An innovative feature debut
You’d be hard-pressed to find a more formally innovative film screening in a Los Angeles theater this weekend than “Kaili Blues,” a melancholy tale of loss and regret that marks a singular feature debut for the Chinese director Bi Gan.
Ostensibly the story of a middle-aged doctor and ex-con searching for his young nephew, the film offers up a dreamlike elegy for bygone Chinese traditions and then proceeds, poetically and intuitively, into an astonishing experiment in cinematic time and space. Showing an unobtrusive mastery of camera movement, Bi lends concrete form and rich dramatic life to the Buddhist notion that past, present and future are all equally untenable.
“Kaili Blues.”: When: 8 p.m. Friday. Running time: 1 hour, 36 minutes. Playing: Arena Cinema, Hollywood. Tickets: $12. Info: www.acropoliscinema.com Movie recommendations from critics Kenneth Turan, Justin Chang and other reviewers.
A Bigger Splash
Luca Guadagnino’s movie is a swooning cinematic appeal to the senses — two hours of al fresco lovemaking, gorgeous scenery and simmering erotic warfare with Ralph Fiennes’ acting on glorious, supremely uninhibited display (Justin Chang) R.
Eye in the Sky
Superbly acted, this nailbiter starring Helen Mirren, the late Alan Rickman and Aaron Paul is a fully involving war drama about the new rules of engagement. (Sheri Linden) R.
Holy Hell
Filmmaker Will Allen’s suspenseful documentary is part expose, part catharsis and all disturbing, about his and others’ experiences in the Buddhafield, a spiritual cult that dominated more than 20 years of his life. (Robert Abele) NR.
The Jungle Book
By turns sweetly amusing and scarily unnerving, crammed with story, song and computer-generated visual splendors, this revisiting of the old Rudyard Kipling tales aims to be a model of modern crowdpleasing entertainment. (Kenneth Turan) PG.
The Lobster
Yorgos Lanthimos’ hypnotically strange and suggestive new movie is very much its own brand of horror movie as well as a deranged thought experiment, a stealth love story, and a witty dismantling of the usual barriers separating man from beast. (Justin Chang) R.
Love & Friendship
Whit Stillman has finally made a full-fledged Jane Austen adaptation, a master class on the art of comic timing, taking the author’s early epistolary novella and infusing it with his own droll, mocking spirit and expert way of looking behind societal facades. (Glenn Whipp, May 13) PG.
Maggie’s Plan
Rebecca Miller’s dramedy is sweet but analytical and pragmatic in its approach to exploring the ways of navigating partnership, parenthood and personal values. (Katie Walsh) R.
Sing Street
Writer-director John Carney nails that “happy-sad” sweet spot in his latest work, about a young man coming of age in Dublin in the 1980s, using the emotional, cathartic power of music to face the hardships of family, first love and school bullies. (Katie Walsh) PG-13.
Zootopia
Bursting with a rich blend of timely themes, superb voice work, wonderful visuals and laugh-out-loud wit, Walt Disney Animation Studios’ latest is quite simply a great time at the movies. (Gary Goldstein) PG.