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The United States of Leland
* (out of 4 stars)

"The United States of Leland" is about Leland, a sad and unhappy teenaged boy who is so acutely sensitive to the human condition that he suddenly realizes that all the people around him are sad and unhappy in their own particular ways; because this is an achingly sincere indie drama, the only way that he can express this notion is by inexplicably murdering a young autistic boy-who just happened to be the brother of his sad and unhappy junkie ex-girlfriend. Of course, not everyone is as sensitive as Leland, so they don’t realize what a profound and humanistic act he was performing when he stabbed the child; they want to know "why" he did it so that they can go on with their own sad and unhappy lives. Thankfully, our sensitive hero begins to write down an account of what drove him to it and we are treated to a series of flashbacks which show us how Leland’s only concern was to save the boy from the sad and unhappy life that he was sure to have if he had actually lived into double-digits. Of course, I think the kid, if offered the chance before being gutted, might have offered a rebuttal argument but this is a notion that doesn’t seem to have occurred to Leland.

As you might suspect, "The United States of Leland" is pure twaddle from beginning to end and the only particularly shocking thing about it is the fact that a good cast was somehow roped into appearing in it, mostly playing slight variations on roles they have already done in the past. Ryan Gosling plays the sensitive psycho role that he essayed in "The Believer". Jena Malone plays the troubled girlfriend role that she does in every other movie she appears in. Kevin Spacey (who produced, possibly explaining the cast) gets to play another hyper-articulate a-hole, this time Leland’s heartless author father, who smells a book in the tragedy. Don Cheadle gets to play Leland’s sensitive counselor, who also smells a book in the tragedy. Michelle Williams gets to play another pretty-blonde-with-a-soul and Chris Klein gets to play another dope in shoes. Other good actors (including Lena Olin, Martin Donovan and Ann Magnuson and Sherilyn Fenn) are thrown in without anything to do and are just wasted.

The infuriating thing about the film, though, is not the wasted cast but the wasted premise. Writer-director Matthew Ryan Hoge seems to have intended to something interesting-introduce someone who has committed an indefensible and horrific act for no real reason and figure out a way to still make him sympathetic-but he has taken the easy way out by simply portraying ever other character as a self-absorbed jerk. Although the cast is talented, they are unable to do anything with a screenplay that includes such pseudo-profound lines as "People don’t say ‘pretty’ anymore" or "There’s goodness in people...at least during earthquakes"(Spacey comes off best simply because he is one of those actors who knows how to sell a bad line just as well as a good one) and which features a climax that requires an unbelievable chain of coincidence in order to work. That ending is so loopily bad that it is almost worth sticking around for but I suspect that most audiences for "The United States of Leland" will have seceded long before the final reel.

Written and directed by Matthew Ryan Hoge. Starring Ryan Gosling, Jena Malone, Kevin Spacey, Don Cheadle, Michelle Willams and Chris Klein. Rated R

Broken Wings
***1/2 (out of 4 stars)

"Broken Wings" is an acclaimed Israeli film (which won nine of the Israeli equivalent of the Academy Awards) that is surprising as much for what it doesn’t contain as for what it does. Instead of focusing on the violent political situation, writer-director Nir Bergman has created a film that centers on the ordinary domestic life of a family struggling to get by in contemporary Tel Aviv after the death of the husband/father. Mother Dafna (Orli Zilberschatz-Banai) has just gone back to work as a night-shift midwife and since older son Yair (Nitai Gvritz) has decided to abandon school to distribute leaflets, it is left to 17 year-old Maya (Maya Maron) to take care of her younger siblings while still trying to juggle both her schoolwork and a promising career as a singer. Inevitably, Maya makes one slip and tragedy ensues-however, it leads to a chain of circumstance that could bring the family back together even as it threatens to tear them apart.

This description might make "Broken Wings" sound like a potentially indigestible slab of melodrama but one of the reasons why it works as well as it does is that Bergman never tries to milk those elements for maximum pathos; even when the storyline threatens to go into the mawkish, his restrained, realistic approach keeps the material grounded. He is aided in this by an exemplary cast-most importantly by newcomer Maron, who is able to perfectly capture the attitude of an ordinary girl who is forced to put her life on hold and, while willing to do so, is still resentful of the position she has been put in. In the end, these are assets far more valuable than a controversial storyline and they make "Broken Wings" well worth seeking out.

