Walking/discovering New York City in Jeremy Workman's THE WORLD BEFORE YOUR FEET

The very interesting documentary filmmaker, Jeremy Workman, who back in 2014 brought us that year's finest doc (of those TrustMovies managed to see, at least) -- Magical Universe -- has a new one that just opened in New York City and Los Angeles. It's titled THE WORLD BEFORE YOUR FEET and, so far as subject matter is concerned, proves highly reminiscent of Workman's contribution to another documentary, True New York, he produced two years ago. That would be the episode entitled One Track Mind, all about a fellow who has devoted his entire free time over the past 30 years to cataloging and archiving information on every last station in the New York City subway system.

Mr. Workman's new film tracks another, younger fellow, Matt Green (shown above, left, with the filmmaker), who has spent all of the past seven years walking the maybe 8,000 miles of roads and paths that make up New York City's five boroughs. Green gave up employment as a civil engineer (what most of us would call a very good job, particularly in these terrible times) to pursue his unusual dream. Why? Even he doesn't quite know. "People tell me I could be doing something more useful with my life," he explains "They ask me what is the point of it all. I'm kind of learning that as I go along."

And so do we. One of Workman's great gifts is to take us inside the folk he films, well enough and far enough so that we really do understand how they think and feel. We begin to experience life through their eyes. And Mr. Green's new lifestyle is a fascinating one: He tells us he is able to live on $15 per day. Homeless now, he depends on the kindness of former friends but mostly on that of the strangers he meets who often invite him in for a meal, a shower, even a place to sleep. He also cat-sits (and sometime dog-sits) as a means of providing himself shelter. The guy is a charmer, all right, pleasant looking, intelligent and affable. And his "trek" really does seem to interest many of the New Yorkers he meets.

Along the way, Workman lets us meet and hear from other New York "walkers": a sociology professor, a real estate agent and a writer, the latter of whom also happens to be black and explains to Green and to us some of the differences in dress, attitude and actions that he must employ, due to, yes, the race card. The filmmaker also allows us to meet two of Green's former girlfriends, one of whom he very nearly married. His obsessions (I would call them that) and lack of interest in more "normal" patterns of behavior and relaxation (he has zero interest in ever going out to a movie) seem to have rendered any long-term love relationship impossible.
For now at least.

We visit Green's home town of Ashland,Virginia (blink and you'll miss what's playing at the local movie house: a screening of Workman's Magical Universe) and meet his parents who, as you might imagine, kind of wish that their son had some real employment again (he has never asked them for money, they tell us). We see snippets of his earlier across-the-USA walk, during which he stopped at the home of his brother in Chicago, and we learn of past trauma that happened to both siblings that might help account for Matt's more-or-less uber-carpe diem philosophy.

Lasting only 95 minutes, the documentary is still surprisingly rich in the ways it brings us into Matt's world and viewpoint: the objects he sees, the people he meets, the history he discovers and especially all he notices and begins putting together and writing about via his blog -- the many "churchagogues" (ex-synagogues that have become other-denominational), all the hair-cutting establishments that have replaced the letter's "c" and "s" with those of "k" and "z" (note especially his honorable mention that caps all those kutzes), the "puddle that never goes away" (in Staten Island, I think), the ingenious vegetable gardens of Queens, real redwood trees in New York City, 9/11 memorials, cemeteries, and the oldest tree in all of NYC (along with a notebook left in its hollow by a class of kids who visited it once upon a time), and a young woman who, thanks to Matt, here tastes her first fig! This is New York City like you have never experienced it.

There is also some lovely and stirring music, thanks mostly to Carly Comando and Tom Rosenthal (among other contributors). Mostly though, this is Green's and Workman's baby (the latter produced, directed, filmed and edited it). And it is very much worth seeing. From Greenwich Entertainment, The World Before Your Feet opened in New York City at the Quad Cinema this past Wednesday, and will hit Los Angeles at the Landmark NuArt today, Friday, November 23. It will also play Washington DC at the Avalon Cinema on Thursday December 13. Elsewhere? Sure hope so. I'll add playdates, cities and theaters here, as I learn of them.

