Two re-releases from Roger Nygard: used-car salesmen comedy SUCKERS and hoped-for alien abduction doc, SIX DAYS IN ROSWELL

As a fan (of at least two) of the films of Roger Nygard (shown at right) -- The Nature of Existence and The Truth About Marriage -- I was primed to take a look at two of his earlier movies now able to be streamed during our current-and-who-knows-how-long? stay-at-home-please! Covid-19 period. 

Turns out, both films are fun, funny and worth a look.

SIX DAYS IN ROSWELL lets us spend those fortunately very telescoped six days in the famous (maybe infamous) New Mexico town where, back in 1947, strange sightings and more are said to have taken place. The year 1997 marked the 50th anniversary of this "event," so director Timothy B. Johnson and Nygard, who acted as editor and producer on this film, follow the meanderings of a fellow named Rich Kronfeld (at left and below), who desperately wants to be abducted by those aliens and so has come from his home state ("We just don't have alien abductions in Minnesota," he explains) to New Mexico in hopes of at least learning something new and maybe even meeting one of those outer-space bad boys.

He doesn't, but he and we do discover a whole bunch of locals and visitors to Roswell celebrating whatever happened a half-century back. The movie refuses to make fun of these folk (that's really not Nygard's style) but simply allows them to present their views -- which are more often than not plenty ridiculous and funny enough to make the movie as good a comedy as was probably released that year (1999).

Kronfeld proves a goofy/silly/even-kind-of-sexy host and narrator, as he leads us through days of oddball meals (a spaceship-shaped pizza and green alien cookies), true believers (there are plenty of these), a parade (above) and even a space-alien musical, below, whose producer tells us may indeed be headed for Broadway! (It wasn't.)

As to that original Roswell event and subsequent government cover-up (the movie will put you in mind of our current idiot President and his nonsensical take on the "deep state"), we hear one after another hilarious theory and explanation, my favorite of which comes as one very thoughful, questing woman tells us, "What might have happened might have happened." And there, my friend, is simply the finest, most succinct explanation of the Roswell story I've yet to hear.

SUCKERS offers the chance to spend some time with folk you might have imagined as America's lowest-of-the-low -- used car salesmen -- and their prey. 

Here we have Mr. Nygard, who co-wrote (with Joe Yannetty, who also plays a supporting role) and directed, in a much more negative, very nearly vicious mode than we are used to experiencing from him. And TrustMovies must say that this suits the guy pretty damned well. The movie is nasty and funny in just about equal measure, and most of its characters are sexist, racist and generally misanthropic (or merely stupid).

Most of them are losers, too, including even the would-be hero, played by Louis Mandylor (shown at right on poster two photos up). The movie's best performance -- it's sensational -- comes from Daniel Benzali, above, as the dealership's almost boss, and the rest of the cast does a fine job, too, with Eli Danker (below, right) especially good at providing a bit of moral ballast against the rest of the sleazeballs on hand.

The humor is often dark but bracing -- the movie's funniest line, "There you go again, setting off the lie detector," which against the visual occurring at that moment provides juicy/ugly fun -- and Nygard's ability to move from comedy/satire to violent heist melodrama and barely missing a beat is commendable. Nothing groundbreaking/shaking here, but Suckers certainly has its share of good, dirty fun.

Both movies are being re-released via Nygard in restored versions that look good and play well. You can view either or both SUCKERS and SIX DAYS IN ROSWELL by clicking on the appropriate link on the titles, just above.  

The difficulty of making that doctor's appt -- Jon Weinberg/Kris Elgstrand's FUNERAL DAY

An oddball and dark (but not black) comedy about a neurotic, narcissistic hypochondriac named Scott who seems bent on missing the funeral of one of his best friends (who has died from cancer) because poor Scott has just found what appears to be a lump on one of his testicles, as well as maybe a melanoma on his shoulder, FUNERAL DAY results in quite a few good laughs. As directed by and starring Jon Weinberg (shown at left, center, and below), this enjoyable little romp is a kind of road trip around Los Angeles as our nut-case hero fends off old friends trying to get him to that funeral and instead makes some new ones who have some very interesting ideas and suggestions for him.

Mr. Weinberg manages to direct competently enough and to perform the leading role in such as way that he makes Scott somehow bearable, as well as funny, so that his journey -- mostly on foot and running around town since has does not have a car--  pulls us into the film and keeps us pretty much glued.

The movie's fine ensemble cast adds a lot to the fun, as well, with Tyler Labine (above, left), as the friend who has the perfect solution to our hero's nut problem, and Dominic Rains (below, right), as another would-be friend who is more than ready to involve his pal in a less-than-upfront real estate transaction.

