DVDebut for the latest Dardenne brothers' moral exploration, THE UNKNOWN GIRL

Yet another moving and detailed exploration of guilt, caring and the acceptance of responsibility from film-making's most humane, dedicated and talented brother teams, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardennes (pictured below, with Luc on the right), THE UNKNOWN GIRL (La fille inconnue) proves one of the siblings' most intensely interesting and meaningful provocations.

In it, a young doctor named Jenny Davin tells her intern not to answer the downstairs buzzer (which is rung only once) because it is long past closing time and this does not appear to be any emergency. The following day the police arrive and ask for the security videotape from outside the building. Jenny soon learns that the young woman who rang the buzzer is now dead, found earlier that day across the street with a very bad dent in her head.

Many people these days would simply shrug this event off with a "too bad for her but not my fault" response. But our good doctor does a bit more than that. It is clear from the start of this film that Jenny, played with a quiet determination that bespeaks deep reserves of caring and commitment by the fine French actress Adèle Haenel (below, and on poster, top), is not about to let this mistake of hers go uncorrected. She cannot bring the girl back from the dead nor, she suspects, even solve this crime (if indeed it was a crime; it might have been something of an accident).

Yet the idea of allowing the dead girl to remain unknown (the police have no clue as to who she was), and thus not being able to inform any family of what happened, proves so troubling to Jenny that she begins her own, very determined investigation. This takes her into quite uncharted territory, especially for a young, caring doctor more used to dealing with sick patients that with what eventually becomes some fairly dark family matters that involve the local police (below), prostitution, and perhaps sex trafficking.

In some ways the film bears comparison to the Dardennes' earlier (and weaker) movie, Lorna's Silence, but it is better in every way, thanks to the conception of Jenny's character and the strength and specificity brought to this by Ms Haenel's performance. And though the film comes close to these dark subjects mentioned above, it remains less a suspense piece or mystery than it does a surprisingly rich study of character(s) under pressure

We are also given a deeper and more profound sense of the town that Jenny and her patients inhabit via some lovely, moving scenes with people of both sexes and various ages. As we meet and become involved with these supporting characters -- above and below -- their own guilt and responsibility is (or is not) slowly uncovered, as well.

How these people respond to Jenny's pushing -- in ways both good and bad but always believable -- may remind you of the Dardennes' recent endeavor, Two Days, One Night. The Unknown Girl, I think, is an equally strong film. It deals, in its own sidelong manner, as does so much of the brothers' work, with immigration and "the other," and with justice and its untimely-if-ever delivery.

Performances are quite real, in the Dardennes' usual documentary style, in which Ms Haenel's work fits like a glove, with an unrecognizable (to TrustMovies, at least) but terrific Dardennes regular, Jérémie Renier, fine as always in the role of the fraught father (shown above, left) of one of the doctor's young patents. Especially lovely, too, is the job done by newcomer Olivier Bonnaud, below, right, who plays that young intern with family/career problems of his own

If you respond, as did I, to the importance of Jenny's search -- during an era in which so much responsibility has been shirked off, if not downright forgotten or deliberately undermined by the corporations and the wealthy who control the crap politicians throughout more and more of our world -- this single act of assuming responsibility will take on enormous importance. It should. And thanks to the Dardennes and Ms Haenel, it is brought to quivering, sad-but-still-glowing life.

From Sundance Selects/IFC Films, The Unknown Girl hits DVD this coming Tuesday, December 12, for purchase or rental. And it's now available for streaming via Netflix.

VOD/DVDebut: Leena Yadav's PARCHED tracks women's struggle for freedom in today's India

A soap opera that offers just about everything a woman (along with certain men) could want in a juicy, enjoyable melodrama -- from a nasty, vicious husband who abuses his barren wife to a zipless fuck with a hot, horny and super-caring sex partner, and even a little lesbian-leaning massage for good measure -- PARCHED is a movie with a lot on its mind and a nearly two-hour time span to work out all of its various plot lines. These involve a widow raising a problemed son, that son's new-and-not-so-willing bride, the widow's best friend who works as a stripper-and-paid-sex-partner for the town's horny husbands, and -- oh, yes -- that aforementioned abused wife.

