Todd Haynes' superlative, exquisite CAROL comes to Blu-ray, DVD, VOD and Digital HD

So much has already been written about Todd Haynes' latest outpouring of nostalgia, beauty and closeted "forbidden" love that TrustMovies, finally catching up with this multi-Oscar-nominated film (that ended up winning nothing), can only second most of the praise he's already read and heard. Watching the film unfurl in its fine Blu-ray transfer is such a visual pleasure that buffs are likely to have to view CAROL a second time to fully appreciate the remarkable performances from lead actresses Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara.

Mr. Haynes (shown at left), in bringing to the screen Phyllis Nagy's adaptation of the Patricia Highsmith tale of a lesbian love affair and its consequences, is in territory he loves best, including the 1950s time period. And he has brought all this to such fine fruition that the viewer can simply relax and, as it were, go with the flow. It seems to this critic, at least, that with each new work, Haynes grows more confident and secure in his craft. Here he allows the subtleties of the story, characteri-zations and performances to carry the day. And, my god, do they.

By now we know all too well how great an actress is Ms Blanchett (above); the surprise here is how perfectly Ms Mara (below) complements her co-star, while proving every bit as glamorous and talented. Above all, Carol proves a splendid, rich and deep love story about coming to terms with so much -- back when handling this kind of situation was nothing like as easy as it is today.

As fine as were the winners of this year's actress and supporting actress prize (Brie Larson and Alicia Vikander), no one, I think, can deny that Carol's co-stars are every bit as good. Ms Larson's role in Room is such a great one, as well as a great opportunity (think Joanne Woodward in The Three Faces of Eve), that it would be difficult to deny any actress who played the role properly this prize. Ms Vikander is always good; the Oscar here seems as much deserved for her better role in Ex Machina, which, being a genre movie, not so many of the Academy voters probably saw.

Carol's lack of "wins" can also be attributed to its being a lesbian film. The Academy might gives prizes now and again to a tear-jerker, triumph-of-the-human-spirit movie like Philadelphia (which is about men, after all, even if some of them are gay), but a quiet, strong and subtle one about women such as this? Not likely.

No worries. The nominations were enough to honor the amazing contributions here. And Carol will continue to find its audience, now and in perpetuity. With its theatrical release via The Weinstein Company and its video release from Anchor Bay Entertainment, the movie hits Blu-ray, DVD, and VOD this coming Tuesday, March 15 (it has been available via Digital HD since March 4) -- for purchase and/or rental.

Dissecting Israeli culture via the getting of a gett: Ronit Elkabetz & Shlomi Elkabetz's quiet shocker GETT: THE TRIAL OF VIVIANE AMSALEM

It says much about the riveting urgency of this new film from the brother/sister team of Shlomi and Ronit Elkabetz that, although their movie takes place entirely within the confines of a drab Israeli office building and courtroom and lasts for nearly two hours, it will keep intelligent adult audiences (who either understand Hebrew or are willing to read subtitles) alert, captivated and probably very angry for its entirety. "Gett," you see, is the word for divorce in Hebrew, and a gett is exactly what our heroine Viviane cannot get from her intransigent husband nor from the court made up of three rabbis at whose feet she pleads. Can it be true that, in Israel today, there is neither civil marriage nor civil divorce? That's what happens when a government-sponsored religion asserts far too much control.

The Elkabetz siblings (shown at right, with Ronit on the left) deserve thanks for bringing this situation to our attention and praise for doing it so damned well. Acting as writers and directors, the two have created in GETT: THE TRIAL OF VIVIANE AMSALEM a testament to a culture that, for whatever else it has gotten right, remains both misogynist and backward in its placement of religion above law, and men above women. What the Elkabetzes have managed so cleverly and intuitively via showing us only the lengthy trial -- it goes on over a period of years -- is nothing less than a dissection of a huge slice of Israeli culture and social mores involving law, family, marriage, religion, synagogue life and the place of women in all of this.

So much is packed into this single trial that pits wife and her lawyer against husband and his (that lawyer is actually a would-be rabbi who is also the husband's brother). Witnesses include a couple of her family members and his neighbor, the neighbor's wife (who commands, haltingly but thoroughly, her definitive scene), and a few others, each of whom plays a distinctive and necessary part in demonstrating what Viviane (played provocatively and well by Ms Elkabetz, shown above, with her lawyer, beautifully played by Menashe Noy), and by extension Israeli women, are up against.