The screenplay, by Kris Elgstrand, races along nicely and also features some racy, funny dialog and situations -- the most bizarre of which involves a couple of doctors Scott meets in the park (Kristin Carey (below, center) and Jed Rees (below, left, and at bottom) who simply can't wait to take our hero home and "milk" his prostate. Ah, the meeting of modern medicine and modern romance!

As it rambles humorously along, the movie also sends up everything from materialism to creativity, friendship and much else. By the time Scott visits a sexy waitress (Sarah Adina) sporting a very nice tattoo, and then tries to break into a local hospice, you'll either be having a fine old time (as was I) or maybe have given up on this oddball movie.

I'd say stick with it and have yourself some good laughs and silly fun, even as you're treated to a raft of nice performances -- including those of Suzy Nakamura (above) and Tygh Runyan -- as little Scott is eventually made to realize that, yes, he really should grow up a bit and schedule that necessary MD appointment.

From Random Media and running a zippy 79 minutes, the movie hit DVD, digital and VOD last week -- for purchase and/or rental.

Kyle Eaton's SHUT UP ANTHONY to screen at this year's Brooklyn Film Festival, June 2-11

If you're in the Brooklyn area and looking for a decent dark comedy about neurotics and their druthers, you could do a lot worse that a new movie from Oregon filmmaker Kyle Eaton entitled SHUT UP ANTHONY that makes it East Coast premiere this coming weekend as part of the 2017 Brooklyn Film Festival. In it, the filmmaker (Mr. Eaton is shown just below) tracks the tale of the titular Portland fellow, an unhappy-but-he-doesn't-seem-to-know-it guy who manages to lose his girlfriend, job and most of his little remaining dignity over the course of a very fraught weekend.

As acted by an unusual performer named Robert D'Esposito (shown below, left, and further below, right), Anthony could be properly described as your typical "big lug": a little overweight, nothing special in the looks department, alternately appealing and not so, and yet oddly sexy at times. Mr. D'Esposito makes sure this character stays just this side of nasty. He talks too much, and doesn't have a lot that's positive to say. Yet he is intelligent and sometimes darkly funny, so it's not all that difficult to sort of, kind of, just barely enjoy him. A little. This is quite a balancing act, and D'Esposito walks the tightrope well.

Mr. Eaton has also given his characters enough interesting things to say that we easily hang on. When Anthony hightails it out of town to head for the timeshare that his family has co-owned (with another family) for years, he runs into an old friend, Tim (Jon Titterington, above, right and below, left) whom he has not seen for maybe a decade.

The two prove to meld like the proverbial oil and water, and as hostilities escalate, the movie grows darker -- and funnier. The filmmaker relies a bit too heavily on the trope of the old-family-secrets-revealed, and so his film turns out not to be quite as original as we might have imagined going in.

But the performances are excellent, and when that girlfriend (the very good Katie Michels, above) turns up at the timeshare, things arrive at a nicely foaming climax involving photos important to both families and a very necessary detente.

Along the way we get a gem of a scene involving a perky, adorable motel clerk (Amy Miller, above) and another in a bar with an lanky and aggressive pool player.

What happens when our boy gives into alcohol and mushrooms -- involving finger-painting, photography and a couch -- provides the movie's funniest moments.

All in all, Shut Up Anthony amuses and entertains just well enough to make its 92 minutes move along in sprightly fashion. It will screen at the Brooklyn Film Festival this Saturday, June 3, at 4 pm and again the following Saturday, June 10 at 8 pm. Click here to view the entire Brooklyn Film Festival schedule.

ONE WEEK AND A DAY: Asaph Polonsky's hilarious and moving study of, yes, grief

Yet another edgy, dark, smart and surprising Israeli movie. Yet another winner. Is there perhaps something unique about this little country that has gone, over its 50-plus-year history, from oppressed to oppressor, in which its artists seem particularly and peculiarly in touch with the "duality" of things? TrustMovies suspects so. In any case, this new work from a filmmaker who is also new to me -- Asaph Polonsky -- proves one the best examples of Israeli movie-making this year. The Women's Balcony might have been the more popular film in Israel, but ONE WEEK AND A DAY will certainly prove the more enduring.

Mr. Polonsky, shown at left, opens his film as the final day of shiva is closing for the husband and wife who have recently lost their young-adult son. Neither parent is any mood to be placated in any way, and dad, in particular, is feeling rotten. As performed by Shai Avivi (shown below, right, and at bottom) with an bizarre combo of absolute entitlement and anger, this character soon becomes indelible. And shocking. You feel for him, of course. Hey, he's grieving. But you would also understand any of the other characters punching this guy to kingdom come.