Filmmaker Leena Yadav, shown at right, manages to juggle all these plot lines quite well, so that we easily follow their machinations, together with all the ups and downs of our quartet who are doing their best to bring India and its women into some kind of state of modernity. It ain't easy, given the patriarchy that has ruled this country (despite the blip that was Indira Gandhi) for so long. As writer, producer and director of the film, Ms Yadav sees to it that all these stories and characters get served -- eventually with their just desserts. And while the movie allows too much coincidence for us to take it all that seriously as drama, it also turns its main character, the mother known as Rani (Tanishtha Chaterjee, below), into a full-bodied warts-and-all woman.

In movies such as this one, the men are usually pictured as less than sterling. And so it is here, with the exception of the fellow who has brought his "foreign" wife to town and is helping the women start and run their own little weaving/textiles/tchotchke business. The remainder of the guys -- with the exception of that "sex therapist" who is rather like a deus ex machina with penis -- are either venal and nasty or, as in the case of the fellow (below) who pines for that stripper (and also works for her boss), simply stupid.

Especially nasty is the abusive husband, below, who manages to lambast his poor wife at every turn, no matter what. (His comeuppance proves particularly awful and more than deserved.)

But it is the women who count most, and they are brought of fine life by the quartet of actresses who play the roles. The stripper/sex worker (Suveen Chawla, two photos above) is gorgeous and feisty. In real life, however her attitude would probably have gotten her a number of good beatings by now. Their lack is part of the melodramatic fun here.

As the abused wife, Radhika Apte, above, is properly submissive, slow and sweet, and her quiet growth into a stronger woman is one of the more real aspects of the movie.

The young bride of Rani's shithead son is the female we learn least about, but, as played by Lehar Khan, above, she is innocence and sweetness personified. And since the character has most of her life still in front of her, we can simply be happy at the prospect of her eventual freedom. How and why this happens is among the movie's more moving moments.

Visually, Parched is a knockout, featuring some great locations and excellent cinematography (by Russell Carpenter); the consciousness-raising among the women proves intelligent and enjoyable; and overall the film is a perfectly good example of soap-opera, Indian style -- feminist and a lot of fun.

From Wolfe Releasing/Wolfe Video, after a limited theatrical run, the movie hits both DVD and VOD this coming Tuesday, August 9 -- for purchase and/or rental.

Arturo Ripstein's back with BLEAK STREET, an empathetic descent into the hell that is Mexico. Or Mexico for certain people, at least.

It's not that the grand old man of Mexican filmmaking, Arturo Ripstein, doesn't make many movies (the IMDB credits him with directing 58 of 'em during his 50-year career), but rather that we here in the USA get to view damn few of them. His best known is probably Deep Crimson (another telling of that Honeymoon Killers tale). His latest (and perhaps one of his best -- but how would I know, having seen so few), BLEAK STREET (La calle de la amargura), opens this week, and it might also open the door a tad wider in garnering the filmmaker a larger audience here in the USA.

Señor Ripstein, shown at left, along with his near-constant screenwriting collaborator (as well as his wife), Paz Alicia Garciadiego, have here concocted a tale said to be torn from the headlines of Mexican newspapers. It involves quite a set of characters, beginning with identical twins (midgets who double as luchador wrestling mascots), their parents, and a couple of local whores who have aged to the point that their pimp no longer wants to work with them. One whore's significant other is a cross-dressing fellow who prefers boys, while the other's, well, "business partner" is a very old woman/mother figure no longer able to care for herself, who is put out on the street daily as a beggar, and who brings home more money than does her would-be "daughter" from that meagre prostitution trade.

OK: This sounds pretty sleazy, and of course, it is. But thanks to Ripstein and Garciadiego's skills at presenting these folk honestly and empathetically, the pair manages to embrace reality while avoiding sentimentality. This is no mean feat. The approach here amounts to a kind of clear-eyed tenderness.

Stylistically, Ripstein opts for a combination of noir and neo-realism that works wonderfully in keeping our gaze focused on the proceedings, finding a kind of artful beauty in the ugliness and despair without losing its grip on how difficult are the lives depicted here. (The black-and-white cinematography comes via Alejandro Cantú, whose camera usually moves between semi-close-up and middle distance, gracefully following the participants from one awful situation to the next.)

