In THEO WHO LIVED, a kidnapped journalist survives to show & tell in David Schisgall's doc

How odd that, within a bit more than two weeks, two documentaries would open that feature their protagonists as both the subject and the narrator of their tales. And yet, the two films are as different as, well, oil and water, or maybe truth and falsehood. The first was the more-or-less execrable doc about that faker, JT Leroy/Laura Albert, a movie that seems to exist to build upon, glamorize and entertain us with lies. The second, opening this Friday, offers a lot more truth -- which, these days, seems a rarer commodity than one might think in documentary films.

THEO WHO LIVED tells the true story behind the 2012 kidnapping by Syria's al-Qaeda of American journalist Theo Padnos, who was held and tortured, escaped only to be caught, held and tortured some more, for nearly two years. As the title explains and as anyone who remotely followed this story at the time will know, Theo does live and is here now on film to provide us with his tale, as helped along by the documentary's director, David Schisgall (at left), who also acted as screen-writer (which I take to mean that he helped Theo present a more professional scenario).

As Theo (shown in the photos below) points out, and more than once as I recall, it was rather stupid of him, as a not-so-well-known freelancer, to undertake this speculative opportunity to interview fighters inside Syria and then write about them and hope to sell the piece. But he did. And then paid dearly for it. The young men who promised to put him in touch with those he wanted to interview turned out to be al-Qaeda agents only too happy to first beat an American journalist senseless, then turn him over to the powers-that-be.

Theo, however, spoke fluent Arabic and is also, as we soon see, hear and understand, a smart, resourceful and above all empathetic fellow. As horrible as things grew from time to time, he managed to form a kind of bond with his captors (some of them, at least) that somehow helped him survive. How all this occurred is told us by Theo as he returns to some of the landmarks of that "trip" -- which began in Turkey (the border of which with Syria, he explains, is quite a porous one), moves on to Syria and imprisonment, and ends up in Israel.

Much of the film uses recreations, but always with Theo front and center, to explain what went on and why. We visit the small apartment building in Turkey where those supposedly university students lived, and meet the "nice young men" who live there now and who might be, from all we know, al-Qaeda themselves. All this is uneasy-making and deliberately so. Theo's first escape comes fairly easily, it seems, and he ends up in the local police station. What happens next is doubly disturbing and should give you a very good sense of how the law operates in Middle-eastern countries at war with themselves.

As all this is happening we meet Theo's mom and sister (the latter is shown above, with Theo), who describe their actions and feelings as all of this was going on. "It's an emotional dead zone," mom explains. the "routine of daily life" being all that keeps one going. Theo remembers so many details that his experience resonates with alternately lively and horrible events. He also, without even trying it seems, expresses via his very being how his personality and liveliness enabled him to carry on. Even so, you may find yourself wondering how he could have managed this without totally giving in and up. Especially after those guards who were kindest to him end up dead and/or martyred.

Theo's story grows more and more amazing without ever seeming to lose its hold on the truth. There's another prisoner added to the mix who, with Theo's help, manages to escape but leaves our boy behind to face the consequences. Another journalist, Jim Foley, is taken prisoner and the two families of the men unite and help each other as best they can over the dark time ahead. Finally, Theo's mom explains how "shoe size" figures into all this, and her remarks proves darkly ironic and telling.

At the end of it all, how Theo feels about the whole experience -- his torture, his captors, and what is going on in the middle east -- should, if you are listening and feeling keenly enough, stop you in your tracks. Thanks to Mr. Schisgall and Theo we've been given entry into an experience that puts us in touch with life and the world in a new and very different manner that encompasses much more than you will expect. All the details Theo has given us add up, in their strange and specific way, to what really matters. Suddenly we look at things differently: the homeless man on the street in Israel, for instance.

This an amazing movie and, for my money so far this year, it's the documentary to beat come Oscar time. From Zeitgeist Films and running 86 minutes, Theo Who Lived opens this Friday, October 7, in New York City at the Lincoln Plaza Cinema; in Cambridge, Massachusetts, at the Brattle Theater on October 14; and in Los Angeles at Laemmle's Monica Film Center on Friday, October 21. Click here, then scroll down, to see all currently scheduled playdates -- which I hope, once word-of-mouth starts growing, will increase exponentially.

