Mass unemployment, corporate malfeasance, and something extra join forces in Robert Jury's debut film, WORKING MAN

You could hardly ask for a more timely movie -- unless it covered the current Corona crap-fest -- than WORKING MAN, the first feature film from writer/director Robert Jury. It deals with a rust belt community in which one after another major business has shut down, leaving more and more citizens unemployed. When one of these, a past-retirement-age fellow named Allery, feels so lost without his job that he literally but secretly goes back to work in the plant which has already shuttered, he starts a chain of events that soon spirals well beyond his personal control.

Mr. Jury, pictured at left, has certainly cast his movie well. The role of Allery is taken by that fine actor, Peter Gerety, (shown below and recently seen on Netflix in the lovely movie, Change in the Air). If you're imagining that Jury's film deals with corporate mistreatment of workers, you'd be on target. But this fledgling work has a lot more on its mind -- coping with family tragedy, the distancing of husband and wife, why and on whom we place our trust -- and this proves both a strength and something of a major problem. The filmmaker bites off more than he can properly chew, and then relies too much on coincidental storytelling to bring his themes to fruition.

Recognizing medicine in a neighbor's cupboard and having it be the same as what one's troubled offspring used to take proves a little too convenient, plotwise, and even character-wise, as a reason for the too easy and complete change-of-heart on the part of Allery's wife, played well, despite less resources given her, by Talia Shire, below.

The film's most interesting character, however, is that of another laid-off worker and neighbor of Allery, Walter, played by a very impressive actor new to me who's worked mostly on TV and cable, Billy Brown. Though Walter's character is in some ways the most problematic link in Working Man, so interesting, impressive and powerful is Mr. Brown's performance that this actor pretty much carries the film.

Working Man is good enough to make you wish it were better. By its conclusion, you can be forgiven for imagining that the take-away here might be "You can't fight City Hall" (even if, these days, you might not know who the hell the City Hall you are fighting actually is), employment is not as important as healing a failing marriage, and a good peach pie can help a bad bi-polar/borderline personality disorder.

Mr. Jury's direction is just serviceable, but his dialog is generally good. Supporting performances are all excellent, too -- the various worker are both drawn and performed well -- with the standout coming from Patrese McClain as a woman with a connection to Walter.

From Brainstorm Media and running 109 minutes,  the film, which hit VOD yesterday, May 5, is one that, for all its problems, I am still pleased to have viewed. 

Gay, under-age and semi-closeted in Brazil: Alexandre Moratto's moving debut, SOCRATES

In the very first scene of SOCRATES, the fine, full-length debut from Brazilian-American filmmaker, Alexandre Moratto, our hero, the eponymously named Socrates, is suddenly orphaned. Or so we think. Once we meet his abusive -- physically and religious-wise -- father, later in the film, we realize that orphaned would have been better by far. Moratto (shown below) plunges us immediately and thoroughly into the fraught world of this young man, and though it isn't pleasant, movie-wise at least, it sure is interesting, as well as believable.

As the fifteen-year-old he is, finding work simply to eat and pay rent on the apartment in which he and his mom lived proves a near-constant task, but it is one that Socrates seems more than up to. If only the society around him would help a little. He's a smart, game kid who tries just about everything, quickly pulling us over to his side and keeping us there, despite his occasionally being too hot-headed for his own good.

Moratto never has his movie, nor his hero, beg for sympathy. He doesn't need to, for this is built into the situation and the character. And while the society around Socrates might want to help, times are bad enough already, not to mention the law about hiring minors for work.

Our hero (beautifully played  by Christian Malheiros, above, right, and below) turns to friends, relatives -- close and more distant -- possible employers, a little would-be whoring, and a sudden love-and-sex interest (Tales Ordakji, above, left) first seen in the workplace as an antagonist, who soon becomes a helpmeet. Of a sort, at least.

Along the way, we get good glimpses of the Brazilian workplace, of the country's less-than-impressive housing, and its beachfront playtime, as Socrates keeps trying and trying. Moratto, however, makes certain that his filmmaking is never trying. At only 71 minutes, Socrates moves continuously along at a quick, smart clip.

By the time we and our hero end up at a new seashore with a special task ahead, we've been treated to an impressive little movie that offers as kind and honest a look as possible, TrustMovies believes, at what under-age gay youth must contend with in an increasingly precarious world.

From Breaking Glass Pictures, Socrates opens this Friday, April 9, in Los Angeles at Laemmle's Music Hall 3, and the following Friday, August 16, in New York City at the Cinema Village -- after which it will arrive on DVD via and on VOD two weeks from today, Tuesday, August 20.

Cantet/Campillo's THE WORKSHOP is rich, encompassing cinema -- both broad and deep

TrustMovies often speaks of French cinema (and the French themselves) as perverse. I mean this as a kind of complement because they and their films so often go in a different direction than expected. Whether this is done for humorous, ironic or sometimes, yes, simply transgressive reasons, the result can be bracing, abrasive and thought-provoking. So it is with THE WORKSHOP, a new film directed by Laurent Cantet (Human Resources, Time Out, Heading South and The Class) and his co-writer Robin Campillo (Eastern Boys, They Came Back, and the recent BPM).

Messieurs Cantet (shown at left) and Campillo (below) have worked together often enough now that I suspect their wavelengths must be close enough to nearly run as one. Either that or their strengths and weaknesses so balance each other out that the result is, at this point, just about seamless. 

With The Workshop, the pair addresses a host of themes and ideas, both super-timely and, well, ageless. These would include everything from immigration and terrorism (the home-

grown variety) to the impact and importance of art on the general public. Oh, yes -- and, as my spouse pointed out after viewing the film, it is also, maybe most of all, an unusual coming-of-age tale.

In the film, a young man named Antoine (played by the excellent newcomer Matthieu Lucci, shown below, left) from a local port city in France joins a summer school workshop led by a smart and attractive teacher from the "big city" (the always interesting Marina Fois, below, center).

As the class progresses, it becomes clear that Antoine is both very talented and very problemed. How this is revealed to us demonstrates anew Cantet/Campillo's excellent grasp of storytelling techniques, dialog, and the mysteries of human character and motive.

The filmmakers excel at something I'd call not mis-direction (intentionally bringing you to think or expect the wrong thing) but rather a refusal to satisfy your expectations too easily or simple-mindedly. Cantet and Campillo actually demonstrate Chekov's famous "gun" concept and then stand it on its head by making that second-act usage less (and at the same time more) than a mainstream audience may want or care to wrestle with.

The entire class (above) is peopled by a fine assortment of young characters, each of whom is drawn and acted quite well, and who together represent a smart but not-too-tidy look at today's France. Their reactions to each other, and especially to Antoine, are spot-on and help push the plot, such as it is, onwards. I say "such as it is" because Cantet and Campillo have always been more interested in character and theme than in heavily dramatic plotting.

Things happen and build to a kind of crescendo of dramatic possibilities, and then they simply ebb as naturally as the tide that rises and falls around the port town. This may disappoint those who demand melodrama and major confrontation, but it will surely satisfy others who prefer a more realistic slice-of-life that refuses to solve all problems within the framework of a less-than-two-hour movie. Some change does occur here -- and to all the characters -- though we cannot be sure, I think, in which direction that change is headed or how it will turn out.

It has been enough to confront politics, economics, unemployment, immigration, the making of art and the confusion of youth so very well as do Cantet and Campillo. I can't wait to see what this duo comes up with next. From Strand Releasing, in French with English subtitles and running 108 minutes, The Workshop opens this Friday, March 23, in New York City at the IFC Center and then on April 6 in Los Angeles at Landmark's NuArt, and here in South Florida at the Tower Theater, in Miami, and the Savor Cinema in Fort Lauderdale, as well as elsewhere across the country. Click here (then scroll down to click on Screenings on the task bar) to see all currently scheduled playdates, cities and theaters.

FOOTNOTES: Paul Calori and Kostia Testut's musical rom-com about employment opens

If you're going to view a modern musical rom-com, and you found La La Land a little too full of narcissists hoping to make their mark on tinsel town, you might want to consider a French version in which the leading characters just want to either find a decent job or hang on to the very precarious one they've already got.

Such a movie hits one theater in New York City tomorrow and will open in a few more venues in the weeks to come. It's called FOOTNOTES (Sur quel pied danser is the French title), and if its so-so melodies will not set the world on fire, it is at least peopled with performers who can sing, dance and act reasonably well. Plus, it's got a social conscience -- and then some.

Filmmakers Paul Calori (shown at right) and Kostia Testut (below), who both wrote and directed this little trifle-with-a-mind-and-heart, have imbued their movie with a kind of careless, free-form, improvisational feel that can be quite charming from time to time. Their movie is feminist, anti-corporate, and a shoe-in for folk who love footwear.

And while the personal may indeed be political

(or is it vice-versa?), in this film the personal finally bests both the social and political. In La La Land, there's little but personal ambition and obeisance to moviedom driving the protagonists onward. Here, there is some social conscience, a bit of solidarity, feminism and anti-corporate stance, but -- perhaps to the filmmakers' credit -- individual character trumps political theory. Good theoretical Communists these two fellows would not, I think, make.

In the leading role is an actress, Pauline Etienne (above, from Eden and 2 Autumns, 3 Winters) who proves adept at everything the filmmakers demand of her (singing, acting, dancing, the works), and her co-star is an attractive, believable fellow named Samy (played by Olivier Chantreau, below, right, and most recently seen in Moka). Interestingly enough, these two, although they are the film's would-be stars and despite their attractiveness and charm, do not command the movie.

Instead it is the ensemble, the workers at the footwear factory -- as well as the villain of the piece, the corporate boss -- who are the most fun and interesting to view. In that villain role is is an actor -- Loïc Corbery (below) --  whom, I am guessing, has had some dance background, for he moves with finesse and dances with such aplomb that he pretty much dusts the floor with the rest of the ensemble.

The movie makes clear from the outset that its leading character, Julie, simply wants a job that will earn her a living wage and be "secure." Samy, has this already, and wants to hold on to it and so will do whatever that requires.  These two may not be all that admirable, but they are indeed human. So are the many workers we meet and watch agitate (as they both demonstrate and dance).

The song lyrics are pointed and (at least in the translation we get) serviceable, but the music they are set to is so similar from song to song that you may think you've regressed to Michel Legrand territory (a la The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, but without even something as nice as that film's popular and pretty love song). La La Land also had not much particularly winning music, but Footnotes' songs seem even more ordinary.

Yet, given its subject matter, along with the charm of some of the nicely choreographed numbers, the film may win you over. Not only is it worthwhile to see a modern musical that's about something more than love and personal ambition (pussyfooting around instead as "dreams"), it's very good to see one that tackles subjects so important to the well-being of today's citizens. Even if, in the end, rom-com-amour triumphs over all else.

From Monument Releasing and running just 85 minutes, Footnotes, opens tomorrow, Friday, July 14, in New York City at the Village East Cinema and then at a few more theaters and cities. (Here in South Florida, the film will open on August 18 at Miami's Tower Theater.) Click here and scroll down to see currently scheduled playdates.

DVDebut: Anne Le Ny's bouncy, clever employment rom-com, THE CHEF'S WIFE

What a  timely idea for a romantic comedy: a movie that centers around an employment office dedicated to finding jobs for the downsized. Leave it to the French, particularly to the new queen of the cultural-mores-and-social-services movie, Ann Le Ny, to give it to us. Ms Le Ny, who earlier offered up two fine films of this nature -- Those Who Remain and My Father's Guests -- has now added another feather to her cap with this new charmer, THE CHEF'S WIFE.

