Face to Face – 7.5

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 A dream cast of diverse individuals, who came alive in turn with each rationalizing monologue. Although se in an alternate resolution proceeding, rather than a jury room, the program’s description of “an Australian 12 Angry Men” rang true. Our perception of the characters developed and changed as we learned more about them, and the act of senseless violence that brought them all together became both more comprehensible and less important as the story wore on. The one drawback: each character’s role was so neatly developed and coherently explained, and things dovetailed so well in only 90 minutes that the movie’s origin in a stage play was a bit transparent; and while a live performance causes us to suspend disbelief, a movie requires rather more realism to be convincing. Still, there were very funny moments, producing the most laughs of the week for me.

Just Between Us – 7.8

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A five-person roundelay of marital infidelity, Zagreb-style. The plainness, and in one case plumpness, of the actors augmented the realism, even if the lead’s pickup line – “I’d like to cum on your tits” – didn’t. I’m not sure if the story had a moral – eyes will rove but with compromise and understanding, marriage can endure – but neither does the typical Woody Allen movie. Instead, it is the pleasure of present company and the recognition of common human foibles and frustrations that carry us along.

Pure – 7.9

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A Swedish Black Swan, with a Natalie Portmanesque performance by a young woman who reminded me of Emily Primps. There were other echoes of Carey Mulligan in An Education, a girl emerging from the teenage world into an adult milieu that simultaneously matures and devastates her. The other characters were stock, but fine; they, however, were mainly the canvas on which Lisa Langveth’s heroine painted her portrait. [In my census of movies with smokers, which includes almost everything I’ve seen in the last year, this one vaults near the top.]

The Double Hour – 8.4

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A cleverly plottd, Christopher-Nolan-like romantic thriller, this rare Italian entry also featured two of the most appealing actors of the SBIFFestival. I knew NAME TK must be a major star when she was shown having explicit sex with her bra on, but I was not prepared for the haunting quality of her face, which, post-festival, is the lingering image in my mind’s eye. One wondered how someone so attractive, even an immigrant from Serbia, could be a hotel chambermaid, but by the movie’s final twist all was explained. And unlike Inception, say, the flights of cinematic fancy seemed to make sense. (Other echoes: the male lead was a soft-edged Javier Bardem, and the mood conjured The American.)

The Dilemma – 6

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A little Vince Vaughan goes a long way, and this film gives us a lot. The female leads – Jennifer Connelly and Winona Ryder – are quite restrained and wonderful, and the story is, surprise, full of surprises, but the Vaughan-Kevin James bromance is rather more than the other elements can handle. It’s more serious than a silly film, but sillier than a serious film, an honorable piece of fluff.

Small Town Murder Songs – 8

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I would coin the term “reality film” for movies like this, except that, fictional as it is, it is so much more real than anything you see on “reality TV.” Peter Stormare’s psychologically chinless small town police chief is as far from a “movie star” as you would want to see on the big screen, yet he holds our attention with his authenticity and how he plays the hand that fate deals him. We are given the back story in dribs and drabs, sort of the way you learn things in real life, so that by film’s end we may not know, or agree on, everything that has happened, but we feel we know the people. And all the other characters are just as real, low-key, and convincing, down to the deputy’s 12-year-old daughter who finds her parents “impossible!”

Black Swan – 8.5

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Powerful, ambiguous, provocative horror film, set in the world of ballet but mostly in Nina (Natalie Portman)’s mind. I went to see it as a duty, to round out my Oscar list, having overdosed on the trailer, but found the shots that turned me off in previews were compelling in context. The best surprise was the role of Lily, seemingly set up as an evil alter ego but in fact playing a far more subtle role. Was she crushing Nina or liberating her? Was she trying to usurp Nina’s role, or was she an agent of Thomas’s designed to break through Nina’s frigidity? Did she destroy Nina or lead her to perfection? Scene after blood-curdling scene made me look away while simultaneously challenging my mind: what was real and what was only a manifestation of an obsessed mind? Lurking in the background was the familiar question, does great art come from the struggle between genius and insanity? And, not being a dance fan, I won’t even get into the questions the film presents about ballet. Almost needless to say, Natalie Portman will win an Oscar, and she deserves it.

Blue Valentine – 7

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With so many movies revolving around meeting cute, courting and ending with, finally, marriage, it was nice to see a story that started five years down the line with the marriage fraying. It then told us the usual story, this time in flashbacks, so we could see how Ryan and Michelle had ended up together, what a flimsy basis their relationship was built upon and the dysfunctional families that spawned them. Once that was established, however, there wasn’t much more to it, and we were ready to move on well before the director was. Both Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams, who put it all out, gave clinically perfect performances, but I could have used a little humor to leaven matters and fewer closeups in my face. I wonder if I would have appreciated this film more if it had been made in Romania, or France?

The King’s Speech 7.5

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What acting! Colin Firth was superb in last year’s A Single Man, but his portrayal of the stammering King George VI is a tour de force. Geoffrey Rush is no slouch, either, as his commoner tutor. Beyond the acting, though, the film struck me as somewhat trivial. Why? Because I’ve never heard of George VI? Because I couldn’t understand Lionel’s methods, or what effect, if any they had? Because I’d seen all the punch lines in the previews? Because, despite it all, reading a speech in a private room didn’t seem like much of an accomplishment?

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps – 7.5

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For my money, this Oliver Stone rendering did a better job explaining and skewering the recent Wall Street meltdown than Inside Job. Michael Douglas was more interesting, mesmerizing, and significant than any of the bit players interviewed by Charles Ferguson. If love makes the world go around, greed comes a pretty close second.