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| Jessica Rothe and friend in Happy Death Day |
Christopher Landon's Happy Death Day is a mashup of Groundhog Day and Scream that is convivial horror fodder. Landon moves things merrily along and coaxes an assured performance from lead Jessica Rothe. There is not much to ponder over, but the young cast is appealing and the tone is spritely instead of lugubrious. Better than I expected.
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| Agnes Varda and JR in Faces Places |
Agnes Varda and JR's
Faces Places is a documentary chronicling the New Wave legend and muralist as they tour the back roads of France with a portable phone booth. The duo print large mural prints of the people they meet along the way and affix them to buildings. A pleasant film,
Faces Places has been described as "radical" by the
New York Times, a judgement that would have been dubious even if the film had been made in the 1950s.
Criticizing any Varda project at this stage seems churlish. It is no sense expecting a Vagabond from her at this point in time. The amiable late life documentaries she has crafted are a testament to her joie de vivre and bonhomie. Only the episode involving Jean-Luc Godard, another senior crafting fine films in his dotage, seems ill-judged.
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| Kedi |
My favorite of this threesome is Ceyda Torun's
Kedi, a profile of the feral cats of Istanbul and the people who love and care for them. Torun starts with a cat's eyes view of her locale, but expands beyond the day to day struggles of her feline cast to offer a compelling portrait of Istanbul and its inhabitants. A treat.
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