DVDebut: Taron Lexton's IN SEARCH OF FELLINI proves (very) light on the Fellini

Can a movie get by almost exclusively on charm and visual beauty at the expense of any kind believable story line? Prior to seeing IN SEARCH OF FELLINI, the first full-length film from South  African-born Taron Lexton (below), I would have thought this pretty doubtful, but after viewing his said-to-be-based-"mostly"-on-a-true-tale movie, I've got to admit the film works well enough to garner an OK rating.  As gloriously shot by Kevin Garrison in Verona, Milan, Rome and Venice, Italy (oh, yeah -- and in Ohio, too), the cinematography is often so breathtakingly beautiful that you'll be swept away long enough to forget, or maybe just ignore, the rather saccharine and unbelievable tale told here.

As written by Nancy Cartwright and Peter Kjenaas, that story is one of a young girl (played in adulthood by the very lovely Ksenia Solo, below), so pampered and secluded from real life by her mother (Maria Bello, shown at bottom, right) that the poor thing is completely unsuited for autonomous adulthood. So what does she do? She leaves her dying mother to head for Italy all by her lonesome and there to somehow meet her new hero, famed filmmaker Federico Fellini, whose movies she has suddenly discovered via a Fellini festival in her home town. (The film takes place a couple of decades back, as Fellini died in 1993.)

Too dumb to get to Rome where the filmmaker resides, she ends up in Verona, then Venice, before finally arriving at her real destination. But that's all to the good because, along the way, she and we get to view a raft of fabulous locations and also meet and fall in love with what must be the sweetest and most handsome straight male in all of Italy (Enrico Oetiker, below, with Ms Solo).

But onward she must go toward Signore Fellini, and so she also almost gets raped-while-being-filmed by a nasty hunk named (against type) Placido. Not to worry, despite its R rating, this is a feel-good movie par excellence, so when our heroine finally does encounter her hero, it is in perhaps via the most gorgeously lit and filmed restaurant scene in movie history -- with no dialog yet, so that we can instead imagine what is being shared by the two.

Yes, indeed, this is all so silly that it would defy belief -- were it not so lovely to look at. All the leads are super-attractive, and Italy, well, come on: You know how visually enchanting that country can be. So I would suggest placing you brain on hold for the film's 103 minutes and just giving yourself over to its many visual pleasures.

Inter-cut into the film are many moments from the real Fellini catalog. And while Mr. Lexton's work apes the master's, he has filmed his movie with mostly gorgeous actors, while Fellini preferred much more bizarre-looking casts. Both filmmakers give us fantasy based on reality. The master created his films from someplace deep and humane, while Lexton, whose view may be prettier, offers up what might best be called Fellini-light.

From Spotted Cow Entertainment and running 103 minutes, the movie -- after hitting VOD and digital outlets last month -- reaches DVD this coming Tuesday, January 23.

Gourmet food, luscious locations and Diane Lane in Eleanor Coppola's PARIS CAN WAIT

If you're a sucker for movies that offer reams of food-and-travel porn or a fan of that intelligent and beautiful actress Diane Lane (on poster, left), then PARIS CAN WAIT, the new film by Eleanor Coppola (her first full-length narrative work, and yes, she's the wife of a certain Francis Ford), will most likely be your cup of (lukewarm) tea. The movie, set in the French countryside, is often gorgeous to view, the many meals look succulent indeed, and Ms Lane comes through like the trouper she has long proven to be.

Ms Coppola (shown at right), who both wrote and directed this trifle of a movie, sets her heroine, Anne, up with a hubby -- the under-used Alec Baldwin (below, left), who mostly ignores her, her career and her interests to focus on his own -- and that hubby's business associate, Jacques, played by Arnaud Viard, who promises to deliver Anne via automobile to the couple's digs in Paris. But Jacques has his own agenda, which involves stopping at every important tourist site, fabulous inn and swank hotel along the way, dining and drinking like there was no tomorrow, and, yes, allowing a certain "attraction" to bloom.

Bloom, it does, and before you can say, "Where have I seen this movie, maybe 20 times before, but usually done with a lot more subtlety?", 92 pleasant, pretty minutes have past and the film has finished. M. Viard, below, whose career so far has been in French film and TV that has not, for the most part, reached our shores, makes a perfectly appropriate tour guide and would-be lover. I do wish the distributor has seen fit to grace our critic's screening link with English subtitles, however, because TrustMovies missed about one-third of Viard's very heavily-accented English dialog.

Ms Lane, as ever, is the consummate actress. Beautiful enough to consistently hold our gaze, she also brings whip-smart intelligence and nicely buried feeling to so many of the moments here that she almost convinces us that any of this really matters.

Ms Coppola has constructed her tale in a fashion that is not remotely believable (if the goal were actually getting to Paris and not making a movie about travel and food), but she has written her screenplay/dialog with a bit of occasional zing and then directed the proceedings well enough to keep us watching.

How you will react to the last-minute breaking of the fourth wall so that Ms Lane can let us know that all this has just been playful naughtiness will depend, I think, on your tolerance for the cutesy. Bon appétit!

From Sony Pictures Classics, after opening two weeks ago in New York and Los Angeles, and elsewhere the following week, Paris Can Wait hits South Florida this Friday, May 26, in Miami at the CMX Brickell City Center and the Tower Theater. Click here and then click on GET TICKETS to view all currently scheduled playdates, cities and theaters around the country.

A genuine art film arrives in town: Jem Cohen's visual treat, COUNTING, keeps your eyes glued

TrustMovies took more notes on the new film, COUNTING, than on any movie he's watched in long while. This meant pressing "pause" far too often and/or going back to view what he'd missed. This is indeed an "art film," which will mean that at least half of my audience will probably stop reading right now. But there's no other way to put it. Counting, demanding but rewarding, doesn't compare to much else--maybe anything--I've seen, and you have to be willing to take a chance and simply go with the movie-maker's flow. Yet after Cohen's Museum Hours, most folk who saw that quietly spellbinding film will most likely want to take the chance. (Museum Hours seems practically a mainstream movie next to this new one.

Perhaps the best way to approach Jem Cohen's movie (the filmmaker is shown at left) is to think of it as if you're about to look through someone's scrapbook of photos -- in this case mostly moving images. But, no, it's not your Aunt Millie's favorite shots; this is the work of a born photog-rapher. Even his shots of the most mundane activi-ties are elegantly composed.

Divided into 15 chapters of various lengths (I think the lengthiest is the first -- fifteen minutes shot in New York City from 2012 through 2014 -- the film lasts 112 minutes. This is long for a documentary, particularly one without any real narrative drive. And yet, I would not have given up a single one of the fifteen segments during which we travel from the U.S. to Russia to Turkey and back again (most of the time is divided between the USA and Russia).

Along the way we get small doses of politics (very low-key: blink or pay less attention and you may miss these), culture, cats and dogs, some music and a lot of interesting ambient sound. There is very occasional voice-over narration (again, political) but almost no talking, except suddenly, when things take a personal turn as a close relative grows ill. The chapters are numbered and maybe half of these have a somewhat descriptive title. And at the end, there's a wonderful quotation via the late Chris Marker.

What there is mostly is terrific photography, which is a nonstop pleasure to view. The way Cohen looks at things is quite his own -- whether it's a nearly full plastic container of tea left at a Russian curbside, the faces of animals, reflections in a Manhattan window, shafts of light dancing in the frame (this amazing shot puts to shame the million-dollar special effects which which our movies are currently inundated), a decaying building shown against more modern versions, a lovely meal prepared in less-than-ideal circumstances, and one singular image of the reflection of another building caught in a street puddle, the beauty and surprise of which took my breath away.

There is so much here for photography aficionados, but is the film enough of a meal for mere movie buffs? I don't know. It certainly was for me. Coming out of it, I felt as if I knew Mr. Cohen -- along with his views and concerns -- quite a bit better. Maybe, after seeing it, you will, too. I do know that the Muslim call to prayer has never seemed richer or stranger than what is seen and heard here.

From Cinema Guild and running 112 minutes, Counting, after its Brooklyn debut at the BAM Cinemafest, opens theatrically today in New York at the IFC Center.  Other dates and cities? Maybe, once Cinema Guild gets a bit more on the ball and updates its website, we'll find out.

A sequel full of food, fun, scenery & impressions: Michael Winterbottom's THE TRIP TO ITALY

If you loved (or hated or fell anywhere in between) Michael Winterbottom's earlier The Trip, his new lark, THE TRIP TO ITALY should keep you pretty much in that same frame of mind. If anything, this one's even a bit easier to enjoy because the scenery is a lot better -- not to mention the hotels and food (if only we could taste it!). The earlier movie had our enterprising duo Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon playing themselves and touring Britain's finest restaurants. This new film does the same -- but in Italy. 'Nuff said?

Yes, we get the same constant wordplay, humor, impersonations and competitiveness that Coogan and Brydon (above, right and left, respectively) produce when they rub up against each other. Though, this time, all of it is tempered with some other interesting stuff: family (some of whom join the pair en route), and -- gosh, can it really be so? -- a little empathy from the guys  toward each other.

Filmmaker Winter-bottom, shown at left, is master of versatility. He rarely does the same thing twice. Perhaps, due to the surprise success of The (first) Trip, he's repeating himself for once. And we can be grateful for it. This fellow, who more often than not dabbles in very dark places -- from his first film, Butterfly Kiss, onwards through I Want You, Wonderland, The Claim, The Road to Guantanamo, The Killer Inside Me and Trishna -- might also have been delighted to tackle some out-and-out comedy again.

For their part Coogan and Brydon are as delightful as ever, whether giving us more of their Michael Caine interpretations, or Pacino or De Niro and on and on. Or finally, bonding a bit with wife or offspring and trying provide some husbandly/fatherly advice and/or affection.

Movies like this tend to be rather short. Interestingly, Winterbottom and his boys see to it that the humor and interest don't flag for the entire 108-minute running time (the initial Trip lasted 107). Well, that gorgeous scenery does change, as do the cities, hotels and food.  As someone once demanded, "What's not to like?"

The Trip to Italy, from IFC Films, opens this Friday, August 15, in New York City at the IFC Center and the Lincoln Plaza Cinema; it is said to be opening in Los Angeles this coming Friday, as well, but I have not been able to determine at which theaters.  (The following Fridays, Aug 22 and 29, it will open at various Laemmle theaters around the L.A. area.)

Everything you could ask for in a film: Margherita Buy in Maria Sole Tognazzi's A FIVE-STAR LIFE

When I first saw this little gem of a movie -- last year at the FSLC's Open Roads -- I found it a very enjoyable crowd-pleaser. (My review from 2013 is here.) Its original Italian title is Viaggio sola, which translates, I believe to I Travel Alone -- a perfectly fine moniker for this unusual film that walks a near-perfect line between main-stream entertainment and movie art. That title has now been changed to A FIVE-STAR LIFE, and while, initially, I felt the change unnecessary, seeing the film a second time makes me realize how smart a move this is.

The director/co-writer, Maria Sole Tognazzi (shown below), has here fashioned a tale of a woman, Irene -- played by the fine Italian actress, Margherita Buy (above), who won the Donatello award (think of it as the Italian "Oscar") for her excellent work -- whose job it is to play the "mystery guest" at five-star hotels around the world, staying in each as would normal guest, but rating that hotel for everything from its staff to its food to its cleanliness and more.

In addition to the sheer pleasure of seeing these luminous hotels (and almost feeling we're experiencing them ourselves), we get to know quite intimately Irene herself, and her relationships with family and one particular friend, played by the fine actor Steffano Accorsi (shown below), and even with some of the hotel guests whom she meets in her travels. There's one pair of newlyweds whom Irene takes under her wing when the hotel itself drops the ball, another very attractive older man with an eye for our gal,

and finally a wonderfully in-your-face anthropologist and lecturer played by Lesley Manville (below, left), the connection with whom jolts Irene into reassessing her life and relationships and what she might really be seeking. All of this is woven quite beautifully and naturally into the screenplay. There is no undue exposition; we learn as we move along.

