Feminism vs tradition and the patriarchy in Mariam Khatchvani's Georgia-set drama, DEDE

Primitive, filmed in a beautiful location, and said to be based on a real-life situation taking place in 1988, as the Georgian Civil War began, DEDE, the 2017 film directed and co-written by Mariam Khatchvani, takes a number of unexpected turns, even as it purloins themes from Romeo & Juliet, the Sabine Women, and maybe every backwoods-set, honor-above-all-else, Eastern European/Eurasian movie ever made.

The film also proves an oddball mix of the modern (that stylish red dress our heroine tries so hard to get her hubby to compliment) along with the strictured and provincial (traditions that are awfully difficult to understand, let alone countenance: an engagement -- no, not ring but bullet. How sweet!).

The theme of budding feminism going up against traditional patriarchy, Georgian-style, is given quite a workout here. Ms Khatchvani, pictured at right, is deliberately, I suspect, filming in the same primitive style of the setting of her movie, as exposition couples with somewhat stilted performances and dialog, so that we always get the sense that, despite the relatively modern year, we're still in some kind of far-off, nearly ancient locale. What keeps us going during this somewhat languorous film are two things.

First, the interesting performers: George Babluani, shown above, as our heroine's first great love, a sexy, slow-burn guy who's great at staring; Natia Vibliani as Dina (below, with child), the put-upon girl at the center of all the male wrangling; and literally all the supporting performers who seem equally adept and real.

Secondly, the visuals here, thanks to the gorgeous locations, can often be breathtaking: There's one scene in which villagers carry lanterns/torches in the night on one side of the screen, even as the salmon-colored sunset hits the peaks of the mountains on the other. One question, however: Is Dede, the movie's title, somehow short for the name Dina, our main character? If not, what is its connectuon to this film?

From Corinth Films, in the Georgian language and running 97 minutes, Dede hits home video on DVD and digital streaming (via Amazon and iTunes) this coming Tuesday, June 30 -- for purchase and/or rental.

The (female) worm turns in Abner Pastoll/Ronan Blaney's A GOOD WOMAN IS HARD TO FIND

One can only assume that the filmmakers of A GOOD WOMAN IS HARD TO FIND mean their title to be taken ironically (and not simply because of their diddling  with Flannery O'Connor's famous short-story title), since every last woman we meet in this movie is pretty damned good. Every single man, however -- save one lone trash collector, who pays dearly for his decency -- is a piece of shit.

Thankfully, neither director Abner Pastoll (shown below) nor screenwriter Ronan Blaney underscores this fact. Over time, it simply exists and builds, and so we make of it what we will.

What we make of this duo's new movie is something else again. Though highly praised as "painfully real," "kitchen sink drama," and a "refreshingly astute gangster thriller," it strikes TrustMovies as none of the above but rather a put-upon-woman-gets-her-revenge brand of entertainment that's very bloody, not very believable, but a lot of nasty fun.

Think of it as Death Wish meets feminism with an Irish twist.

The story concerns a single mother (Sarah Bolger, above and below), widowed via the murder of her husband that appears to have left her young son (who witnessed the event) mute and her only slightly older daughter given to repeating certain words, one of which helps kick the coincidence-prone plot into high-gear.

Pastoll and Blaney's plot is serviceable and the pacing here is smart and swift, so before we know it, we're pretty much hooked and wondering just how our pretty young widow can get herself and her kids (below) out of this fix with their bodies and souls intact.

The males on view -- whether they be cops, crooks, or the security guard at the local market -- are utter swine. The lead gangster, played by Edward Hogg, is one of those criminal clichés who possesses not one redeeming feature nor even a single even pleasant moment to view or hear. He's a vicious, nasty, loves-to-torture-and-kill creep, the likes of whom you probably have not seen on screen for at least a day or two.

The bad guy who sets things in motion is a petty drug-dealer (nicely played by Andrew Simpson, above) who does have maybe one-quarter of a redeeming feature (he gives our mom her share of his drug sales). But, as usual, for the men here, women are seen as nothing more than a necessary appendage for pleasure or perhaps something utilitarian  Things come to a head pretty quickly -- Tito and Yugoslavia figure amusingly into the mix --  and before you can say, Get me an axe, our girl is up to her ears in blood and body parts.

