According to a recent New York Times article, Michael Cera’s latest film, Crystal Fairy, began to shoot when financing for a different film with Chilean director Sebastián Silva fell through. The result, based on an outline by Silva about an obnoxious foreigner studying abroad in Chile, who will stop at nothing to try the psychedelic cactus San Pedro, presents a seemingly effortless character study with subtle, yet joyous revelations. Crystal Fairy is especially welcome this summer as it emerges on Friday amongst the din of soulless blockbusters to gently penetrate our hearts with a surprisingly universal story. While the film embraces the device of drug use it is not a drug movie, but a warm drama about the dynamics between an odd group of people embarking on a new experience.

Silva takes his time setting up the different members of his “team,” first revealing the obnoxious, self-conscious Jamie, played with startling honesty by Cera, and his Chilean roommate, Champa. We meet these two at a house party where Jamie laments the availability of good Chilean cocaine, like an absence of fine wines in Napa, while Champa reassures everyone that Jesse isn’t really such an asshole. Jamie’s drug connoisseurship at once makes him unfortunately familiar and immediately unlikable, yet Cera’s easy humor sustains him. Jamie and Champa’s plan to try mescaline slips out when Jamie meets Crystal Fairy, an eccentric hippy played brilliantly by Gaby Hoffman, who he disingenuously invites along without considering she would actually accept. The next day, Champa, his two younger brothers, and Jamie cruise toward the Northern coast until Crystal intersects them by bus at a village along the way. Jamie, beside himself, cannot fathom that she would crash their plans, to which Champa calmly replies, “you invited her, man.” The dynamic of their drug bound bro-trip shifts wildly as this wayward pixie inserts herself into the clan, which hilariously jives well with everyone except Jamie.

Once the team is assembled Crystal Fairy becomes startlingly familiar on a primal level as every oddly matched group trip you’ve ever taken slowly oozes into the back of your mind. Silva’s scenario presents a more colorful and exotic version of our collective adventure-memory as the gang road-trips their way through expansive deserts, strange villages, and finally the serene ocean. Cinematographer, Cristián Petit-Laurent, captures both the beauty of the surroundings and the subtle interactions between characters with an easy going style of loose framing and natural light that firmly places viewers within the story.

As (almost) everyone begins taking the hard won psychedelics, the film’s style remains firmly planted in reality, avoiding any Fear and Loathing hallucinations, in order to further examine the raw fears, joys, and insecurities previously hinted at within each character. Silva graciously grants all his characters their moment, although it’s Jamie who has the most growing to do. Each small revelation thankfully manages to skirt cliché and Silva’s masterful control of his cast allows for a natural, yet subtle epiphany for Jamie, while the drug use diffuses his vulnerability with a welcome degree of humor without diminishing its impact. Whether you like it or not you’ll see familiar glimmers of yourself within all the characters of Crystal Fairy and hopefully Silva’s touching film will provide a much needed respite from the current slew of inhuman Hollywood mediocrity.

David Lowery’s unclear and unconvincing script extinguishes what could have been a fiery noir burning with lust and violence. His story contains many great crime genre staples—a love struck criminal, a beautiful country girl, a menacing father figure, lusty cops, and a prison escape; not to mention it’s set in the 30s. The industrious Lowery has lured immense talent to Ain’t Them Bodies Saints but it fails to deliver even an ounce of the proposed excitement. I think Lowery fights to avoid genre clichés and in doing so saps the drama from his story.

Ain’t Them Bodies Saints opens with Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara’s characters arguing, but obviously very much in love. Without earning an investment in their relationship it hardly matters when Affleck goes to prison after a heist gone wrong in the next scene. Now neither character has anything to do but pine for the other. Luckily, Bradford Young’s stunning cinematography breathes some life into scenes with little content. Mara seems to have nothing to do but wander through town at sunset and does not posses the aura to express anything through her inactivity. Lowery always seems to place viewers in the lesser dramatic point of view. He follows Mara while Affleck’s character toils in prison and eventually escapes to win her back. Its lazy execution calls to mind the haphazard prison escape sequence in Down by Law, which Jim Jarmusch plays for laughs. Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, on the other hand, is deadly serious in showing Affleck’s flight from bondage with the mundane image of him emerging from the woods tattered and covered in dirt.

