NOBODY'S WATCHING: In Julia Solomonoff's unusual immigrant saga, an actor prepares -- but for what?

Via NOBODY'S WATCHING (Nadie nos mira), the new Latin American co-production directed and co-written by Argentine filmmaker Julia Solomonoff, audiences are going to see one of the year's best performances so far by a male actor. This would be Guillermo Pfening, another Argentine who has already amassed some 67 credits at this point in his nearly 40-year life. Mr. Pfening, shown at right and below, fully and richly embodies his central character, Nico -- a relatively successful actor in his home country, who has come to New York City to both further his career and get away from his controlling lover, who happens to also be the director/producer of the successful television series in which Nico plays a role. (Nico's character has been put into a coma, while the actor decides what to do next.)

Señor Pfening (The German Doctor) gives the kind of performance that ought to win a bunch of awards for the depth, clarity and warts-and-all reality the actor brings to it. It won't, of course, because it's not "showy" enough or full of chances for over-the-top (melo)drama. Folk who appreciate a genuine, full-out performance, however, will be glad they went out of their way to catch this one.

For her part Ms Solomonoff (shown at left), along with her co-writer, Christina Lazaridi, brings an unhurried, loose and naturalistic style to the film, working the exposition into the situation, while bringing character to the forefront and thus avoiding the kind of melodrama that often accompanies some of the situations shown here. The filmmaker allows us to slowly but surely understand the kind of man our Nico is, along with the characteristics that alternately control him: pride, insecurity, kindness, love, desire, ambition and lots more. Via particularly well-chosen situations involving everything from employment to friendship, auditions to sexual encounters, baby-sitting to simple relaxation (in which the director and her star make us privy even to thought processes), a full-bodied character and the movie that surrounds him come to life.

To make ends meet, as he waits for the film to begin production for which he has been hired, Nico takes odd jobs -- from bus boy to taking care of a good friend's infant (above and below), the latter being a job for which he is not well-equipped but which, because he's a decent and caring guy, he manages to quickly learn.

The bond that forms between Nico and his little "charge," as well as between him and the Hispanic nannies he meets in the park, are just two of the many surprises and pleasures offered in Nobody's Watching.

The supporting cast is well-chosen and appealing (that's Elena Roger, above, as Nico's best friend in the big city), with each actor finding the truth of his/her character quickly and effectively. Nico's peculiar combination of ambition and self-reliance coupled to a nearly equal dose of self-destructiveness makes this character oddly appealing and very believable.

The movie's interesting "take" on its immigrant story also makes it timely yet unusual in its choice of the type of immigrant we see -- his "class," level of education and the like -- even as he, like so many others, sees America as a stepping stone to a better life. (At least our Nico has a country he can return to without the possibility of being tortured and/or killed because of that return.)

One of the movie's most interesting sections involves a reunion between Nico and his friend (played by Marco Antonio Caponi, above, left) who stars in that popular TV soap opera in which Nico also appeared. Both men want to impress each other, but Nico goes far beyond what's necessary. How his friend responds, once he discovers Nico's ruse, provides one of the film's more tender and appealing moments.

When we finally meet Nico's ex-lover, Martín (Rafael Ferro, above, left) and begin to understand the control coupled to sexual appeal the latter offers, more puzzle pieces fall into place. By its conclusion, the film has grown both broader and deeper than we expected going in, even as we feel that Nico may have finally -- if just barely -- turned the corner into "growing up."

From FiGa Films and Cinema Tropical, Nobody's Watching opens tomorrow, Friday, September 8, in New York City at Film Forum. Elsewhere? Nothing is scheduled just now, but if I learn of further openings, I will post them here. Or, if you're not in NYC, maybe wait for the eventual DVD/streaming options.

Note: Director Julia Solomonoff will appear 

in person at NYC's Film Forum 

at the 7pm show on both September 8 and 9.

Frederick Wiseman's documentary IN JACKSON HEIGHTS opens at New York City's Film Forum

My cousin Paula Carroll, a relatively wise-in-the-ways-of-the-world woman, used to say (and undoubtedly still does) that if you know a particular subject well and then see a movie about it, you'll find that movie wanting. TrustMovies has more often than not discovered for himself that this is true. Depth, specificity and honesty are not necessarily synonymous with mainstream entertainment. Having lived in Jackson Heights for 22 years and only recently relocated to southern Florida, I know my ex-community relatively well and so was looking forward to the Frederick Wiseman (the filmmaker is shown above) documentary, IN JACKSON HEIGHTS, about as much as I've awaited the coming of any movie I can recall. I've been impressed with other of this documentarian's works -- from Titicut Follies (1967) and High School (1968) onwards to Crazy Horse (2011) -- and now, here he is tackling my own stomping ground!

