FILM REVIEW finds writing inspiration in her. As Brooke’s (admittedly halfbaked) plans fall through, she drags Tracy and a few dorm-mates off to Connecticut on a mission to secure new financing from a girlfriend she hasn’t talked to in years. At this point Mistress America doesn’t so much hit its stride as shift gears. It moves into a classic screwball situation, a bunch of people in an elegant setting all working and talking at cross-purposes. As he did in his last film, While We’re Young (in theaters only a few months ago), Baumbach has an eye out for the self-rationalizing machinations of creative types; it’s funny, but also bitter. What keeps the movie palatable is Gerwig, who seems to have found a home in independent cinema after her Hollywood shot (as the female lead in the remake of Arthur, against Russell Brand, who tends to suck all the oxygen out of the room) was a flop. Comedies like Whit Stillman’s Damsels in Distress, Lola Versus, and Frances Ha (also in collaboration with Baumbach) have been showcases for her willingness to throw herself into wounded but not entirely sympathetic characters. She’s probably never going to become a household name, but they way she’s going, I hope she never goes back to Hollywood. Mistress America opens this weekend at the Amherst and Eastern Hills cinemas. ***
The subject matter in Best of Enemies—the 1968 televised debates between William F. Buckley Jr. and Gore Vidal—is the definition of a guilty pleasure: It is enjoyable to watch, and, as this documentary by Robert Gordon and Morgan Neville makes clear, we should feel bad that we did (and do). Back in the 1960s, Americans trusted television news. At the time there were three networks, so there wasn’t much to chose from. But for that very reason the networks took that responsibility seriously: If Walter Cronkite or David Brinkley reported something, you trusted that serious effort had gone into verifying the story, and that it was something that you needed to know.
Greta Gerwig and Lola Kirke in Mistress America.
LIFE IN THE BIG CITY MISTRESS AMERICA / BEST OF ENEMIES BY M. FAUST Into each life, a little Brooke inevitably falls. You know the type, the self-absorbed, city-dwelling whirlwind who never accomplishes anything because she’s always trying to do a dozen different things at the same time. The nice way to describe her is that she’s so alive to the possibilities of life (especially in a city like Manhattan) that she can’t help but reach out to more opportunities than she can possibly handle. Or you could just say she’s a manic nut job. You could also think of her as a younger version of Auntie Mame, a comparison that was certainly on the minds of Greta Gerwig, who plays the role, and Noah Baumbach, who co-wrote the script with her and directed the film. Baumbach in particular is an aficionado of classic Hollywood cinema (his mother was film critic Georgia Brown), but he’s not an imitator. Mistress America
IN CINEMAS NOW BY M. FAUST & GEORGE SAX
PREMIERES OPENING FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 4 MISTRESS AMERICA—New comedy from Noah Baumbach (While We’re Young) starring Greta Gerwig as an unmoored Manhattanite who makes life interesting for her soon-to-be stepsister, a college freshman. With Lola Kirke, Heather Lind, and Michael Chernus. Reviewed this issue. Amherst (Dipson), Eastern Hills (Dipson) TRANSPORTER REFUELED—The franchise continues without Jason Statham, who was the only reason you’d ever want to see any of the previous entries. His replacement is someone who says his name is Ed Skrein, and for all I know it very well may be. Directed by Camille Delamarre (Brick Mansions). Area theaters. A WALK IN THE WOODS—Robert Redford and Nick Nolte as old friends who, after 20 years apart, renew their relationship while hiking the Appalachian Trail. (That’s not a metaphor—they’re actually hiking on the Appalachian Trail. Didn’t want you to get the wrong idea.) With Emma Thompson, Mary Steenburgen, Nick Offerman, and Kristen Schaal. Directed by Ken Kwapis (Big Miracle). Opens Weds Sep 2. Amherst (Dipson), Flix (Dipson)
ALTERNATIVE CINEMA BEST OF ENEMIES—Documentary about the live television debates broadcast during the 1968 political conventions, between William F. Buckley and Gore Vidal, public intellectuals who loathed each other. Reviewed this issue. Fri, Sat, Mon, Tue 7:30pm. Screening Room BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA (1986)—John Carpenter
