Felix Randau's tale of murder, vengeance and a long road trip -- 5,000 years ago -- in ICEMAN

Der Mann aus dem Eis is the German title for ICEMAN, and as of now, that's the only way you'll find the film on the IMDB, since that site has not seen fit to update its title of the movie. After a very limited North American theatrical release this past mid-March, the movie arrives on DVD and digital streaming this week, and it's definitely worth a watch -- for both its raw and riveting revenge-set plot and its unusually fine cinematography, as gorgeous to view as it is appropriate and compelling.

The cinematography here is from Jakub Bejnarowicz, while the writing and direction come via Felix Randau (shown at left), a name new to TrustMovies but one we're sure to hear from again soon. Herr Randau's movie begins in what I believe is known as the Chalcolithic time period or Copper Age, some 5,000 years ago, as agriculture and animal husbandry were spreading from Asia to Europe and everything from language to religion was exceedingly primitive. We see what looks like a couple of one-room, made-of-wood huts and a very small community of folk who seem to live and perform as one large family.

In the first scene, a man and woman fuck, as small children run about the hut and a neighbor enters to announce something that stops the sex midway, after which the apparently alpha male goes off to hunt. Language seems minimal and is not translated via subtitles at all during the movie. Not to worry: You'll have no trouble following the story because, very soon after, three males enter the scene to kill everyone (children included), steal what appears to be an important religious icon, and then set fire to the entire community.

The fire is seen from afar by our alpha male, but by the time he can get back, all hope and life are gone. His search for the three men and his need for vengeance seem to be as much about that religious icon as about the killings, and off he goes on a road trip that lasts the remainder of the film.

If this sounds at all predictable and obvious, Iceman turns out to be more beautiful and surprising -- due to the extraordinary scenery constantly captured and the oddly occuring moments of quiet humanity found in our "hero" and others -- than it is a somewhat typical revenge thriller.

What happens along the way helps keep the film paced very well, with the quiet scenes nicely threaded among the more actionful. Performances, which require the cast to excel at playing early humanity, are all first-rate; I doubt you'll grouse about any of them, with especial kudos to leading actor, Jürgen Vogel (above), who is onscreen almost constantly and proves up to everything -- action to acting -- asked of him.

Among the few female characters, Susanne Wuest (above) registers for a moment or two early on, while the still-manages-to-be-glamorous Franco Nero (below) pops up, too, in a small but pivotal role. But it is almost entirely the rough-hewn plot, smart pacing and surprisingly real-seeming look at this unusual time period -- together with the eye-popping scenery -- that should keep you glued to Iceman.

From Film Movement's Omnibus Entertainment division, and running 96 minutes, the movie hit DVD and digital streaming yesterday, Friday, May 24 -- for purchase and/or rental.

Sacha Guitry's LA POISON gets The Criterion Collection treatment on Blu-ray & DVD

Sacha Guitry. Hmmm... Of course, you've heard the name of this Russian-born, French playwright/filmmaker/actor. But his actual work...? Not so easily or quickly identified. As much as TrustMovies prides himself on knowing and appreciating French film, he is embarrassed to say that, until viewing LA POISON -- the 1951 film to be released on Blu-ray and DVD this coming week via The Criterion Collection -- he had never actually seen a Guitry movie. All that has now changed, as I plan to lap up each and every film by this fellow that I can find.

La Poison proves an original surprise from its opening credits onward. In those credits, which suddenly move from the usual written-words-on-screen to an in-person appreciation, as M. Guitry -- shown above, center, with two of his actors from the film -- takes the time and trouble to thank each of his actors, as well as his cinematographer, editor, set designer, music composer and every last person who collaborated on the film for their efforts. (He even makes a quick phone call to thank a woman we never see but whose voice we hear in the film.) Guitry also manages to get in a delightful bit of praise for, as well as a dig at, La Comédie-Française, regarding those two actors (Jean Debucourt, left, and Jacques Varennes, who flank him, above.

Because, La Poison is the first and only piece of Guitry I've seen, I must base my ideas and opinion solely on it. From this, I'd say the man had a great gift for witty dialog, smart and subtle satire, and a marvelous appreciation of human hypocrisy combined with a gift for unveiling that hypocrisy in all its varied splendor. His theme here is marriage gone about as sour as marriage can go, which had led to its participants' plans to do away with each other. Hers (Germaine Reuver, above), the poison of the title, is the more standard approach, while his (that great and unique French actor Michel Simon, at left, below) turns out to be something quite different that blossoms and evolves in amazing ways as the plot unfurls.