There's a sad and lovely turn from Jane Brennan as Bolger's mom, and their scene together toward the finale marks the highpoint of real feeling in the film. Otherwise, it's a straight-ahead, feel-bad but feel-good-about-revenge tale, told well enough to help fill the current Corona-fueled void.

From Film Movement and running 97 minutes, A Good Woman Is Hard to Find hits On-Demand and Digital this coming Tuesday, May 8 -- for purchase and/or rental.

BEYOND THE VISIBLE--HILMA AF KLINT could change what we know of abstract-art history

Yours truly follows the art world only cursorily -- very cursorily -- so he had never heard of the eponymous subject of the new documentary, BEYOND THE VISIBLE -- HILMA AF KLINT. It will turn out, I suspect, that many of the folk who follow art more closely than I may not have heard of Ms Klint, either. So this new documentary should go far in terms of introducing viewers to an unusual woman who was a contemporary of Kandinsky and who, some feel, was his superior --  not to mention his forerunner -- regarding abstract art.

The documentary's director, Halina Dyrschka (shown at left), whose first full-length film this is, combines the history of her subject with that of art history, art criticism and the usual talking heads so many documentaries include in order to make their salient points.

The most important of these points would seem to be that Klint (shown below) has been deliberately overlooked by the art establishment, first, because she was female, and second, because she believed in and painted the "spiritual." That she was also involved in various seances -- so popular around the turn of the twentieth century -- didn't much help her reputation, either.

Yet seeing some of this woman's very large and gloriously colored work early on in the film makes a good case for her inclusion, and listening to some of the talking heads remark on the reasons why Klint was not included should raise your hackles properly. The most incisive of these is German Art Critic and Historian, Julia Voss (below), whose follow-the-money explanation at film's finale makes a good deal of sense ("It's all about how much money you can make, and with Hilma, you can't make any!"), while the most charming and resonant voice belongs to German Historian of Science, Ernst Peter Fischer, who cleverly links Klint a little more to science than to spirituality.

In fact, it's this spirituality connection, along with the corresponding work Klint did during this rather lengthy period of her life that seems to me the least interesting and accomplished of her oeuvre. This stuff more often resembles exercises than real art, and unfortunately the filmmaker spends an awfully long time with and on it all.

Part of the reason for this, I suspect, is that Klint was a very private person, so not much of her personal life is (or maybe can be) explored here. Instead we get more of who she knew and what they thought and why all this added up to her exclusion.

While not uninteresting, this finally becomes a bit repetitive, as does the art that goes along with this period. It's less than overwhelming. (So are the repetitive shots of someone we assume to be standing in for Klint, recreating the painting of her large canvases.)

TrustMovies was about to decide that, overall, he wasn't much taken with this Klint-o-mania, but then we get to the point at which a huge array of her work has a showing at last in her home country of Sweden. Now, we begin to see a fuller picture and, yes, we're caught up in the beauty and originality of her paintings all over again.

Now, what we viewed toward the beginning of the film -- comparison of Klint's work with that of Albers, Klee, Twobly and even Warhol -- seems even more telling. As does the unwillingness of the art establishment -- then and now -- to give this artist anywhere near full entry or to recognize her place as a pioneer of abstract art. Thankfully this is changing, and Beyond the Visible: Hilma Af Klint should only add to the change.

From Zeitgeist Films and Kino Lorber, the documentary was to have had its theatrical release last week in New York City, but will now get a virtual theatrical release across the USA digitally beginning this Friday, April 17, via Kino Marquee.  Click here for more information.

