Two movies out in theaters this week — the charming “Superboys of Malegaon” (a real joy) and the nerve-racking “Last Breath” — draw inspiration from documentaries.
We review both as well as an indie gem, “Cold Wallet” and “The Accidental Getaway Driver.” As for Apple TV+’s “The Gorge”? Read on.
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“Superboys of Malegaon”: A handful of films turn me into an emotional, sobbing wreck: Pixar’s “Up,” “Brokeback Mountain” and, yes, “The Notebook.” They get me every time. Now you can add director Reema Kagti’s splendid tale about friendship, cinematic love and creative ambition on that tearjerker list. It’s a sentimental crowd pleaser based on the 2008 documentary “Supermen of Malegaon” and gets told with a wide open heart that you can’t help but love.
Screenwriter Varun Grover spins off that documentary and emulates 1988 cinephile classic “Cinema Paradiso” and even “Stand By Me” — with the adults subbing for the boys. Initially, “Superboys” seems like it’ll subsist on pure goofiness and pratfalls as movie fan and photographer Nasir Shaikh (Adarsh Gourav of Netflix’s “The White Tiger”) takes his passion and taps the neighborhood’s love of movies for some profit and notoriety. His idea is to splice together VHS scenes from Bollywood movies with Buster Keaton and Chaplin flicks, a crime waiting to be discovered. The screenings become a hit with movie fans in his hometown of Malegeon, a more rural region that’s long existed in the shadows of Mumbai, but not so much with the cops who shut them down. Undaunted, Nasir hits on a plan to make a spoof of the Bollywood blockbuster “Sholay.” He taps his friends to do so, including nascent high-minded screenwriter Farogh (Vineet Singh) who dares to make something more original and meaningful, and his loyal but often passed-over best friend Shafique (Shashank Arora). Nasir is drawn to commercial success and gets caught up in his own ambitions, setting him at odds with his aspirations and his friends. A late development turns the tables on all the fractured relationships, leading to a funny and moving finale that is as sweet as it is lovely. Details: 3½ stars out of 4; opens in select theaters Feb. 28.
“Last Breath”: Everything about Alex Parkinson’s claustrophobic deep-sea adventure reflects competency and a lot of respect for its real-life heroes. Not once does it veer off course into manipulative overstatement, even when the soundtrack swells like the ocean during a truly emotional moment. The straightforward approach serves this solid docudrama suitably, but also makes you want to seek out the same-titled 2019 documentary Parkinson made to perhaps gain even more depth and insight. Both recount the miraculous story of how saturation diver Chris Lemons (played with heightened likability by Finn Cole) survived for nearly a half hour at the bottom of the North Sea near Scotland when his connecting cable got caught and he became stranded without oxygen. It’s an incredible story and perfect fodder for a nail-biter, and that’s what we get here. Co-screenwriters Parkinson and David Brooks offer brief talking points that approximate character development for two diving companions — the ready-to-retire Duncan Allcock (Woody Harrelson, who looks like he’s dressed for a slumber party the first time we meet him) and the no-nonsense but calming force David Yuasa (Simu Liu).
Parkinson’s movie is at its best when it leaves the onshore life behind; those brief lovey-dovey exchanges between Lemons and his fiancé Morag (Bobby Rainsbury) that anchor the opening moments but don’t do much. When “Last Breath” focuses on Lemons’ perilous plight and re-creates the stress that the crew members on the storm-battered ship feel, “Last Breath” grabs on and won’t let you go. The underwater sequences are harrowing, and director of photography Nick Remy Matthews and underwater director of photography Ian Seabrook are the reason why. “Last Breath” does follow a formula in its telling, but given that’s based on a true story, that seems like the right approach. Details: 3 stars; in theaters Feb. 28.