Weird, wild (and sometimes bloody) fun: Hadi Hajaig's nutty caper comedy, BLUE IGUANA

At the beginning of TrustMovies' viewing experience of BLUE IGUANA, the new humorous heist film from British writer/director Hadi Hajaig, he thought, Oh, god -- this is going to be just too cute, ridiculous and heavy-handed to even finish: a clashing combo of American and British accents and humor so off-the-wall, it's practically out the window. But then -- and faster than he would ever have expected -- the movie began to win him over. Completely. By the end he and his spouse were treasuring every moment. What a pleasure it can be when a film starts so "iffily" and then seduces you utterly.

If you appreciate bizarre and over-the-top performances, nicely completed by quieter, more grounding ones from the two romantic leads, along with a set design and "look" that are sometimes knock-your-socks-off spectacular, this may be the entertainment you crave. And on the big screen, too: art direction like this deserves to be seen in large proportion.

This kind of film is very difficult to pull off, but Mr. Hajaig (shown at left) has certainly managed it.  Here is crazy, gorgeous, blood-spattered hilarity -- with terrific performances from an entire cast.

Blue Iguana is the sort of movie in which, I kid you not, matricide will have never seemed so funny. Nor deserved.

The plot, which, to go too far into would simply confuse the reader, involves a couple of American pals -- Sam Rockwell and Ben Schwartz (above, right and left, respectively) recently released from prison, who are asked (in a kind of combo of plea and blackmail) by a prim and mousy little British girl (Phoebe Fox, below, in what - were this not a small indie film -- would be a breakout performance) to assist her in an illegal money-making project back in England.

They do and, in the process, get involved with an array of bizarre and very funny characters and situations, the likes of which neither they nor we have much seen. Even in crazy caper comedies like this one.

There is plenty of violence and bloodshed, but this is all done with such over-the-top humor and disarray, that you will most likely find your self laughing instead of averting your eyes. Really: you won't want to miss all the fun.

That fun includes a character actor I've often seen but until this

memorable role not really been able to recall: Peter Ferdinando (above), who plays a nutjob named Deacon Bradshaw, whose mother (a grand turn by Amanda Donohoe) proves even nuttier and nastier. Roles like this don't come around all that often for most actors, and Mr. Ferndinando gives it all that it deserves and then a bit more.

Lovely supporting turns come from everyone from Simon Callow to Frances Barber, Peter Polycarpou and Al Weaver, and the movie simply grows crazier and funnier as it moves along.

Ms Fox gets one of those ugly-duckling-to-swan moments that will give you a nice gasp, while Mr. Rockwell, in only his second screen appearance since his "Oscar" win, is reliably terrific. Using his intuitive knack for a combo of humor and gravitas, he keeps the film somehow grounded, while all around him (except the lovely Ms Fox) are going bananas.

Mr. Schwartz (above) turns weird into something kind of wonderful, and the movie's playful nods to so many other movies register as sweet fun instead of seeming merely aren't-we-clever. Mr. Hajaig's understanding of how nearly everyone wants to be, see or know an actor is put to delightful use, too, in a finale that could hardly be cuter or more on the nose.

 If I'm over-praising this little trifle, it's only because I had such a good time. Give Blue Iguana even half a chance, and I think you will, too.

From Screen Media Films and running 100 minutes, the movie opens this Friday, August 24, in New York City at the Village East Cinema and in Los Angeles at Laememle's Monica Film Center. To see all  currently scheduled playdates, cities and theaters, click here and scroll down. Simultaneously with the theatrical release, the film will also hit VOD.

Restored and re-discovered: James Whale's black-and-white wonder THE OLD DARK HOUSE

Plenty of us avid moviegoers are familiar enough with the name James Whale. This guy, after all, directed the original Frankenstein (and The Bride of..., too) plus The Invisible Man, as well as the original filmed versions of Journey's End, Waterloo Bridge and Showboat. Many of us know him, too, from Ian McKellen's lovely portrayal of the filmmaker in Bill Condon's Gods and Monsters. What most of us don't know much about, however, is his 1932 movie THE OLD DARK HOUSE, a 72-minute, non-stop delight -- funny, scary, and full of surprises -- that was long thought to have gone the "disappeared" route of so many old and unfairly forgotten films.

