Arts & Nightlife :: film
opening this week +++ ALPS › Like his last feature, Dogtooth, Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos’s new film breaks down the conventions of identity, language, and social roles with black comic — and tragic — effect. The “Alps” (the meaning of the name is a definition of meaninglessness) are volunteers who have taken it upon themselves to substitute for the deceased in order to comfort grieving survivors. Tell them your loved one’s favorite actor, food, and so on, provide some articles of clothing, and one of the Alps will fill in for the dead person, complete with recited dialogue and imitative behavior. The grievers accept the obvious substitutes without comment, and all goes well until one of the members moonlights, secretly working cases on her own. With its long takes, arch editing, and affectless acting (with startling outbreaks of emotion), this latest head scrambler, though cold and remote as befits the title, helps make the case that Lanthimos might be a worthy, more entomological successor to Luis Buñuel. › Greek + English › 91m › Museum of Fine Arts _Peter Keough
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+++ ESCAPE FIRE: THE FIGHT TO RESCUE AMERICAN HEALTHCARE › Matthew Heineman and Susan Frömke’s documentary tackles a familiar topic but doesn’t weigh in on the Obamacare issue so contentious in the upcoming election. It’s more a condemnation of the US health system in general, like Michael Moore’s Sicko, sans the self-aggrandizing. Instead it breaks down the problems into comprehensible issues, addressing concerns like the denial of treatment, the proliferation of unnecessary procedures conducted for profit, the link between fast foods and obesity, and the influence of big pharma and the insurance companies in the prescribing of unnecessary medication. The film poses the Canadian system and the use of alternative medicine as potential remedies, and backs its points with interviews of disillusioned industry insiders. As for the title, it refers to the tactic of fighting fire with fires used to contain forest conflagrations, suggesting that something equally drastic is needed to deal with this crisis. › 99m › Coolidge Corner _Tom Meek +++ HEAD GAMES › Legendary documentarian Steve James (Hoop Dreams) again turns his camera on the dark side of America’s obsession with sports, this time looking at the rash of suicides and dementia linked to concussions. He opens with the charismatic Chris Nowinski, a Harvard grad-turned-pro wrestler who made a second career investigating the effects of head injuries sustained in sports. “When I hear about these [athletes dying], it’s my job to get their brain,” he states with a mixture of obligation and dread. One wishes James stuck with Nowinski for the whole film, rather than going with an episodic construction (we also look at pro hockey and women’s soccer, among other things) that feels destined for PBS. Still, all it takes is a few moments with the next generation to see the gravity of the problem. Seeing former NHL star Keith Primeau’s teenage son light up to talk about how fighting is “pretty fun” gives us the conclusion the statistics can’t yet provide: before the games can change, we need to. › 91m › Boston Common + suburbs _Jake Mulligan ++++ HOW TO SURVIVE A PLAGUE › In 1987, 26-year-old Peter Staley, a closeted Wall Street trader, was diagnosed as HIV-positive. Given less than two years to live, he addressed the International AIDS Conference . . . three years later. He’s still alive. Too many from those dark early days haven’t been so lucky, and the survivor’s guilt that runs through filmmaker
David France’s extraordinary documentary is palpable. But ultimately, the story presented by the former reporter for Boston’s defunct Gay Community News is one of hope. We’ve come a long way since France was fired from the New York Post for being gay. He’s been covering AIDS since 1982; the film grew out of a major history of the epidemic he’s compiling for publication, and his chronicle — driven by never-beforeseen archival footage from the frontlines — puts a very human face on its tale of two coalitions, ACT UP and TAG (Treatment Action Group), whose Herculean efforts helped turn a death sentence into a manageable condition. › 109m :: Kendall Square _Brett Michel +1/2 THE ORANGES › A recent college graduate returns home with uncertain prospects and engages in an affair with a much older, married neighbor. Julian Farino’s inept, unfunny romantic comedy reprises The Graduate, 45 years later. Much has changed since Simon and Garfunkel first sang “The Sounds of Silence,” especially regarding gender dynamics. Twentysomething Nina (Leighton Meester) fills Dustin Hoffman’s Benjamin role; she’s back in the family nest after some hard knocks and takes an unlikely shine to next door neighbor David (Hugh Laurie), the best friend of her father (Oliver Platt). But she also takes on the Mrs. Robinson character, being the aggressive, “slutty” seducer of the older man. Why shouldn’t our love be permitted, David wonders, if we’re both happy? Farino ponders this for a while, and the film peeks a bit into taboo terrain. But then it becomes about as sharp as a mealy bite of the title fruit. In short, this is no Graduate; it barely makes it out of first grade. › 90m › Kendall Square _Peter Keough +++ PITCH PERFECT › Jason Moore’s musical doesn’t hit all the high notes, but guilty pleasures are seldom perfect. Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson, and Brittany Snow play members of a collegiate a cappella ensemble, the Bellas, who are out to redeem themselves after a disastrous appearance at the national competition. Kendrick’s character, the lone wolf, can renovate the outdated group with her musical mash-up skills. Meanwhile, Elizabeth Banks and John Michael Higgins play commentators during the performance sequences, and their crude jokes break up any monotony. There are enough girl jokes (a group called the Menstrual Cycles) and gross gags (vomiting!) to let you forget you’re being subjected to numbers like “Bring It On” or “Stick It.” With its cattiness, bits of insanity, and love story, Pitch Perfect has a great time despite a formulaic plot. If this is what it takes to erase Glee: The 3D Concert Movie from our collective memories, then so be it. › 105m › Boston Common + Fenway + suburbs + _Monica Castillo +++ SOLOMON KANE › The last time Pete Postlethwaite died onscreen, he was being gunned down in The Town. Now, nearly two years after the actor’s actual death, he appears as a doomed man of God, whose daughter, Meredith (Rachel Hurd-Wood), is taken in a raid by demonic forces on horseback. It’s up to former ship captain (and Robert E. Howard creation) Solomon Kane (James Purefoy) to save the lass, fulfilling her father’s dying wish, while redeeming himself on a quest of holy vengeance. Before this turn of events, Kane had renounced violence, devoting himself to a puritanical life of peace in early 17th-century England. That time has ended, benefiting fans of bloody, violent action. Writer/director Michael J. Bassett stages the carnage under so much rain-soaked filth, you can almost smell the stench. It’s a good stench. The movie’s also seven minutes shorter than the version released in Europe three years ago, chopped with as little regard as those who dare face Kane’s signature cutlass. › 104m › Boston Common + suburbs _Brett Michel