Movies I Saw at the Nashville Film Festival

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

If there's one film on this list that's a must-see, it's Me and Earl. Based on a novel of the same name by Jesse Andrews, the story follows a young student filmmaker named Greg (Thomas Mann) as he befriends Rachel, a girl from his high school who is dying of leukemia (Olivia Cooke). Along for the ride is Greg's "co-worker,' not friend, Earl (R.J. Cyler). Together, Greg and Earl recreate all the classic movies of world cinema to hilariously awful results. Fans of the classics will really dig the humor in this film which stems mostly from a familiarity with the Criterion Collection's back catalog. Some of the best jokes may pass over the heads of more casual moviegoers for this reason, but seeing it in a festival theater packed with cinephiles was a riot. The performances from all the young actors are great. Director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon allows the camera to linger in certain scenes to let the kids show off their chops. There's a tense scene between Mann and Cooke towards the end that takes place in a single-take, wide-angle shot of Rachel's bedroom. The vibe I got from Me and Earl is that it's like The Fault in Our Stars for people who can't stand The Fault in Our Stars. This film is consistently hilarious with a great heart, and I just couldn't get enough of it. I can't wait to watch it over and over again someday. (Winner of the Audience Award and Grand Jury Prize at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival.)

Slow West

Slow West starts that way before building into a Euro-West yarn that would have Sergio Leone turning in his grave. It takes place in 19th century Colorado but has a very foreign flair to it. I guess that makes sense since the movie was filmed in the back country of New Zealand. It also might have something to do with the plot which revolves around a young Scottish immigrant named Jay (Kodi Smitt-McPhee) who travels the countryside in search of his long-lost love (Caren Pistorius). Aiding Jay on his quest is the mysterious Silas (Michael Fassbender), an outlaw who once ran with a gang of bounty hunters led by Payne (Ben Mendelsohn). The way I've described it makes it sound very True Grit, but I assure you that the story takes several unexpected twists and turns. Slow West has an uncanny way of presenting us with intimate, well-crafted character moments that are accentuated either by startling violence, a sharp sense of humor, or both. I've never seen or heard of a Western quite like that before, and I'd be willing to wager that unless you've seen Slow West, you haven't either.

7 Chinese Brothers

I don't quite know how to best summarize 7 Chinese Brothers on my own, so I'll offer what the IMDb listing says:

"Jason Schwartzman portrays Larry, an inebriated sad sack who rides a tide of booze onto the shores of an undiscriminating Quick-Lube. The only bright spot is probably his boss, Lupe (Eleanore Pienta). Will Larry keep it together long enough to win the girl, provide for his French bulldog, laze about with his friend Major (Tunde Adebimpe), and do his cantankerous grandmother (Olympia Dukakis) proud?"

I will add that this film has essentially nothing to do with its title. This was confirmed in a Q&A with writer/director Bob Byington who settled on the title "7 Chinese Brothers" because it sounded better than anything else he could come up with. Schwartzman gives one of his most nuanced performances in this entertaining little film that had me laughing from start to finish. A worthy addition to the slacker-comedy canon.

The Challenger 

The Challenger follows a down-and-out young man from the Bronx (Kent Moran, pulling quintuple-duty as star, editor, producer, writer, and director) who takes up boxing in order to win a better life for him and his mother. The late Michael Clarke Duncan co-stars in his last film role as the trainer Duane. The Challenger doesn't reinvent the wheel when it comes to the cliches inherent in most sports films. However it's still a well-done underdog story that sort of feels like a title bout between 8 Mile and Rocky. Well worth a look for Duncan's performance if nothing else.

 

How to Dance in Ohio

How to Dance in Ohio is a documentary that follows a group of teens and young adults from Columbus, Ohio as they prepare for a spring formal dance. Big deal, right? Well, all these young people are on the high-functioning end of the autism spectrum, which means preparing for the dance is indeed a big deal. The kids work with their psychologist and respective therapy groups to overcome the social and organizational anxieties that come with learning to slow-dance with a partner, picking out a dress, asking someone to be your date, and crowning a king and queen. I enjoyed this film for the intimate insight it provides into the lives of young adults with autism. It allowed me to better understand what autism looks like which in turn made it very easy to sympathize with the characters.

Alléluia

Loosely based on "the Lonely Hearts Killers" Raymond Fernandez and Martha Beck from late 1940s America, Alléluia is a foreign language import from Belgium that serves as solid "Midnight Movie" material. Separated into four gruesome acts, the story examines Gloria (Lola Duenas) who leaves her jealous, manipulating husband for a new life with her young daughter. Later, Gloria meets a charming man named Michel (Laurent Lucas) whom she falls madly in love with. She would do anything to maintain her relationship with Michel, even if that means leaving her own daughter to travel around and scam rich widows out of their money. Soon, jealousy starts to get the better of Gloria who kills the other women as they get more intimate with Michel. 

This isn't your typical Bonnie & Clyde film, which is sort of what I expected. It definitely feels like an art-house, midnight movie. It's shot almost entirely in close-ups, which may perturb some but is representative of the cinematographer's unique style, and it works quite well for this film. I would not recommend Alléluia to the casual moviegoer. It depicts scenes of disturbing violence and sexual misconduct that serve a story best left to be digested by more discerning viewers.