The Bolings' MOVEMENT + LOCATION: sci-fi sans special effects but w/intelligence + spirit

I don't believe you hear the word "immigrant" mentioned once in the course of the new movie MOVEMENT + LOCATION -- which opened last week in New York City and will open next week in Los Angeles -- but you surely will better understand the immigrant experience once you view it. Oddly enough, this is also one very special science-fiction movie, completely lacking in special effects yet amazingly able to pull you into the world of its protagonist heroes, who are immigrants of a rather special nature. They're time travelers plopped down in present-day NYC.

TrustMovies has probably already given away too much of the plot, for part of the fun of the film lies in how slowly and sparingly it lets go of its -- and its characters' -- secrets. Beautifully acted by the entire well-chosen cast, written (by Bodine Boling, shown below, who also stars) with a tender specificity regarding each of the several characters on view, and directed quietly but confidently by Alexis Boling (pictured at right and husband to Bodine), Movement + Location proves a wonderful example of what can be accomplished by independent filmmakers on a tiny budget with a lot of intelligence and imagination.

The movie is also a kind of rom-com-drama, love story (a couple of them, actually), and a case study in how to get along when you're homeless. That it handles successfully every theme and situation it touches is further testament to its surprising, oddball success.

The story involves Ms Boling as Kim, our primary time traveler, pining for her lost love who evidently did not make it across the big barrier. Also on hand are a local cop, who falls hard for our "immigrant" (well played by Brendan Griffin, above, right),

as well as a sweet teenager (Catherine Missal, above) who is parented by just about all concerned but has her own important agenda, and another homeless man named Paul (David Andrew Macdonald, below), who has, among other skills, a terrific way to scam his fellow citizens (but for a very good cause).

Add to the mix Kim's caring, kindly boss (Haile Owusu) and her roommate (another spot-on performance from Anna Margaret Hollyman, and you have an expert cast giving on-the-nose performances that bring to fruition all that the writer and director hope to achieve.

Movement + Location is a surprise in a number of ways. If you don't catch it in theaters, at least add it to your Netflix queue. It opened this past Friday, September 18, in New York City at the Cinema Village, and will open in Los Angeles on Friday, October 2, at the Arena Cinema. If you're not located near either of these cities, don't despair: The Bolings' film is available online now (via iTunes, VHX) and on Verizon FiOS VOD. Click here to see the links.

Peter Askin's thoughtful ensemble drama, CERTAINTY, smartly probes that very thing

What a surprise and pleasure it is to see an American independent film that takes seriously (but not pretentiously) subjects such as marriage, love, fidelity, friendship and even The Catholic Church. The new rom-com-drama CERTAINTY, written by Mike O'Malley and directed by Peter Askin, is not a great movie, but it's a good enough one to deserve a shout-out: smart, thoughtful and caring about some things that will impact young people sooner or later, should they decide to connect in any kind of permanent way. Jumping off from (and coming back to, again and again) one of those pre-marriage counseling sessions, offered by the Catholic Church as requisite before the couple can be married in that church, the movie then flashes back and forth between events that have led to the point at which this couple now finds itself.

Refreshingly, for a change, the movie is not ironic. Though it treats its characters with humor and an often wry eye, it means what it says as it explores commitment of various kinds. The film it most reminded me of is the Italian movie Casomai by that wonderful filmmaker Alessandro D'Alatri, that also explored a quite modern Italian marriage "in" the Church. In Certainty, as in Casomai, the Church is personified via a priest  (played here by Giancarlo Esposito, above) who is trying, against some odds, to push his religion into becoming a more inclusive, less power-made and hypocritical entity.

This priest, however, is but one player in a large ensemble. The movie's two lead characters, Dom and Deb, played respectively by Tom Lipinski (above, left) and Adelaide Clemens (right), are the about-to-be-married couple -- he of little faith, she of a lot -- who, along with a number of other couples, are taking this crash course in "responsible marriage." We get to know quite a bit about Dom's family -- mom (Valerie Harper), sister (Tammy Blanchard) and deceased dad) and less about Deb's (her dad sings in a barbershop quartet), but the pair seems like quite the happy, made-for-each-other couple. Well, maybe...

