Woody Harrelson is brilliant in the under-rated/under-seen character comedy, WILSON

Having now seen two Oscar-caliber performances from male actors in the space of two days -- yesterday's post on Wakefield via Bryan Cranston and today's on WILSON, featuring a simply wonderful turn by Woody Harrelson -- I must say that I am now looking forward to seeing just who the Academy might deign to nominate for 2017's Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role. Mr Harrelson is always good and sometimes infinitely better than that (have you seen his performance in Rampart?), and here he is given the chance to play one of the more unusual characters in his already bursting-at-the-seams repertoire of versatility. The actor comes through with one of his best-ever performances.

What makes Wilson -- the character and to a large extent the movie itself -- so memorable is that what this character says is often dead-on in terms of being truthful. And yet the guy is so weak in the social graces department that what he says ends up not mattering so very much. As directed by Craig Johnson (shown at right, of True Adolescents and The Skeleton Twins) and written by Daniel Clowes (of Ghost World and Art School Confidential) from his own graphic novel, the movie hits us full-out with this truly bizarre fellow and doesn't let us escape from him for more than a minute of its just-over-an-hour-and-a-half running time. And yet so thoroughly real, if strange, is Wilson, and so funny/sad/embarrassing/kind/angry and above all compelling is Harrelson's ability to bring him to grand and oddball life, that by the end of the movie we're rooting for the guy like you wouldn't have believed possible going in.

Wilson is full of other smart, deft performances, too -- particularly from Laura Dern (above, with Harrelson), who plays our hero's ex; Judy Greer (below) as his dog-sitting friend; and especially Isabella Amara, as the young woman who comes into his life as quite a surprise.

Ms Amara (shown at center, below) captures incredibly well that teenage surfeit of worry masked by a don't-give-a-shit attitude, from which little moments of genuineness now-and-then emerge. She's quite a find. The movie also manages to balance its view of modern technology as something tiresome and problematic with one that admits its usefulness and sharing abilities. Mr. Clowes also brings us a full-bodied, wart-and-all hero who must navigate his way around things that many of us simply take for granted.

As director Mr. Johnson wisely steps out of the way of his talented cast, allowing them to pull out the stops whenever needed.  He also keeps his tone light and jocular enough to carry us over the movie's several surprising turns. Prison, it seems, can sometimes even build character.

By the end of Wilson, most of its characters have managed to stay true to themselves, even as they make the concessions and compromises that go into somehow living in our very problemed world, while our hero has managed to finally, quite believably grow up.

From Fox Searchlight and running 94 minutes, after a disappointingly meager theatrical run, the movie may finally find an audience and success via home video (it's out now on DVD and Blu-ray), on VOD and via streaming facilities.

Jeremy Workman's provocative, enriching documentary, MAGICAL UNIVERSE opens

 
A surprise gift to the viewer, in rather the same manner as was the initial introduction, over a decade ago, a "gift" of outsider artist Al Carbee to documentarian Jeremy Workman by a journalist friend, MAGICAL UNIVERSE is proof plenty that Mr. Workman did not look the proverbial gift horse in the mouth. Instead, he and his girlfriend Astrid befriended Mr. Carbee, and out of this odd, endearing friendship has come one of the best documentaries of the year (hell, the decade, even the new century).

When I tell you that Carbee's claim to fame is creating environments using Barbie dolls which he then photographs, you may need to suppress an urge to run for the hills. Please do. For if you stick with this amazing documentary for even a few minutes, you'll be nailed. As it moves quickly along, it just gets better, deeper, more resonant and profound, more humane, moving and encompassing of so many important things that its title -- Magical Universe -- will not only refer to the world of Carbee and his Barbies but to the state you'll find yourself in by movie's end.

Back when I was a kid, big-budget films, in their advertisements, loved to brag about having been "ten years in the making!" or some such time frame. Oddly, this tiny little 80-minute documentary actually took ten years to complete. The photo of the filmmaker, at left, is perhaps how he looked before beginning work on his movie -- which he and Astrid never imagined, I suspect, would take so long nor

encompass so much. The photo at right, offers up Mr. Work-man now, speaking at one or another of the many festivals at which his film has been part. In telling the tale of Al Carbee, recently a widower when Jeremy and Astrid first met him, the filmmaker shows how a man with a lot of artistic talent (but perhaps not a lot of social skills) can turn that talent in on itself until it seems in danger of suffocating, maybe even dying out. And yet, as Carbee keeps telling himself and Workman, "Creative people just have to create!"

The filmmaker allows us to see a lot of Carbee's output -- from those Barbie creations to early work that shows the man to have been a terrific, if somewhat more conventional, artist (he loved the work of and wanted to become another Norman Rockwell).

Notes a New York gallery owner, a tad mystified, as Workman begins fishing for a possible showing of Carbee's work, "It's clear that he wants to offer pleasure to the viewer..."

"He's an eccentric," notes another person, who knows Carbee. "But he's a genuine eccentric!" I think you'll agree. Especially when the fellow get around to showing, telling, and writing copious letters and making long and bizarre videotapes sent to Jeremy and Astrid about the alternate universe he imagines. Or maybe lives in.

The odd and increasingly appealing thing about Carbee is that, although under other circumstances he might seem creepy and way too off-kilter, because the filmmaker care so much about him ("He seems like he could be my grandfather," Astrid notes), we come to feel the same thing.

Workman's film is quite homemade. That accounts for much of the feeling we get of honesty and odd beauty. If at first it seems all over the place, slowly, the more we learn, the more it all comes together. We've seen over the years a lot of docs about artists and art -- this year two particularly good ones have been Art and Craft and Fifi Howls from Happiness -- but few I think have taken us this far into the mind, the universe of the artist as well as Workman's does. His film, like its subject, is an original.

Mr. Carbee understands that he seems strange to most people. "War is stupid," he notes at one point. "Does that sound weird?" But as someone else points out, regarding this odd fellow: "Craziness is only what you expect it to be."

I don't want to go into all that happens in the course of the film, for you deserve to experience it first-hand. There is a kind of crowning achievement here, however, and when Carbee is asked if this has made him happy, he tells us: "It frees me. It makes me part of the world of reality."

You'll have to see the movie to understand the ramifications of what the man's words mean. Can art accomplish anything -- other than what it achieves for the artist -- until it is seen and appreciated? The photographs of Vivian Maier make the case for the negative answer, just as Carbee's story underscores the positive aspects of sharing.

Magical Universe, quietly stunning and endlessly thought-provoking, calls to mind the purpose(s) of art and its worth -- to the artist and the viewer -- along with what it means to be creative, and how art can both cordon off the artist and make life open up. Of course, one man's art may be another man's hogwash. The film understands this, too, and so, I think did Carbee, whose story Workman has brought to such immense life -- and in the process, produced some art of his own.

The movie -- from Sundance Selects -- opens this Friday, October 31, in New York City at the IFC Center, and will hit Los Angeles at the wonderful little Arena Cinema the following Friday, November 7. Elsewhere? Not sure, but you'll certainly be able to see it on DVD or some streaming source, and eventually, I imagine, via the Sundance Now Doc Club. 

Fresh on streaming (while hitting DVD Tuesday): the Entin brothers' classy GEOGRAPHY CLUB

Having covered this smart and enjoyable GLBT movie twice already, I'll just mention that it's now playing on Netflix streaming, simultaneous with its DVD release that hits the street tomorrow, March 25. When I first saw GEOGRAPHY CLUB, based on the popular Brett Hartinger young adult novel, and directed by Gary Entin and adapted by his brother, Edmund, I was struck at how roundly mainstream it seemed -- as well as how almost "big-budget" it appeared, as though producer Michael Huffington had spared no expense. It still looks good, and seems every bit as enjoyable upon a second viewing. If you have not yet seen the film at least once, here's your chance to discover just how far gay mainstream has come over the past few years.

With GEOGRAPHY CLUB, from the Entin twins, the GLBT movie goes grandly Hollywood glossy

It may take until the close of this film, when the charming end-credits are rolling, that you'll realize you've just experienced the coming-of-age of the gay rom-com-cum-melodram. Yup. GEOGRAPHY CLUB -- a glossy, smart, sweet little high school movie -- gets just about everything right and entertains like crazy while doing it. A product of the Entin twins (Gary, who directed, and Edmund, who wrote the screenplay, based on the popular Brent Hartinger novel), the movie was produced by Michael Huffington (yes!) and Anthony Bretti, and they've stinted on nothing -- from the excellent cast to the cinematography, editing and all else technical. The movie looks surprisingly like a lovely, glossy Hollywood product that -- hey -- just happens to be GLBT-themed.

Of course, the question then arises: Is this what we need? While the answer is most likely: We need a lot of things, this is certainly one form of "equality" that should help make a difference for mainstream audiences. These young and talented twins (shown above, with writer Edmund on the left and director Gary at right), have somehow managed to juggle themes, characters and actors expertly and corral some terrific technical talent, too. The result is a beautifully inclusive movie that tackles the subject of the high school "outsider" and makes it seem fresh and appealing all over again.

The outsiders here includes guys, gals, gays and lesbians that come in cultures/colors of Asian, Hispanic, Black and White. Best of all, the movie offers in addition a violinist (or is he a violist? It's been a few months since I've seen this movie) who must be gay because he's, well, arty and odd. He's actually straight, but he wants and needs to be included in this group -- which makes it all the more wonderfully diverse. The kids are differentiated and performed with a light touch, and the movie moves along at a fast enough trot that there's little time to get picky.

Yes, there's a dose of the After-School Special in all this, but, damn, it's still done well enough to pass muster. The main story connects two closeted high-schools boys (Cameron Deane Stewart, above, left, and Justin Deeley, at right, the latter playing a popular football player) with a group of kids who've formed a kind of GLBT support group they call the Geography Club. "Nobody'll join, so nobody'll know our secret" is the kind of logic going on here (do school even teach geography any longer?). The Entins get the tone just right: a blend of sweetness and toughness that's reality-based enough to draw us in and hold us through thick and thin.

The movie's feel-good, all right, but it is also a little sad in the manner in which it addresses the reality of "the other." Identity, acceptance and especially self-acceptance are all given a good workout here. Thankfully, the filmmakers don't tie the whole shebang up into one neat package. We can't have everything we want, it seems. But we can work toward and then settle for a better situation. Geography Club is going to make a lot of moviegoers -- kids in particular -- very, very happy.

From Breaking Glass Pictures and running a sleek 83 minutes, the movie opens tomorrow, Friday, November 15, in New York (at the Cinema Villlage), Toronto (at the Carlton Cinema), Tempe (at the Harkins' Valley Art), and Stroudsberg (at the Sherman Living Room theater) and elsewhere soon. Click here to see all currently scheduled playdates, cities and theaters. SImultaneously, by the way, any outliers from the above locations, should be able to see the film via VOD.  (The film will not be available on DVD until March 2014.)

Must-see DVD: Abe Sylvia's DIRTY GIRL proves just as good the 2nd time around

If you missed its (very) limited theatrical release (most people did), don't miss seeing DIRTY GIRL on DVD. My original review is here, so I'll make this reminder short. Abe Sylvia's wonderfully energetic, spacious, full-of-laughs-and-charm "buddy road trip" featuring the "dirty girl" of the title and her fat, gay friend is simply the most fun you're going to find on film for a long while. The two leads are splendid: Juno Temple (below, left) in what would have been a star-making performance if enough of us has seen the film, and Jeremy Dozier (below, right), who is so very good (funny, original and real), once he sheds some poundage, he might be quite the ladies' (or men's) man. (Even if he remains the plum little puss he is here, this guy's a keeper.)

