By Roger Costa
SWIM TEAM
As his mother breaks the news about his real autistic condition, Robbie looks away, trying to control his emotions. He doesn’t want to talk about it, he seems to understand he’s different but he won’t surrender to his disability, neither he accepts it; he’d rather fight with all his strength in order to feel just like a normal kid. This powerful, truthful, heartbreaking moment reveals an unseen side of the human condition battling a strong disease to accomplish natural goals such as dignity and recognition. Winner of the Human Spirit Award at Nashville Film Festival, as well as named Best New Jersey Documentary Film at this year’s Montclair Film Festival, director Lara Stolman’s feature debut portraits the lives of three teens, dealing with Autism and trying to adjust to family and society. They are part of a swimming team in Perth Amboy, NJ, led by parents of an autistic boy who encourage and shape them into role model athletes, forming the “Jersey Hammerheads” team as they prepare for a state, and gradually, national competition. The director goes inside their homes, and follow them through their activities and jobs, depicting their private lives, sufferings and aspirations. The camera captures moving testimonies that reveal endurance and perseverance, as well as the power of family support, especially on conversations with the parents and the perspectives provided by the autistic boys. The film divides the spotlight with Michael, the instructors’ son, who is very organized and animal lover; Robbie, the shy, lonely boy who likes comic design, and Kelvin, a compulsive, sometimes aggressive older boy. The testimony of his mother is a major statement on patience and unconditional love. Director Stolman digs deep into her material, capturing the triumphant senses of winning, overcoming natural problems and adapting to unpleasant circumstances without losing hope. When Robbie understands his condition, he is shocked and disturbed by the facts, but he finds inner strength and becomes a leader in his group, motivating and seeking to help improve their talents and behavior. We watch the birth of a new voice for the needs of the excluded, revealed with pure sensibility in this outstanding account of human resistance. (An Argot Pictures Release. Opens Friday, July 7th at IFC Center, NYC.)
THE REHEARSAL
An exploration of youth, troubled emotions and artistic inspirations, acclaimed director Alison Maclean’s long awaited return follows the ideals and perspectives of a group of young students in New Zealand. The story revolves around Stanley, an insecure first-year drama student, and his connection to a tennis player, with whom he explores the community around the campus, and also becomes involved in a sex scandal between the school’s coach and a minor. In the classroom, Stanley and his colleagues are pushed to their edges by professor Hannah (a fiercely performance by Kerry Fox), as they prepare for a special and unpredictable end-of-year show. Narrated with elements of a philosophical coming-of-age story, as well as a statement about a generation searching for identity and a place of their own, Maclean conducts the material with seductive honesty and witty, extracting breakthrough performances from the young cast (watch out for those revelations during class) in this emotionally charged, profound study of precocious conflicts. (A Mongrel International Release. Opens Friday, July 7th at Metrograph, NYC.)
FALSE CONFESSIONS
After being crowned “the best actress of the year” with her performances in the Award-winning thriller “Elle” and the intense “Things To Come”, French Diva Isabelle Huppert is back with a slapstick, sexy and cynical comedy, where she allows herself to create moments of debauchery and sarcasm with the same respectable dramatic skills she’s known for. She plays a wealthy widow, living in a big mansion with her arrogantly aging mother (sort of a cousin of Sunset Boulevard’s Norma Desmond), and many servants. The arrival of a new secretary (Louis Garrel), irresistibly charming, mysterious and flirtatious, stirs up confusion, desire and envy among everyone under the mansion’s roof. They all get caught in his deliberate plan of marrying the good-hearted widow, including Marton (a hilariously cynical performance by Manon Combes), the housemaid who makes sure to keep the circle of betrayal and suspicion at high levels. Late French director Luc Bondy’s final production is a fine, sophisticated sexy comedy with provocative, intriguingly funny dialogue and marvelous performances. Plus, having two of France’s most accomplished and gorgeous actors (Huppert and Garrel) exchanging promises of love and passion with an intellectual sense of humor, makes it an extra good reason to see it. Smartly irreverent, the duo shine bright in this romantic farce filled with games of seduction, jealousy and capital interests. (A Big World Pictures Release. Opens Friday, July 14th at Angelika Film Center and Lincoln Plaza Cinemas, NYC.)
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