The political tale our our time: Josh Kriegman & Elyse Steinberg's riveting, baffling WEINER

Why is the new documentary, WEINER -- about the hoped-for comeback then further implosion of the political career of former congressman and would-be mayor of New York City, Anthony Weiner -- so redolent of the time in which we live? For the simple (or not so) reason that -- unlike, say, the 1970s politician Gary Hart (and so many others) who placed his actual penis inside of someone outside his marriage, was found out by the press (he stupidly taunted them, as I recall) and had his political career destroyed -- Mr. Weiner's wiener, so far as we know, never entered a vagina other than his wife's. His was a "virtual reality" scandal in which nothing more than a photograph of his dick was placed online, by the man himself, for a lady friend (or several) to view and appreciate.

Now, this was every bit as stupid as Mr. Hart's actions, and even if it does not make the man an adulterer, it brands Weiner (shown at right and below) as a wannabe one, as well as someone just a little too stupid -- for all his seeming intelligence and progressive politics -- to be given his constituents' trust and votes. How does something like this happen? Particularly to a man who otherwise would seem to have so much to offer? This is the question, among some other good ones, that filmmakers Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg (shown below) try to address in their new, eponymously-titled documentary. And it is one that really needs an answer. seeing as how the Internet and its discontents are with us--constantly seducing us--in more and more ways these days.

One can certainly understand how politicians -- who self-aggrandize to the point that they can seem, in the mirror anyway, to be all-powerful -- would use their power to obtain extra-curricular sex whenever possible. But what accounts for doing all this in "virtual reality," a non-place in which the payoff is.... well, what, exactly? On-line masturbation? Or maybe a "sense" of intimacy with (or power over) women you actually don't need to get to know? Clearly, the candidate, while imploding, was in no mood, nor did the situation make it easy, to address the question. At one point in the film, Mr. Weiner seems to think about this and expresses some thoughts regarding the "appeal" and "intimacy" of the Internet. But we need to go much deeper into this subject, and not simply where politicians are concerned. Why do kids post such compromising photos of themselves online? Why did Hillary use an illegal form of email to do government business? The Internet entices us all -- and it is not private, hello! -- with the results of its usage all too often unintended and harmful.

So, other than touching on this important subject, what else do we get from this unusual documentary? The two filmmakers were originally hired to document the candidate's run for mayoral office, and once the campaign began, along with the further revelations of Weiner's "sexting," the filmmakers simply stayed on -- through thick and thin. To his credit (or maybe his hubris), Weiner allowed them to continue filming, and the result is the fly-on-the-wall document we can now view. Alternately surprising, funny but mostly sad, we come to see and somewhat know Weiner, his wife Huma (above, right) and his campaign staff of energetic, likeable kids who care about their candidate and what he stands for.

The documentary, as you may have gathered already, is about as up-close-and-personal as one could get in terms of what is going on, and why. Weiner is smart, articulate and seemingly well-intentioned. We watch him march in parades, talk to the voters, speak on City Island, and even after the further degradations are out of the bag, his words and ideas still resonate. (Hell, even now, I'd vote for this guy over a pompous, phony windbag like Donald Trump -- whose probably tiny dick has undoubtedly been in more out-of-wedlock habitats than those of most politicians.)

Throughout this documentary, the ongoing feeling is one one of sadness for the people and their situation: Here, again, is a gifted, caring politician who lets his cock get the better of his brain until his career implodes. It's the old story in a newer, virtual setting. The results, however, are pretty much the same. "You are there" at each step along the way, and at the end, waste and sorrow reign.

Weiner, from Sundance Selects/IFC Films opened last week in New York and L.A. and goes nationwide tomorrow, Friday, May 27. Here in South Florida, you can see it in the Miami area at The Tower Theater, The Bill Cosford Cinema, and the O Cinema-Wynwood; in Fort Lauderdale it will play at the Classic Gateway.  

LOVE & FRIENDSHIP: Whit Stillman and Jane Austen prove a marriage made in heaven

How is it that Whit Stillman, the guy who's been giving us those dialog-heavy, manners-and-mores movies for 25 years, has only now seen fit to pair up with history's great dialog-heavy, manners-and-mores author, Jane Austen? Whatever the reason(s), the pairing has arrived at last, and audiences should consider themselves blessed. LOVE & FRIENDSHIP (the only thing ordinary is that mediocre title), based on Austen's early novella, Lady Susan, which was published after her death, is, I wager, the best filmed adaptation of Austen we've had so far. (And that would include a bevy of excellent films.)

