QUEEN OF HEARTS: Trine Dyrholm stars in Denmark's entry into the BFLF sweeps

If you'll recall, the QUEEN OF HEARTS -- at least in the famous Lewis Carroll tale which the three leading characters in this eponymously-named film take turns reading to a set of pretty young twins -- is perhaps most remembered for constantly shouting "Off with his head!" This is worth noting, since that romantic-sounding title might put you in mind of various rom-coms you've seen over the years. That this film, directed and co-written by May el-Toukhy (shown below), is Scandinavian, however, might re-direct you into darker territory.

And though we are not talking an Ingmar Bergman-level of serious filmmaking here, the movie is perhaps the darkest example of the lives of the Scandinavian haute bourgeoisie to be seen in quite some time. Queen of Hearts is Denmark's entry into the newly titled Best International Feature Film category (formerly called the Best Foreign Language Film), and as such would be expected to deliver some prestige goods. It does -- and then some.

TrustMovies would be pleased to see the film arrive on the Academy's shortlist of nine movies considered for this award, perhaps even rising to become one of the five nominees. Yet it is such an incredibly dark film that I rather think an embrace by the entire Academy may prove difficult.

Queen of Hearts deals with an older woman's affair with her husband's son from a former marriage, and if your mind, as did mine when I heard this plot hook, moved into Phaedra territory or that of any number of melodramatic movies made around this theme, think again. That the older woman is played by one of the Denmark's finest actresses, Trine Dyrholm (shown above and below, and recently seen here in Becoming Astrid and Nico, 1988), only makes the movie even more of a must-see, and Ms Dyrholm plays each moment to its max without ever overdoing.

There is a single unnecessary scene of tears -- that perhaps indicates some sort of repentance but comes across as too easy -- meant to humanize our non-heroine; otherwise the movie is spot-on emotionally and psychologically. It is at its finest at the very moment when other films would take that melodramatic/soap-operatic turn. Instead this one offers up a gut punch unlike any we've experienced.

The other two leading roles -- Magnus Krepper (above, left, as the husband/father and Gustav Lindh (below) as the son -- are equally fine, the former caring but distant, the latter caring and all too present. Likewise the supporting roles all add to the specificity and believability of the scenario.

I can't go into more of the plot maneuvering without giving away genuine spoilers. Suffice it to say that this unusual character study takes you places you have not been and may not care to go. Once you've made the trip, however, it'll burn itself onto your memory.

Distributed via Breaking Glass Pictures, in Danish and Swedish with English subtitles and running 123 minutes, Queen of Hearts opens theatrically this Friday, November 1 -- in New York City at the Cinema Village and in the Los Angeles area at Laemmle's Glendale. 

NUMBER ONE FAN: DVDebut for Jeanne Herry's dark/funny/oddly real study of obsession

In NUMBER ONE FAN (Elle l'adore), her first full-length film, French writer/directer (sometimes actress, too) Jeanne Herry offers a very interesting and different look at obsession: that of a middle-aged woman fan's adoration of her "hero," a super-popular singer who is equally obsessed with his own career and reputation. What makes the film so unusual is Ms Herry's approach -- which is not from any of the usual angles we might expect.

The filmmaker (shown below) refuses to turn this into a comedy or a tragedy or even the

kind of mystery/police procedural we often see. And yet, as the movie moves along, it becomes, without seeming to even try, all of the above. And it does so while remaining, moment to moment, utterly real without ever resorting to any of the usual "movie" techniques (super-snappy editing and/or pounding music to ramp up the suspense).

Instead things stay relatively quiet and calm, even as they grow increasingly bizarre. This is an unusual "technique," to say the least, but in the end it pays off rather well.

In the starring roles, Ms Herry is fortunate to have two fine (and terrifically appropriate) actors: Sandrine Kiberlain (shown above) and Laurent Lafitte. Ms Kiberlain has always excelled (in literally every role she appears), especially when she plays the oddball outsider, as here. She captures that peculiar obsessive quality that fans bring to their adoration, which allows them to concentrate on their idol to the diminution of all else in their lives -- from their children to their employment.

M. Lafitte (above and below) brings his gorgeous face and physique to the fore, as a top-grade performer so used to the "entitled" spotlight that, when an accident happens that would have any remotely "normal" person calling for an ambulance and/or the police, instead reacts only in his celebrity "career protection" mode. On one level this is beyond crazy; one another, it is simply standard practice for the narcissistic celeb.

