opening this week
BELOVED SISTERS When two sisters (Henriette Confurius and Hannah Herzsprung) fall in love with the same man, what’s a guy to do? If you’re 18thcentury German poet Friedrich Schiller (Florian Stetter), you look at it as a two-for-one special and have affairs with both. Not rated. 138 minutes. In French and German with subtitles. The Screen , Santa Fe. (Not reviewed)
DO YOU BELIEVE? The latest Christian-based drama looks at a wide cross-section of people and shows us how God has had an impact on their lives. Everyone from a white doctor (Sean Astin) to an African-American criminal (Senyo Amoaku, playing a character who is actually named Kriminal) is covered. Mira Sorvino also stars. Not rated. 115 minutes. Regal Stadium 14 , Santa Fe. (Not reviewed)
GETT: THE TRIAL OF VIVIANE AMSALEM Veteran Israeli brother-and-sister directing team Shlomi and Ronit Elkabetz take on the draconian system of Orthodox Jewish law and matters of divorce proceedings in the powerful follow-up to the films To Take a Wife (2004) and 7 Days (2008). Ronit Elkabetz reprises her role as Viviane Amsalem, who faces off against judges, lawyers, and her domineering, emotionally abusive husband but routinely gets ignored at a rabbincal court, where the law is slanted unfairly toward the male as head of the household. This taut, tense, and claustrophobic drama is an indictment of a culture that undervalues women’s voices in matters of authority. Not rated. 115 minutes. In Hebrew, French, and Arabic with subtitles. Center for Contemporary Arts , Santa Fe. (Michael Abatemarco) See review, Page 46.
THE GUNMAN Sean Penn typically shies away from straightforward action pics, but here he seems to be going for the late-career resurgence that Liam Neeson enjoyed in Taken — even working with that film’s director, Pierre Morel. Penn plays a former sniper who is forced back into the life of violence in order to take out a bad guy ( Javier Bardem), with whom he shares a past. Rated R. 115 minutes. Regal Stadium 14 , Santa Fe; Dream-Catcher , Española. (Not reviewed)
INSURGENT The 2014 sci-fi film Divergent was a modest success, but it has enough fans for a sequel, released almost one year later. To the uninitiated, the plot may seem like nonsense, but admirers of the first film and the book series on which it is based will get it. Rated PG-13. 119 minutes. Screens in 3-D and 2-D at Regal Stadium 14 , Santa Fe; Dream-Catcher , Española. (Not reviewed)
LEGENDS FROM THE SKY You don’t see too many Navajo sci-fi pics. This one uses a mostly Native cast and crew — writer and director Travis Holt Hamilton is an exception — to tell the story of a veteran (Edsel Pete) who returns to his reservation to find his grandfather missing and a shady government organization in charge. Not rated. 85 minutes. In English and Diné with subtitles. Regal DeVargas , Santa Fe. (Not reviewed)
PERFORMANCE AT THE SCREEN The series of high-definition screenings continues with a showing of Romeo and Juliet from Moscow’s Bolshoi Ballet. Alexander Volchkov and Anna Nikulina star. 11:15 a.m. Sunday, March 22, only. Not rated. 150 minutes. The Screen , Santa Fe. (Not reviewed)
’71 A squad of British soldiers is routed to Belfast during the conflict in Northern Ireland. One of the men (Jack O’Connell) is separated from the rest and must find a way back to safety. First-time director Yann Demange and cinematographer Tat Radcliffe paint the screen with a fine sense of chiaroscuro, using darkness and silhouettes to evoke wartime noir. However, they don’t let us get to know the protagonist, so there’s little emotional attachment. Rated R. 99 minutes. Regal DeVargas , Santa Fe. (Robert Ker) See review, Page 48.
THE WRECKING CREW Denny Tedesco’s music doc pays homage to his father and the other members of the Wrecking Crew — a group of legendary session musicians who recorded on many of the biggest hits of the 1960s and ’70s. In addition to giving these players their due, the film allows them to revisit the parts they made famous decades ago, instruments in hand. Though the narrative drags at times, it incorporates sufficient humor and history alongside the hits to satisfy music nerds and laypeople alike. Rated PG. 98 minutes. Jean Cocteau Cinema , Santa Fe. (Loren Bienvenu). See review, Page 44.