As both adapter and director, Mr. Stillman, shown at left, not only captures Austen beautifully, he fills his film with such succulent, delicious dialog that we hang on every word, relish (almost) every character and bask in scene after scene of sheer delight. Yeah, I'm piling it on. But, hell, so has Stillman. He's given us the most sheerly enjoyable movie of the year so far, one that captures its period beautifully, while ladeling out a tale of betrayal and survival in which its very smart if not very nice protagonist shows us how to win the game of societal manners by outplaying literally everyone else in view.

Stillman has, with a single exception, cast his movie to perfection, as well, starting with his star, Kate Beckinsale (shown at right, above and below), who -- if you know her via the generally execrable Underworld franchise -- has here the role of a lifetime and plays it like the champion she so clearly is. Her Lady Susan, from one vantage point, is a conniving bitch. From another, she's simply doing what she must to ensure her and her daughter's future in a society that would like nothing better than to see them both brought down.

Ms Beckinsale embodies the role with enormous intelligence and wit. There's a sharpness, a keenness to her behavior that we've seldom seen in the actress. Her earlier roles had some of this, but here, as Austen's unusual heroine, she has the opportunity to make us marvel at her smarts and her daring, her beauty and her fortitude.

The supporting players that surround the actress are well-chosen too -- the most marvelous being the dunderheaded suitor played by Tom Bennett, (shown above, right), who has one of the funniest scenes in modern movies, as a character who has only just been introduced to... peas. If sublime comic timing, together with astute and original characterization, counted for anything in the Oscar race, you might see this actor walk away with a Best Supporting statue.

As Lady Susan's struggling-not-to-be-stifled daughter, Morffyd Clark (above) makes a most engaging impression -- obedient yet unwilling to be married off to someone for whom she feels nothing.

The one performance that leave something to be desired is that of Chloë Sevigny, above. She plays the only American in the bunch, and while it's lovely to see the two stars of Stillman's The Last Days of Disco together again, Ms Sevigny (an actress I usually like very much) simply can't keep up with her British or Australian co-stars in terms of speaking her dialog "trippingly on the tongue." Granted, it has been arranged that she play an American, but, still, when she's speaking onscreen, you want to say, "Come now, Chloë: chop, chop!" But this is hardly a deal-breaker.

In the other male supporting roles, Xavier Samuel, above, makes a fine romantic lead (for several female characters, actually), while James Fleet, below, left, does a thoughtful, feet-on-the-ground job as DeCourcy père. (That's Jemma Redgrave, at right, as mère.)

The filmmaker introduces us to all these characters in the lovely, old-fashioned way of using explanatory title cards at the film's beginning -- which is both stylish and helpful. And as Lady Susan was originally an epistolary tale, Stillman appropriately offers letters, the writing of and delivery of which, keeps the plot bouncing along.

I missed only a tad's worth of dialog, which moves very quickly here, so I plan to see this one again, just as soon as it appears on Blu-ray with English subtitles, so that we get every delicious word. Meanwhile, you can view it in theaters now (it opened two weeks ago in New York and Los Angeles, as Love & Friendship goes nationwide this Friday, May 27.

Here in South Florida, you can see it in the Miami/Fort Lauderdale area at the AMC Aventura Mall 24, Cinepolis Grove 15, Coral Gables Art Cinema, O Cinema Miami Beach, Regal South Beach 18, AMC Sunset Place 24 and Gateway West. In the Palm Beach/Boca areas, it plays the Cinemark Palace 20, the Living Room Theaters, Regal's Shadowood 16, Boynton Beach 14, Movies of Delray, Cinepolis Jupiter 14, Cobb Theaters Downtown Gardens 16, and the Muvico Parisian 20 at CityPlace. Elsewhere around the country? Absolutely. Simply click here, enter your zip code and check out the local theaters that appear. (And, yes, that's the great Stephen Fry, shown at center, above.)

