Oscar-winner Juan José Campanella returns with a new must-see, THE WEASELS' TALE

Delightful, dirty, old-fashion fun is given a few up-to-date twists in a movie that has -- particularly in these Covid-riven times -- just about everything necessary to pack in audiences. (Even if they are packed only into their own living room, viewing -- we hope -- via a nice, big wide-screen TV.) THE WEASELS' TALE (El Cuento de las Comadrejas) arrives via Juan José Campanella, the Argentine writer/director who gave us the 2010 deserved winner for Best Foreign Language Film, The Secret in Their Eyes (the original, not that crappy American remake from 2015).

Senor Campanella (shown at right) and his co-writer Darren Kloomok have created a smart and relatively fast-moving (given the film's 128-minute running time) romp involving just about everything: comedy, wit, mystery, thrills, surprises, movies-about moviemaking, the evils of Capitalism run amok, and especially the setting up of the older generation against the younger -- which of course will bring in seniors by the thousands. 

That Campanella does decent justice by and to all of these genres and themes makes it easy to simply sit back and relish the fun. The Weasels' Tale may not be a great film, but it certainly is grand entertainment.

The filmmakers put us immediately into the home of some elderly, retired folk from the Argentine movie industry: one of those rare Oscar-winning Best Actresses in a foreign-language film (Graciela Borges, above and below); her has-been, barely-was actor husband (Luis Brandoni, below, right), along with the film director (Oscar Martínez, below, second from left) and screenwriter (Marcos Mundstock, center, right) both of whom were responsible for many of the actress' hit movies back in the day.

From the first lengthy scene we learn that this quartet has been living in a kind of love/hate relationship in which the three men bond against the grand dame, and everyone is relatively miserable-yet-content. "Look at how happy we are,"gloats the self-satisfied film director, and the other men agree. "There are no villains in this piece." Just then, of course, a car pulls into the driveway of their home and out step an attractive young man (Nicolás Francella, above, second from right, and below, left) and woman (Clara Lago, above, left) who've seemingly gotten lost in the countryside but immediately recognize the old actress and prove to be among her most ardent fans. Yes, we're off to the races.

How Campanella wittily and charmingly compares movies to life and Argentina's greedy present to her dictatorial past, together with how these six fine actors brings their very interesting, even complex characters to life, makes The Weasels' Tale a consistent delight. Events grow darker, betrayals abound, and were it not for the terrifically stable tone of humor the filmmakers sustain throughout, things might tumble off track.

They never do. The movie proves consistently amusing, even pertinent. (TrustMovies would not be surprised if this became the highest-grossing foreign-language film for the coming year.) And our heroine -- the real one -- even gets that death scene that's so far eluded her over a long career. 

From Outsider Pictures, the film begins its theatrical and virtual cinema premiere this coming Friday, December 11 at over two dozen theaters across the USA and Canada. Click here for more information and to view the theaters at which, or virtually, the movie will screen.

Piotr J. Lewandowski's JONATHAN proves a not-so-hot "family secrets" melodrama

If you enjoy melodramatic movies in which long buried family secrets come to the fore, then JONATHAN -- the new (and first-full-length) German film from Polish-born director Piotr J. Lewandowski -- may be just your cup of tsuris. Most adult filmgoers who've been around the block once or twice will be far ahead of both the title character and the film he occupies in terms of figuring out exactly what's going on here. Heavy-handed does not begin to describe the movie's style.

Cancer, chemo-therapy, and "I can't go on!" are all present and accounted for, as is a budding "first love," and Lewandowski, shown at left, packs them all in with a vengeance. Unfortunately, the title character is something of a major twat, although the actor who plays him (Jannis Niewöhner, shown above and below) is hunky enough to keep us watching and would probably seem a perfectly good actor when seen in less turgid material.

Jonathan behaves so poorly throughout that his redemption at the finale seems both stupid and unearned. Granted, the filmmaker enjoys piling it on, and if you happen to be a sucker for that sort of thing, Jonathan is definitely made for you.

Early there's a shot of a spider and fly, and we see spiders again off and on throughout, along with moths attracted to (if not the flame) the bright light. Lest you imagine some symbolism here, as did I, after a time it seems that the filmmaker is instead merely giving us a closer look at "the natural world." The movie, set in the lush countryside of a farming community where Jonathan, his father and aunt all labor, is certainly easy on the eyes, foliage-wise.

Dad (André Hennicke, above, left) has terminal cancer, however, and though his son takes care of him, communication does not seem to have been one of their more valued endeavors. "Tell me about mama," Jon queries his dad at one point, following this with, "I don't know anything about her." Hello: You're asking this now?

The less said about the film's utterly schlocky finale -- with light pouring from the heavens yet! --  the better. Enough to know that every scene goes on perhaps twice as long as it needs to make its point. Still, Thomas Sarbacher, below, makes a very impressive old friend of dad, while Julia Koschitz, above, proves a pretty, sprightly caretaker-cum-lady love. The rest of the cast is as fine as the material allows.

Running a seemingly forever 99 minutes, the movie -- in German with English subtitles -- will be released this Tuesday, February 7th, in the U.S. and Canada on DVD and VOD via Wolfe Video -- for purchase/rental.  

