A drama about a boy on a quest to save his mother is one of the week’s best new movies.
Also worth seeing: ‘The Water Man,’ ‘The Paper Tigers’
Documentaries about singing sensations are defying the norms of late. From the candid “Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry” on AppleTV+ to “Miss Americana” (about Taylor Swift) on Netflix, stars are getting real in front of the cameras, and that honesty pays off and makes for some excellent movies.
Amazon Studios gets in on the trend with “The Boy From Medellin,” one of the best in this popular genre. The J Balvin documentary tops our weekly list of what to watch, along with the sensitive family drama “The Water Man” and the entertaining martial arts comedy “The Paper Tigers.”
Here’s a rundown.
“THE BOY FROM MEDELLIN” >> It’s almost a guarantee that Matthew Heineman’s engrossing documentary on singer J Balvin will make you appreciate and respect the Grammy winner and phenom even more than you already had. A large part of the reason is that Balvin doesn’t balk at showing his best and worst, the cameras rolling as he wrangles with a severe anxiety that’s hounded him since he was young. Heineman spends a week with the singer and his entourage as they prep for a massive concert in his Colombian hometown. The massive event comes at a tenuous time, with youths in Balvin’s homeland pushing back against a broken political system, sometimes with fatal results. Balvin is feeling the heat for not taking a stand amid the unrest and that pressure challenges his own beliefs about celebrities making political statements. Will he finally speak up? Will detractors think it’s too little too late? Heineman excels at pinpointing how social media barbs aimed at celebs do draw blood and what it takes for a star to speak up about risky and emotional matters. Heineman clearly gained Balvin’s trust and that’s apparent every second, a critical factor when making another first-rate documentary about a complex, driven and vulnerable creative force. DETAILS >> \*\*\*/* out of 4; available Friday on Amazon Prime.
“THE WATER MAN” >> It’s not surprising that “Selma” actor David Oyelowo’s directorial debut is such a sensitive family film. Oyelowo, as an actor, has already demonstrated he has deep pockets of compassion. Those caring qualities enrich a mostly successful quasi-fable about a boy named Gunner (Lonnie Chavis) whose mother (Rosario Dawson) is terminally ill. There’s a lot of heart, even soul, to this never-overwrought production from Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Films. Oyelowo does a fine job playing Gunner’s impatient father while screenwriter Emma Needell deftly presents a tale about Gunner and a resourceful girl (Amiah Miller) journeying into the woods to locate a mysterious town legend rumored to possess magical qualities. DETAILS >> \*\*\*; in theaters Friday.
“CLIFF WALKERS” >> Director Zhang Yimou enters Hitchcock territory with this 1930s communist spy thriller full of double agents and double crosses, unfortunately with a screenplay that is just OK. Yimou is a visual master, and his eye for detail, atmosphere and suspense remain impeccable. But the story from Quan Yongxian restrains him. “Walkers” finds four agents trained by the Russians kerplunking into Manchukuo on a deadly mission that’s in danger of being foiled by an insider. There are high points, for sure, from an intense sequence on a train to a car chase. It’s not top-shelf Yimou, but it still goes down smoothly. DETAILS >> \*\*\*; now in select theaters.
“UNDERGODS” >> In this headturner of a debut, Chino Moya plunges us into dystopia’s darkest underbelly for a collection of terror tales that are often tied to the seven deadly sins. A mysterious new neighbor in an eerily deserted apartment building disrupts the balance of an anemic marriage; a husband returns from the dead and energizes his exwife’s anemic current marriage. Much more deplorable goings-on emerge while two bizarre characters pick up corpses on the streets. Sound weird? You bet. But Moya’s nightmare imaginings hit major high notes, particularly in one segment where a karaoke performance of “My Way” at a birthday party turns into one of the most tortured performances of the song you’ll ever witness. Moya is a major talent.
DETAILS >> \*\*\*; streaming Friday on various platforms.
“THE PAPER TIGERS” >> While it rambles on too long, Tran Quoc Bao’s crowd-pleaser about a middle-aged trio of former childhood kung fu competitors reuniting after their master’s death is as entertaining as it is predictable. Alain Uy, Ron Yuan and Mykel Shannon Jenkins make a fine comic team as martial arts has-beens who, with all their aches and pains, take on a younger set to find out if their master’s death was an accident. Parents, note that there are some four-letter words flying around alongside those fists of fury. DETAILS >> \*\*\*; now in select theaters; streaming Friday on various platforms.
“TU ME MANQUES” >> Bolivia’s entry for this year’s international film Oscar is a passionate retelling of Rodrigo Bellott’s beloved, semi-autobiographical stage play. After his closeted son’s suicide, a Bolivian father (Oscar Martinez) travels to New York to demand answers from his son’s former boyfriend, Sebastian (Fernando Barbosa). Lines blur between a heralded theatrical production that Sebastian has created with flashbacks of the two gay lovers getting cozy and then breaking up. Bellott’s film is often melodramatic, but that works given where the story ends. If you like Pedro Almodovar’s films, you’ll enjoy this. DETAILS >> \*\*\*; now streaming on various platforms.
“ABOUT ENDLESSNESS” >> Roy Andersson is one of the greatest living filmmakers that you’ve never heard of. Here’s your chance to dive in. Be prepared for a unique experience from the Swedish filmmaker behind 2014’s “A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence.” He takes another metaphysical plunge with seemingly random sequences of townsfolk grappling with existential crises. The imagery here is undeniable, from a couple floating above an apocalyptic-looking city to a man walking through the streets with a cross on his back while being flogged. It’s deep and sometimes bleak. And great.
DETAILS >> \*\*\*/*; streaming as part of the Virtual Cinema film series at the Roxie Theatre, www. roxie.com, and the Smith Rafael Film Center, rafaelfilm.cafilm.org.