Israel and Palestine in a whole new light (and genre): Sameh Zoabi's TEL AVIV ON FIRE

What a low-key delight is the new genre-melding movie, TEL AVIV ON FIRE. Taking on the Israel-Palestine conflict -- which we've now seen in just about every manner one would imagine possible, from documentaries such as the questing/philosophic (David Hare's Wall), historical (Colliding Dreams) and the bring-us-together sort (In the Land of Pomegranates) to narrative thrillers (The Little Drummer Girl, either version), family sagas (The Other Son), love stories (Omar) and sex-tryst films (the recent Reports on Sarah and Saleem) -- it provides quite the new perspective.

The genre we have not seen much of regarding this particular subject is comedy. To which you might immediately respond, "And for good reason, dummy!" Until you've viewed the movie under consideration here, that is.

As written and directed by Sameh Zoabi (shown at right), Tel Aviv on Fire might best be described as shambling -- which is not simply deliberate but a huge part of its charm. The film starts slowly and moves even more so. Yet that quiet, unhurried pace builds continually into something near amazing: funny, feisty, satiric, ironic and quite delightful. At film's end TrustMovies was in a state of sheer joy at its underhanded accomplishment of casting the kind of light on this more than 70-year conflict that both upends it and forces you to view it differently.

Even the film's seemingly incendiary title (which doubles as the name of a Palestinian soap opera that is also quite popular with the women of Israel) is part of the fun here. Our hero, a shamblin' man named Salam (Kais Nashif, above), who works as a low-end go-fer at that soap opera which his uncle produces, in order to get back into the affections of his old girl-friend, as well as gain faster thoroughfare at the Palestinian checkpoint, tell a fairly minor fib -- he claims to be a writer on the soap -- which results in his liaison with a Israeli military officer (Yaniv Biton, below) that actually does lead him into that writer's position.

What happens after gets sillier, funnier and much more productive in terms of irony and even depth of perspective, as everyone from the cast, director, original writer, Salam's ex-girlfriend (the lovely Maisa Abd Elhadi, below, left), the lead actress in the soap (a very funny Lubna Azabal), and that military officer's wife all become involved in the goings-on.

One of the small but piquant joys of the film is how this Palestinian soap opera seems different in scale yet all too redolent of soaps around the world. Ditto how love stories resort to such similar schemes to work themselves out. And, yes, how the male ego -- whether Israeli, Palestinian, or any other culture/nation -- proves every bit as tender and typical as you might expect.

The movie may be low-key, but it's an absolute triumph in just about every way -- never more so than when it addresses the Israeli-Palestinian conflict without violence yet head-on, dead-on and with such unalloyed precision and delight.

From the Cohen Media Group, running 97 minutes, in Arabic and Hebrew (with English subtitles for both), Tel Aviv on Fire, after opening on the coasts earlier this month, hits South Florida this Friday, August 23. In Miami, look for it at the Coral Gables Art Cinema, in Hollywood at the  Cinema Paradiso, in Fort Lauderdale at the Savor Cinema, in Boca Raton at the Living Room Theaters; and at the Movies of Delray and Movies of Lake Worth. Wherever you live around the USA, to see if the film is playing anywhere near you, click here.

French fun and games in Laurent Tirard's period charmer, RETURN OF THE HERO

A French frolic worth seeking out (it made its DVD debut last week and is also now available via digital/streaming), RETURN OF THE HERO proves one of those exceedingly rare costume comedies that should have you smiling, chuckling and occasionally outright guffawing at the antics of the clever (or not so) characters on screen.

This is, unfortunately, the kind of movie that gets lost in the shuffle precisely because it has nothing to offer -- no important theme, no great art, nor maybe any redeeming social value -- other than first-class entertainment. That last, of course, never in great supply, should be reason enough to see it.

As written and directed by Laurent Tirard (of the Nicholas movies) -- a writer and filmmaker, shown at right, that our critical establishment, as well as perhaps its French equivalent, prefers not to take seriously and therefore deliberately overlooks the work of -- the movie knows exactly what it is and where it is going and thus arrives there in its breezy 89 minutes with nary a hitch.

Return of the Hero is anchored by the terrific performances of its two leads: Jean Dujardin (above, left, and below, right) and Mélanie Laurent (above, right and below, left), both at the top of their very fine form.

M. Dujardin is in his element, playing a handsome, pompous would-be military officer (only his uniform, we suspect, is real, and most probably belongs to somebody else), while Ms Laurent, more often seen in serious roles, here gives her penchant for subtle comedy its rein and matches her co-star, gibe for delightful gibe.

When at film's beginning, "Captain" Neuville (Dujardin) proposes to Pauline, the younger daughter (Noémie Merlant, above, front right) of the wealthy Beaugrand family, Laurent -- as the older, wiser sis -- smells trouble and goes on high alert.

What happens in the course of this smart little movie is not quite the expected, as one surprise topples over the next, in the course of which love and justice are both somehow served, though not in the manner we might have expected.

The supporting cast is as good as are the leads, with Christian Bujeau and Evelyne Buyle (above, left and right respectively) playing the foolish, funny Beaugrand parents, and an actor new to me, Christophe Montenez (below, right), especially fine as the endearing young man in love with the wrongly besotted Pauline.

