Nouvelle Vague

Directed by Richard Linklater

Starring Guillaume Marbeck, Zoey Deutch, and Audry Dullin

Netflix

Nouvelle Vague is a love letter to the French New Wave and to Jean-Luc Godard. It shows how much Richard Linklater loves this genre and filmmaker. I felt like I went back in time to when this film was being made. I was standing there, and it was serial. That’s how much I felt like I was so fully immersed in this movie. The entire cast, including Guillaume Marbeck as Godard, was fantastic. Without knowing much about him, I was completely blown away by his portrayal of Godard. He had me cracking up more than once at his antics. Zoey Deutch was good as well but not as good as Kristen Stewart as this actress Jean Seberg. The cinematography and score are also both very good as well. The black and white cinematography perfectly lent itself to this movie. Linklater knew exactly what he was going for, and he achieved his goal. It would be a travesty if this film didn’t get nominated for Best International Feature at next year’s Oscars. It deserves that honor so much. Hopefully, people will go see this movie and / or see it when it airs on Netflix. It deserves that much, at least. I genuinely loved this film so much. I am a huge fan of Linklater’s Before Trilogy and Boyhood, but this may, in fact, be the best film hs ever made. I can honestly say that with good intentions.

4 stars

Sentimental Value

Directed by Joachim Treir

Starring Stellan Skarsgard,  Renate Reinsve and Inga Ibsdotter Lilieas

NEON

Sentimental Value is the follow-up film from Jaochim Treir, who directed The Worst Person in the World. He collaborates with his star Ranate Reinsve from that movie. She once again gives a stellar performance as the estranged daughter of a filmmaker played by Stellan Skarsgard. He has a role in his latest movie for her, but their troubled past gets in the way of the decision to take the role for her. This film also stars Elle Fanning and Inga Ibsdotter Lilieas. They are also fantastic in their roles. An old family house plays a role in the movie as well. This film is filled with family trauma from their pasts. This won an award at the Cannes Film Festival this past June, and I can understand why. It’s a terrific international language movie that will be sure to garner a lot of awards buzz this season. Especially in the acting categories and for Best International Feature. It’s a must-see film from my perspective. Trier and Reinsve have made another incredible movie.

4 1/2 stars

Nirvana the Show the Band the Movie

Written/Directed by Matt Johnson

Starring Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol

NEON

Nirvana the Band the Show the Movie is based on the widely successful Canadian show created by Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol. The show mainly revolves around schemes hatched by the duo to figure a way to play a show at their favorite night spot, The Rivoli. Most of the episodes revolve around one movie or another that they love. That’s the case here with the movie as well. It just takes place on a larger scale. This time around, the pair try a bigger escapade than normal. As a scheme to skydive from the CN Tower to the Skydome goes horrible wrong and ends up getting them involved in a time travel element instead. Using “Back to the Future” as a reference. I remember seeing Matt Johnson in the dramedy Blackberry last year and earlier this year in Matt and Mara. He is definitely an acquired taste as far as actors go. His creative juices are on point, though, as he is a fantastic writer/director. He wrote a story and directed the heck out of this story. The message at the end of it was that friendship overcomes all odds in the end. I was so blown away by how much I really enjoyed this. Considering I had never seen an episode of the show. This should be a way into the show for other people who haven’t seen it like me.

4 stars

Rental Family

Directed by Hikari

Starring Brendan Fraser, Shannon Gorman, and Takehiro Hira

Searchlight Pictures

Rental Family is the latest film from the Japanese director Hikari. It stars Brendan Fraser as a struggling actor in Japan. While waiting on a dream role, he takes a job at an agency specializing in filling the void in peoples lives. Like as an replacement for family members or friends. He had a problem getting into the role at first but when his boss played by Takehiro Hira hires him to play the father of a little girl, Mia (Shannon Gorman) he starts to getting into his job. The problem is he cares too much about the place he plays in these peoples lives. He really cared about a couple of his clients. This film hit me very hard on multiple levels. Two of the characters Fraser’s character plays fit very seamlessly into my own life. An old man telling his story to a journalist and the father figure to the little girl meant a lot to me. I resonated with these subplots of the movie very much. I was emotionally wrecked while watching this film. Fraser was incredible, but the direction and story were so powerful. Hikari and Searchlight Pictures have an absolute winner on their hands.

