Rejoice! Stephen Fry's THE HIPPOPOTAMUS adaptation arrives on screen via John Jencks

Attention, please: For anyone who savors the English language in all its succulent, incisive, trippingly-off-the-tongue glory, Stephen Fry -- one of the great humorists of our time -- is back with an adaptation of his comic novel THE HIPPOPOTAMUS, brought to the screen by director John Jencks and a quartet of writers that includes Blanche McIntyre, Tom Hodgson, John Finnemore, and Robin Hill. It is, from first scene onward, a non-stop delight, one that Mr. Fry himself calls, "Frankly terrific. In fact, probably better than the original source material."

Not having read the novel (TrustMovies knows Fry best from his film and television work), I can only say that Mr. Jencks (shown at right) and his crew have captured Fry's sense of humor -- quirky, mad, inclusive, smart, satirical, and hugely funny -- quite well, and have managed to tell a rather complicated tale of mystery and miracles, life and death, creativity and sensuality, desire and need extremely well, drawing fine performances from a cast that includes actors both known and not-so on these shores, and a great one from the movie's leading man, Roger Allam, below, who would immediately become an "Oscar" contender in any just universe.

Mr. Allam portrays a "blocked" poet named Ted who has now morphed into a slovenly, cynical theater critic. One of the movie's early and juiciest scenes discovers him, drunk (as near-usual), sitting in a London theater observing a truly awful performance of Shakespeare by a no-talent director and his cast (shown below, chosen clearly for its looks and maybe fame, certainly not for its talent) that Allam's character rightly, loudly and vociferously -- in the very best Queen's English -- boos off the stage. This scene is so funny, shocking, intelligent and deserved that it immediately becomes a "classic."

Then Ted is asked by a dying member (Emily Berrington, below) of a family with whom he has long been involved to look into the occurrence of miracles on the family's estate. This he does, for payment of course, and soon he is chock-a-block in plots and schemes, all of which allow Mr. Fry (together with his adapters) to explore everything from religion and science to language and desire, which he does in his own surprising and commanding manner, which is then brought to great life by the assembled crew and cast.

This would include some folk we've often seen, for instance the wonderful Fiona Shaw (below, right, with Allam) and John Standing, along with some actors new to us but sure to be seen again soon, such as

a young fellow by the name of Tommy Knight (below), who plays a relative who may be key to these "miracles," and a young actress named Emma Curtis, who just might become the new subject for our miracle worker.

Along for the ride are such fun actors as Tim McInnery (below, left), playing an over-the-top theater director with major health problems, and Lyne Renee (below, right), in the role of Ms Curtis' sexy mother. Everyone from Russell Tovey to Geraldine Somerville to Matthew Modine make appearances here, and they're all just fine.

But mostly it's Mr. Allam, with his spot-on delivery of Mr. Fry-and-adapters' delightful dialog, that makes this movie such an amazement. You, as were we, are likely to come away from The Hippopotamus with a renewed appreciation of the English language -- and what can be achieved with it by folk who really know and care about what they're doing.

From Lightyear Entertainment and running a lean 89 minutes, the movie -- after playing around the country on the theatrical and "special engagement" circuit (two of its final stops are here in Coconut Grove and Naples, Florida, this coming Monday, July 31 at the Silverspot Cinemas) -- will make its debut on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital this Tuesday, August 1, for purchase and rental. However you choose to view, do make sure you see it.

Note: Once you've viewed the film, be sure to watch the wonderful Q&A included in the Blu-ray's Special Features (and as part of the theatrical program, too). It features actor Allam, the film's director and lead writer, and Stephen Fry himself. What they all have to say about the filmmaking process, transforming a novel into a movie, creativity, and how things get done (or don't) 

is very nearly as delightful and edifying as the film itself.

The year's first absolute must-see makes its CineFamily debut in L.A. -- Adam Curtis' HYPERNORMALISATION

Anyone who has watched British documentarian Adam Curtis' films, including The Century of the Self and The Power of Nightmares, will not want to miss his latest effort: the mind-bending, mind-boggling HYPERNORMALISATION. Why? Because it will allow you to see and understand with utter clarity how and why the world has come to the disastrous point at which it now stands. Why, for instance, do our politicians either ignore or downplay (and certainly do very little about) climate change and instead devote their time and effort to ensuring the continued power of the financial industry and major corporations? Interestingly enough Curtis' documentary does not make this particular connection, though he makes plenty of others. Once you've seen his film, however, you will make them, too.

