By Roger Costa
THE GREAT PRETENDER
Following his intriguing tragicomedy “Thirsty Street”, Award-winning director Nathan Silver returns with a lovable, insightful and funny romance shot over the effervescent heat of New York City’s Summer. Four young artists are caught up in a net of seduction, sex, ambition and unwanted love while preparing for a new play. The screenplay introduces its players individually, presenting their intentions with the project and their love (well, mostly sex) expectations. As they all gather to create, improve and represent their ideas for the play, their lives are mixed in along with it, exposing their fragility, vulnerability and stubbornness. Silver crafts a sex-filled, energized, smart comedy, accurately depicting the young generation’s behavior toward success, companionship and hardened hearts- there are plenty of evidence their characters are utterly afraid of loving or surrendering to its force. The entire cast gives fabulous personifications of being young in the city, especially Esther Garrel as the heart-confusing French student, responsible for the film’s funniest (and craziest) sequences. Fresh and original, the film was nominated for the AFI Fest Audience Award, and it’s a tender and heartwarming escapism vehicle. (Factory 25 Release. 12/6. Anthology Film Archives.)
BACK ROADS
Magic Mike’s Alex Pettyfer delivers a solid directorial debut with this complex, suspenseful drama following the troubles of abandoned siblings learning how to grow up on their own while flirting with violence, abusive circumstances and distorted desires. He plays the oldest son of a dysfunctional family, left alone with his three younger sisters, when the mother (Oscar-nominated Juliette Lewis) goes to prison for killing their father. Pettyfer conducts the controversial material with accuracy, as he depicts his protagonist’s conflicts with compelling results. While he is trying to put together the pieces left everywhere, he is also experiencing a delayed coming of age phase: doing repairs around the house, understanding his mother’s actions, dealing and guiding his disoriented sisters (especially the rebel, promiscuous teen played by Nicola Peltz), promptly attending his therapist’s sessions and recklessly starting a forbidden affair with a married woman (a fantastic Jennifer Morrison). Winner of the Best Feature Award at Rhode Island International Film Festival, Pettyfer demonstrates an impressive ability to create hauntingly dramatic scenes, extracting raw, profound performances from the young players. Undoubtedly a knockout debut about broken relationships. (Samuel Goldwyn Films. 12/7. Cinema Village.)
UN TRADUCTOR
The life of a professor is torn upside down when political revolutions in Cuba shut down his Russian classes at the university of Havana and sends him to serve as a translator at a Hospital where doctors are treating Russian children affected by the Chernobyl attack. Rodrigo Santoro is fascinating as Malin, a man haunted by his ego, ambitions and political visions, now twisted by a moral duty-call. Inspired by true events, the film is directed by Rodrigo and Sebastián Barriuso, sons of the real Malin, as they witnessed their father’s traumatic and compelling experiences. The film is an intimate portrait of an intellectual couple struggling to maintain their family together while the Cuban revolution is condemning the country. The directors explore both sides, mother and father, with fascinating results: their different perspectives, he’s engaged on the saving lives duty at the Hospital, she’s somehow escaping the political tragedies, as she puts together her own art show. Very emotional and authentic, it’s an efficient family political thriller. (Film Movement. DVD and On Demand.)
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