In the late ’30s, England agr…
In the late ’30s, England agreed to open its doors to German Jewish children seeking refuge from Nazi oppression. The children came by the hundreds and thousands and were housed in orphanages and placed with foster families. “Into the Arms of Strangers” uses archival footage and interviews with the children, now elderly, who were part of that exodus.
This film shows how difficult it was for Jewish adults to leave Nazi Germany, not just practically and emotionally, but logistically. Countries were not accepting refugees, and only England was taking children.
This led to heartrending scenes at railway stations, where children said goodbye to their parents, many of whom later perished in the death camps. The stories are powerful. In one case, a woman tells of her father yanking her off the train at the last minute. The result was that she ended up, a year later, going with her parents to Auschwitz.
The documentary details the activities of the refugees in England, as well as their treatment. These particulars are not always scintillating, but even at its slowest, the film has value as a historical document. At its best, the film gives a human face to stories of unimaginable suffering and unexpected triumph.
– Mick LaSalle
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SOLAS: Drama. Starring Ana Fernandez and Maria Galiana. Directed by Benito Zambrano. (Not rated. 98 minutes. In Spanish with English subtitles. At the Opera Plaza.)
Spanish director Benito Zambrano is the anti-Almodovar. In “Solas,” he has made an extraordinary and heartfelt film that is in no way zany, brash or farcical. It’s about small but decisive movements of the soul.
In English, the title would be “Alone.” The picture takes place in a city, where loneliness is especially acute. Ana Fernandez plays Maria, a hard-drinking 35-year-old cleaning woman. Her bitterness is scalding. To make matters worse, she finds out that she is pregnant by her verbally abusive boyfriend, a truck driver.
“Solas” takes place over the course of a few days in which Maria’s father recovers from an operation and her mother comes to stay with her. Maria Galiana plays the mother, a character written — and played — with great restraint. The script gives her little to say, none of it profound. Yet despite the fact that there is nothing saintly in her manner, one comes to see the mother as the embodiment of love.
Both women are amazing, but Fernandez is the revelation. Until now she’d never starred in a feature, but “Solas” is enough to turn her into an international star. As Maria, Fernandez gives a compelling portrait of an intelligent woman in hell. She is closed off for most of the film, neither vulnerable nor excessively brash so as to suggest vulnerability. She is just a dark cloud.
And then she lets go. She doesn’t quite break down; “Solas” is too honest and too lacking in unearned sentiment for that. Fernandez merely lets down her guard for a moment and shows us a hint of Maria’s anger and despair. The hurt is so deep it sucks the audience right into her pain.
– Mick LaSalle
‘JUST ONE TIME’
JUST ONE TIME: Comedy. Starring Lane Janger, Joelle Carter, Guillermo Diaz and Jennifer Esposito. Directed by Janger. (Not rated. 93 minutes. At the Lumiere).
“Just One Time” is a bedroom farce with little sex or humor, a weak premise and spotty acting. But it’s mildly enjoyable anyway, thanks to a sneaky charm.
Lane Janger directed, co-wrote and stars as Anthony, a New York City firefighter supposedly devoted to his lawyer fiancee, Amy. He just can’t help fantasizing about her sleeping with another woman.
Since he’s such a moral guy, he wants the deed to take place before their Catholic wedding in 10 days. She agrees to it, but only if the homophobic Anthony sleeps with a man. Hilarity is supposed to ensue.
Janger obviously hasn’t known many women in the throes of wedding planning. Any self-respecting bride-to-be would rather serve Spaghetti-O’s at the reception than spend the precious few days before the nuptials scouting out chicks.
Even avowed swingers realize that place settings and flower arrangements take precedence over sexual high jinks during this time.
Most of the comedy bits in “Just One Time” are strained at best. One scene, in which Anthony and Amy euphemistically discuss male and female body parts, is agonizingly sophomoric.
But darned if this film doesn’t have some nice touches. Guillermo Diaz and Jennifer Esposito shine as Anthony and Amy’s possible conquests. Diaz (”Party Girl”) is rarin’ to go but endearingly naive as an inexperienced gay man with a huge crush on Anthony. Jennifer Esposito, a standout in “Summer of Sam,” is brash and funny as a lesbian furniture restorer who catches Amy’s eye.
Janger took a big chance in casting himself as the lead. A self-conscious actor, he looks like a younger, scrawnier Sylvester Stallone, without the charisma. But somehow he makes us care about this doofus, especially when it looks as if Anthony’s fantasy may have dire consequences.
Advisory: This film contains sexual situations.
– Carla Meyer
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NON-STOP: Action. Starring Tomoro Taguchi, Diamond Yukai, Shinichi Tsutsumi. Directed by Sabu. (Not rated. 82 minutes. In Japanese with English subtitles. At the Galaxy.)
The latest in the Shooting Gallery film series is a skillful Japanese entry that all the same never rises above the level of its gimmick.
“Non-Stop” is about three guys chasing one another. They chase each other . . . nonstop. It begins when a man who intends to rob a bank shoplifts a mask from a convenience store. The store clerk chases him — and runs into a mobster to whom he owes money. So the mobster chases the store clerk, who chases the thief.
The chase goes on for hours and hours. Interestingly, no one ever hails a cab.
Within the constraints of its gimmick, director Sabu shows an impressive fluidity of perspective. What he does seems effortless, but it’s not: He shows us a man running. Then he flashes back to show the man’s past. Then he shows what he was daydreaming about in the past. Sabu does this without ever losing or even confusing the viewer.
In one scene, the three men pass a pretty woman on the street. They see her for a split second, and each man has a sexual fantasy about her — a different one for each man. The scene has the advantage of psychological truth. It also represents one filmmaker’s heroic effort to include a sex scene, somehow, some way.
Advisory: This film contains violence and nudity.
– Mick LaSalle
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A ROOM FOR ROMEO BRASS: Comedy-drama. Starring Andrew Shim, Ben Marshall, Paddy Considine, Vicky McClure. Directed by Shane Meadows. (R. 90 minutes. At the Lumiere.)
“A Room for Romeo Brass” is a promising wry comedy for its first 20 minutes or so. Then the story of two teenage boys from dysfunctional families in the prosaic British Midlands goes downhill fast.
That’s because this eccentric comedy-drama, written and directed by Shane Meadows (”TwentyFourSeven”), heads straight for creepily perverse territory. Suddenly, it’s not amusing.
Romeo Brass (Andrew Shim) is a beefy, giggly Afro-Anglo boy who buddies around with the asthmatic Gavin “Knocks” Woolley (Ben Marshall), his next-door neighbor. Neither can count on a warm home life — Romeo’s dad is a bullying, mostly absent bum, and Knocks’ is a catatonic slouch who barely speaks but is unpleasant when he does.
These boys are pranksters with attitude, but who can blame them? When they’re bullied by kids in a park, a quirky adult slacker named Morell (Paddy Considine) intervenes, saving their hides. Morell finds out Romeo has a pretty older sister, Ladine (Vicky McClure), and he schemes to seduce her.
So far so good. But Morell turns out to be a real creep, perverse and sadistic, as he works his awkward charms on Romeo, Ladine and Knocks. An ugly spiral of hostility and twisted motives turns this film into a distasteful experience.
Still, it’s well acted, and if viewers have a need to see a memorable portrait of a creep, Considine, a musician making his screen debut, turns in a solid performance. The kids are believable, and director Meadows gives the film enough earthiness to make it all strangely plausible. Trouble is, it’s a downer of a story.
Advisory: This movie contains violence, raw language, sexual themes.
– Peter Stack
