These reviews previously appeared in ICON and are reprinted with permission.
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A Royal Affair (Dir:
Nicolaj Arcel). Starring: Alicia Vikander, Mads Mikkelsen, Mikkel Boe Følsgaard,
Trine Dyrholm, David Dencik, Thomas W. Gabrielsson, Cyron Melville. In the late
1760s and early 1770s Denmark ‘s ruler is the whoring, boozing, and mentally
precarious Christian VII (Følsgaard). His beautiful, neglected wife, Caroline
Mathilde (Vikander), wisely stays in the background, giving birth to a son and
lending placid class to the national farce. When Christian is appointed a
personal physician (Mikkelsen) to rein him in, Caroline’s indifference vanishes
upon discovering that she and Dr. Strauss share two loves: books and the tenets
of the Age of Enlightenment. They start a torrid affair in the bedroom and
legislative chambers, where Strauss uses Christian’s trust and admiration to overhaul
Denmark’s punishing laws, in the process drawing resentment from the nobility. Sumptuously
filmed historical drama is well acted by the three principals (particularly the
rugged and dignified Mikkelsen), ripe with backroom intrigue, and always
engaging. Perhaps its most useful purpose is serving as a reminder, like last
month’s The Other Dream Team, that
sacrifice for a fair and just way of life is not just an American concept. [R] ***
Sister (Dir:
Ursula Meier). Starring: Kacey Mottet Klein, Léa Seydoux, Martin Compston,
Gillian Anderson. Whip-smart, 12-year-old Simon (Klein) takes advantage of
living near a fancy Swiss ski resort, stealing ski equipment and reselling it
to the neighborhood kids at reduced prices. His entrepreneurial hustle is out
of necessity; his independence is a mirage. Living with an older sister
(Seydoux) more concerned with having a good time than earning a steady paycheck,
Simon runs the household and pays the bills. Desperate for love and submerged
by responsibility, he is the world’s oldest, loneliest boy—a condition that
becomes harder to endure as his sister drifts further away from him. Meier
builds the plot and the characters through small moments (Simon learning
English through ski magazines) and leitmotivs (the brother and sister’s
isolated, towering apartment; wide-angle shots that emphasize space). The
movie’s power and poetry gradually seize your attention then never let go. A haunting,
beautiful film about a family that runs on obligation, not love, brought to
vividness by Klein and Seydoux’s desperate, stirring performances. [NR] ****
The Black Tulip (Dir:
Sonia Nassery Cole). Starring: Haji Gul Asser, Sonia Nassery Cole, Walid Amini,
Somaia Razaye, Hosna Tanha. In 2010, a husband and wife (Asser, Cole) open a
restaurant in Kabul called The Poet’s Corner, where guests can recite poetry. This
development enrages the Taliban, which employs extreme measures to shut down
the business. Shot entirely in Afghanistan, The
Black Tulip provides an extensive look at the real lives of Afghanis. If
you want to observe a wedding and learn about women’s changing role in the
country, look no further. But by serving as a fact-heavy cultural brochure,
Cole extinguishes the narrative momentum, resulting in a violent second half
that feels dissonant and shrill. In the film’s production notes, it’s clear
that Cole wants to portray Afghanistan beyond the accounts we’ve absorbed in
sobering news reports. If that’s the case, why not make a documentary about
this unseen side instead of incorporating it into a spiritless, forgettable
revenge film? Afghanistan’s official entry for the 2011 Academy Awards. [NR] **
Smashed (Dir:
James Ponsoldt). Starring: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Aaron Paul, Nick Offerman,
Octavia Spencer, Mary Kay Place, Megan Mullally. Frightened by her increasingly
erratic behavior—which includes succumbing to a hangover in front of her
elementary school class and waking up in strange places—a young woman
(Winstead) decides to quit drinking and attend AA meetings. She gains support
from a sympathetic co-worker (Offerman) and her straight-shooting sponsor
(Spencer) but lacks support where it matters most. Her writer husband (Paul,
TV’s Breaking Bad), sill stuck in booze-induced
neutral, is upset that he and his wife’s common bond has vanished. Director
Ponsoldt and writer Susan Burke, a recovering alcoholic, offer an unflinching,
refreshingly blunt account of the unexpected rewards and obstacles that occur
in forging a new, unpopular life path. Winstead (Scott Pilgrim vs. The World) is fantastic—you never stop rooting
for her. And she’s supported by a sterling group of actors that lends depth and
humanity to characters usually presented as devils or Samaritans. [R] ***1/2
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