Film

Directed by Denis Côté, Canada

Inspired by the facts, and perhaps some fictions, about James Dean’s too-short life, this boundary-stretching film imagines the cinematic icon’s bisexual pre-fame days and ruminates about the steep costs that come with being a star. Black and white and color.

May 24th @ 6:30pm, Egyptian Theatre
May 25th @ 4:00pm, Harvard Exit

A youthful photographer decides to open up her eyes and mind to the stories of older individuals in a small Brazilian town, giving new perspectives on life and death.

May 22 @ 9:00pm, Harvard Exit
May 24 @ 3:30pm, SIFF Cinema Uptown

A jailed teenager finds a renewed sense of purpose after parole officer gives him a new job and new responsibilities. A film lauded for its day-to-day quality and appropriately posited scenes and shots, Breathing is less mind-blowing than it is simply a solid tale of what happens when life exerts pressure on an individual.

May 20th @ 8:00pm, SIFF Cinema Uptown
May 23rd @ 3:30pm, SIFF Cinema Uptown

Luca (George Pistereanu) is a cool as ice 20-something who recruits girls by thoroughly emotionally manipulating them and sending them off to his friends at the Black Sea port of Constanta. When Luca meets the beautiful Veli (Ada Condeescu) and falls in love, his way of living starts to become compromised the more engrossed she gets in his life.

Loverboy succeeds on the psychological development of this tale, as you can never really tell what Luca’s true emotions are. Is he truly in love with Veli? Or will Veli end up as another faceless whore in a brothel courtesy of Luca? Luca goes through extraordinary lengths to keep his story going and to keep Veli emotionally dependent upon him. The film is an interesting look at human trafficking, as it almost humanizes the whole thing. If this were a documentary, Luca would be the biggest scumbag on the planet — but throughout Loverboy, in an odd way that is never really explained, Mitulescu creates Luca as a borderline sympathetic character.

He is borderline sympathetic because the story never really establishes why he is involved in the sex trade to begin with. But maybe in Romania you don’t need good reasons for why people sell their souls to a terrible devil. Luca doesn’t really appear to grow too much throughout the film — and the acting of Pistereanu is fantastically wooden and incredibly hard to read. Luca’s emotions are off-limits throughout the film, but the point isn’t his emotions; the point of Loverboy is its emotional state, and of Veli and how she deals with her deteriorating ability to judge other characters.

Ω

An extended family gathers for the youngest daughter’s wedding, but not all goes as planned. A glowing pastel canvas and sensual score are dreamy counterpoints to the anxieties and celebrations of three generations.

May 22nd @ 6:00pm, Renton IKEA Performing Arts Center
June 1st @ 6:30pm, SIFF Cinema Uptown
June 6th @ 9:30pm, Harvard Exit