Demonic models, ticklers and rebels

The Neon Demon

(out of 4) Starring Elle Fanning, Jena Malone, Abbey Lee, Bella Heathcoate, Keanu Reeves and Christina Hendricks. Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn. Opens Friday at major theatres. 117 minutes. 14A The ideal audience for The Neon Demon would be a theatre where every seat had a mirror tilted toward the screen. This is a film in love with its own reflection, one that is by turns gorgeous and horrifying.

Director Nicolas Winding Refn ( Drive, Only God Forgives) is convinced that profundity resides beneath the shallows of narcissism. It’s a tough sell, but an intoxicating one, especially upon subsequent viewings.

Refn is hardly the first moviemaker to find a link between supermodels and scary monsters, but he may be the most style-minded one to make the connection. Imagine an issue of Vogue with Maleficent as guest editor. The Neon Demon swoons along with the Hollywood denizens who encounter Elle Fanning’s Jesse, a hayseed with an angel’s face (but maybe not the innocence) who seeks L.A. stardom just past the age of 16.

Her beauty, youth and implacability ruffle the feathers and sharpen the teeth of fixated fashionistas played by Jena Malone, Abbey Lee and Bella Heathcote, all slightly older than Jesse (20 is considered ancient in this jaded realm). They jealously consider her both a threat and a celestial presence: “You’re the sun,” one hungrily admires.

Jesse lives in a Pasadena motel managed by Keanu Reeves’ sleazy Hank, who has more kinks than a Slinky. Yet he — and the mountain lion that somehow breaks into her room — pose merely natural threats.

Frequent Refn collaborator Cliff Martinez heightens the dread with his seductive electronic score, which beautifully meshes with Natasha Braier’s iridescent cinematography. Together they make the vapid seem deep. Peter Howell

Tickled

(out of 4) Documentary directed by David Farrier and Dylan Reeve. Opens Friday at Bloor Hot Docs Cinema. 91 minutes. PG

This New Zealand doc tickles the funny bone but also chills the spine. It delves into a goofy fetish that leads down serious and unsettling paths.

Journalist David Farrier and codirector Dylan Reeve begin their film as a humorous report on a peculiar yet apparently harmless “sport” called “Competitive Endurance Tickling.” Farrier specializes in “looking at the weird and bizarre side of life” and this certainly qualifies.

He and Reeve get way more than they bargained for. Their investigation follows a labyrinth of Internet links involving cyberbullying, identity fraud, online shaming and extortion.

Not much should be said about the film going in — it proceeds like a thriller — but it’s no spoiler to say that anyone who has seen the 2010 doc Catfish will recognize how deception is now very much a part of online activities. PH

Free State of Jones

(out of 4) Starring Matthew McConaughey, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Mahershala Ali and Keri Russell. Directed by Gary Ross. Opens Friday at major theatres. 120 minutes. 14A

A Civil War rebellion becomes an enervating movie by Gary Ross.

Determined to instruct more than inspire, producer/director/writer Ross ( Hunger Games) unspools a fact-based and overly familiar historical narrative of the righteous white freedom fighter. Matthew McConaughey capably stars as Newton Knight, an 1860s Mississippi farmer rebelling against war and slavery, although in so doing he creates his own militia of former slaves and fellow farmers.

The first half proceeds well enough, when Knight and his conscripts are defending their land against both Confederate and Union forces. Two renegade slaves emerge as particular allies — Gugu Mbatha-Raw’s Rachel and Mahershala Ali’s Moses — but it’s clearly the bigger star’s movie.

The story splinters in the postwar second half when too much exposition is crammed in (including a 20th century court case) and momentum is lost. PH

Hunt for the Wilderpeople

K (out of 4) Starring Sam Neill, Julian Dennison, Rima Te Wiata and Rachel House. Written and directed by Taika Waititi. Opens Friday at Cineplex Yonge & Dundas. 101 minutes. PG

New Zealand writer-director Taika Waititi blends sharply cynical humour with huge heart in arguably his best film to date, Hunt for the Wilderpeople.

Pudgy Ricky Baker (a perfect Julian Dennison) has been written off as a bad egg by children’s services.

But foster “aunt” Bella (Rima Te Wiata) sees the good in the oddball kid who expresses himself with crude haikus, even if her cranky husband Hec (Sam Neill) has no time for the newcomer.

Circumstances send Ricky on the run deep into the wilderness bush with survivorman Hec. Their adventure blends humour and warmth as the two chafe, share secrets and warily bond. Gorgeous scenery, excellent cast and a freshly clever script from Waititi, who also triumphed with Boy and What We Do in the Shadows, make for a must-see film. Linda Barnard

Fastball (DVD)

K "(out of 4) Documentary on the most feared baseball pitch, written and directed by Jonathan Hock. Narrated by Kevin Costner. Available on DVD Tuesday. STC

ESPN director Jonathan Hock throws straight and true with this history of baseball’s most important pitch.

Hock illuminates and entertains as he sketches portraits of the greats, from original fireballer Walter Johnson to the indomitable Nolan Ryan. Batters can’t always see a fastball, but they sure can hear it: “It sounds like trouble,” says ex-Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter.

Combining rare archival footage with contemporary interviews, Hock chases both the legend and science of the fastball, something that couldn’t even be precisely measured until the radar gun arrived in the 1970s.

We learn why there’s a world of difference between a 92 m.p.h. ball and a 100 m.p.h. one, and why physicists dispute batters’ claim of a “rise” over the plate.

Don’t listen to them, record hitter Hank Aaron says: “I don’t believe they ever played baseball.” PH