1971 Not Rated
Director Johanna Hamilton’s marvelous documentary tells the largely forgotten story of a break-in at an FBI office in Pennsylvania by anti-war activists. What the burglars found was a trove of documents revealing the pervasive extent of FBI surveillance on political dissenters. Not only was J. Edgar Hoover’s bureau keeping tabs on everyone (even infiltrating a suspicious Boy Scout troop); the agency was intent on destroying the personal lives of dissidents. When the Washington Post ran with the story, the invulnerability of the FBI was punctured and congressional investigations followed. Mixing interviews, archival TV footage and deft recreations, 1971 is a compelling history lesson with the mounting tension of a political thriller. (David Luhrssen)
7 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 25 and 1:45 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 27 at the Oriental Theatre as part of Milwaukee Film Festival.
The Boxtrolls PG
Taking the slightest inspiration from Alan Snow’s kid-lit book Here Be Monsters!, this film creates turn-of-the-century city Cheesebridge, where the elite spend their time eating cheese. Below the town’s cobbled streets reside diminutive boxtrolls that emerge after dark to recycle humans trash, fashioning it into whimsical inventions. Each troll wears a cardboard box over its torso, the better for neatly stacking themselves at bedtime. On one foray the trolls find an abandoned human baby and decide to raise him. Named Eggs (voice of Isaac Hempstead-Wright), in time the lad befriends rich girl Winnie (Elle Fanning) whose help he needs to defeat social climber Archibald Snatcher (Ben Kingsley), who seeks to eradicate the trolls. The film’s somewhat bland characterizations are uplifted by a series of surprisingly pleasurable action sequences. (Lisa Miller)
The Equalizer R
Having retired from the spy business, Robert McCall (Denzel Washington) spends his days working for a home improvement store, and his nights reading the classics while sipping tea at a local diner. Content with an ordinary existence, McCall resurrects his special skill set after Teri (Chloë Grace Moretz), an indentured young prostitute he’s befriended, suffers a serious beating at the hands of her pimp. McCall’s efforts to negotiate Teri’s release are rebuffed by the Russian mob, prompting him to morph from an everyday Joe into a one-man killing machine. To stop his reign of terror, the Russians call in Teddy (Marton Csokas), a ruthless assassin whom McCall repeatedly outsmarts. Violent and edgy, this adaptation bears little resemblance to its television series predecessor. (L.M.)
The Missing Picture Not Rated
A memoir of growing up in Cambodia under the savage Khmer Rouge regime, The Missing Picture is also a visual-audio poem. Filmmaker Rithy Panh, the narrator of his own story, juxtaposes the clay figures he carved and painted of his family, fellow victims and tormentors with archival footage. The Khmer Rouge left behind much film and many photos of their attempt to build a utopia with no consideration for humanity. With restrained bitterness, The Missing Picture is a creatively told first-hand account of horror on a scale difficult to imagine. (D.L.)
11:30 a.m., Sunday, Sept. 28 at the Downer Theatre; 9:30 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 1 at Fox Bay Cinema Grill as part of Milwaukee Film Festival.
Que Caramba es la Vida Not Rated
Interviewing multiple generations of women mariachi players in Mexico City, German filmmaker Doris Dörrie’s documentary exposes the inequity of women struggling to exist in the shadows of their male contemporaries. Accepted societal norms and established gender role expectations are the foundation for this ongoing struggle. In a society where male mariachi players focus solely on their music careers, women who endeavor to enter this arena do so only after their duties as caregivers, wives and mothers are completed. While this film is a reminder that certain cultures today still maintain antiquated gender role beliefs, it’s unfortunate that their struggles were not explored in greater depth or with the thought-provoking seriousness needed to shift gender marginalization towards gender equality. (Jay Peschman)
11:15 a.m., Tuesday, Sept. 30 and 10:30 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 2 at the Oriental Theatre; and 7:15 p.m., Monday, Oct. 6 at the Times Cinema as part of Milwaukee Film Festival.
