Martin McDonagh's THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI: year's best?

As someone who detested In Bruges but very much enjoyed Seven Psychopaths, TrustMovies has now become a firm fan of writer/director Martin McDonagh (shown below), whose latest endeavor, THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI, is currently gracing screens nationwide. This is, head and shoulders, the Britisher's best, deepest and most grown-up work yet.

In it, characters keep evolving (or at least broadening and deepening), even as the tale takes one surprise twist after another, not one of which seems finally off-base in the least. If that were not accomplishment enough, the movie is acted to near perfection by its entire cast. And as crazy as events sometimes seem, the actors keep it all grounded in reality, even as we audience members gasp, chuckle and laugh aloud at the goings-on. So adept is McDonagh at dialog, as well as in his understanding of human behavior, violence, caring, family and other concerns that he and his cast nail every scene while keeping us glued and on our toes.

Every cast member deserves great praise, but the movie belongs to its three stars: Frances McDormand above, left), Woody Harrelson (above, right) and the as-usual amazing Sam Rockwell (below).

The less said about plot, the better, since you deserve to be a tabula rasa going into this movie. You might call it a "police non-procedural" if you were so inclined, but murder mystery, family drama/comedy, character(s)-in-transition study, and unique vision of small town American life would do just as well.

I won't say more so that I can get this post up today. Just put Three Billboards on your must-see list. From Fox Searchlight and running 115 minutes, the movie is playing all over the country. Click here to find the theater(s) nearest you.

DVDebut: Dirty cops reign in THE SEVEN FIVE, Tiller Russell's alarming-but-entertaining doc about a Brooklyn precinct in the 1980s

How do you become a dirty cop? According to Michael Dowd, the dirtiest of THE SEVEN FIVE, the documentary (making its DVD debut this coming Tuesday) about the New York Police Department's 75th Precinct, located in Brooklyn, the key can be found in the very training of the new recruits -- when they learn that to be a "good cop" means never ratting out a fellow offier, no matter what that officer has said or done. Maybe this sort of training has changed some since Dowd's day, but I rather doubt it. Couple that training to character traits present in people like Dowd and his partner, Kenneth Eurell, and you've got a recipe for crime and corrruption that goes from stealing drugs and cash to what the current Black Lives Matter movement has been railing against.

Tiller Russell's documentary (the filmmaker is shown at right) spills out the story of the corruption within the 75th Precinct in a manner that is very nearly as entertaining as it is disturbing. As far as halfway or more into the movie, you may experience, as did I, a queasy feeling that the film is practically saluting Michael Dowd for being so fucking clever and fun in all the ways he manages to make himself rich at the expense of everyone from us taxpayers to the drug dealers he both works for and steals from.

Mr. Dowd -- shown above, in his salad days (said salad was sprinkled with cocaine rather than parmesan cheese) and below, in felon-wear -- indeed proves an entertaining and informative narrator. As do a few other folk, including his partner, Mr Eurell (shown back in the day in the penultimate photo, below), along with a noted drug dealer named Adam Diaz. (Since many of these poeple are -- or were -- lawbreakers, you'll wonder just where they are now -- and why. Do stick around for the end credits, during which you'll learn much of what you wanted to know.)

At one point during the hearings devoted to the "work" of The Seven Five, a public official asks Dowd , "Whom did you consider to be your employer: the NY City Police Department or the drug traffickers?" And the man does admit he made a ton more money off the drugs than from his salary. When a cop gets shot and killed in the line of duty, and our boys go all sad and sentimental, you may want to toss in the towel. Hang on.

Things do change, and once Internal Affairs and a little betrayal enter the picture, the darkening that any thinking person will have been demanding finally sets in. Russell's desire to weave all this together -- the various narratives, incidents, characters and interviews -- entails some first-rate editing, and co-editors Chad Beck and James Carroll are more than up to the task.

