“Don’t Think Twice”
Mike Birbiglia‘s low-key, wry comic eye, honed for years with his stints on “This American Life” among other gigs, was well in evidence with his directorial debut “Sleepwalk With Me,” based on his own confessional play. Four years later, his follow-up “Don’t Think Twice” is no less personal, and possibly even better as Birbiglia follows the fortunes of an improv comedy troupe variously dealing with the fallout when one of their number gets famous after being hired for an ‘SNL‘-style comedy TV show. The wry but chatty warmth of the delivery and the insider-y observations are already recognizable hallmarks of Birbiglia’s style, and his terrific supporting cast (including Keegan-Michael Key and a gently revelatory Gillian Jacobs) all do fine work, but what’s maybe most admirable about the film is how well it hangs together as an ensemble piece. Showing a deep and wistful understanding of the power of belonging to a little tribe, be it ever-so-ephemeral and/or misunderstood by outsiders, and also being courageous enough to show his own character (Birbiglia also appears) in a very unflattering light at times, “Don’t Think Twice” is good-natured but never sappy, charming though sharp-edged, its sweetness laced with sadness.
“Embers”
Look beyond the lineups of major world film festivals, and you’re bound to find some sort of hidden gem that doesn’t get any recognition for no reason other than people not being aware of it. In 2016, that hidden gem was Claire Carré’s debut “Embers,” a low-budget, high-concept sci-fi that was never given a big-enough audience to earn the praise it deserves. It takes place years after a neurological disease has wiped out everyone’s ability to have memories, and through five different storylines, the film explores how much memory defines us. It’s a simple but very effective idea, and while the five plotlines don’t really intersect or connect beyond a thematic level, all of them remain compelling on their own, with the highlights including a former intellectual (Tucker Smallwood) trying to retain his knowledge and a young, uninfected woman (Greta Fernández) living in isolation in order to keep her memory. It’s an impressive small-scale ensemble piece, both rich in ideas and craft that feels like it’s from a seasoned pro rather than a first-time director. Here’s hoping that, much like “Coherence,” “Donnie Darko,” “Primer,” and other rich, idea-heavy indie sci-fi films, “Embers” will slowly but surely gain a strong, vocal following that will help give it a second shot at notoriety.
“The Eyes Of My Mother”
A monster movie in which the monster is all the more terrifying for coming in the shape of a sullen, traumatized young woman (2016 breakout Kika Magalhaes), by rights Nicholas Pesce‘s horror movie should have been a Sundance hit on a par with “The Witch” or “The Babadook.” But maybe it’s just too unsettling even for that kind of categorization, as it offers a desperately skewed view of motherhood and family, and a nasty streak of goriness somehow rendered all the ickier for unfolding in prosaic, matter-of-fact black-and-white. “The Eyes Of My Mother” tells the story of the profoundly disturbed Francisca, who, having witnessed the murder of her mother on the isolated farm on which they live, takes a uniquely depraved form of “revenge” on the perpetrator. Years later, her isolation and loneliness has magnified her psychoses to a degree that makes Norman Bates seem like a model of mental health, and her attempts at connecting with the world yield increasingly queasy results. The truly special aspect of the film, though, is its calm assurance despite the borderline torture-porn moments, and while Pesce tells the story from her point of view, and Magalhaes is riveting in the role, somehow Francisca’s behavior seems both psychologically plausible and terrifyingly inhuman.
“The Family Fang”
A potentially trite, Sundancier-than-thou dysfunctional family drama is turned into something much more peculiar and offbeat in Jason Bateman‘s “The Family Fang.” A curious atmosphere of almost thriller-y foreboding hangs over the skewed story of the titular family, comprised of grown-up siblings Baxter and Annie (Bateman and Nicole Kidman) and parents Caleb and Camille (played in different time frames by Jason Butler Harner and Christopher Walken, and Kathryn Hahn and Maryann Plunkett, respectively). Mum and Dad aren’t just run-of-the-mill weird parents, though; they’re performance artists-cum-provocateurs, who often used their kids in dubious ways in their “happenings,” and when then go missing after a possible kidnap incident, Baxter and Annie have to work out if it’s for real or another one of their obscurely motivated pranks. The value of “The Family Fang” lies in just how confidently Bateman avoids the pitfalls of this type of family drama: No one here is an archetype. And the ultimate conclusion — that families don’t always have each other’s best interests at heart, and sometimes we need to cut loose from them — is a welcome, if acidic, corrective to the genre’s more twee and sentimental tendencies as well as an unexpected tribute to sibling solidarity.
“The Fits”
For a time, “The Fits,” Anna Rose Holmer’s remarkable directorial debut, was so under the radar that even we were barely aware of it: First at Venice 2015 and then at Sundance, its buzz remained mostly imperceptible. But that buzz grew and grew, with the movie winning raves on its summer release, and it ended up even placing high on our Best Films Of The Year poll. But given that it’s still far from well-known (it took just $160,000 in theaters), we felt more than justified in including it here, if only to give you a final push to see the damn thing. It’s to some extent a coming-of-age movie, tracking Toni (Royalty Hightower, giving an extraordinary performance for a total newcomer), a Cincinnati pre-teen who hopes that joining a local dance troupe will finally let her fit in, but finds the group beset by an epidemic of possibly hysterical fainting spells. While there are loose echoes of earlier movies — “Picnic At Hanging Rock,” Carol Morley’s recent “The Falling” — it’s ultimately something that feels utterly distinctive and original, a film of mystery and magic, yet with impressive psychological intimacy and stylistic energy. It can only be the start of a hugely impressive career for Holmer.