Movie TalkIndie Roundup: ‘Jane Eyre,’ ‘Certified Copy’ and ‘Elektra Luxx’
This week's roundup of independent and foreign movies
features an adaptation of a literary classic, the latest work by a cinematic
master, and a flick about an imperiled porn star.
There have been 16 silver-screen adaptations of Charlotte
Bronte's beloved novel detailing the weird gothic love affair between the
titular Jane and Mr. Rochester. Director Cary Fukunaga shocked the film world
last year when he announced he was going to helm this latest adaptation. After
all, he was just coming off the critical success of his debut feature,
"Sin Nombre," a gritty drama about Central American immigrants
struggling to make it through Mexico
to America.
But from most accounts, he made the transition from third-world desperation to
Victorian repression with aplomb. Mia Wasikowska — fresh off her success from another, less
faithful literary adaptation ("Alice
in Wonderland") — stars alongside Michael Fassbender.
Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami was named the most
important film director of the 1990s in two different international critics'
polls. He has won just about every major film festival prize out there. And yet
he's never really received much appreciation in the U.S. His latest movie,
"Certified Copy," is his most accessible movie to date, and it just
might change that. Set against the stunning vistas of Tuscany and starring
opera singer William Shimell and French star Juliette Binoche (who won a top
acting prize at Cannes for this film), "Certified Copy" is a wry tale
about a couple whose relationship is ambiguous: they might have just met or
they might be an old couple pretending that they just met. If you're a fan of
Richard Linklater's "Before Sunset" or the works of Antonioni, this
might be your cup of tea.
"Elektra Luxx" is the sequel to director
Sebastian Gutierrez's SXSW fave "Women in Trouble." That movie was a
low-budget Almodovar-style melodrama featuring a cast of familiar Hollywood faces. This version sees Carla Gugino reprise
her role as a pregnant porn star whose past comes back to haunt her. Emmanuelle
Chriqui, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Malin Akerman, and Josh Brolin also star.
See the trailers to all of these week's movies:
