Capone's Art-House Round-Up with LAGGIES, CAMP X-RAY, LOW DOWN, OPEN WINDOWS, and GLEN CAMPBELL: I'LL BE ME!!!

Hey, folks. Capone in Chicago here, with a few films that are making their way into art houses or coming out in limited release around America this week (maybe even taking up one whole screen at a multiplex near you). Do your part to support these films, or at least the good ones…


LAGGIES
If you forget the Jack Ryan prequel from January, Keira Knightley has had a really interesting 2014, from the summer's BEGIN AGAIN, to the soon-to-be-released awards contender THE IMITATION GAME, to her current release LAGGIES, from director Lynn Shelton (HUMPDAY, YOUR SISTER’S SISTER). LAGGIES has been described as a coming-of-age film, which is technically true, but what separates Shelton's work (her first that she didn't write; the screenplay belongs to Andrea Seigel) is that the 28-year-old Megan (Knightley) is the one really coming of age thanks to a friendship she develops with 16-year-old Annika (Chloë Grace Moretz).

As the film opens, it's clear that Megan is looked upon by both her parents (including dad Jeff Garlin), her friends (led by Ellie Kemper's judgmental Allison), and her boyfriend Anthony (Mark Webber) as someone who hasn't applied herself since college. Her current job involves spinning a sign outside her father's office. When Anthony proposes to her, she accepts, but then panics and avoids him by hanging out with her parents for hours every day. When she's given the chance to attend a career counseling seminar, she fakes leaving town and hides out with Annika and her other high school friends, including best friend Misty (the great Kaitlyn Dever of SHORT TERM 12 and THE SPECTACULAR NOW), which everyone acknowledges is rather weird but it also seems appropriate somehow.

It doesn't take long for Annika's single father Craig (Sam Rockwell) to catch wind of this friendship, and while he too thinks it's odd, he allows Megan to stay at their house for a short time, which naturally opens the door to yet another inappropriate relationship. While LAGGIES is fairly light on emotional heft, the core relationship between Megan and Annika is an interesting one, as they both tap into the other's strengths and use them to fortify their own lives. Megan learns a bit about personal responsibility from her younger counterpart, while Annika gets bizarrely helpful relationship advice from Megan.

In another director's hands, the film would be a quirky romantic comedy between Megan and Craig, but Shelton is smarter than that, and doesn't let the lovey-dovey stuff interfere with the better relationship. Knightley is note perfect as a woman who simply hasn't found her own way after years of doing what has always been expected of her by those around her. And I guess it takes a week of lying around in your pajamas to knock some sense into a person like that. I'm not saying any great truths are going to leap out at you as you watch LAGGIES—at best, it's a pleasant distraction—but the three leads are so positively likable, it's tough not to be amused by the proceedings...until the final 10 minutes or so, where everything dissolves into standard-issue rom-com obviousness.

LAGGIES is Shelton's weakest work to date, but it has enough of her signature charm to allow the actors to inhabit their roles a bit more than you might expect in a story like this. There are small moments that take the film in unexpected directions (a visit to Annika's estranged mother is a surprisingly uncomfortable scene), but the real reasons you should even consider seeing it are Knightley, Moretz and Rockwell. You know how good they can be, and now we know they can actually save a film from complete destruction. Far from the strongest of current offerings, but not the worst either.


CAMP X-RAY
As unfocused as this prison drama is, there are two very strong central performances that provide some clarity to this examination of the bond between a Guantanamo Bay prisoner and the guard who watches over him. Kristen Stewart plays Private Cole, a soldier who used the military to escape the small town she grew up in, only to find herself in yet another version of that surrounding at Gitmo, where Ali (A SEPARATION's Payman Maadi) has been a detainee for eight years. Cole is a loyal soldier, but she is curious about this man whom she, at first, delivers books to, but soon becomes someone with whom he tries to strike up a conversation just to have something resembling a connection to another human being.

Before I go any deeper into this review, I should ease your concerns that CAMP X-RAY turns into some sort of romantic fairy tale, where Cole tries to help Ali escape in the end. Not a chance. The film is about making micro-strides into something resembling a relationship based on respect. Both parties are aware they will never become friends, but Ali just wants someone in the world to acknowledge that he's a good man and not a criminal deserving of being locked up for so long. He doesn't make it easy. He badgers her, provokes her and her fellow guards. At one point, he even throws what is described as a "shit cocktail" at her, and it's as nasty as it sounds.