“Cold Wallet”: Of-the-moment thrillers that warn of the potential traps of new technology oscillate from the great (Alex Garland’s “Ex Machina”) to downright silly (Sandra Bullock’s 1995 “The Net”). Should anyone harbor doubts that a bang-up thriller could be made out of crypto currency, check out Cutter Hodierne’s nifty little moralizing gem. It turned skeptics such as myself into believing a crypto-themed suspense film could work. Part of the reason it does is indie actor Raul Castillo. He makes Billy, an unraveling crypto investor, believable and somewhat likable, at the beginning. Billy has lost everything, including his wife, his savings and his dreams thanks to shady entrepreneur Charles Hegel (Josh Brener) who hoodwinked him. He seeks vengeance by invading one of Hegel’s homes and enlists other avengers — hacker Eva (Melonie Diaz) and fledging gym owner Dom (Tony Cavalero) – to help retrieve the cold cash Robin Hood style. The Steven Soderbergh-backed production serves as a cautionary tale about the fickle crypto scene but is equally at home as a sharp parable on the dangers of greed, revenge and avarice, akin to “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre,” “A Simple Plan” and even, in a more metaphorical way, “Moby Dick.” John Hibey strips any flab out of his chiseled screenplay and serves up terrific lines and fully developed characters to the cast, while director Hodierne paces it like a lightning bolt. And how refreshing it is that it’s told in under 90 minutes. Other filmmakers should take note. Details: 3½ stars, in select theaters Feb. 28, also available to rent.
“My Dead Friend Zoe”: The cliched narrative device of having a glib dead friend hang out again is often an easy out for a screenwriter to create emotional flashbacks and a way to explain the impact of said ghost had on a main protagonist’s life. Director/screenwriter Kyle Hausmann-Stokes’ first full-length narrative feature does a remarkable job of inserting the “presence” of Merit’s (a sensational Sonequa Martin Green) Army mechanic buddy Zoe (Natalie Morris) into the narrative flow of his film without making it cheesy or clunky. That’s a sign of a good screenwriter and director. Both women served in Afghanistan as mechanics, and even though they came from different backgrounds struck up a tight, one-of-a-kind friendship. Haussman-Stokes is a veteran himself and has successfully expanded upon his short film “Merit X Zoe” by seasoning in more details while interjecting fits of humor amongst well-earned tears (expect many to flow by the film’s end). Merit suffers from grief and PTSD, a potent combo that she doesn’t want to acknowledge or work through right now. Her unresolved pain only intensifies and continues to upend her life, leading to her returning home to care for her veteran father (Ed Harris) whose mind is slowly deteriorating. “My Dead Friend Zoe” throws a plot curveball near the finale and it readjusts what we’ve seen before. It’s perfectly pitched and makes for a sound change that further texturizers the emotional scope of this his wonderful, very human gem from a new voice Details: 3½ stars; in theaters Feb. 28.
“The Accidental Getaway Driver”: Remember the name Sing J. Lee. You’ll be hearing more about this talented filmmaker. This, his astonishing debut feature, commands our attention from its seemingly uncomplicated but gripping start: An elderly Vietnamese driver named Long reluctantly agrees to a night job driving around three shifty men whom he finds out escaped from an Orange County jail. As they grow more desperate and the hours wear on, each of the men reveals his past, how it affects their present and his need to find a home. Lee’s fine cast is fronted by Hiệp Trần Nghĩa as Long and Dustin Nguyen as Tây, playing two characters who find they have more in common than they thought. “The Accidental Getaway Driver” springs from a true story and gently speaks to our need for family and connection. It’s unforgettable. Details: 3½ stars; playing in select theaters.
“The Gorge”: When you call a movie utterly ridiculous, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s unwatchable. Scott Derrickson’s Apple TV+ original film is indeed “watchable” enough, but in its relentless and foolish pursuit of mashing up as many genres as it could – a romcom, a romantic drama, a monster movie, a sci-fi flick, a horror show, an action and adventure exercise – it becomes a bit of a bore – especially at nearly 2 hours length. The plot harkens back to paranoid classic mutant movies such as 1954’s “Them!” as a nefarious experiment suckers in two hired assassins (Anya Taylor-Joy and Miles Teller) to watch over a gorge where twig-like critters dwell below. The interplay between the two leads (he’s American, she’s from Lithuania and has an overstated and understated accent from Taylor-Joy) is a high point in a film that goes berserk when the two venture down below. It’s fun up to a B-movie celebration point, but sort of loses it near the end. Sigourney Weaver pops in at the beginning and the end, and delivers a performance that seems carved from other ones she’s done before. The special effects are quite good, but “The Gorge” doesn’t scale the goofy heights in a rollercoaster ride way that it thinks it does, stalling out with a hackneyed ending that makes you shrug your shoulders and want to move on to something better. Details: 2 stars; now available on Apple TV+.
Contact Randy Myers at soitsrandy@gmail.com.
