New To (Some of) You: Still Alice, Futuro Beach, Beloved Sisters
Wednesday, May 13, 2015 at 9:15AM 
Thanks to everyone who answered last week's open question about DVD coverage. We won't fuss too much about switching things up but we will do a little more than we are doing for the second and third wave audiences.
NEW DVD / BLURAY
This is your weekly reminder that Julianne Moore is now an Oscar winner! The film that finally did the job (in conjunction, of course, with goodwill from a dozen undeniable acting triumphs in her past) was Still Alice, a minimalist drama about a linguistics professor suffering from early on set Alzheimers which is now out on DVD and BluRay for you stragglers. Who still hasn't seen it? You owe it to Julie so, rectify. For those that did see it two questions:
- Which scene do you think cemented Julianne's Oscar traction or even her win?
- If it's different, what scene or moment do you still think about?
Also recommended: Germany's most recent Oscar submission Beloved Sisters didn't win much press or Oscar traction despite an actual theatrical release in the December glut but it will satisfy those of you that love a good costume drama and don't mind a long running time. It's about two sisters whose mother hopes for them to marry rich but they both fall in love with the same penniless poet. Perhaps they'll share him? Here's the complete review if you missed it.
Also new though good luck finding someone who recommends them: Mortdecai (Johnny Depp + Gwyneth Paltrow + moustaches?), Blackhat (Michael's review), The Cobbler (the scathing reviews were something of a surprise since writer/director Thomas McCarthy is usually beloved), and Taylor Lautner in Tracers (though I'm never going near one of those again post-Abduction)
Two recommended Instant Watches after the jump...
an early scene from Futuro Beach with your three principle characters
These are cherry-picked by us for you largely because they both prominently feature biking and its National Bike to Work Week (good christ we love our theme weeks -apologies!) and also because one of them is super easy to miss because it's so generically titled. Hint: its' not the first one.
FUTURO BEACH
One of the undeniable problems of festival coverage is that when you're tasked with writing up movies instantly and you're seeing a lot of them back-to-back sometimes the more elusive challenging ones get short-shrift in the instant evaluation process. My review of Karim Aïnouz's Futuro Beach, a movie about a Brazilian lifeguard, his brother, and a tourist from Germany, isn't quite as "thumbs way up" as I intended at the time. It's an unusually sexy film but its trifurcated plot -- it's basically a three-act -- which I found quite bulky and uneven at the time, plays a lot more gracefully in memory than in that moment. I think about the movie fairly often actually and its ending is evocative and beautifully judged. It won a short theatrical release this year but after a measly $20,000 at the US box office I hope it finds many new fans on Netflix Instant Watch. If you like LGBT cinema or the unique drama of cross-culture romances, you should definitely check it out. Futuro Beach stars Wagner Moura (who will be in Antoine Fuqua's all-star English language Magnificent Seven remake in 2017) and German star Clemens Schick (Casino Royale, The Dark Valley).
first time alone at a local pond
BOYS
Movie titles don't come more generic than that, do they? Since Netflix decided to move towards original content and streaming rather than being a DVD service they've had an increasingly poor quality of streaming options for mainstream cinema and high profile foreign films (both of which can cost a lot to license). Instead there is an ever-widening range of bad indies and cheap foreign flicks an B movies to skim through... it's kind of like the modern equivalent of direct-to-video discounts racks in Video stores back in the day. That's especially true of the frequently awful LGBT movies. Which is why it's always worth pointing out a good one. This 2014 film from the Netherlands is about two high school kids on a track team, one whose family is falling apart after the death of his mother, that fall in love. Their chief escape is hopping on their bikes and heading to a local pond to swim together. Since it's a Dutch movie and Northern Europeans (as well as Scandinavians) are, for whatever reason and comparatively speaking, super great at making coming-of-age films, you can bet that it's naturalistic and moving in direct proportion to how honest and no-frills it feels. It's a simple coming out story, observationally told, but at 77 minutes, it feels more wholly satisfying than a lot of films that are sweating much harder to make similar points about first love, self-acceptance, and making peace with your family situation, whatever it may be.
If you see any of these pictures, make sure to tell us what you think.
Reader Comments (20)
Please, everybody, see Blackhat. It's the best movie of the year and one of the best of the decade.
1. I feel like a lot of older voters might have had their heart broken by Alice's fear of not finding the bathroom. It sounds baity but she was lost in her own home, and it's so sad.
2. That final scene kind of wrecked me.
It's tempting to say the bedroom scene where she opens up to Baldwin's character, but for me the scene or moment(s) which could have secured her win are the contrast between her lucidity in the Mac 'suicide' webcam video, contested to the vacancy and sense of innocence and naïveté when when watching and embarking on the task.... I don't even know how she articulated that - it's so subtle and indescribable, but totally viable, and haunting, eerie and affecting.
And I still think about her wiping the tear from Lydia's face and dating "thanks for asking"..... That's what it's all about - honest engagement is sometimes all the care sufferers of this disease need and that interaction communicated that so wonderfully.
I think the scene in which Alice tells her husband about her possible diagnosis is probably her strongest, but it's the speech she gives at a conference much later on in the movie that really got to me.
I have yet to see Still Alice, unfortunately, butI can't recomend FUTURO BEACH enough.
