Another of 2020's bests--also Chloé Zhao's & Frances McDormand's best yet--NOMADLAND

So much has already been written about the glories of NOMADLAND, in particular the fine leading performance by Frances McDormand, that TrustMovies will simply provide a short addition to it all. As directed and adapted (from Jessica Bruder's book, Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century) by Chloé Zhao (shown below), this is by far the best work Ms Zhao (The Rider, Songs My Brothers Taught Me) has given us because her continuing use of the hybrid documentary/narrative form grows richer and more assured with each new film.

This time, the coupling of non-actors playing pretty much themselves with top-notch actors like McDormand and, in a major supporting role, David Strathairn, doing the heavy-duty lifting via their utterly truthful and realistic performances results in a movie that is close to seamless when it comes to any division between fiction and documentary. The strength of the film comes not only from the performances of McDormand (below, center) and Strathairn (further below) but from the fine screenplay and smart, generally sparse, dialog. Zhao's visuals are likewise both called for and unshowy. 

My spouse reflected, once the film's end credits had passed, that he expected Nomadland to be both "depressing and all about victims. But it was neither." That has been true of all of Zhao's films. What happens to her characters is a combination of what society inflicts and their own decisions. Which is pretty much true of most of our lives, I think. (The rich are, as ever, exempt from the first of that duo, and you'll find few to none of them in the Zhao world.)

There's a scene toward the end of Nomadland in which McDormand's character, Fern, sits on the stairs watching the Strathairn character and his son playing the piano together. Watch Fern's eyes closely and you'll witness -- about as quietly and subtly as anything you've seen -- a major decision suddenly reached, as well as character revealed. It's just one of so many moments in this terrific movie that seems to effortlessly resonate like crazy.

From Searchlight Pictures (Do we miss Fox? At least Disney hasn't shut down the independent arm just yet) and running 108 minutes, the movie is playing now in theaters, as well as streaming digitally on Hulu. See it.

Stream this year's Christmas hit: John McPhail's ANNA AND THE APOCALYPSE

Likely to become a holiday classic -- thanks to its delightful and original combination of high school musical, zombie pic and Christmas movie -- ANNA AND THE APOCALYPSE snuck into theaters in limited release at the end of last year (garnering some very nice reviews in the process) and is now available to stream via Amazon Prime. The movie's a winner, a keeper, and an all-round wonder as it unfurls its very charming, funny and bizarre "take" on high school, love, friendship, Christmas pageants and zombies. Really, this is the best zombie movie since Train to Busan and the best original musical in several years (for my money it beats the too-precious La La Land all to heck).

As directed with a remarkably intuitive sense of tone and tenor by John McPhail (at left) and co-written -- with not just exceptional "smarts" but also an appreciation of and love for the genres they send up and add to -- by Alan McDonald and the late Ryan McHenry (to whom the work is dedicated), this little film finds its footing so quickly and securely that I suspect film buffs will recall it fondly and lovingly when many other more trumpeted, high-budget movies will have long faded from memory.

The story is simple and initially rather sweet. As Anna and her loving dad drive along the highway discussing Anna's future (for which they each have a different plan), on the radio we hear, "The CDC has announced that what it initially thought to be a contagious--", at which point Anna switches the radio off, and we continue with high school and teenagers, the trauma of growing up, falling in love (of course with the wrong person), and putting on the yearly Christmas pageant. Talk about a pointed but relatively subtle manner in which to introduce the expectation of zombies -- and then having the chutzpah to simply leave them offscreen for quite some time!

By the time we do see them, Anna (Ella Hunt, above center) and her friends are so immersed in teenage narcissism and song (a lovely, funny one, too) that they don't even notice the undead cavorting in their slow, zombie fashion behind them. (These zombies adhere to the better, slower George Romero version, which allows for a lot more leeway, escape routes and fun.)