Andy Tennant's silly -- but surprisingly enjoyable -- "senior" frolic, WILD OATS on DVD

How bad can a movie be that stars Shirley MacLaine, Jessica Lange and Billy Connolly? Not very, as it turns out. WILD OATS, written by Gary Kanew and Claudia Myers and directed by Andy Tennant, may be a foolish, feel-good fantasy about a couple of newly-single seniors who suddenly come into a fortune (incorrectly, as they realize from the outset), but it is acted with enough polish and filled with gorgeous locations and funny/silly/intriguing events that it bounces along handily from first scene to last.

Since it runs but 86 minutes, that first-to-last proves at the very least painless and at best quite chuckle-worthy. It is, as a friend of mine notes about certain movies, like taking a fun, fast and affordable vacation.

As directed by Mr. Tennant, shown at right, who has already given us a number of OK movies -- from Ever After and Anna and and the King to Sweet Home Alabama -- this one may be low on any kind of credibility but it's high enough on the goofy entertainment chart to pass muster.

If a movie like Silver Skies, which I covered earlier this week, can get a theatrical release, it seems surprising -- given its even starrier cast -- that this one could not. In any case, it's available beginning today, Tuesday, October 4, on DVD, Digital HD and VOD. If you're in a mood for light-n-airy entertainment, it'll do the trick.

MacLaine (two photos up) and Lange (above) play BFFs recently left by their men (the former's now a widow, while the latter's hubby has roamed to younger pastures). The women take their new fortune and head for the Canary Islands, where they meet Connolly (below, center), playing a charming senior who appears to be suffering from some form of dementia.

The ladies indulge themselves via this computer-glitch money, even as MacLaine's daughter (played by Demi Moore) and an insurance investigator (Howard Hesseman) fly to the Canaries to head them off. Spanish comedian Santiago Segura makes an appearance as a crooked wine connoisseur, while a cute young hunk who favors older women (Jay Hayden) heads for Ms Lange.

It's all by rote and by golly, but MacLaine's and Lange's polish and professionalism carry the day, while Mr Tennant's work, along with that of the screenwriters, is perfectly serviceable. This movie knows what it is, does not try for anything further, and so delivers its goods effectively. Before you can say, "Hey, it wasn't so bad!" it's all over, you've had your cheap vacation, and you're off to bed. Or maybe for that final nightcap.

From The Weinstein Company (and unceremoniously dumped into a single New York theater last month, with no press screening and consequently no reviews) and released to DVD via Anchor Bay Entertainment, Wild Oats is available now on home video via DVD, digital HD and VOD.

André Téchiné's new jewel, BEING 17, may mark the top of his illustrious career -- with some help from Céline Sciamma

A great, unfolding love story, as well as a wondrous coming-of-age film, BEING 17 is the latest addition to the oeuvre of one of France's gifts to cinema, André Téchiné. Working steadily for over fifty years, Téchiné, shown below, is now 73 years old and his abilities only seem to grow stronger and more assured. Even what may look, upon initial viewing, like a misstep usually prove better with an additional watch. His are some of the best coming-of-age movies ever made: rich, wise and bone-deep. This filmmaker offers behavior above all, then lets us, along with his characters, struggle with the meaning of that behavior until it is somehow sorted out. Not always to the best ends. But always with truth, feeling and even, sometimes, humor.

In his latest film two boys, toward the end of their school years and on the cusp on young adulthood, find themselves engaged in angry competition and even physical fighting. This is brought on more by one -- Tomas, the mixed-race, adopted son of a kindly, hard-working farm family in the mountains -- than by the other, Damien, who is the son of the town's doctor mom and soldier father, the latter most often found abroad in some area of conflict.

Téchiné usually works with some of his country's best and most iconic actors -- from Catherine Deneuve and Juliette Binoche to André Dussollier and Gérard Depardieu, as well as discovering and making the most of young talent that then goes on to find its own impressive career (Gaël Morel, Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet and Roschdy Zem, among many others).

So it is again, as one of France's finest and most versatile actresses, Sandrine Kiberlain stars here as that doctor mom (the still boyish and beautiful Alexis Loret, above, right, of Alice and Martin, plays the soldier dad). Ms Kiberlain (two photos up and above, center) is as eloquent, exotically lovely and engulfing as ever, but the movie belong rightly to its two young stars: Kacey Mottet Klein (above, left, who already has a major resumé behind him, including Sister, Home and Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life) playing Damien, and newcomer Corentin Fila (below), who plays Tomas.