Curtis -- the filmmaker is shown at right -- states his thesis almost immediately: We have arrived to the woebegone and crazy state we now inhabit thanks to our politicians, who early and resolutely refused to engage with the growing complexities of the modern world and instead withdrew into the cocoon of a much simpler world, which was and is make-believe. They have now found the means to confuse the populace between fact and fiction and are using this to produce a consistent state of destabilized perception in order to manage and control us. And we're letting them.

If you have any doubt as to the veracity of this thesis, simply think of Russia under Putin, and now the USA under Trump, and what has happened to facts (or alternative facts, as certain Trumpists would call them) as we used to (or currently) know them. A correct thesis is one thing -- and the movie has it in spades -- but it is in the history provided by Mr. Curtis that HyperNormalisation truly shines. This man has a gift for revealing history, understanding it, and then making connections from what he has found. You may disagree with some of these connections, but it will be difficult, I think, to easily discount them, as so many of these are fact-based.

Curtis' film posits that 1975 was a landmark year in two locales: New York City (when the city was going bankrupt: Remember that famous newspaper headline, FORD TO CITY: DROP DEAD?) and Damascus, Syria. That was when the banks first took control of New York, and that trend has only continued and grown since then. In Syria, President Hafez al-Assad faces off against Henry Kissinger, the results of which have only grow worse and less reality-based down the decades.

Soon enough, in Russia, the Communist dream collapses, as the country turns to pretense (according to Curtis, it was a Soviet writer who first coined the term HyperNormalisation), while here in the U.S. Ronald Reagan preaches god and American Exceptionalism, as a sheeplike public follows happily along. Soon we have the birth of suicide bombing (an idea that had no place in Islamic religion prior to this), the realization and continued spread of financial markets controlling governments, and then the creation of cyberspace and banking technology's almost immediate connection to and use of this new venue.

Computer utopians like John Perry Barlow versus the early hackers (whom we should thank for their prescient warnings); Muammar Gaddafi (below), who went -- thanks to the US refusal to engage with reality -- from hero to terrorist to savior back to terrorist and thanks to Reagan's attacking Libya rather than the actual culprit, Syria, we got a preview of Bush's despicable Iraq-War response to 9/11; and those wonderful UFO stories (ah, anything that might prevent our politicians from having to deal with the complexities of the real world).

It's all here, as well as a look at Jane Fonda's career, political activist to workout coach; Larry Fink, Black Rock and Aladdin; the computer therapist, Eliza; Donald Trump (again and again: his connection to a gifted Japanese gambler and the Yakuza's slice-and-dice proclivities were new to me); Pan-Am's Lockerbie bombing and America's deliberately incorrect finger-pointing; the financial crisis, Occupy, and Arab Spring -- they're all here and connected in a manner you may or may not have imagined. (The filmmaker also uses clips from famous movies  -- from Dr. Strangelove to Carrie -- in ways you will not have seen previously.)

Then finally we're back to Syria again, to come fully to terms with what 1975 has wrought, and to our new President-elect -- a man to whom truth and fact have little importance or use. I notice that the excellent movie site, MUBI, has HyperNormalisation listed under two categories: documentary and horror. Perfect. By electing politicians this venal and stupid, then following them along sheep-like, we've made it clear that humanity, in all its hypocrisy and stupidity, does not deserve to -- nor very likely will it -- survive. Future generations (if there are any), or maybe some alien life form, trying to figure out how we managed our own demise, will have much of the evidence they need right here.

HyperNormalisation, originally shown on British television and running a long but consistently urgent and compelling two hours and forty minutes, makes its Los Angeles theatrical debut this coming Friday thru Sunday, March 17-19, as that indispensable venue The CineFamily presents In the Zone: A Weekend with Adam Curtis, during which Mr. Curtis will appear in person for Q&A's and will be introducing his new film, as well as acting as host for some of his favorite movies. Click here for the full program. If you don't live in L.A, however, just how might you experience this must-see? Once The CineFamily weekend's festivities have ended, I'll try to find another way for you to view the documentary, and I'll give you an update here. So, much later... Here's a link where you can watch this truly important documentary. 

