Tropic Cinema
Selections Transverse Both Time and Space…
Reviewed by
Shirrel Rhoades
Francophiles rejoice. Nostalgia fans get in line.
And seekers of gritty realism step up to buy a ticket. This week’s lineup at
the Tropic Cinema has a little of everything, including an extravaganza filled
with parties, confetti, chandeliers, and jazz babies.
The title of “Renoir” telegraphs its subject. But
does the film focus on the famous French director or his father, the
impressionist painter. Well, more so about the painter but both are there. A
woman named Andree Heuschling connects the two in this biopic by Gilles Boudon.
She was not only the last model of Pierre-August Renoir but the first actress
to appear in the films of young Jean Renoir. Set during the last years of the
painter’s life at Cagnes-sur-Mer, the film stars Michel Bouquet as the elder
Renoir and Vincent Rottiers as the son. Christa Theret is outstanding as their
muse. The Austin American-Statesman observes that the film “really does have
the lush glory of a Renoir.” And The Oregonian says it revels “in the pristine
sunlight and unhurried pace of an era gone by.”
Another French film at the Tropic is “Something
in the Air,” a look at the aftermath of the student uprisings in Paris. Here
it’s 1971 and young Gilles (Clement Metayer) is carrying the flame of unrest,
giving political speeches to fellow high school students and protesting for
worker’s rights … while at the same time pursuing romance. The Wall Street
Journal observes the film is “worth seeing for what it says of the turbulent
state of France in the early 1970s.” And Salon.com says “It's a terrific film,
wonderfully atmospheric and alive ...”
Another coming-of-age film is “Mud,” a modern-day
homage to Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. Living on the edge of the Mississippi, two
youngsters (played by Tye Sheridan and Jacob Lofland) come across a man on the
lam (Matthew McConaughey) and get caught up in his quest to reunite with his
true love (Reese Witherspoon). The Toronto Star observes that it’s a “fairy
tale, steeped in the sleepy Mississippi lore of Twain and similar American
writers, and with a heart as big as the river is wide.”
Less idealistic is “The Iceman,” the true story
of a mob hitman (brilliantly played by Michael Shannon) and his mentor (Chris
Evans), a pair who store dead bodies in an ice cream truck. Brrr. “Kneel before
Shannon,” says Total Film. “His primal, powerhouse turn drives this criminal
biopic.”
Even more dark is “Portrait of Jason,” a 1968
experimental documentary about an unhappy gay hustler. “By the end of the long
night's shoot,” says The Nation, “Shirley Clarke knew she had captured one of
the most involving, uncompromising and revelatory human documents in the
history of cinema.” And Village Voice observes that it “says more about race,
class, and sexuality than just about any movie before or since.”
Another movie that begins with sparkle and
pizazz, but ends as a tragic romance is “The Great Gatsby.” Opening at the Tropic
this week, Baz Luhrmann’s extravaganza based on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel
about a self-made man (Leonardo DiCaprio) who throws lavish parties in hopes
his lost love (Carey Mulligan) will show up. “Employing the stylish grandiosity
we’ve come expect from him, Luhrmann's trademark razzle-dazzle is entirely
appropriate for the extravagant excess of Gatsby's world,” observes Flix
Capacitor. And Richard Roper says it’s “the best attempt yet to capture the
essence of the novel.”
Quite a lineup of films. Romance, heartbreak,
anger, murder, lush beauty -- it’s all here at the Tropic.
srhoades@aol.com
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