The games men play -- with each other -- as Athina Rachel Tsangari skewers the male prerogative, Greek-style, in CHEVALIER

There is no overt mention made of Greece's ongoing and horrendous economic situation in the film, CHEVALIER, but this low-key but often quite hilarious new satire of the macho stance among Greek males does make one wonder. Was it this kind of attitude -- hubristic, resentful, lying, scheming and, unfortunately, pretty stupid, too, among the Greek government, financial players and powers-that-were -- that brought the country to its collective knees? Of course one can't draw a straight line that connects this movie to that reality, but -- boy -- as one views this enticing rondelay of really bad male behavior, one certainly cannot help but wonder.....

The product of producer, writer, director and actress, Athina Rachel Tsangari, whom you saw (but may not have realized it) in Richard Linklater's wonderful Before Midnight, Chevalier describes, among other things, a signet ring and a game devised to "test the mettle" of males to determine who is the "best at everything." What it does not describe is the actual definition of chevalier: a chivalrous man or a member of certain orders of honor or merit. Ms Tsangari, who co-wrote (with Efthymus Filippou) and directed the movie, uses her title ironically.

She allows us to meet and get acquainted with her half-dozen men who, under the "leadership" of a well-known and successful doctor, are spending a weekend deep-sea-diving off a glamorous yacht. (We also get to know a few of the crew members, who act as a kind of Greek chorus to the shenanigans taking place around them.)

The five-man fellowship the doctor has invited to join him include his son-in-law, the son-in-law's rather borderline brother (both are shown above), the doctor's hale-and-hearty assitant at work (below) and two other friends who appear to have enjoyed watching each other have sex and possibly have enjoyed each other sexually, too.

If at first it may seem difficult to tell certain characters apart (with the exception of the portly and clearly out-of-his-league brother), not to worry. Ms Tsangari and her well-chosen and talented cast soon bring these guys to life so well that there is no problem of differentiation. Character builds (or, as the case may be, disintegrates) carefully and rather quickly.

Once someone suggests the game in which each man vies for distinction in myriad ways -- they'll have to clean, they'll have to build, and yes, eventually they'll have to compare penis size (erect, yet) -- the film builds to its funniest scene involving the man who can't get it up, and when he finally and suddenly does, can't find anyone to corroborate his massive splendor (hey, it is pretty impressive).

Turns out, as we might suspect -- but the filmmaker keeps all this at bay quite nicely -- there is more going on here than initially meets the eye. What this is simply adds to the sense of nastiness and betrayal that hovers over the film.  And yet, by its troubling and thoughtful finale, surprise does await. How and why are as original/believable as all that has gone before.

Intelligent and well-paced, Chevalier is less bizarre but more pertinent than Tsangari's earlier film, Attenberg. It's a fine step onward and upward. And it's a lot of fun, too. Skewering us guys so often is.

From Strand Releasing, the movie opens this Friday in New York City at the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the IFC Center; in Los Angeles it will open on Friday, June 3 at the Landmark NuArt and then on June 10 at Laemmle's Playhouse 7 in Pasadena. Here in South Florida it also opens June 10 at the Bill Cosford Cinema in Coral Gables, the Miami Beach Cinematheque in Miami and the Cinema Paradiso in Fort Lauderdale. Elsewhere? Absolutely. Click here then scroll down and click on Screenings to see all currently scheduled playdates, cities and theaters.

Godard's A MARRIED WOMAN hits Blu-ray & DVD -- and holds up pretty damned well

Anyone who follows this blog probably knows that TrustMovies is no fan of Jean-Luc Godard. I find the guy intellectually callow, pretentious to a fault and with a battery of films that range from so cutesy you could barf (Breathless and especially Pierrot Le Fou) to deliberately inscrutable enough to bore you to distraction (Film Socialisme and Goodbye to Language). I have not seen all of his work (what kind of a masochist do you think I am?), but along the way, I've viewed a few good films, the best of which I find to be Le Petit Soldat, followed by Weekend and the movie that arrives in a spanking new high-def edition this week, A MARRIED WOMAN (an exact translation from its French title, Une femme mariée).

First off, for his star, Godard (shown above, on set for the film) managed to get -- instead of Stefania Sandrelli, whom he wanted but who was pregnant at the time -- the absolutely lovely, diffident, quite entitled (before we even knew what that word meant) young actress, Macha Méril, who, beside being drop-dead gorgeous, also defines the word "pert." (You'll learn this "casting" fact and so much more from the very interesting interview with Miss Méril, done in 2010, which appears on the disc's "extras," in which she spills beans about nearly everything. This actress is as much of a Godard fan as I am not.)