So why are dirty cops so loathesome and yet so important? Dirty politicians are worse (almost all of them are dirty these days because they acccept campaign donations and then serve the money that elected them rather than the people they're supposed to be serving), but dirty cops hit us on a more personal level. betraying everything that police are supposed to stand for. "To protect and serve" becomes "protect each other and serve only oneself." In a way, you could hardly ask for a more fitting example of what our country continues to become: a populace and its leaders dedicated to making a fast buck by any means necessary and screw everybody else. Donald Trump for President, anyone?

The Seven Five, from IFC Films and running rather long for a documentary (104 minutes), becomes available on DVD this coming Tuesday, September 15. 

Streaming: Stephan Lacant's FREE FALL probes two young policemen in love -- and in trouble

If you're going to make a modern-day movie about two German policemen -- one of whom is gay, while the other is just beginning to discover his homosexual attraction -- you could not ask for two hotter nor more talented young actors than Hanno Koffler and Max Riemelt to flesh out these roles. Their physical beauty, coupled to an ability to throw themselves deeply into their relationship of love and anger, desire and fear, goes some distance in making FREE FALL (Freier Fall) work as well as it does.

Filmmaker Stephan Lacant (shown at right) makes full use of the physical beauty on display, as well as the emotional range necessary to portray a supposedly straight man, Marc, complete with loving girlfriend and a child on the way, who finds himself attracted to a young male police trainee, Kay, who has no problem making clear that he wants Marc, body and soul. Herr Koffler, shown below, left, brings to the fore every bit of the angst, uncertainty and throbbing sexuality a man would feel if, up to now, he'd considered himself straight and "normal" but is suddenly experiencing a kind of sexual and physical attraction he has never encountered. As expected, this soon throws his entire life out of whack. Koffler gives a hugely real and disturbing performance, which becomes the major reason to see the movie.

In the role of Jay, Herr Riemelt has the less showy role but he fills it out quite well. A good actor whom TrustMovies has seen and enjoyed in several German films-- especially The Wave and We Are the Night (one of the best vampire movies of recent years) -- Riemelt plays the wiser, more seasoned gay man, and he brings a deeper understanding to the proceedings, even as he longs for more from his amour.

In the role of the put-upon girlfriend, Katharina Schüttler (below) has the least appealing role. You feel sorry for her, but your sympathies must reside with the two guys because it is clear that theirs is the major relationship here.

Despite the gains made by gays throughout much of the western world, neither the specific familes shown here nor the workplace in which our cops labor provides any sustenance. The police, notoriously macho from culture to culture, prove a breeding ground for prejudice and physical horseplay that seems to invariably turn nasty.

Free Fall, which perfectly describes the state in which Marc finds himself, is not a ground-breaking movie. We've seen this before -- though maybe not featuring Germans (and ceretainly not gorgeous Germans like these) -- and yet it is worth viewing again, for the difference in details and culture, and the performances of the two leads.

Marc and Kay are pretty close to the proverbial match made in heaven, if only they could circumvent the hell around them.  No easy task, when history, family and general culture all push against the deepest needs of our increasingly weary protagonists.

The movie -- from Wolfe Video and running 100 minutes -- is available now on Netflix streaming and elsewhere, as well as on DVD.

Ryan Coogler's FRUITVALE STATION views the color-skewed level of policing in Oakland, Calif.

I know a number of film fans who wouldn't get near FRUITVALE STATION due to its theme of inbred, ingrained racial violence. These are also, and for the most part, people who won't see 12 Years a Slave for the same reason. (Both films are based on real-life tales, though the two films take place more than a century-and-a-half apart.) This is a shame, in both the lighter and darker meanings of that word, but what can you expect from a country steeped from its beginnings in gross injustice, a large portion of whose current citizens even now think that it's A-OK to use racial profiling -- aka Stop-and-Frisk -- to round up possible criminals.

