Maïwenn's MY KING explores amour fou from a female viewpoint -- less crazy, more loving

The movies of French film-maker Maïwenn keep getting better and stronger. From Pardonnez-moi through All About Actresses to Polisse and now MY KING (Mon roi), she seems to have become more disciplined as she has grown more mature. Her films have always been fun -- their overwrought moments often their most enjoyable -- but in her latest she tackles the subject of amour fou with a directness and clarity that is at once sad and bracing.

The filmmaker, shown at left, has cast her two leads actors about as well as you could want. Her leading lady, Emmanuelle Bercot, who won a deserved Best Actress award at this past year's Cannes fest, is herself a fine film director (Standing Tall, On My Way, Student Services, Backstage), while her leading man, Vincent Cassel (below), always sexy and charismatic, simply tops himself here. He's phenomenal: glowing, growing, then exploding with energy and charm beyond measure. Our king, indeed. (He actually played one in another of his recent films, Tales of Tales.)

Maïwenn's film begins with a mother named Tony (short for Marie-Antoinette: royalty is all over the place here) about to ski downhill. The next scene takes us to the office of physical therapist who offers up some holistic-sounding psycho-babble that might send some of us out the door. But mom has had a bad injury, the healing of which will take us right through to the end of the film, as she (and we) think back to earlier days and how she met and stuck with and by the guy who will become the love of her life.

The filmmaker does her back-and-forth between the past and present quite gracefully, so that we're never jarred and easily know where we are. We meet the group of injured young people with whom Tony will rehab, and we also meet the most important people in her circle as she negotiates the trying and tricky years with Georgio (Cassel).

These include her brother, who, regarding the great love of his sister's life, seems the most rational in the bunch -- and as he is played by the usually quite irrational, Louis Garrel (above), you've got to credit Maïwenn's ability to bring out surprising new layers in her actors.

What makes My King succeed especially well is that the entire viewpoint and attitude are coming to us via the character of Tony -- who is, given all that she's going through, pretty rational herself. (She is certainly more so than Georgio.) We understand her and root for her, even when her decisions are the wrong ones.

For his part Cassel simply makes his character everything Tony wants -- and more (and finally less), with such sex appeal, charm and often great good humor that there is no question why these two keep trying to make it work. Even when Georgio cannot let go of an old model-gorgeous but unhealthily-clinging girlfriend (Chrystèle Saint Louis Augustin, below, right) who seems constantly in need of his help, Tony tries to look the other way.

How things resolve themselves -- and they do -- proves bittersweet and quite real, leaving us feeling the same caring for both these characters as we've felt all along, watching them change and grow, try and fail, and now maybe even succeed. But in a different configuration.

Thanks to the director, the writers (Maïwenn and Etienne Comar) and the performers, the movie works on all kinds of levels. It will stand the test of time, I suspect, as a simultaneous love story and cautionary tale, a character study, and a look at the way the French well-to-do lived and behaved at a certain point in human history. (Were the film to have dealt with the working class or the poor, I doubt it would have been made.)

From Film Movement and running a long but never boring 124 minutes, My King opens this Friday, August 12, in New York City at the Lincoln Plaza Cinema and in Los Angeles on Friday, August 26, at Laemmle's Royal. Here in South Florida it opens in Miami at the Tower Theater, also on August 26, and in Boca Raton at the Living Room Theaters on Friday, September 9. Elsewhere? Absolutely. Click here and scroll down to see currently scheduled playdates, arranged alphabetically by state.

MAGGIE'S PLAN: Greta Gerwig scores again in Rebecca Miller's droll rom-com about control

How good, how special is Greta Gerwig? Good enough, it would seem, to be able to do no wrong on screen. Even in underwhelming movies, she shines, and though she usually looks pretty much the same, that face and body hide quite a versatile-in-her-own-way actress.

In Rebecca Miller's newest film about the female (Miller also made the excellent Robin Wright movie The Private Lives of Pippa Lee), Gerwig gets another loaded role that she brings to life with compelling intelligence and ease.

Gerwig's secret, TrustMovies suspects, is that the actress always makes it appear that she has just sort of stumbled into a movie about her very own life. (Yes, she's that real.) In MAGGIE'S PLAN, she plays a young-but-getting-worrisomely-older woman who, given her record of bad romances up till now, decides to inseminate herself with the right male's semen, have her baby, and raise it on her own. Yes: Good luck with that.

Filmmaker Miller, shown at right, has made a very interesting movie that is mainly about control. Obviously, Maggie, via her plan, is intent on controlling her own life, But to do this, she must control to a large extent the lives of the folk around her. Of course, as is usual in life, those adjacent people want to control their own lives, and in fact, they have major control problems, too. Especially adjacent to our Maggie are three other characters: a former schoolmate named Guy (Travis Fimmel), whose sperm she decides on using; a fellow named John (Ethan Hawke), whom she subsequently falls in love with; and Georgette (Julianne Moore, below, sporting a delicious pseudo-Danish accent), John's soon-to-be ex.