Le Ny , shown at right, appears to be taking up (somewhat, at least) the mantel of Danièle Thompson, another fine French filmmaker dedicated to rom-coms-cum-social-satire. Here again, as has been her wont so far, she has rounded up an ace cast of French film pros and given them succulent roles to devour. Do they! Le Ny has worked previously with both her leading ladies -- Karin Viard (below, right) and Emmanuelle Devos (below, left) -- so I suspect she understands well the capabilities of each. As writer and director, she uses both actresses in very interesting ways -- they're somewhat different here than I've yet seen them -- and then scrambles things so that eventually, their characters, along with their positions, are cleverly reversed.

In the role of that chef is one of France's enduring icon's Roschdy Zem (below), who, as usual, brings his unique combination of quiet strength, unassuming sexuality and exotic looks to the fore and certainly helps carry this movie.

To go into plot details will give away what really should be a series of smart surprises that the film wittily unveils. Unfortunately, it also eventually partially unravels, as Ms Le NY paints her plot, along with her characters, into a corner, from which the only release becomes a combination of coincidence and rather too obvious plot machinations.

This is too bad because the initial two-thirds of the film comprises first-class stuff: timely, funny and smart. Even with the slight disappointment that accompanies the conclusion, The Chef's Wife is still more fun, more au courant and more original than much of what we see out of Hollywood, either in would-be blockbuster or small independent,

From Distrib Films US, running a sleek 91 minutes, and arriving on DVD in the USA via Icarus Films, the movie hits the street on DVD this coming Tuesday, May 9 -- for purchase and/or rental. Streaming-wise, it's also available via iTunes or Amazon.

Prepare to feel, and deeply, as Ken Loach and Paul Laverty's I, DANIEL BLAKE hits theaters

So real you can practically taste, smell and breathe in the anger that will rise from your stomach through your chest and into your throat as you experience I, DANIEL BLAKE, the new and (as usual) quiet provocation from director Ken Loach and screenwriter Paul Laverty, this is a movie that will break your heart without leaving your brain in any way undernourished.

In dealing with the story of one man trying his best to navigate the British health and unemployment systems, Loach (pictured at right) and Laverty (below, left) have contributed their own gift to this year's trilogy of citizens-against-the-system movies -- beginning with Mexico's alarming Monster With a Thousand Heads, continuing with the Chinese-Canadian Old Stone, and now this: the best of the lot so far. In his fine screenplay, Laverty places life and truth above melodrama and contrivance, while

Loach directs with his usual flair for the kind of in-the-moment/ dead-on-believable behavior that thrusts us headlong into things.
(There is one exception: Daniel's discovery of his lady friend Katie's new employment, which smacks of the sort of coincidence found regularly on Downton Abbey. Yet, so hooked are you likely to be at this point in the film's unfurling that the moment ought not be a deal-breaker.) Mr. Loach has long given us character-driven movies that are also filled with event. This is the case here, as well, and Daniel Blake is certainly among the great character "everymen" to grace the modern film canon.

Daniel (a so-real-it-hurts performance by Dave Johns, shown below, right and on poster top) is a kind, decent, even talented man just entering his senior years, who has been felled by a heart attack and cannot go back to work until his is deemed "better." But thanks to a stupid glitch in the bureaucracy, he is meanwhile being denied the benefits he needs to live on while he heals.

In a society where the individual counted for anything, this kind of glitch would be quickly taken care of. But not in Britain. Not today. So our hero is put back and forth through the proverbial mill until he and we are ready to crack. To their credit, Loach and Laverty make villains of the bureaucracy and the way it works rather than the bureaucrats themselves - a few of whom even rise to the occasion and actually do something helpful. But the way the system has been set up is designed to crush both the body and the spirit -- and goddamned if it doesn't do that job just splendidly.

At the unemployment office (or whatever the Brits call this sort of thing), Daniel meets Katie (a sad, spunky and commanding performance from Hayley Squires, above, right), the mother of two young kids, both of whom are adorable and one of whom clearly has a touch of maybe Aspergers. As Katie, too, is given the run-around, Daniel rises to her defense, and though they are both asked to leave, a bond has formed.