Now, thanks to Cohen Media Group (as well as, or so we learn from one of the marvelous bonus features on the new Blu-ray and DVD, to the now-deceased filmmaker Curtis Harrington), a wonderful 4K restoration of the film opened in theaters earlier this month (after playing both the Venice and New York film festivals) and arrives on home video this coming Tuesday, October 24, on Blu-ray, DVD and digital format.

Director Whale (shown at right) with 23 credits on his resume, was gifted in a number of genres, but the amazement of The Old Dark House comes, as much as anything, via the masterly manner in which he mashes so many of these -- mystery, thriller, horror, comedy, romance, satire and even a look at class, economics, religion and morality of the day -- together so goddamned gracefully. It's a wonder.

The film is based on a novel by J.B. Priestley, and the cast assembled here is a wonder, as well. Where else might you possibly see Boris Karloff (below, left), Melvyn Douglas (above), Charles Laughton and Raymond Massey together in the same film? (Mr. Laughton is as likable and surprising here as you may ever have seen him.)

On the distaff side are three wonder women: Gloria Stuart (above, right, and yes, she who made that great comeback in a certain Mr. Cameron's over-rated Titanic) plays a gorgeous dish who fills out a negligee like few others; the beautiful, pert and utterly winning Lilian Bond (below, right), who bring such immediacy and delight to her been-around-the-block ingenue role that you'll not easily forget her; and Eva Moore, who manages the nutty-old-bat role as though we'd never seen such a thing before. (There's one scene between Moore and Stuart that is so jaw-dropping even now, that one wonders what audiences must have thought about it 85 years ago when the film first opened.)

The less said about the plot the better, for it is filled with such bizarre turns-of-events that you'll simply hang on for the ride. And yet, for all its sense of terror and dread, the movie is finally so surprisingly endearing that you may find yourself remembering it less as a fright film than as a sweet, sad, fractured movie about family -- both the blood kind and the sort that's created suddenly out of need and determination.

Whatever: don't let this one pass you by. Its home video release is scheduled for this coming week, and the bonus features on the Blu-ray and DVD are wonderful indeed, especially the interview with Mr. Karloff's daughter, Sara. Though the film runs just 72 minutes, the disc's extras are enough -- in quantity and quality -- to make this much more than merely an evening's entertainment.

The most embarrassing "old friend" of all time? Kris Avedisian's DONALD CRIED opens

The not-exactly-new tale of a man who has left his boyhood town and returns there to handle the estate of his deceased grandmother but -- thanks to the loss of his wallet -- must suddenly rely on the good will of an old "friend" is given a whoppingly bizarre but very good telling in the new film opening today, DONALD CRIED. Written and directed by and starring Kris Avedisian (shown at right and below), the movie immediately turns Mr. Avedisian into a moviemaking triple threat. This is a performance -- and a film (if you can last it out) -- that you are not likely to forget.

Cringe-inducing does not begin to describe the effect that Mr. Avedisian, playing the doofus Donald of the title, will have on audiences. And yet so thoroughly and deeply has Avedisian seemed to explore this character that Donald actually grows on you as the movie unfurls. So, too, does the only other character of note here, Peter, played by Jesse Wakeman (below), who also contributed to the film's story. Wakeman plays the usual uptight, successful "business" type who, apparently somewhat popular in high school, could not wait to leave his little Rhode Island town and never went back. Until now.

The odd and extended little dance these two characters do together, as they joust and parry, circle and sort-of bond, slowly shows us that Donald may not be quite as goofy and clueless as he usually appears, while Peter is not the solid tower of strength he might like to be.

Yet the film is certainly no kind of mystery -- unless you include the mystery of human character, of course -- so don't wait for that other show to drop. No, this is a character study, of two quite different characters whom we see now and also get a pretty good sense of who they were back then.