Luckily Affleck proves more adept at wielding inactivity than his co-star. He always hides some mystery behind his eyes as he dances through Lowery’s poetic monologues about escaping prison and his undying love for a woman. Eventually he does act on his goal and attempts to find Mara. However, I found myself struggling to care. He first gets thwarted by Keith Carradine, who seems to be some kind of foster or adoptive father to Mara or even both of them, and then by a band of bounty hunters looking for the loot Affleck kept to himself. These confrontations prove extremely unsatisfying and sometimes even maddeningly confusing as Lowery clouds the circumstances of every relationship. Finally, when Affleck faces down his pursuers, even he appears confounded.

The most vague of all is Ben Foster’s character—a cop involved in the shootout at the beginning of the film that led to Affleck’s arrest. He shyly peruses Mara when he’s tasked to watch her when the police learn of Affleck’s escape. He manages to steal every scene he’s in, but Mara doesn’t provide tough competition.

Without it’s huge stars, stunning cinematography or enchanting music Ain’t Them Bodies Saints would be near unwatchable. Perhaps on paper, Lowery’s picture appeared as a resurgence of period crime drama in the vein of the much beloved Badlands or recent hit Boardwalk Empire. I lament that the film does not live up to its lofty goals and instead it only provides loving references to its superior influences.

Only God Forgives

Only God Forgives is director Nicholas Winding Refn’s most bizarre film yet, even more so than the inter-dimensional Viking picture Valhalla Rising. The marketing for his new film suggests an extension of the beloved Ryan Gosling fueled mayhem seen in Drive. However, that’s a trick. Refn refuses to repeat himself and that is not necessarily a bad thing. During the introduction to Only God Forgives Refn compared both films to drug experiences; that Drive is like doing really good cocaine all night and Only God Forgives is like doing acid in college.

The conflict begins after the elder of two psychotic brothers meets his maker for raping and murdering a young prostitute in Bangkok, where they run drugs together, and their even more psychotic mother arrives screaming for the killer’s blood. Ryan Gosling plays, Julian, the younger brother, who must deal with the complex business of revenge involving a high ranking Thai police captain.

Now that the plot has been described, forget it. Refn focuses the film on Julian’s Oedipal relationship to his mother (she mentions that he killed his own father to protect her) and police captain Chang’s sadistic stranglehold on Bangkok’s underworld. He visualizes this by obsessing over various visual metaphors for each character. Julian’s hands act as his sexual organ and his mode of violence as a boxer. Chang eventually castrates him figuratively, by severely beating him in a boxing match. This motif also makes for some very strange love scenes. Chang, Refn’s villain, rules the screen with long mesmerizing karaoke numbers that symbolize his control over Bangkok’s underworld. The Thai music during these scenes is just as enchanting as Cliff Marinez’s wonderful score. These musical driven sequences dominate most of the film’s screen time that call to mind moments in David Lynch’s early films.

Only Kristen Scott Thomas’s turn as Julian’s deranged mother disrupts the stillness of the film. She proves to be far more of a monster than Chang and steals every scene she’s in. The best moment of the film pits her against Julian who only wants to impress her with his pretty girlfriend. It is one of the few scenes with dialogue. Luckily, cinematographer Larry Smith’s images drive the film and truly establish the hallucinatory tone. If you’re not enchanted by Refn’s strange hang-ups, you’re not likely to enjoy the film, but many of the haunting images and unexpected scenes linger long after the lights come up.