How events pile up and go quietly to shit is also somehow expected. But the manner in which Ms Herry handles it all is certainly not. One one level the movie becomes an oddball police procedural involving a pair of romantically involved cops (Pascal Demolon and Olivia Côte, below, respectively, left and right), one of whom is, as her lover describes it, a nymphomaniac. This provides not only some very weird-but-understandable plot points, but a chance for the two actors (below) to strut their stuff, believably and enjoyably.

How the movie winds up (and down) is low-key but effective, turning much of what we've seen on its head. Holding it all together is Ms Kiberlain, who has one scene toward the finale in which she is under questioning in the police station -- and allowing her character to give the performance of her life -- that should offer enormous evidence, were any still needed, of what a supremely expert actress she is.

From Distrib Films US and Icarus Films Home Video, the DVD hits the street this Tuesday, October 2 -- for purchase and/or rental.

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.

DVDebut: Jacques Doillon's 2010 whopper about theatre, THE THREE-WAY WEDDING

Only the French, bless 'em, could have come up with a movie like THE THREE-WAY WEDDING (Le mariage à trois), in which a quintet of characters talk incessantly and intelligently about themselves, their ideas, their feelings and in particular their sexual and emotional needs but make it so goddamned interesting that you hang on almost every word. France, after all, is the country that gave us Molière and Marivaux -- to whom this film, written and directed by Jacques Doillon, owes plenty.


M. Doillon, shown at right, who recently gave us the not-so-well-received Rodin but earlier brought us the very well received Ponette, has created a tale of theater folk -- playwright, producer, actors and a novice assistant who, by film's end will soon be an actress, too -- who quite literally can't keep anything to themselves.

It's as though they have to give vent, via actions and words, to literally everything they think and feel. The fact they they're in the theater makes this somehow more believable (you know how theater people behave!), as well as making almost everything they say sound like dialog from a play. Fortunately, it's a rather good play.

Even better, Doillon has cast his film with a group of actors who could hardly be improved upon. In fact, their work here proves a near high-water mark for some of them (in TrustMovies' estimation, at least). The estimable Pascal Greggory (above, left, whose work in Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train and Doillon's Raja you may remember) is the playwright, and he is pitch perfect throughout: smart, witty, narcissistic beyond belief and every bit as controlling (and vulnerable) as you might expect a playwright to be.

As his "ex" and still-possible-paramour, Julie Depardieu (above, right, and further above) matches him moment for moment. Ms Depardieu is better here than I have ever seen her: emotionally on-point through so many highs, lows, and middles that her performance astounds. (One of the several fine things that Doillon's spill-it-all-out dialog succeeds in doing is giving us enormously full-bodied characters by allowing us to see and hear their innermost thoughts and desires.)

Louis Garrel (above, left) plays Depardieu's young actor/lover, and he is as fine as always, bringing his penchant for semi-snotty self-love to the fore and making the most of it. Each actor here manages to make fun of himself/herself (and amuse us in the process), even as s/he rounds out the character to its fullest.

As the pretty little assistant with the porcelain skin and gorgeous red hair, Agathe Bonitzer (above and below) imparts just the right sense of naivete coupled to the power that comes with the realization that one is desired. She makes a lovely and not-yet-too-theatrical addition to this little group.

I only wish that the excellent actor Louis-Do de Lencquesaing (at left in bottom photo) had been given a bit more to do. He is fine as far as his character is allowed to go, but that's not quite far enough.

A word must be said for Doillon's interesting "choreography" of his actors. They almost never stop moving about -- when they're talking, thinking, even in bed. This adds an extra little surge of energy to the film and to the performances  Nothing is ever static here.

The Three-Way Wedding is such an oddball film for specialized tastes that I must recommend it with that caveat. But for folk who appreciate something brave, unusual and very well-executed, do take a chance on this one!

From Film Movement (but good luck trying to find it on that company's website) and running 109 minutes, the movie hits DVD and digital this coming Tuesday, July 24 -- for purchase and/or rental.
Perhaps via Amazon Prime...?

The Ab-Fabbers are back, this time in ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS: THE MOVIE

The popular British TV series Absolutely Fabulous, which had a twenty-year run (not bad!) during the era in which our last century slithered into this one, was a lot of fun and rather set the current stage for gals behaving badly. The product of writer and star Jennifer Saunders, with the help of costar Joanna Lumley, it deservedly captured the fancy of folk on both sides of the pond. Now, four years after the demise of that series (in Britain, at least; it may have ended earlier here in the USA), the movie version, long talked about and/or in gestation, arrives.