Writer/director Sylvia does wonders with his kids -- who need some parental love and approval (and in one case, simply a father), and who bond, fight, help, hurt, and through it all, grow. And his cast of circling adults-- including Mary Steenburgen (below, right), Dwight Yoakam, Milla Jovovich (below, left) and William H. Macy -- are top of the line. The ending, shamelessly feel-good (and I wouldn't have it any other way), should have you walking on air. The movie's music, too, is aces -- particularly if you're a Melissa Manchester fan.

Right now, the only place I can find Dirty Girl is via Netflix. Blockbuster didn't bother to stock it, and even at my little local video store, they hadn't heard of it. Shameful. This movie is so worth seeking out. So seek -- until ye find.

Oh, Mama! Abe Sylvia's DIRTY GIRL delivers shameless, fabulous fun

OK: honest injun, DIRTY GIRL is not the greatest movie of the year. But it's certainly up there with those that have provided me the most fun. Joining the ranks of the recent "R"-rated comedies -- first, for the boys (Hangover etc.), then for the girls (Bridesmaids, etc.) -- this movie, from first-time/full-length writer/director Abe Sylvia (who makes a more-than-auspicious debut) has broadened the field to now include the first R-rated girls-and-gays comedy. In the process, Sylvia has managed to hit so many of the right buttons in a manner just off-kilter enough that they almost seem new. They're not, but you may well be laughing hard enough (and smiling when the guffaws calm down) that you won't notice. Or, even if you do, you may not mind.

One of the really special things about this movie is how Mr Sylvia, shown at right, manages to shock us and make a laugh, while also seeing to it that we like his characters, every damn one of them, including the homophobic father (played quite well by Dwight Yokam, below right) and the Mormon maybe-to-be step-father, essayed with his usual craftsmanship, by William H. Macy (shown at bottom).

The guys -- bless 'em -- do seem to get it in the stomach (more often the balls) in this movie, while the women tend to come out smelling like, if not a rose, maybe a lilac or carnation, as does our delightful gay hero, played with simply terrific, shruggy savoir-faire by newcomer Jeremy Dozier, below, whose first full-length film this also is.

Mr. Dozier (at left) is a doozy -- so funny and chubby and real and endearing as Clarke (note the "e") that I dare you not to be captivated by his combination of neediness and determination. Joining him in the other leading role is an actress, Juno Temple (below, who plays dirty girl Danielle), whom I've been watching with great interest for a couple of years now. From St. Trinian's to Glorious 39, Cracks to Kaboom, she's been just good and versatile enough to stand out. Here she comes into her own, and it's a star-making performance. Temple's chemistry with Dozier is right and real, as the two bond haltingly at first, then out of necessity and finally out of genuine friendship. These two are so good together that their relationship makes the movie.

Not that there aren't other excellent performances, as well -- among them those of Mary Steenbergen (below, right) as Clarke's mom and Mila Jovovich (below, left, playing, what?! a mother role now, as Danielle's progenitor). Also offering very smart work is Nicholas D'Agosto as a hitch-hiking stripper named Joel.

Part family film, part outsider movie, part road trip, Dirty Girl is held together as much by the filmmaker's savvy ability to negotiate various mood changes, as by its consistently excellent performances. Set in the late 1980s, it also boasts styles, songs and famous names of the period -- like Joan Jett, who lends her moniker to the very funny and useful bag of flour that our two kids must carry around all day as a practice "baby."

Thanks to some very funny and charming animation, this little 5-pound bag (above, middle) changes its expression with each passing mood and event and adds a lot of fun to this already delightful and dirty/sunny film. The climax, by the way, is every bit as shameless and fabulous as you could possibly want.

Dirty Girl, from The Weinstein Company, opens theatrically in limited release this Friday, October 7, in New York City, Los Angeles, Berkeley, San Francisco, San Jose and Tampa.  To see all the theatres, simply click here and then scroll down to TICKETS AND SHOWTIMES, type in your zip code and click on one of the three on-line ticket purveyors.