The husband is played by an actor, Simon Abkarian, whom we more often see as the hero in his films (The Army of Crime, Yes). He is equally fine here, playing a pungent and quietly nasty piece of manhood.

As the trial moves onwards, we piece together more and more of what this marriage was about, as well as how the state forever insists upon a kind of hypocritical reverence of god and the male and how this creeps into nearly every piece of cultural, social and personal life.

The smart screenplay uses its characters, including its triad of judges (above) both as living, breathing beings who matter and to point up the inconsistencies and inequities of Israeli life and law. Each new witness and scene opens up a different can or worms or nest of vipers. And the reactions to all of this by the various personages at the trial makes the movie a nonstop roller-coaster of ups, downs and surprises.

Only at the film's final scene, which for some reason focuses suddenly on the actors' feet, does the movie falter a bit. I must be missing something, but I failed to understand the significance here. This is relatively minor cavil, however, for otherwise this film is eye-opening, moving and sometime shocking.

Gett: The Trial of Vivane Amsalem -- from Music Box Films and running 115 minutes -- opens this Friday, February 13, in New York City (at the Lincoln Plaza Cinema), Los Angeles (at Laemmle's Royal), and Delray (Movies of Delray) and Lake Worth (Movies of Lake Worth) Florida. To see all currently scheduled playdates, cities and theaters, click here and then click on the word THEATERS midway down your screen.

Sweet dream of the fractured family made whole again: Josh Boone's STUCK IN LOVE -- plus a short Q&A with the filmmaker

If you come, as maybe more than half of us now do, from a family broken by divorce or separation, you may leave the new film STUCK IN LOVE as moved as was TrustMovies. He sat there in his screening room seat waiting for the tears to subside and his face and composure to return to something like normal before he felt comfortable enough to stand up go out and face the world. Why hadn't he brought a pair of sunglasses with him?!

He didn't feel particularly manipulated, either, as most movies of this kind manage to do. Yes, certain information is withheld from us until a point at which it registers more strongly. But because that information is also withheld from another key character in the film, the withholding makes sense on both a dramatic and a realistic level. This is just one of the smart moves that first-time filmmaker Josh Boone, shown at right, makes with his movie. There are plenty more. Stuck in Love is quite the auspicious debut. And gheesh, what fun it is! Though I was crying at the finale, I had laughed myself silly on a number of occasions throughout the film, which is wonderfully entertaining, superbly cast and acted, and written extremely well -- it's that rare film about writers (a whole family of 'em) in which you believe that the folks you're watching might actually have put intelligent and entertaining thoughts to paper (or computer).

It must have been a pleasure for the ensemble of actors to tackle roles this rich and bring them to such full life. The story concerns a mom (Jennifer Connelly, above, right) who has left dad (Greg Kinnear, above, left) and is now living with a younger hunk.

The character played Mr. Kinnear (who remains plenty hunky himself), though still deeply in love with his ex-wife, is now canoodling with a younger married woman (Kristin Bell), his rather short trysts with whom interrupt her jogging sessions. (The movie is quite realistic about sex used as a stopgap for pain and/or a substitute for other things we're not getting -- as well as simply something that's necessary and enjoyable.)

On the younger front, the family's daughter (Lily Collins, above, left), still raging mad at mom, refuses to get close to any boy and instead makes certain her partners understand that this is only a "sex" thing. When a persistent young man (Logan Lerman, above, right), puts his quietly intelligent moves on her, she is typically angry but also flummoxed.

Sis' younger brother (Nat Wolff, above, left) who has wisely not taken sides in the family dispute and is just coming into his own sexuality, is attracted to the girlfriend (Liana Liberato, above, right) of the school druggie/bully (Patrick Schwarzenegger), shown below and about to punch.

How all this plays out is full of intelligence, energy, charm and wit. Dad, sis and bro -- writers all -- are at various levels of their career, and it is fun to see how each one handles this. The movie is a rom-com, all right, but it proves much deeper and more expansive on a number of levels -- one of which includes, yes, Stephen King -- than most of its ilk.

I don't expect that you'll have as strong an emotional reaction to the film as did I. We each come to a movie carrying our own bag-gage, which reacts to and with the film in its own way. But if you are at all interested in things like love & trust, writers & writing, and the uses of sex, I'll be surprised if you do not find Stuck in Love very much worth your time, not to mention your laughter and tears.

The movie -- from Millennium Entertainment and running 96 minutes, opens its exclusive NYC run tomorrow, Friday, July 5, at Landmark's Sunshine Cinema. Oddly enough, it seems to be getting a wide release in both the Kansas City and the Orlando/
Daytona Beach/Melbourne, Florida, areas. Los Angeles? Maybe later. Anyway, catch it if you can -- or wait for the DVD/Blu-ray.