Guitry's film begins slowly and sweetly, with a look a "typical" French provincial town that turns out to be both typical and not so. The town's priest (Albert Duvaleix, above, right), as in the work of Marcel Pagnol, dispenses as much logic and solid, worthwhile advice, as he does religion, while the town gossip, (Pauline Carton, below), rather than being some mean-spirited bitch, turns out to be pretty smart, as she and the town pharmacist go over the various ailments that plague the citizens, and she compares here own notes regarding a person's character with the prescription given him (or her). This is a scene -- cleverly mixing humor, intelligence and moral ambiguity -- that you will not have encountered.

Once the "murder" plot is set in motion, the pace picks up mightily, as do the film's humor, satire and surprise. How Guitry works out his particular and peculiar "morality" is as smart, shocking and delightful as anything you'll have seen. Tt will have you alternately laughing and gasping, and always alert so as not to miss a single, clever, engaging bit of word play or moral hypothesis.

Performances are all you could want (Guitry clearly knew his actors and what they could accomplish like the back of his hand), and his keen appreciation of what human beings -- including, yes, children -- so often understand and can reveal seem to me pretty extraordinary. (That's Jeanne Fusier-Gir, above center, as the town florist.)

Criterion's new Blu-ray is spectacular indeed. The transfer could hardly look better, competing I should think, with the film's quality at the time of its theatrical release. Supplements include a lovely appreciation of Guitry, his work, and particularly this film, by no less than Olivier Assayas, while the supplementary 24-page booklet includes a fascinating essay by Ginette Vincendeau that details the movies strengths, as well as its misogyny, along with details of Guitry's life and WWII activities. It's a must-read (but see the film first), as is the wonderful obituary on Guitry included here, which was written by François Truffaut.

Arriving on both Blu-ray and DVD from The Criterion Collection this coming Tuesday, August 22, La Poison, in French with English subtitles and running just 85 minutes, will be available for both purchase and rental.

SPOTLIGHT ON A MURDERER: one of Georges Franju's lesser works hits Blu-ray/DVD

If you've ever wanted to learn more about those semi-famous son et lumières that were born in France back in the 1950s and then came to international prominence in the 60s, have I got the film for you! Rather pedestrian in all other ways, this disappearing-corpse-that-then-turns-into-a-murder-mystery movie was directed and co-adapted by Georges Franju, the fellow who gave us the enduring Eyes Without a Face and the lesser-known but lovely WWI fantasia, Thomas The Imposter.

In the Special Features section of this nicely produced Blu-ray disc, M. Franju, shown at left, discusses the film on camera in footage made during the shooting of this 1961 release. The filmmaker explains that he wanted his movie to be all sorts of things -- from mysterious to thrilling to funny, surprising and more. SPOTLIGHT ON A MURDERER is all of those things. What it isn't, however, is very good. The film was co-written by the team of Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac, who gave us the novels upon which both Diabolique and Vertigo was based, as well as the adaptation of the much better Eyes Without a Face.

This odd mixture of tones worked better in other Franju films. Here, however, it combines with the typical and not particularly convincing "mystery" tropes and the lavish attention to detail regarding the design and execution of the son et lumière in a manner that becomes almost a kind of "exercise" in weirdly near-experimental film-making.

It's fun for buffs, certainly, and for Franju "completists," too, but it will probably leave the more typical arthouse/foreign film patron scratching his head -- in wonderment. Or annoyance.

On the plus side is the very starry (for its day) cast of pros, led by a young and slickly handsome Jean-Louis Trintignant and the then popular Dany Saval (both shown above), with names like Pierre Brasseur (below) and the sleazily sexy Philippe Leroy in supporting roles.

The plot has to do with an old, wealthy Count who inhabits a fabulous French castle and one day disappears. When his would-be heirs gather, what they learn sets off the plot in which, one after another, they begin being "bumped off."

Modern-day movie-goers will remain a few steps ahead of the plot at all times -- except for a couple of genuine surprises along the way. And the use of the castle for the son et lumière, the design and execution of which (above) cleverly figure into a few of the murders, is also fun. If only the film's pacing had been a bit faster.