The realistic dialog occasionally offers a choice morsel: One whore to the other, "This trade is like mange; it never ever leaves you."  And the performances, to a man and woman, are terrific, combining that neo-realism with enough theatricality to make us cognizant that we're not watching a documentary. Particularly moving and always riveting are the two whores, played by Patricia Reyes Spíndola (above, left) and Nora Velásquez (above, right, and below, left)

Weakness piles upon weakness, betrayal tops betrayal, until arrives a surprise that changes everything. The great old song we hear over the end credits is, under these circumstances, about as ironic as it comes: a vinegar-drenched love letter to a Mexico that could exit only in the minds of the deluded rich or the entirely unaware tourist.

Distributed by Leisure Time Features and running 99 minutes, the movie has its U.S. theatrical premiere this Wednesday, January 20, in New York City at Film Forum. Other playdates? I have no idea, and Leisure Time's website provides not a clue. (The company may be a waiting to see how well their film does during its two-week NYC debut.)

Diane Bell explores women, class and violence in her sophomore effort, BLEEDING HEART

TrustMovies must admit that watching BLEEDING HEART, a new film written and directed by Diane Bell, can often seem like a stretch. Overall though, this is the kind of stretch that's good for you -- rather like that of the palm tree able to bend with the wind instead of breaking in two. Also, it stars two good actresses, one of whom, Jessica Biel, I go out of my way to see in just about anything she does. Ms Biel, along with Jake Gyllenhaal, even saved David O. Russell's Nailed (aka Accidental Love) from total obscurity.

Filmmaker Bell, shown at left, has tackled a disturbing set of subjects -- including feminism, class, violence; parentage, prostitution and yoga; drugs, friendship and love -- and then created a scenario in which all these come into play. If this occasionally makes for a few more contrivances and coincidences than we might wish, the movie still manages to work well enough to get us to its crackling and seemingly inevitable finale. In addition to the unusual situation Ms Bell has set up and the pretty decent dialog she's put in the mouths of her cast, it's that cast itself that does the movie proud, helping carry the film to fruition, while forcing us to consider all the problematic possibilities along the way. Once set in motion, and given the characters on view, the plot here can pretty much go only in one direction.

Early on in Bleeding Heart, one of our two heroines, May, played by Biel (above), hones in on the other one, Shiva, played by Zosia Mamet (below). We soon learn why, and the reason will probably prove either the deal-breaker or the deal-maker for most viewers. It becomes, in any case, the force that drives May onwards, pushing through Shiva's attempts to stall or derail it,

and leading to further and further confrontations with Shiva's pimp boyfriend (well-played with a smart combination of intelligence, style and ferocity by Joe Anderson), below, left). The only important remaining cast members include Kate Burton (as May's cold, adopted mom), Edi Gathegi (as May's business partner/boyfriend) and Harry Hamlin as a wealthy "john."  Each is first-rate, offering a performance that adds luster to the proceedings.

Finally it is Ms Bell's concept and execution that, despite its occasional overly-schematic feel, brings the movie home. It is bracing to see a film that attempts to meld feminism, class and violence with nature and nurture. And Biel and Mamet make a fine pair of protagonists: bouncing off each other believably and with the necessary finesse, offering up character arcs that move in opposite directions, bringing these two very different women together in an inseparable way.

Bleeding Heart (nicely ironic title, that!) -- from Gravitas Ventures and running a swift 80 minutes -- after being available On-Demand and Digitally since early November, opens in a very limited theatrical run this Friday, on the date, at the theaters, and in the cities shown below.

Time-waster worth watching: WILD CARD -- West & Goldman's ode to addiction & justice

The first thing you may notice about WILD CARD is how leisurely it rolls along, especially considering that it stars Jason Statham in another of his many action-hero roles. Never uninteresting -- not for a moment -- the movie still ambles and zig-zags blithely on its way, stopping now and again for one those expected action set-pieces, each of which is very nicely done, though no more or less believable than any other action-heroics of recent times. Yet the movie works pleasantly and smartly enough to qualify as decent entertainment, thanks mostly to Statham's grace in both action (below) and repose (at bottom: he's quieter and more thoughtful here than I've seen him in some time) and to a more unusual screenplay than we are used to getting in this genre, by a fellow named William Goldman.