is being promoted as a modern screwball comedy, and it certainly harkens back to that frenetic genre, but with a modern twist. We meet Brooke through Tracy (Lola Kirke), a college freshman and Brooke’s stepsister-to-be. Tracy is an aspiring writer disappointed by her initial experience of college life, so she accepts Brooke’s offer of a get-to-know-you meeting. And the initial effect is dazzling: While life for Tracy seems slow and pointless, Brooke is as bubbly as freshly uncorked champagne, full of plans and ideas. Her current favorite, to be financed by her Greek boyfriend Stavros, will be called Mom’s—“A community center and restaurant all in one, with a really nice bodega selling European candy, and cooking lessons.” Do I even need to say that it will be located in Williamsburg? It doesn’t take Tracy long to see through Brooke, though she
anticipated the West’s interest in over-the-top Chinese fantasy-action movies with this tongue-in-cheek thriller starring Kurt Russell as a trucker battling ancient warriors in San Francisco’s Chinatown. The effects are imaginative (if a bit dated), and Russell’s film-length John Wayne impression is a hoot. Co-starring Kim Cattrall, Dennis Dun, and James Hong. Tues, Thu 7:30pm. Screening Room CALVARY (Ireland, 2014)—Brendan Gleeson as a smalltown Irish priest who is told in the confessional that he will be murdered in one week. The killer’s motive— he kill a good priest to command the world’s attention about the bad ones—leads the priest to spend the time contemplating his faith while visiting his troubled parishioners (a fine supporting cast includes M. Emmet Walsh, Chris O’Dowd, Dylan Moran, Aidan Gillen, and Domhnall Gleeson). Written and directed by John Michael McDonagh. Sun 4pm. Roycroft Film Society, Parkdale School Auditorium, 141 Girard Ave., East Aurora. www.roycroftcampuscorporation.com DIARY OF A LOST GIRL (1929)—Restored version of G. W. Pabst’s melodrama reuniting him with Louise Brooks (after Pandora’s Box) as a naïve middle-class girl whose life takes a turn for the worse when she is seduced and disowned by her family. Opening this season of the Buffalo Film Seminars. Tue 7pm. Amherst (Dipson) THE PETRIFIED FOREST (1936)—Recreating the Broadway performance that made him a star, Humphrey Bogart easily steals the film from top-billed Bette Davis and Leslie Howard in this drama about people held captive by a bank robber in a secluded diner. Directed in vintage Warner Brothers style by Archie Mayo (The Mayor of Hell). Presented by the Buffalo Film Seminars. Tue Sep 8 7pm. Amherst (Dipson) TURBO KID—In this parody/homage to cheesy post-apocalyptic movies of the 1980s, a lonely teen adopts the persona of a comic book character to do battle with
20 THE PUBLIC / SEPTEMBER 2, 2015 / DAILYPUBLIC.COM
Another thing about America at the time that may seem odd to young viewers: Political conventions existed not to finalize and celebrate the party’s candidate, as they do now, but to select him. For this reason they were very important, and in a year as tumultuous as 1968, the whole country was watching the conventions to find out what two men we would choose from to lead us. Desperate to increase their minimal ratings, ABC decided to stage a series of 10 debates, one during each night of the conventions, between Buckley, founder of modern conservatism, and Vidal, then infamous as the author of the bestseller Myra Breckinridge but a longtime political commentator from the liberal side. The two were respected as public intellectuals, a phrase you don’t hear anymore now that the country has grown comfortable with its hatred of intellectuals. And the two loathed each other. These were debates only in the loosest sense of the word. Each was determined to score points of any kind off the other: The gloves, as they say, were off. By that standard the winner was Vidal, who so rattled his opponent that Buckley called him a “goddamn queer” on live television. Of course this was enormous fun to watch and still is. But it was also an early highwater mark in the deterioration of public political discourse. As Vidal notes, “Argument is sugar and the rest of us are flies.” The networks, and pretty much all the media, noted the high ratings that surprised no one more than the suits at ABC, and all the gloves came off. It’s an entertaining documentary, as well as a very sobering one. You can see it this P weekend at the Screening Room.
