Capsule movie reviews: ‘Good Day for It’

Making a film that transports all the conceits that make a western a western — concerns about loyalty and family, tradition and honor — to a contemporary setting is mighty ambitious. Yet, with “Good Day for It,” that’s precisely the aim of director Nick Stagliano.

Working from a screenplay he co-wrote with James Canfield Wolf, Stagliano follows a mysterious drifter with a past (Robert Patrick) who returns to a small town to meet the long-lost daughter he has never known, only to be confronted by unsavory former associates (a gang that includes Robert Englund and Lance Henriksen).

Having two legends of dubious filmmaking such as Patrick and Henriksen is something of a blessing to Stagliano, but he doesn’t quite wring the energy out of their combined presence as well as he might. If Stagliano and Wolf were stronger writers, a diner sit-down scene between the actors could potentially have felt like a B-movie iteration of Pacino and De Niro in “Heat,” two icons of their genre brought together for something special.

As it is, the scene is just one of many that suffers from a slack tension. Not agile enough to make the idea of a contemporary small-town western really work, Stagliano instead simply cranks out a rather bland programmer doomed for the anonymity of a video store shelf or VOD queue.

— Mark Olsen

“Good Day for It.” MPAA rating: R for some violence. Running time: 1 hour, 33 minutes. At the Downtown Independent, Los Angeles.

By turns well observed and overstated, “A Little Help” is the gently absurdist drama of a thirtysomething woman’s coming of age. Jenna Fischer, expertly put-upon and yearning as Pam on “The Office,” is sympathetic without asking for sympathy in the lead role, a onetime high school beauty whose sudden widowhood lands her abruptly in the grown-up world.

Even before her louse of a husband meets his demise, dental hygienist Laura has the frazzled air of a single mother. Her 12-year-old son (Daniel Yelsky) finds nothing but fault with her, as do her overbearing sister (Brooke Smith) and carping mother (Lesley Ann Warren). Drawing a boldface line between pragmatism and messy soul, the cruelty of Mom and Sis — written and played too large — casts Laura as Cinderella, the good girl eyed with resentment.

Afraid of her own anger, she lets herself be dragged into schemes to capitalize on the death in the family, one of which is forced at best, the other involving a slick lawyer (Kim Coates, pitch-perfect).

Only her sweet brother-in-law (Rob Benedict) shows Laura any kindness, and their deepening bond, expressed in a couple of terrifically tender scenes, connects them to the teenage selves they haven’t quite left behind. But his pairing with Laura’s anti-life force of a sibling strains credulity.

What writer-director Michael J. Weithorn, a sitcom vet, gets right is the Long Island vibe, the New York smarts crossed with small-town insularity. If the film takes too long to reach its rather soft denouement, Fischer makes Laura’s awakening convincing.

— Sheri Linden

“A Little Help.” MPAA rating: R for language, some sexual content and drug use. Running time: 1 hour, 49 minutes. At Laemmle’s Sunset 5, West Hollywood; AMC Loews Broadway Cinemas 4, Santa Monica; Laemmle’s Town Center 5, Encino; Edwards Westpark 8, Irvine.

A beautifully structured and photographed film, John Turturro’s rapturous “Passione” offers a vibrant exploration and celebration of Neapolitan music in all its grit and glory, presenting 23 musical numbers that encompass a millennium’s worth of influences.

Turturro observes that Naples has been invaded by Arabs, Normans, France, Spain and the U.S. and points out that it has survived volcanic eruptions, wars, crime, poverty and neglect. For Turturro the place and the music are one, and he embraces both with love and respect.

Neapolitan music is all-encompassing in subject matter. There is a sly, acrid take on the World War II-era pop tune “Pistol Packin’ Mama”; the gaunt, tattooed Pietra Montecorvino sings defiantly of a prostitute’s life, and later of a mother losing track of her child during a Feast of San Gennaro celebration. A Tunisian émigré to Italy, M’Barka Ben Talib sings a molten “O Sole Mio” to a calypso-like beat. It’s like hearing the old standard for the first time.

In Naples, Turturro has certainly found what he says James Brown called a “hot spot” for music.

— Kevin Thomas

“Passione.” No MPAA rating. In Italian with English subtitles Running time: 1 hour, 35 minutes. At Laemmle’s Music Hall 3, Beverly Hills.

The title character of “The Tree,” a lyrical story of loss and longing, is a magnificent Moreton Bay fig. Like something out of a child’s book illustration, it dominates an edge-of-the-world landscape on the far reaches of Brisbane, and in its sturdy labyrinth of welcoming arms an 8-year-old girl believes she can commune with her recently deceased father. Her brothers don’t hear his voice, but everyone sees the drought-parched roots and heavy limbs invade the family home.

French writer-director Julie Bertuccelli (“Since Otar Left”) uses the scrubbed topography of Queensland, Australia, to mostly eloquent effect, although her mystical symbols can be as on-the-nose as her dialogue.

Drawing the narrative from a child’s-eye-view novel (Judy Pascoe’s “Our Father Who Art in a Tree”), she makes young Simone — played with feral intensity by Morgana Davies — a strong presence, but shifts the central focus to her mother, a woman drifting in her grief.

With her Modigliani mystery, Charlotte Gainsbourg brings aching melancholy to the role of Dawn. As compelling as she is to watch, though, the character’s passivity saps the film of energy, especially in its first half, which is all but devoid of tension. Her involvement with a new man (Marton Csokas) shakes things up: A mother-daughter conflict takes shape around a dead man’s memory. Dawn and Simone’s love is also a rivalry, set in sharp relief by the harsh, remote locale.

It’s clear from the start who is stronger, and that a surrender is in store.

— Sheri Linden

“The Tree.” No MPAA rating. Running time: 1 hour, 40 minutes. At the Nuart, West Los Angeles.