Crooked Arrows
Starring Brandon Routh, Gil Birmingham, Crystal Allen

It’s damning with only the faintest of praise to say that the horrible high school lacrosse film Crooked Arrows is marginally better than last year’s horrible high school lacrosse film, A Warrior’s Heart, but it is. Here, Joe Logan (Routh) is a half-breed who is forced to coach his father Ben’s (Birmingham) team so he can push through a lucrative casino deal. As part of the arrangement, Joe must “re-examine his spirit” and “return to the creator’s game” to restore pride to his tribe. He must also run shirtless to the mountaintop, where a wise old Native American spouts aphorisms about eagles and animals and the ancient game. Crooked Arrows is passable when the characters are on the field, or on a vision quest, but it is problematic whenever it opens its mouth. The film contains one of the least inspiring locker room speeches ever committed to cinema. And the acting is as wooden as the ancient sticks with crooked arrows that give this lousy film its title. The message about teamwork and self-worth are valuable, but surely they—and the game of lacrosse—deserve a better vehicle than this low-budget film, sponsored in part by Reebok. Opens June 1. 1/5 stars —Gary M. Kramer

Nobody Else But You
Starring Jean-Paul Rouve, Sophie Quinton, Guillaume Gouix

Sexy, witty and full of clever cinematic in-jokes, Nobody Else But You is a delicious, delirious Gallic mystery. Blocked crime novelist David (Rouve) sees the frozen corpse of Candice (Quinton)—a local model who thinks she is the reincarnation of Marilyn Monroe—being removed from the snow. He is oddly bewitched and comes to suspect her suicide was actually murder. Bruno (Gouix), a hunky local cop, warns him not to investigate. Then diaries—and suspects—start piling up and things get really mysterious. Is David falling in love with the deceased? Did the fragile Candice—who was so beloved by fans—have a real enemy? Will David become the next victim? And why is Bruno asking David to clandestine meetings at the sauna on nudist Thursdays? The whodunit may be the least interesting aspect of this dazzling film—and yet it still is a bit of a surprise. Nobody Else But You brilliantly explores issues of reality, identity, celebrity and reinvention. The film is less about generating thrills and more about keeping the characters—and viewers—off guard. Every character has something to hide, and as David slowly strips away the façades, this multilayered masterpiece becomes even more intriguing. Opens June 8. 5/5 stars —Gary M. Kramer

Oslo, August 31st
Starring Anders Danielsen Lie, Hans Olav Brenner, Ingrid Olava

A quietly powerful drama depicting the melancholy of a drug addict in recovery, Oslo, August 31st chronicles a day in the life of Anders (Lie), a 34-year-old man who is two weeks shy of completing his rehabilitation program. Given leave from rehab, Anders treks around the picturesque title city, reuniting with friends and encountering strangers. He takes stock of his life in an attempt to reconcile his past, reconnect in the present and consider his options for the future. His despair is achingly palpable. A fantastic scene has Anders eavesdropping on café patrons’ humdrum conversations, which puts his cynicism about life into bold relief. Perhaps the film’s best sequence features Anders delivering a moving monologue (in voice-over) describing his parents and his childhood. He talks about the freedoms he was given and the opportunities he had and perhaps squandered. It serves to possibly explain—without judgment or blame—how and why he became an addict. Yet what makes Oslo, August 31st resonate is that viewers come to clearly understand Anders and his (failed) relationships. Lie gives a phenomenal performance with magnificent expressions and body language. It—along with this fantastic film—will be seared in viewers’ memories for days and months to come. Opens June 1. 5/5 stars —Gary M. Kramer

Peace, Love and Misunderstanding
Starring Jane Fonda, Catherine Keener, Elizabeth Olsen

In Peace, Love and Misunderstanding, Bruce Bereford’s woefully unfocused and underwritten comedy-drama about the hippie enclave of Woodstock and the generational tension between mothers and daughters, Catherine Keener delivers a poised, fully felt and rich performance with not much to help her. From film to film, Keener, a master of brittle sensuality and acerbic insights, has seemed incapable of having a false moment. It’s nearly miraculous here since she’s surrounded by nothing but false moments in Joseph Muszynski and Christina Mengert’s screenplay, which pits the conservative Diane (Keener) against her freewheeling mother Grace (Jane Fonda), a hardcore hippie living for the moment in the rose-colored afterglow of the Woodstock Nation. Diane’s pending divorce sends her and her two children back to the nest of the mother she hasn’t seen in 20 years, and they all experience an extended summer of—oh, just go ahead and guess—love. Fonda looks great, but the character’s all surface. She runs out of angles five minutes into the film; instead of a character, we fill in the missing blanks with the pot-smoking, war-protesting Jane Fonda of public record. Peace, Love and Misunderstanding is conceptually lazy; we do the filmmakers’ work for them. Opens June 8. 1/5 stars —Dan Loughry