The director of “Milk” and “Good Will Hunting” bounces back with one of his best, most entertaining films yet, while a number of other films tackle complex, meaty topics.
Here’s our roundup.
“Dead Man’s Wire”: After somewhat of a dry spell, Gus Van Sant comes out swinging with one of his most consistently entertaining features in decades, a rousing truth-based crime dramedy that relates the relatively simple tale of a twitchy, outraged Indianapolis man taking a banker hostage. Everything about it works, in particular Bill Skarsgard’s fastball performance as Tony Kiritsis, a guy fed up with the bank’s hard line (read: greedy) approach to his late mortgage payments that he claims were due to a botched investment by the bank. He concocts a cockamamie plan to attach a wire connected to a shotgun around the neck of bank employee Richard O. “Dick” Hall (Dacre Montgomery) and then issue a set of demands to Hall’s not overly concerned Florida-vacationing dad (Al Pacino). The media goes wackadoodle over this very public and televised event that draws into its fold a smooth-talking DJ (Colman Domingo) who Tony has taken a shine to. In the process, Tony becomes somewhat of an antihero by sticking it to corporate America. Sound familiar? Media types scurry about to get the scoop but it’s extra-sharp rookie reporter Linda Page (San Jose native and “Industry” star Myha’la) who might well get her chance to shine. Van Sant’s feature re-creates the 1977 details to perfection while the screenplay by Austin Kolodney wields a rapier wit and an awareness that this tale, which tips its hat to Sidney Lumet’s great “Dog Day Afternoon” (which starred Pacino) and other great ’70s American films that feel timely today because people are once again are mad as heck at corporate America and the system. Details: 3½ stars out of 4; opens Jan. 9 in select theaters, expands Jan. 16.
“I Was a Stranger”: Brandt Andersen’s 2020 award-winning short “Refugee” got shortlisted for an Oscar. He’s since expanded upon the story of a doctor and her daughter fleeing from Aleppo during the Syrian Civil War and it’s led to a hard-hitting feature that couldn’t be more pertinent or more needed. Andersen issues a plaintive and impassioned plea for understanding and compassion about the plight and perilous circumstances of refugees. While it too centers on pediatric surgeon Amira Homsi (Yasmine Al Massri) and her daughter Rasha (Massa Daoud) trying to flee Syria after a bomb strikes their home, it fleshes out four other perspective tethered to this humanitarian crisis — a soldier (Yahya Mahayni), a smuggler (Omar Sy), a poet (Ziad Bakri) and a coast guard captain (Constantine Markoulakis). The narratives further delineate how they play a part in Amira’s journey, which takes her to Chicago. “I Was a Stranger” isn’t graphic but it doesn’t soft pedal the cruelty or the brutality of the interconnected stories. It’s a suspenseful handwringer that features one of the most nerve-wracking boat-raft passages I’ve ever seen on film. Andersen has also come up with a perfect ending, one that illustrates so much by saying so little. I just hope more people get the chance to see this incredible film. Details: 3½ stars; opens Jan. 9 in area theaters.
“Rosemead”: In this harrowing, well-acted, truth-based drama, cancer-stricken mom Irene (Lucy Liu, in a tone-perfect performance) grows more concerned and alarmed about her troubled son (Lawrence Shou, in a stunning feature debut). Joe has schizophrenia and sometimes goes off his meds. Irene sees worrying signs and fears what will happen to him once she’s gone. Inspired by a 2017 Los Angeles Time article about a San Gabriel Valley tragedy, director Eric Lin’s heartbreaking feature painfully reminds us of the need to get help and how mental health issues within Asian cultures need to be destigmatized. The mother-son dynamic between Lui and Shou never hits a false note while both actors never downplay the challenges that each of their characters confront. This is the very definition of a tough but important watch, and it’s handled with sensitivity by all involved, especially the Fremont-born Shou and Liu. Details: 3 stars; opens Jan. 9 in theaters.
