Movie of the Week – Force Majeure
Setting pitch black comedy against a snow white setting is the hilarious Swedish comedy drama Force Majeure, in which a family holiday in the French Alps turns sour when the patriarch is exposed as a selfish coward during an avalanche that turns out to be harmless. You won’t know whether to laugh or cringe, but you’ll likely do both; this is the funniest film I’ve seen in a long time.
Lost River
Ryan Gosling makes his directorial debut with the atmospheric adult fairy tale Lost River. Set in the crumbling ruins of post-industrial Detroit, it’s a dark fable about the lengths a single mother and her teenage son go to in order to save their home. The movie is taking a critical pounding but I found it a strikingly visual piece of work.
Jauja
Speaking of striking visuals, Argentine period drama Jauja delivers more surrealism in a quasi-western story of a Danish engineer searching for his runaway daughter in turn of the century Patagonia. Viggo Mortenson stars in a movie that’s Arthouse with a capital A.
If you just want to turn your brain off and enjoy some well choreographed action, you could do worse than John Wick. Keanu Reeves kicks a lot of butt when his car is stolen and his pet puppy is killed. It’s insubstantial but well put together.
Good Kill takes a hamfisted look at the use of unmanned drones by the US military. There’s an interesting movie to be made on this topic but this one gets bogged down in clichés and poorl drawn characters.
By Eric Hillis