Writer O'Malley, shown at right, has a knack for good dialog -- it's off-the-cuff and real, whether between family members or old friends -- and as he probes his people, we see that all is not well, just about everywhere we turn. Yet thanks to this dialog, things remain mostly believable and less than melodramatic. For awhile, at least. Eventually, the writer bites off more than his movie can chew, as he tries to unfold two other stories (sis' acting class and its threat to her marriage; Dom's best friend's angry, misogynistic attitude and his "lost" love that is suddenly found again). Better O'Malley had stuck more thoroughly with Dom and Deb and what was really eating them.

Still, his director, Peter Askin, shown at left, gets good performances from Blanchard, and from Bobby Moynihan as her husband; Will Rogers as Dom's best friend, Kevin; and Kristen Connolly (also seen this week in Ex-Girlfriends!) as Kevin's old flame. In fact, Askin (who, a few years back, gave us the fine documentary on Dalton Trumbo), gets good performances from his entire cast, top to bottom, and delivers a crisp, smart movie overall. Despite the movie's rush to tie up the least interes-ting loose ends, which does push the proceedings toward melodrama, it's still Dom and Deb we're most interested in. But I suspect that the screen-writer really wants to show us various kinds of relationships and how they work (or don't). He's just packed in a little more than his movie can properly handle.

Certainty (nice title!) opens this Friday, November 30, in New York City at the Quad Cinema, and will most likely hit DVD and/or VOD sometime soon.

Christophe Honoré's MAKING PLANS FOR LENA: the "entitlement" film of the year?

MAKING PLANS FOR LENA is writer/
director Christophe Honoré's third film to use Chiara Mastroianni, but it comes nowhere near the level of his earlier Love Songs. I find myself running hot and luke-warm to the work of this filmmaker; his latest is definitely in the latter category. Beautifully filmed in what I gather is Brittany (see photo at bottom), the movie -- as well as the Lena character played by Mastroianni -- fairly reeks of entitlement.

After a time, it is extremely difficult to watch Lena in action without wanting to haul off and smack the woman. Her behavior toward everyone around her grows more appalling as the movie progresses.

Could Honoré (shown at left) and Mastroianni be unaware of this? Is their film some kind of feminist statement? Embarrassing, if true. Women -- feminism -- need better agitators and explicators than are found here. But maybe that's just movie folk for you: They tackle life from, shall we say, a somewhat privileged position and expect to be congratulated for their efforts.

On the plus side is a cast filled with fine French actors -- from Marina Foïs (pregnant, center right) to Jean-Marc Barr (below, left), Marcial di Fonzo Bo and especially Marie-Christine Barrault (as the family's overbearing but dedicated mom). What a pleasure to see this great old actress in a good role again! Even that Honoré staple Louis Garrel (shown two photos below, bussing Ms Mastroianni) makes a short appearance, proving himself sexy and watchable, as always.

It's odd how differently we all react to watching the same thing. Stephen Holden, in his NY Times review found the odd section that tells (and shows) a folk take -- about a local bride, the villagers and dancing -- an kind of interruption that brings the film to a dead halt. TrustMovies found it much more pleasurable, if not completely comprehensible. At least it took us away from the the ridiculous Lena -- a character Holden found more interesting and worthwhile than did I.

Fans of Chiara Mastroianni, Honoré and the rest of his fine ensemble will certainly want to see the film, as did I prior to this theatrical run when the movie made its American debut last March during the FSLC's Rendez-vous With French Cinema. You couldn't have kept me from it, so maybe my warning review should not keep you from it, either.

Making Plans for Lena opens via IFC Films today, at Manhattan's IFC Center; click here for showtimes, etc.  Interestingly enough, the movie began its IFC-On-Demand run a week ago.  If you prefer at-home viewing, cilick here to see if it's available in your neighborhood.