So keenly aware are Tognazzi and her co-writers, the wonderful Ivan Cotroneo, and Francesca Marciano, of the little things that make up character, that virtually every character in the film, small or large, rings truthful and fascinating, which means that we never for an instant lose interest in the movie and its rather large cast.

In that cast are Irene's family: a sister, brother-in-law (lovely performances from Fabrizia Sacchi and GianMarcoTognazzi, shown respectively, left and right, above) and two nieces (shown below). They have their own problems, too, which we come to understand, appreciate and even enjoy.

Despite the Italian title, we are traveling with Irene every step of the journey, seeing things through her eyes and grappling with them via her mind and heart. It's rare for a movie to place us this close to its heroine, and what a joy it is to be there. Ms Buy, always a wonder to watch, may have outdone herself here. If you've not seen her work previously, this is a fine place to start.

A Five-Star Life -- from Music Box Films and running a sleek 85 minutes -- is one of the best films to open theatrically so far this year. It knows what it wants to accomplish and does exactly that -- in one of those rare cases of "reach" and "grasp" coordinating perfectly.

In New York City, look for the film at The Paris Theater, and in the weeks to come will open in cities across the country. Click here, then click on THEATERS to view all currently scheduled playdates, cities & theaters.

Mumblecore for (and with) seniors: Aaron Katz and Martha Stephens' LAND HO! hits theaters

In the elevator descending from the Sony building, just after one of the critics' screenings for LAND HO!, I glanced over at the young woman who was looking about as glum as I was feeling. "The thing about movies starring senior citizens," I suggested to her, "is that those seniors probably should have supporting, rather than leading, roles."  A smile came to her face, and she agreed -- at least about the film we had just seen. In a movie such as Philomena, Judi Dench easily commands the screen, as did the ensemble casts from feel-good schlock like RED and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.

In the new film from mumblecore duo Aaron Katz (shown at left, whose Quiet City is my favorite of all the mumblecore movies I've seen) and Martha Stephens (shown below, who gave us the lovely Passenger Pigeons, a few years back), the two old men -- one, the other or both of whom are on-screen for the entire 95 minutes -- don't quite have the personalities to keep us en rapt. They're a little bit charming but a little

bit drab. Nor have Mr. Katz and Ms Stephens given them all that much interesting to say or to do.

Initially, it seems that the movie might take off, as it surprises us via a beginning that looks and sounds clever, professional, and even rather mainstream/ commercial. We meet our two protagonist brothers-in-law: Mitch (played by Earl Lynn Nelson, below, right) a elderly, overweight and overwrought (but still practicing) doctor, and the retired and considerably slighter and quieter Colin (played by Paul Eenhoorn, below, left).

These two are in some ways like oil and water, but there's a bond between them, made up perhaps of past history (they were married to two sisters, one of whom is now divorced and the other dead) that keeps them barely on track. Mitch has, without consulting Colin, purchased a pair of tickets for a trip to and tour of Iceland. Colin is clearly less well-off than Mitch and so is soon persuaded to tag along.

In Iceland they connect, coincidentally, with some younger female relatives of Mitch, of which little comes. And they have other small adventures, the very recapping of which is beginning to put me to sleep as I type this. They talk and spat and go places and do things of little consequence, and finally they connect with an attractive middle-aged women from Canada, to whom Colin is attracted and she to him. And that's it.

Some critics are over the moon about this little movie, but I had to pinch myself a few times to stay awake. The performances are as good as they can be, given the material, which is believable enough, but rather paltry. The same can be said for the characters of the two old men. I think we could learn a whole lot more about them than we do here.

I don't mean to imply that Land Ho! is a dead loss. There are funny bits scattered throughout. The two leads are pleasant enough, though Mr. Nelson wears out most of his welcome early on. There is little drive or propulsion to the movie, and though it is as "real" as you could want, it sometimes comes close to being as boring as hell.

The actress Alice Olivia Clarke (above) adds some much-needed oomph as that Canadian vacationer toward the end of the film. After awhile, though, watching the movie is like being made to sit through some very lengthy footage of someone else's vacation.

