Chicken with Plums
Starring Mathieu Almaric, Maria de Medeiros, Jamel Debbouze
Opens Aug. 31

A truly splendid film by the writer and directors of Persepolis, Chicken with Plums portrays a heartbroken violinist, Nasser-Ali Khan (Almaric), in 1958 Tehran who decides to die after his violin is broken. He comes to this decision after he tries to replace his lost instrument with Mozart’s Stradivarius—in a magical sequence set in Houshang’s (Debbouze) wondrous shop. Nasser-Ali thinks of several ways to kill himself, and they are all presented in amusing vignettes. But the film—full of curlicues of smoke and offbeat storytelling—illustrates how Nasser-Ali spends his last eight days. He reflects on pleasure, boredom, despair, legacy and the heartbreak in his life. Chicken with Plums looks fantastic—with dazzling lighting and visual gimmickry as stories appear within stories. One terrific sequence has an animated slide show presenting the future of one character as a bright and broadly played farce. But the real aim of this delightful film is the way it emphasizes its belief that through art we come to understand life. Nasser-Ali is told by one of his mentors that life is a sigh you must seize. Chicken with Plums is a film you must see; it truly understands the exotic and delicious mysteries of life. 5/5 stars —Gary M. Kramer 

Compliance
Starring Ann Dowd, Dreama Walker, Pat Healy
Opens Aug. 17

Listen carefully to what is said in Compliance. This provocative drama is all about tone. Are people being cooperative, manipulated or manipulative? Are they thinking too much about them themselves? Are they thinking for themselves? Sandra (Dowd) is the manager of a fast food restaurant. It’s a busy Friday night, and the store is short on both food and staff. Moreover, quality control may be paying a secret visit. So the last thing Sandra needs is a call from Officer Daniels (Healy) saying that her employee, Becky (Walker), has stolen money from a customer—and that she needs to be strip-searched. Sandra, following the officer’s orders, complies. This infuriating, unnerving scene is shot without music, which only ratchets up the tension. Compliance is all about shifts in power—who has it, how they yield it, and who is vulnerable and/or victimized. Even knowing the twist (revealed early) makes this film—based on true events—even more excruciating. Writer/director Craig Zobel punishes his characters—and to a certain extent, the complicit audience—as this slow-burn drama unfolds. Yet his captivating film raises intriguing ideas about dignity and respect, as well as accountability, responsibility and questioning authority. Best of all, Dowd and Walker give unflinchingly strong performances. 4/5 stars —Gary M. Kramer

Little White Lies
Starring Marion Cotillard, François Cluzet, Benoît Magimel
Opens Aug. 24

Little White Lies, the third feature film by writer-director Guillaume Canet, is a Gallic version of The Big Chill without all that messy counterculture nonsense. It pivots on the near-tragedy of one of a clique of friends and then explores those bonds of camaraderie through the prism of the remaining members of the group. When Ludo (The Artist’s Jean Dujardin) is in a terrifying motorcycle accident, his core circle of confrères is at his bedside for support. Yet his slow recovery causes a quandary: do they go for their yearly pilgrimage to the seaside home of rich Max (Cluzet) or do they stay behind in Paris? They go, with the caveat that they’re an hour’s plane ride away, though the idyllic setting slowly reveals the tensions beneath the surface as they attempt to relax and regroup. Canet’s directorial style here is like the young Scorcese of Mean Streets; it has the juicy frisson of everyday life in its very marrow. Cotillard as the free spirit Marie is always mesmerizing—she’s a formidable actress. And Magimel as the married Vincent is a great foil to the wound-tight Max—his revelation that he might be in love with his friend sets much intense comedy and drama in motion. 4/5 stars —Dan Loughry

$upercapitalist
Starring Kenneth Tsang, Linus Roache, Derek Ting
Opens Aug. 31

Fancied as his Good Will Hunting ticket to an acting and filmmaking career, writer/producer/star Derek Ting has whipped up an alternately laughable/dull, clumsy drama-thriller set in the finance world. A naïve yet intuitive New York hedge fund trader, Conner (Ting) is sent to Hong Kong (Roache) to help take over a family-run corporation. Unable to speak Chinese, unfamiliar with the culture and faced with a hateful rival at the company, he finds a friend and whole lot of money-and-pussy-driven fun with a douchebag expat, Quentin (Darren E. Scott). Add in a love interest (Kathy Uyen) who may have an ulterior motive—when Conner confronts her, we get a whole lot of trite, cringe-worthy plays on financial terminology (“I thought you were better than that—you’re not the only one taking risk.”)—and greedy boss, played by the most familiar actor in the lot, Roache. Dialed-in barely begins to describe Roache’s lazy, one-dimensional, low-rent Gordon Gekko-esque performance, the antithesis of, say, Jeremy Irons’ in the amazing Margin Call. Kudos to Ting for at least attempting to make more opportunities for fellow Asians and Asian-Americans in English-language films, and director Simon Yin and DP Derrick Fong put together some decent compositions without much production design or value to work with, but $upercapitalist is ultimately a toxic asset. 1/5 stars —Lawrence Ferber