Yeah, right. I should have lessened my expectations and recalled what cousin Paula said. Also, I should have noticed that the title of this film is not Jackson Heights (as though it were going to be any kind of definitive picture or history) but In Jackson Heights, as instead, "This is what's happening in the neighborhood right now." As such, Wiseman's movie is a not uninteresting look at a place that, like the borough of Queens of which it is a part, offers as ployglot a community as you're likely to find anywhere in the world (167 languages are said to be spoken here!).

Inclusive is also a term you can use about this place which is and has been for some time open and relatively welcoming of the GLBT community (some of its seniors are shown above), of new immigrants (legal and otherwise), and of the various cultures these immigrant represent (the number and variety of ethnic restaurants alone are legion). All this is catnip to Wiseman's eye and camera, and so we get a cursory look at food and restaurants and culture and mariachi bands (below).

What really interests the filmmaker, however, are certain groups -- from those in a senior center, to the GLBT population, to young social activists trying to help a beleaguered Hispanic business community survive an attack by wealthy real estate investors, to a support group for recent U.S. immigrants, a member of which (below) tells the tale of her daughter's very frightening and near-death experience getting into the country.

Also covered in some depth and detail is the office of Danny Dromm, New York City Council member for the 25th district, which includes Jackson Heights. We watch and listen as his staff handles various phone calls, and later watch and listen again as Dromm and staff tackle a thorny education question. (The movie certainly works as an endorsement of Councilman Dromm.) The funniest moments probably arrive as the camera and microphone capture a class for new taxi drivers (below) who need to learn about Brooklyn! This is clever, unusual stuff, and their teacher seems like a born New Yorker (that is to say, himself a somewhat Sammy Glick-like immigrant striver).

My spouse stopped watching the film after two hours (it runs a total of three hours and ten minutes). He found it too repetitive and not very eye-opening. I watched that final hour and was glad  I did, even though I, too, did not find myself surprised or educated by much I saw.) I suspect that none of the critics who are currently praising the film to the skies live in Jackson Heights, or they would be aware of all that is going on here. And more. The movie barely cuts into the community, save for these few "group" experiences that we see.

Wiseman is a filmmaker who prefers to show rather than tell (some of his subjects do plenty of that, however). So he does not use narration or go into history.  He simply points his camera -- savvily, it must be said -- and records. What he has captured In Jackson Heights is a community undergoing change, as communities always do. Earlier, Hispanics pushed out an older population of Irish and Italians; now they are being pushed out by gentrification and wealth. There was a time when Jews were not allowed to purchase in the Jackson Heights Historic District -- a beautiful, landmarked area within Jackson Heights that this movie barely shows or mentions -- but you wouldn't learn anything like that from watching this vibrant, colorful but somewhat shallow film. There is a limit to what simply pointing the camera and shooting can do, and when one goes into a community this diverse, there is a price to be paid in the kind of depth achieved.

The movie, from Zipporah Films (Wiseman's own distribution company) opens this coming Wednesday, November 4, in its world theatrical premiere in New York City at Film Forum. In the weeks to come, it will make its way around the country and elsewhere. To see all currently scheduled playdates, cities and theaters, click here and scroll down.

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.

Daniel Peddle's SUNSET EDGE: Don't let this precious narrative debut get lost in the shuffle

Another of those small, no-budget indie films likely to appear in theaters and then disappear before film buffs get the chance to view it, SUNSET EDGE -- the first narrative venture from Daniel Peddle, who has also made a couple of well-received-if-little-seen documentaries -- heralds the debut of someone I'd call a born filmmaker. Nowhere near perfect in terms of a story that attempts to fuse dream and reality, it nonetheless marks a writer/director (Peddle) and cameraman/editor (Karim López) cons-tantly alert to color & space, objects & mood, motion & stasis.

Because the movie Misters Peddle (shown at left) and López (shown below) have made is about a group of teenagers spending a day in an abandoned trailer park, and is also being publicized as a kind of thriller complete with Hitchcockian overtones, you might expect something quite different from what you get. Yet I think this difference ought to be apparent from the film's first few moments. While the initial shot -- full of promise and perhaps something more -- together with the first words we hear (one character telling another, "I don't think you should do it") indicate that

something may be (or go) wrong, because the teens we see and hear seem so real and actually rather likeable, and the camera-work so fluid and aware -- of nature, of humanity, of connection -- it is difficult to imagine some-thing too awful coming up. Anything can happen, of course, but given these kids and their decent and interesting behavior, would we want it to?