“All That’s Left of You”: Cherien Dabis’ epic covers seven decades in the tumultuous lives of a Palestinian family and it’s a sweeping emotional achievement from the award-winning Palestinian American filmmaker and actor. Dabis frames the story in a literary fashion, beginning it in 1988 in the Occupied West Bank as teenager Noor and his friend get caught up in a protest that leads to a tragedy and reconfigures the lives of Noor’s parents (played with poignancy by Dabis and Saleh Bakri), The film then briefly flashes forward and then back to 1948 Jaffa in Palestine to accomplish its goal, giving us an authentic and immersive decades-spanning overview of the Palestinian experience. Dabis shifts her focus to Noor’s grandfather Sharif (Adam Bakri) whose family gets displaced at the start of the Arab-Israeli War. She then hopscotches through the decades to illustrate the changes, the joys and the tribulations that Palestinians have endured. It’s an ambitious endeavor to bring to light the Palestinian experience in a major film such as this one. It’s also a tough feat to pull off and Dabis does an incredible job of never making it seem like her characters are talking-point symbols. Her cast helps to, with three generations of actors portraying fathers and sons, including the late Mohammad Bakri, who plays an older version of Sharif. Dabis’s film is fearless and ventures into tricky waters in its third act where it wisely avoids a pat, feel-good resolution. But the film is at its strongest during a sequence when Salim (Saleh Bakri), the son of Sharif and father of Noor, encounters Israeli soldiers who belittle him in front of his son while both on their way to pick up a prescription for Salim’s ailing father. It’s heartbreaking and ever so effectively makes you feel Salim’s humiliation and fear. “All That’s Left of You,” Jordan’s entry for best international feature, is a potent and gripping family drama that enlightens and moves us in equal measures. Details: 3½ stars; opens Jan. 9 at the Roxie in S.F. and screens Jan. 11 at the Smith Rafael Film Center.
“Is This Thing On?”: Director/co-screenwriter Bradley Cooper curbs the flashier filmmaking flourishes that marred his “Maestro,” and the result is one of his best features, an observant and wise depiction on the disorientation and loneliness that happens when a couple separates. Both funny and bittersweet, “Is This Thing On?” begins with the amicable parting of ways between Alex (Will Arnett, who is also co-writer and producer) and Tess (Laura Dern). They’re not angry at each other, just resigned to the reality that they’ve lost their way as a couple.
Alex unwittingly thrusts himself onto the comedy stage where he bares his soul. The audience connects to his truth-laced shtick and he’s soon a regular. Meanwhile, former volleyball star Tess craves reviving an on-hold career and pursues a job as a coach and even wades into the dating pool. Their couple friends (Cooper and Andra Day, Sean Hayes and Scott Icenogle – who are married in real life) and Alex’s parents (Christine Ebersole and Ciarán Hinds) react to the “news” of the breakup in a variety of ways; and a smart screenplay from Cooper, Arnett and Mark Chappell make the film seem mature and wise.“ Is This Thing On?” is gratefully never cynical, just aware that the happily-ever-after scenario doesn’t cover the the scope of what relationships are all about. Details: 3 stars; now playing in theaters.
“The Voice of Hind Rajib”: It’s that call any emergency responder will never forget. A concerned family member in Germany reaches out to the Palestine Red Crescent station asking if they could contact relatives in Gaza City. They’re worried about them due to the Israeli invasion. When Omar (Motax Malhees) contacts the number, 5-year-old Hind Rajib answers. She is confused, fearful and stuck in a shelled car in an unsafe zone. Director Kaouther Ben Hania’s unnerving docudrama is very singular in its purpose and in its storytelling as it uses the actual recorded voice of Hind Rajib as call responders race to rescue her from a dangerous situation. Unnerving from start to finish, this recounting of events is emotionally shattering and will rock and shake you to your very core as it illustrates the heavy moral cost of retaliation and the innocent lives struck down in its path. Some might take issue that actual recordings get used, but given the message this expertly made film so emphatically presents, that haunting voice makes the film all that more powerful, meaningful and dispiriting. Details: 3½ stars; opens Jan. 9 at the Roxie in S.F. and screens Jan. 9 at the Smith Rafael Film Center; expands Jan. 16.
Contact Randy Myers at soitsrandy@gmail.com.
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