Corporate malfeasance in the 1920s: Lydia Dean Pilcher/Ginny Mohler's RADIUM GIRLS

Likely to put you in mind of one of 2019's best films, Dark Waters, thanks to its scrupulous detailing of yet another of corporate America's egregious deeds, RADIUM GIRLS -- a narrative movie detailing the knowingly murderous behavior of the United States Radium Corporation toward its own workers, the young women who painted those glow-in-the-dark dials on the wrist watches of the day -- proves yet another worthy addition to the ever-growing list of Capitalism's horrendous crimes against the workers of the world.

As directed by Lydia Dean Pilcher and Ginny Mohler (shown above, left and right respectively), with a screenplay by Ms Mohler and Brittany Shaw, this 2018 movie is only now being released  either theatrically or digitally (for more on this, cut to the final paragraph). The movie is almost impossible not to recommend, thanks to the riveting and infuriating story it tells (and tells generally quite well, even given its too many digressions into documentary footage nostalgia).

The radium girls of the title (shown above in a photo from that time, below in the movie version) were young woman, often only in their teens, hired to work at this factory in Orange, New Jersey, where they were encouraged -- in order to produce more product more quickly -- to moisten their paintbrushes by placing these in their mouth, even as the ownership knew all too well that the girls were poisoning themselves irrevocably.

Much of the movie's strength comes from its astute casting of roles large and small by excellent actors who, if not "unknowns," are still a long way from household names. The only actors TrustMovies was familiar with in this large cast were Veanne Cox (of Henry Fool, and who played a glorious Flora in the off-Broadway revival of Flora, the Red Menace), John Bedford Lloyd and Joe Grifasi.)

Radium Girls is not merely a very progressive movie, it's also quite feminist, given that these women are taken such advantage of mostly by powerful men: When they began to grow ill, they were deliberately lied to about their condition and instead told that they had syphilis! The film's leading roles --  sisters, both of whom work for the radium company where their older sibling worked and subsequently died several years before -- are taken by Joey King (above, second from right, who could hardly look more "period" were she a reincarnated 1920s flapper) and Abby Quinn (below, right), who provides the soul of the film, as the sister who has ingested enough radium to end her life within a year or two.

Generally, the film works well enough, even as it adheres to fairly standard genre practices. The villains are drawn as uncaring and utterly venal, doing whatever it takes to win the day. Only in one unnecessary scene, in which bad-guy underlings in a car try to run our pedestrian heroine off the road, does the film seem unduly "movie-ish." In addition, the would-be love story -- between the younger sister and her American-Communist-party photographer beau -- could use a bit more oomph.

Otherwise, Radium Girls proves a decent enough example of Davida and Goliath/"us vs them" movie-making. Released via Juno Films and running 103 minutes, the film was to open theatrically this Friday, April 3, but what with the Corona-induced nationwide theater closings, who knows? When I can learn more about a possible digital streaming or VOD release, I'll post that info here. Or, you can click here and watch for further updates from the film's web site.

Beauty and budding feminism combine in Ash Mayfair's gorgeous 19th Century tale of rural Vietnam life, THE THIRD WIFE

It has been awhile since we've seen quite so much beauty and elegance -- all of it seeming more off-the-cuff natural than overly planned -- in a movie coming out of Vietnam. The Scent of Green Papaya (from all the way back to 1993) comes to immediate mind, though there may have been other films TrustMovies has missed or forgotten.

In any case, viewers attuned the world's natural beauty, as well as to what I'd call an Asian penchant for subtlety and grace, will want to take in THE THIRD WIFE, a new film -- her first full-length, after several shorts -- from the Vietnam-born, NYU film-educated Ash Mayfair, pictured at left. This is as lovely, graceful and finally full-bodied feminist a work of art as I've seen in some time.

For all its beauty and seemingly peaceful elegance, the movie left me not a little surprised and oddly uplifted by the strong, firm finale which is, in its own way, every bit as elegant and subtle as what has come before.

It may seem almost amazing to us westerners how pre-determined were the lives of women at the time the movie takes place (the late 19th Century), as well as how easily the women we see made themselves fit so securely and completely into the groove of patriarchy, while still discovering their own ways of rebelling and/or satisfying their needs. And yet, there is maybe not so much difference between what we see here and what we saw in a movie like the recent Lizzie, that offered up the kind of closed-off-to-women life that resulted in the infamous Lizzie Borden murders. The place and the culture may differ, but patriarchy still rules.