Anna's friends include her "bestie," John (a sweet Malcolm Cumming (above, center), who clearly loves Ella in more than a best-friend way, and student investigative journalist Steph (no-nonsense Sarah Swire, at left, below),

and especially the school bully, Nick (Ben Wiggins, below), who turns out to have a bit more on the ball than bullies in other films. Wiggins also gets a great song midway along that reinforces how cleverly Anna and the Apocalypse plays with the genre conventions of zombie movies, high-school rom-coms, Christmas movies and so much else.

The supporting cast is terrific, too, with Paul Kay, below, left, as the succulently sleazy school headmaster, and Mark Benton, below, right, the very picture of a kindly, loving, over-protective dad.

Who survives and who does not may surprise you, and this certainly adds to the film's thrills and sometimes to its sadness. (As one of the songs tells us, "There's no such thing as a Hollywood ending.") I can't remember when a zombie movie made me laugh and touched me in the way this one does, yet even the moving moments don't seem too sentimental. They're all delivered with a wit and a style that seduce. (Who'd imagine a Christmas candy cane as a prime zombie-killing tool?)

Marli Siu (above) makes a sweet secondary love interest for the school's nerdy-but-nice photographer, a funny, on-the-mark Christopher Leveaux (below, center left). The musical numbers range from very good to OK, with more of the former than the latter, and they are produced and executed so well that they seem utterly organic to the rest of the film. In a movie that mashes this many genres, that took some doing.

Oh, yes, there's gore, too. This is a zombie film, after all. But even the blood is handled with the same kind of smart tone and subtlety as all else here. Boy, what a special little movie this is!

Streaming now via Amazon Prime, and also available for rental or purchase on DVD and Blu-ray, Anna and the Apocalypse is simply too good to miss. It'll take its place with other fine, dark Christmas movies, for folk who need a respite from the current feel-good holiday twaddle filling our network TV, cable and streaming services.

Daniel Schechter's AFTER CLASS (aka Safe Spaces) makes good on a 13-year-old promise

If there's a better ensemble dramedy this year than AFTER CLASS -- the new film from writer/director Daniel Schechter -- I haven't yet seen it. Beginning with a scene in a college classroom in which a professor goads a student into speaking more truthfully about a short story she's written, and in the process spilling the beans regarding some of her sexual activity, the movie starts out fast, fresh and full of energy and keeps its delightful pace going for all of its 93 minutes.

The "promise" TrustMovies refers to in his headline above is that of a wonderful movie -- the embodiment of what a true piece of American independent cinema can be -- entitled The Big Bad Swim that came out in 2006, the terrific screenplay for which was written by Mr. Schechter, who went on the adapt and direct the under-rated Life of Crime and now this new little gem. Schechter, shown at right, has a real gift for witty, fast-paced and utterly believable dialog and also for storytelling using ensemble casts.

The filmmaker gives everyone in his ensembles the chance to shine by making even the smaller roles full and resonant. He also has the smarts to give his characters just about as many annoying traits as charming ones, and he scrupulously shows us various sides to the many different characters and situations he creates. And, boy, does he create a bunch of them.

Beginning with a crash course in political correctness that of course crashes down on our chief protagonist -- played to perfection by the near-consistently marvelous actor Justin Long, above, left, in what may be his best role so far (and, no, it's not Tusk) -- the movie moves on to family matters. And what a family we have here.

There's Long and his rival brother (Michael Godere), sweet/sour sister (Kate Berlant, above, right), dying grandmother (the grand Lynn Cohen, below, right) and his mom and dad (played so very well by Fran Drescher , shown at bottom, center, and Richard Schiff). This is one of the best conceived, four-generation movie families to be seen in some time: They're funny, witty, sad, smart and always real, and best of all, while their Jewishness is alive and well, it is never beaten into the ground. It's simply a part of them, and so it eventually becomes part of us, as well.

After Class (which was initially called Safe Spaces, a better title, I think) bubbles along in high gear for its entirety. There's not a low point in the whole film, and its high points are so many they tend to simply run together, keeping us smiling -- and thinking -- throughout. Who's right and who's wrong are never crystal clear, not in matters of family, political correctness or sexuality. This, along with splendid performances, dialog and direction, makes After Class one of the most entertaining and surprising movies of the entire year.

