Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s new movie, “Never Look Away,” has been nominated for a Best Foreign Language Oscar at this year’s Academy Awards. And no wonder. It has the epic incident-laden sweep of something by Tolstoy or Dickens.
If von Donnersmarck’s name is in the least bit familiar, it’s probably for one of two reasons.
“Destroyer” sounds like an old Steven Seagal movie or a new Marvel villain.
It’s neither. Rather, this is a totally unexpected picture, a kind of sunbaked film noir, starring a remarkable Nicole Kidman as an LAPD cop at the very end of her tether.
Allow me to share where I’m coming from as I write about “At Eternity’s Gate,” Julian Schnabel’s wildly uneven, ultimately brilliant film about Vincent Van Gogh.
I love Van Gogh’s paintings. I love that his genius went unrecognized during his lifetime. I love that he went nuts.
As a trained professional (more or less), I’ve been called on to decipher everyone from Bergman and Tarkovsky to Cronenberg and Lynch.
I wasn’t always successful, but at least I felt comfortable at bat.
It’s Christmas and the family has gathered in Chicago. During an otherwise normal holiday dinner, the hostess, Ruth (Blythe Danner), with a sweet smile asks her guests, “And how do you two know each other?”
Given that Nick (Michael Shannon) and Bridget (Hilary Swank) are brother and sister and Ruth is their mom, it’s a bit awkward. It is also a bittersweet reminder that her Alzheimer’s isn’t getting any better.
A star isn’t exactly born in the newest iteration of the well-worn classic. After all, most of us have heard of Lady Gaga somehow, somewhere.
Besides, this isn’t even – technically – her feature film debut. According to IMDB, she’s already appeared on the big screen in “Machete Kills” “Muppets Most Wanted” (as herself) and “Men in Black 3” as “alien on TV monitors.”
Those of us with a particular fondness for the old “Seinfeld” series might recall the episode in which Jerry and the gang consider going to a movie called “Rochelle, Rochelle: A Young Girl’s Strange Erotic Journey from Milan to Minsk.”
Keira Knightley’s utterly silly new movie isn’t called “Colette, Colette,” but it might as well have been.
Taken on purely architectural terms, the titular structure in “The House with a Clock in Its Walls” is a cunning cross between the “Addams Family” manse and Mother Bates’ place in “Psycho.”
Cinematically, however, it’s on far trickier turf. Eli Roth, who took torture-porn to new…heights?…in “Cabin Fever” (which I saw and admired) and the “Hostel” movies (I took a pass), makes a bid for Tim Burton territory. In many ways, he’s successful.
“Hereditary” is so all over the place that it’s often incoherent.
However, it is also a disturbing horror movie with the sort of burned-in-your-brain sequences that will jolt you awake in the middle of the night.
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