. We're simply stuck with Carlos and his predilection, and because the movie moves like molasses in January (and lasts nearly two hours), it often seems we'll be glued to this guy forever.

There is a very nice turn from the leading lady -- Olimpia Melinte -- playing two roles: the very different sisters, Alexandra (above) and Nina (below), who come into Carlos' life and begin turning it upside down. But even that description might indicate that Cuenca allows a little action into things. Carlos and his life barely move at all. Even when this fellow is in the act of committing murder --with a car, at the beach-- the movie plods.

As much as I've loved the works of de la Torre on many previous occasions (The Last Circus, Gordos, As Luck Would Have It, I'm So Excited to name but a few), here -- in this chic and arty, minimalist movie, he is forced to be so consistently closed-down that he can register little facially or in terms of body language.

Finally the film does not work on any level -- not as art, mystery, thriller, or even a decent exploration into our darker psycho-sexual leanings. The cinematography, however (by Pau Esteve Birba), is often very attractive, but the screenplay, co-credited to Cuenca and Alejandro Hernández, dawdles and feints when it ought to be pro-active and parry.

Still, the Spaniards seemed to go for it. Perhaps you have to be Spanish and Catholic to fully appreciate these goings-on. Cannibal -- released theatrically via Film Movement and its genre division, Ram Releasing -- opens this week in around 20 cities across the country, including Los Angeles (at the CineFamily) and New York (the Village East Cinema). Click here then scroll down to see all currently scheduled playdates, with cities and theaters.

Evan Glodell's BELLFLOWER opens -- with a bang and a whimper -- in New York & L.A.

The kind of movie that, from its slam-bang beginning, has you asking the questions -- Who are these people and what is going on here? -- BELLFLOWER is also the kind of movie that will have you asking the same questions at the finale. Yes, you know more about the people and place (maybe even the time period) by then, but not nearly enough to answer those questions at all thoroughly. What is clear, however, is that writer/director Evan Glodell (shown below) has talent to spare, even if he is at this point lacking some focus. Or maybe missing the forest for the trees.

Mr. Glodell's visual sense is in your face and stunning, filmed it often seems with a yellow tinge to almost everything. If you remember those movie trailers from the 50s, in which one of the tag lines was inevitably, "Passion explodes off the screen!", well, that certainly is the case here. Bellflower is, in fact, a sterling example of what happens when passion comes crashin'. In it, boy (who makes flame throwers) meets girl (who eats live crickets). And while there is more to these characters than those short descriptions might suggest, there is not, finally, enough.

Mr. Glodell has not only written and directed Bellflower, he co-produced it, did some of the editing, and -- oh, yes -- stars in it, too. If this sounds a bit like a vanity production, well, at least the guy has something to be vain about. He's good-looking, exhibits screen charisma, and knows his way around directing, if not quite so well around screenwriting. Yet.

This is a love story, of sorts. Woodrow (Glodell) meets Millie (a very good Jessie Wiseman, above left) and falls hard. How hard, we don't realize. Nor, it seems, does he, until it's too late. His best friend Aidan (Tyler Dawson, below) helps him with various "projects" (that flame thrower, target practice, etc.), while getting involved with Courtney (Rebekah Brandes, two photos down). Millie's roomie, Mike (Vincent Grashaw), doubles as on-and-off fuck-buddy, who gets "on" at precisely the wrong moment.

That's pretty much it, except that what's most disastrously missing here is context. Which is why the Who are these people? question never really gets answered. Not only are there no parents, relatives or other friends around, there's no work/employment shown either. Do these kids have jobs? How do they live? At one point along the way, $3 is mentioned as something vitally important. "Do you know what I could buy with that?!" one of them asks another. Well, actually, no: What could you buy? Are these kids some sort of American version of stunted Eurotrash? Are they perhaps trust-fund babies?  Or maybe living in an alternate universe where $3 has real purchasing power?

Instead, they inhabit some highly emotional vacuum, in which nothing but their finally too-enormous needs are important. Even Romeo and Juliet had context. So, maybe consider this movie a tragedy for the upcoming apocalyptic set. Or a semi-bromance gone wrong. Or Zabriskie Point for twats (although that original was pretty much made with twats in mind, too, though they were courting peace and love while these are more interested in death and destruction). Whatever. Glodell, for all that's missing here, has a lot going for him and will certainly be heard from again. And I hope I'll be there to see what comes next.

Bellflower, 105 minutes, from Oscilloscope Laboratories, opens tomorrow, Friday, August 5, in Los Angeles (Landmark's Nuart) and New York (Angelika Film Center) and elsewhere in the weeks to come.  Click here to see all currently scheduled playdates, with cities and theaters.