His poor wife (Evgenia Dodina, above and below) who grieves a bit more sedately but is still herself overcome with hurt and anger, puts up with her hubby, and before long you can see and feel the huge bond that holds them. Grief can take many forms, it is true. Still, the husband's actions during the first half to maybe two-thirds of the film are so simultaneously awful and darkly comic, you'll find yourself guffawing in surprise, while never losing touch with what is under the surface of all this.

Mr. Polonsky does a terrific balancing act here. From the ping pong game (heard only on the sound track) that begins the film, and that takes a distinctly surprising visual turn when at last the camera observes that game, to the bowl of salad the neighbors bring to the shiva, to hubby's response to the lovemaking going on next door, the movie builds in detail, anger and humor. But along with this come scenes of small kindness such as dad's interaction with the dying patient who has taken his son's sickbed in hospice.

The introduction of the neighbor's son, similar in age to the son who has died, is a brilliant touch, and Tomer Kapon (second from left, above) proves a delight in the role. His interactions with mom, and even more so with dad, are highlights here.

When the film finally takes dad to the cemetery (he has been avoiding this throughout), Mr. Polonsky sees to it that oddly, but quite fittingly, death is at last given its due. How the filmmaker wraps all this together (he even includes -- holy hell! -- a pair of adorable kittens) is something to see and experience. One Week and a Day is yet another reason why Israeli films -- small, yes, but so specific and genuine -- are among the best currently being made.

Released in the USA via Oscilloscope, the movie opens here in South Florida this Friday, May 12, at AMC Aventura and the Coral Gables Art Cinema (the Miami Beach Cinematheque will offer the film one week later on May 19); at The Last Picture Show/Tamarac;  and in Palm Beach County at the Living Room Theatres, the Regal Shadowood 18, and the Movies of Delray and Movies of Lake Worth. The movie opens elsewhere, too, so wherever you are, click here then scroll down to find a theater near you.,

Note: You can meet writer/director Polonsky at most of these South Florida theaters: The Coral Gables Art Cinema is hosting a wine reception opening night Friday, May 12, starting at 7:00pm followed by the film, at 8:00pm featuring a Q&A with writer/director Asaph Polonsky moderated by Igor Shteyrenberg, director of the Miami Jewish Film Festival. Q&As at other theaters opening weekend May 13- May 14. Q&A Showtimes and locations are: Saturday, May 13 1:00pm at The Last Picture Show in Tamarac; 12:30pm/3:00pm/5:20pm at Movies of Delray; Estimated 6pm at Regal Shadowood and Evening Estimated 7:20pm at Living Room Theaters in Boca Raton. Sunday, May 14 Estimated 11:45am at Living Room Theaters Estimated 2:45pm afternoon show AMC Aventura. Showtimes listed are subject to change, please check Q&A showtimes here.

DVD debut -- and one of the year's best -- Granit and Maymon's THE FAREWELL PARTY

Treading that fine line -- between comedy and tragedy, smiles and sadness, the must-be-said-yet-can't-be-spoken -- about as well as any movie you'll have seen, the award-winning Israeli film THE FAREWELL PARTY makes its DVD debut tomorrow. If you missed its theatrical run, do yourself a favor and rent or even purchase the disc (yes, it's that special: the kind of movie you'll want to share with friends), Taking place in what looks like the Israeli equivalent of one of our American "senior communities," the film confronts end-of-life situations and what might be called mercy killing with great depth, honesty, strength and humour. The best thing I can say about this film is that it never betrays nor cheapens its very difficult subject.

Co-written and co-directed by Tal Granit and Sharon Maymon (pictured above, with Ms Maymon on the right), the movie comes to immediate and vital life (and stays there) based on the terrific set of characters the filmmakers have created, together with the fine actors who embody them with remarkable ease and perspicacity. Led by award-winning actor Ze'ev Revach (foreground below) and Levana Finkelshtein (background below), the actors create a delightful, surprising, moving ensemble.

How to end one's life with some kind of dignity and choice is a question that takes on ever more importance as we age and wither, but rather than confronting this as some kind of momentous horror story, the filmmakers simply dive into it and let their characters do the talking, walking, laughing, learning and, yes, even changing.

