I apologize that I'm going to cop out on picking a Chosen One this week because frankly, all of this week's limited releases are decent and worth seeing and they each have something to offer, even if though there are no real standouts.
Opening on Wednesday:
The Boss of It All (IFC First Take) - Eclectic Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier (Dogville, Dancer in the Dark) is back, this time with a dark comedy about an actor hired to pretend to be the boss of a company to throw the workers of an office off-track when the real boss makes a bunch of unpopular decisions. It will open at the IFC Center on Wednesday.
Mini-Review: Fans of "The Office" will get a kick out of this funny and quirky departure for von Trier, which has such a clever premise that you can almost count the days until Hollywood tries to adapt it into a whimsical comedy vehicle for Tim Allen, Will Ferrell or the like. Like much of von Trier's previous films, the production values are very rough, particularly the editing, which is somewhat distracting until you get used to it, but he's created a funny group of characters and thrown them into a situation that only gets more outlandish as it goes on. What really drives the movie is the performance by Jens Albinus as the pretentious dramatic actor who has to pretend he knows what is going on, and Peter Gantzler as the real boss who hired him as the patsy. These two actors are great together, really setting up some funny scenes when they meet in a neutral place to discuss how to deal with the workers. A nice change of pace for von Trier, who makes a brief appearance to let the audience know not to expect too much, and one that will hopefully cleanse his palate for whatever he chooses to do next. Rating: 7.5/10
Opening on Friday:
Angel-A (Sony Classics) - Luc Besson returns with his second movie of the year, this one being a romantic action-comedy set in the streets of Paris starring Jamel Debbouze (Amélie, Indigènes) as a pathetic and massively in-debt loser who gets lucky when he saves the statuesque blonde Angela (Danish hottie Rie Rasmussen) from a suicide attempt. Claiming to be his guardian angel, she proceeds to help him get back on track. It will open in New York and L.A. on Friday.
Review
Interview with Luc Besson & Rie Rasmussen
Golden Door (Miramax) - Martin Scorsese presents Emanuel Crialese's Italian immigrant epic about a poor peasant family from Sicily, headed by (Vincenzo Amato), who take a long and trecherous journey by ship to America, meeting a beautiful British woman (Charlotte Gainsbourg of Science of Sleep) along the way. The winner of six awards at the 2006 Venice Film Festival (a huge achievement!), this gorgeous look at the immigrant experience will open in New York this Friday and in L.A. on June 1. Mini-Review (Coming Soon!)
Paprika (Sony Classics) - This trippy new animated film from Satoshi Kon (Millennium Actress, Tokyo Godfathers) deals with the use of technology to explore dreams, following Dr. Atsuko Chiba and her dreamworld alter-ego Paprika as they investigate the theft of a device that allows the thief to enter other's dreams. Based on the '90s science fiction story by Yasutaka Tsutsui, Kon's latest played some of the most prestigious film festivals all over the globe will open at the Angelika Film Center in New York on Friday and in L.A. on June 1.
Mini-Review: Satoshi Kon's glorious visuals and the way he uses them to create fantastical dream sequences are the driving force of a rather strange and surreal sci-fi experience that's often hard to follow. Fans of Grant Morrison's weirder comic book work should feel right at home as Kon veers away from conventional storytelling with its fluid transition between reality and dreams, his creativity being most prevalent when surveying various elements used to make up the dream parade that foreshadows the switch to the dreamworld. The concept of a "DC Mini" and its uses isn't particularly clear despite all of the techno-babble used to try to explain dreams and how the device can be used to invade them. Still, there's a lot of charm to the characters and their story, particularly the obese man-child genius Dr. Tokita whose arc will certainly appeal to the typical male Anime geek. There's some concern of the movie turning into a typical Japanese male power fantasy, particularly in one scene where Paprika is pinned to a table like a butterfly as one of the antagonists implies doing unthinkable things to her, but it's the one dark moment in a charming and fun ride that takes full advantage of Kon's inventive animation style to create something that demands and withstands multiple viewings. "Paprika" is another one of those rare Anime films that can be enjoyed by those who feel that animation is only kids stuff. Rating 7.5/10
