Recently Noted:
BALLETS RUSSES “Ballets Russes” usefully renovates a neglected eminence, chronicling the company’s history 1909 as the inspiration of Sergei Diaghilev, the polymath Russian expatriate, who drew Matisse, Picasso, and Stravinsky into orbit around the nucleus of choreographers Mikhail Fokine, Léonide Massine, and dancer Vaslav Nijinksy. The highly wrought script manages the feat of compressing an 80-year history into exactly two vacuum-packed hours. Yet, it would have been more valuable still had it accurately conveyed the company’s uniquely progressive queer reality. Film Forum. (Ioannis Mookas)
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BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN Arriving on an avalanche of hype, “Brokeback Mountain” finally reaches the screen nine years after E. Annie Proulx’s memorable short story first appeared in The New Yorker. The story’s enduring impression—once the novelty wore off, one of sentimentality and archaism—is preserved intact in Diana Ossana and Larry McMurtry’s reverent yet inventive adaptation. Loews Cineplex Village, Clearview Chelsea, Loews Cineplex Lincoln Square. (Ioannis Mookas)
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BREAKFAST ON PLUTO Irish auteur Neil Jordan’s adaptation of Patrick McCabe’s Booker Prize-shortlisted novel “Breakfast on Pluto” fills out this fall’s boomlet of gay period dramas, joining “Capote” and “Brokeback Mountain” in revisiting the postwar decades through an ostensibly queer subjectivity. Landmark Sunshine, Lincoln Plaza. (Ioannis Mookas)
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CAPOTE Yes, in “Capote,” Philip Seymour Hoffman gives a terrific—call it Oscar-worthy —performance channeling gay writer Truman Capote. He has the author’s mannerisms down pat, his voice expertly attuned to delivering witty bon mots. It’s a perfect role for the actor/chameleon and he plays it to the hilt. Angelika, Clearview Chelsea, Brooklyn Heights. (Gary M. Kramer).
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FAMILY STONE Produced by Michael London, “Family Stone” tells the story of Meredith (Sarah Jessica Parker), an uptight, finance-whiz girlfriend of the eldest Stone son, who brings her to his New England home for the holidays. Problem is, the eccentric family loathes the interloper. Talk about your dream ensemble. Besides Parker and Diane Keaton as the matriarch mother, there’s Dermot Mulroney as the lovestruck son, Craig T. Nelson as the professor dad, Luke Wilson as the hippie son, Claire Danes as Meredith’s mellow sister. There are also newcomers Ty Giordano, as the gay son—who happens to be deaf—and Brian White, as his African-American boyfriend. AMC Empire 25, CC Village East, Loews 34th St. (David Kennerley)
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GAY SEX IN THE 70s Joseph Lovett’s film covers the sexually explosive 12-year period (1969-1981) between Stonewall and the onset of AIDS. Straightforward, funny, and titillating at the same time, this collection of memoirs are conveyed with humor and perspective. For those who have come of age in the era of safe sex and gay marriage, the film may present a startling revelation of what everyday life was like. Quad Cinema. (David Noh)
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GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK “Good Night, and Good Luck” painstakingly recreates a brief, shining moment in television history when the indefatigable Edward R. Murrow brought down Senator Joseph McCarthy. A testament to George Clooney’s skillful tenacity. Landmark Sunshine, Loews Kips Bay, Loews Cineplex 84th St. (David Kennerley)
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KISS KISS BANG BANG Why does Shane Black hate gay people so much? “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang,” which he wrote and directed, features a queer character called Gay Perry (Val Kilmer), who says he keeps the moniker because “I just like the name.” If audiences are not sure about this tough guy’s sexuality, his cell phone ring is “I Will Survive.” Village East. (Gary M. Kramer)
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MAREBITO Both intriguing and goofy, “Marebito” suggests a potentially promising new direction for J-horror. Masuoka (director Shinya Tsukamoto) is a cameraman obsessed by terror. Spying on his neighbors, he speculates about their undoubtedly anxiety-filled lives. His apartment is filled with video monitors and equipment. He usually walks around with a camera in hand. He’s particularly fascinated by one image—a man committing suicide by stabbing himself in the eye on the subway. Searching for the site of this suicide, he discovers an underworld of caverns where homeless people and ghosts dwell. ImaginAsian East 59th St. (Steve Erickson)
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Paradise Now Suicide turns a person’s life into a giant question mark. For suicide bombers, it’s doubly true. Everything in their life is seen as a prelude, making the suicide bomber a difficult character to fictionalize. Palestinian-born, Dutch-based director Hany Abu-Assad is certainly aware of the pitfalls, perhaps too much so. Lincoln Plaza. (Steve Erickson)
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RENT The film version of “Rent” starts off magnificently, Brechtian-style, with the cast members on an empty Broadway stage, each individually spotlighted, as they sing the show’s best song, “Seasons of Love.” Unfortunately, the movie has to reach hard to sustain that opening. Jonathan Larson’s musical captured the imagination of a new Broadway generation with its raucous score and youthful idealism set amidst the Lower East Side Bohemia. In 2005, however, the bloom is a bit off this particular rose. (David Noh)
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THE PRODUCERS It would be nice to say that the film directing debut of the show’s Tony-winning director and choreographer, Susan Stroman was as much of a delight as the original Broadway incarnation, but, sadly, the term “canned theater” applies all too well here. While Stroman should be applauded for not resorting to the MTV chop-chop cutting of every other recent movie musical since “Chicago,” the numbers just seem to lie there, flat on the screen. As Ulla, the ultra-nubile Swedish secretary, Uma Thurman comes off more as a blonde Olive Oyl. Matthew Broderick particularly suffers. His timing is off a beat, like so much of the film. Clearview’s Ziegfeld. (David Noh)
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THE SQUID AND THE WHALE Set in 80s Brooklyn, Noah Baumbach’s film follows a family of four through a separation. Bernard (Jeff Daniels) is an aging writer whose career is going nowhere, while his wife Joan (Laura Linney) is about to publish her first novel. Daniels delivers his best work in years, perfectly capturing his character’s blithe self-absorption, assumptions of entitlement, and half-concealed issues with women and children. Angelika, Lincoln Plaza, Cobble Hill. (Steve Erickson)
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TRANSAMERICA “Transamerica,” the new film written and directed by Duncan Tucker, is terribly written, poorly conceived, and its premise is stupid to the point of ridiculousness. It is also, most likely, the best film of 2005. The credit for this success lies not in Tucker’s overbearing hands, but in the more delicate fingers of Felicity Huffman. IFC Center. (Nick Feitel)
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