Butler's Cinema Scene

Omar Sy and Francois Cluzet

“THE INTOUCHABLES” My rating: B+ (Now at the Rio)

112 minutes |MPAA rating: R

There are about 100 ways in which the French film “The Intouchables” could have gone disastrously, hideously wrong.

And somehow it avoids them.

Heaven knows that the premise  is fraught with gosh-awful possibilities.

A millionaire paraplegic Parisian hires as his latest care-giver a black immigrant ex-con. And, oh gosh, you spend a while waiting for this street-smart wise guy to, Miss Daisy-like,  transform the life of his wheelchair-bound employer. You know…the uptight, white man gets funky thanks to his black employee.

This is known in some quarters as the Myth of the Mystical Negro. Many people find it terribly offensive.

And in hands less competent than those of co-directors Oliver Nakache and Eric Toledano  — or the film’s stars, Francois Cluzet and Omar Sy – I might have found it offensive, too.

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Christopher Denham and Brit Marling

“THE SOUND OF MY VOICE” My rating: B (Opening May 25 at the Tivoli)

85 minutes | MPAA rating: R

“Another Earth” was not a fluke.

Hot on the heels of that mini-masterpiece from Brit Marling comes “The Sound of My Voice,” a brain-knotting  thriller in which Marling once again serves as co-writer and star. If there was any doubt about her being independent film’s new golden girl, it’s now a done deal.

Marling plays Maggie, the leader of a religious cult in modern Los Angeles.

Maggie claims to be from the future. She’s been sent back, “Terminator”-style, to collect followers. Those deemed worthy will accompany Maggie to a remote camp where they will hunker down while America is wracked by a civil war so devastating that it will plunge the survivors into 19^th-century Luddism.

Her  story sounds like total b.s., but Maggie is nothing if not compelling. To every objection she seems to have a more-or-less convincing answer. Moreover, she’s so beautiful and charismatic (and, surprisingly, easy going) that the disaffected types who gravitate toward her are quickly swept into the fantasy.

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 “THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL”  My rating: B- (Opening May 11 at the Tivoli, Glenwood Arts)

124 minutes | MPAA rating: PG-13

“The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” is about as comfortable as an old pair of shoes…and about as surprising.

The latest from director John Madden (“Shakespeare in Love”) is an adaptation of Deborah Moggach’s novel about a group of Brit retirees who opt to outsource their “golden years” to a retirement community in India.

The film is cast with many of the usual suspects (Maggie Smith, Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkinson, Penelope Wilton) and going in you can rest assured that while these expatriates all will bring problems with them, most will be resolved before the lights come up.

“Marigold Hotel…” has been carefully calculated to please the over-50 demographic, and why not? If the runny-nosed adolescents get movies made just for them, why not something for Grandma?

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Gianni De Grigorio in “The Salt of Life”

“THE SALT OF LIFE”  My rating: B (Opening April 27 at the Tivoli)

90 minutes| No MPAA rating

The dirty old man has long been a generator of laughs. British comic Benny Hill made a career out of eye-rolling lechers; sitcom television is thick with thickening husbands who might dream a good game but no longer have the will or the skill.

Gianni Di Gregorio’s “The Salt of Life” might be viewed as an Italian “The Seven Year Itch.” But beneath the chuckles, something serious is happening.

Or maybe not. This is a very low-keyed, unassertive affair. You can view it as a pleasant toss-off or as a minor tragedy.

Writer/director Gergorio plays 60-year-old Gianni, involuntarily retired and now a househusband, holding down the fort while his wife goes to work and his daughter goes to college.

He’s a nondescript fellow whose dominant features are the prominent bags under his eyes. He looks like a cartoon Bassett hound.

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"Chico & Rita"...not for the kids

“CHICO & RITA” My rating: B (Opening April 13 at the Tivoli)

94 minutes | No MPAA rating

Animation has so long been the domain of the family crowd that when we encounter something aimed at grownups (“Persepolis,” “Waltz With Bashir”) it’s easy to go overboard.

The Irish-made, Spanish-language “Chico & Rita” is a musical love story spanning a half-century. It was one of the films nominated this year for the Oscar for animated feature, but lost to “Rango” (which isn’t precisely a family film, either, though kids no doubt enjoy it).

“Chico…” is clearly not for the kids. Not with animated nudity and sex. And in any case, this effort from directors Tono Errando, Javier Mariscal and Fernando Trueba is about emotions way over the heads of children, who will quickly grow bored.

But for music- and romance-loving adults, it’s a small feast.

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Cecile de France and Thomas Doret

“THE KID WITH A BIKE” My rating: B

87 minutes | No MPAA rating

Nobody ever seems like they’re acting in the films of siblings

Jean-Pierre and Luc  Dardenne. Everything is so natural and unforced

that any actorish method would stand out like a pimple on the face of

the Mona Lisa.

Maybe that’s because the Belgian duo invariably center their films on

children, usually portrayed by untrained first-timers who are so good at

just being that acting would be superfluous.

The troubled title character of “The Kid With A Bike” is Cyril (Thomas

Doret),  who as the movie begins is living in a group home for

youngsters.

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Yilmaz Erdogan and Firat Tanis in "Once Upon a Time in Anatolia"

“ONCE UPON A TIME IN ANATOLIA” My rating: A- (Opening April 6 at the Tivoli)

153 minutes | No MPAA rating

I cannot begin to explain how “Once Upon a Time in Anatolia” does what it does.

That’s part of its greatness, the way in which it slowly worms its way into our consciousness and blossoms, not in big melodramatic moments but in little ripples of thought and suppressed emotion that create a mood unlike just about any film I can recall.

After a brief prologue that shows three men drinking in what appears to be a run-down car repair shop, Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s unforgettable drama begins at night in the rolling hills outside a medium-sized Turkish city.  In a wide shot we see three pairs of headlights in the distance. They finally pull to a stop and men get out, some in uniforms, some carrying shovels, a couple in handcuffs.

We soon surmise that this is a police investigation. Two men have been charged with murdering a third; this expedition was organized to find the body.

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