Fruitvale Station, written and directed by first-time/full-length film-maker Ryan Coogler (shown at left), is nowhere near as an accomplished piece of film-making as is 12 Years a Slave. Nor would most of us expect it to be, considering that it has been made by a young man just begin-ning his career, and trying, I would guess, not to fall into the easy traps that a subject like this one holds out. If you followed, as many of us did, this case of young Oscar Grant III, who was shot while unarmed and shackled, inside the Fruitvale BART station in Oakland, California, by a police officer on New Year's Day early morning, 2009, you'll realize how true to what happened inside that station is the depiction shown by the film. (The event was captured on the cell phone cameras of many of the riders on that BART train in that early morning, and so record after record exists of what happened.)

Mr Coogler captures the event -- his film begins with it and then immediately flashes back to the day before -- quite well, and then he, from what I can gather, has imagined the life of this relatively good, if troubled, young man, filling in a number of blanks about character, situation and motivation. In the run-up to the shooting, he allows us to see, without undue pushing, how differently whites and minorities respond to any problem that brings the police on the scene. This speaks volumes without ever raising its voice.

The result is a pretty good movie in all respects. Lead actor Michael B. Jordan (above, from Friday Night Lights and The Wire) makes our boy a smart mover looking out for his best shot and something of a ladies man who's still trying to keep faithful to his wife (Melonie Diaz, shown in the penultimate photo), and responsible to and for his little daughter (Ariana Neal, shown in photo, bottom). Jordan does an excellent job of making Oscar real, alternately angry and intelligent, a little confused but basically on that difficult road to responsibility. It's a fine performance, and it is backed up by a number of other good ones from the remainder of the cast (the always exceptional Octavia Spencer, below, plays his mom).

What keeps this good film from reaching any level of greatness is the fairly prosaic quality of the writing and direction. In both cases, these get the job done, but only occasionally do they rise to a high level. The movie's two best scenes are perhaps its most disposal ones, too -- yet both are quite lovely and real.

One takes place in the supermarket where Oscar had worked and to which he returns to try to convince his old boss to give him back the job. While there, he gets involved with a young woman trying to prepare a New Year's Eve dinner and calls his grandmother on the phone for some help. Watching the scene we have conflicting feelings. Will Oscar hook up with this girl or simply do her a big favor?

Later, as Oscar, his woman and their friends are out for New Year Eve, the ladies need to find a bathroom. How they do, how Oscar fits into all this, and how he interacts with another man whose pregnant wife needs to pee, proves a marvel of meshing various needs into actions, holding out new hope for this new year. The fact that we know it must come to naught doesn't prevent us from understanding that hope remains. Just not here, and not for Oscar.

Fruitvale Station -- running just 85 minutes and distributed theatrically by The Weinstein Company, appears on DVD and Blu-ray via Anchor Bay Entertainment -- hits the street this Tuesday, January 14, for purchase or rental.

Tragedy -- or the nearest thing to it -- in Nick Murphy's fine police drama, BLOOD

We don't see much these days that qualifies as tragedy or even comes close to that definition. Which makes the U.S. theatrical debut of BLOOD -- a 2012 film from director Nick Murphy (shown below), who gave us one of 2011's better ghost stories, The Awakening -- all the more newsworthy.

This unrelenting British movie features a superlative cast, with each member playing at the top of his game. Blood, which is all about family, also involves some of that famous red stuff, yet the meaning of the film's title cuts pretty equally in both directions.

The story concerns a family of British policemen in a small coastal town: a father slowly losing out to dementia (Brian Cox) and his two sons -- one played by Paul Bettany, who has a wife and daughter; the other by Stephen Graham, who has a steady girlfriend in tow.

Mr. Graham (above) remains generally unsung -- on these shores, anyway -- but he's a fine actor, and this film gives him the best role he's had in some time. Ditto Mr. Bettany, below, who often falls into showy performances (or maybe they're just showy roles in showy films). Here he does nothing more than is necessary and absolutely nails his character -- and us.