From Gravitas Ventures, the film opens this Friday, December 6, at 16 theaters around the country. Here in South Florida, it will play the Cinema Paradiso, Hollywood, and in the Los Angeles area at Arena Cinelounge and Galaxy Mission Grove; Orlando - Old Mill Playhouse; Cleveland - Tower City Cinemas; Boston - Entertainment Cinemas Leominster; Minneapolis - Emagine Rogers 18, East Bethel 10 and Lakeville; Seattle - Galaxy Monroe; Dallas - La Gran Plaza 8; Reno - Galaxy Victorian; Las Vegas - Galaxy Theaters Luxury and Galaxy Cannery; San Francisco - 4 Star Theater; and Santa Barbara - Galaxy Colony Square. If you don't happen to live in any of these locations, good news: After Class will simultaneously be available on VOD via iTunes. 

Scott Z. Burns' riveting THE REPORT offers a long-term, tied-to-a-desk brand of heroism

Wow. Filmmaker Scott Z. Burns has finally done it -- giving us an actual adult "action" movie in which the action comes from a quiet, determined man who insists on getting the truth out to the public, as well as from the supporting folk who help (or sometimes hinder) his doing it. The result is one of the year's best films: suspenseful, exciting, provocative and about something important -- the torture that our nation's CIA engaged in during the early part of this new century (the excuse for which was of course 9/11) and the congressional report about that torture and how that report came close to never seeing the light of day.

In THE REPORT, Mr. Burns (shown at right) -- best-known till now for his writing and producing credits -- shows us the ins and outs of everything from the torture itself (via well-done flashbacks that conjure the horror, ugliness and, yes, stupidity and uselessness of it all) to the long, hard, detailed road to piecing together a case against the CIA and bringing it to fruition.

Burns' screenplay well crafts all of this (his choice of events, along with how much of each to offer us, is precise and telling), while his dialog is cogent, to the point, and smart without ever seeming overly witty or too clever. The style may be documentary-like but the movie has all the narrative drive it needs.

If Burns' filmmaking style is straight-ahead and no-frills, this seems fitting. And he draws spot-on performances from his entire cast, which is filled with big names in even the smaller roles. In the leading roles are Adam Driver (above) as the young desk man who leads the investigation and puts together the titular report, and Annette Bening (below) as the Senator -- Dianne Feinstein -- whose power drives the report. Both actors could not be bettered. Driver excels at making even the smallest detail come to bright life, while Bening tamps down any kind of excess so that we see a politician trying to do what's right, even as she must continually play the political game.

The starry supporting cast includes everyone from Corey Stoll and Jon Hamm (below) to Maura Tierney, Michael C. Hall and so many other noticeable names, all of whom excel in even the smallest roles. Along the way, we revisit some shameful situations, from Abu Ghraib and EIT (enhanced interrogation technique) to break-ins, cover-ups and more. By the finale, while you'll be galvanized and moved, you may also be prone to consider just how far we've devolved, over a decade or so, into a culture and political administration for which just about every action these days demands a cover-up.

From Amazon Studios and running two hours, The Report opens in theaters this Friday, November 15, and will be available via Amazon Prime Video at the end of this month.

Sex as an agent of discovery and hope: Mark Lewis & Ryan Balas' ENTHUSIASTIC SINNERS

Can a really good fuck -- no, no: I mean a really good fuck -- lead to discovery, growth and change for the two parties involved? Good question, and it is one that quite a number of movies have asked us viewers over the years, in their own special ways, of course -- from 1933's very interesting  Ecstasy to more relatively recent schlock like 9-1/2 Weeks and Fatal Attraction.