Our quartet (above) -- picnicking on the asphalt with Cheetos and a very weird drink -- kibbitz and carry on, with a bit of jealousy developing between boy and girl, then go their more-or-less separate ways for a time, which leads up to some problems: a missing cell phone, getting lost in the woods, and a possible interloper.

Then suddenly we're introduced to a whole new set of characters, which brings us to the "other" of this tale -- the interloper, or maybe the immigrant. Initially I imagined this character (richly brought to life by newcomer Gilberto Padilla, above) to be a Native American, but instead, it seems his roots are in Mexico. Set in North Carolina, from where I'm assuming the director hails, the film is so full of a sense of place you can practically touch and smell the locale.

Over the course of the movie we see youth and age, past and present and a good deal of memory-maybe-fantasy at work. The sound design and musical score -- both by Ian Hatton -- prove distinctive and lovely, adding immeasurably to the film's success.

As does the first-rate cast of novices chosen to act out the roles. Chief among these, and certainly the best (along with Padilla) of the actors is a lovely young woman named Haley Anne McKnight (two photos above). Her boyfriend is played by William Dickerson (above), and the remaining members of the quartet by Jacob Kristian Ingle (below)

and Blaine Edward Pugh (below). All of them are acquainted in real life, and they are able to bring this friendship to excellent and very believable ends on film -- or video, most likely, in this particular no-budget endeavor.

Also in the cast are three more impressive performers: Alex-Padilla-Maya as the younger version of our "other," Jack Horn (shown at bottom) as his father, and Lilianne Gillenwater (below) as the old woman we see in that transfixing opening shot, who proves to be all kinds of things to this movie.

Memory -- along with a bit of a ghost story -- plays at least as important a place in this film as does present-time action. The movie takes places in what seems like four distinct chapters, with the last connecting to the first in a way that makes dream and fantasy top reality. But whose dream is this? The characters'? Ours? Obviously, it is that of the filmmaker. The beauty and surprise of Sunset Edge reside in how remarkably he has instilled his dream into us. Mr. Peddle and his cast and crew are clearly a group from whom we'll expect more.

The movie, released by CAVU Pictures and running just 83 minutes, opens this Friday, May 29, in New York City (at the Cinema Village), in the Los Angeles area at Laemmle's Playhouse 7, and in Irvine at Regal's Westpark 8.

British critic overkill hurts Sally El Hosaini's freshman film, MY BROTHER THE DEVIL

"What were they thinking?" comes immediately to mind when perusing some of the fulsome praise of British critics for the first full-length film from Sally El Hosaini (shown below) entitled MY BROTHER THE DEVIL, a not particularly new or novel look at Arab immigrants in Britain and their adventures concerning family, street gangs and love interests. After watching this not-bad (for its first half, at least) family dramedy about an Egyptian immigrants in Great Britain, which has garnered simply amazing reviews from the press in Britain, I found myself trying to figure out why.

Could it be, for a change, that the subjects here are not Pakistani (an immigrant group particularly unpopular with white Brits, and about which we've seen, over the years, a number of films)? Maybe it's easier to root for Egyptians. One of the quotes says that the movie is "visually striking." Certainly no more so than many other British films. (I just saw one yesterday which I'll cover next week -- Welcome to the Punch -- possessing infinitely more striking visuals.)

One of my notes scribbled during the viewing states, "Stories sure don't change -- the young kid pulled into a life of crime -- only the time frame and milieu." What the writer/director does excel at is giving us teens and slightly older characters, at home and in the streets, with a lifelike energy and reality. This part of the film is fun and mostly believable, although English subtitles might have been a help from time to time.

The film begins with everyone thrilled at the younger son's "genius" abilities in school. But that's the last we hear of that. As the movie goes on, coincidence and melodrama completely push reality to the sidelines, if not off-screen altogether. By the finale, any believable characterization and/or accumulation of events have been tossed out the window. The most ridiculous situation occurs midway, as the older brother -- who has given up his own middling/piddling life-of-crime and now works for a successful photographer -- discovers something about himself that, up until now, neither he nor we have had a clue. Revealing this would be a major spoiler (although the stupid trailer for the film does this, of course -- which is why TrustMovies generally detests trailers and never includes them on his site).

This major change in the older brother's life happens with such amazing ease and speed, given the culture he comes from, that it renders the movie ridiculous, pushing it toward the happy, feel-good ending that the filmmaker and her producers evidently crave. Oy! -- as another, neighboring culture might proclaim. What happens in this film to its main character is something that other films build entire plots around. To handle it in the manner shown here insults the intelligence of everyone involved: characters, filmmakers, and audience.