The stunning black-and white cinematography that makes up the film is by the great Raoul Coutard, Godard's cinematographer of choice for many years, and it is just about as good as it gets: pristine, elegant, can't-take-your-eyes-away amazing. The compositions here are phenomenal and exactly right -- all on a budget that could hardly be believed, even back in the day when movie budgets were much smaller. (To save more money, Ms Méril tells us, Godard did some of the costuming himself.)

Plotwise, Godard, who also wrote the film, has his leading lady involved in a heavy-duty affair with a somewhat noted actor (Bernard Noël, above), while living with her husband and taking care of his young son. In the course of the movie we learn that the hubby -- the very hot but only somewhat jealous Philippe Leroy (below and two photos above), knew about her "flirtation" (he had her followed) but remains in the dark about just how far that flirtation has evolved.

Ms Méril is on screen for nearly the entire movie and in almost every frame -- or at least some part of her is. In that interview the actress explains that she never knew whether Godard was filming all of her or only a part of her (or which part). She commands this movie in an even a stronger manner than did another Godard star, Anna Karina, in her several films.

As played by the actress, Charlotte is shallow and almost completely incurious intellectually or even socially. She thinks the German use of Auschwitz has to do with Thalidomide rather than with the Holocaust (the movie takes place and was made in 1964, remember, when many of the facts about the Holocaust were still kept somewhat under wraps). Yet, as privileged and uncaring as Charlotte is, Méril makes her real and just important enough as a French woman of her time that we come to care about and appreciate her.

Sure, Godard makes certain we notice all the consumer advertising and media nonsense by which Charlotte is surrounded and to which she gives herself rather gladly. And there's the usual social critique, too: bourgeois life and its discontents. But thanks to Méril, there's greater depth of character here, while Godard's dialog is better than in many of the "master's" movies, making full use of the French penchant for philosophy but more charmingly so than usual -- without toppling over into cutesiness.

Too often this filmmaker gets bogged down in appearing to make an exercise in intellectual one-upmanship, rather than a full-fledged, intelligent and emotionally engaging movie. The guy can't resist showing us how smart he is -- which can only go so far in terms of real filmmaking. Deconstruction is fine, but construction is better. But if you, too, want to try feeling superior, by all means give Godard's oeuvre a good going over.

Meanwhile, take a gander at the excellent Blu-ray transfer that the Cohen Film Collection has given this near-classic release. Part of Cohen's Classics of French Cinema collection, A Married Woman makes its Blu-ray and DVD debit this Tuesday, May 24 -- for purchase or rental.

Civil rights & animal wrongs: Chris Hegedus & D.A. Pennebaker's doc, UNLOCKING THE CAGE

I don't think you have to be an animal rights activist or a PETA person to appreciate the new documentary, UNLOCKING THE CAGE, but I suspect you do have to care enough about animals not to want to see them abused -- particularly those species who have been proven to be "cognitively complex," as have chimps, dolphins, whales and elephants. (This last one was news to TrustMovies, who grew up believing the old saw that an elephant never forgets. Evidently they do a hell of a lot more than merely that.)

As directed by the prolific and interested-in-just-about-everything husband/wife team of Chris Hegedus (at left) and D.A.  Pennebaker (below) -- who've given us a fine bunch of documentaries from Town Bloody Hall through The War Room, Moon Over Broadway, Elaine Stritch at Liberty and more recently the delightful Kings of Pastry -- this new one is among the most moving of all of their work. As usual, though, the pair never attempts to jerk tears:

H & P are content to simply show -- and let their subjects tell. In this case those subjects include not just the "animal rights" lawyer Steven Wise (below) and his legal team, known as the Nonhuman Rights Project, but also a few of the animals (especially certain chimpanzees) for whom Wise and team are trying to obtain "limited personhood rights." Does this mean we must concede that these animals are the same as people? Not quite. Wise is quick to acknowledge the differences, while maintaining the need for greater protection via increased "rights."

"We're trying to change the way humans view nonhuman animals," the lawyer, shown above, declares right up front. He also acknowledges the work of Peter Singer as one of his major inspirations. And now that our own Supreme Court has acknowledged corporations -- and even, as the doc points out, business partnerships -- as "people," why not chimps? Well, first off, Mr. Silly, because the rich and the corporate won't get richer and more powerful by giving personhood to chimps, as they did via the personhood-to-corporations route.