The movie explores this bond, while we watch Daniel try to do everything the system asks of him, to little avail. We meet his charming neighbors (who are themselves helpful), watch him as he takes a class in Preparing Your CV, pad along as he does the stupid and unnecessary job search (for which, even if hired, he is not allowed to accept),

And on it all goes. It would be ceaseless woe, not only for Daniel but for us viewers, were not the movie so full of life and humor and absolute importance. At any point along the way, all it would take would be one single person who wields even a modicum of power to have said, "Oh, something is wrong here." And then to simply right that wrong. But nobody does. And the one woman who actually tries to do something is then disciplined for her effort.

I, Daniel Blake is simultaneously and consistently heartbreaking and wonderful -- an unusual combination, to say the least. The film is certainly one of this year's best, and this holiday-time opening will be, for progressive-minded film-goers out there, the most wonderful kind of Christmas/Chanukah present imaginable.

From Sundance Selects/IFC Films and running 100 minutes, the movie opens today, Friday, December 23, in New York City at the IFC Center and the Lincoln Plaza Cinema, and in Los Angeles at Laemmle's Royal. Elsewhere. To be sure, in the weeks to come. I don't have cities and dates just yet, but you can periodically click here and then click on the bright green link WATCH NOW to lean if the film is playing anywhere near you.

DVDebut: Sloan Copeland's WET BEHIND THE EARS tracks the young, naive and unemployed

WET BEHIND THE EARS, the new film from NYC-born Sloan Copeland addresses one of U.S. society's more pressing problems -- what to do with the current unemployed-college-graduate generation -- in a light-hearted but never silly fashion, turning it into a pleasant comedy of latter-day manners that also includes romance, criminality and coming-of-age. Certainly not a great film, it succeeds so well mostly due to its dialog and performan-ces, both of which have intelligence and charm to spare.

Mr. Copeland, shown at left, is responsible for both directing the movie and for writing some of that smart dialog, the rest of which is credited to his adorable and talented star, a young lady named Margaret Keane Williams (on poster, above, and below), who turns the leading lady, a recent college grad named Samantha Phelps, into a naive but endearing ball-of-tinder just waiting for the right match to light her up. The match arrives, all right, but not so quickly and from an unex-pected source that leads to further surprises.

One of the most pleasant of those surprises is the attitude the movie and its moviemakers take toward a certain criminal endeavor involving movies themselves. In hard times, all kinds of corners get cut for reasons of survival, and Wet Behind the Ears-- even if it is basically a coming-of-age rom-com -- is not afraid to recognize this. And to treat it as just another step on the road to adulthood.

With no real work experience, our Samantha is finally forced to take a job at an ice cream parlor, while living with her parents and taking flack from her smart-ass older brother (Michael Giese, above).

Working like this, in the small town where you grew up, means bumping into former high school friends (above) and feeling "put down," but Samantha perseveres and finally connects to an old friend named Dean (Doug Roland, below) now working in the "film business," who becomes a kind of mentor, corrupter, and possible romance.

Meanwhile, best friend Vicky (Jessica Piervicenti, below) -- with whom Samantha was supposed to share an apartment once she found a job -- is having major problems at home, finding a proper roommate...

...and at work with a bitchy boss (Angela Jeanneau, below) who likes to make Vicky miserable for the fun of it. All of this is stirred briskly into the plot's pot for some humor, suspense and general good effect.

Every last performance here is energetic and fun, and with a consistent level of decent writing and direction, the movie proves a very easy watch.

Look for Wet Behind the Ears -- from Cinema Libre Studio, running 88 minutes and an audience favorite at second- and third-tier film festivals -- arriving on DVD for sale or rental, this coming Tuesday, July 22. (In about one month, the film will also be available via streaming/VOD sources such as Amazon Instant Video, Hulu and Cinema Libre On Demand.)