Capone's Art-House Round-Up with ADULT BEGINNERS (SXSW '15), THE WATER DIVINER, THE WRECKING CREW and DIOR AND I!!!

Hey, folks. Capone in Chicago here, with a few films that are making their way into art houses or coming out in limited release around America this week (maybe even taking up one whole screen at a multiplex near you). Do your part to support these films, or at least the good ones…


ADULT BEGINNERS
The elements that went into ADULT BEGINNERS almost don't make sense. Nick Kroll has never been the lead in a film, let alone one that has as many dramatic elements as this one. He's a comic actor better known for doing outrageous characters on "Kroll Show" and "Parks and Recreation" or playing self-centered dick on the very funny "The League" or in the very unfunny GOOD OLD FASHIONED ORGY. Even in early scenes of ADULT BEGINNERS, there are elements of dickishness to his Jake, who quickly turns into a pathetic, broken man when Jake's company tanks before it even gets off the ground, forcing him to move in with his sister Justine (Rose Byrne), her husband Danny (Bobby Cannavale), and their 3-year-old son, Teddy, in New Rochelle, New York.

Kroll gets a story credit here, along with his screenwriters Liz Flahive and Jeff Cox, and there's a sense that some of the issues dealt with are more personal in nature. There's a running theme concerning growing up and getting past childhood issues of abandonment, parental death, and general fears that have never quite been erased, and these problems are faced by every adult member of this very broken family. Director Ross Katz (who helmed HBO's very sad and moving film TAKING CHANCE) may, on the surface, seem like a strange choice to direct ADULT BEGINNERS, but he's actually quite skilled at negotiating the film's more serious, sometimes angst-ridden moments.

Jake's presence in their lives for several months doesn't drive this couple apart, but it does make them focus inward and realize there are problem in their marriage that they are able to ignore, hiding behind their young son—with another on the way. Along his path to an elevated level of maturity (ushered along by becoming Teddy's live-in nanny), Jake meets fellow nanny Blanca (Paula Garcés), and the two start a cautious relationship. All the while Danny is feeling neglected by his pregnant and distracted wife, so he considers straying. The pieces of this story are not exactly new, but there's something about placing capable, talented actors in these roles and watching them make something substantial out of this film.

The more outrageous comedy moments don't work as well. With small supporting roles from the likes of Joel McHale, Caitlin FitzGerald, Bobby Moynihan, Mike Birbiglia, Jane Krakowksi and Jason Mantzoukas, the more overtly funny moments work to varying degrees, but they almost get in the way of the more human—still quite often funny—sequences. Due in no small part of playing alongside Byrne and Cannavale—who have made solid careers being able to handle comedy and drama so convincingly—Kroll is the film's real surprise and discovery. He's tapping into something significantly deeper than anything we've seen him do, and he seems like a natural doing it. He's able to re-cast his comic timing in a new way for this part, and the work pays off. ADULT BEGINNERS is a film that is both familiar and new, loaded with humor and more than a little drama. And when you pull it all together, it works quite nicely.


THE WATER DIVINER
Although it takes a rather odd path to get there, actor Russell Crowe's directing debut, THE WATER DIVINER, is an interesting take on the price and aftermath of war. Crowe also stars in the film about Australian farmer Joshua Conner, who has a gift at finding water on his farm using a dowsing rod. He's quite good at it, actually. Near the beginning of the 20th century, his three grown sons go to fight the Turks and end up at the notoriously bloody Battle of Gallipoli, where all three are reported to have been killed.

As a result of the loss, Conner's wife begins to go slowly insane, and a few years later, he agrees to head to Istanbul, and eventually Gallipoli to find their bodies, bring them home, and bury them on the farm. At the same time Conner is making his way to the acres-big battleground, a team of both Australians (led by Jai Courtney's Lt-Col Cyril Hughes) and Turks (led by Yilmaz Erdoğan's Major Hasan) is beginning the painstaking effort to identify the bodies from both sides and give them all a proper burial. Needless to say, tensions between the two groups is high, but the work seems to trump most of the distrust and resentment.

Meanwhile in Istanbul, Conner is still attempting to get the proper permissions for his trip to Gallipoli, so he takes up residence in a local hotel, run by Ayshe (Olga Kurylenko), whose husband was also lost in the war, although she refuses to acknowledge his likely death for the sake of her young son, and the fact that if he is officially declared dead, she may be forced to marry his brother and be his second wife. Aside from simply tracking Conner's journey, THE WATER DIVINER takes time to explore the period and culture to a surprisingly detailed degree, and that raises our interest level in the stakes. Ayshe's troubles are a product of the culture, but she has no desire to run away; she'd rather fight. She and Crowe share some romantic feelings for each other, but it barely diverts from the primary stories.

Eventually Conner gives up going through proper channels and simply rents a fishing boat to go to Gallipoli and waits for someone to take him seriously (perhaps including the audience in that wish as well). I don't want to say too much more about the plot beyond this point, but needless to say, the film does not end when Connor is given a chance to use his divining skills to search for his boys' bodies. The film's final half is quite different and more gut-wrenching than an already pretty painful first half, but Crowe does an admirable job pulling it off as a man that is trying to hold his emotions at bay just so he can get through the job at hand. I wish less time had been committed to the somewhat distracting pseudo-love story, but it's hard to complain about seeing too much of Kurylenko's face.