Written and directed by Nir Bergman. Starring Maya Maron, Orli Zilberschatz-Banai, Nitai Gvirtz, Daniel Magon and Eliana Magon. Rated R

The Red Trousers: The Life of the Hong Kong Stuntmen
** (out of 4 stars)

Although the title makes it sound like a documentary about a pair of pants that I briefly and inexplicably wore during the late 1980’s, "The Red Trousers" is actually two movies in one; instead of getting double for your money, though, one of the two films is so pathetically awful that it winds up dragging down the other. The good portion is a documentary about the lives of Hong Kong stuntmen, most of whom received their acrobatic training in the punishing regimes of old Peking Opera School (of which Jackie Chan and Jet Li were graduates-though neither is seem or mentioned here; the biggest star, figuratively and literally, is Samo Hung) and how they make it in an industry that thrives on pushing the envelope of what can done to a human being in the name of thrilling an audience. ("I didn’t know how to be hit by a car", one exclaims before a demonstration of that very ability.) Although not especially revelatory or penetrating (fans of the genre, who are clearly the audience for the film, are likely to already be familiar with the historical background), the behind-the-scenes footage is extensive and impressive enough to interest martial-arts buffs.

Most of that behind-the-scenes footage chronicles the production of a film entitled "Lost Time", an ego-fest designed to create the impression that director-star Robin Shou is an action icon on the level of Chan or Li. Unfortunately, Shou, who also directed "The Red Trousers" has decided to shove large chunks of "Lost Time", which seems never to have released on its own, into the documentary and what we see is so dreadful that it winds up making a mockery of the art that Shou the documentarian claims to celebrate. As an actor, he has no presence (and in the documentary scenes in which he interviews himself-what a tool!-he comes off as exactly the kind of dope who actually would interview himself for a film about himself) and as an action director, he has absolutely no idea of how to film such scenes in order for them to carry any sort of impact. (He throws in too many cheesy special effects and quick edits in an effort to jazz things up.) If Shou has any sense (a debatable idea once you get a load of "Lost Time"), he will hopefully re-edit the film before it hits DVD and simply make it a straightforward documentary and turn "Lost Time" into what it deserves to be-one of those "special features" that you never quite get around to playing.

Written and directed by Robin Shou. Starring Robin Shou, Beatrice Chia, Keith Cooke, Hakim Alston and Craig Reid. Unrated

This Old Cub
*** (out of 4 stars)

Despite such things as Mark Prior’s tricky shoulder and every magazine from "Sports Illustrated" to "Playboy" picking them to win it all this year, there is actually a sense of genuine cock-eyed optimism among Chicago Cubs fans (which I have been since the good old days of Ivan De Jesus, Bill Buckner and, my favorite of all, Dave Kingman) that this might be the year that they finally win the World Series after nearly a century of trying. To fire up the troops, we now have "This Old Cub", a minor but entertaining documentary from Jeff Santo about his father, legendary third-baseman Ron Santo. Anyone looking for a penetrating analysis of Cubdom will be disappointed as Santo’s film is largely a campaign commercial for Santo’s long-overdue bid for enshrinement in the Baseball Hall of Fame, as well as a document chronicling his struggle to overcome the diabetes-related amputation of both legs. Interspersed with footage of Santo on the road in 2003, both to recovery and to the World Series, is a lot of old clips of Santo in action and reminisces from a number of Chicago icons (including Bill Murray, Dennis Franz, Dennis Farina, Gary Sinise and William Petersen) about that glorious, tragic 1969 season. (Murray also contributes a hilarious impersonation of Santo’s batting style.) For Cubs fans, the film is indispensable; others will find it a pleasant enough diversion, though the low-budget shot-on-video production is the kind that is probably best appreciated on home video.

Written and directed by Jeff Santo. Narrated by Joe Mantegna. Starring Ron Santo, Bill Murray, Pat Hughes, Dennis Franz and William Petersen. Unrated.

Copyright © 2004 Peter Sobczynski
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While the views expressed by Peter Sobczynski do not necessarily reflect the views of Criticdoctor.com, the Critic Doctor will occasionally examine Mr. Sobczynski's film reviews to bring forth an honest examination of those views expressed.