“Los Angeles is a beautifully wrapped lie” 

Tangerine is a rather interesting comedy that is very reminiscent of Robert Altman’s ensemble comedies of the 1970’s. The film’s writing is especially intelligent given the contemporary issues it addresses, such as: transgendered women, prostitution, the entertainment industry and how it affects the lower class. Most of these issues are not directly addressed; they are represented in very minute but profound ways. While I really appreciated a lot of the concepts within the writing and a lot of the directorial choices, I did not enjoy this film as much as I had hoped to.

A Pigeon Sat On A Branch Reflecting On Existence is the title of a Swedish film that won the top award at Venice Film Festival. Many critics think it is one of the best movies of the year. It is also a movie that relatively few people will see. The main reason most people won't see it is because it is an extremely odd film. It could be called boring and fascinating in the same breath. The film is made up a series of master shots depicting events that have very little narrative clarity. Some characters show up periodically but with little sense that their actions have any potency or potential purpose. The title suggests an underlying philosophy of existential confusion. The pigeon is only depicted briefly twice in the film, but the idea is that a pigeon would have very little understanding of human behavior. The film also shows that human beings have very little understanding of human behavior. The various people who float through the movie all seem disconnected to anything that is happening to them. This is the final film in a trilogy by Roy Andersson including You, The Living (2007) and Songs From The Second Floor (2000). It is staged like a series of mini-plays with the characters barely moving in many instances, seemingly caught in some surreal dream. Many events don't seem to relate to others, but two hapless brothers are the most noticeable. They sell novelty items (vampire teeth with extra long fangs, laugh bags) because they want people to have fun. No one in this movie has any fun for even one second. The film is somewhat funny, depicting characters that are hopelessly grim and disconnected, but there are some moments that are bleakly horrifying while they are hallucinatory and confusing. The most obvious and chilling example is a group of slaves being led into a giant rotating drum that is sitting on top of a fire pit that has been set ablaze. It is done by soldiers for a group of finely dressed elderly people staring on dispassionately, totally unaffected by the horror. Another setting is a bar populated mostly by women who are suddenly besieged by the Swedish king and soldiers from two centuries earlier. They institute and implement edicts that long ago lost their relevance. The clear intent of the director is to confuse and alienate a modern audience with an uncomfortable pace and sense of unsettling illogic.

This is clearly a film that is only for seekers of unusual art. Some people will want to see it a few times to decipher the strange tableaux. There is a unique beauty to the crazy display of static boredom, but the average moviegoer will certainly walk away confused and alienated after the first viewing. The film is for sophisticated tastes, but is not easy to recommend to anyone. Intellectuals will respond to the droll absurdity that outlines a society that is dead but still attempting to exist in a zombie-like fashion. The message is subtle and open to interpretation, but it clearly shows modern life as hopelessly suffocating.

I am not going to lie: I am a complete sucker for the “life swap” genre of film. Whether it is Freaky Friday, The Parent Trap and their remakes, or the fantastic Face/Off. These films always are entertaining for me, as I take great joy watching actors and actresses overcome the challenge of acting out the minute characteristics of the other actor (not just the character). Christmas Trade is no different; the two actors do a good job of keeping their portrayals believable. However, it misses several opportunities to be my second-favorite “life swap” film to date (I don’t think anyone can top Cage and Travolta in Face/Off).

Robbie Taylor (Michael Campion) and his father, Mitch (William Baldwin), are each struggling with the loss of the mother figure. Mitch is doing his best to move away from the tragedy by becoming romantically involved with Chloe (Denise Richards) and keeping himself busy with work as a lawyer. As a result, Robbie is unable to interact with his ideal father figure on a regular basis, causing him to mildly act out at school. One day a mysterious package containing a stuffed animal arrives at their doorstep and magically switches their lives.

Uncanny is definitely an apt title for this science fiction film: a story that deals with possibly the most realistic artificial intelligence entity ever created, in the realm of this film’s universe that is. The impact of this film will likely be dampened due to the release of a recent realistic science fiction drama that will not be named. In the beginning, the film did not fully capture my attention as I had an idea of how things were going to play out. That said, what I imagine could not have been further from the reality. It is rare that a film catches me off guard, and it is also a pleasant surprise when it does. So in that regard, my hat is off to this film.

Reporter Joy Andrews (Lucy Griffiths, Constantine) is selected to conduct a week-long interview with genius and recluse David Kressen (Mark Weber, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World) a pioneer of technology said to have created something unlike anything ever seen. Their interaction gets off to the rocky start as the two size each other up and Joy remains unimpressed with Kressen until he reveals his innovation: Adam (David Clayton Rogers, Jane By Design), a fully functioning artificially intelligent humanoid. After the revelation Joy becomes fully engrossed with the story, and the trio spend a great deal of time together.