The glorious Brian Cox brings János Edelényi's THE CARER to pulsating and delightful life

A love letter from Hungarian film to British actors, acting and Shakespeare himself (whoever the hell he actually was), THE CARER is also the second film I've seen in as many weeks to star that great actor Brian Cox in yet another role of a dying old man.

Again, as in The Etruscan Smile, Cox is a treasure, and the movie itself, even as it proves filled with many of the usual dying-senior-citizen tropes, is so specifically designed around Cox and his (along with director and co-writer János Edelényi's) love of acting, in particular the Shakespearean variety, that this movie immediately becomes a gift and a treat for anyone who shares these affections.

Hungarian filmmaker Edelényi (shown at right), along with his co-writers Gilbert Adair and Tom Kinninmont, tells the story of a once hugely popular (if not hugely loved) stage and screen actor Sir Michael Gifford (played by Cox, above and below), now suffering from Parkinson's disease, mostly reclusive, and given to firing one caregiver after another, to the frustration of his daughter (Emilia Fox), his driver-and-ex-dresser (Andor Lukáts), and his nurse and ex-lover (Anna Chancellor). Into this unhappy little hothouse comes a possible new caregiver (played sweetly/feistily by an alliterative newcomer named Coco König), a pretty young woman who brings along her own agenda.

How all these characters bounce around and off each other -- in ways that often go differently than you'll expect -- helps make the movie a lot more enjoyable that it might initially seem. And the acting ensemble, led by Cox, is both ultra-talented and eminently watchable.

Additionally, the script, direction and performances do not play fast and loose with senior years or end-of-life situations, so there is a certain verisimilitude to the proceedings that makes whatever feel-good you take away from the film unsaddled with guilt.

Shakespeare lovers will revel in both how much of the Bard they'll enjoy during the course of the film, and Mr. Cox does such a fine job with it all that you'll wonder why he has not been tapped to play all these roles already.

The Carer is one of those well-made, old-fashioned films that should resonate both with older audiences (for obvious reasons) and younger ones willing to take an interest in what maybe lies ahead. As for the lovely, intelligent and deeply felt speech that Sir Michael makes at the film's conclusion, if you are not already aboard this very special slice of entertainment, this should fully wrap you in its wonders.

From Corinth Films and running a just-right 89 minutes, The Carer hit home video last month -- for purchase and rental. Amazon Prime members can view it now free of charge it as part of their membership.

DVDebut for Russell Harbaugh's well-acted grief 'n gloom fiesta, LOVE AFTER LOVE

Reviews were generally so positive when LOVE AFTER LOVE opened theatrically this past March that TrustMovies made certain to stick it on his must-see list and/or perhaps cover it for its DVD release. That release is now, and sure enough, the movie -- co-written (with Eric Mendelsohn) and directed by Russell Harbaugh (shown below) -- proves to be the very well-acted and relatively insightful look at a family working through its grief during (but mostly after) the death of its husband/father.

Made up of quite a few "family gathering" scenes interspersed with some twosomes, often sexual encounters, the film moves forward in time without explicitly informing you of the where or when. If you pay attention, however, you can easily follow things. Tolstoi's famous-but-specious maxim that begins Anna Karenina (regarding how happy families are all alike but unhappy ones unhappy each in its specific way) comes to mind here, as the family we meet appears to be very unhappy indeed.

Further, this unhappiness does not appear to be stemming merely from grief: These folk were clearly fucked-up long before dad took to dying. Of the two sons, one (James Adomian) is a passive-aggressive alcoholic and the other (Chris O'Dowd) a narcissistic asshole and serial womanizer, and there is no indication that this has not long been the case.

Mom (Andie MacDowell) holds things together as best she can, and it is clear that she's something of a hedonist who was in an "open marriage" before the current husband and is soon involved with someone new afterward.

Mr. Harbaugh makes no excuses for these people. He simply presents them as they are, via their dialog and actions. And yet to make the claim, as many critics have done, that the movie is all about grief and how we manage it seems an oversimplification. It is hardly just grief that these folk are having to handle: It is their life -- past, present and future -- with which they are (barely) coming to terms.