These two young men are terrific actors, representing that oh-so-tricky age of 17 to alternately ferocious and moving affect. There is not a false moment in any of their work nor in any of Téchiné's -- along with Ms Sciamma's who collaborated on the sensitive but never too-explanatory screenplay. Where these feelings of anger are coming from and why are the questions that keep arising, and the filmmaker lets the answers come haltingly and very believably.

I am not certain there is another movie-maker who understands any better how character-building is a thing that goes on and on, revealing itself in small increments along with the growth and change that occurs. And he has found two young actors who can embody this halting growth and change quite splendidly -- coming as it does at the most pivotal and difficult time of life. The two young actors keep us with them, held in an alternately angry and loving embrace, through events minor and major.

The film takes place over four seasons at school, in the home, on the farm and throughout the countryside. Being 17 is a visually beautiful movie (could there be a more gorgeous place to live than here?) but also an equally intelligent one. And it takes its place -- along with an earlier film this year, Summertime -- as one of, maybe the finest of dramas/earned-love-stories of our new millennium.

The movie -- from Strand Releasing and running a just-about-perfect 116 minutes (In French with English subtitles) -- opens this Friday, October 7, in New York City at the Lincoln Plaza Cinema and the IFC Center, and in Los Angeles on Friday, October 14, at Laemmle's Royal and Playhouse 7. Here in the South Florida area it will open on Friday, October 21,at the Bill Cosford Cinema in Coral Gables, the Tower Theater in Miami, the Savor Cinema in Fort Lauderdale, and at the Lake Worth Playhouse in Lake Worth.  Click here, then scroll down to click on Screenings, to view all currently scheduled playdates, cities and theaters across the country where the movie will be shown over the next few weeks.

With OVATION! Henry Jaglom's back -- and in that theater/movie milieu he so thrives on

The name Henry Jaglom generally sends movie buffs running in two directions: toward or away. TrustMovies  tends mostly to the toward, having enjoyed, to some extent and often hugely, the work of this iconoclastic filmmaker. His latest movie -- OVATION! -- features much of what we've come to prize in his work: the near-improvisation-like and very real-seeming dialog, the interest in relationships (and how our personal desires often trump our ability to maintain those relationships), and of course that fascination with theater and movies and life and how these connect and interact.

Mr. Jaglom, shown at right, is also interested in philosophy (though of what that philosophy consists I'm never quite sure), and the other-worldly. Both of these are to be seen here, too. As is his usual stock company of performers, which now include (I am guessing) his son Simon and daughter Sabrina (their last names are Jaglom, too, but maybe they're more distantly related...?) In any case, both are put to good use in this new film, playing a devoted brother and sister, and they come through with flying colors. They're quirky, funny, attractive and believable, and we enjoy watching them perform.

His star and maybe muse, as has been true for the past decade, is again Tanna Frederick,(above, with David Lee Garber, and below, with James Denton) who seems to grow more assured and graceful with each new performance. Ms Frederick appears to be losing some of her mannerisms and ditzy quality, and she manages to shine more brightly -- and concretely -- than ever.

The movie takes place mostly backstage during a very fraught production of The Rainmaker, which might close due to lack of funding (along with some other surprises we learn about toward the end). We don't see anything of the production except various curtain calls. Nor do we need to. First off, adults of a certain age will be familiar with the play, its movie version, and even the musical made from it. In any case, what is happening backstage provides plenty of plot machination and fun.

We get love stories, the dangling of fame and fortune, and even maybe accidental death (featuring the wielding of a large two-by-four not seen since Catherine Frot did something similar in Chaos). And we're given quite a set of oddball but interesting characters, too. (That's Benjamin Chamberlain, above, playing an alternately sweet and scarily unhinged lover of Ms Jaglom, who is shown below, with her less interesting but also less unhinged would-be paramour, played by Brandon Kirk.)

Moment to moment, the film is consistently amusing and fun, even if that two-by-four and it consequence threaten to derail things. We have a maybe psychic on board, too (played by famous acting coach Michelle Danner, below),  along with various and sundry Hollywood types -- agent, producer, manager, showrunner -- who add to the fun and games.

And then we have Ms Frederick, who -- if you are the kind of fan I am -- carries the movie along quite beautifully. She is the embodiment of the love of legitimate theater, along with the quest for fame and fortune, about as well as we've seen all this combined into one singular performer.