RATING: 6

Lesson of Evil

Takashi Miike’s batshit crazy return to form, Lesson of Evil, will truly appease any fan of bad taste. After a droll remake of samurai classic Hara-kiri, Miike jumps back into the horror genre with his wicked sensibility intact. Lesson of Evil takes place at an average Tokyo high school where teachers grapple with the everyday problems of bullying, cell phone cheating, and teacher-student sexual assault. Super-stud English teacher Hasumi struggles to right all his school’s wrongs as he helps a student extricate herself from a blackmailed sexual relationship with the gym teacher and proposes to install cell phone jammers to eradicate cheating. But soon teachers and students become suspicious of Hasumi’s squeaky-clean persona. Miike masterfully balances a massive cast of students and teachers, while sticking closely to Hasumi’s point of view. In doing so, he establishes a high school drama while exposing subtle cracks in Hasumi’s façade. Much like his breakthrough film Audition, Miike abruptly changes directions mid-film and pulls out the rug from under audiences.

The second half of Lesson of Evil shifts into a psycho-horror comedy with an insanely un-politically correct plot twist that only could have originated from the culturally insensitive nation of Japan. Miike proves himself as a master of tone and character as he shifts from gruesome violence to side-splitting humor all within the pull of a trigger. He efficiently reintroduces peripheral characters, gives them hopes and dreams, and then kills them off with diabolical wit and gallons of gore. The dark humor Miike injects into his film hits even harder because Lesson of Evil is actually a tasteless exploitation of American headlines, but one that manages to brutally entertaining and clever.

RATING: 7

The Conjuring

A movie so scary, the MPAA rated it ‘R’ for just being way too scary. The Conjuring has amassed an impressive amount of hype as a classy horror offering from schlock director James Wan, the new master of scare of the week films Saw, Dead Silence, and Insidious. Here, he’s found a solid script from Baywatch turned thriller writers Chad and Carey Hayes that explores an unused chapter from the files of famed demonologists, The Warrens, of Amityville horror fame. Their script adapts the best elements of The Amityville Horror, a terribly overrated film ripe for an overhaul, and The Exorcist. Wan displays ample restraint in the first half of the film easing audiences into the possessed house along with the lovable and unsuspecting family parented by the excellent Ron Livingston and Lili Taylor. Cinematographer John Leonetti executes some showy, yet breathtaking shots to establish a 1970s style full of zooms and hand held camera work, while expertly shooting on digital.

The second portion of The Conjuring introduces Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the married ghost hunters. The script gives ample time to their characters and some other supernatural cases they’ve investigated, which proves extremely interesting and provides more material for scares. Both Wilson and Farmiga are good and add a higher degree of credibility to the film as does the rest of the talented cast of knowns and unknowns. In his introduction Wan said he wanted to make a picture in the vein of classic studio horror films of the 70s, that have vanished over the years. He puts those resources to work to craft a high caliber film that truly scares.

RATING: 7

Winter in the Blood

Directors Alex and Andrew Smith attempt the monumental task of adapting James Welch’s first novel, Winter in the Blood, the result a wildly uneven, but daring film. Blood, Welch’s first novel, follows an unnamed native American on the Fort Belknap reservation in Montana during the 1970s, drinking and fucking his way through an identity crisis, while suppressing a tragic childhood. Sounds the stuff of wild storytelling and the Smith brothers put in a valiant effort, however, theirs is a true independent picture and a story this vibrant simply demands talent beyond their means.

The lead, Chaske Spencer, depending on the scene and quality of the actors surrounding him, lurches between embodying the tragic hero and indicating the often-mediocre writing. His scenes with excellent character actor David Morse are easily the best in the film. The quality of the ensemble of Native American and Caucasian actors varies wildly. Another kink in the cog is the film’s cinematography, which often fails to capture the beauty of the landscape or the degenerative rural environments effectively. Oddly enough, the few visually stunning moments are chopped short and distributed throughout the films hallucinatory structure which weakens their impact. The Smith brothers attempt a sprawling epic of Native American identity and the work stands proud on a thematic level, but many of their scenes fail to connect. Their blending of memory and hallucination intrigues, but feels visually dated and amateurish. I think this project should have fallen into the “do it right or don’t do it at all” category, but I have to commend the team for their determination in adapting such challenging material.