Noah Baumbach's WHILE WE'RE YOUNG: Brooklyn's hipsters and oldsters mix it up

The generation gap looms over Noah Baumbach's new film, WHILE WE'RE YOUNG, and this provides an opportunity for quite a few laughs, as well as the chance to look at attitudes -- moral and otherwise -- that would seem to reflect those generations. But, as usual in the work of Mr. Baumbach, there is even more going on. The surface is shiny and bright, underneath is not so, and all of it is intelli-gent and entertaining. His latest film is also his most completely successful since Greenberg and/or The Squid and the Whale. Even if this writer /director's hand is still a tad too heavy at times.

Mr. Baumbach, pictured at right, is generally considered, pace Armond White, to be one of the brightest of our intellectual filmmakers, and so it is again. His film offers a lot of what they used to call "sparkling dialog," even if -- in this case, the sparkle is a little different -- rough and naughty -- from what it might have sounded like when that phrase was first born.

The story here is of  two couples -- one in its 40s, the other in its 20s -- and how they meet and become close in present-day Brooklyn. Their connection is the documentary format: the older man is a filmmaker; the younger one wants to be. The wives (or "significant other" for the younger) are, as is so often the case, more accessories than anything else.

Within this set-up and follow-through, we learn a lot about who these people really are and why. We also explore documentary filmmaking (the older wife's dad is a leading exponent of this form -- think Wiseman or the late Mr. Maysles -- and he is played quietly and magnificently by Charles Grodin (above, right).

The older couple are brought fine life by Naomi Watts (above, right) and Ben Stiller (above and further above, left), both of whom shine in their roles -- she by once again demonstrating that there is little she cannot do regarding character change as an actress, while still looking as lovely and appealing as ever; he by using his gift for uncertainty, repressed anger and a kind of all-over sorrow that combine into something quite funny.

The younger couple is played by the ubiquitous and versatile Adam Driver (above, left) and a somewhat wasted Amanda Seyfried (above, right: either the filmmaker did not warm to the actress, or he simply didn't know how best to create an interesting character for her). Though the elder couple has its own share of "entitlement" going, it is definitely the younger pair that brings this idea to new -- and ironically low -- heights.

Rather than spoil the one terrific plot twist, TrustMovies will just say that this "event" opens up the film to all sorts of interesting ideas on the documentary form: what it means, how it works and what it should do or not do. And especially what, where and how "truth" figures into things. It also allows for one of those dearly loved last-minute arrival scenes favored by filmmakers of the thriller and rom-com varieties, of which While We're Young is neither, though it steals from both now and again. I just wish that, in driving home his points about what constitutes truth and good filmmaking, he'd held back a bit more with the sledge-hammer.

While also tackling the idea of "forced parenting" (below) and fear-of-nepotism, Baumbach has a couple of endings to his film, too. I'd prefer that he'd used only the first of these -- which has a magnificent "last line" and would have been near-perfect.  Instead, he continues past this and into the more feel-good realm, supplying us with another joke or two, visual and verbal, which are, I must admit, fun. As is most of this movie.

The film -- from A24 and running 97 smart minutes -- opens this Friday, March 27, in New York City at the AMC Loews Lincoln Square 13, and the Regal Union Square Stadium 14 and in the Los Angeles area at The Landmark and the Arclight Hollywood.

Bridging the gaps (generational & technological) -- Livia De Paolis' first full-lengther, EMOTICON;)

Just because of the themes that her new movie deals with, TrustMovies is inclined to give newcomer (to me, at least) Livia De Paolis a pass for delivering a decent film about bridging both the generation gap and the technology gap. That first gap, spanning the generations, is ever with us; the second -- which the fear of and/or disinterest in prevents many older adults from learning what they need in order to make use of the Internet -- is new to this millennium. Both are worth dealing with, but doing so in a single 80-minute movie such as EMOTICON;) is quite a bit to bite off.

That Ms De Paolis can't handle it all in a completely professional manner is not surprising; that she manages as well as she does (she's the lead actress, writer, director and producer) in this, her first-full-length film, is nothing to sneeze at. What comes through most strongly is the filmmaker's sincerity, and if this sounds somehow paltry, it, too, is nothing to be sneezed at. This sincerity is found in everything from the various performances to the writing, which, if it sometimes lacks polish and panache, makes up for this via the reality Ms De Paolis brings to the events and dialog.

The generations here actually number three: There is Walter (Michael Christopher, above, left), the 60-plus fellow that our 30-something heroine, Elena (Ms De Paolis) is dating.

Then we have Walter's two teenage kids (both adopted): Amanda (Diane Guerrero), above, right) and Luke (Miles Chandler, below, right), and their various friends.

There's Walter's ex-wife and the kids' mom (Christine Ebersole) and Elena's professor (a giddy but wonderfully stable Carol Kane, below), who is advising Elena on this Internet Communications project she's trying to work through.

The kids and Elena get off to a bad start but soon are actually helping each with their romantic problems -- some of which are solved, while others cannot be. De Paolis understands that life is more complicated than we'd prefer, and she allows those complications to surface and take their toll.

There's a trip to Mexico, bonding, a physical condition that proves a game-changer -- and the results of all of this, which, again, are as negative as they are positive. You might want smoother elisions now and then -- the movie keeps stopping and starting -- but that will probably come for De Paolis with time and more experience. Meanwhile, the filmmaker has given us a mostly intelligent, thoughtful and entertaining start, regarding a subject -- adapting our lives around the Internet -- that we've only begun to try to figure out.

Emoticon;) -- from Indican Pictures -- opens today, Friday, May 30, at the Cinema Village in New York City. Elsewhere? I'm checking now and will post the information here, once I've corroborated it.