Granit and Maymon understand how to create and capture on-the-fly moments that will resound without unnecessary pushing, and they've found a cast to bring these moments to life in such as way that we follow along, often laughing, where we'd never imagine going. Consequently, everything from ending one's life to sexual preference, generosity to venality, grandparents to grandchildren, lung cancer to Alzheimer's comes to the fore and proves grist for the filmmakers' smart and humane mill.

How humour bubbles up from the darkest, saddest places (without ever seeming in the least crass) is one of the miracles of this little movie. To talk about the plot would be to already give away too much, so please bear with me as I simply ask you to treat yourself to The Farewell Party.

Even if, as is the case with one of our characters here, your objections to hastening the end of life in order to end the suffering of the most painful and terminal illness are so strong as to go against your religion and/or all you believe to be paramount, take a chance and view the movie. Just like that particular objecting character, you may find by the finale that you've had a change of heart. This is thoughtful, mainstream-arthouse entertainment of the highest order.

From Samuel Goldwyn Films (theatrical distribution) and First Run Features (video release), the movie -- running just 95 minutes, in Hebrew with English subtitles -- hits the street on DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, September 22, for sale or rental. 

BAD WORDS: Jason Bateman & Andrew Dodge's deft/funny take on revenge and the spelling bee

What a continuing and unfolding 33-year-and-counting career belongs to Jason Bateman! The actor, shown at right, who began that career mostly doing TV work, graduated to movies and now divides his time between them, while expanding into production and -- with his latest film BAD WORDS -- film direction, too. Because he so often plays the more-or-less straight man to the "star" (from Will Smith in Hancock, in which Bateman's character became the heart of the movie, to Melissa McCarthy in Identity Thief for whom the actor made a perfect foil, allowing the comedienne to seem all the funnier, just as Sandra Bullock did for McCarthy in The Heat), Bateman consistently keeps things real, thus allowing his co-stars to go over-the-top without toppling the particular movie (or TV show: see Arrested Development).

Bad Words is an especially auspicious directorial debut, I think, because Mr. Bateman shows such a deft hand in delivering laughs that often come from awfully nasty places yet manage not to alienate us. This movie is not, I should add, some over-the-top schlock-fest of bad behavior like the Hangover series. Instead those nasty laughs are also witty and pointed, even if their inappropriateness rather takes our breath away. Bateman's deft handiwork continues into the fine perfor-mances he coaxes from each cast member, including himself.

The story here has to do with an adult male named Guy Trilby played by Bateman, who, due to a loophole in a national spelling bee competition, is able to compete along with the usual kids. Why he would want to do such a thing is the mystery that fuels much of the movie. How he does it provides the many laughs that regularly dot this fleet and sour 88-minute comedy. (The very name Trilby may push the Svengali button in some of us older viewers, but in this case, Bateman's character is a Trilby and Svengali rolled into one.)

Along for the ride (because Trilby needs her journalistic bona fides, and she needs his "boner" fides, so to speak) is a young woman named Jenny, who has quite the atypical relationship with her subject. Jenny is played by Kathryn Hahn (above and recently of Afternoon Delight), and she's a delight all over again here). Jenny and Guy match each other super-quirk for super-quirk.

The kids are differentiated only so far as they need to be, with the exception of one singular contestant, a boy named Chaitanya, played with near-amazing focus and belief by Rohan Chand (above). The relationship that forms between Guy and Chaitanya is yet another surprising, funny-by-way-of-shocking development that ought to raise our eyebrows but instead keeps tickling our funny bone.

How do Bateman and the talented first-time screenwriter of Bad Words, Andrew Dodge (shown at right), manage to have their cake and eat it, too -- creating such a nasty character who does awful stuff yet still holds us through to the the conclusion. Part of the reason, I think, has to do with the very idea of the modern spelling bee and what it has come to stand for -- so far as pushy, insistent parents and pompously ugly administrators of the bee are concerned. Bateman and Dodge never overtly state this, but the way the film unfolds, you can't help but root for someone to take the whole thing down. It's a part of American culture (and perhaps that of the larger western-world) that needs a good lickin'. Which it gets.

Bateman is on record as saying that, while the movie is, yes, kind of filthy, it still has a feel-good finale. While this is true, one reason the finale works so well is that the filmmakers don't push that feel-good one tiny bit. Something happens, yes. And someone is brought up short. But that's it. The movie doesn't dwell. And so we can exit the theater laughing still, with the reason for the dirty deeds and the crassness managing to temper these without giving in to abject sentimentality. This makes for quite the graceful resolution.