The tale Ms Mayfair tells in The Third Wife is of a 14-year-old rural girl named May (the lovely and quietly cryptic Nguyen Phuong Tra My, above) who is made to wed a wealthy landowner. The movie begins as she is carried via boat (below) to her new home, and then meanders along as May learns how to deal with her place in the hierarchy of the life of her new husband.

Wives number one and two make their place known, and yet they do not seem actively against our newcomer, as we might expect, were the film made by westerners. There is a grandfather and grandchildren, too, and both male and female servants who are probably as close to slaves as can be imagined -- and still not matter so much. Except to the slaves, of course.

Performances are on the quiet side but very real from all concerned, and the filmmaker (as both writer and director) takes care to let us see the ways in which our women manage to circumvent standard mores, whether sexually or, finally, appearance-wise. (The finale, when mulled-over post-viewing, practically begs for a sequel.)

The film's most potent sequence involves an arranged marriage in which the husband is not at all happy -- for good reason, yet it is his bride who must suffer the consequences. Even as the strictures of the patriarchy pile up, so obedient and subservient seem the women, and so quiet and even-handed is the work of the filmmaker that when resistance finally arrives, simple and even mild as it might elsewhere appear, here it packs a punch that any of our ham-handed super-hero movies might envy. I'd love to learn what happens to these women, but whatever Ms Mayfair chooses to do next, I'm on board to view it.

From Film Movement and running 94 minutes, the movie opens this Wednesday, May 15, in New York City at Film Forum, and will then play another 30 cities around the country, including the Los Angeles area on May 24 (at Laemmle's Royal and Playhouse 7) and here in Boca Raton on June 7 (at the Living Room Theaters). Click here, then scroll way down, to see if and when the film will be coming to a theater near you.

László Nemes' SUNSET proves an enthrallingly odd follow-up to his Oscar-winner, Son of Saul

Just as his immersive and often very difficult to watch debut film, Son of Saul, thrust us into the Nazi extermination of the Jews, so, too, does László Nemes' second and new film, SUNSET, very nearly bury the viewer in the greed, sleaze, perversity, hypocrisy and violence that led us (along with some other things not covered here) into World War I.

Granted, Son of Saul spent all of its hour and 47 minutes in the middle of that Holocaust. Sunset puts us into WWI only for the final moments of its much lengthier two-hour-and-22-minute running time. The film's ending, however, is sudden and specific enough to make TrustMovies better understand what Mr. Nemes' major point appears to be.

The filmmaker, pictured at right, uses a similar point-of-view technique as in Son of Saul: He places his camera just in front of or right behind, sometimes to the right or left but always quite close to his protagonist. In Sunset's case, this would be a pretty but deadly serious young woman named Írisz Leiter, played with very nearly one single expression that manages to combine questioning and determination in a most unusual manner. The performer here is Juli Jakab, below and on poster, top) an actress/writer of note who was also featured in Son of Saul.

Ms Jakab's intensity, combined with her beauty and dedication to this unusual role helps keep us and the movie on track, despite its length and refusal to offer up a whole lot of typical exposition. Instead, Nemes seems to be saying to any remotely intelligent viewer who is at all familiar with history (That's what? Five per cent of America?), "OK, folk: Take what you know here, then watch, listen, and run with it."  And we do. Or I did, anyway, along with the approximately half of our critical establishment who approved of the movie.

The character Írisz appears at film's beginning, at a very chic and well-connected millinery shop, to which, we slowly learn, she shares a major bond. Yet she seems to know almost as little about her actual past and family than we do. Slowly, the movie lets Íris (and us) in on things.
They're not pretty.

The era -- 1910 and the time preceding WWI -- is aptly captured in sets, costumes and characterization, and eventually some (and only some) of the mystery of who and how is unveiled, as we come face to face (or via hear-say from not always reliables characters) everything from missing relatives to love and murder to sex trafficking, torture and plenty more violence.