Mr. Goldman, a rather famous screenwriter (Butch Cassidy..., The Princess Bride and author of that immortal line about the industry, "Nobody knows anything"), has here written a journeyman screenplay filled with interesting characters and situations that wax and wane with a different rhythm than usual for this genre and allow for some good actors to register strongly in a bunch of nearly-throw-away roles.

These would include the likes of Hope Davis (below, as a casino dealer); Jason Alexander (above), as a helpful friend;

Anne Heche, below, right, as a friendly waitress (Ms Heche gets two scenes in the film);

Stanley Tucci (below, in a terrific hairpiece), as a casino owner (of possibly gay predilection) called Baby;

and a interesting young actress named Dominik Garcia-Lorrido (below, who spends most of the film looking very beaten-up and who, according to the IMDB, turns out to be the daughter of Andy Garcia) in the pivotal role of an abused prostitute who wants vengeance.

Directed professionally and economically by Simon West, the film's plot takes in themes of addiction, con games, justice, and finding oneself -- and if it does not deepen these to any extent, it at least gives them a decent hearing, while providing a nice forum for Statham's abilities as action star and actor-in-progress.

That's Sofia Vergara, above, looking as beautiful as ever, but this time in a role in which she seems sweeter than usual. (Most of these actors have but a single scene, yet, together they register as an enjoyable group.)

Also in the starry cast is Michael Angarano (above) as a young man who hires the Statham character as a protector/guide, and as usual Angarano proves equal to the task while adding extra interest to the proceedings.

No great shakes, of course, and yet, while been-there-done-that would seem to hang over this movie, by the end, it has become something a little different -- and pleasantly welcome. Wild Card, from Lionsgate and run-ning 92 minutes, is out now on Blu-ray, DVD, VOD and digital platforms.

More of the best television ever seen: Denmark's BORGEN--Season 3 arrives on DVD and Blu-ray

Around halfway through, and having just finished yet another first-rate episode (yes, they all are) of the newly-released-to-DVD-and-Blu-ray, third season of BORGEN, "This is the most intelligent television show I've ever seen," my spouse declared with unusually firm resolution. I wouldn't think of contradicting him. It's now been less than six months since the DVD debut of the second season of this amazing series via its U.S. distributor, MHz Networks, so I am guessing that the demand by American viewers is continually growing. (TrustMovies' post on Borgen's second season soon became and has remained the most-viewed on this site for months now.)

Everything we've loved -- cherished, really -- about this smart, thoughtful and human drama about political and family life in present-day Denmark, mirrored via the careers of two women, has remained in place, even as the series now broadens its canvas to include everything from a new political party and life-threatening sickness to the pork industry (as in pigs, rather than money-for-boondoggles) and possible betrayal by those closest at hand.

The two women are of course, Prime Minister Birgitte Nyborg (the ever-spectacular Sidse Babett Knudsen, above) and gorgeous, hotshot political reporter for TV1, Katrine Fønsmark (Birgitte Hjort Sørensen, below, left), both of whom continue to learn and grow, as well as occasionally surprise us.

Instead of beginning exactly where season two ended, the new one starts after some time has passed (a couple of years, I believe), and so we catch up with things even as we watch the current goings-on. One of the terrific things about this series is how consistently it treats its audience as adults who understand and are interested enough in politics -- what it means, how it works and how important it is to a country's populace -- to be able to follow the ins and outs of the often complicated maneuvers on display.

The series also comes from a place of genuine left-wing politics. It's set in Denmark, so, yes, this is the model -- dreaded and demonized by America's right-wing Republicans -- of the "welfare state" that tries to look after its citizens as best it can. Yet the series' creator and oft-times writer Adam Price (shown below) understands and communicates the difficulties of this looking-after and the price paid in the many compromises necessary to "serve the people."

One of the best episodes of the whole three seasons is on display this time, dealing with prostitution and sex trafficking. This hour wipes the floor with literally everything else -- narrative or documentary -- that I've seen on these subjects, forcing us to confront stuff that usually lies carefully unruffled, just below the surface. As usual, I am not go-ing into much con-tent detail because you deserve to have it all unfold before you with the surprise and intelligence of fine dramatic narrative.

Borgen, season three, is available now from MHZ Networks, and elsewhere, too, of course.