And? TrustMovies found it pretty good and often very funny, if a little too gassy and taking too much time to get airborne. I resisted for awhile, thinking, "What? All this again?" But then at some point I let out a loud laugh, began chucking at the antics of these two women -- Edina (Ms Saunders) and Patsy (Ms Lumley) -- and by movie's end was thoroughly satisfied that my humor quotient had been met for the day. The director here is a woman named Mandie Fletcher (shown at left) who helmed several of the TV episodes and so was evidently tapped by Ms Saunders and maybe the producers to direct the film -- which she has managed to do quite serviceably.

The setting this time out is the current world of fashion, which is shown us as mostly a hotbed of silliness and stupidity. Edina (below, left), who hopes to land a book deal for her memoirs (what she submits to the publisher is pretty funny) but is rejected, then moves her goal to doing PR for the fashion set.

Ms Lumley (above, right) plays her usual hanger-on, providing drugs alcohol and other fun stuff. But the ladies are down to their last pound -- even if they are living in a modern mansion well beyond their means.

Series regulars like Julia Sawalha (as Edina's straight-laced daughter) show up, along with "secretary" Bubbles (Jane Horrocks, above, left) and Edina's mother (June Whitfield, above, right) -- with the latter two barely used except as a kind of reminder of the fun we once had.

So the movie belongs, and rightly so, to Saunders and Lumley, the latter of whom seems to hang back and be used for the usual only -- until a little over halfway along, when she comes into her own with a delightfully goofy impersonation that will keep a grin plastered on your face for the remainder of the movie.

The film owes its ending to the great Some Like It Hot but the homage/steal is good enough to please fans of both films. We get currently posh-if-squalid London and the French Riviera as locations, plus Ms Sawalha doing Karaoke in a gay club (above), and a bunch of cameos from folk we love (or maybe used to) such as Joan Collins and Barry Humphries (above) -- plus a few new surprise personalities, as well.

As it is set in the fashion world, we get our fill of "fashion" faces, too. Kate Moss (above) is used for beauty and fun, good-naturedly putting herself through the wringer for our gals. And none other than Jean-Paul Gautier (below) makes an ironic appearance as a old beachcomber-type fellow searching for coins and other precious metals in the beachside sand.

A word must also be said for one of the most beautiful new faces to light up the screen in some time -- that of Indeyarna Donaldson-Holness (shown below, left), the lovely young girl with a mouthful of a name, making her screen debut as the Saunders character's granddaughter, Lola.

So, yes, you can expect to have a good time at this current rendition of Ab/Fab. It's not great art but it is (mostly, at least) good, silly fun.

From Fox Searchlight and running a thankfully lean and let's-not-outstay-our-welcome 90 minutes, the movie opens nationwide this Friday, July 22. Click here (then scroll waaaaay down to the bottom to find the theaters nearest you.

Brant Pinvidic's WHY I'M NOT ON FACEBOOK is a smart -- and very necessary -- documentary

Confession: TrustMovies is not on Facebook, either. He was, for a short while some years back -- until he realized that he was wasting incredible amounts of time being in touch with people he didn't care that much about and for whom he did not have the time or energy. So he severed all Facebook connection (he was never impressed with the site's so-called security measures, anyway) and will never return there. He does have a Twitter account and is easily reached by email or phone. (He also admits that the image he has retained of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg from that fine film, The Social Network, had a certain influence here, too.) Which is all by way of saying that when he saw the title of the new documentary WHY I'M NOT ON FACEBOOK, he knew he had to view it.

You should, too. This is one of the best documentaries I've seen this year, and it is certainly one of the most necessary, as it holds up a mirror to both Facebook itself and to the American (and probably international) public and its current and ever-more life-deadening "quirks." The film's creator and director, Brant Pinvidic, shown at left, seems like a cute, smart, energetic family man whose suspicions about Facebook are more than justified by the evidence he has amassed and then, along with his excellent lead editor and producer, Dean Shull, put together in such an intelligent, entertaining manner. The result is a film that will surprise you, even as it pulls you up short and makes you think, then think again.

Along the way we meet the real Winklevoss twins, along with some of the folk Facebook has helped make "famous" (like the Pink Lady, below). We also learn how Facebook has become the leading Job-Finder of modern times (as well as one of the main job losers, too: a product of how stupidly its users use it). Mr. Pinvidic is careful not to demonize Facebook -- as his evidence piles up, at times his movie threatens to become instead a commercial for the site -- and he even creates his own Facebook identity (who is Steve Steel?!).