At FIAF's CinéSalon in September and October: BEYOND THE INGENUE as girls become women

What looks like yet another in FIAF's continuing stream of extremely interesting and well-curated (by Charlotte Garson and Delphine Selles-Alvarez) CinéSalon series of terrific Tuesday afternoon-and-evening movie sessions -- Beyond the Ingenue -- made its debut this past Tuesday with a film by and starring one of France's current cinema treasures, Noémie Lvovsky (most recently stealing the show in Summertime). Next Tuesday (September 20) will see the Pialat classic, À nos amours, then Céline Sciamma's Water Lilies on September 27, followed by that ever-watchable classic, Rohmer's Pauline at the Beach on October 4. You can view the entire series schedule by clicking here.

What has piqued TrustMovies' interest most, however, is the double bill of short films that has its U.S. Premiere on Tuesday, October 11 at 4 and 7:30pm: HARAMISTE (which I believe translates roughly as "forbidden to Muslims"), a shockingly delightful 40 minutes directed and co-written by Antoine Desrosières (shown at left), which will be shown in tandem with the 1994 made-for-French television film U.S. GO HOME, directed and co-written by Claire Denis. Both movies tackle the sexuality of adolescent girls on the verge of womanhood, but the twenty-year difference between the times in which these films were made speaks volumes, both about what is currently "permissible" -- even in France, forever the amour capital of the western world -- and how France (and everywhere else) has changed due to the results of immigration.

Further, the fact that Haramiste is inhabited by two young Muslim girls -- older and younger sisters -- makes what happens here just about jaw-dropping for those of us trained to think of Muslim females who cover their heads as somehow more "religious" and/or demure and sedate than their western counterparts.

And yet because these girls have lived in France for maybe their entire (or close to that) lives, aside from covering their heads, they seem, well, quite French. And quite teenage. And quite sexual. And quite verbal. The film's first scene takes place at a bus stop where the two are awaiting their mother, as they are accosted by a group of boys. They hold their own, while seeming both "interested" and properly staid and retiring. Yet, as soon as the boys leave and the girls open up to each other, all bets are off.

The bus stop scene, however, is nothing compare to what we get in the second scene, which takes place in the girls' bedroom. Yikes. This is so revelatory, and so funny, and so disarming, and so, well, scandalous, that I am somewhat surprised that a fatwa has not been taken out against the filmmaker and his cast. (Golly, maybe one has been.) In any case, Haramiste should turn topsy-turvy a lot of your pre-conceived notions and (hopefully) make you laugh your head off in the process.

Desrosières' cast -- Souad Archane (above, left) and Inas Chanti (above, right) --  could hardly be better (both girls contributed to the dialog and screenplay, as did Anne-Sophie Nanki), and the technical aspects of the film are just fine. But it's the very idea of the film, as well as its execution, that seals the deal.

**************************

Ms Denis' movie, U.S. GO HOME (the filmmaker is shown above), though now twenty-two years old, is actually set back some fifty years -- during a time when the Vietnam War raged and the French (who had their own previous bad experience over there) were having none of it. Here, two young girls of the day (played by Alice Houri, below, left, and Jessica Tharaud, right) engage in their own sexual awakenings and experiences, helped (more like hindered) along by one of them's brother (a young and hugely charismatic Grégoire Colin, shown two photos below, who would go on, five years later, to star in Denis' Beau Travail).

Budding sexuality competes with political, social and economic concerns, all of this very nicely enmeshed by Denis. As is her wont, the filmmaker offers up behavior above all, and we watch, fascinated, as these two girls -- friends, but probably not for much longer -- pursue their own course with men, women, and each other.

Along the way, we encounter an American soldier (played by Vincent Gallo, below, right, with Ms Houri) who will appear again later, and quietly, rather sweetly (for Mr. Gallo) connect with Ms Houri's character. In one sense, not much happens here; in another, everything does. The night turns into morning and a new day in so many ways.

Made for French television in 1994, U.S. Go Home has, over the years, assumed a place in the canon (television-wise, at least) -- and rightfully so. Full of life and the fabulous music of the time, the 68-minute movie shows off these fine actors, at least three of whom would move on to other challenging and effective performances (Ms Tharaud appears to have stopped acting after Denis' Nenette and Boni, in which she, Houri and Colin also starred.)

I would call this double bill a must-see, and since it most likely will not be opening in theaters anytime soon, I suggest, for those of you in the tri-state area, heading for FIAF on Tuesday, October 11 -- and getting your tickets soon. Click here to see the entire Beyond the Ingenue series, and here to get tickets for the Denis/Desrosière double bill.