As usual, however, it's Mark Strong (below), clearly one of the more versatile of the newer crop of British actors, who comes off as most memorable. If you compare just three of Strong's recent performances -- in Welcome to the Punch, The Guard, and Tinker Tailor Solider Spy -- to this one, you'll discover a fellow of surprising strengths as an actor. Here, as the quiet, very focused outsider on the police force, he brings a lovely subtlety and deep feeling to his role.

What makes Blood approach the tragic level is how the misdeeds of the males in this proud and arrogant family come home to roost, along with all the guilt and frustration that go with them. How the actions of the two brothers resonate painfully throughout their families, the police force and the town they serve, as well as the irony of who hastens their downfall and how, makes for a movie that is extremely brooding and bleak, though rich in fine characterization.

This film is evidently a kind of telescoped remake of a British TV series from 2004 called Conviction, which I have not seen. Though more could certainly be packed into six hours than in the 92 minutes shown here, I must say that this hour-and-a-half proves pretty spectacular on its own shortened terms.

Blood, from RLJ Entertainment, opens this Friday, August 9, exclusively at AMC theaters in major cities across the country: in Atlanta at the Colonial 18, in Chicago at the Streets of Woodfield 20, in Dallas at the Grapevine Mills 30, in Detroit at the Forum 30, in Houston at the Studio 30, in Kansas City at the Studio 30 with IMAX and Dine-in Theatres, in L.A. at the Burbank Town Center 8, in NYC at the Empire 25, in Philadelphia at the Cherry Hill 24, and in Seattle at the Loews Oak Tree. Meanwhile, the film has also been available via VOD since July 11.

Park Hoon-Jeong's NEW WORLD, in which power just keep congregating until...

...it doesn't matter whether it's the supposed good guys (the police) or the bad (a corporation made up of the top criminal gangs) who wield it. Because they're pretty much the same thing. So it goes in the new movie NEW WORLD, from Park Hoon-Jeong (who earlier wrote I Saw the Devil and here both writes and directs) -- just as, I am beginning to believe, it goes in today's almost totally power/money corrupted world.  Mr. Park does a good job of both writing and directing, allowing us to follow an incredibly twisting path that doesn't conclude until the very last of the end credits have rolled and the final visual scenes -- rolling right along with those end credits -- have played out. (Don't walk out during those credits, or you'll miss some more fun.)

New World, indeed. The filmmaker (whom I believe is shown at left but I could be wrong) is cer-tainly onto something, and that something isn't confined to Korea. We see power colluding all over the globe, what with globalization, inter-national banks "too big to fail" (but please, let's allow them this honor), and our own Supreme Court siding (just barely but enough to do the job) with corporations and money over citizens and democracy. So this latest bit of provocation from Korea seems on target and only slightly pumped up from reality.

When the head of the corporation that combines the major crime syndicates is suddenly killed in a freak car accident (which may very well have been planned), someone must replace him. While the movie spends the rest of its time in internecine warfare between possible successors, all this is aggravated by the fact that these fellows, to a man, it would seem, are all either in the pocket of the top policeman (above) assigned to oversee the gangland investigation, or an actual police plant (below) who has for ten years been rising to the top of the gang's hierarchy.

There is a little too much exposition of character and history wedged into the dialog, but as the film rolls along, there is enough violence and action to keep us occupied and wincing (feeding one poor fellow accused of betrayal a milkshake made of cement is the opening gambit).

 Midway along, there's a terrific automobile/gang fight (above) resulting in one of the possible successors entering an elevator (below) only to discover... hmmm: I'll just say you're in for one hell of an enclosed-space fight scene.

The movie, while perhaps not the best of its genre, is good enough to add even more luster to Korea's already ripe reputation for grandly entertaining, over-the-top, genre film-making. It joins the recent BAM series, the continuing Tribeca Cinema Korean film series, the theatrically-released The Berlin File, and the numerous Korean films that can now be streamed via Netflix to provide an up-to-date look at what's coming from a country that is now arguably the most exciting and entertaining film capital of the world.

