The reason we love French films: Diastème's sparkling THE SUMMER OF ALL MY PARENTS

Looking for some real sophistication? The sort that casts a wide, maybe wild but also smart and true eye on family dynamics, including parenting, discipline, love, trust, caring and, what the hell, good old humanity itself in so many of its surprising guises. Then of course, you would probably want a French film. Your search is over, as the 2016 delight titled (for the American market, at least) THE SUMMER OF ALL MY PARENTS, has just arrived on DVD last week. The French title, Juillet août, which translates simply as July-August, is much simpler and more appropriate, too, as this small-but-sterling movie deals with a pair of siblings who spend one summer month with their mom and step-dad, and the next one with their father.

The film is directed and co-written by a fellow named Alain Dias, who has now evidently re-christened himself as the single-monikered Diastème (shown at right). Under whatever name, the guy would certainly seem to know what's he's doing, for he's given us an unusual look at a typical "fractured family." But this time, what may initially appear to be the usual clichés soon morph into something quite a bit richer, stranger, more truthful and compelling. How Diastème and his co-writer Camille Pouzol achieve this sneaks up on you via characters who grow slowly and rather quietly, in every case, into something more and better than you will have expected.

Summer/Parents is first of all a movie about character. And growth. That younger sibling, Laura, played with just the right combo of insecurity and ferocity by the terrific little actress, Luna Lou, above, right, and below, left) is coming to terms with late maturation, a lot of anger issues, and the possibility of boarding school. Her gorgeous older sister, Josephine, acted by Alma Jodorowsky (above, left, and below, right -- and, yes, she's the granddaughter of a certain Alejandro), is a young woman discovering what is perhaps her first major love.

Unfortunately that love is for a hot-looking young man (Jérémie Laheurte, above, center) who is a member of a small but somewhat smart criminal group. Meanwhile mom (Pascalle Arbillot, below, right) and stepdad (the fine and funny Patrick Chesnais, below, left) are having their own problems -- physical and monetary -- which eventually spills over to the rest of the family.

By the time August arrives, and the two girls get to Normandy and their very hands-on father (Thierry Godard, below, whom you may recognize from his roles in French TV's police/justice series Spiral and the WWII occupation tale, A French Village), events have taken quite a turn.

How all this resolves is handled with such intelligence and delicacy, avoiding melodrama while offering up a most interesting brand of conflict-resolution that I suspect you will be both charmed and warmed by the insight and kindness on hand.

Along the way, you'll get a very special scene of a girl's first menstrual cycle, a criminal henchman with surprising sense of morality to offset his aroused sexuality, a jewel heist, a teen pool party and lots more -- each of which stands the typical cliché on its head.

If this is not a great film (and I don't think it is), it is still such a very good one that it makes a must-see addition to anyone's list of films about family dynamics. Quiet, smart, funny, believable and full of a sincerity that is never naive, it will, I'm pretty certain, make my extended list of "best movies" come year's end.

Arriving on DVD last week via First Run Features (which most often deals in documentaries but in its choice of narrative films, offers almost consistently some little-known but very worthwhile gems), The Summer of All My Parents, in French with English subtitles and running a just-right 97 minutes, is available now -- for rental, purchase (and probably before too long) streaming.

Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig enliven Craig Johnson's dram-com THE SKELETON TWINS

Suicide (the attempt, at least) has long been a good hook for a black comedy. It clearly remains so, what with today's theatrical debut of THE SKELETON TWINS -- a new dramatic comedy (or maybe comedic drama) from Craig Johnson, shown below, its director and co-writer (with Mark Heyman). What makes the movie work best is its screenplay (which won an award at Sundance), together with dialog that keeps us interested in and rooting for that titular brother and sister for whom life has been, up till now, something less than terrific. That screenplay is full of well-observed characters -- the twins and just about everyone else we meet here -- who bring the film to fine life.

Bro and sis are played by SNL alumnae Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig, and both are just about as good as you could wish. While the characters may vie for pride of place, the actors -- smartly -- never do. They play off each other beautifully like the remarkable pros they are, and keep us alternately laughing and wincing at the reality of where depression and poor parenting too often leaves us. Hader and Wiig (shown above and below) are innately comic performers; their ability to make us grin or often full-out laugh, despite the dark happenings here, goes a long way in making this movie so much fun.

The Skeleton Twins opens with one twin contemplating suicide (the pills are in her hand) even as the other has already begun his task. The plot, once the film is in motion, proves nearly negligible, having to do with the pair's bonding after a decade of estrangement. This is OK, however, because the fun and the meaning here are to be found in the details. And, as screenwriters, Heyman and Johnson are nothing if not detail-oriented.

This shows up in the subsidiary characters they have created -- from the Wiig character's husband (another knock-out performance from Luke Wilson, who makes the combination of adorable, sweet and just a tad slow look like the sexiest thing in the world) to the "older man" who clearly was/is the Hader character's first and greatest love (Ty Burrell -- below, right -- doing a combination of closeted and horny that should ring bells with many would-be "straight" men).

The filmmakers dole out exposition cleverly and believably so that we come to know past history well enough to better understand the twins. Further, the events that lead to the finale are not nearly as melodramatic as they might be in other hands. If, instead of the usual last-minute race to the airport, we get one instead to the scuba-diving center, never mind.

Loose ends are not so much tied up as left gently hanging. Yet a door has been opened, and it appears that some kind of entry is possible. Considering what has happened to our twins up till now, this must be construed as something of a happy ending -- if not an all-out feel-good humdinger.

The Skeleton Twins -- a joint release of Lionsgate/Roadside Attractions and running 93 minutes -- opened today, Friday, September 12, in New York City (at the AMC Loews Lincoln Square, Angelika, and City Cinemas 123) and in Los Angeles (at Arclight theaters in Hollywood, Pasadena and Sherman Oaks, and at The Landmark). Elsewhere, too. Click here and then install your own zip code and see what happens....