Quick Hits

Phoenix

Released:  July 24^th, 2015

Rated:  PG-13

Distributor:  Sundance Selects

Starring:  Nina Hoss, Ronald Zehrfeld, Nina Kunzendorf

Directed by:  Christian Petzold

Written by:  Christian Petzold

Personal Bias Alert:  likes slow moving films

7.2 of 10

            Phoenix is the kind of film you’ve seen a million times yet never gets old.  It’s small and quaint, the story of two Jewish women trying to find a life after the Holocaust.  One is angry and demanding change, the other battered and wanting everything back.  The reality that neither of them can have what they want gives the film it’s melancholic shade, but Phoenix smartly holds back from cashing that in too early, letting the audience witness two small journeys back from a world-changing event.  It’s focus may be a bit uneven between the two women and the story a bit too labored, but it lands one hell of an ending, paying off all the simmering tension with small glances and a haunting voice that will follow you out of the theater.

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Mistress America

Released:  August 14^th, 2015

Rated:  R

Distributor:  Fox Searchlight

Starring:  Greta Gerwig, Lola Kirke, Heather Lind, Cindy Cheung

Directed by:  Noah Baumbach

Written by:  Noah Baumbach, Greta Gerwig

Personal Bias Alert:  not a Baumbach fan

6.5 of 10

            Noah Baumbach has a long history of making films that aren’t to my taste.  His mix of Woody Allen narcissism and Wes Anderson affectation generally makes his characters so grating that I feel like shaking them out of their undeserved ennui within the first twenty minutes.  That made Mistress America a rather pleasant surprise, as all the Baumbach trademarks are still there but without all the precocious navel-gazing.  There are exchanges between the oblivious 30-something New York socialite Brooke (Greta Gerwig) and writing student Tracy (Lola Kirke) that are genuinely funny-sad observations about the disenchantment that dreamers face, an idea that Baumbach and Gerwig have touched on before.  While their ever-bantering writing style makes the characters far smarter and wittier than anyone who’s ever lived, the film plays out like such a fable that the characters’ unreal qualities seem fitting.  Mistress America never quite hits on all cylinders, though, and is often an outright mess, but the interspersed moments that work will charm the bitter aftertaste away.

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Steve Jobs:  The Man in the Machine

Released:  September 4^th, 2015

Rated:  R

Distributor:  Magnolia Pictures

Directed by:  Alex Gibney

Personal Bias Alert:  not a techie, not into Apple

4.5 of 10

            Director Alex Gibney gives this film a clear mandate from the start:  to figure out why people cared so much about Steve Jobs.  It’s an interesting slant to take, although a straightforward documentary of the Apple co-founder would be redundant considering how many times the man has been portrayed and written about since his death in 2011.  Yes, he brought us the gadgets we use every day, but why the worldwide outpouring of grief upon his death?  The answer lies somewhere between the machines we use and the man who made them, but Steve Jobs:  The Man in the Machine fails to cleanly synthesize the story of these two entities.  It jumps disjointedly between company history and Jobs’ life, never delivering a satisfying portrait of either.  Ultimately, the documentary is nothing but a shaggy dog story, waving around some familiar facts without coming up with any real insights.  This is especially disappointing as Gibney is a well-known documentarian with many successful films in his catalogue.  Gibney shows that he can put together an appeal-looking product, but Jobs himself would be disappointed with the film’s lack of delivery.