We didn’t do a New in Theaters last week, and many Thanksgiving releases are expanding this weekend, so this is basically a recap of every film we’ve reviewed that’s been released in the past two weeks.

• The Diving Bell and the Butterfly: Paul was “blown away” by Julian Schnabel’s latest at Telluride; at NYFF, Karina called the film “an almost excessively beautiful aestheticization of misery [that's] often a little too good at conveying Baudy’s isolation within his own head.” Check out today’s podcast, which includes an interview with Schnabel from Telluride, and an argument between Karina and Paul.
• The Savages: At Telluride, Paul called Tamara Jenkin’s long-awaited feature follow-up to Slums of Beverly Hills “a really rich movie, full of dark humor you have to develop when things aren’t funny.”
• Starting Out in the Evening: Karina caught Andrew Wagner’s second feature in Denver and had this to say: “[Evening] unfolds in comfortably-worn indie drama territory: New York academics and struggling artists collide cross generations, their almost complete lack of self-awareness failing to keep them from brutally criticizing and actively manipulating one another…but Lauren Ambrose and Frank Langella make each moment on that path feel startlingly real.”
• I’m Not There: Kevin saw it and loved it at Telluride; Karina saw it at NYFF and, um, didn’t. Also check out Kevin’s interview with Haynes here, and audio from Haynes’ NYFF press conference here.
• Protagonist: Guest SpoutBlogger Pamela Cohn on Jessica Yu’s experimental tackling of Euripedes: “Juxtaposing live interviews with four different male characters, and using archival footage of their lives intercut with highly-stylized scenes of puppets reciting Euripides‘ in the original Greek acting out the tragedies being narrated on-screen, Yu orchestrates a provocative and deeply-thoughtful chorus based on the structure of a Greek tragedy…yes, it is quite challenging to watch, but far from boring.”

The rite of passage into taking responsibility of another life–having a baby–has been the topic of a lot of popular movies. We don’t see very many movies about another rite of passsage, taking responsibilty over death. Specifically, the death of a parent. Prenatal wards are fun, nursing homes are not. The death of a parent brings far more complexity and reflection. So, when I saw the logline for Tamara Jenkin’s new film, The Savages, I thought this is a movie that will either be great or awful.

Wendy (Laura Linney) and Jon (Philip Seymour Hoffman)–both struggling playwrites–are unexpectedly given the responsibility to care for a father (who was not much of a father) as he suffers from dementia in his last few months of life. I don’t know if it’s an easy film to connect to if you’re not somebody who has admitted a parent to a nursing home. Or if you don’t have siblings choosing divergent paths in dealing with a tragi-family. But if you fall into one of those two categories, The Savages is a really rich movie, and it’s full of dark humor you have to develop when things aren’t funny. (Linney and Hoffman have unexpectedly amazing chemistry to pull this off.)

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Adaptations: Hot Fuzz, the next film in a trend of respectful spoofs playing with genre cliche.

Jindabyne centers around the marriage of Stewart (Gabriel Byrne) and Claire (Laura Linney). As the film unfolds scene by scene, we discover that Stewart and Claire have unresolved matters in their marriage stemming from Claire’s intense postpartum depression after the birth of their son. Claire constantly strives to be the mother she wasn’t when her son was born. Stewart finds himself in the middle of his life, wondering where his marriage is and what kind of a man he has become. The film draws us into this domestic life, which seems to be in a kind of stasis.

When Stewart goes away on an annual fishing trip with his friends, however, this stasis ends, bringing their wounds to the forefront. An incident followed by a collective decision by the men ignite a crisis for Stewart and his friends, as well as their wives and girlfriends. Ultimately, all of their secrets and deceptions are brought out into the light, along with a piercing question: What kind of men would make such a decision? For Stewart and Claire, this question forces them to face where they are wounded and decide ultimately what they will do and how they will move forward.

This story unfolds in the Australian outback in a little town called Jindabyne. The locations for this film are both stunning and haunting. Filmed entirely with natural light, the film has a sensibility to it that reminds the viewer of Malick, but what Ray Lawrence, the director, does with the landscape is wholly original. The vastness of the outback, the desolation of it, the beauty of it, guides the characters in a way. This approach casts the landscape as a kind of character all unto itself. Its secret and sacred places try to warn the characters against the tragedy that awaits them. Some of them can sense this, but other cannot because their lives have caused them to dull their sensitivity to the beauty around them and what it wants to tell them.

Each scene of the films unfolds the way it needs to, for how long it needs to. Lawrence doesn’t seem to be interested in making sure the audience is “entertained” at all times. Rather, his concern seems to be with the emotional truth of each scene and what that truth means for the characters. Lawrence leads us, and them, towards a conclusion that is utterly profound and moving, while at the same not heavy handed or emotionally manipulative.

One of the highlights of watching this film at Telluride was the presence of lead actress, Laura Linney. After the film was screened she answered questions about how it was made and how she created her character, Claire. One of the most interesting things she had to say involved the director’s decision to only use natural light for the film. He made this choice, she explained, so that their performances could shine through and be the centerpiece of the story. This decision, while risky, imbued the film with beauty and a sensibility that is not often seen in the cinema.

The patron’s brunch must have been the place to be at Telluride today. Aaron Smith, with some help from Bill HR, managed a brief interview with Laura Linney. Laura discussed her role in the new film, Jindabyne, how much she hates watching herself on the screen, and how much she absolutely loves the process of filmmaking.

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