Netflix streaming tip: German lollapalooza, LOOK WHO'S BACK, all about the return of...

...oh god, no. Not him. Yes, Hitler's back, and the Germans have got him (again) via this new movie based on a best-selling novel of a few years previous. Sure, the idea of this -- Adolf Hitler suddenly returns to earth just as he left it. But the world is a different place today, so how will he fit in? -- is certainly a crazy one. But before you say, "Oh, this is just stupid sensationalism trying to make a quick buck," remember that Donald Trump may be our next President. And even though this film was made well prior to his "candidacy," LOOK WHO'S BACK (Er ist wieder da is its original German title) speaks as much to us here in the USA as it does to Europe and specifically to Germany/Austria.

The filmmaker is David Wnendt (shown at right), the guy responsible for one of last year's most transgressive movies, Wetlands, and he's gone one (or maybe twenty) better with this new work which holds up a mirror not simply to the character of our Adolf but to the German populace today (and by extension Europe and all of Western society). It ain't a pretty sight, but it's a damned funny one: fresh and satirical and full of ironies big and small. And the further into the film we get, the funnier and more pointed it becomes.

As Hitler adapts to this new world, he quickly finds his footing once again, this time using the current (and all too willing) media to further his plans. And of course the German populace -- many of whom don't know enough history to realize who this guy is and what he represents -- prove to be all too adoring acolytes. Look Who's Back is satirical, hilarious, occasionally shocking and full of both the expected and plenty of surprise.

Hitler's come-down, along with the reason for it, is especially piquant and perfect, given what seems to move the general populace more than anything else these days.

The cast is exemplary, beginning with actor who plays Adolf: Oliver Masucci (above and below), who captures the look, sound, feel and just about everything needed to bring Hitler to funny/queasy life all over again. The other name most familiar to me is German actress Katja Riemann, who plays the head of the TV station on which our boy makes his modern-day debut.

I could go on ad nauseum, telling you why you must see this crazy miracle of a movie. But why ruin any more of its delights? So far as I know, the only place you can catch it currently is on Netflix. For this film alone, a subscription to the streaming arm of the service is, well, mandatory.

THE REVOLUTIONARY: Drasnin, Ostrander and Sellers' doc about an American in China

A first-class work of documentary film-making about an American man -- Sidney Rittenberg -- who has spent half of his adult life living, working and being imprisoned in China, THE REVOLUTIONARY is one of those very rare movies that speaks honestly, directly and poignantly to the need so many of us feel, especially when we are young, to help change the world and make it a better place for all humanity. And then the movie shows us, with clarity and grace, how difficult and deceptive such a task turns out to be.

The Revolutionary is the work of -- in addition to Mr. Rittenberg (shown at right, above), who is on screen almost constantly as his young, middle-age and then elderly self -- a trio of filmmakers: Irv Drasnin (above, left, who directed and narrates), Lucy Ostrander (center, right, who co-produced) and Don Sellers (center, left, who shot and edited the film). Theirs is one of those unusual movies that should appeal (and without a bit of special pleading or kowtowing) to both sides of the political spectrum.

There is plenty here to please progressives -- the young, Jewish man (at right) from America's south, who begins as a student activist and labor organi-zer who is then trained by the American military as a linguist in Chinese and sta-tioned in China at the end of World War II. His extra-ordinary abilities endear him to the Chinese -- right up to and including Mao -- whose guerrilla war inspires Rittenberg to the point that he agrees to stay permanently in China to help build a cultural bridge between the two countries.

 
What will please our Communist-hating right wing, of course, is the picture the movie paints of the enormous damage done to China and its people by Chairman Mao, whom Rittenberg calls both a great hero and a great criminal -- and then in the 90 minutes that follow shows us why. The story that this extremely bright and thoughtful fellow tells -- based on his book with Amanda Bennett, The Man Who Stayed Behind -- is eye-opening in so many ways about so many things that it becomes an immediate must-see for anyone interested in history, China or the human impulse toward bettering the world (while making one's own way in it).

We get some marvelous anecdotes about Mao, Mrs. Mao, the Gang of Four, and work and political life in China over the 35 years that Rittenberg (shown below, these days) was there. (He was in prison for a good many of these years!). Married to two Chinese women over that time, there is a great deal of personal material here, too, and it's as interesting as all the rest.