In the crack supporting cast are Allison Janney, Philip Baker Hall (below) and Beth Grant, as three of those above-mentioned administrators, and each does her/his thing with the usual aplomb. As indies go, Bad Words, I suspect, is going to be a boffo hit, reaching well into that coveted mainstream audience and delivering a welcome wallop -- as well as a very good time at the movies.

After hitting the Toronto and SxSW fests, Bad Words -- from Focus Features -- has its theatrical debut in New York City this Friday, March 14, at the AMC Lincoln Square, AMC Village 7 and Regal's E-Walk. In Los Angeles, the film, also opening this Friday, will play the Pacific Arclight, Hollywood; The Landmark, West L.A.; and the AMC Century City. Look for a national expansion to all major cities in the weeks to come.

Tone conquers all in Geoffrey Fletcher's lighter-than-air hat trick, VIOLET & DAISY

 
TrustMovies is hazarding a guess here, but he'd say that in the annals of "filmdom" (especially film-dumb) there is little that's more difficult to manage than a movie about perky, adorable teen-age girls who earn their keep as paid assassins. Not that we've had all that many examples of this, of course. But movies featuring heroes and/or heroines with occupations generally loathed by society have some trouble reaching mainstream audiences. (This helps account for the fact that Arbitrage, extremely well-done and with an award-worthy performance from Richard Gere, did so little business theatrically: "Don't you dare make me sympathize with or understand a character like that!")

All of which brings us to the latest in a lengthy-though-very-irregularly-seen line of anti-hero movies, VIOLET & DAISY, that marks the film-making debut of Geoffrey Fletcher (who earlier adapted the screenplay for Precious, won an Oscar for his trouble, and here both writes and directs from his own original screenplay). Wisely, I think, Fletcher has set his tale of these kiddie killers in the slightly distant future, when humanity has given over almost entirely to "celebrity-hood," thus renouncing much of what makes it human. This helps somewhat bridge that large gap between watching horrendous deeds urfurl and having sympathy for the characters who are carrying them out.

What helps most in this regard, however, is the movie's tone. Mr. Fletcher has found a near-perfect one for the story at hand, and he has coupled it to performances that in all cases are spot-on in achieving an amazing balancing act. A little too much sweetness/cuteness (or conversely something so ugly that an audience cannot bear it) and everything can suddenly curdle. No worries: the filmmaker delivers delicious, sweet cream.

From one of his first images (above, of pizza-delivering nuns), we're in the la-la-land of someone with a fertile and charming imagination. Fletcher brings this imagination to bear upon just about everyone and everything in the film, which goes a long way toward making it not just palatable but damned enjoyable, too.

One wonders how the filmmaker got his cast on track with that special kind of performance that goes quite far but never over-the-top, offers up major cliches that manage not to bore us,  put its tongue in its cheek and still seems pretty real. It's an amazement, yet everyone -- smallest role to large -- comes through.

"Everyone" would include the two adorable leads, Alexis Bledel (the brunettes in the photos above) and Saoirse Ronan (the blond). Ms Ronan (of Hanna fame and lots else) has had some experience playing an assassin, but this is a first for Ms Bledel. Both young ladies take to it like killer pros. They're cute as buttons and utterly believable, too: alternately delighted, sad, frightened and surprised.

The object of their surprise is played by the wonderful James Gandolfini, who is -- surprise! -- wonderful again here, too. The movie is mostly a pas de trois between these characters, and no one misses a beat nor a step. They play so well together that you may want to see the film a second time simply to watch some terrific, moment-to-moment acting.

Also in the cast, and one of our favorite actors, is John Ventimiglia (above) as the head bad guy. He's as good as always, and his fine use of deadpan (and later just dead) helps the movie easily gloss over the bloody parts. (Ah, the internal-bleeding dance!) Fletcher's ability to give us these in bright red, while making us laugh at the same time, shows expert comic ability -- culminating in a bathtub full of corpses (below, and I think that's Ventimiglia, the second body down) that makes for a memorably goofy/ghastly image. There's a very funny little shower scene, as well (shown two photos below).

When it's time to forego the comedy and get more serious, Fletcher handles this expertly, too: lightly and without undo tear-jerking. He keeps his movie levitating in style, which he proves a natural at, and lets his ace cast members do the heavy lifting -- which they in turn make seem like an afternoon at Cirque du Soleil.

This kind of souffle is not easy to prepare, but Fletcher never lets the air out of his concoction. Violet & Daisy in an original, done with great style, feeling, strangeness and joy. Isn't it amazing -- all the ways in this world that you can find your family?

The movie, from Cinedigm and running just 88 minutes, opens this Friday, June 7, in 15 cities across the country. Consult the poster above for currently scheduled playdates.