In their new and (it seems to TrustMovies) genuinely ground-breaking film, ENTHUSIASTIC SINNERS, writer/producer/ director Mark Lewis (shown at right) and cinematographer/editor Ryan Balas have given us a movie that answers that question in -- god bless us! -- a positive way by making the sex both believable and hot as hell (full-frontal for both the man and the woman) and the two characters interesting and worthwhile as human beings, but without making their situation in any way too easy or by tying up loose ends that need to be left untied in order for the film to be truthful about its central situation.

That situation is this: When a young, on-duty policeman (Christopher Heard, above) gets a call to investigate gunshots in a home nearby, he finds a widowed mother (Maggie Alexander, below), whose teenage son (along with his friends) have been up to dumb things that boys sometimes do. The cop and the woman talk a bit, she spilling out too-much-information at times, he listening with kindness, interest and a growing attraction. She's attracted, too.

The sex comes hot, hard, heavy -- and very believable. These two people talk to each other during sex, tell each other what they want or need, sometimes in a funny way that makes their union all the more real, moving and sometimes clearly fun, as well as often orgasmic.

In less than a 24-hour time period, it becomes clear, then clearer, that our protagonists, Bruce and Shelby, are a fine mix in terms of sexual compatibility, communication (both verbal and not), honesty, caring and neediness. Except that he is married-with-children, a fact that they and we both know almost from the start. Hence the film's on-the-mark title.

And while neither of our love-makers is all that religious, it is clear that they are, or try to be, genuinely moral, caring people. So where does that leave his wife, whom we never see, though he makes one phone call to her in the course of these proceedings?

Questions like this crop up during the course of the film, which is given over mostly to bouts of hot and heavy sex. Yet because Bruce and Shelby, their sexuality and their personae, are brought to life so remarkably fully, we must and do engage with them, their connection and even, to an extent, their lives prior to each other.

This is thanks to Lewis' writing and direction, both of which could hardly be more intimate and real, and to photographer/editor Balas' contributions, which manage to put us right there, amidst the lovemaking, without making us seem voyeurs. (I was surprised that my spouse, who is a good deal more prudish than I, had no problems whatsoever with any of the sex scenes.)

The performances of Mr. Heard and Ms Alexander are about as close to perfect as you could ask. They capture the most intimate moments, as well as all the heat, with utter specificity and truth. Both actors are attractive without being "model" pretty. Her body is actually a bit more "toned" than his, though his is certainly attractive, while his ample cock, which I believe we sometimes see in a slightly semi-erect state, is a nice turn-on, too.

Even with all the nudity on view, I don't see how you could call the film in any way pornographic. It's too real and honest, and its intent is to strip these two people down to, not mere nakedness, but to their very character and soul. The film also tells us that sex can be genuinely liberating and positive -- rather than something violent or power-hungry or stupidly comedic, which is what we get much more often in movies.

Instead we witness this unusual day and night, and when we leave Bruce and Shelby, though much has changed for them, we simply do not know what the result of this will be. I would love to see Netflix or Amazon take a real chance and give us an ongoing series. If these two are the soulmates they seem to be, what will this mean to his wife and kids, to her son, to his job and all the rest? What an amazing meaningful journey -- for everyone involved -- this could be. (And not something tiresomely second-rate, as that cable series The Affair turned out).

Meanwhile, Enthusiastic Sinners, running just 85 minutes, is available now to rent or buy via iTunes, with a DVD release to come on October 8. If you have any interest in discovering what an exploration of honest-to-goodness, active-positive sexuality can offer, here's your chance. 

Movie of the Year? Of the decade? David Robert Mitchell's UNDER THE SILVER LAKE

Thoroughly dividing critics and audiences alike (on Rotten Tomatoes, the movie has a score of 56% from the critics, 60% from the audience), UNDER THE SILVER LAKE has given TrustMovies his most all-out enjoyable cinema experience of the year so far. Now out on home video -- Bluray, DVD and digital -- this is a film I think you really must give a shot.

