By Robin E. Simmons
COLD IN JULY
Director Jim Mickle’s last film, WE ARE AS WE ARE, blew me away. It was atmospheric, horrifying and bloody beautiful. Mickle‘s current movie delivers an old school thrill ride that would make Hitchcock. sweat. The twisty plot and a moody rural 1989 Texas atmosphere is a perfect match for the dangerously accelerating plot that begins innocently enough one warm Texas night when husband and dad Richard Dane (Michael C. Hall) puts a bullet in the head of intruder Freddy Russell. But as is the case in such situations, things are not what they seem when Freddy’s ex-con dad (Sam Shepherd) strolls into town to with vengeance on his mind. This southern gothic noir gem opens a can of worms when flashy detective Don Johnson arrives in his red Cadillac convertible with a pair of bull’s horns on the grill
. The twists and turns and pile up fast in the second half. Hall’s Dane is the perfect as the vulnerable ordinary guy confronting extreme evil. I felt his fear and was satisfied how it all ended. Now playing at Cinemas Palme d’Or. Big recommendation.
NEW FOR THE HOME THEATER:
ENEMY
Jake Gyllenhaal is glum professor Adam Bell who has grown disinterested and bored with his mundane life. And wife. One day by chance – or is it ?– he discovers a man who appears to be his exact double. When Adam talks his doppelganger into meeting — the latter’s a bit-part actor named Anthony Clair — their lives (and wives) become bizarrely and dangerously intertwined.
Under Denis Villeneuve’s direction, Gyllenhaal is mesmerizing playing both roles with subtle but distinct personas. He conveys just the right amount of sly differences in bewilderment, perverse motivation and curiosity as he wonders through two worlds both familiar and unexpected. This sometimes too arty film is obviously about identity and desire. It’s a weirdly surreal movie for sure, but that does not take away the fun of watching the literally split personalities fight the inevitable and deadly duel. Only one can survive. ENEMY, adapted from Nobel Prize-winning Portuguese author José Saramago’s 2002 novel “The Double,” is about the power of the subconscious. The final image is memorable, shocking and mysterious. Lionsgate. Blue-ray.
B
ut wait! As sometimes happens, two movies are released around the same time with similar plots. But this weird film has it’s own doppelganger – or is it vice versa? British comedian Richard Ayoade’s THE DOUBLE, adapted from Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s 1846 novella, also opens this week (in theaters). It too is about identical appearing men, one of whom is a more successful version than the other.
THE DOUBLE is a slicker, more straightforward narrative than Villeneuve’s crazed Canadian B-movie. Jesse Eisenberg plays the at war doubles Simon James and James Simon in this unsettling, stylized and darkly comic dystopian farce. “Chaos is order yet undeciphered” is the quote on the poster and on screen before the movie fades in. But does the seemingly profound quote really mean anything? Don’t get your hopes up.
ERNEST & CELSTINE
Based on the classic Belgian book series by Gabrielle Vincent, ERNEST & CELESTINE takes place in a beautiful, water-colored world in which a society of mice live underground in constant, paralyzing fear of the bears that dwell in the city above. When one of them comes in contact with Ernest, a bear, an unlikely but beautiful friendship begins. This visually stunning, “brilliantly comedic” film earned standing ovations at Cannes and Toronto Film Festivals.
Featuring the voice talents of Forest Whitaker, Mackenzie Foy, Lauren Bacall, Paul Giamatti, William H. Macey, Megan Mullaly, Nick Offerman and Jeffrey Wright.
Take a journey deep below snowy, cobblestone streets into a network of winding tunnels and meet a tiny mouse named Celestine. Unlike her fellow mice, Celestine is an artist and a dreamer, and has a hard time fitting in. When she nearly ends up as breakfast for gruff Ernest, they become tight friends and embark on an adventure that will “put a smile on your face and make your heart glow.” It did mine. Don’t miss this winning film that has been awarded numerous festival prizes including the Cesar Award. Extras include a Making Of and a feature-length Animatic. Cinedigm. Blu-ray. Big recommendation.