Ovation!, from Mr. Jaglom's The Rainbow Film Company and running 102 minutes, opens Friday, October 7, in New York City at the Cinema Village. Elsewhere? Eventually, I am sure. But for now, NYC only....

SEED MONEY: Michael Stabile's doc about gay porn king Chuck Holmes hits DVD and VOD

Quite a trip down memory lane -- well, for those of us, anyway, who remember gay pornography that goes back as far as the 1950s, 60s and 70s and then, via VHS tapes and finally DVDs, into the 1980s and 90s -- SEED MONEY, the new documentary from Michael Stabile, tracks the career of one man, Chuck Holmes, and the company, Falcon Studios, that he and some very young and hunky porn actors created. Written and directed by Mr. Stabile, shown below, the movie is informative, fun, sexy and rather honest in its assessment of Holmes and the industry he helped take from home movie loops into the digital age -- making millions of dollars in the process.

We get a history of gay porn from the 1950s onwards, and of Mr. Holmes, as well, along with his rise from mere pornographer to porn king, a man who had a very good eye for what the market wanted (and could bear). He also knew how to provide all this via the kind hot young guys who proved more and more available for this sort of work, as the repressive 1950s changed to the open and exploratory 60s and finally to the all-out, anything-goes 70s. Holmes also had an eye for how tastes and fashions in male, gay sex objects were changing and evolving, and he kept up with all this so well that he was able to pretty much corner the market.

If we don't learn all that much that's very personal about Holmes (that's he, above, during his businessman/philanthropist days, and at bottom, relaxing with one his boys), we do get clues into his personality and desires via some of the men (and a couple of women) who knew and worked with/for him. And we see how his empire rose and rose by keeping up with the wants and needs of the ever expanding gay marketplace.

We also see and hear from a few ex-porn stars (like Jeff Stryker) who talk about what life was like on set and off, inter-cut with beaucoup scenes from various Falcon Studio films. For most of its length the film skips merrily and quickly along the surface of things: It's all enjoyable but not particularly revealing.

Then come the 1980s -- and AIDS. And, as one Falconer notes,"When we found out all our actors were dying, that pretty much changed things a lot." Uh, yes: One would imagine something like that. Mr. Holmes evidently had grievous objections to his actors using condoms during this time -- not the man's finest hour, to be sure -- but finally, after so many deaths, those actors simply insisted on sheathing the member.

At some point along the way -- someone suggests that this was Holmes' attempt to keep his memory alive -- the man became a noted philanthropist, hobnobbing with movie stars and the cultural and political elite of the day. Yet mainstream attitudes toward sex (particularly the gay variety) and pornography, money and respectability appears to have made Holmes feel, probably with good reason, that he was never quite "in the loop."

All of this becomes part of the Chuck Holmes story told here which is, overall, a pretty sad one, even given the enormous success of Falcon Studios. Yet it's a tale that this movie never quite penetrates very deeply -- despite all the amply proportioned cocks on display. Still, it's certainly an interesting and relatively enjoyable ride. And San Francisco's attractive GLBT Center, one of Holmes' biggest gifts, stands today as a large and costly memorial to the man.

From Breaking Glass Pictures and running a swift, wont-wear-out-its-welcome 71 minutes, Seed Money (a nicely double entendre title, that!) hits DVD and VOD this Tuesday, October 4 -- for purchase and/or rental.

Movie sop for seniors: Rosemary Rodriguez's SILVER SKIES hits Florida theaters this week

It's true that we seniors enjoy seeing ourselves up there on the (as we used to call it) silver screen, but I suspect a lot of us may bridle at depictions such as those in the film that opens this week in Florida theaters. SILVER SKIES is the name of a Southern California apartment complex that doubles as the movie's title, and it is filled with seniors of relatively humble means who suddenly find themselves threatened with eviction when the property is sold to someone planning to turn it into expensive condos.

The biggest draw for the aged here will likely be the once-upon-a-time starry cast of now elders that include the likes of George Hamilton, Valerie Perrine, Barbara Bain, Alex Rocco, Mariette Hartley and Howard Hesseman (among others). And, yes, it is interesting to see how these actors have aged from the time of their career height until now. But as written and directed by Rosemary Rodriiguez, shown at right, the movie lurches clunkily from caricature to caricature, comedy to bathos, and coincidence to coincidence, with occasionally more-or-less believable moments in between. That last is due mostly to the work of the actors on view.

