Buzz Blog

The Dead Don’t Hurt ***
Viggo Mortensen seems fully aware of the dangers of “fridging”—that cinematic trope whereby violence befalling a woman becomes a man’s motivation to action—so he wisely subverts it in his sophomore feature as writer/director. Mortensen plays Olsen, a Danish immigrant in mid-19th-century America who meets Vivienne (Vicky Krieps) while traveling in San Francisco. They return together to Nevada, but are separated by Olsen’s service in the Union Army during the Civil War, leaving Vivienne to deal with the dangers of the frontier—including the hot-headed son (Solly McLeod) of the local tycoon (Garret Dillahunt). The narrative weaves through three different time frames—flashing back both to Olsen and Vivienne’s initial meeting, and to Vivienne’s own childhood—and Mortensen and editor Peder Pedersen do a fine job of making it clear where we are without resorting to captions or other obvious signposts. Mostly, Mortensen is interested in the story of a strong-willed woman in a world of male violence, conveying it through Krieps’ terrific performance and a backstory that centers her refusal to be seen as powerless. The character drama leaves little room for overt action, and the patience with which Mortensen allows the story to unfold can leave it feeling a bit pokey in the pacing, but it offers a Western that brings a unique perspective without underlining it. Available May 31 at Broadway Centre Cinemas. (R)

Ezra **
“Nobody says ‘retarded’ anymore,” says Max (Bobby Canavale) to his father (Robert DeNiro) in reference to Max’s own 11-year-old autistic son Ezra (William A. Fitzgerald)—but this movie sure feels like a throwback from an era when people did. Max, a self-sabotaging stand-up comedian, is having trouble co-parenting with his soon-to-be-ex-wife Jenna (Rose Byrne) as Ezra struggles to adapt in mainstream schooling—and when Ezra is sent to a special-needs school, Max impulsively abducts him for a cross-country road trip. Director Tony Goldwyn (who also plays Jenna’s new boyfriend) and screenwriter Tony Spiridakis use that as an opportunity for plenty of awkward bonding, as Max works out his own issues just as much as he attempts to work on Ezra’s. But despite Fitzgerald’s best efforts to make Ezra an individual in his own right, this is one of those stories where a person with special needs exists fundamentally to help someone else learn how to be a better person, and breakthroughs come exactly when it serves the most sentimental purpose. There are too many great actors in this cast—also including Vera Farmiga and Rainn Wilson as old friends of Max’s—to make it a complete waste of time, and it does wrestle honestly with the emotional toll of parenting an autistic child. But in this year of our Lord 2024, you’d hope that the child could exist as more than a plot device. Available May 31 in theaters. (R)

In a Violent Nature **1/2
You’ve got to hand it to writer/director Chris Nash that his subversion of the slasher-movie genre is a unique thing; I’m just not convinced it’s a particularly interesting thing. The primary gimmick is that rather than focusing on the potential victims of a crazed killer, he focuses on the killer himself: Johnny (Ry Barrett), a zombie-fied being who rises from his grave in the woods when the necklace that keeps his soul at rest is removed. Nash and cinematographer Pierce Derks’ camera generally follow Johnny on his slow, purposeful walks towards each subsequent victim, creating an almost meditative anticipation before the next killing, and a vague sense of sympathy about his circumstances. But the “generally” qualifier of that previous statement includes a long pause to circle our group of slaughter-fodder young people info-dumping the legend of Johnny, and a finale that’s unexpected without feeling like it entirely pays off. There’s a similar inconsistency in the approach to the killings themselves, a few of which take place at an unsettlingly discreet distance, and others that are grotesquely (and quite creatively) in your face. The result is something that can’t help but be compelling to watch on a moment-to-moment basis in the sense that you never quite know what kind of movie is coming at you next, but also doesn’t feel like it adds up to any kind of cohesive commentary on its genre. There’s only so far that 90 minutes of “well, I wasn’t quite expecting that” can take you. Available May 31 in theaters. (NR)

Summer Camp *1/2
It’s not breaking news that the leading roles available for women “of a certain age” are perilously few, but it’s still depressing that so many of the ones that do exist come in flop-sweaty ensemble comedies like 80 for Brady or this lazy entry. Writer/director Castille Landon’s feature deals with a trio of friends since tween-age—Ginny (Kathy Bates), Nora (Diane Keaton) and Mary (Alfre Woodard)—who all decide to participate in a reunion gathering at the summer camp where they met more than 50 years earlier. If you guessed that means participating in activities where people fall to the ground, into water or otherwise risk bodily harm, you’re right on target, and there’s scarcely a chuckle to be wrestled out of the various slapstick shenanigans. And of course, each of our protagonists also faces a key life challenge—Mary with her unsatisfying marriage, Nora with her workaholism, etc.—which gives each woman exactly one personality characteristic to express. Eugene Levy gets to play against type, not as a hopeless dork but actually as the suave guy all the women swooned over in their youth, and it’s kind of nice to watch him stretch his acting muscles a bit. But he’s trapped in the middle of a narrative that pretends to be interested in the tenuous friendship bonds and life struggles of these women, but only after it makes them look as ridiculous as possible, as often as possible. Available May 31 in theaters. (PG-13)

Young Woman and the Sea ***
We’re only about six months removed from another movie about a pioneering female distance swimmer—the Oscar-nominated Nyad—and it’s instructive to consider their respective approaches to similar biopic subject matter. This one tells the story of Trudy Ederle (Daisy Ridley), the daughter of German immigrants in early-20th-century New York City, who survives a childhood bout with measles to become a swimming champion and Olympic medalist, eventually planning to become the first woman ever to swim the English Channel. Veteran screenwriter Jeff Nathanson leans into the sexist assumptions of the era—from Trudy’s own Old-World traditional father (Kim Bodnia) as well as the sports establishment—with Ridley’s performance going heavily into plucky determination. But while some might find a Disney-fied inspirational biopic a more frustrating aesthetic than the kind of straightforward character study Nyad provided, director Joachim Rønning delivers a more conventional crowd-pleaser sensibility; you know this is a movie where you don’t have to fret over the protagonist’s fate when a swim through a swarm of jellyfish is accompanied not by dissonant chords, but by the music of triumphant adventure. In short, while Young Woman and the Sea gets a bit simplistic in its you-go-girl energy—and perhaps waits too long to pair Ridley with Stephen Graham as a no-nonsense veteran Channel-crosser who becomes Trudy’s coach—this is the kind of feel-good true-story filmmaking that actually makes you feel good. Available May 31 in theaters. (PG-13)