For all practical purposes, the movie is a two-hander. The only other character of note is a young woman played by the fine Louisa Krause, whom Peter hopes to hit on, and we do get one nice scene featuring Donald's mom and two featuring his step-dad, who seems a major asshole (Ted Arcidi, below, right, handles this role with nasty aplomb).

Donald Cried is a movie of very small, incremental change. But the change is there. By the end, you'll feel it, I think, and one hell of a lot more strongly, if quietly, than you ever would have expected.

From The Orchard -- though you can't find the film on that company's web site: What gives? -- and running 85 minutes, the movie opens today in New York City at the Angelika Film Center and in Los Angeles at the Landmark NuArt. Elsewhere? Yes, it'll be all over the country in the weeks to come. Click here to see all currently scheduled playdate, cities and theaters.

So adorable you could puke: Dani Menkin's Israeli/American road movie, IS THAT YOU?

Having been a big fan of Israeli documentary filmmaker Dani Menkin's Dolphin Boy (released here in 2012), TrustMovies was primed to see his first foray into narrative filmmaking, IS THAT YOU? (which has been subtitled The Road Not Taken). Post-viewing, I can now say that it has been a long, long time since I've sat through a movie that so set my teeth on edge. By the time it was over, I was surprised not to have ground those little white chiclets down to gum level, even as the milk in my refrigerator curdled. I guess I was simply unprepared for all the cutesy-pie, oddball characters and wring-your-tear-ducts sentimentality that this movie accrues.

Now, I admit that there will be many folk out there in audience-land who will love this kind of film. And I am somewhat surprised that it rubbed me so fiercely the wrong way. But it did, and here's why. From the outset, Mr. Menkin, shown at right, would seem to be attempting some kind of would-be Cassavetes number, as our hero, played by the oft-seen and usually good Israeli actor, Alon Aboutboul, below, arrives in the USA to visit his estranged brother. From the outset it is clear that these two are oil and water, with Mr. Aboutboul, who was recently seen as the villain in London Has Fallen, playing one of those super-sensitive/ super-sexy older men, while his bro is one of those uber-crass Israelis by way of the USA.

Yes, any subtlety goes almost immediately MIA here. The plot has to do with our hero tracking down an early love-of-his-life, which sets him off on a road trip in which he meets character after character who are just so oddball and cute that you cannot believe for a minute that any of them could ever exist. I suppose that maybe one of them might, but sticking the entire lot into a single movie proves a big mistake.

The first of these (if you don't count those two brothers) is a man who now lives in the house where the former girlfriend once lived. So of course this guy immediately invites our hero in to show him a series of photos on his stairs that offers up a message/moral. (So many messages/morals are offered up in the course of this film that you'll be ready to suggest, as one famous movie mogul once advised, that the filmmaker ought use Western Union -- or, these days, Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat or whatever else is the latest in social media.)

But, no: The filmmaker just keeps piling the messages on, mostly via a pretty young woman filmmaker whom our hero meets early on and sticks with for nearly the rest of the movie. As played by Naruna Kaplan de Macedo (at left, above and below), the performance is believable only to the extent that the actress can circumvent the ridiculous character the filmmaker has conceived.

So on we go through one new cutesy introduction after another -- commitment-phobic single guys, kindly married lesbians, opera-singing policemen (certainly the dumbest thing in the film), and so forth. Note to story-tellers: It's fine to have your searched-for party move to a different location, once or even twice. But three or four times within the same film? No thank you.

But I'm off-message. As we learn from yet another fellow we meet: "If you love somebody and they love you, don't let 'em get away."  Duh. If you want to feel manipulated within an inch of your life, this is the movie for you. It almost (but not quite) makes me want to re-think Dolphin Boy. Running a thankfully brief 81 minutes, Is That You? opens today, Friday, August 26, in New York City at the Cinema Village, and is expected to open in the Los Angeles area sometime in September. I would also imagine it to be a shoo-in for a few theaters down here in Southern Florida, especially in Boca Raton.