Page 16
June 6, 2018
New Films and World Insights
C ontinued from P age 2
daily life. In this story, a young
gaming program designer wakes
to find that his life has been sud-
denly erased; everyone has for-
gotten him and someone else is
living in his house. As he strug-
gles for answers, he eventually
encounters a mysterious woman
who informs him that he has been
conscripted into a job as a gate-
keeper between multiple worlds,
in part because of his potential to
powerfully move between them.
As continual surprises unfold, he
finds both limits and possibilities
that surprise him. As with “Night
Watch,” the inventiveness and
creativity here provides a riveting
window into a distinctly Russian
imagination, including a view of
Russian history and present.
“Lemonade” is the first film
of director Ioana Uricaru, and
she co-wrote the screenplay
based in part on her own expe-
riences immigrating to the U.S.
Though I didn’t learn that until
I read about the film later, I was
“Rust” a new film set in Brazil depicts the repercussions that follow
when a teenage girl’s homemade sex tape is released online.
not surprised; the film rever-
berates with the truth of pain-
ful lived experience. It tells the
story of Mara, a young Roma-
nian woman who has married
an older American man, Daniel,
just before her temporary work
visa was about to expire, and is
now in the process of applying
for a green card, anxious to of-
fer a better life to her 10-year-
old son. In the realistic tradition
of the best Romanian directors,
Uricaru’s film offers a window
into just how vulnerable immi-
grants—and particularly wom-
en— are to corruption at all
levels, how this affects their cal-
culation of risks and options, and
the sheer skill and determination
needed to make lemonade out of
the most bitter lemons.
“Never Steady, Never Still,”
the first feature film of Canadian
director Kathleen Hepburn, is as
beautiful and heartbreaking as its
setting on Stuart Lake in north-
ern British Columbia. It spends
a year-and-a-half with a stoic
family living on a stretch of that
lake—Judy (a devastating Shirley
Henderson), who, in her mid-50s,
has already struggled for two
relentless decades with Parkin-
son’s Disease; Ed, her husband
and patient caregiver; and Jamie
(Theodore Pellerin), their gently
beloved son, newly out of high
A major presence in New York’s theater scene and a champion for
LGBTQ rights, Playwright Terrance McNally is depicted in “Every Act
of Life,” a new film about McNally’s influential life and the world of
the theater.
school with no plan in sight, and
alienated from himself in other
ways as well. After Ed pushes Ja-
mie to take a grueling job in the
oil fields of Alberta, the family
endures an unexpected loss, and
responds in the way its members
know how, pressing on with for-
titude and few words. They have
survived on movement, and yet
both Judy and Jamie find move-
ment excruciating, for quite
different reasons. Henderson’s
performance here is right up
there with the very best I have
ever seen, capturing the ways in
which everything from speaking
to fastening a button can be like
moving an actual mountain for a
Parkinson’s patient, and the ten-
derness and isolation and love
that she shares with her son feels
painful and very true, aided by an
excellent performance by Peller-
in, and by a very patient director.
This film aims not so much to
entertain as to invite presence,
empathy, and stillness. For me, it
succeeded profoundly.
“Rust,” set amongst privileged
white teenagers in Brazil, depicts
a problem that could occur any-
where, though perhaps especially
among privileged teens and per-
haps especially in cultures where
misogyny is especially pervasive.
(Let’s not kid ourselves; that
doesn’t narrow it down much.).
The film begins with Tati’s flir-
tatious interactions with sulky
Renet. They and the other teen-
agers in this film are obsessed
with their phones, constantly
posting selfies and checking for
comments. During an evening’s
flirtation with Renet, Tati’s phone
goes missing—and the next day
a sexually provocative video of
Tati with an ex-boyfriend goes
viral. Tati becomes the target of
adolescent cruelty school-wide
(and, to her mind, universe-wide)
and, unable to imagine that her
life will ever be the same and
searching for a way to reclaim
agency, Tati resorts to a desper-
ate act with lasting reverberations
for many, most especially Renet.
There’s not a lot of nuance here,
but the film accurately plays
out the potentially lethal conse-
quences of the hyped up world
of the internet on adolescents
(and ill-equipped adults), partic-
ularly when our mixed-up values
around sexuality are concerned.
The lazy title of “The Long
Dumb Road” is somewhat tell-
ing; this film isn’t trying to break
new ground and isn’t particularly
original. It’s a road movie with
two mismatched travelers—Na-
than (Tony Revolori), a 19-year-
old heading to Los Angeles to
begin art school, and Richard
(Jason Mantzoukas), the 40ish
loser who fixes Nathan’s starter
after getting fired from his job as
a mechanic and then becomes the
passenger that the naive Nathan
can’t shake. Richard appoints
himself Nathan’s life coach, and
occasionally the tables turn and
Nathan is leading Richard, as
they encounter various opportu-
nities and challenges on the road.
It’s pleasant enough, and occa-
sionally quite funny, even though
there’s nothing new here.
Darleen Ortega is a judge on
the Oregon Court of Appeals and
the first woman of color to serve
in that capacity. Her movie review
column Opinionated Judge ap-
pears regularly in The Portland
Observer.