Because so much of what we learn is only sidelong and suggested, some viewers may insist on something more substantial. They will be disappointed. For those willing to put the puzzle pieces together, making some connections on their own, Sunset should prove compelling, often quite beautifully filmed, and well-written, -acted and -directed enough to pass muster -- and then some.

What's missing here, for WWI history buffs, are the politics of the time and the people and companies who would profit most from the carnage. We get but a mere taste of any of this; instead we're treated to the uber entitlement of royalty and wealth, the huge disempowerment of women, and the violent reaction of folk who will be termed anarchists by some but who are in truth more like crazy, avenging angels. This offers plenty to chew on, of course, but it's not nearly the big picture.

From Sony Pictures Classics, Sunset, after opening in a number of major cities over the past few weeks, will hit South Florida today, Friday, April 26. In the Miami area, look for it at the AMC Aventura 24 and the Silverspot Downtown Miami; in Fort Lauderdale at the Classic Gateway; in Boca Raton at the Regal Shadowood 16 and Living Room Theaters, and at the Movies of Delray in Delray Beach. Now and over the weeks to come, it will play many more cities. Click here and then click on THEATERS to find the one closest to you.

Sexual harassment in Israel via Michal Aviad's slow-burn melodrama, WORKING WOMAN

Location, location, location. That famous old real-estate slogan seems mightily appropriate in regard to the new movie, WORKING WOMAN, and not simply because the film involves the sale of some heavy-duty real estate by its heroine. Even more important is the fact that this tale -- which concerns the kind of sexual harassment that ranges anywhere between a 2 and a 10 (on a 10-point scale) -- takes place in Israel, a country that, even in our current age of Me2, seems a couple of decades behind much of the western world concerning the place of women in society.

As directed and co-written (with Sharon Azulay Eyal and Michal Vinik), by Michal Aviad (shown at left), this very interesting and believable movie tracks the new career of a wife and mother of three children, who goes to work for an ex-superior of hers (during her time in the Israeli army) who is now something of a real estate mogul. She does this in order to help salvage her husband's barely-making-it restaurant.

The couple is played by Liron Ben-Shlush (the wife, Orna) and Oshri Cohen (her hubby), and you could hardly ask for a more attractive pair: young, intelligent and sexy as hell. They seem quite happy, too -- except that we do get a sense that the husband is not overjoyed about his wife going to work for someone else. Just a minor annoyance, mind you, but still: It's there, and it begins to cement our further notions about Israeli society.

How our girl makes good at her new job is demonstrated with flair and subtlety by the filmmaker, and it is soon quite clear that her new boss, Benny (played by Menashe Noy, above), is more than a little appreciative of her abilities -- which demonstrate skills of which Benny himself is noticeably lacking.

Once the sexual harassment starts -- just a kiss, mind you, and one for which Benny is ever so sorry -- all begins to change. It's incremental, of course, but it upends Orna's behavior even more than it does Benny's. That's one of the insidious effects of female life under the patriarchy.

How all this plays out -- there's a lovely and successful trip to Paris in the mix! -- should have you impressed with Orna and her skills, even as you're growing ever more concerned. And when the shit finally hits the fan, how resolution arrives seems light years from what we might expect today in the USA or in many western countries. But this does not make it any the less believable. The culture of the state calls the shots here, as elsewhere, for better or worse.

If you find that resolution maybe just a tad too easily achieved, that is what makes the movie more melodrama than drama. There nothing wrong with a crackerjack melodrama, however -- which Working Woman most definitely is. Well acted, written and directed, the film makes a very nice addition to the increasing number of international movies addressing feminism and sexual harassment.

From Zeitgeist Films via Kino Lorber, the movie opens in New York City this coming Wednesday, March 27, at the IFC Center and the Marlene Myerson JCC Manhattan. It hits the Los Angeles area on Friday April 12 at Laemmle's Royal, Playhouse 7 and Town Center 5. Over the weeks and months to come, it will play another 25 or so cities. Click here and then scroll down to see all currently scheduled playdates and venues.