In fact, you may feel -- as did I, my spouse and the friends with whom we viewed the film -- that the extended family (husbands, wives, significant others, friends) were more appealing than the family itself. Still, this is the family we're dealt, movie-wise, and Harbaugh, Mendelsohn and the fine cast bring them to life quite solidly. Mr. O'Dowd (above) is spectacularly good. If anyone else has better portrayed an impossibly narcissistic asshole, I'm at a loss to recall it.

Mr. Adomian has not as much to do here but certainly does it well. His oh-pity-me! less successful brother is a mountain of quiet-but-overbearing excess in every way. And Ms MacDowell (above) proves more than the equal of her on-screen sons. This is one of her most unusual roles -- written with more specificity and detail than the actress is often given -- and she does it full justice, in the process showing us just how much subtlety and understated strength she is capable of.

Nice supporting turns come from Dree Hemingway (above, as O'Dowd's current) and especially from Juliet Rylance (as O'Dowd's ex) -- two of that extended family you'll find yourself wishing were part of a more kindly crew.

From IFC Films and running 93 minutes, the movie hits DVD this coming Tuesday, July 24 -- for purchase and/or rental. It is (or soon will be) available via digital streaming, as well.

Punk rock and Buckminster Fuller join forces in Peter Livolsi's THE HOUSE OF TOMORROW

You won't find much odder combinations that those that come together in THE HOUSE OF TOMORROW, the first full-length film from Sundance alumnus Peter Livolsi. The two families that slowly begin to meld here could hardly be more different -- one whose father embraces religion as a kind of escape, the other pure-science-oriented who lives in one of those geodesic domes designed by architect/ environmentalist/ inventor Buckminster Fuller. The son in each family seems like the proverbial oil/water mix, as well.

If Mr. Livolsi's movie (the filmmaker is shown at left) has the whiff of manipulation -- his adapted screenplay is based upon the novel by Peter Bognanni -- the performances by the film's six leading actors are spot-on, alternately funny and moving, while the writing and direction allow those performances to carry the weight of the somewhat too telescoped story.

The result is a film that lives and breathes vitally as it unfurls before you, even if you might find yourself picking it apart once it's over and you've recovered from being in-the-moment with these terrific actors.

Sebastian (Asa Butterfield, above, seated) and his Nana (Ellen Burstyn, above, hair-cutting) live and work (as caretaker/guides) in the geodesic dome/home designed by the late, great Mr. Fuller. On a tour one day comes a church group led by a dad (Nick Offerman, below, left), his two kids, Jared (Alex Wolff, below, center) and Meredith (Maude Apatow, below, right), and some other young church members. The very small but vital interplay that occurs between Sebastian, Meredith and Jared -- just a little conversation, touching and then a boner -- leads to these kids' increasing connection with and reliance on each other.

Teen-age rebellion, planned and otherwise, is something movies have always served up, from the Rebel Without a Cause of my own teen years until now. This film, however, with its hugely different philosophies at work, as well as its two families suffering each in its own way from great loss and neither quite able to properly cope, offers an odd but enticing tale that grows wilder as it moves along.

That the movie does not spin out of control is due mostly to those wonderful performances and to Livolsi's ability to keep us hanging on in hopes that the film will not finally betray itself and its ideas/ideals. It doesn't, but due to that telescoping, a little too much goes on for its own good. Still, there are a number of lovely high points along the way. Why people sometimes act as they do, in a manner that doesn't seem to help themselves or those they love, is brought home quite beautifully in a scene between Sebastian and Meredith in a hospital waiting room, above.

How we can imprison ourselves, even in a remarkable, environmentally friendly house full of light that brings the outside in, is demonstrated very nicely, too, as is some punk rock music that, for the first time in my movie-going experience, actually made some sense -- musically and philosophically -- while advancing the plot-line along.