*****************

TrustMovies met with filmmaker Josh Boone (shown below and further below) a week or so back but managed to leave his tape recorder next to his desktop at home. Much scribbling on note paper ensued as we spoke with this really "up," smart (but not smart-alecky) and charming young man.

Film school for Boone, he told us, meant growing up with a Super 8 and watching all the old movies he could manage to see, first on first VHS and then DVD. He's especially fond of The Criterion Collection (and who can blame him?).

Boone has always been attracted to writing and writers -- as his terrific use in the film of Stephen King and his work proves, along with the interesting way in which he has managed to endow each writer in his "movie family" with their own special subject and style.

Perhaps one of the biggest things in his young life occurred when his parents became born-again Christians during his adolescence, and he was forced to start hiding the books he was voraciously reading behind the covers ripped from "Christian" books then placed over Boone's preferred content.

All this was a strange but interesting part of the young man's life, and he says he would some day like to do a movie about religion. We can't wait.

TrustMovies remarked to Boone how amazing it seemed that he not only got this script filmed but that he himself, with no experience behind the camera, was allowed to direct it. He agreed, with a shrug and a chuckle. But the result more than bears out the trust placed in him by producer Judy Cairo (who earlier gave us the award-winning film Crazy Heart, Hysteria and the recent Erased).

When Boone's own parents later divorced (yes, this movie, as you might expect, comes from someplace personal), he explains that, like the brother in the film, he held no great anger toward either parent.

The filmmaker, now 34, tells us that while he may appear an overnight success, he has spent 10 years living in Los Angeles and "rolling that snowball up the hill," trying to get a film script produced.  "The key," he says, "is to write from your own personal experience." While we've heard that one before, we must admit results rarely come together this well.

As a small, independent film -- though cast just about perfectly with top professionals -- Stuck in Love will still have its work cut out for it, trying to reach the audience that, if it just can be tapped properly, surely exists for a movie this appealing and well-executed. We thank Mr Boone for his time and wish him -- and his film -- the very best.

McGehee & Siegel's WHAT MAISIE KNEW: Henry James gets a (mostly) deft updating

How different are the movies of Scott McGehee and David Siegel (Suture, The Deep End, Uncertainty) when they both write and direct a film than when (Bee Season and their latest effort WHAT MAISIE KNEW) they collaborate with other screenwriters! Gone is much of the oddness and the anything-but-straight-ahead momentum that distinguishes the pair, which is not to say that Bee Season and even more so What Maisie Knew are not worth seeing. They are (with Maisie especially so) but they are surprisingly mainstream in their intention and style. Consequently, the duo's latest might very well be its biggest hit. Which would be wonderful -- if it means that we'll be seeing their work more often.

McGehee and Siegel (shown above, with the latter on the left) and the screenwriters -- Nancy Doyne and Carroll Cartwright -- have taken the famous novel of the same name by Henry James and turned it into a surprisingly relevant and timely look at parenting (and the lack of it) today. The original novel explored how two divorced spouses use their child to hurt each other at the kid's expense, and this update does the same. The specifics -- time, place, occupations, secondary characters and all the rest -- have been given almost exactly the right spin so that they move the plot along, while making everything seem absolutely au courant. James would be pleased, I suspect, and probably not at all surprised to see how very little (except the accouterments) has changed over an entire century, and beyond.

Behavior is key here, and all four filmmakers take care to put it on rich display -- with its subtext fully articulated, as well. These characters try to behave as if they understood what responsible adults act like, but their own desires continually take precedence over everything, and so they fail consistently. Maisie's mother (a brave and nasty performance played with flash and flair by Julianne Moore, shown at right) is a drug- and alcohol-addled rock star, while her father (equally nasty and played with unusual restraint by Steve Coogan, below) is sort of of art agent who lives, we soon find, too close to the edge.

These two want desperately to be thought of as model parents, but everything they do indicates (hell, screams!) that they should never have had a child. At times this movie seems like a plea to restrict irresponsible adults from ever being allowed to conceive. Their child, the titular Maisie, is brought to fine life by relative newcomer Onata Aprile. Ms Aprile (at left, above and below) is a find, and Maisie's a role that suits her almost ideally.

