The Fool
Dima is a repairman in the public works department of a rustbelt Russian city. While fixing a broken pipe, he discovers that the dilapidated public housing tower is about to collapse, killing everyone inside. And no one wants to listen! The Fool is a compelling film by director Yury Bykov and a scathing indictment of the kleptocracy and indifference gripping Russia. It’s a morality play worthy of Dostoyevsky and a great example of cinematic storytelling.
Mediterranea
Italy has been one of the arrival points for the influx of migrants into Europe. Italian director Jonas Carpignano addresses the situation with Mediterranea, a selection at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival International Critics Week. The dramatization follows the perilous trek of migrants from the African nation of Burkina Faso to Italian refugee camps as they work odd jobs picking fruit, deal in the gray market for a few euros and try to make do.
The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane
Jodi Foster plays a precocious, Emily Dickinson-reading 13-year-old in this 1976 thriller. She’s a newcomer in a small town menaced by the pedophile scion of the village’s first family (Martin Sheen). But she has some secrets of her own, starting with a body in the cellar. Sharply written and suspenseful, this film by director Nicolas Gessner is a tale of the cost of living an independent life. Supporting actors include Scott Jacoby and Alexis Smith.
Backtrack
All the gothic elements are trotted out: creaky doors, bad dreams, memories persisting like ghosts, rain that never stops pouring (cue the thunderclaps). At the heart of the story is Adrien Brody, brooding and somber as a psychiatrist with a psychiatric (or is it a psychic?) problem: All his patients are dead. The realization sends him on a journey into the past, an effort to put guilty secrets to rest—but it doesn’t prove easy.
