Josh Bell
This week’s low-profile VOD releases feature lone bombers both real and fictional, plus French ennui, family squabbles, and Andy Garcia in drag.
Ted K (VOD and select theaters February 18): Ted Kaczynski doesn’t have a writing credit on this film about his life, but maybe he should. As the an opening title card notes, much of the narration and dialogue was taken directly from the Unabomber’s extensive journals, and director Tony Stone seems remarkably sympathetic to Kaczynski’s point of view, especially on environmental issues. At the same time, Ted K offers only a superficial understanding of the terrorist and serial killer, who’s presented as the original incel, motivated largely by his inability to connect with women. Sharlto Copley tones down his typically manic screen presence to play Kaczynski’s quiet, seething rage, and he’s essentially the only character. Most of Ted K resembles impressionistic pseudo-biopics like Gus Van Sant’s Kurt Cobain-inspired Last Days, but Stone also runs through the bullet points of Kaczynski’s crimes, incorporating real news footage. The result is a frustrating middle ground that doesn’t work as a true-crime story or as an insight into one person’s madness. Grade: C
Hard Hit (VOD and DVD/Blu-ray February 22): The third iteration of a movie originally made in Spain and then remade in Germany, this Korean thriller proves the durability of a solid high-concept pitch. Within minutes, the set-up is out of the way, and mid-level investment banker Lee Sung-gyu (Jo Woo-jin) is sitting on top of a bomb under the seat of his car. A mysterious voice on the phone tells him that if he or either of his two kids gets out of the car, the bomb will explode. The voice demands money and forces Lee to lie to his colleagues and the police, while racing against time to prevent the bomb from going off. It’s a fast-paced story that mostly outruns its gaps in logic, with some well-executed car chases and sustained tension. The movie veers a bit into melodrama as it reveals the bomber’s true motives, but it channels that sentiment right back into action. An American remake starring Gerard Butler seems inevitable. Grade: B
Big Gold Brick (VOD February 25): There are no big gold bricks in this bizarre, tedious comedy about a self-destructive writer who finds his purpose in life after being enlisted to write the biography of an eccentric, semi-retired government operative. Or at least that’s what Floyd Deveraux (Andy Garcia) tells Samuel Liston (Emory Cohen) he is, although for a man looking to have his life story told, he’s remarkably elusive with concrete facts. Floyd and Samuel develop a father-son dynamic after Floyd hits Samuel with his car and nearly kills him, then hires him as a live-in scribe. Writer-director Brian Petsos fills the overlong, meandering movie with random quirky asides, from Samuel’s possible telekinetic powers to a cameo from Oscar Isaac as an inscrutably accented crime boss (in possibly the worst performance of his career). None of it makes any sense or serves any purpose, and Cohen, sporting a series of awkward wigs, makes for an annoying protagonist. Maybe a big gold brick would have helped. Grade: C
Family Squares (VOD and select theaters February 25): Shot at the height of the pandemic when the members of its all-star cast clearly had nothing better to do, this family drama set almost entirely in video chat windows never transcends its lockdown-induced limitations. Multiple generations of the Worth family gather via Zoom to say goodbye to matriarch Mabel (June Squibb) as she passes peacefully in bed, and then the real drama begins as Mabel’s last wishes (conveyed via posthumous video messages) unearth dormant family secrets and tensions. It’s hard to make a bad movie starring the likes of Casey Wilson, Judy Greer, Margo Martindale, Ann Dowd, Henry Winkler, Sam Richardson and many more talented professionals, and Family Squares is mildly pleasant if never quite emotionally engaging. The dialogue often goes in circles, hitting the same themes repeatedly, and as charismatic as the actors are, they still can’t get past the feeling of eavesdropping on someone else’s obligatory family Zoom call. Grade: C+
My Best Part (VOD and select theaters February 25): French actor Nicolas Maury makes his directorial debut with this aimless character study about a largely insufferable character. Maury plays neurotic actor Jérémie, who begins the movie by attending a support group for people consumed by toxic jealousy, and should probably have spent the rest of his time there. Jérémie’s obsessive tracking of his boyfriend gets him justifiably dumped, just after he loses out on a major film role. So he heads home to stay with his mother (Nathalie Baye) while preparing to audition for one of the leads in a production of Spring Awakening. Jérémie is narcissistic and whiny, and while he has a sometimes sweet relationship with his mother, Maury doesn’t present any kind of character growth, and there’s no urgency to Jérémie’s career or personal aspirations. He gets a cute dog, semi-flirts with his mother’s handyman, and languidly practices his lines, all while vaguely pouting. It’s all quite French, but not particularly compelling. Grade: C+ 