If you can accept a little manipulation in service to some thoughtful ideas and wonderful acting, I suspect you'll be happy to have seen The House of Tomorrow, a title that becomes more and more ironic -- and yet absolutely truthful, too -- as the movie moves along.

I wonder what Buckminster Fuller would think of the film. I 'd hope that, as surprised as he might initially be, he would also enjoy and approve. From Shout! Studios and running just 85 minutes, the movie opens this Friday, April 27, in New York City at the Village East Cinema, in the Los Angeles area at Laemmle's Noho 7 and Playhouse 7, and here in South Florida at the AMC Aventura 24, Miami.  To see the listing of all currently scheduled playdates, cities and theaters, click here.

Lower education unveiled in Jan Hřebejk/Petr Jarkovský's dark and delicious THE TEACHER

Another first-rate gem from the film-making team of director Jan Hřebejk and writer Petr Jarkovský, who have earlier given us Divided We Fall, Up and Down and Kawasaki's Rose, their newest venture -- THE TEACHER -- is also one of their best. Of course, we say this every time the pair makes a new movie. But, hey: It's true. I can't think of another film-making team that produces such consistently funny black comedies that are simultaneously ridden with examples of sad, weak and oh-so-real humanity. The combo is bracing, to say the least.

This Czech duo, pictured above with Mr. Jarkovský on the left, knows how to create situations so fraught with oddities and ironies that yet seem absolutely believable, and its combination of smart dialog, nimble direction and terrific performances results in movies that are both memorable and hugely entertaining.

So it is again with The Teacher, which tells the tale of a rather special teacher back in 1983, when Czechoslovakia was under the thumb of Communist Russia. One of the consistent surprises of this film-making team is how accessible, understandable and darkly funny it makes life under the Communist behemoth. I suppose that abusive power is pretty much the same all over the world; the degree to which is it used is what varies. Here in the USA we may just be seeing currently the fuller exposure of that particular iceberg.

Our teacher, played with a rich array of acting arsenal attributes by Zuzana Mauréry (above and below) has a fascinating and unfortunately all-too-easily-achieved way of working the system. TrustMovies will not go into details, for these are both original and too much fun to spoil your surprise.

Said to be based on a real situation that the writer and director make seem all the more so, The Teacher tackles the subject of fighting against injustice vs groveling to power, and the parents of the children of whom this teacher is in charge come down, as expected, on both sides of the issue and to varying degrees. What they say and how they say it in order to explain their position makes for much of the movie's exhilarating (if queasy-making) fun.

Bravery under Communism was hard to come by, and even when it reared its head, this might have been for as many wrong reasons as right. The filmmakers understand this, and they also know how to demonstrate it without finger-wagging or hammering it home. The situation, if it divides the parents (above), also brings together a set of students (below) who, under other circumstances, might have almost nothing in common. Here they bond -- in yet more irony!

Defection, education, submission and protest, the movie covers them all -- and more. By the time of its denouement, which takes Czechoslovakia to its post-Communist era, The Teacher unveils its final small-but-telling irony which is, like the film itself, a dark gem.

From Film Movement and running a just-right 103 minutes, the movie has its New York City premiere at Film Forum in New York City this coming Wednesday, August 30. Elsewhere? Well, it opens in Santa Fe at The Screen on Friday, September 8. Click here then scroll down to see futher upcoming playdates across the country.

With WIND RIVER, Taylor Sheridan writes and directs another fine where's-the-justice? movie

One of last year's best films, Hell or High Water, turns out to have been no fluke, as its first-class writer, Taylor Sheridan, is back this year with another top-notch movie that is again all about trying to obtain a little justice from people and things -- think corporations, society, America -- that are quite unwilling to provide it. Hell or High Water tracked the banking industry in Texas, while Sheridan's new one WIND RIVER, which the writer has also directed, is set on an Indian reservation in Wyoming, where the malfeasance has dribbled down from another sort of corporate entity into its employees.