the local villain. Starring Munro Chambers, Laurence Leboeuf, and Michael Ironside. Directed by François Simard, Anouk Whissell, and Yoann-Karl Whissell. Fri-Sat 9:30pm, Wed 7:30pm. Screening Room
IN BRIEF THEATER INFORMATION IS VALID THROUGH THURSDAY, SEPT 3 AMERICAN ULTRA—It’s essentially the same story as Hitman Agent 47, but with more human characters and a warmer touch, at least in its better moments. Jesse Eisenberg stars as Mike, a West Virginia stoner who has a happy life with his girlfriend Phoebe (Kristen Stewart) but suffers debilitating panic attacks anytime they try to leave town. That’s because he was part of a CIA experiment to create a super-agent before the agency decided the program was a failure and had his memory wiped. The story borrows liberally from the Bourne movies and Quentin Tarantino’s True Romance (it’s not remotely as original as scripter Max Landis likes to make it sound in his widely reposted Tweets about the film’s box office failure). Eisenberg and Stewart make for a sweet and likeable couple (who sound like actual stoners). But the movie falls apart in the third act with too little exposition and too much numbingly unpleasant violence. Co-starring John Leguizamo, Bill Pullman, Tony Hale, and Topher Grace, who has some funny moments as the villain of the piece. Directed by Nima Nourizadeh (Project X). –MF Flix (Dipson), Maple Ridge (AMC), Regal Elmwood, Regal Niagara Falls, Regal Quaker, Regal Transit, Regal Walden Galleria THE DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL— Parents of teenage girls, or those on their way to it, will squirm through this adaptation of Phoebe Gloeckner’s largely autobiographical novel about growing up in San Francisco in the 1970s. Minnnie (Bel Powley), an artistic 15-year-old with
low self-esteem and a mother (Kristen Wiig) awash in all of the decade’s favorite vices, decides to take charge of her own life, a journey that begins with seducing Mom’s boyfriend (Alexander Skarsgard). Minnie’s further experiments, which include a not-quite-intentional foray into prostitution, aren’t presented exploitatively, but that doesn’t make the film any less uncomfortable to watch. Written and directed by Marielle Heller. –MF Eastern Hills (Dipson), Flix (Dipson), North Park, Regal Niagara Falls, Regal Quaker, Regal Walden Galleria END OF THE TOUR—Although it opens with writer David Lipsky hearing the news of novelist David Foster Wallace’s suicide in 2008, this film is not (as many Wallace fans probably feared) a post mortem on what led him to that tragic choice. Lipsky spent several days interviewing Wallace at the end of his book tour for Infinite Jest, and those tapes form the basis of this film. Think of it as a cross between My Dinner with Andre (it’s essentially two guys talking, although just as often pointedly not talking) and Amadeus (Lipsky is both jealous of Wallace’s talent and disdainful at what he sees at his attempts to mask it—Wallace almost certainly knew that there’s nothing Americans hate more than people who are smarter than them.) Starring Jason Segel and Jesse Eisenberg. Directed with a sympathetic but knowing eye by James Ponsoldt (The Spectacular Now). –MF Amherst (Dipson) ENDS TUESDAY, Eastern Hills (Dipson) FANTASTIC FOUR—This third attempt to film the long-running Marvel series (you’re forgiven if you never saw the 1994 Roger Corman version) isn’t as bad as you’ve probably heard; it’s just another cookie-cutter comic book movie, with no more inspiration than a Big Mac. The standard gripe about these movies is that they’re too long. This one is barely 90 minutes, and it’s clearly too short—it’s all origin story, leaving you hungry for some plot (but don’t count on a sequel). Starring Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan, Kate Mara, and Jamie Bell. Directed by Josh Trank (Chronicle). –MF Maple Ridge (AMC), Regal Elmwood, Regal Niagara Falls, Regal Quaker, Regal Transit, Regal Walden Galleria