Still, the chance to see a Franju film of which few of us will have heard should prove enticing to many, as will the chance to view M. Trintignant so young and spry.

From Arrow Films' new Arrow Academy division, in French with English subtitles and running 95 minutes, Spotlight on a Murderer is distributed here in the USA via MVD Entertainment Group and hits the street for purchase and/or (I hope) rental this Tuesday, May 30.

As usual with Arrow's endeavors, the transfer is excellent, bringing the black-and-white cinematography to crisp, sharp life. Extras includes the original trailer for the film, plus that aforementioned interview, which is part of a made-for-French-television documentary from Le courrier de cinéma series shot during film-making in 1959 and aired on New Year's day 1960. The documentary includes interviews with Franju, Brasseur, Trintignant, Saval and other actors and runs 28 minutes.

Time-waster worth a watch: Anthony Burns' hot-and-heavy family satire, HOME SWEET HELL

Garnering a lowly 6% on Rotten Tomatoes, this odd, dark, often bloody comedy satire on a particular wife and mother's need for a storybook life, HOME SWEET HELL -- out now on Blu-ray, DVD and VOD and digital platforms -- turns out to be a bit better than you've heard, mostly thanks to its good cast, and the surprise in finally seeing that odd actress Katherine Heigl in the kind of role she was evidently born to play. Too heavy of face and feature to fit neatly into the typical romantic comedy mode (in which she first came to our notice) and a bit too heavy-handed in her delivery to make those movies, which ought to have been more light-footed, work to their best advantage, here Heigl comes into her own.

The plot involves an uber-controlling wife (Heigl, above, left) whose hubby (the always interesting and versatile Patrick Wilson, above, center) is finally driven into the arms of that "other woman" (Jordana Brewster, below), who turns out to offer a good deal more than meets the eye. Mayhem ensues.

The leads are fine, and the film includes funny, loosey-goosey perfor-mances from the likes of Kevin McKidd, Jim Belushi and A.J. Buckley. The screenplay, credited to a trio of writers, gets its points across swiftly if a bit heavily, as does the direction by Anthony Burns (Skateland). But in an over-the-top movie like this one, that may be the better solution to bringing home the bacon economically and entertainingly.

Ms Heigl is a revelation, in any case -- beginning like a simply too-fired-up wife and mom and slowly morphing into something fierce, frightening and funny. The character loses us and then wins us back by virtue of the actress' all-stops-out performance. This movie -- from Sony/Stage 6 and running 97 minutes -- may be silly, but it won't bore you.

Manuel Martín Cuenca's Goya-laden CANNIBAL proves the Spanish answer to non-stop boredom

Possibly the slowest-moving movie ever made (other than the oeuvre of Andy Warhol), CANNIBAL, the latest from Spanish filmmaker Manuel Martín Cuenca, left us utterly unmoved and finally uninterested. "Well," noted my spouse post-viewing, "it was kind of interesting to keep waiting and waiting to see if something would happen." Unfortunately, nothing ever does. Though I enjoyed Señor Cuenca's earlier Malas Temporadas, this one -- for all its Goya awards and nominations, is a major dud. Even one of my favorite actors, the usually amazing Antonio de la Torre, is one-note and boring here. Considering how versatile and energetic this excellent actor always is, this is not an easy thing to achieve.

One of the dead (and deadening) give-aways here is how Señor Cuenca (shown at left) chooses to end his every scene: with a too-long pause before the screen fades to black. Over time this becomes expected, obvious and very tiresome. The filmmaker is clearly going for "art" here and is absolutely not about to give us -- even in movie in which our hero murders and then eats beautiful women -- any thrills, chills or gore. The single scene of blood-letting is so chaste and arty (and also quite derivative) that we can only sigh, Ah, lovely!

Why is our boy Carlos (played by de la Torre, above), the best tailor in Granada, doing these naughty deeds? The film gives us a hint now and then. Maybe it's religion. We get the "Take, eat, for this is my body" scene in church. But then why isn't Carlos killing and eating handsome young men in Jesus-type loin-cloths rather than preying on Virgin Mary stand-ins? Well, he's straight, of course. Psychology? Late in the movie we get an explanation laughably similar to the one given about the character played by Michael Caine in Dressed to Kill.

