By 
By Roger Costa
GRACE JONES: BLOODLIGHT AND BAMI
An intimate journey through the strong personality of the multi-talented, iconic influential pop star, Sophie Fiennes’s documentary follows the performer as she meets up with relatives, partners and other nostalgic figures in her Jamaican hometown. A complete and fearless artist, model, composer, singer and actress, Grace Jones reveals herself through personal testimonies and observations on her career, love affairs, and her strong commitment to artistic creation. The director digs up her emotions and impulses, her tenderness and diva irritations, capturing truthful, profound moments of melancholy and eagerness, merged into her joyous, celebratory life. Blending private images, backstage visits, rehearsals and several encounters (including with her son), to the effervescent musicality of some amusing on-stage appearances, and displaying topics on colonialism, racism, roots and traditions, and the risks of a constantly-changing musical industry, it’s a high-spirited and perceptive account on the artist and her passionate devotion to music. (Kino Lorber. 4/13. Film Society of Lincoln Center. Grace Jones will be in person at selected screenings.)
SWEET COUNTRY
An award-winning at both Toronto and Venice Film Festivals, Indigenous Australian filmmaker Warwick Thornton courageously depicts the racial conflicts among white men and his people in this poetic, brutally violent chasing-turned-into-trial-story. Set in 1929, it follows the thrilling escape of an Aboriginal man and his family, after he killed a temperamental landlord in self defense, as he was seeking to punish a slave boy. Through clever editing that connects important details in flashbacks and exhilarating images of the Australian desert, Warwick displays his authenticity through a vigorous aesthetic, composing an intense, exquisitely crafted modern Western. Filled with powerful performances, especially Hamilton Morris as the man-on-the-run facing the consequences of survival, and Sam Neill as his compassionate preacher master, responsible for one of the most touching moments in the film, when he has an opportunity to get rid of his perpetrator, but instead he helps, giving him water in the desert. Strikingly shot and beautifully composed as a rustic portrait of racial conflicts, loyalty and human respect, Warwick conceived his third and most accomplished feature-film to date. (Samuel Goldwyn Films. 4/6. IFC Center.)
SHELTER
Prolific award-winning Israeli filmmaker Eran Riklis returns with this fascinating spy-thriller about a female secret agent back to the line of duty in a mission to protect a Lebanese eyewitness, hiding out in Germany while waiting for a facial surgery. A sensitive, accurate director who’s been depicting the conflicts between Jews and Arabs with compelling, crowd-pleasing stories such as “Lemon Tree”, “Syrian Bride” and “A Borrowed Identity”, Riklis refreshes the issues with a new suspenseful texture, building up a complex tale about two traumatized women with fast-paced, intriguingly seductive narrative techniques. While they hide from unmerciful military agents, they develop a strong attachment, fiercely exposing their differences, despite their mutual interest for the mission, and a son-related dilemma they both share. Actress Golshifteh Farahani, who previously worked with Jarmusch and Farhadi, sets fire on screen with a heartbreaking turn as the most-wanted woman, and Neta Riskin develops her mysteriously wounded spy with hypnotizing, dynamic expressions. Riskin was nominated for the Best Actress Award at Israeli Film Academy, where Jonathan Riklis (the director’s son) also competed for the Best Music Award. Superbly performed and efficiently moving, these women make an additional spectacle with their absorbing performances, as Riklis scores another goal with a feminine look at the traumas of this horrendous, endless conflict. (Menemsha Films. 4/6. Opens in Los Angeles followed by other cities.)
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