Ms Rodriguez's script is simply bad -- obvious and predictable -- as it tackles subjects that range from gentrification and the real estate market to senior sex and senior sexual abuse, and then abjectly fails to give these the kind of nuance that would make them seem anything more than crass and manipulative. Think of it as an old-fashioned TV sit-com, using today's hyped-up sexual situations and their accompanying language as fodder.

We get it all here, including Alzheimer's (via the character played by Mr. Hamilton, above). While I realize that this disease can render its victim sometimes incapable and at other time more competent, the range this character depicts seems much more due to the needs of the plot than to anything remotely real or genuine.

The cast comes through as well as possible under these circumstances, with Ms Perrine (above) looking as lovely and tart-like as ever, Ms Bain appropriately old-but-caring and Ms Hartley still exuding intelligence and class. After only maybe a half hour of viewing, my spouse likened Silver Skies to suicide-by-movie, but we soldiered on. Arriving toward the finale, the film did seem to improve somewhat, but I suspect that may have been due to the fact that we were, at that point, so worn down by it that we welcomed whatever might come -- so long as it ends.

If you are desperate for something "senior," the film -- opens this coming Friday, October 7, in the Miami area a the AMC Aventura and Sunset Place, in Boca Raton at the Regal Shadowood, in Sarasota at the Regal Hollywood, and in the Ft. Myers/Naples area at the Regal Belltower and Hollywood Stadium.

Alden Peters' COMING OUT: Leaving the closet, even as you're filming it for posterity

When TrustMovies first heard that COMING OUT, the new GLBT documentary from first-time filmmaker Alden Peters, was all about his "coming out" process as a gay man, and that he had simultaneously filmed the whole thing, my mind and heart sank a bit. It is all too easy to imagine how stupid and sappy something like this could be. The opportunities for narcissism, not to mention the difficulty of finding "truth" as you are filming everyone around you -- while remaining, of course, the center of attention -- seemed awfully obvious to me. And I couldn't help wondering why it didn't also seem so to the filmmaker. Well, maybe he's just very young.

Turns out he is very young -- but also rather charming and bright. All of the above, and lots more, seems to have occurred to Mr. Peters (shown above and below) before, during and probably long after his shoot -- in which, yes, he does come out to family, friends and now to the world at large. The experience of seeing/hearing this happen and what it means to Peters and those around him -- for this viewer, anyway -- proved a surprisingly enjoyable, thoughtful, funny and occasionally moving one.

The person to whom Alden initially spills the beans is his older brother, who claims not to have had a clue that his younger bro was gay, even though as a child Alden dressed up like one of the Spice Girls and filmed the whole thing! Other family members at least seem to have considered this possibility. His mom (above, left) asks him one humdinger of a question on camera, while Dad (below, left, and on poster, top, right), who seems a typically gruff and non-verbal example of American manhood, turns out to be pretty damn fine about it all.

The filmed conversation with his group of best friends is particularly buoyant and telling, opening up the subject of how Alden himself feels about being gay. This proves to be a rather dark grab bag of ideas and feelings,  A good-looking kid who, from certain angles, could pass for a very young Tom Cruise, Peters has already experienced gay sex a number of times, but has kept this, along with so much else, closeted. As he has discovered so far, there just doesn't seem to be a good role model for him to follow. Or maybe it's is just that there are so many different role models to choose from that he find this confusing. Many gays, young and old, may find themselves identifying with these feelings.

As the movie lengthens (it's lasts only 70 minutes), we meet other gays who have or are in the process of coming-out -- the beautiful transgender girl Janet Mock, a young black kid named Eric who comes out online to his dad, along with a sociologist, a journalist and a psychologist, all of whom add some thoughtful insight to the proceedings. Finally, though, we're left with Alden, who, while he is now "out," is still faced with a lot more living -- and decision-making -- to do. If we thought this documentary was going to be merely a silly, sappy endeavor, it turns out to be -- in the words of our favorite current TV character, My Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (a show you really must see, if you haven't already: it's streamable via Netflix) -- "a lot more nuanced than that."

Coming Out, from Wolfe Video, arrives on DVD and VOD this coming Tuesday, October 4 -- for purchase and/or rental.