If CAMP X-RAY had been a two-person acting exercise between these two characters, something truly revelatory and meaningful might have come out of it. But the film weighs us down with too many sideplots about Cole's being harassed by a fellow soldier (Lane Garrison), and having her complaints ignored and shot down by their superior (John Carroll Lynch, in a truly infuriating performance). I absolutely look forward to the day when someone makes a worthy feature film about the chronic problem of sexual harassment in the military, but to simply toss it in here and there in this story does it a great disservice. I get that these moments add to Cole's feeling of solitude among her fellow soldiers, but there are other ways it could have been handled that didn't treat the problem like it was something on the periphery.

I have always believed (and likely always will) that Stewart is a tremendous actor who has made some terrible decisions in selecting a great number of roles over the last 10 years or so, but playing Cole in CAMP X-RAY is not one of them. She's actually quite good here, as the flustered, emotionally torn private who just wants to do her time, not screw up, and use the experience as an entry point to a career in the military. She believed that she would have no issues looking at the detainees and seeing them as the enemy, but that isn't the case.

First-time feature writer-director Peter Sattler has created beautifully realized characters in Cole and Ali, and the way their interactions bob and weave (usually with Ali leading the dance) are quite interesting and a bit scary, because we never quite know what his intentions are. As a pure acting exercise, CAMP X-RAY works rather well; but too often it loses direction and veers into territory that it doesn't have the time or inclination to fully explore. The result is a longing to return to the main story and never leave. As strange as it may sound to say, this film doesn't really need a villain—simply the perception of one is enough to engage us. As it exists, CAMP X-RAY is hit and miss, with a slight edge to getting it right more often than not.


LOW DOWN
One of the more curious films in recents months is the biographical endeavor based on Amy-Jo Albany's memoir about growing up with her jazz pianist father Joe Albany, who had frequent run-ins with the law in the as well as a fairly ferocious heroin addiction, often leaving young Amy-Jo alone in a skid-row hotel room with nothing but her survival instincts keeping her going.

As he does in all roles, John Hawkes (WINTER’S BONE, THE SESSIONS) embodies Joe Albany so completely that it's tough to look as his skinny, drug-addled ass for too long. He clearly loves his daughter (Elle Fanning); he just loves his drugs a tiny bit more, which is not to say he doesn't stay off them long enough to play gigs, take what little money he has to provide for Amy-Jo, and hang with musician pals long enough to play some truly beautiful music.

LOW DOWN isn't a plot-driven work by any standard. It's about observing and living with these people, as well as the folks that drift in and out of their lives, including Joe's mother (Glenn Close), his trumpet-playing drug buddy (Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers), fellow tenant (Peter Dinklage), and least of all, Amy-Jo's alcoholic mother (Lena Headey). Cinematographer-turned-director Jeff Preiss has a real eye for the rundown, gritty settings of the Albanys' life circa 1974-76 Los Angeles. It's an existence that is both undeniably heartbreaking and occasionally uplifting, but more often than not, it's a series of broken promises followed soon after by heartfelt apologies for sins that are bound to be repeated.

LOW DOWN is a low-key work that makes full use of its atmospheric gifts. Hawkes and Fanning have a familiar bond that made it easy for me not only to buy their father-daughter relationship, but also recognize that she will always forgive him. It's a tormented way to live a life, but it works for the Albanys in this exact moment in history. I can see why this film might not work for a lot of people, but as a die-hard Hawkes admirer, I was so impressed with him here that the film's odd digressions and unnecessary fringe characters are easier to forgive.


OPEN WINDOWS
Meant to appear to be a single, unbroken shot of a computer screen with multiple windows showing a variety of action on them, OPEN WINDOWS is a workable, mostly successful endeavor from the mind of writer-director Nacho Vigalondo (TIMECRIMES, EXTRATERRESTRIAL), whose able brain might be the only place where a story this complex can be generated. The film tells the tale of two lonely souls—one is actress Jill Goddard (pronounced like the filmmaker “Godard” and played by former adult film star Sasha Grey, who did solid work a few years back in Steven Soderbergh's THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE), who has just refused to meet Nick (Elijah Wood, quickly cornering the market on playing creepy dudes and doing it well), a fan who entered a contest to have dinner with her.

