I’m not sure exactly what our rules are, given that so many foreign movies appear on our shores more than a year after they are released. That said:

The Class

Il Divo

District 9

Inglorious Basterds

Two Lovers

Capitalism: A Love Story

The Girlfriend Experience

Public Enemies

…yet lest I seem less than enthusiastic, let me be clear: Mike Judge’s Extract may be a little too this or a little too little of that, but I enjoyed the film as much as any comedy this year. Judge has a masterly sense of structure–the film is a well-oiled (if a little over-determined) farce machine, but played with the kind of subtle dialogue-driven character focus for which he doesn’t often get enough credit. Jason Bateman plays the newly-middle-aged owner of a chemical-flavoring company, finding himself at a loss in his relationship with wife Kristen Wiig and unexcited by his job. Mila Kunis’ temp (who we know to be a con artist) catches his eye, but he feels too guilty to do more than dream, until his bartender friend Dean (a shaggy, invested Ben Affleck) gives him a horse tranquilizer and a plan: get a gigolo to seduce your wife, then you can cheat with guiltfree abandon.

That summary seems so busy, so hyperbolic, and the film does get stuck in some obvious bits, almost a necessary by-product of what is at base a reliably conventional comic plot. There’s hints of other stories bubbling up: a read on the workspace that complements his cult hit but doesn’t develop too substantively here; some space opened up but never explored for the two very interesting women (and two strong actors). A shame–the film could have been perhaps great. Instead, it’s just really, really, really enjoyable. What makes it work is how Judge’s style–a kind of deadpan minimalism–so perfectly fuels that silly plot; instead of getting lost in leers and exaggerated tics (his side characters are usually at base cartoonish buffoons), the film takes its sweet time listening to these people talk, even the loonies, gives the actors room to evoke and emote. And if he wraps up with a lot of sentiment, he’s earned it–as well as mocking it, by a late-film plot development that is so blithely derisive that it underscores the empathy Judge creates for (most of) these characters.

I despair of Reynolds, writing reviews of obscure foreign language thrillers that probably cost the equivalent of a Starbucks latte to make when there is the latest big budget Guy Ritchie movie just begging to be reviewed. Is that how you spend the holiday season? What message are you sending Max? Christ was born, and subsequently crucified and resurrected, in order that we might spend Christmas Day huddled in an air-conditioned movie theater watching explosions.

What to say? Sherlock Holmes is nowhere near as bad as we have a right to expect given that Ritchie is involved. It is probably best not to take the plot too seriously, and some of the fight sequences go on too long and serve little purpose. But Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law (as Doctor Watson) do good work here. There is a slight undercurrent of chaste homoeroticism as this pair act like a fussy old married couple. In truth, I can watch Downey in anything; he relies on deadpan humor and a perpetually quizzical expression. There is humor, some nice one-liners, a suitably grimy London, and — despite what the trailer would have you believe — Sherlock Holmes really does have remarkable powers of observation and deduction. If the movie makes any money, it is set up for the appearance of Professor Moriarty in the sequel. Oh, and just like the movies that Reynolds watches, it has subtitles. Go, celebrate the holiday season as God intended.

Lucrecia Martel’s oblique thriller (or “thriller”?) has made many critics swoon–not just end-of-year lists but leaping into decade round-ups, too. I kinda agree…. ‘though it is the kind of knotty, imagistic film that pushes against the viewers’ (or this one’s) desire for narrative even as Maria Onetto’s brilliant performance as the bourgeois Vero Lala suggests deep wells of story that keep sucking us back in. (more…)

Jaime Meltzer’s documentary on the Nigerian film industry is not a whole slew of things I would love to see about the Nigerian film industry. It is, for instance, only glancingly attentive to the history of the industry (a few title cards letting us know that film production really began there a scant 20 years ago, ‘though the industry now accounts for an astonishing amount of very profitable product). It is inexplicably inattentive to the social and political landscape of Lagos, of Nigeria, even of Africa (’though, again glancingly, there is some intriguing stuff about Liberia bubbling up in the account of one particular production). It is only an hour long, not nearly enough time to spend ….

Yet as a snapshot of a few filmmakers–exuberant, prolific, very (very, very, very) self-confident filmmakers–and their work on projects now, it’s a suggestive, rewarding little blast. Meltzer interviews three directors/producers, then starts more directly following two as they work on their latest productions. Along the way, you get a few intriguing details about the marketing of these films (30 or so films rushed to dvd or vcd each week, often within a month or so of shooting) and about viewing habits (a tendency to dismiss Hollywood blockbusters in favor of the local product, after years of dominance by Indian film)… and some snippets of the films themselves… and it’s just a fascinating glimpse of real extra-corporate filmmaking, of local production and consumption habits.