The movie shows us how Facebook has helped catch criminals (often because they actually post on the site about their crimes: Ah, that ever-growing need for fame!).  We meet one young high school girl who appears to be addicted to the site; her behavior here is so sad and awful that it practically demands an "intervention." And that matter of privacy? Well, as Pinvidic points out, even without Facebook, privacy these days is just about over.

The film is full of humor and fun, too. At one point, our narrator wonders, Would Jesus have been on Facebook? Oh, wait: He already is. As the director reaches the home stretch, his movie really takes off. He addresses the psychology of Facebook lovers, and by extension, the rest of us, too. His conclusion as to why Facebook has become so important so fast is extraordinarily on the mark, I think. I'll let you discover the explanation for yourself. (Hint: its simultaneous appeal to two of our most powerful emotions/needs.) That way you'll have to see the movie -- which is worth your time in every respect.

Pinvidic's real reason for making Why I'm Not on Facebook, it turns out, is less about himself than about his family's desire to join the site, particularly that of his son, who is about to enter the teenage years. How the filmmaker resolves these issues turns his movie into something smart, suspenseful, ironic and, hell -- even feel-good, as he captures humanity and Facebook in a multitude of differing faces. It also explains why, as climate change engulfs us, the general populace will continue to follow their leaders' complete inaction and will instead post Facebook 'selfies' as the end approaches. "Shirley, look -- the water's up to my waist!"  "You think that's something, Fred? The water's already around my neck!" "Well, I've got you both beat, 'cause it's just now touching my blub blub blub..." (I do hope Apple is adding that underwater option to its iPhones.)

The documentary, just 77 minutes long and worth every one of them, will open via VOD this Tuesday, November 3. And maybe in select theaters, too? (That's what it says on the poster, top.). Any way you can see it, this one's a don't-miss experience.

One bizarre tale of internet deception: Andrew Douglas/Mike Walden U WANT ME 2 KILL HIM?

Based on a true-life tale by Judy Bachrach, published in Vanity Fair magazine back in 2005, U WANT ME 2 KILL HIM has been brought to the screen, in 2011, by director Andrew Douglas from a screenplay by Mike Walden. The intervening years have perhaps not been too kind to a story like this -- that depends so much on our former rather than our current and increasingly sophisticated understanding of the internet and its many uses for both good and bad. Consequently, although you may fairly quickly latch on to the suspicion that the movie "hero," a high school student named Mark (well-portrayed by Jamie Blackley), is being "played," you'll probably want to stick around to learn exactly who is playing him -- and why. (Craig Lucas did all this -- and better -- a few years earlier in The Dying Gaul.)

Director Douglas (at left) keeps a relatively firm hand on the proceedings, taking us back & forth between characters -- some real and some not so -- beginning at pretty much the end and circling back and then further forward until the mystery is solved. The screenplay by Mr. Walden is certainly adequate and the dialog good enough to keep us watching and wondering. The picture the movie paints of modern-day Britain is ugly enough to seem real and then some: a society where narcis-sism runs rampant in adults and their children.

In one of the first scenes in the film, Mark (above) and his maybe girlfriend have just finished having sex when her other boyfriend, an older man, arrives. For sport, the girl screams and then pretends to have been assaulted by Mark, who must run for his life from the other older and stronger fellow. Some friend she is!

But that's OK because Mark himself has a real girlfriend online: a poor but pretty blond named Rachel whose family is in a witness protection program. Rachel, who happens to have her own abusive boyfriend, convinces Mark to look after her brother, John (a nice job by Toby Regbo, above), a classmate of Mark's who is constantly bullied and abused by other classmates. Mark says sure, and a new friendship is born.

Pretty soon everyone including MI-5 gets involved in all this, and poor Mark is up to his ears in complications and would-be heroism. A horrendous stabbing occurs, lots of blood is shed, a pretty blond police lieutenant (Downton Abbey's Joanne Froggart, above) comes on the scene and tries her hand at solving the mystery of "why."

If you've lasted this long, you'll probably stick with the movie. As many of these internet seduction films as I've already seen, I think I can safely predict that this one's different. If you didn't read the original Vanity Fair article, then honey -- you ain't seen nuttin' yet.

U Want Me 2 Kill Him? -- supposedly from Tribeca Films, but if you can find the film on Tribeca's website, you're more proficient than I -- opens in Los Angeles today, Friday, March 14, at Laemmle's NoHo 7, and according my sources, it will not be opening here in NYC. But maybe there will be a DVD eventually. Meanwhile, the film is also available on VOD nationwide, so home viewing, at least, should be no problem.