‘And While We Were Here’ 1/2
Writer-director Kat Coiro follows up her romantic comedy “Life Happens,” whose farce hinged on an unplanned pregnancy, with the sober drama “And While We Were Here,” whose conflict stems from a miscarriage. “Life’s” Kate Bosworth stars as Jane, an uptight writer who dresses kind of frumpily for someone who claims to be the party and fashion reporter for Town & Country U.K. She accompanies her musician husband Leonard (Iddo Goldberg) on a business trip to Naples, where she intends to finish transcribing her grandmother’s life story.
These tapes serve as the soundtrack to Jane’s exploration of the sepia-hued city and the nearby island of Ischia, with its charming village, romantic ruins and glowing coast. Purportedly an interview, her grandmother’s musings play instead like a stage play monologue, striking one of the film’s few false notes. Jane meets-cute Caleb (Jamie Blackley), a teenage ex-pat who rekindles in her a lust for passion and youth, forcing a confrontation in her relationship with Leonard, which has devolved into passive-aggression masked as affection. As her icy demeanor thaws, Jane discovers happiness again but also demands anger and grief from a husband who’ has handled their hardships with frustrating stoicism and understanding.
Their climactic argument hashes out heavy stuff honestly and authentically, and it’s to Coiro’s credit that no one emerges as a villain — and that, however painful, on the other side lies hope.
MPAA rating: R for some sexual content, language and brief drug use. Running time: 1:24. Plays 7, 9 p.m. Monday, Wednesday-Thursday, 3 p.m. Sept. 28-29 at at Facets Cinematheque.
Annlee Ellingson, special to Tribune Newspapers
‘Good Ol’ Freda’
Ryan White’s affectionate documentary “Good Ol’ Freda” taps into the tender roots of the Beatles’ radiant run, viewed through the recollections of an unsung member of their organization. For 40-odd years, most of Freda Kelly’s friends knew nothing of her role in pop culture history, as secretary to the leaders of the British Invasion and president of their fan club.
White is a friend who learned recently of the connection. He celebrates Kelly’s reticence — she still has no interest in dishing dirt — and lack of pretension. His uneven yet engaging film regards her as heroic for not trading in her memories and memorabilia for a mint. Given today’s cash-in culture, it’s hard to disagree.
Hired at 17, she was in it for the duration — from the Cavern Club to the protracted legal disputes — and beyond, continuing to answer fan mail well after the group’s breakup. As sweet as the nostalgia-tripping is, especially for baby boomers, the observations grow repetitious; even some of the evocative stills pop up more than once. But Kelly is good company. Her reminiscences, filled with disarming details, paint a touching picture of the extended family at the heart of the phenomenon.
MPAA rating: PG (for some thematic material and smoking). Running time: 1:27. Opens Friday at the Music Box Theatre; also on VOD.
Sheri Linden, special to Tribune Newspapers
‘A Single Shot’ 1/2
Sam Rockwell is one of Hollywood’s most underrated actors, and he again shows why that’s the case in “A Single Shot,” a rural, neo-noir thriller that slowly pulls the viewer under its veil of mystery.
Rockwell plays John Moon, a down-on-his-luck former farmer somewhere in the American hinterland for whom things never go right. His wife took their young son and left because Moon can’t keep steady work. He survives by poaching animals in restricted areas. Things get worse when, while out hunting bear, he accidentally kills a young woman. While figuring out what to do with her, he discovers she’s in possession of stacks of money. Hide the body, keep the moolah, get back with the wife — sounds like a plan, right?
Then the harassment starts. Someone knows what he’s done. Is it his wife’s low-rent divorce lawyer (William H. Macy), his best buddy (Jeffrey Wright), the town bad-boy just out of prison (Joe Anderson), or someone else?
Director David M. Rosenthal, working from a script by Matthew F. Jones (based on his novel), doesn’t reveal anything too quickly (there’s not a word of dialogue for nearly the first 15 minutes of the film). And there are some spots where things drag as “A Single Shot” nears the two-hour mark.
But there’s something gripping in the way Rosenthal and Jones slowly reveal the layers of troubled life in this small town, and the way that Rockwell plays a man on the verge of losing everything.
MPAA rating: R (for strong language, violence, nudity, sexual situation, brief drug use). Running time: 1:56. Opens Friday at AMC River East 21; also on VOD.
Cary Darling, Fort Worth Star-Telegram
‘Jewtopia’
If one-word reviews were acceptable, “oy!” could completely cover the film adaptation of the surprise stage hit “Jewtopia.” But since more is required, more will be heaped upon the heads of co-writer/director Bryan Fogel and his co-scripter — and the play’s co-originator — Sam Wolfson for concocting such a thuddingly terrible farce. To call this winkfest toward an astoundingly retrograde sliver of Judaism offensive would be, well, offensive to the word offensive.
But Fogel and Wolfson gleefully, purposely, wallow in all kinds of time-warped ethnic — and other — stereotypes as they tell their decidedly lowbrow tale of a dimwitted, but hunky Christian named, er, Christian (Ivan Sergei) who enlists his childhood buddy, neurotic dweeb Adam Lipschitz (Joel David Moore), to teach him how to “act Jewish” after Christian introduces himself as one “Avi Rosenberg” to impress a rabbi’s pretty daughter, Alison (Jennifer Love Hewitt). Adam, who’s engaged to hectoring control freak — and all-around Jewish nightmare — Hannah (Jamie-Lynn Sigler), gives his old pal literally the worst dating advice ever, which Christian laps up like a moronic sheepdog.
The hyper-broad film then spins off into a virtual whiplash of comic awfulness (the filmmakers’ infantile, relentless obsession with all things genital is mind-numbing) that leads to a ridiculous set of “love conquers all” scenarios.Wendie Malick, Rita Wilson, Jon Lovitz, Tom Arnold, Camryn Manheim, Phil Rosenthal and other practiced performers provide support but are torpedoed by the vulgar, nonsensical and, it bears repeating, offensive material.
No MPAA rating. Running time: 1:29. Opens Friday at AMC River East 21; also on VOD
Gary Goldstein, special to Tribune Newspapers
‘The Short Game’
In the vein of 2002’s spelling-bee doc, “Spellbound,” Josh Greenbaum’s “The Short Game” follows a group of 7- and 8-year-olds as they journey to the U.S. Kids World Championship golf tournament held each year in Pinehurst, N.C. Stylishly shot by a filmmaker who clearly enjoys children, the documentary offers a warts-and-all portrait of these pint-sized athletes and their parents as they tee off on the global stage.
Starting with a six-month countdown to the big day, Greenbaum visits each of his players at home in Florida, Texas and California, as well as Paris, Manila, Johannesburg and Shenzhen, China — getting to know their strengths and weaknesses as well as their likes and dislikes outside of golf. Then it’s on to the tournament itself, where the emotional (and sometimes financial) stress that the players and their parents are under rears up, and the themes of the film play out: competition and friendship, obstacles (both physical and psychological) and perseverance.
MPAA rating: PG (for some language). Running time: 1:40. Opens Friday at the AMC River East 21 and South Barrington 30.
Annlee Ellingson
