Was 2 for 2 with new movies yesterday.
Le Havre, the new Aki Kaurismaki fillm - This is an entertaining, warm and funny film made by a cynic (if interviews are to be believed), which is not to say it's dishonest. Rather, both Kaurismaki and the audience know full well that's it's not a "realistic" depiction of immigration, as (mostly) everyone in this film tries to do the right thing, but that knowledge is freeing rather than distracting. Might be the best comedy of the year.
Melancholia - At different times I've admired, laughed at, laughed with, been disgusted by, bored by, transfixed by parts of every Lars Von Trier movie I've ever seen... but THIS. It's never come together like this before. Von Trier takes the premise of a clinically depressed person finding peace with the destruction of Earth to its hilt, turning it into a grand cosmic reckoning. I rented this in HD from Amazon but I think I need to see it in the theater, even an average one, for the final 2 minutes alone.
To be sure, most people will probably complain about and mock this film same as they do every Von Trier film, ESPECIALLY the wedding sequence, which you'll no doubt hear is boring and unrealistic. Another faction will be quick to remind you how personally superior they are to the walking public relations disaster that is Von Trier himself. But in my opinion, this is one of the greatest cinematic achievements in some time. It reminds me of Synecdoche, New York in that tries to vividly depict a mental state that many are aggressively unwilling to understand (the Kiefer Sutherland character might as well be a surrogate for them). I think Kirsten Dunst pretty much nailed the role but I suspect won't win too many awards to reflect it. It was also surprisingly jarring seeing Keifer in a non-Jack Bauer context again, particularly since his voice sounds like he's been swallowing whiskey-coated swords.
