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| Adele Exarchopoulos and Melanie Laurent |
Tom George's See How They Run attempts to craft a backstage mystery out of the original production of Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap. Sam Rockwell and Saoirse Ronan are the Mutt and Jeff team helming the investigation. Rockwell is miscast and Ronan is reduced to playing a chipper neophyte. Mark Chappell's script, which wittily plays with the mystery structure, is deficit in exploring character and no rapport is built between the two leads. George's direction is consistently lead footed with split screens used to feeble effect. The talented supporting cast, including Ruth Wilson and Shirley Henderson as Ms. Christie, is underused. The one bright spot is Amanda McArthur's witty production design.
Bill Norton's Cisco Pike, released after much delay in 1972 , was Kris Kristofferson's film debut. Kristofferson stars as a struggling musician who is forced by a corrupt cop (Gene Hackman) to return to dealing in order to keep out of jail. The plot meanders, but the film provides an interesting look at LA circa 1970. Kristofferson shows promise, but I wouldn't call what he does here acting. The main delights of this feckless film are on its fringes where a host of interesting performers and character actors steal the spotlight, including Karen Black, Roscoe Lee Browne, Harry Dean Stanton, Severn Darden, Viva, Joy Bang, Antonio Fargas, Howard Hesseman, Doug Sahm, and Wavy Gravy.
Jalmari Helander's Sisu is a Finnish action film set in the waning days of World War 2. A miner in Lapland is left for dead by a column of retreating Nazi soldiers. He proceeds to exact a pitiless revenge. One needs to swallow a certain amount of mythic hooey to enjoy this restrained and largely silent gore fest. Action fans will be rewarded by a well-constructed and, darest I say, elegant slice of carnage. This testimonial to Finnish fortitude augurs that country's embrace of NATO; so back off or beware, Vlad.
Emerald Fennell's Saltburn is a black comic mashup of Brideshead Revisited and Teorema. Too obvious and not funny enough to be effective satire, the film struggles to find a consistent tone. The intimations of pagan sacrifice and the occult (that sulphureous title) also come to naught. Barry Keoghan fails to bring the menace that emanated from him in The Killing of the Sacred Deer. It's nice to look at, except for the overuse of shadow during Keoghan's "erotic" encounters, and I loved the costumes, but the talented and attractive supporting cast are all adrift searching for their characters.
Mark Cousins' The Storms of Jeremy Thomas is a meditative look at the career of the maverick English film producer (The Last Emperor, Crash). As is his want, documentarian Cousins injects himself into the picture; most of the film was shot on a road trip to Cannes Cousins took with Thomas. Since the two men share a passionate cinephilia, the results are fruitful. Those not familiar with Thomas' filmography, particularly the films he produced for director Nicolas Roeg, might want to steer clear,
Alice Winocour's Revoir Paris features Virginie Efira as the survivor of a terrorist attack dealing with the resultant trauma, guilt, and shame. Winocour's supple direction makes this a seamless and effective drama, but the plot's machinations sometimes seem predictable and pat. Still, the film provides a look at an interesting and varied cross-section of Parisian society with ample opportunity for the supporting cast to shine, especially Benoit Magimel.
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| Virginie Efira |
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