Written and directed by David Robert Mitchell, shown at right, whose earlier efforts The Myth of the American Sleepover (one of the best and most graceful and surprising teen movies I've seen) and It Follows (a somewhat over-rated horror effort that proved at least original and had a very good first half), this one is Mitchell's best so far, and I wager that the 44-year-old filmmaker has a lot more to give us in his time ahead.

What makes Under the Silver Lake so special? A whole lot of things, starting with its Los Angeles/Silver Lake reservoir locale. I grew up around there and so know it well, and the movie made me feel simultaneously at home and as though, just like its hero, I'd fallen into a rabbit hole leading to wonderland.

Whether by choice or instinct, Mr. Mitchell consistently butts up the ordinary against the bizarre. Realistic details lead to anything but, while the fantastic ends up in something utterly mundane. (My favorite moment is the long, mysterious tunnel that leads our hero to a... nah: You gotta find out for yourself.) The effect is alternately alarming and delightful -- and consistently amusing. I had a smile on my face almost throughout.

Watching Under the Silver Lake is like discovering David Lynch on antidepressants and in a very good mood. Sure, this movie deals with everything from awful cults to a dog murderer on the loose, and still that smile refuses to leave your face. This also has to do with the wonderful young actor Mitchell has cast as his lead: Andrew Garfield (two photos up and below).

Since Boy A, back in 2007, I think I've seen every movie Garfield has made, and even when I thought the film mostly sucked (Silence), he never did. What a face this guy has. Those huge and immersive big-brown-eyes draw you in and hold you in thrall, and the actor is versatile enough to try all kinds of roles. His lean, lithe body, which we see just about all of in the course of the movie, is a big bonus, too. Mr. Garfield appears in, I believe, every scene of this movie, and -- to paraphrase one of his best films -- he never lets you go.

The actor plays Sam, a not particularly likeable, aging young man -- 33 and seeming to have not the least idea what to do with his, so far, pointless little life -- who spots a pretty blond named Sarah (Riley Keough, below) poolside in his apartment complex, and quickly gets to know -- and fuck -- her very briefly before, the next morning, she has disappeared, along with literally everything (almost) that was in her apartment the night before. Hmmmm... mystery.

The rest of the movie is devoted to Sam's relentless search for Sarah, which leads him into one bizarre situation after another. These grows loonier and tunier, finally culminating in a kind of wonderful closure during which Mitchell gives us his moral -- which could not be simpler nor more profound. This moral ends, if I am not mistaken, with the word "right?" and if I am also not mistaken, our hero hears this and actually considers it.
(We all should, by the way.)

Mitchell's denouement is as lovely and rich as what has come before, featuring sex, a parrot, and in the very last shot a quietly unobtrusive reference to another shot we've seen several times previous and which now suddenly resonates quite differently -- because it has happened to someone we care about. Mitchell doesn't spell any of this out, however. But it's there nonetheless (unless I am way off base in my conclusions, but I would prefer to think not).

For me this writer/director has made a marvelous kind of scavenger/Easter-egg hunt in which we -- and Sam-- really do find the prize. Other critics have suggested that there is no "there" there, but I think they are dead wrong. Were they asleep? But how could they be at a movie that is this much fun?

Along the way, there are so damned many visual and audio treats -- sets that zing, music that sings, fashions that will make you oooh, aaah and giggle -- that you'll probably want to see the whole thing again, just to be able to finally take it all in. (Janet Gaynor fans will plotz.)

For the many movie references alone -- from Pitfall and Land of the Pharaohs to Something's Got to Give -- film buffs will enjoy things, but if you're not inclined toward this sort of game-playing, don't worry. You can easily appreciate the movie for its delightful plot and satisfying resolution. Alone, for the gorgeous, frightening, knockout scene in which Sam and the character played by Callie Hernandez (above, left) actually go into/under Silver Lake, this movie is worth all of its two hours and 20 minutes.

Released by A24 and playing in theaters for a limited time this past April, Under the Silver Lake is now available in Blu-ray, DVD and digital streaming. You have no excuse for not giving it a try. (That's the funny, mysterious Grace van Patten with balloon, above.)