The film's other two important characters -- Maisie's governess/care-giver, Margo, and mom's new boy-fuck Lincoln -- initially impress us as shallow and out for their own best interests. But the screenplay and performances by the two actors who inhabit these roles (Joanna Vanderham, below and Alexander Skarsgård, above, right) slowly win us over as these characters grow and change so beautifully and movingly as the movie progresses.

What Maisie Knew is a heartbreaking film in many ways. It has been some time since I've seen a movie that gave us entry (and so well) into the child’s point of view. The directors (and, I am guessing, the screenwriters) put us so firmly in the place of this girl, who only slowly (and only as much as her young age can manage) understands what is happening and that, finally, she just might have some small command of her situation.

My one quibble -- but it's a big one: Why didn’t the writers and directors know enough to give this kid at least one moment of "brattiness"? (God knows, Maisie has plenty of reason to act out!) Having raised a daughter in New York City and now seeing my two grand-kids (around the same age as Maisie) and all their friends, I have to say that I have never seen a child who is this good all the time. The only way a child could be this good would be via some major repression -- which would certainly not lead toward any happy ending. It's surprising then, that between the directors and the screenwriters, someone didn't raise the point -- Hey, we need to make her just a little more real. As it is, Maisie has our full sympathy; she doesn’t need to be perfect. But by keeping her so cute and correct at every moment, the movie ends up by default sentimentalizing both Maisie and her circumstances.

What Maisie Knew is a very good film. But it might have been a great one. It opens this Friday, May 3, in New York City at the Angelika Film Center; and on May 17 in Los Angeles at The Landmark; and throughout the country in the weeks to follow.

A "date movie" for adults. Really? Yes! Jim Hemphill's THE TROUBLE WITH THE TRUTH

While TrustMovies calls this one (as does its own press release) a "date movie for adults," let's be a bit more specific. Those dating adults had better be able to handle the idea of marriage gone bad and the long time it takes to recover from this. Maybe older adults -- ah-hah, another movie for seniors! -- might be the best match for this unusual new film. Those of us who've been through the marri-age mill once or more, have had children and are even now perhaps still coming to terms with our failures as a husband or wife, and as a father or mother, are the real audience for the engaging and challenging workout titled THE TROUBLE WITH THE TRUTH, brought to us by writer/director Jim Hemphill, shown below.

I would wager that a number of people connected with the film-- specifically the filmmaker and his two stars John Shea and Lea Thompson -- have had a background in the legitimate theater. I know Mr. Shea has, for I enjoyed his work off-Broadway in decades past. Ms Thompson I know more from movies, but am told that she too has worked extensively in theater. And though I cannot find reference to this in the press materials, I'd bet that Mr. Hemphill comes from theater, and that this film, in fact, began its life as a theater piece. It probably did, and he must. Anyone with this terrific an understanding of how to write great dialog -- this movie is almost all dialog -- either began in legitimate theater or is channeling the spirit of some theater "legends." Hemphill also understands scene construction, pacing and flow, where this dialog is concerned: yet more virtues possessed by theater folk.

The result of all this "theater-like" business is a movie that beigns in a coffee shop, as Shea (above, left) meets his daughter (a brief but very nice turn by Danielle Harris, above, right) for breakfast. An announcement is made that sets off an argument, recriminations and the soon-arranged dinner meeting (at the very restaurant where the Shea character is a musician) between mom dad, the divorced-some-time-ago characters played by Shea and Ms. Thompson (shown below, and further below).

That meeting (over drinks, dinner, dessert and then more drinks in an upstairs lounge) makes up the remainder of the movie -- which is simply stunning in its single-minded pursuit of who these people are and why they are no longer together. The writing is first-rate, carrying us (and the twosome) into the past and back to the present, divulging character traits and history along the way, all with such elan that it make the screenwriting almost accidental, hovering as it seems to between dialog and improv. It is such a pleasure to listen to this conversation, and to watch such solid professionals as Shea and Thompson strut their stuff. (The superb cinematography is from Roberto Correa.)

While this dialog and the performances are easy and always believable, what is not always so believable is the volume at which our characters are speaking. I wish the director had thought to suggest to his actors that they remember that they are in a public place and should tone it down just a notch. The few other other diners that we are able to see do seem to occasionally acknow-ledge the presence of this pair, but if I were in that restaurant, I'd have turned to the two and asked them to button it, please.

Once the two adjourn to the lounge, where they are alone, the credibility grows, and it does so even more when they reach their final destination and their characters are revealed more fully. This is some of the best sustained and meaningful dialog (quick, funny, moving, surprising) coupled to excellent acting that I have seen in some time, and I can certainly understand why the film won the awards it did at film festivals in Las Vegas and Sedona.

