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June 23, 2005

March of the Penguins

(out of four)

It's tempting when watching Luc Jacquet's March of the Penguins to think of the movie's emperor penguin subjects as human. In fact, it's practically encouraged. The penguins are "not that different from us," insists narrator Morgan Freeman, who introduces the film as "a story of love." Freeman is clearly enraptured with the little birds. You can almost see the Oscar winner's eyes twinkling as he offers his sage if all-too-often sentimental commentary throughout the picture. But are they really anything like us?

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Posted by Peter Debruge at 08:11 AM | Comments (0)

June 17, 2005

Me and You and Everyone We Know

(out of four)

Every so often, a movie blindsides you, leaving you feeling different, enlightened, possibly even improved. Me and You and Everyone We Know is such a movie. It's a revelation really, a disarmingly upbeat debut film from performance artist Miranda July. Head and shoulders above everything else at Sundance this year, Me and You is an intimate little ensemble about a struggling multimedia artist (July) who chauffeurs old folks for a living, a divorced shoe salesman/potential love interest (Deadwood's John Hawkes) who's losing touch with his two sons, those two sons, and three precocious neighborhood girls. There are other characters, too, but these seven make up the film's core, united by their desire to connect with someone beyond themselves.

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Posted by Peter Debruge at 12:37 PM | Comments (0)