Josh Bell
What do Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky, The Room star Greg Sestero, and a great white shark have in common? They’re all involved in this week’s low-profile VOD releases.
Infrared (VOD July 22): According to the opening title cards, the footage in this horror movie is meant to represent a never-aired pilot for a ghost-hunting series, and the tedious result indeed resembles unused raw material for a failed reality show. There are a lot of false starts before estranged siblings Wes (Jesse Janzen) and Izzy (Leah Finity) finally come together at an abandoned school to investigate a potential paranormal presence. Writer-directors Robert Livings and Randy Nundlall Jr. devote plenty of screen time to the overwrought family drama, which has no bearing on the eventual horrors. The movie is full of repetitive dialogue and characters moving back and forth between rooms, just marking time before the belated, underwhelming scares. The Room’s Greg Sestero gives a hammy performance as the school’s caretaker, and also produces via his Sestero Pictures, a stamp of approval that is perhaps not as valuable as the filmmakers would hope. Grade: C-
Jesus Kid (DVD July 26; VOD and virtual cinema July 27): There’s an element of social commentary in this Brazilian meta-comedy that’s likely lost on viewers not familiar with Brazilian politics and culture, so maybe it’s more entertaining in its home country. The aspects that translate best are pretty tiresome, the kind of self-deprecating jokes that sound more like excuses for poor storytelling than clever insights. Eugenio (Paulo Miklos) is a haggard novelist whose publisher has just canceled the latest in his long-running series of Westerns, so he accepts an offer to spend three months secluded at a fancy hotel writing a screenplay. The characters explicitly reference Barton Fink early and often, and Eugenio’s interactions with an imagined version of his Western character the Jesus Kid (Sergio Marone) recall Adaptation, but writer-director Aly Murtiba is no Coen brothers or Charlie Kaufman. The half-formed characters and ideas never coalesce into anything coherent, and Murtiba ends the movie with a shrug, resolving nothing. Grade: C
Gulliver Returns (VOD July 26; DVD August 9): Obviously Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky has more important matters to deal with, but it’s still a bit tacky the way his name is being used to bolster this animated abomination. Zelensky is one of four people credited with the “original idea” for this misguided reimagining of Jonathan Swift’s classic Gulliver’s Travels, so his involvement was likely minimal. Here, Gulliver (voiced by Wayne Grayson) is a floppy-haired rogue with a mouse sidekick he calls Squeak. He returns to the land of Lilliput, whose residents still believe that he’s a giant compared to their small stature, even though that was apparently a lie concocted by Lilliput’s narcissistic king. There’s none of Swift’s incisive satire in this haphazard story, which is realized via hideous animation, with occasional grating musical numbers. The characters are annoying, the dialogue often sounds like word salad, and the inspirational message is undercut by a protagonist who comes off as a condescending jerk. Grade: D
The Reef: Stalked (VOD, select theaters, and Shudder July 29): Australian writer-director Andrew Traucki’s 2010 film The Reef is one of the better examples of the shark B-movie subgenre, and this pseudo-sequel, featuring an entirely new story and characters, is similarly grounded and intense. Teressa Liane and Saskia Archer play sisters who reunite for a diving trip in honor of their murdered third sister. That’s a grim set-up for a shark-attack thriller, but Traucki treats the material with the gravity it deserves, and Liane conveys the anguish of a woman who discovered her sister dead at the hand of an abusive boyfriend. Defeating a deadly shark is a convenient metaphor for overcoming trauma, and Traucki overplays it at times, but he never forgets about the more immediate suspense of the sisters and their friends in danger of being chomped on. The characters make some obligatory dumb decisions, but most of Stalked is admirably sparse and brutal. Grade: B-
Shalom Taiwan (VOD and DVD August 2): An Argentinian rabbi gets to see Taiwan as he makes a journey to raise money for his synagogue, and getting to see Taiwan along with him is the main appeal of this sleepy drama. After borrowing money for temple renovations, Rabbi Aaron (Fabian Rosenthal) is now facing imminent foreclosure, so he seizes on a suggestion from a synagogue member and travels to Taipei, where money flows more freely than in Buenos Aires. Director and co-writer Walter Tejblum misses the opportunity to fully explore Taiwan’s tiny Jewish community, instead focusing on Aaron’s domestic troubles and the logistics of fundraising. Rosenthal gives a reserved performance that makes Aaron tough to engage with, although he encounters some interesting supporting characters on his travels. Despite the seemingly high stakes for the synagogue, there isn’t much tension in the story, which works better as a pleasant travelogue than as an examination of faith or cultural exchange. Grade: C+