If Mr. Sheridan (shown at left, who also has had quite a lengthy career as actor) is not quite up to the level of the two directors who have filmed his other screenplays -- David Mackenzie and Denis Villeneuve -- he has nonetheless done a very respectable job, and often more than that. He captures with great strength and tact the the pain and grief surrounding a death in the family (two families, actually), as well as handling the mystery and thriller elements very well, too. In fact, his movie's single action scene is one of the best we've witnessed in a film in quite some time.

This extended scene (above) is by turns surprising, suspenseful, shocking and as full of violent action as a connoisseur could want. But it is in the quiet, thoughtful moments that Sheridan's poise and accomplishments are also evident, never more so than in the film's final scene, as our hero (one of them, anyway, given a deep, quiet and full embodiment by the excellent Jeremy Renner) and his Indian friend (another wonderful performance from Hell or High Water's Gil Birmingham) sit in the snow, below, as they quietly talk and ponder.

Sheridan's stars here are Renner and Elizabeth Olsen, below, making further good on the predictions of a long and starry career made at the time of this actress' earliest appearances on film. These two work so well together, even as their characters keep their appropriate and professional distance, that I hope we'll see them together in other films again soon.

Mr. Sheridan's deepest concerns appear to be with the longing for and journey toward justice. In Hell or High Water, this is fraught with ironies and sadness. Here it is more direct but no less difficult. Wind River is a depressing movie -- what film about American Indians worth its salt would not be? -- but it is so well conceived and executed that I doubt you will be bored for even one moment of its 107-minute running time. The film is alternately sad and darkly funny, surprising and lively, thrilling and doleful.

All the subsidiary characters come to vital life, too, and this is not easy, I suspect, for a relatively new filmmaker to achieve. Sheridan's writing is unusually on the mark, however, giving us lots of info with little verbiage.

From The Weinstein Company, the movie opened in New York and L.A. a week or two back and hits South Florida this Friday, August 18 -- in the Miami/Fort Lauderdale areas at AMC's Aventura Mall 24, Coral Ridge 10, Sunset Place 24, and Weston 8; at the Cinebistro at Cityplace, Dolphin Mall 19 Theatre, Miami Lakes 17,  Cinemark Paradise 24, Cinepolis Grove 13, Cinepolis Deerfield 8, Deerfield Beach,  Gateway 4, IPIC Intracoastal, The Landmark at Merrick, and Regal's Oakwood 18, Kendall Village Stadium 16 and South Beach 18. In West Palm Beach and Boca Raton, you find it at AMC's CityPlace 20, The Movies of Delray, Downtown 16 Cinemas Palm Beach Gardens, Cinemark's Palace 20 and Boynton Beach 14, Cinepolis Jupiter 14, IPic Entertainment Mizner Park 8, Regal Shadowood 16 and Royal Palm Beach 18. Wherever else you reside in our large, and increasingly Trump-dumbed-down country, click here to find the theaters nearest you.

Woody Harrelson is brilliant in the under-rated/under-seen character comedy, WILSON

Having now seen two Oscar-caliber performances from male actors in the space of two days -- yesterday's post on Wakefield via Bryan Cranston and today's on WILSON, featuring a simply wonderful turn by Woody Harrelson -- I must say that I am now looking forward to seeing just who the Academy might deign to nominate for 2017's Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role. Mr Harrelson is always good and sometimes infinitely better than that (have you seen his performance in Rampart?), and here he is given the chance to play one of the more unusual characters in his already bursting-at-the-seams repertoire of versatility. The actor comes through with one of his best-ever performances.

What makes Wilson -- the character and to a large extent the movie itself -- so memorable is that what this character says is often dead-on in terms of being truthful. And yet the guy is so weak in the social graces department that what he says ends up not mattering so very much. As directed by Craig Johnson (shown at right, of True Adolescents and The Skeleton Twins) and written by Daniel Clowes (of Ghost World and Art School Confidential) from his own graphic novel, the movie hits us full-out with this truly bizarre fellow and doesn't let us escape from him for more than a minute of its just-over-an-hour-and-a-half running time. And yet so thoroughly real, if strange, is Wilson, and so funny/sad/embarrassing/kind/angry and above all compelling is Harrelson's ability to bring him to grand and oddball life, that by the end of the movie we're rooting for the guy like you wouldn't have believed possible going in.

