Surfers, Dancers and Wolverine

Jarmusch's too-cool-for-school new film and Michael Keaton's directorial debut open this week.

“The Merry Gentleman”
Despite a rich and varied screen output spanning more than 20 years, these blockbuster-obsessed times mean that Michael Keaton may go down in history as the second-best Batman. Trying his luck behind the camera for the first time, Keaton directs and co-stars in this drama about a remorseful hitman who strikes up an unlikely friendship with a damaged woman (played by the ever more impressive Kelly Macdonald) who unwittingly interrupts his suicide attempt.
Opens in limited release.

“Naked Ambition, An R-Rated Look at an X-Rated Industry”
Many an embarrassed man has attempted to explain away the porn under the mattress to a peeved significant other on the grounds that they actually find it to be quite artistic. What sets apart portrait and celebrity photographer Michael Grecco is that he’s one of the few alive who actually means it. “Naked Ambition,” Grecco’s directorial debut, charts his efforts to “shoot porn without shooting porn” in the form of a coffee table book illustrating what the grace and natural beauty of adult entertainment, comprised of some 200 unaltered pictures featuring many of the industry’s premier performers.
Opens in limited release.

“Newcastle”
Marking a narrative feature debut for writer/director Dan Castle, surfing soap “Newcastle” is as much an advert for the New South Wales Tourism Board as it is a portrait of awkward adolescence and youthful hedonism. Lachlan Buchanan stars as Jesse, a free-spirited kid whose ambition extends no further than a spot on the local surfing team. He embarks with friends on a trip to a remote beach where amidst a plethora of inviting waves and uncomplicated sex they contemplate their respective futures.
Opens in limited release.

“Revanche”
Riding a wave of impressive festival buzz all the way to an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language film (where it lost to that Japanese one no one had ever heard of), Austrian writer/director Götz Spielmann’s primal ensemble thriller channels raw emotional power to accompany some complicated narrative strands. Serving as a rent-a-goon for a Vienna brothel owner, Alex (Johannes Krisch) indulges himself with fellow employee Tamara (Irina Potapenko). When Alex robs a bank in a nearby town, the couple seeks refuge at his grandfather’s farm. In German and Ukrainian with subtitles.
Opens in New York.

“The Skeptic”
Having proved adept at turning a well-worn genre on its head with his gay coming-of-age debut “Dorian Blues,” writer/director Tennyson Bardwell offers something more traditional for his sophomore feature, a good old-fashioned haunted house picture, which is itself enjoying a resurgence of late. Having inherited an antiquated palace from a dead aunt he didn’t care for, yuppie lawyer Bryan (Tim Daly) uses the pretense of handling a sell-off as an excuse to separate from his wife (Andrea Roth) — cue spooky whispering, poltergeisty goings-on and the inevitable repressed family tragedy.
Opens in limited release.

“Three Monkeys”
Earning himself a directorial prize at last year’s Cannes, Turkish helmer Nuri Bilge Ceylan employs the maxim of the title (see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil) for this relentlessly miserablist, cause-and-effect drama that shows that an instantaneous decision can lead to a lifetime of regret. Wielding a palette as bleak as his characters’ futures, Ceylan gives us aging politician Servet (Ercan Kesal) who bribes his driver Eyüp (Yavuz Bingol) to take the fall for a hit and run. In Turkish with subtitles.
Opens in New York.

“X-Men Origins: Wolverine”
When you consider that this latest Marvel Studios outing is little more than a digitized toy advert, you have to wonder what the 200,000-odd eager beavers who downloaded the leaked, effects-free rough cut were so excited to see. Following up his disappointingly flat, star-studded political drama, “Rendition”, Oscar-winning director Gavin Hood explores the fabled genesis of this most celebrated badass, with Jackman once more reprising the role of the titular cigar chomper. Set some 20 years before the big screen events of “X-Men,” a secret government program offers disgruntled marine Logan (Jackman) a fresh start and a new identity as an indestructible secret weapon.
Opens wide.

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