 
By turns funny, shocking, moving, thoughtful and bone-deep sad, The Revolutionary won't change your mind about much. But it will open it up in a manner that few films previously have managed: making the personal indeed political and vice versa, while offering a view of China from the 1940s through 1980 that we have simply never before seen.

This film, notes Mr. Drasnin, cannot be shown to public audiences in China. I guess not. We wouldn't want that nation -- after all the venality, stupidity, propaganda, famine and mass murder its people have suffered over the modern decades -- to now undergo a collective heart attack.

We're only as far as the fourth month into 2013, but this film is so important in so many ways, as well as being so beautifully executed -- archival footage, posters of the time, and the marvelous Mr. Rittenberg himself -- that it immediately becomes the best documentary so far this year and, I would think, a shoo-in for the shortlist come Oscar time next.

The movie opens this Friday, April 12, at the Quad Cinema in New York City and plays through April 18, with two screenings daily at 4 and 7:30pm. Filmmaker Drasner will appear at several screenings for a Q&A, and Rittenberg himself -- now age 95 -- will be available for a Q&A via Skype. Check here or here, closer to the day you'll attend, to learn specifics on these Q&As, and click here to see all currently scheduled further screenings of this film across the country.

Marco Bellocchio's DORMANT BEAUTY: a must-see during FCS. Distributor needed!

Euthanasia may not seem the hot-button issue in America that abortion always is, but float it into a conversation -- anywhere, anytime -- not simply as a subject for discussion but with real specifics attached and you'll discover shock followed by flaring tempers before you know what has hit you. Imagine the same topic in Italy, home of the Vatican and its soon-to-abdicate Pope, and you'll  probably end up with that shock-and-temper squared.

All of which makes Marco Bellochio's newest film DORMANT BEAUTY (Sleeping Beauty is a closer translation, but I guess that one's been used a few too many times) such a strong and satisfy-ing film. A surprising one, too -- and not in terms of what Signore Bellocchio (shown above) is capable of and usually gives us. Rather, the surprise comes from the fact that this writer/director does not take a side but instead shows us several sides. (Yes, in life, there exists more than merely "pro" and "con.") This forces us to confront human beings in specific situations, rather than mere ideas.

The film takes place in 2009, during the fraught period just prior to an Italian father's pulling the plug on his daughter, Eulana Englaro, who had been in a coma for some 17 years. (For an American version of this, think back to 2005 and the case of Terri Schiavo.) While Italians demonstrate on both sides, Bellocchio zeroes in on a handful of disparate people.

Among these are a Senator (Toni Servillo, above left) whose personal feelings and conscience go against those of his party, and, in fact, of his own daughter (Alba Rohrwacher, below, right) who is adamantly pro-life. His conversations with his peers, as well as with a "therapist to the politicians," are among the film's most trenchant and sometime darkly amusing.  When she becomes suddenly involved in an incident provoked by the other side, her life takes a drastic change, as she finds herself drawn to the brother of one of the protesters (Michele Riondino, below, left). This situation -- fodder, it might seem, for a smart rom-com -- is here used in a way that allows these characters, along with us, to try for some growth and change.

The dormant beauty of the title, in addition to the real Eulana, is found in the home of a famous French/Italian actress, played by Isabelle Huppert, below. Her daughter, too, is comatose, and while the father and brother might like to see that plug pulled, the actress, who has renounced theater, has submerged herself in the Catholic faith. That this section, though believable enough, is the least persuasive should not be surprising, for all-or-nothing religious faith must, I think, be experienced to be truly understood.

Elsewhere, a drug-addicted woman (Maya Sansa, below, left) is taken notice of by a doctor (the filmmaker's younger brother, Pier Giorgio Bellocchio, below, right) and a dance of death/life ensues, and again, thanks to first-rate writing, directing and performing, we're able to understand things from both sides of the war. Will the movie change any viewer's viewpoint from one side to the other? Probably not. But it probably will make the "other" a little more understandable.

That this really excellent film does not yet have U.S. distribution (most of Bellocchio's film have found such) is more than a shame. Perhaps in the days to come some savvy/enterprising distributor will step up to the plate. Meanwhile, Dormant Beauty plays at Film Comment Selects for three showings (more than any other film in the series, except for Nights With Theodore, which also plays thrice): Wednesday, February 20, at 6:30 pm; Friday, February 22, at 4:00 pm; and Sunday, February 24, at 5:15 pm.

See the entire Film Comment Selects schedule here.