Really, it doesn't matter why. We're simply stuck with Carlos and his predilection, and because the movie moves like molasses in January (and lasts nearly two hours), it often seems we'll be glued to this guy forever.

There is a very nice turn from the leading lady -- Olimpia Melinte -- playing two roles: the very different sisters, Alexandra (above) and Nina (below), who come into Carlos' life and begin turning it upside down. But even that description might indicate that Cuenca allows a little action into things. Carlos and his life barely move at all. Even when this fellow is in the act of committing murder --with a car, at the beach-- the movie plods.

As much as I've loved the works of de la Torre on many previous occasions (The Last Circus, Gordos, As Luck Would Have It, I'm So Excited to name but a few), here -- in this chic and arty, minimalist movie, he is forced to be so consistently closed-down that he can register little facially or in terms of body language.

Finally the film does not work on any level -- not as art, mystery, thriller, or even a decent exploration into our darker psycho-sexual leanings. The cinematography, however (by Pau Esteve Birba), is often very attractive, but the screenplay, co-credited to Cuenca and Alejandro Hernández, dawdles and feints when it ought to be pro-active and parry.

Still, the Spaniards seemed to go for it. Perhaps you have to be Spanish and Catholic to fully appreciate these goings-on. Cannibal -- released theatrically via Film Movement and its genre division, Ram Releasing -- opens this week in around 20 cities across the country, including Los Angeles (at the CineFamily) and New York (the Village East Cinema). Click here then scroll down to see all currently scheduled playdates, with cities and theaters.

An appropriate viewing for this Turkey Day: Jamie Babbit's oddball BREAKING THE GIRLS

Over the past few Thanksgivings, TrustMovies has tried to pick an appropriate "turkey" of a movie about which to warn his readers. But since he has already covered The Counselor, he had to look elsewhere this year. Fortunately Netflix has recently unveiled, via the company's streaming service, a very odd new addition to the turkey farm. BREAKING THE GIRLS is a sort-of lesbian-themed, sort-of thriller, sort-of psychological mystery, sort-of sister act, sort-of college-girl-caper and all-over-ridiculous movie (but still rather fun, if you find yourself watching it while in an especially forgiving mood). It almost-but-doesn't-quite rise to the level of unintentional camp.

Plus, it offers Agnes Bruckner, shown below, an actress many of us have enjoyed ever since her breakout role more than a decade ago in Blue Car. Co-written, and pretty badly -- the characterization barely reaches rote level, but then, with all the last-minute twists and turns the script demands, this is not surprising -- by Mark Distefano and Guinevere Turner, the movie is directed by Jamie Babbit (shown at right), a filmmaker I have been rooting for since But I'm a Cheerleader, though she has yet to deliver a follow-up worth this impressive debut film. (The Quiet probably comes closest but doesn't, finally, make it.)

Breaking the Girls, tells the sad tale of a young, pretty and smart law student (Bruckner), scraping by on a scholarship, who one night during her job as a bartender, places money that should go into the till into her tip jar. She is seen by a nasty co-student (Shanna Collins, shown at bottom, left, with Tiya Sircar), and her actions are reported to her boss. She's then fired from her job and has her scholarship taken away, to boot.

Coincidentally (coincidence is rife in this movie), a pretty and sleazy femme fatale (Madeline Zima, above) happens to be sitting at the bar one night, makes friends with our heroine, and before you can say red-hot lesbian sex scene, they are having exactly that. Actually, first, as I recall, they have a semi-hot/almost-threesome in the pool, with Shawn Ashmore (below, center, who plays the cute FBI kid -- or is it CIA -- on The Following), who here plays the boyfriend of that nasty co-student, except that he really likes Ms Bruckner's character best and also, if we read the cast list during the end credits, turns out to be the son of her law professor, though that fact seems to have gone missing from the movie itself. During a sensuous, sleepy post-coital maneuver, Ms Fatale suggests to our heroine that, because Fatale hates her stepmother and heroine hates that nasty tattle-tale, the two girls should team up to kill both of them, with one killing the other's nemesis, since of course she will not be suspected of the crime. This is dumb, but at least our trio of filmmakers gets credit for having seen Strangers on a Train.