All of these characters have their own desires and plans, but our Maggie, in her sweet but determined manner, rides around, above, below and through them. And yet -- especially regarding John (Mr. Hawke is shown below, left) and Georgette -- the way the other characters use their control (or seeming lack of same) proves even more interesting, curling the plot into new twists that tend to resist even the best-laid plans.

The film has been called a modern screwball comedy, but it seem to me something more, less and certainly different from that. Miller, as usual, has her own sense of characters, timing, humor, and all the rest, and as director and adaptor (of a story by Karen Rinaldi) she has grafted her signature sensibility onto this tale. These people are every bit as unsure, if not downright unstable, as any we're likely to meet in modern day movies. They haven't figured out how and when to properly strengthen and/or hold back on that control.

Consequently, some very oddball and pretty funny scenes and moments occur, sometimes involving Maggie's married friends (played by Maya Rudolph and Bill Hader, above) but these may prove too oddball for general audiences, who prefer their rom-coms straight up and with proper closure. By the end of Maggie's Plan, we get but a hint of what might be in the cards (and has actually been there all along).

I found the film a pleasure to watch and listen to, start to finish, and then afterward, to think about a bit. And, yes, it's more for arthouse audiences than mainstream moviegoers. From Sony Pictures Classics, the movie -- running 98 minutes and already playing in theaters across the country -- opens here in South Florida this Friday, June 10, at AMC AVENTURA 24 AVENTURA,   LIVING ROOM THEATERS BOCA RATON,   PALACE 20 BOCA RATON,   SHADOWOOD SQUARE 16 BOCA RATON,   BOYNTON BEACH 14 BOYNTON BEACH,   PARADISE 24 DAVIE,   MOVIES OF DEL RAY DELRAY BEACH,   GATEWAY 4 FT LAUDERDALE,   MOVIES OF LAKE WORTH LAKE WORTH, SOUTH BEACH 18 MIAMI BEACH,  AMC SUNSET PLACE 24 SOUTH MIAMI,   LAST PICTURE SHOW TAMARAC.   Elsewhere? Sure: Just click here, and scroll down to view all the cities and theaters.

Sean Baker's best-yet--the sweet 'n juicy STARLET--hits DVD/Blu-ray/digital venues

All about porn and caring, STARLET makes some surpri-sing connections, both physical and emotional, along the way. This is the third film by Sean Baker that I've seen and covered (Take Out and Prince of Broadway are the other two), and his movies seem to get better and better. In retrospect, you may find yourself thinking of them as documentaries, so well does Baker -- who directs, edits and either writes or co-writes -- create lives that appear utterly real in a milieu that seems equally so. 

But these are narrative films, nonetheless.

Mr. Baker, shown at left, has a good eye and ear, both of which he uses to show us a group of full-bodied characters engaged in making their way in life. He is remarkably non-judgmental, too. This results in films in which you end up rather liking everyone, despite their occasional crass, venal or simply dumb behavior. Baker appears to see the good (at least some good) in everyone -- a rarity these days --  yet his vision is nothing like of a Pollyanna. This, along with his increasing flair for and understanding of the movie-making process, as much as anything else makes his work quite special.

In Starlet, he follows the adventures of a 21-year-old porn actress named Jane (Dree Hemingway, at left and last seen in The Truth About Angels), who looks to have a real future in this sleazy field, if she plays her cards right. Via a yard sale and a large thermos she purchases and plans to use as a vase, Jane makes the acquaintance of Sadie, a curmudgeonly old woman (Besedka Johnson, below, an astrologist-turned-actress, giving her first and, sadly, last film performance). How these two slowly connect, break apart and reconnect provides the meat of the movie, and with the help of his two pretty amazing performers, Baker makes all this register pitch perfect without a false moment.

Ms Hemingway, in particular, proves expert at limning a young woman with remarkably good instincts negotiating her way around everyone from this angry old woman to her porn boss, somewhat sleazy roommates (male, James Ransone, and female, Stella Maeve, below), all kinds of customers at a porn convention -- and even the police. In a more just world, this performance would be winning numerous awards. Maybe Hemingway just makes it look too easy.

Wisely, I think, Baker leaves the porn in the background for quite awhile. From what we initially see, this could almost be any old office situation in which our two girls labor. When, finally, we're confronted with an actual porn shoot (which, by the way, comes pretty close to hard-core action) it is handled so smartly, realistically and un-sensationally by the filmmaker that we simply go right along with it (as do -- whew -- the actors on view). The reason this proves such a smart move is that, by this time, we are so fully involved with and caring about Jane that we can understand and even appreciate her actions here as simply work for hire. In fact, we can maybe even approve of the good job she does.

I can't think of another movie that has achieved quite this. No, not the recent About Cherry, which gave us the business end of porn, or even Boogie Nights, which gave us all sorts of new things. Another reason that Baker's view of the industry proves so special and different is the actor,  Karren Karagulian, above, with Ms Hemingway, who was so good in Prince of Broadway, and adds layers of interest here as the intelligent, business-like, and even (dare we say it) relatively decent man in charge of the business.