RATING: 4

You’re Next

The brilliant genre cocktail of family drama and sadistic home invasion works and whipped this late night LAFF audience into a frenzy. New horror maestro, Adam Wingard of the V/H/S franchise, makes magic of Simon Barret’s delightful script in You’re Next. The Festival meets The Strangers, when a despicable love to hate them rich family reunites with boy and girlfriends in tow to find themselves pit against animal-masked psycho killers. Even as the slaughter begins brothers criticize each other and new girlfriends roll their eyes. Wingard handles the tone changes of Barret’s script with a sure hand as he splatters blood and wrenches a laugh within moments. Barret includes some nice twists in what could be a too familiar story. Australian actor, Sharni Vinson ups the ante with a horror film “final-girl” that even makes the girls from The Descent look soft. Horror fans should delight in You’re Next and comedy fans who aren’t squeamish should seek it out as well.

RATING: 8

Crystal Fairy

Sebastián Silva just directed two Michael Cera features and at least one, Crystal Fairy, is bizarre and excellent. The story is rather simple, an American dick studies abroad in Chile in order to party and try the uber-psychedelic San Pedro, a cactus native to the Northern regions. Cera, his Chilian roommate, and brothers have a trip all planned out, but Cera sabotages their own intentions by trying to impress the groovy hippie chick, Crystal Fairy, at a party and drunkenly invites her along on their journey.

The beauty of Crystal Fairy evolves from the shifting group dynamic between Cera and the Chilian brothers, portrayed with honest naïveté by Silva’s three younger brothers and how it falters when Fairy joins them. Cera’s abrasive, insensitive American plays well against his established innocent persona, while feeling like a totally honest character. Gaby Hoffman’s fearless portrayal of the hypocritical hippie, Fairy, is something to behold. She literally bears all in a moving and disturbing performance.

The film weaves between a hipster comedy of manors, road trip, drug film, and honest drama but never settles long enough to get stale. Not much happens in Crystal Fairy, but its small character driven rewards feel like grand revelations. The excellent, yet sloppy cinematography and great music selection only elevate its already assured scenes. I’m eager to see this film again and to see Silva’s other Cera picture, Magic Magic, but I hear lightning doesn’t strike twice.

Monsters University

Pixar is dead. If the back-to-back of Cars 2 and Brave didn’t seal the deal, then Monsters University will. While the past two pictures were so obviously missteps, this one trips and plunges into the indiscernible Hollywood slurry. Monsters University gets under my fingernails like bamboo spikes because of its mediocrity.

Monsters University brings nothing new to the Monsters universe that was not already created in the excellent first film, yet seems fine with it as it skips along at a brisk pace. I found myself chuckling at a few of the lame jokes and was happy with the inclusion of Always Sunny In Philadelphia’s Charlie Day as a wacky new monster. People of my generation (late 20s) grew up on Pixar in a way that we were young enough to be enchanted, but old enough to appreciate the new films and analytically follow their progression. It pains me to see a studio, who used to produce only amazing films, fall so far with only varying degrees of recent success. It seems that Pixar is now fine with producing the same old recycled crap, just with newer and better animation. Pour out a little Old E on the sidewalk. A giant has fallen.

Short Term 12

SXSW film-goers pegged this picture pretty well when they gave it the audience award a few months ago. Destin Cretin’s second feature in as many years is an honest crowd pleaser that leaves you feeling all warm inside. Brie Larson, in an exceptional dramatic turn, and a solid John Gallagher Jr., mentor a very good ensemble cast as the head staff at foster care facility named Short Term 12. Cretin skillfully reveals that the bright faculty of this care center emerged from a similar backgrounds as many of the children they oversee. He does so with a script that skirts the many clichés of a ‘troubled kids’ drama and renders his characters painfully clear. In a post-screening Q and A he admitted to working in a facility similar to the one depicted in the film and conducting hours of interviews with workers and children as research.