The cast assembled is certainly eager, photogenic and talented, with James Floyd (above and further above), whose brooding beauty is particularly stunning in the role of the older brother, and Fady Elsayed (at bottom, left, and further above on a bike and in a tree) almost equally watchable in the younger brother role. The actor most well-know to film-goers would be Said Taghmaoui, below, who plays the photographer but has almost nothing to do in the film except provide the link that hastens the big "changeover."

The women's roles are minor -- no surprise given the culture here -- with the brother's mother providing the caring, the older's bro's girlfriend (Elarica Gallacher) the sex (for awhile, anyway), and the younger bro's new girlfriend (Letitia Wright) the proper sweetness. I can't fault the acting here, from any of the cast members, and the ensemble work toward to the beginning of the film, from the perfor-mers playing both family and gang members, is quite impressive.

But if you can buy -- hell, even tolerate -- the plot machinations of this silly movie, you're a better man than I am, Gunga Din. From Paladin and 108 Media, My Brother the Devil opens tomorrow, March 22, in New York City at the Landmark Sunshine Cinema and the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center, and on April 5 in Los Angeles at the Nuart, with a limited national release to follow.

Alan Govenar's YOU DON'T NEED FEET TO DANCE introduces a bubbly NYC immigrant

You may not need feet to dance, but you do need a less heavily-accented voice to narrate your movie about an exceptionally energetic, positive-thinking emigrant from Guinea, West Africa, in New York City. The subject of Alan Govenar's new documentary is a fellow named Sidiki Conde, who, as a child, contracted a case of polio that left him with tiny, thin and mostly useless legs and feet. How he contends with this handicap -- in fact, turns it into something uniquely his own, as he negotiates his way around the city (of course, he lives in a fifth-floor walk-up apartment) managing to earn his living by making music and dance while teaching others with handicaps -- is the meat of this inspiring and surprising film.

The last time we wrote about filmmaker Govenar, shown at right, he was covering, rather beautifully and nostalgically, the beat generation in Paris in his documentary The Beat Hotel, using all sort of interesting film techniques to bring back Ginsberg, Burroughs, Corso and their ilk in those good old Left Bank days. His new film could not seem more different, as the camera, all in color this time, remains on Sidiki and his immediate surroundings almost every minute, as this sexy, funny and utterly vital fellow acts as our tour guide and narrator of his life here in New York City.

It's as narrator that I might have wished for more, mainly in the form of English subtitles with which to decipher his words. I certainly understood many of them, but key words and phrases along the way were lost in his lilting but often fudgily imprecise pronunciations. (Maybe the eventual DVD release will provide those subtitles.) Meanwhile we have energetic visuals to sustain us.

Mr Govenar begins his film as Sidiki awakens and starts his day with a bath -- his strong, muscular torso clearly makes up for his lack of useful legs and feet -- then dressing and winding his way down those five flights and off on his way to the local Mosque. (He's Muslim and so we see him praying along with the other men; "He's an inspiration to me!" notes the Imam.)

Indeed this is a man for whom nearly everything seems both doubly strenuous and yet, given his positive attitude, somehow uplifting. A friend insists that Sidiki is not disabled because he can do all things that others can do. Yet this seems a little too Norman Vincent Peale.  He tells us of his history, and we see a few old photos, but mainly the movie concentrates on the now, as he teaches classes for the handicapped, practices his music and does some busking on the city's streets and in its parks.

Toward the end, we learn how old the man is, and it's a surprise. Given his looks and his energy level, I would have guessed ten, even twenty years younger. (His outfit also suddenly changes from red to blue, indicating, I would guess, that a new day has dawned.) In the final few minutes, when he speaks of his now dead mother, the movie at last wraps us in some deep feeling.

Early on we learn, unless I misunderstood what he was telling us, that the man's own children are dead ("I didn't have enough to give them a life"). While I think that Govenar might have probed more deeply and uncovered more layers to Sidiki, I also suspect that M. Conde prefers to keep things on the level they remain: light, inspirational and uplifting.

As the movie goes along, you'll become aware that we have not yet seen Sidiki dance. When the moment finally arrives, I have to say it is a bit of a disappointment because, as energetic as his dancing is, it also makes you realize how important to dance is the lower half of the body. I'm happy to have learned of Sidiki, and hope I'll someday see him on the street or busking in the park, so I can approach him, thank him for his life and work and put some money in his basket.

YOU DON'T NEED FEET TO DANCE, from First Run Features and lasting 88 minutes, opens this Friday, March  22, in New York City at the Quad Cinema. Though this is the only currently scheduled playdate, as with other FRF films, this one, too, should eventually be available on DVD.