Things go from dumb to dumber, with little concern for any kind of remote believability. This is so the film can, in its relatively short running time, reach the point where surprise after surprise kicks in. By then you'll have kicked the movie itself -- unless you find, as I did, that screwy can move to nutty and end up being actually rather ridiculous fun.

Also involved is that supposedly wicked stepmother, a not-so-sterling stepfather, a kindly police officer, an aging relative (played by Melanie Mayron) and a few other characters, none of whom do much except push the silly plot along. But, as I say, if you find yourself in a forgiving mood, this kind of nonsense -- given its glossy surface, some very nice clothes and sets and an attractive cast and a particularly beautiful house which lends itself to this kind of  film -- you might find this year's turkey at least a bit tasty in certain regards.

If you, at the end of Breaking the Girls, think back on the film from its beginning, it makes just about zero sense. As  though anybody on this earth could exert that much control over those around them. But that, I guess, is part of its lame-brained charm. The movie, running 86 minutes, is available now on Netflix streaming, Amazon Instant Video & DVD.

Netflix streaming tip: The French TV series SPIRAL offers cops, judges, (in)justice and some grandly dark entertainment. Watch it!

If you, like I, have been hearing for some time how very good is the French TV series SPIRAL (Engrenages) -- all about (among other subjects) top-to-bottom corruption in government, judiciary and police -- you might as well go ahead and have a look. You'll soon be hooked. This series seems nearly as good, though quite different from, the superb Danish TV hit, Borgen. Having just completed the first season, consisting of eight approximately 47-minute episodes, I can tell you than Spiral is much uglier, darker and more involved with grizzly stuff than is Borgen -- which is concerned with how an entire country, as well as the family of its Prime Minister, is run.

The first thing you may notice, as we often do with European films, is how attractive but-in-the-manner-of-real-people is the cast. Created by (and with most of the first season also written by) Alexandra Clert (at left) and Guy-Patrick Sainderichin (below, an actor whom we've seen in two of Mia Hansen-Løve 's movies:  Father of My Children and Good-bye First Love), the series revels in its characters' hypocrisy

and denial, even as it presents them to us so fully, richly and believably that we end up in their corner -- rooting for even some of the sleazier among them. This is no small accomplishment. The mistakes and misgivings of these people are the same ones we so often possess -- husband/wife differences (sometimes rather enormous), loyalty to a friend vs loyalty to the truth, ambition and how far one can go in stalking it -- so the hot water the characters sometimes jump into may seem to us a little too comfortably warm and cozy.

The series is based around a particular police department in Paris and the female captain who runs it (a smart and sassy Caroline Proust, above, left), the judge (Philippe Duclos) and the prosecutor (played by sweet hunk Grégory Fitoussi, below, who's currently in the new World War Z) who work with the police -- the French system is quite different from ours, and part of the enjoyment of the series comes from learning about this -- and the various criminal cases that occupy these three in tandem.

We follow not just one crime, but several simultaneously that weave in and out and sometimes connect to the personal lives of our not-quite heroes. This gives us the chance to see all these characters, including some vicious criminals, in various situations that help them grow more understandable and real as the series wends onward.

Sprial is definitely a police procedural, but it's also much more: a character study, a slice of life (high to low) and a look at Paris from a view that tourists never get near (if they're lucky). Some cases move quickly to some form of settlement and justice (or injustice); others takes their time. Perhaps the most interesting character on view is the gorgeous redheaded defense lawyer (Audrey Fleurot, below) whose ambition seems as limitless as her motives are opaque.

The series opens with the remains of a grizzly murder of a formerly beautiful and now horribly disfigured young woman. What really happened we learn only at the close of this season, but the horror and guilt spreads outward and upwards into more than the season will hold. There will be further explorations to come. Yet one does not leave these episodes (or the entire season itself) feeling empty-handed and cheated as did viewers of the U.S. remake of the Scandinavian series The Killing. Instead, we're made aware of implications that keep the people and events spiraling outwards into ever more complex forms.

The Spiral series is smartly written, acted and directed, achieving maximum potential from every situation, performance and moment. There is genuine surprise and shock along the way, and some fervid emotional jolts, as well -- and these comes as often from the exploration of character as from the events on view. The series seems to be deepening as it goes along. I'm certainly going to finish it, and I suspect you will, too.

Right now Netflix is streaming 28 episodes: eight in Season One, eight more in Season Two, and twelve in Season Three.