Courtesy photo
MOVIE REVIEW
Chal Mera Putt 3 (2021)
“Chal Mera Putt 3” bears more resemblance to an entry in a blockbuster franchise than to the 2019 Punjabi sleeper hit that spawned it. The latest sequel is a blast, but it feels for the most part like a feature-length epilogue to the previous two films. Every plot in it is tangential.
Robert Viglasky/Sony Pictures Classics
MOVIE REVIEW
Mothering Sunday (2021)
Based on Graham Swift’s 2016 novel, “Mothering Sunday” is another absolutely pointless reminiscence about a bygone era of wars, manners and servitude, when well-bred society people (Olivia Colman! Colin Firth!) indeed suffered real loss and tragedy – and not the elective and entirely preventable kind such as Lehman Brothers or Covid-19 – yet remained undeterred to meet for picnics and dinners just to trade barbs, throw hissy fits and be awful.
Utopia Distribution
MOVIE REVIEW
Vortex (2021)
Gaspar Noé has gotten moodier with age, but “Climax” felt like a soulless artistic exercise. The death of his mother, Nora Murphy, and his own battle with a brain hemorrhage apparently have had a profound effect on his follow-up, “Vortex,” at least thematically. To be quite frank, the screenplay of the new film may be just as threadbare as the last, but at least Mr. Noé here deploys split-screen that sustains the viewers’ attention more successfully than one single continuous shot.
TIFF
MOVIE REVIEW
Futura (2021)
Three notable figures among the next generation of Italian filmmakers – Pietro Marcello of “Martin Eden,” Francesco Munzi of “Black Souls” and Alice Rohrwacher of “Happy as Lazzaro” – team up for the documentary “Futura,” about youths across Italy disillusioned by a grim future, lack of economic opportunities, insufficient government investment and disruptions brought about by Covid-19. This filmmaking collaborative doesn’t have ambitious aims to disrupt the status quo with a major stylistic movement like la nouvelle vague or Dogme 95. Rather, here they retreat to the country’s great cinematic tradition and follow in Pier Paolo Pasolini’s footsteps.
National Geographic Documentary Films
MOVIE REVIEW
The Rescue (2021)
A documentary recounting the 2018 mission to save a Thai soccer team of 12 kids and a coach trapped inside a flooded cave, “The Rescue” easily matches any dramatic action thriller in its ability to rivet viewers. This is no surprise coming from Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, the filmmaking couple behind the Oscar-winning “Free Solo.”
Jaap Buitendijk/Amazon Studios
MOVIE REVIEW
The Electrical Life of Louis Wain (2021)
Benedict Cumberbatch turns up his eccentricity to 11 in “The Electrical Life of Louis Wain,” as the titular Victorian era artist whose claim to fame is drawing cats for The Illustrated London News. He was apparently also into electricity and patents, which the film glosses over despite the titular reference – but it shows enough here to remind us of the time Mr. Cumberbatch played Thomas Edison in “The Current War: Director’s Cut.”
Final Cut for Real/Neon
MOVIE REVIEW
Flee (2021)
A true story about an Afghan refugee who spent years hiding out in Russia before making it to Denmark to resume some semblance of normal life, “Flee” joins the recent chorus of films covering the same topic, including “Limbo,” “I Carry You With Me,” “El cuartito,” “Chal Mera Putt,” fellow TIFF entry “Snakehead” etc. What makes Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s film stand out is that it’s entirely animated, at times seemingly drawn directly over documentary-style interviews while other times illustrating flashbacks told during these sessions. It’s also perhaps the timeliest of the batch, given recent events in Afghanistan.
Carole Bethuel/Neon
MOVIE REVIEW
Titane (2021)
If you are going to see “Titane” – which, as a bona fide patron of the arts, you should; it’s won Palme d’or and all – you’d be best advised to go in cold. Engaging with it here on any beyond-the-bare-bones level – screenplay, direction, acting, special effects et al. – simply necessitates spoiling. Basically, it’s a series of bonkers body-horror set pieces built strictly on shock value, with writer-director Julia Ducournau overreaching to connect the far-fetched dots.
Courtesy photo
MOVIE REVIEW
Ucha Pind (2021)
Though parts of it are culturally specific, “Ucha Pind” easily trumps Hong Kong movies in the number of times ruthless characters double-, triple-, quadruple-cross one another. It sets up the titular village as a lawless gangland under tyrannical rule, but a few dauntless and reckless outsiders, who may or may not be working with one another, are willing to challenge boundaries. The violence is also gratuitous and graphic, traits seemingly more characteristic of H.K., South Korean or even Hollywood films.
SXSW
MOVIE REVIEW
Islands (2021)
“Islands” shines a light on someone that few would spare a second thought: Joshua (Rogelio Balagtas) is a middle-aged Filipino custodian at a Canadian university who lives with his elderly parents. Although his coworkers invite him for lunch and even offer to pick up the tab, Joshua prefers to sit alone in the breakroom eating baon packed by mom (Vangie Alcasid) and scratching a ticket. He doesn’t have much of a social life, not to mention a love life. When both of his parents become ill and require full-time care, he quits his job to tend to them. Soon after, he relents and calls his cousin Marisol (Sheila Lotuaco), who has just fled an abusive job situation, to help look after mom and dad (Esteban Comilang) and move into his brother’s old room.
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