By the finale of the film, our two main characters have grown and changed, and you may feel, as did TrustMovies, that writer/director Tirard has made a smart, snide and subtle comment about the worth of the society of the time (early 19th Century France) via the direction his "hero" and "heroine" choose to take.

All in all, a highly enjoyable little lark, Return of the Hero never received even a limited theatrical release here in the USA, so we must be grateful to Icarus Home Video and Distrib Films US for the opportunity to finally see it -- available now on DVD and/or streaming, for purchase or rental.

Jim Hansen's YOU'RE KILLING ME combines the slasher movie with a gay rom-com

That's right: slasher film and gay romantic comedy. And if the resulting combo -- YOU'RE KILLING ME -- seems a tad uneasily joined, well, don't be too surprised. This sometimes quite clever satire of today's online gay culture and behavior also wants to rub our noses in blood and guts, which rather runs counter to the rom-com genre. While this could work, in theory, as practiced by director and co-writer, Jim Hansen (with the helped of his co-writer and co-starring actor, Jeffrey Self, who plays and very well, the lovelorn hero), the finished film is a too-uneasy mix of gore and goofy charm.

Occasionally (very occasionally), Mr. Hansen, shown at left, takes the subtle, let's-not-show-everything approach, and the payoff comes closer to stylish satire than to in-your-face grotesquerie. More often, though, he prefers to let that blood spurt and those entrails ooze. And while TrustMovies has indeed found occasion to appreciate a film's gore content, this is not one of those times. Instead, the ooze keeps spoiling the mood. Or creating an adverse one from which it's not easy to disengage.

So we move back and forth, back and forth, between grizzly murders -- that take away much, maybe most, of the cast -- and a silly-but-charming look at gay life, in love and online. (Our hero George, played by Mr. Self, above, right, has a partner, Cameron, essayed with some sass by Dru Droege, with whom he makes popular lifestyle video satires.) That penchant so many of us -- straight or gay -- seem to have for choosing the wrong romantic partner is given a satirical view here.

The movie begins with a group of gay men and one woman playing a game of Charades, and we meet our serial killer, Joe (the darkly good-looking, if relatively single-note Matthew McKelligon, above), who -- via rather heavy-handedly inserted visuals (as below) -- we discover is, ah, um, drawn to the dark side. We also meet Joe's shrink and learn that our guy has recently been let out of the looney bin.

When his current would-be partner (Joe isn't really into sex, it seems), Andy (Matthew Wilkas, below, left, who was so very good in Gayby) tells Joe to do anything he wants with him, Joe does exactly that, and we're off to the races, slasher-wise.

Many of George's friends meet similar fates until, pretty much out of friends and cast members, our hero must make a decision. How you will respond to this decision will probably depend on how you've responded to the movie so far -- which I found it bearable and sometimes funny, but finally neither fish nor fowl.

After making a splash on the GLBT festival circuit, You're Killing Me, from Wolfe Video and running 88 minutes, hits home video (available via all digital platforms, as well as on DVD) this coming Tuesday, March 8 -- for sale and/or rental.

Streaming tip: The French bourgeoisie again in Eric Lavaine's smart and gorgeous BARBECUE

What a pleasure it is to view -- in high definition, too -- the eye-poppingly gorgeous location that plays a large part in BARBECUE, another welcome addition to that ever-growing genre of modern ensemble comedies about the travails of the always-ripe-for-a-little-satire French bourgeoisie. Now available to stream via Netflix, this 2014 film tracks four couples (one of them recently split) and their single, shy-unto-near-silence friend who always tags along, as they bond, argue, spill out secrets and help each other over some tumultuous times. Not too tumul-tuous, however; this sub-genre is a spin-off of the rom-com, after all.

As co-written (with Héctor Cabello Reyes) and directed by Eric Lavaine (pictured at right), the movie sprints delightfully along as it tells the tale of one fellow in the group -- that gorgeous and talented hunk, Lambert Wilson, shown below and at bottom, who seems to grows even more so with age -- who suffers a sudden heart attack while jogging, and in the aftermath decides to change his life.

M. Wilson leads a very capable cast through its paces, which involves the stress and strain of marriage, (in)fidelity, health, economics, employment and dating -- among other travails.

The delight to be found in films such as this generally comes from the characterizations and the acting on view, as well as via the often beautiful setting in which these members of the haute bourgeoisie find themselves. Barbecue is no exception to the rule, and in fact proves one of the better recent examples of this sub-genre (certainly better than the overblown and over-long Little White Lies of a couple of years previous).

The film's look at infidelity among both men and women is done more evenhandedly than usual here, with plenty of blame and understanding to go around, and not so much of the typical patriarchal influence we often see in cinema.

The ensemble cast is excellent, with each member contributing humor and feeling in pretty much equal doses. But the film's ace-in-the-hole has got to be its amazing locations, whether it's that vacation spot high in the hills at which our troupe assembles, where the light and colors -- viewed in hi-def -- are simply exquisite, or the fine and fancy restaurant in which their final celebration takes place.

Almost no middle-class person I know can any longer afford to live like this, but the movies -- bless 'em! -- still enable us to enjoy this kind of beauty and pleasure, at least from afar. Give Barbecue a shot and bask, if only temporarily,  in its atmosphere and charm.

You'll find the film -- in French with English subtitles and running a pleasant 98 minutes -- on Netflix, and maybe elsewhere, too (though Amazon does not seem to have procured it).