Land Ho! opens tomorrow, Friday, July 11, in Los Angeles at Laemmle's Royal, and in New York City at the Angelika Film Center and the Lincoln Plaza Cinema. In the weeks to follow, it will open all across the country. Click here then scroll down to see currently scheduled playdates, with cities and theaters.

Co-writer-director Aaron Katz will be at the Royal in 

Los Angeles this weekend to participate in Q&A’s after 

the 7:40 PM screenings on Friday and Sunday, July 11 and 13.

Experience the third world more fully than usual; Sylvia Caminer's TANZANIA: A JOURNEY WITHIN

Stick with TANZANIA: A JOURNEY WITHIN. I say this because you may be tempted, as was I, to imagine that you've stumbled into watching yet another documentary about a first-world twit hoping to discover her or himself by visiting a third-world country. Though the movie does begin with an indication of something serious -- our heroine looks mighty sick and is headed for the hospital -- it immediately flashes back to a much earlier time, as college students Kristen Kenney and Venance Ndibalema (hereafter to be called Kris and Ven) explain why they will soon be traveling to Ven's home country of Tanzania. And then they are there, and before you can say "Don't do that," Kris is out in the streets of Dar es Salaam -- blond braids flowing, heavy-duty eye make-up in place -- dancing in front of the natives and generally making a spectacle of herself. Gheesh.

Soon after Kris uses the word "primitive" to describe the culture, to which Ven takes understandable offense. Very slowly, and probably intentionally on the part of the film's director, Sylvia Caminer (shown below), the movie, along with these two characters, begins to deepen. Soon we meet Ven's mentor, the woman who encouraged him to try to get to the United States, and then little by little, we learn of this young man's history, his family and what happened to them. Previous to this, however, we climb, along with our friends and their guides, that famous snowy mountain, Kilimanjaro, and once again, poor Kris seems hugely out of place. She wonders -- and we do, too -- whether she will survive this climb.

Then it's off to the Serengeti, where we see some wildlife, and Kris gets ecstatic and begins to sound like whatever passes for today's Valley Girl: "Shut up -- there's a giraffe!"  Kris seems to repre-sent, more than anything else, that unique need among American youth, female variety especially, to be happy and chipper at all times -- no matter how many teeth are set on edge in the process. She explains things that we don't need to know: A propos female lions protecting their kill, "It would be the same thing in my family, if someone was coming to steal our food." Well, OK.

So thank god for Ven, who turns out to be not only Kris' savior but the film's. He tells us how his mother taught him to use a knife and fork -- in a country where everyone uses his/her right hand to eat -- and we begin to see how the young man was set on the course he has followed.

The pair travels to a outlying village were we meet Ven's grandmother (above: his mother is dead, and the story of how and why adds immensely to the movie's pull).

Around the halfway point, Kris' make-up seems to lighten a good deal and then disappears all together. She, too, begins to win us over via what looks like some genuine growth and change. In the village, we spend time with the women and learn their place here. They do the work -- all of it, it seems -- and are rewarded for their trouble with the AIDS virus, which they get from their lazy, errant men.

We see HIV experienced here in a very new and disquieting way, as shown in the situation of a child suspected of having the disease (both her parents died of it) and so is shunned through-out the community. "Death is the last wedding," as one tribal saying goes. Finally Kris herself undergoes an affecting break-down as she realizes in a more profound way the enormous differ-ences between this culture and her own.

One young woman in the village, in particular (she's shown above, with Kris), wants desperately to be able to leave it and become a teacher. How difficult this turns out to be we eventually learn.

We search for the grave of Ven's mother; when we find it, the movie comes upon genuine grief, which is powerful stuff. Little wonder Kris finally admits, "I was soulless before this trip. Everything in my life was material. This is the real world." It certainly is for those who must live here.

By the time the credits roll, you'll probably want to order one of the bracelets that are mentioned in those credits, along with the charity that's been set up and that hopes to eventually stamp out malaria in the region (www.malaikaforlife.org).

Meanwhile Tanzania: A Journey Within, running 102 minutes, opens this Friday, April 25, in New York City at the Quad Cinema and on May 2 in Los Angeles at Laemmle's Noho 7.  To see other playdates for the film, click here.