Newsletter: Indie Focus: ‘By the Sea’ and more to be seen

Indie Focus logo for the newsletter

Hello! I’m Mark Olsen, and welcome to your weekly field guide to a world of Only Good Movies.

Last week’s screening and Q&A of the movie “Mustang” highlighted for me why I like putting on events like that. The audience really engaged with the movie, France's submission for the foreign-language film Oscar. And the Q&A with director Deniz Gamze Erguven, producer Charles Gillibert and the five charming young lead actresses was something special. A recording wouldn’t capture the feeling in the room. You had to be there.

This week there is a screening of Spain’s entry for the foreign-language film Oscar, “Flowers,” on Tuesday night as part of the Envelope Independent screening series. Then on Wednesday, we have a screening of “James White” as part of the Indie Focus series. (“James White” and “Mustang” picked up prizes during the recent AFI Fest.)

You can find out more at events.latimes.com.

'By the Sea'

Usually this newsletter focuses on movies I’ve seen and would recommend for one reason or another. This week, I’m pointing out a few movies I very much want to see, titles I haven’t yet been able to get to but will, one way or another, as soon as I can.

Take for example “By the Sea,” written and directed by Angelina Jolie Pitt, who also stars alongside her husband, Brad Pitt. The idea of the two of them in a high-style heated-up European-set romantic drama of marital strife and voyeurism sounds, pardon the pun, like something to see. Are Brad and Angelina the Burton and Taylor of our times? Let’s find out.

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie Pitt in “By the Sea,” directed by Jolie Pitt.

(Universal Pictures)

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie Pitt in "By the Sea," directed by Jolie Pitt. (Universal Pictures)

In her L.A. Times review, Rebecca Keegan noted, “You like to live vicariously through Brad and Angie, dear moviegoers? They know. And, sprawled on the floor next to the peephole, wine glasses in hand, their eyes twinkling, they are giving you what you want and laughing about it, too.”

For the New York Times, Manohla Dargis wrote, “Any resemblance to real life is strictly coincidental and completely intentional. ... The movie, which Ms. Jolie Pitt wrote and directed, is a knowing or at least a ticklishly amusing demonstration of celebrity and its relay of gazes from one of the most looked-at women in the world. Take, watch, she seems to say, this is my body.”

In LA Weekly, Amy Nicholson added, “Belabored reticence seems to have become the point of Jolie’s whole career. She still has that movie-star oomph that makes you grateful every time she condescends to smile. But it’s time Saint Angelina reverted to the naughtiness that made her truly electric.” 

Two from Array

Array is the distribution collective founded by filmmaker Ava DuVernay that is dedicated, in the words of its website, to “release and champion films by black filmmakers from the African diaspora, as well as Latino, Asian, Native American, Middle Eastern, and women filmmakers.”

Array just released two films, Takeshi Fukunaga’s Liberian-set “Out of My Hand” and Sara Blecher’s South African-set “Ayanda.”

In the Village Voice, Ernest Hardy wrote that with “Ayanda,” Blecher “brings a breezily energetic pace and visual style to the tale. … The film has the urgency and magnetism of an assured youth-culture manifesto.”

Fulu Moguvhani, left, and O.C. Ukeje in “Ayanda.”

(Array)

Fulu Moguvhani, left, and O.C. Ukeje in "Ayanda." (Array)

In the L.A. Times, Katie Walsh wrote that “Out of My Hand” star Bishop Blay “brings a naturalism and grounded soulfulness to his performance.”

Besides releasing films, Array also puts together “The Call-In,” a terrific podcast series. A recent episode features Blecher and Fukunaga talking to each other about the experiences of making their films and seeing them through release. Other episodes feature DuVernay talking to filmmakers such as Stanley Nelson, Tina Mabry, F. Gary Gray and Gina Prince-Bythewood.

Two from Agnes Varda and Jane Birkin

Two rare late-’80s collaborations between filmmaker Agnes Varda and actress and singer Jane Birkin have been restored and are getting a release that should bring them to their widest U.S. audience ever. The movies promise to be stylish, a bit strange and wonderful time capsules of their era.

“Jane B. Par Agnes V.” looks to be the real gem here, a portrait of Birkin as artist, muse and person. And “Kung-Fu Master” stars Birkin alongside her daughters Charlotte Gainsbourg and Lou Doillon as well as Varda’s son Mathieu Demy.

In her L.A. Times review, Katie Walsh said, “The restoration of the films is lush and warm and feels true to Varda’s style, capturing Birkin, and Paris, during this specific time. However, the real reason to see this work is to experience groundbreaking feminist filmmaking from two people who were ahead of their time in exploring modern ideas about women as mothers, artists and individuals.” 

'The Next Picture Show' podcast

For many fans of smart movie-writing on the Internet, the end of the website The Dissolve was a real blow. So it’s nice to see former Dissolve writers Scott Tobias, Keith Phipps and Tasha Robinson pop up with a new podcast.

“The Next Picture Show” will pair a current movie with an older title in hopes the conversation will shed new light on each. The inaugural two-part episode featured a conversation about the new journalism-in-action drama “Spotlight” against the Watergate-era thriller “All the President’s Men.”

Email me if you have questions, comments or suggestions, and follow me on Twitter @IndieFocus.