Rejected but not vengeful, Nick suddenly gets a message on his computer from someone named Chord (Neil Maskell), who offers Nick the chance to cyber-stalk Jill via any electronic device in her possession or near her, and initially Nick agrees. Chord remotely opens up new windows on Nick's laptop to track Jill, and eventually it becomes clear that Nick is as much a victim to Chord's sick plan as Jill is.

Vigalondo wisely takes OPEN WINDOWS from a story about the latest and greatest in stalking technology to one about an actress who simply wants to get away from the limelight—Internet creeps in particular—forever, using the most drastic measures if necessary. Since I first saw the film at its SXSW Film Festival premiere, it has taken on a slightly more significant message in the wake of massive privacy violations of entertainers—it is these exact type of violations that Jill is attempting to avoid and escape.

The film loses a bit of its focus in the final act as heady ideas gives way to more traditional action and silly plot twists. But most of OPEN WINDOWS gets its point across. It's an exercise in one person attempting to reclaim their identity. The ideas at play are wonderful, even when the execution of them is a little fuzzy. Sure, the film is gimmicky, but I happen to like the computer-screen as a storytelling medium. Wood and Grey put forth solid performances, both playing different types of desperate people in a world that doesn't believe a person can be overexposed. Even with its flaws, OPEN WINDOWS is thought provoking as well as great fun.


GLEN CAMPBELL: I’LL BE ME
I was nervous about watching the chronicle of the final large-scale tour of music legend Glen Campbell, launched in support of his 2011 final album “Ghost on the Canvas” and not long after Campbell went public with his Alzheimer's disease diagnosis. Although he was only committed by his record company to do a handful of live promotional dates, Campbell seemed to come alive on stage to such a degree that he extended his tour (now labeled a "farewell" tour) to 151 shows. So what director James Keach has captured is both a tour diary, an examination into the nuances and progression of Campbell's disease, and a respectful overview of his career as one of the great country entertainers of all time.

The first thing you realize watching I’LL BE ME is how seemingly limitless Keach's access to Campbell's life seems to be during the tour, and the filmmaker finds ways of making it clear when Glen is having bad days and when he shines without making things feel too exploitative or the audience wanting to look away out of embarrassment for Campbell's condition. In truth, the footage of Campbell going to the doctors is fascinating because it shows us a man used to being in total control of every aspect of his life suddenly forget the simplest facts about the world at large. Rather than admit his memory is going, he simply says, "I don't ever keep track of things like that," as if to say it's not that he's forgotten; he just never bothered to remember in the first place.

The film walks us through the professional highlights, including hits like "Rhinestone Cowboy," "Wichita Lineman," "Southern Nights," "True Grit" and "Gentle on My Mind," as well as his celebrated television variety show and every accolade that country music has to give. But more importantly, I’LL BE ME shows us the bond that Campbell and his current wife, Kim, have going through the ordeals Alzheimer's can bring a family, which include trips into paranoia, aggression, and even an increased sexual appetite (I did mention the access to his life was fairly limitless) when Glen begins taking a prescription meant to help with memory. The tour likely would not be possible were three of his grown children not in his band, in particular his daughter Ashley, who seems to have a particular bond with her father.

In the end, the film is a celebration of a life lived a particular way until Campbell literally couldn't live it that way any longer. By the time the decision is made to end the tour, the signs that it can simply not go on are all over the place. And with this one great gasp, Campbell's legacy remains intact, his fans get to pay their respects one last time, and Campbell gets to perform with his soulful voice one last time.

The famous faces (Bill Clinton, Sheryl Crow, Jay Leno, Blake Shelton, Paul McCartney, The Edge, Bruce Springsteen, Keith Urban, Vince Gill, and the list never stops) line up to pay tribute, but this is film built on the foundation of family, and the reason you won't be able to resist tearing up while watching this beautiful work is because of the way Campbell and his family rally against this disease. GLEN CAMPBELL: I’LL BE ME is an unforgettable achievement.

-- Steve Prokopy
"Capone"
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