From writers Andrew Knight and Andrew Anastasios, THE WATER DIVINER treads across territory that, in different hands, might have been a tough sell. But under Crowe's direction and with him locking in and refusing to let us think that Connor's abilities are some sort of trick, the film mostly works, and in a way that doesn't have you laughing at the story it's telling or the way it's being told. Crowe takes great pains to capture the beauty of the land, the buildings, the controlled chaos of the city, and the desolate, agonizing grief that stems from Gallipoli's body-strewn battlefields. It's a tough sell, but it's certainly not like anything you've seen before, and that's becoming more and more difficult in movies.


THE WRECKING CREW
There's really not much to say about this film, and honestly, if you have any love of music and/or music history, I shouldn't have to sell THE WRECKING CREW to you. While many recording studios and record labels across the county had house bands—see the Funk Brothers represented in STANDING IN THE SHADOWS OF MOTOWN for proof of that—in California, there was a large pool of musicians collectively known as the Wrecking Crew. Among them, they were the backing band on some of the biggest hits the 1960s and early 1970s had to offer.

They worked with everyone from Nat "King" Cole and Frank Sinatra to the Beach Boys (hell, they were the Beach Boys on record, with Brian Wilson leading them through endless hours of takes) and The Monkees (hell, they were The Monkees, too, on record for a time). They endured Phil Spector's wall-of-sound sound, and made Sonny & Cher resemble musicians. A small handful of them, including Glen Campbell and Leon Russell, broke out and made it as solo acts when the age of the session player gave way to the singer-songwriter. But most of their names you won't know.

At its core, The Wrecking Crew is a loving tribute by producer-director Denny Tedesco, son of the late guitarist Tommy Tedesco, who was easily one of the most versatile players of the bunch. But Denny spreads the praise around liberally and gives us dozens of examples of number-one hits that the Wrecking Crew played on that you'll know. The licensing fees and arrangements kept the film on the shelf for far too long. The interviews, archival recording footage, outtakes that let us hear the Crew work out arrangements in a matter of minutes, they are all in abundance and just make a great story even better.

THE WRECKING CREW is more than just the greatest mix tape ever; it's the story about session musicians who were largely fine not being known, except by those who hired them. If you had a whole in your schedule, you were failing. If you had to turn somebody down because your schedule was full, you told them yes anyway and made it work. Some of the Crew became fairly wealthy being unknowns, thank you very much. The film is about that rare breed of musician who was happy taking the fortune without the fame. Even without fame, they still have more great stories set in the heart of music history than you can imagine. And the stories told about them by dignitaries like Wilson, Herb Albert, the late Dick Clark, Roger McGuinn, Cher, Nancy Sinatra and so many others aren't bad either. But this group doesn't need testimonials; their music speaks for itself.


DIOR AND I
There have been what feels like a disproportionate number of films about the fashion industry and its most famous icons (mostly documentaries, but a few features, including the upcoming SAINT LAURENT). What's perhaps even stranger is that I've liked quite a few of them, especially the documentaries (make sure to keep an eye out for IRIS, from the recently departed Albert Maysles, about famed tastemaker Iris Apfel—review coming soon). Making its way through art houses in American right now is DIOR AND I, a doc from director Frederic Tcheng (DIANA VREELAND: THE EYE HAS TO TRAVEL), and it's as much a film about fashion as it is about the pressures of being the new boss in a new job.

DIOR AND I follows the first few months of designer Raf Simons in his new position as artistic director of the House of Dior's first Haute Couture collection, made all the more difficult on him considering he'd built up his reputation designing ready-to-wear fashion, rather than the more pricey and elegant made-to-order line. With the ghost of Christian Dior looming large, Simons seems to be very confident that his ideas will translate, despite only having about two months to pull the line and its unveiling together right out of the gate. Working with a team of veteran collaborators and a skilled team of craftspeople, the new director must deal with both expected and unexpected hurdles, with his greatest enemy being the clock.

Director Tcheng does a magnificent job gaining access to every step of this process, and it's almost as impressive watching it all come together, as it is watching the parade of celebrities, fashion editors, and other press coming in to watch the elaborate and emotional unveiling. We get a real sense of the personalities at play in every step of the process, and eventually we learn that even the most panicky seamstress works best when the stress is at its peak. There's such a sense of pure pride in their work, that there's never really any doubt the line will come together, but that doesn't stop the film from getting quite tense and dramatic at times.

Tcheng uses a device of having a narrator voice Christian Dior's "ghost," watching over Simons as he scrambles for inspiration. The voiceover is used to give us a little history of the company and to allow us to comprehend Dior's contribution to fashion in a post-World War II world. It's almost impossible to believe that his fashion house was only around 10 years when he died in 1957, but the standards that he created have been meticulously maintained to the present.

There's a very good chance you'll get emotional when you see Simons' line finally revealed at a flower-filled exhibition, since just about everyone on screen is crying when all is done, and he takes his final walk through the audience to thunderous applause. DIOR AND I isn't only for those interested in fashion, trends, or celebrity spotting, but if you are turned on by any or all of these things, you'll be in heaven for 90 minutes. What I was most impressed by was watching master craftspeople do their work to perfection and under impossible pressure. It's a tribute to those who work with their hands and how they can often be just as much artists and any painter or other form of designer. You might be surprised how captivating this movie is.

-- Steve Prokopy
"Capone"
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