Short Term 12 often deals in extreme emotions and Cretin guides his actors skillfully into restrained performances, yet at times the filmmaking fails to follow suit. Too often the production sound falls to a dreamy silence as the music, an excellent score from young composer Joel West, pumps up the emotion when audiences are already right there with the film. So many recent filmmakers have adopted a “naturalist”, documentary, or handheld style that it feels like the new norm. It’s more shocking to see carefully executed dolly shots and classical editing than shaky close-ups in low lighting. In Short Term 12, Cretin with long time cinematographer Brett Pawlak, execute this style to a tee and allow their actors to shine. Cretin and his team craft a beautiful film about nontraditional families using traditional storytelling.

RATING: 8

Ain’t Them Bodies Saints

David Lowery’s unclear and unconvincing script extinguishes what could have been a fiery noir burning with lust and violence. His story contains many great crime genre staples—a love struck criminal, a beautiful country girl, a menacing father figure, lusty cops, and a prison escape; not to mention it’s set in the 30s. The industrious Lowery has lured immense talent to his film but fails to deliver even an ounce of the proposed excitement.

Full Review of Ain’t Them Bodies Saints

RATING: 5

In a World

Lake Bell, a lovely character actor, makes her feature debut as writer/director with the unique comedy In a World. She draws from an impressive Rolodex of friends, such as Children’s Hospital co-stars Rob Courdry, Ken Marino, and Nick Offerman. Bell delights in filling most of the cast with comedians who all excel in dramatic turns. In a World works because it is not just silly nonsense like many of this summer’s comedies, but a compelling father daughter story set in the goofy, yet interesting, niche world of Hollywood voiceover artists.

Bell plays, Carol, a shiftless layabout who specializes in voice coaching dialects because she thinks she cannot make it in the cutthroat would of voice acting, dominated by her father, Sam, played by the marvelous Fred Melamed. Sam seems comfortable to pass the torch to a younger voice stud named Gustav when studios revive the classic movie trailer phrase, “In a World…” for a new round of epic Hunger Games/Twilight-esque films, but Carol begins booking voice over gigs of her own and throws a wrench into this male dominated world. On paper the plot seems a bit trite, but the wealth of supporting characters, touching family drama, and beautiful performances all around make for a great time. Bell perfectly balances the laughs with the drama and never lets the story get too silly or too dire. She crafts a wonderful and heartfelt comedy that also addresses serious issues of family relationships and feminism in Hollywood yet remains entertaining throughout. I look forward to more films from Bell.

RATING: 7

I’m very excited to attend the 2013 LA Film Festival as this year’s festival has a very solid line up with several specific films I’ve been dying to see. Upon analyzing the lineup, it seems most of the big films are the “popular kids” from more prestigious festivals like Cannes, Toronto and particularly, Sundance. Not that this is a bad thing, but Hollywood isn’t quite known for its originality and they’re basically presenting a “best of what’s played.” That’s great for me as I have not attended any other of the major festivals. Here’s what I’m chomping at the bit to see—

Most Anticipated films to play at LA Film Festival

Ain’t Them Bodies Saints

I’m particularly psyched for this Badlands-esque period noir that looks gorgeous, moody, and let’s not forget violent. The film boasts an amazing cast— Casey Affleck who can do no wrong playing a psychotic creep; Rooney Mara who has proved herself a solid versatile actor and desperately needs to shrug off the lingering Goth image festering from the wretched Dragon Tattoo film; and a slew of excellent character actors who I adore, Ben Foster and Keith Carradine among them.

