Tangerine

Writer/Director/Cinematographer/Editor/Producer Sean Baker’s Tangerine is a clever and exciting film.

 

Shot on an iPhone5, makes it a first such work to earn a Spirit Award nomination for Best Feature.

 

Non-actors Kitana Kiki Rodriquez and Mya Taylor are, also, nominated for Best Female Lead and Best Supporting Female, as well; a tribute to the LGBT community in this story of a transgender hooker who is out to get her pimp for being unfaithful to her while she was in lockup. 

There is, also, a hilarious side-story of an Armenian cab driver (Karren Karagulian), whose meddling mother-in-law uncovers his proclivity for transgender lovers.

Though the script is erratic, this is an enjoyable and groundbreaking film.  It's amazing what can be created with a budget of only $125,000.

I give Tangerine a 3.9 out of 5.

Jane Got A Gun

Director Gavin O’Connor’s Jane Got A Gun suffers most from its unfortunate title. 

 

Thanks to a lack of or poor marketing, I was expecting a contemporary thriller; not a Western.  However, for me, the draw was Natalie Portman and I was not disappointed in her performance as a post-Civil War wife/mother in New Mexico whose family is threatened by a ruthless team of outlaws.    

The back story of how she got into her situation, at first, seems intrusive and it is not until late in the film that the strings are tied together in an effective manner.  Writers Brian Duffield, Anthony Tambakis and Joel Edgerton should have reworked this element of the script to allow Editor Alan Cody a chance to shuffle scenes in a more dramatic fashion.

As it is, if you like Westerns, you’ll enjoy Jane Got A Gun because of Portman’s determination as both Actress and Producer.   If you’re not a fan of this genre, however, the story is not powerful enough to warrant your attention.

I give Jane Got A Gun a 2.3 out of 5.

  

Anomalisa

A few years ago, I spoke to Writer/Director Charlie Kaufman after a soul-searching event where he indicated his fears about not having anything new to say.  I urged him to continue his great work without fear.  However, after seen his new film Anomalisa, I’m wondering if I should have kept my mouth shut.

It’s not that it’s a total failure.  Indeed, some are heralding it as a “masterpiece.”  And, I must say, the animation technique is truly exceptional.  However, the story is a “piece” of a different kind.

The main character, Michael Stone (David Thewlis’ voice), is a motivational speaker, who is majorly depressed.  Not knowing in advance that Tom Noonan was doing all but one of the other voices, I wasn’t sure whether or not he had been a homosexual because his past love sounded like she became a transgender, since he walked out on her.  Why the male voice was used did not make sense unless it was some comment that we are all the same.  Really?

I was, also, confused that, despite the wonderful animation, all the characters had weird lines on their faces; that is, until, late in the film, when Stone’s face, below his nose, fell off and exposed a robot-like skull.  A comment that we are all robots?  Please.

 In any case, whether you know about the one-voice of all but Stone and his sexual bent or not, the first 40 minutes of the film are a complete bore.   

Thankfully, Jennifer Jason Leigh’s voice comes from a woman Stone meets at the convention where he is to speak and saves the film from being a disaster; that and a strangely erotic sex scene between her character and Stone.

 

If you’re in to new animation formats and Jennifer Jason Leigh, as am I, you might want to see this film; otherwise, forget it.  I give Anomalisa a 2.5 out of 5.

Mustang

Though it is the Academy Awards French entry for Best Foreign Film, Writer/Director Deniz Gamze Ergüven’s Mustang is a wonderfully entertaining Turkish story that takes place in a rural town along the Black Sea in northern Turkey.

 

Five rebellious young girls from adolescence to mid-teen try to break away from the fundamentalist patriarchy of their uncle (Ayberk Pekcan), who keeps adding to the household security, virtually imprisoning them until he tries to marry them off.

 

It is a tale that is simultaneously hilarious and horrifying because of the disgusting culture in which young women are treated like property without rights.   

The heroine becomes the youngest of the sisters (Gunes Sensoy), who engineers a triumphant escape.

I heartily recommend this film and urge you to see it on Netflix, if you can’t find it in a theater.

I give Mustang a 4.5 out of 5.

James White

Writer/Director Josh Mond’s James White is the semi-autobiographical story of a floundering young man in his 20s (Christopher Abbott), who you wouldn’t care about except for the fact he is devoted to his dying mother (Cynthia Nixon).

This is Mond’s first feature and thanks to Abbott and Nixon, as well as Scott Mescudi, he does an admirable job.

Nixon fans, especially, will be pleasantly surprised at the depth of feeling she brings to her role.

Catch it on Netflix.

I give James White a 3.6 out of 5.