There are only two movies in wide release this weekend but a ridiculous amount or movies in limited or platform release and yet, it was every easy to pick this week's Chosen One, the New Zealand comedy...
Eagle vs. Shark (Miramax)
Starring Loren Horsley, Jemaine Clement, Brian Sergent, Rachel House, Craig Hall, Joel Tobeck, Jackie van Beek
Written and directed by Taika Waititi (various short films)
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Rated R
Plot Summary: Jarrod and Lily (Jemaine Clement, Loren Horsley) are two oddball outcasts who find themselves thrown together in a strange romance when they meet at a party dressed as a Shark and an Eagle, but Jarrod wind ups dumping Lily because he's focusing on a grudge match against a school bully who is returning home after nearly 20 years.
Tagline: "Luckily, love is blind."
This was one of the movies that I missed at this year's Sundance Film Festival, and I've been kicking myself ever since, even though I've been able to see the movie twice since then, and frankly, I love it so much that I'd probably see it two or three more times if given the chance. This is very much like the kind of movie that Fox Searchlight was releasing back in their banner year of 2004, kind of a mix of Garden State and Napoleon Dynamite in that it's a quirky romantic comedy, an outsider love story with a bit of a twist due to its New Zealand setting. It stars Jemaine Clement, who most Americans will have seen in his Outback Steakhouse commercials but who is one-half of the folk-comedy duo Flight of the Conchords. It's probably not much of a coincidence that Jemaine's group will be debuting their new HBO series "Flight of the Conchords" this coming Sunday, and regular fans of this column may want to watch it in order to see the Warrior's Chinatown 'hood, because parts of the show were shot there.
As far as Eagle vs. Shark, it's a very funny movie, strange and quirky and even touching at times in an endearing '80s kind of way, the kind of movie that might appeal to anyone who's ever had a crush or been in love with someone. It's a bit like one of my other Sundance favorites, Son of Rambow, in that it throws together two disparate characters who on the one hand, may seem perfect for each other, but also are so weird on their own that one can see why things might not work out. In this case, Jemaine plays Jarrod, an egotistical video game enthusiast wanting to get revenge on a school bully decades after being humiliated by him, while Loren Horsely is the droopy, emotionless Lily, who falls for Jarrod when he comes by the fast food restaurant where she works as a cashier. Adding to the mix are a bunch of funny secondary characters like Joel Tobeck as Lily's brother Damon, who does a lot of really bad impressions, and Jarrod's equally strange family. Eagle vs. Shark opens in New York and L.A. and it's recommended if you like some of the movies mentioned above, particularly Napoleon Dynamite and Garden State.
Also Opening in Limited Release:
Lights in the Dusk (IFC Films) - Oscar-nominated Finnish filmmaker Aki Kaurismaki (The Man Without a Past) returns with the third in his trilogy of movies about loneliness, this time following a security guard who hooks up with a beautiful woman, only to have her frame him to take the fall for a crime. It opens exclusively at New York's IFC Film Center on Wednesday.
Mini-Review: Kaurismaki wears his influences on his sleeve for this stark minimalist drama that follows along similar lines as "Man Without a Past." Looking and feeling very much like an old film, it's hard not to avoid silent movie comparisons as the film's protagonist, played by Janne Hyytiainen, evokes the tragic clowns of yesteryear such as Chaplin and Keaton, while Helsinki's industrial district adds to the bleak nature of the tale as it's beautifully captured on film, once again showing Kaurismaki's ability to create a visually compelling film even when very little is happening on screen. Kaurismaki does a lot to play up the character's loneliness as he's hated by his peers (for reasons unbeknownst to us) making him a true outsider and the perfect patsy to frame for a crime. You do kind of wonder why he doesn't do more to fight back or stop where things are going once he realizes that his pretty new girlfriend is setting him up, but it's fascinating to watch him trying to get his life back together as the film covers a lot of ground in just 80 minutes. Maybe if we saw him get the revenge that we expect, the movie wouldn't have had the same impact, but this fascinating character-driven tale is equally good as any of Kaurismaki's previous films. Rating: 8/10
Beyond Hatred (First Run Features) - Olivier Meyrou's documentary deals with a family's grief and attempt to understand and find forgiveness for the skinhead gang that beat up and killed their son when he admitted his homosexuality. Opens at New York's Cinema Village.
Blood and Tears (THINKFilm) - Opening at New York's Quad Cinema is Isidore Rosmarin's documentary, a comprehensive examination of the three-decade conflict between Israel and Palestine, including interviews with top officials, such as former Israeli Prime Ministers and top Palestinian officials.
DOA: Dead or Alive (Dimension Films) - Hong Kong director and stunt fight coordinator Corey Yuen (The Transporter) takes on the popular battle video game as four fighting women played by Holly Valance, Jamie Pressley ("My Name Is Earl"), Devon Aoki (Sin City) and Sarah Carter face-off in an invite-only battle on a remote island. After many delays, the action movie opens in about 500 theatres in select cities, which might be slightly better than the DVD-only release many expected it to get.
Fido (Lionsgate) - Andrew Currie's zombie comedy takes place in the '50s town of Willard where rampaging zombies have been collared and controlled to be a productive part of society. Scottish comedian Billy Connolly plays one of these zombies, who a young boy named Timmy (K'Sun Ray) befriends, although his faulty collar keeps sending him into murderous rages. Carrie Anne Moss (Trinity of The Matrix) plays Timmy's mother and Tim Blake Nelson plays one of his neighbors. After playing at the Toronto and Sundance Film Festivals, it opens exclusively at New York's Angelika Film Center before expanding elsewhere.
Interview with Andrew Currie
My Review from the Sundance Film Festival
Jhoom Barabar Jhoom (Yash Raj Films) - The latest from Bollywood's prolific Shaad Ali is about two strangers who meet at a cafe in Birmingham, England while waiting for their spouses to turn up... one thing leads to another leading to a messy guilt-ridden affair. Sounds like fun.
Macbeth (Union Station Media) - Shakespeare's classic tragedy is brought to modern day Melbourne and the world of drugs and gang warfare with Sam Worthington taking on the title role. Directed by Australia's Geoffrey Wright (Romper Stomper, Lover Boy), it looks a bit like a cross between Baz Lurhman's Romeo and Juliet and the recent bomb Blood and Chocolate. It opens at the Landmark in Seattle on Friday and in New York on July 6.
Strike! (Red Envelope) - Oscar winning German director Volker Schlondorff reunites with Katharina Thalbach, the star of his Oscar-winning movie The Tin Drum, as she plays Agnieszka, a Polish shipyard welder and faithful member of the Communist Part who is fired after 20 years of loyal service, causing her coworkers to go on strike, which builds across the nation into Solidarnosc, the rise of Lech Walesa and the eventual fall of the Berlin Wall. It opens exclusively at New York's Lincoln Plaza Cinemas.
The Trials of Darryl Hunt (THINKFilm) - Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg's documentary examines the wrongful conviction of Daryl Hunt, a man accused of a brutal rape and murder, and the 20 year capital case trying to get him off. Told from the viewpoint of those involved in the case including Hunt himself, this doc opens in select cities.
Unborn in the USA: Inside the War on Abortion (First Run Features) - This documentary takes a revealing look at the secrets of the pro-life movement via 70 interviews with pro-life activists and footage of the activities of one of the most controversial movements in America. It opens in New York.