The filmmaker keeps his camera up close (below) or distant (above), as necessary, and the results are just right. In a couple of situations, Baker veers near melodrama, but so well does he guide his actors, that the result is never melodramatic. What happens finally, and at any point along the way, is life continuing to unfold, with lessons only begun to be learned and changes maybe partially in place. This -- in our current low-budget, independent film world -- is near-miraculous.

Running 103 minutes from Music Box Films, Starlet (which is the name, by the way, of our heroine's delightful little dog) is available, after its too-short theatrical run, this Tuesday, May 7, on DVD and Blu-ray and via digital formats, too -- for sale or rental.  Extras on the DVD and Blu-ray include audio commentary, The Making of STARLET, interviews with select cast and crew, rehearsal and audition footage (we watched the Besedka Johnson audition: fun!), Behind-the-Scenes, and more.

Brian Pera's WOMAN'S PICTURE: a movie about, of and with the female sensibility

"Get out your hankies. This one's a weepie," commands the poster tagline for WOMAN'S PICTURE, the new film from Tennessee filmmaker Brian Pera. But it certainly was nothing of the kind for us two gay guys who watched the film last night. But that proved OK: the movie's intelligent enough to enjoy hankie-free. A trilogy of tales about woman -- appearing here as ex-man, as mother, and as daughter/
career girl -- the movie is divided into thirds. The first gives us Ingrid, né Eddie, a transgendered lady who has taken the name of her late grandmother; the middle section is devoted to Loretta, a displaced mom whose poor care of her kids resulted in apparent banishment; the third explores Miriam, successful career woman saddled with a Alzheimer mom and a do-nothing boyfriend.

Writer/director Pera (shown at right), who also takes the role of Ingrid's very gay husband and confidant, sees to it that his sections do not overlap, although Miriam-- played by the ever-young and still eminently watchable Ann Magnuson-- has her own little home shopping program on cable, appears throughout the film, and is watched at times by Ingrid and Loretta. Comparisons have been made to both Fassbinder and Sirk in regards to this movie, and while I did not think of either director while watching the film (which does not possess Rainer's energy nor Doug's budget), I can still (sort of) see where the comparisons come from.

How women fit into the world is one of the main themes here, as well as how they behave, vis a vis males. What are their rightful roles, the film would seem to ask us? And while Pera does not answer, he makes us consider all this. Ingrid -- played by Calpernia Addams (above, right), in a performance that is remarkably restrained, cool and near-mysterious -- by changing her sex, has taken away the special mother-son bond from her own mother. No wonder the woman (above, left) still chafes.

Without her children or her role as wife, Loretta no longer has any role. At all. Consequently she's a blank. People come "on" to her -- men, women -- but get no reaction. She has a rich fantasy life, revealed throughout her segment, and especially via one scene toward the finale, but this is hardly a life. As played with great delicacy and finesse by Amy Lavere, this woman is on the brink. But of what?

And Miriam (that's Ms Magnuson, above)? While she would seem to have a wonderful life, the reality is something different. In as good a movie role as she's had for some time, the actress turns this character on her head. Her TV persona is beautifully captured, and as her real life begins to unravel, Magnuson reveals layers of self-doubt, anguish and anger. As her boyfriend Russell (nice job by Paul Provenza) points out, there is all kinds of hypocrisy going on here. The filmmaker does not turn his men into beasts (or even into complete dolts) but allows the differences between the genders to bubble up provocatively.

Perfume also runs through the three stories, and perfume designer Andy Tauer is said to be creating a line of new perfume -- "olfactory portraits" inspired by each character -- but I'll leave this to the more smell-inclined viewers (this is not something akin to John Waters and his scratch-and-sniff Odorama cards). All this smacks of marketing ploys, in any case, which the film really does not need, as it is interesting enough to stand on its own.

The "release" of the movie also appears to be marketing-oriented, with only the Miriam segment of the three currently available to viewers via Video on Demand for $2.99 (or you can purchase the DVD for $10).  Although the film in its entirety has been seen and acclaimed at various festivals, apparently, for now, it will only be exhibited to audiences in sections.

(TrustMovies usually does not post on a movie not available in some form for his readers to see, but this time he misunderstood exactly what was being hawked. As soon as he can locate the link for access of the film, or even its segments, he'll update this post.  Ah-hah: He has just been told that, rather than Monday, November 14, as appeared in the initial press information, the link will be available tomorrow, Tuesday, November 15.  Stand by....

OK, readers: Here's the link. But we've just learned that, due to technical trouble, it will not actually go live until sometime on Friday, November 18.

We also asked the filmmaker about his decision to release the film in sections rather than as its "whole," which was the way it appeared at festivals and on the screener I received. Here's what he had to say:

"Woman's Picture is an ongoing series. And for journalists it might be thought of like a television series, and they get to see the first several episodes, even though the viewer will have to wait a bit to watch them all unfold; that way the journalist can tell them whether the series is worth watching and keeping up with, and waiting for. When a journalist sees the first several episodes or advance screening of a show or a film he doesn't spoil the plot but he's able to give the reader an indication where the series will be going after the first episode or opening moments. He doesn't tell his readers who shot JR. He just lets them know it's worth hanging in to find out. TV stations don’t air all of the series at one time, in one long marathon broadcast."