Wilson is full of other smart, deft performances, too -- particularly from Laura Dern (above, with Harrelson), who plays our hero's ex; Judy Greer (below) as his dog-sitting friend; and especially Isabella Amara, as the young woman who comes into his life as quite a surprise.

Ms Amara (shown at center, below) captures incredibly well that teenage surfeit of worry masked by a don't-give-a-shit attitude, from which little moments of genuineness now-and-then emerge. She's quite a find. The movie also manages to balance its view of modern technology as something tiresome and problematic with one that admits its usefulness and sharing abilities. Mr. Clowes also brings us a full-bodied, wart-and-all hero who must navigate his way around things that many of us simply take for granted.

As director Mr. Johnson wisely steps out of the way of his talented cast, allowing them to pull out the stops whenever needed.  He also keeps his tone light and jocular enough to carry us over the movie's several surprising turns. Prison, it seems, can sometimes even build character.

By the end of Wilson, most of its characters have managed to stay true to themselves, even as they make the concessions and compromises that go into somehow living in our very problemed world, while our hero has managed to finally, quite believably grow up.

From Fox Searchlight and running 94 minutes, after a disappointingly meager theatrical run, the movie may finally find an audience and success via home video (it's out now on DVD and Blu-ray), on VOD and via streaming facilities.

After a ten-year hiatus, Steven Shainberg is back directing--with sci-fi thriller, RUPTURE

You may remember Steven Shainberg from his critically popular Sundance-heralded film, Secretary, or maybe his interesting (but less popular with critics or audiences) Diane Arbus fantasy bio-pic, FUR. That film, and/or possibly some other things, led to our not hearing from Mr. Shainberg (shown below) for a decade, so far as directing is concerned. The good news is, he's back. And the even better news is that his latest film, RUPTURE, is quite a bizarre, frightening and entertaining addition to the sci-fi/kidnap-thriller sub-genre.

It also offers (spoiler ahead, so skip to the next paragraph if you want maximum surprise from this little movie) quite a nice new wrinkle on the Invasion of the Body Snatchers template, especially in the manner in which it introduces new characters as we move along and then slowly unfurls their intentions toward our kidnapped heroine.

That heroine would be the single mom, Renee (played by Noomi Rapace, below: the original Girl With the Dragon Tattoo), who seems simply a normal woman just trying to provide her young son and herself with decent life prospects.

When, after setting up this sense of normalcy and pleasant family life, our heroine is kidnapped, we feel as shocked, frightened and confused as does she, trying to come to terms with what happened and -- particularly -- to what end?

The latter is doled out to us very slowly and very cleverly by the director (who also contributed the story) and his screenwriter, Brian Nelson, who only allow us and Renee to understand what is happening in such confusing dribs and drabs that this makes our and her frustrations and fear continually mount.

To give away those dribs and drabs would only add more spoilers, so TrustMovies will just say that they are provided by an ensemble of fine character actors like Peter Stormare (above, left), Michael Chiklis, (above, center, and below), Lesley Manville (above, right) and Kerry Bishé, (above, second from left), each of whom creates as much of a character out of these oddball villains, as possible, given that we and the camera rarely leaves the face, body and fear being experienced by the formidable Ms Rapace.

This actress has a fine role here and she gives it what it needs, holding us in thrall and in hope for her future throughout. And Mr. Shainberg sees to it that we stay with her, exterior and interior, until the troubling finale.

The film's ending is a humdinger: leaving a lot open-ended, even as it makes clear what has happened and will continue to happen. Rupture is a nice addition to this sub-genre mash-up. For all the earlier films from which it borrows, the end result seems surprisingly original and very frightening and queasy-making indeed.

From AMBI Media Group and running 102 minutes, Rupture opens this Friday, April 28, in New York City at the Cinema Village and in the L.A. area at the Arena Cinemas. For all you who don't live on either coast, the film will simultaneously hit VOD.