New World, from Well Go USA Entertainment and running a lengthy but never uninteresting 134 minutes, opens today, Friday, March 22, in New York City (at the AMC Empire 25) and fifteen other cities across the U.S. and Canada. Click here to see all currently scheduled cities and theaters.

Maïwenn's child-protection movie POLISSE brings home the bacon -- and a little ham....

When POLISSE, the new film from actress/
director Maïwenn, is good, it's very, very good. And when it's -- I won't go so far as to say "bad," just maybe -- not so good, rather than destroy itself, as some have claimed, the movie simply deflates a bit before gathering steam once again. This up and down structure does weaken what could have been a brilliant piece of cinema, but Polisse -- that tracks daily life, at work and at play, of the police officers of a Child Protection Unit in France -- is still very much worth a watch, if only for the jolting immediacy of its subject matter, as well as its starry French cast.

As director and co-writer (with the smart and talented Emmanuelle Bercot, of BackStage and Student Services), Maïwenn (shown at right) uses a similar documentary-like approach that she tried in her earlier and much more humorous film Le bal des actrices. It works almost as well here, allowing us to seem to eavesdrop on these police, at home and on the job, seeing them at their angriest and most vulnerable.

The poster, shown at top, with its intelligent and symbolic image, captures perfectly how well these police identify with the young victims who come into their care. This has its up and down sides, meaning that the officers will usually do everything they can to ensure safety for their charges, but also that they will sometimes go too far - or go to pieces when it turns out that they, no matter what, can do nothing to help.

This is the case in one of the film's strongest scenes, in which an abusive father with heavy-duty political connections (a nasty, scary Louis-Do de Lencquesaing, above, center) is brought in for questioning. His cowed wife (another brilliant job from Sandrine Kiberlain, above, left) tries her best, but nothing equals the power of money and position, as the film makes quite clear.

In the film's most powerful scene, cop Fred (the filmmaker's main squeeze and preferred co-star Joey Star) tries his best to keep an illegal immigrant mother and her son together. Machinations ensue; the cops will try anything to keep humanity ahead of cold justice, and Mr Starr proves himself more than able to keep up with his better-known acting comrades. For these moments alone, the movie is indelible.

A baby born out of rape, a drug-addicted mom (Sophie Cattani, adding yet another excellent turn to her resume of bad mothers), Marcial Di Fonzo Bo as a problemed phys. ed. teacher, and the "rescue" of a caravan of gypsy children (above) perhaps being made poor use of by their caretakers all add to the film's resonance and strength.

The police themselves are played by a string of France's foremost acting royalty, among them Karin Viard, Marina Foïs, Nicolas Duvauchelle, Frédéric Pierrot (above, left, with co-writer Bercot, who does a fine acting job here, as well) and Jérémie Elkaïm. The give-and-take between officers -- particularly that of Viard (below, left center) and Fois (below, right) -- proves interesting and pointed, playing out eventually in ways powerful and unexpected.

The film's biggest problems arise in several scenes during which the cops are on playtime. We understand that these characters desperately need rest and relaxation, and that they have a hard time finding this or even indulging in it, once it's open to them. But in most of the scenes taking place off the job, it seems as if it is the actors -- not their characters -- who are having the fun and interacting so gleefully with each other. For a time this simply destroys whatever reality has accrued.

There is also, immediately after that rescue of the gypsy kids, a scene of everyone singing on a bus that seems utterly fake. Why this should be so, I don't know. Was the scene poorly prepared?  For whatever reason, it simply does not flow; instead it jolts. None of this kills our overall belief in the movie's message: that the pro-tection of children is paramount. But when Maïwenn learns to solve problems like these, she'll be on her way to even greater things.

Polisse, 127 minutes via Sundance Selects, opens this Friday, May 18, in New York City at the Lincoln Plaza Cinemas and the IFC Center, and in Los Angeles at The Landmark. Other cities and theaters are in the offing soon. Come May 25, the film will also be available via VOD. Click here to learn how you can get it in at home.