Three very different but critically acclaimed quasi-indies…
The End of the Tour…A finely-observed film that received near-universal critical acclaim, but is a somewhat disappointing experience. It’s based on an interview-profile a Rolling Stone reporter (Jesse Eisenberg) did on writer David Foster Wallace (Jason Segel) around the time “Infinite Jest” was coming out and catapulting him to icon-status. [Remember when people actually cared about the latest literary rock star?] This is a movie I should have liked more than I actually did, as a movie about two writers talking on a book tour to Minneapolis during Winter is something I might like more than most people. The fact that I didn’t (or at least wasn’t that into it) probably stems from the fact that the conversation is billed as “the most interesting one” the reporter ever had, but it doesn’t really play that way. Segel’s Foster is too cagey and guarded to really say anything that fascinating, and Eisenberg’s reporter is too timid to really get the goods from him. All in all, their conversation is more tedious than enthralling, and is yet another example of how the trend of “the single event biopic” (rather than a broader exploration of that person’s life) doesn’t really work. This film isn’t bad, but it left me hungry for a real Wallace biopic. Grade: B-
5 to 7…A charmingly “minor” romance between a “young” American (Anton Yelchin, who seems like an old codger at heart) and an “older” French lady who just so happens to be married (a radiant Berenice Marlohe). The film is interesting in exploring just how different the French truly view marriage than Americans, but after a while you may wonder—as I did—exactly what Marlohe sees in Yelchin, and why he can’t just accept the best deal of his life. The “conflict” he feels seems inserted for plot reasons, and the conventional melancholy ending seems to be a direct contradiction of the previous 9/10ths that have told us “love doesn’t have to be orthodox.” Despite the sell-out ending, Marlohe is terrific enough to make up for the rest. Grade: B-
What We Do in the Shadows…The best of the bunch and one of the strongest comedies of 2015. It’s a mockumentary about a quartet of New Zealand vampires who agree to reveal their inner world in the run-up to an annual Monster’s Ball. My favorite was Jermaine Clement’s deadpan Vlad, but any of the core characters could have been the star of their own film. It’s inventive from beginning to end, and has a terrific look that is something close to a forgotten oil painting you’d find rotting at a garage sale. Grade: A-