Trailer for Ain’t Them Bodies Saints:

Only God Forgives

I’m a huge fan of Nicolas Winding Refn from back to his Pusher days and I obviously loved Drive. His new Gosling project appears to be a continuation of the hyper-cool neon noir aesthetic established in Drive, but this time he’s tackled a new action sub-genre— the Muay Thai Boxing film. The love it or hate it (mostly hate) reaction from Cannes only makes me want to see it more, although my expectations are probably so high that I’m bound to be let down.

Trailer for Only God Forgives:

Short Term 12

I heard this was the best film at Sundance this year and I like Brie Larson from United States of Tara and 21 Jumpstreet. While I do take that label with a gain of salt as I’ve found that the best of Sundance often means mediocre when plopped into theaters. However, the trailer displays the elements of a moving and unsentimental drama, which Hollywood studios have become incapable of producing. I want Short Term 12 to make me cry.

Trailer for Short Term 12:

Fruitvale Station

Again, Fruitvale Station is coasting on some nice Sundance buzz. Weinstein has picked up the film for distribution and they usually have a knack for picking fine films. While I do think this one could veer into clichéd white-guilt Hollywood territory, I’ve heard an excellent performance from Chronicle star Michael B. Jordan carries the film. I’m open to have my cynicism proved wrong.

Trailer for Fruitvale Station:

Crystal Fairy

Director Sebastián Silva has two films at the fest, Crystal Fairy and Magic Magic. Both films star Michael Cera, but I’ve vaguely heard that Crystal Fairy is both weirder and better. I don’t know much about the story other than Cera travels somewhere in Central America and gets into some insanity. I’m waiting to find Cera in a role that allows him to break through his thick type-cast and my gut tells me this could be the one.

The Act of Killing

I’m not as knowledgeable about documentaries as I should be but the offbeat ones often catch my attention. This image alone urged me to put The Act of Killing on my schedule. Reading about this meta-bomb of history, interviews, reenactments, musical numbers and Asian film history exploring Indonesian death squads sounds too weird not to see. Plus it will likely be fascinating piece of history

Trailer for The Act of Killing:

You’re Next

Any mention of the possibility of a great new Horror film peaks my interest, especially one that wowed Toronto’s midnight lineup. All I know about the story is that it manages a sly twist on the sadistic home-invasion subgenre. Also, modern horror icon Ti West acts in it, which is both strange and enticing. Hopefully it’s not another Cabin Fever.

Trailer for You’re Next:

David O. Russell

David O. Russell is receiving the spirit of independence award at this year’s LA Film Festival. He’s been one of my favorite directors since high school and he’s managed not to become stale. He’s bounced back from I Heart Huckabees (while I adore) and an unreleased/failed film project with two excellent studio films that display a newly reinvigorated artist. I greatly enjoy hearing directors talk and I certainly won’t miss one of my favorites, who I’m sure has a lot to say. A screening of Three Kings precedes the discussion!

Spike Jonze

Not to sound redundant, but Spike Jonze, another excellent director who will be there to talk about his career. He’s reportedly showing a sizzle-reel for his upcoming film Her, about a man who falls in love with a computer, and I wouldn’t miss the opportunity to see that or hear this oddball director speak about how he made it. His feature film career has its up and downs but each film has been intriguing and his important contribution to modern society.

Other Stuff

The festival is holding a pre-screening of Superman (Man of Steel). Zach Synder has not made a good film since his debut, Dawn of the Dead, but between the internet buzz and a brutal studio marketing campaign I can’t help but be a little swept up in the excitement. There’s a chance I won’t make it into the packed screening though.

I recently attended a press screening of the indie sci-fi film, Europa Report, which is playing at the festival. I was very excited for this documentary-style take on a manned space flight to Jupiter’s ice moon Europa. But unfortunately it’s pretty lame (I’ll post a review).

I’m also excited to see Johnnie To’s Drug War, the documentary Our Nixon, Winter in the Blood and Lesson of Evil.

Stay tuned as we bring you coverage of the LA Film Festival which starts tomorrow through June 23rd