And so Wise and his team -- supported by the research of international primatologists, as well as by evidence of the living conditions of several of these chimps, shown below (along with one bonobo, above) -- take to America's court system to get the job done. Talk about a Quixotic enterprise!

And yet, damned if that enterprise doesn't begin to get somewhere, after all. The road is uphill and hugely difficult (along the way the chimps that the team plans to use as clients keep dying off), but -- as the documentary shows us, rather in the manner of a low-key-but-enthralling courtroom tale -- things do begin to change.

One of the great things that the filmmaking team allows us to see is the competing viewpoints -- both of which are presented quite intelligently -- from the side of the current establishment invested in seeing that things do not change and from that of Wise and his little group.  One of the film's best scenes shows us a mock trial in which what our "hero" has to say in called into question. Especially interesting is how the team uses the writ of habeas corpus in its plan to convince the court. (As Wise points out, after one particular setback, "We're trying to expand the writ of habeas corpus [to include animals], and the court has responded by trying to cut the writ back for humans!"

There is irony aplenty here, but there is also, as the French might say, Liberty, Equality and (hmmmm...) Fraternity, too. By the film's finale, it is pretty amazing how convincing, moving and even kind of thrilling Hegedus and Pennebaker have made the Nonhuman Rights Project's cause.

From First Run Features in association with HBO Documentary Films, Unlocking the Cage, opens this Wednesday, May 25, at New York City's Film Forum, and will then expand nationally in June. Click here to see all currently scheduled playdates, cities and theaters.

WELCOME TO HAPPINESS: Oliver Thompson's how-(not)-to-fix-your-life movie opens

This is somewhat unusual. Two days in a row TrustMovies finds himself covering a film dedicated to providing a particular philosophy of life. With yesterday's Ma Ma, Julio Medem told us to "think, feel, experience, struggle, suffer" and all the rest -- and do it full out -- while in today's WELCOME TO HAPPINESS, first-time writer/ director Oliver Thompson (below) pleads with us not to waste time wishing to fix the past. Instead, get on with life. Though the Medem movie is much classier, bigger-budgeted and more assured, I'll go with Mr. Thompson's philosophy.

To be quite truthful, both movies are a mess, yet both have their charm and offer some enjoyment along the way. In Welcome to Happiness, the lead character, a 'blocked' children's-book writer named Woody (played by Kyle Gallner, below) rents an apartment from a landlord named Moses (Nick Offerman, shown at bottom), whom we might, had we a religious bent, view as a kind of 'god' (or at least a heavy-duty religious figure). That's because Woody's job, as per Moses, is to shepherd the folk who arrive at this apartment through some questions, a bit of rock holding and finally into a closet in which exists a door that will open to them and transport them to a place where they can undo their prior mistakes. Wow -- nice! Well, maybe.

We meet a few of these people -- primarily Nyles (Brendan Sexton III, below, right) and Ripley (Josh Brener, below, left), both of whom would dearly love to change the past. They're connected, in way that they will probably never come to know. And that's all right. Fortunately Thompson understands enough not to belabor exposition like this.

There's also a would-be girlfriend, played with her usual verve by Olivia Thirlby (below, right), Woody's frustrated agent (Paget Brewster, two photos below), and a very lovely strawberry blond (Molly C. Quinn), who acts as a kind of tour guide for Woody. Unfortunately these ladies have very little character to display or plot to develop. As too often happens with male filmmakers, it's just the guys who are worth our interest here.

Not that these guys are not important nor have not been given any less than their due via the excellent actors. Thompson does better, woman-wise, by the wonderful Frances Conroy, who plays one of the pair who lies behind that fabled doorway.  So life lessons are learned by all, the most important being: Move on. The past cannot be changed, and in any case, the repercussions from this might be worse than what we already have.

The movie is a good fifteen minutes too long, as well. Thompson doesn't know how to quit while he's ahead. Yet he's given us an mostly engaging, oddball effort that combines fantasy, philosophy and (some) fun. I'll be interested to see what he offers up next.

Meanwhile, WELCOME TO HAPPINESS, from FilmBuff, opens today, Friday, May 20, in New York City at the Cinema Village, in Los Angeles at Laemmle's NoHo 7. Elsewhere? Click here to see all currently scheduled playdates. And, if you're not near the selected theatrical cities, don't worry: the movie is simultaneously available via VOD.