This is a look at how two very real, often amusing, sophisticated and witty characters, who are firmly middle class (he's lower, she's upper), live now. As such, it deserves a place in any time capsule of culture we might be readying. Shea has allowed the years to do their work on him, yet he still looks as intelligent and sexy as ever, while Thompson is simply stunning. She looks more beautiful now than she did a decade or so earlier. (That's Keri Lynn Pratt, above, as the Shea character's latest squeeze,)

The Trouble With the Truth, running a perfectly-timed 96 minutes, opens today, Friday, September 14, in both New York City (at the Quad Cinema, where Mr Shea will make a personal appearance tonight, 9/14, at the 7:30 show and do a Q&A after the screening) and in the Los Angeles area at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, and for one performance only this Sunday, September 16, at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica. Hemphill, Shea and Thompson will appear for a Q&A at the Aero screening, and they, along with DP Correa, will appear at various times during the week's screenings at the Egyptian. Click the theaters' links above for further information.

The photos above come courtesy of the movie's 

web site and were taken by Evelyn Sen.

Louiso/Koskoff's HELLO I MUST BE GOING gives Melanie Lynskey her best role in years

The empty nest syndrome -- and how, these days in particular, that nest is filling up again -- gets a good working-over in the quiet, unusual and very interesting film, HELLO I MUST BE GOING. If you know movies and the Marx Brothers, the title should ring a bell on one level, for there's a father-daughter bond here around Groucho and his comedic siblings. On another level, however, the title acts as a lovely and precise explanation. The first word could be addressed by our leading character to herself, as she discovers a bit more of her identity; the rest involves her quest to move out of her parents' home and on with her life, after a divorce that clearly has left her more than a little unsettled and unsure of herself.

Directed by Todd Louiso (shown at left), a fellow we most often think of as actor (recently seen in the excellent A Bag of Hammers), from a screenplay by fledgling writer and also an actress, Sarah Koskoff (shown below), the movie is at once oddball and endearing -- a combination rather often seen at the Sundance Film Festival. Sure enough, the movie opened this year's festival, where it received mixed notices and was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize.
TrustMovies is uncertain just why the film drew those mixed

responses, as his was pretty thoroughly positive -- the reason being the combination of writing that is particularly well-observed concerning character, direction that never pushes that endearing quality (or anything else) but simply tells the story as swiftly and economically as possible, and performances that could not be more on the mark yet never descend into rote or cliché.

The film's cast has been chosen quite well, with each performer -- except one -- obviously used for his or her "known" qualities. These would include our leading lady, Melanie Lynskey (above), who is always good but here has the kind of rich and hefty role (she is on-screen practically all the time) that allows us to learn a great deal about her character. Sad and not seemingly adept at much of anything, she appears quite the lost girl. As we learn more, however, her disparate pieces pull together nicely.

As her pushy, too-helpful mom and her passive dad, Blythe Danner and John Rubinstein are both excellent. Ms Danner, above, slowly reveals the layers of pain and hurt that have built up over decades, and she turns from a kind of monster into something quite human. Mr. Rubinsitein, on the other hand does the opposite -- moving quietly from a good-guy dad to someone masking his selfishness and anger none too well.

This family has some interesting neighbors, in particular a therapist mom (Julie White, at a slightly lower key than I am used to seeing and hearing her, and this is welcome indeed) and her just-about-to-graduate-from-high-school son. The latter is played by the one "unknown" in this bunch, an actor named Christopher Abbott (shown above, and whom I do not remember from Martha Marcy May Marlene but now can be seen in HBO's sitcom Girls). Mr. Abbott's role is pivotal here -- for reasons that would be a spoiler to divulge -- and this young actor is phenomenally good in it. The character he creates is unlike any I have seen. He's an original, and so it would seem is young Abbott, who should soon be quickening minds and pulses, if not setting hearts ablaze.

I could go into more plot -- and more critique -- but this is a sweet and quiet little movie best savored on your own. Distributed via Oscilloscope Laboratories and running 95 minutes, Hello I Must Be Going opens in New York (at the Angelika Film Center) and Los Angeles (at The Landmark) this Friday, September 7. You can view all the currently scheduled playdates, with cities and theaters included by clicking here.

Photos are from the film itself, except 

for that Mr. Louiso (by George Pimentel, 

courtesy of GettyImages.com) and Ms. Koskoff 

(by Andrew H. Walker, courtesy of Getty Images.com).