5 stars

The Secret Agent

Directed by Kleber Mendonca Filho

Starring Wagner Moura

NEON

The Secret Agent is the latest Brazilian based film that has caused a fervor here and abroad. Last year, “I’m Still Here.” It was a huge hit with audiences winning an Academy Award for Best International Feature as last March’s Oscars. That country and Sony Pictures Classics hope to copy their success from last year with this film. This foreign language movie stars Wagner Moura as a professor at a local Sal Paulo University. He’s part of an inventing team that does experiments. A rival company is jealous of their success, and the head of the company has put a hit out on this man and his family. He has been put in a secret job with an alter ego to hide who he is, but he still ends up fighting for his life. He has enemies he didn’t know about. This film is a period piece set in the late 70s, and the cars’ clothes and hairstyles all represent that time period. I loved all the period garb the character wore and their looks. Moura started his career on Narcos plying Pablo Escobar, the Columbian drug lord. He was good in that show, but he plays a different, more toned back character here. It was good to see a different side to him. He was fantastic in the role as this man just trying to do his job when he was caught up in a political agenda. I think he’ll be a serious Oscar contender come next year’s Academy Awards for Best Actor. This was a solid movie that was anchored by a great performance from him. All in all this is a film to seek out when it’s available to watch in theaters.

4 1/2 star

Train Dreams

Directed by Clint Bentley

Starring Joel Edgerton, Felicity Jones, William H Macy, and Katriana Balfe

Netflix

Train Dreams is the latest film from director Clint Bentley, who made The Jockey. His collaborator Greg Kwedar, who is the writer, also directed Sing Sing. Together, they made a heartbreaking film with an unbelievable gut-wrenching performance from Joel Edgerton. He literally bares his soul on screen for the world to see. This movie is a view into a time gone bye era, and it’s shot in a breathtakingly gorgeous way. The cinematography is some of the best I’ve seen all year. Bentley and company captured the wilderness, nature rivers, and beautiful forests very well. This was an absolutely gorgeous film to behold. This is a must-see movie for any cinephile where they see it on Netflix or in a theater. It’s one of my favorite movies I’ve seen thus far this year.

5 stars

Left Handed Girl

Directed by Tsou Shih-Ching

Starring Janel Tsai, Shih-Yuan Ma, and Nina Ye

Netflix

Left-Handed Girl was directed by Tsou Shih-Ching, the frequent collaborator of Sean Baker, the four time Academy Award winner for Amora last March. He is also the editor and one of the producers on this movie. This film is about a struggling mother with two daughters. A rebellious teenager and a toddler. All three of the actresses who played these women and little girl all give fantastic performances. Both of the younger actresses are very good in their roles. These girls have to figure out out how to navigate the difficult world they they exist in. This movie puts turmoil of family difficulties and traumas in the forefront. It doesn’t hold back on how family members don’t always get along with each other. Financial troubles are a big cause of that. The cinematography is amazing, especially when the teenage daughter is driving around on her scooter. This is going to be hard for some to watch because it’s in the Mandarin/Tiwanese language. The subtitles move pretty fast. It’ll be on Netflix later this year. I explore everybody who can relate to financial issues and family trauma to see this film. It’s very good in a lot of different ways. Not the least of the performances of the three lead actresses.

4 stars

Jay Kelly

Directed by Noah Buambach

Starring George Clooney and Adam Sandler

Netflix

Jay Kelley is the latest movie for writer/director Noah Baumbach. It stars George Clooney as an aging film star, the title character, who is coming up on the end of his career. It also stars Adam Sandler as his agent, who handles all the ins and outs of his career. On a trip to Europe to receive an award, both men start to realize what they mean to each other. Regarding Clooney ‘s character career. A lot of stuff comes to a head in their respective lives with and without each other. Clooney is basically playing a version of himself. Baimbach even goes as far as using footage from his career in a tribute to him. Sandler has been in the business for a while, so it’s not a stretch for him to play this kind of agent. They are both good in their respective roles. What I mainly got out of this movie, though, was that Buambach was a big fan of High Noon the Gary Cooper and Fred Zinneman classic western. This movie reminded me of that film which I love so much. I was glad to see that’s what he was going fo4 in this story. It worked well in this context. People should definitely see it in the theaters or when it airs on Netflix later this year.

4 stars

Hamnet

Directed by Cloe Zhao

Starring Jessie Buckley, Paul Mescal, Joe Alwyn, Jacobi Jupe, and Noah Jupe

Focus Features

Hamnet is a film about a tragedy that inspired one of the greatest wordsmith to write the greatest tragedy of all time. All the greats, whether they be musicians, or athletes or in the case of this film writers have to be inspired by something. William Shakespeare just so happened to be inspired by the death of his son, Hamnet. This tragedy affected Shakespeare, played brilliantly by Paul Mescal, and his wife played very effectively as well by Jessie Buckley. She mourns very heavily for her son and daughter, who almost died. None mourned more than Mescals William Shakespeare. Chloe Zhao, the director, pulled on the proverbial heartstrings throughout this period piece film. You’d be hardpressed not to have a tear in your eye or get very emotional at the events that take place in this movie. Zhao is good at eliciting sad emotions from her characters in some of her previous films like The Rider and Nomadland. This is a clear-cut awards contender because of the terrific writing, directing, and especially acting in this movie. I was genuinely moved by what I saw from beginning to end of this film. It is the closest film I’ve seen all year that is anywhere near a masterpiece.

4 1/2 stars

Dan Skip Allen