The theater had nothing new to offer me that I was wanting to see, so I slowly picked away at some of the more recent rentals I had piling up.
Somewhere in Queens – This was a title I was disappointed to see not available for the virtual portion of Sundance, but the wait wasn’t too long and I finally got my hands on Ray Romano’s directorial debut. I’ll be honest…it wasn’t for me. Romano plays Leo, an Italian lost in a sea of big personalities within the rest of his family. He and his wife have lost some intimacy after her battle with cancer, and after constantly being the disappointment in his family, he finally sees hope in his son’s collegiate basketball future. His son is a strange kid, but he doesn’t deserve some of the truly sad things Leo inflicts upon him.
The Blue Caftan – This extremely understated drama was in last year’s Oscar shortlist for International Feature Film. Sadly, it did not make the cut (and yes, I see the pun there). That’s quite a shame because this was a very beautiful film. While nothing really outlandish happened, instead focusing on the day to day life of a caftan store in Morocco run by Halim and his wife Mina. Relationships are tested when they bring on a young apprentice, Youssef. Again, nothing too wild happens here, but it’s the slightest tension, in a multitude of ways, that really drew me in. This might be a 2023 purchase!
The Out-Laws – Only now am I realizing the name of this movie is definitely a play on in-laws. Anyways, Owen gets to meet his future in-laws for the first time just before marrying Parker. She’s evidently never been privy to the fact that her parents are notorious bank robbers, who just so happen to rob the bank Owen manages. A bit of a stupid move on their part if I’m being honest, but Owen is willing to put all his morals aside in order to get his kidnapped future wife back. This is a fairly random cast and it was ultimately a stupid comedy, but I did laugh out loud pretty hard enough times that I can say I liked it.
Sublime – Another sensational foreign film, this time out of Argentina, that I have to imagine was also in the conversation for the Oscars race this past year. It reminds me a little bit of the Belgian film, Close, only these best friends are in their teens, so it’s got that whole nuance to it, too. Manuel plays in a band with his best friend, Felipe, and while the film opens on the night he’s supposed to lose his virginity with his girlfriend, it instead serves as a sexual awakening for Manuel. He’s got a major crush on Felipe. The intricacies here are fascinating to watch, but what I found most promising is that the only person giving Manuel a hard time about his newfound feelings are him. Another one I found I really enjoyed this weekend.
Maximum Truth – As if I couldn’t have made this weekend’s selections any more random, I chose to cap it off with this political mockumentary. Ike Barinholtz is back in this realm as essentially a con man named Rick Klingman who agrees to find damning information on good-guy congressional candidate. He’s helped out by a truly doofus of a guy named Simon Tarnum, and together they make complete asses of themselves. Again, this is a style that I don’t love, but the casting draws me in every time! Bartinholtz certainly has some friends doing him favors here, but it was the showing of Dylan O’Brien as his right hand man that really shocked me into watching. I haven’t seen him do a comedy in some time. Not for everyone, but it still manages to be relevant to today’s cluster of a political climate.