Azazel Jacobs hits his stride with 'outsider' movie TERRI; ensemble cast a knockout

When I interviewed filmmaker Azazel Jacobs for GreenCine a few years ago, around the time his then-new film Mama's Man made its theatrical debut, even though I was not over-awed with the movie, I found Jacobs an absolutely terrific, insightful, energetic and enjoyable young man (that interview is here). And I couldn't help but wonder where his career might go and what he would do next. With TERRI, we now know: This is his best, most accessible and vital work yet.

Terri is an outsider movie, about, in this case, a hugely overweight high school student, the uncle he lives with and cares for, the vice-principal who takes an interest in him, and a couple of his peers whom he must work with.  Jacobs, pictured at left, is no newcomer to outsider movies. He seems the quintessential outsider himself -- not that he was necessarily put-upon in high school, or anything that obvious -- but his films seem made by and for outsiders with subject matter that's about outsiders. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that he consider everyone -- in some way -- an outsider, and I'd have to agree with him. Goodness knows his family life (he's the son of experimental filmmaker Ken Jacobs) could be called "outsider," yet Azazel seems, as a filmmaker and a man, about as comfortable in his skin and shoes as anyone could possibly be.

His movies bear this quality, too. Whatever else you might think of them, they seem comfortable within their own framework. No stretching or over-extending, their reach and grasp are relatively equal. They're simply there. But Terri is somehow there in spades.

Outsider movies are nothing new. From last year's best film (so far as TM is concerned) Never Let Me Go to something as innocuous and fun as Mean Girls, the genre is by now a staple of our movie-going life. In Terri, Jacobs takes all the clichés of the genre but, rather than simply gussying them up, pares thme down to the bone and, along with his splendid cast and a fine and simple screenplay by newcomer Patrick Dewitt, reimagines them with immense feeling, wit and the specificity of the odd.

From the big boy in a bathtub opening, with sidelong shots of his infirm Uncle James (a fine job by Creed Bratton, above) to the old, falling down and-secluded-in-the-forest house that the pair inhabit to that near-enchanted forest itself, through which Terri must travel to get to school -- everything here has been arranged by the filmmaker to seem both very strange and absolutely real: an odd but wonderfully workable combination. Mice, an enormous hawk, schoolmates who tease and hurt, and a vice principal (played with gruff/tender strength by John C. Reilly, below, right) intent on reaching this problemed young man -- they all have their part in the movie's quietly entrancing plan.

This is Mr. Reilly's second film, after last year's Cyrus, in which he plays opposite an overweight boy. As good as was Cyrus, Terri is even better. Despite its weirdness, it is less manipulative, effecting its gradual, one might even say, minimal changes with honor and difficulty. This is not one of those movies in which the fellow we root for goes from zero to hero. We understand, even when Terri does not, that he is a long way from the former, and while he may never reach the latter, he's got a lot of living and learning left to do.

Two of the students who are prove the biggest help to Terri (and he to them) have also been extremely well-imagined and played by Bridger Zadina (as Chad, at right) and Olivia Crocicchia (as Heather, below). The friendship that develops among these three is full of inventive incident, surprise and (thankfully) a sensible dose of self-interest so that it remains truthful to the end. It also goes into difficult places -- drugs and sex, for instance -- in a way in which few other teens movies even get near, and certainly not in a manner this embarras-singly honest.

In the title role, the performance of Jacob Wysocki (below, and in several of the photos above) is memorable. If you see this film, and I hope you do, when you think again of big boys, it's probably Jacob (and his Terri) who will first come to mind. So well do we get under his skin that we begin identifying rather miraculously. This is Jacob's and Mr. Jacobs' most wonderful gift: we are Terri, Terri is us. There is no more "other."

The movie, from ATO Pictures, opens this Friday, July 1, in New York at the Lincoln Plaza Cinema and the Angelika Film Center and in California (Los Angeles, Pasadena, Irvine and Encino). Click here to see all currently scheduled playdates, cities and theaters.