PS: the trailer for TABU's director Miguel Gomes new film ARAVIAN NIGHTS has finally arriaved! As a fan of his work and as a portuguese citizen I can't wait to finally see it : http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/cannes-watch-the-trailer-for-miguel-gomes-epic-6-hour-triptych-arabian-nights-20150512
I was wondering if you could give it the YES NO MAYBE SO treatment?
Just saw Futuro Beach over the weekend. Hated it. One of those movies where people stare into space, look longingly out of windows, walk through rainy parks, ride motorcycles through misty seaside roads, have lots of sex, but nothing compelling, interesting, or revealing ever happens. Aside from getting to see the leading actors naked, there's nothing worth recommending here.
1. The speech
2. The speech, but also the end, wiping Kristen's tear, Kristen with Alec, and "dammit, why won't you take me seriously?"
I saw Boys last summer at the "Damn These Heels" film festival here in Salt Lake City. Sweet and short and I remember it ends on a simple but beautiful note. Well worth checking out.
In terms of Oscar solidification, her speech at the conference was certainly one of the bigger moments, which she nails perfectly.
The two moments I keep going back to are her watching the Mac video (devastating), and on a smaller scale, her walking on the beach with Lydia: "I don't have to be fair. I'm your mother." Such a motherly thing to say, but it really landed for some reason.
I'd imagine the speech, and maybe the scene where she tells Baldwin, won Moore the Oscar. For me, the two moments that stand out are when she can't find the bathroom, and when she's watching the videos of her more lucid self trying to guide her to suicide. A harrowing, profound and very complex sequence, and one of the many reasons I think Still Alice was unjustly dismissed as a mediocre movie built around a great lead performance.
Futuro Beach was pretty elegant cinematically - I like the way Ainouz often frames the actors in wide shots to emphasize the locations and their impact on the characters - but I'm mixed on the film overall. Its very drifty and emotionally chilly, and while both of those things are fine, I don't think he quite pulls it off - they too often felt like affectations more than anything else.
I know some think that Redmayne might be the first double winner in a while, but what about Moore in Freeheld. I got a gut feeling she is going to give an incredible performance. And she actually deserves a double win more than most. Plus I liked Still Alice but I didn't love it. The supporting characters were meh and I couldn't believe that Alec Baldwin would do that in the end. But the best thing about Still Alice is that it isn't even Moore's best performance. In my opinion that's boogie nights. Oh right i think it was the speech that got her the oscar.
There were so many moments... It was such quinetessential existentially lost Juli, wrapped in an Oscar baity "disability" hook package. It's that combination that sealed it. But as for moments...
SPOILER alert: The speech, of course, especially the part where she dropped her notes (suspense!), later afflicted Alice watching earlier lucid Alice (the juxtaposition was moving and impressive, and the ambivalence I found myself feeling as to which outcome to root for was interesting), the final scene with Lydia, and of course the peeing-her-pants scene (brutal). I also remember that first moment when she was giving her lecture and her brain got stuck for just a moment and she blamed it on the wine. And that first jog when she gets lost.
I think I liked Still Alice more than most. I really identified with the existential dread of having everything you've worked so hard for slip away well before its time. Whatever it's faults, I found it a moving performance showcase and a worthy Oscar vehicle.
Futuro Beach was a standout film when I saw it last year at Frameline (SF's LGBT festival). It was divisive at the time -- some people thought it was "about nothing" or "all surface". I saw it as strong VISUAL storytelling, leaving gaps to be filled in by the viewer's imagination.
What I liked about Futuro Beach -- especially in the context of a LGBT festival -- was that it didn't make homosexuality a "problem" for the characters. The plot was about their relationships, not about them coming to terms with being gay, which is still the dominant narrative for international queer films. Also, unlike a lot of other recently released queer films, from "The Way He Looks" to "Free Fall," the script doesn't set up a female character as a foil for a gay male's awakening.
And yeah, the actors in Futuro Beach are super hot.
play here all ZOMBIE games and Cars VS Zombie zombie games
Oh I loved FUTURO BEACH. Yes, it's stylish and has a certain wan sensibility to its characters, but I greatly admired and responded to the story of people who move countries to find something and don't necessarily find it, but find something else instead. I had "the feels" as they say.
I enjoyed BOYS too. It's formulaic, sure, but its handsomely made and the boys have great chemistry.
I'm not sure which scene won her the Oscar... I think the awards bodies really liked her in bed with Alec Baldwin and the speech. But the not being able to find the bathroom scene really got me. It was just such an impactful way of illustrating Alice's helplessness.
Alice's interview with the doctor is also subtly breathtaking.
I think it was the "accident" at home when she forgot where the bathroom was. Cur right to the bone, although there were a lot of great moments (the video and frustration of not being able to remember the instructions). The small moments of laspes at dinner, etc., J Moore carried the character beaurifully so Im not sure there was a singular scene that pushed her over the top.
Looking forward to the gay films you mention, especially Boys.
I wasn't going to watch Still Alice, even though I'm sure Julianne is terrific. I just cannot endure Alzheimer's movies (with the exception of Away From Her, due to Julie Christie's breathtaking work). But after all these fascinating comments, I'm going to have to.
I'll echo Juli's speech and bathroom scenes being standouts, but the ones that really got to me where the ones where she first tells her kids about her disease and that it's genetic, as well as when Lydia calls her and tells her she has the same genes.