Quick takes on 5 films

Breathe is about a fascinating person, Robin Cavendish, who contracted polio as a young man, at a time when people with his condition were not given long to live. Instead, he lived a long and full life, advancing the cause of severely disabled people and looking for ways to enrich his and their lives. Whereas polio victims tended to spend the rest of their lives in the hospital, Cavendish first moved into a private home, and then received a measure of mobility when his friend invented a wheelchair with a built-in ventilator. Unfortunately, great people don’t always lend themselves well to great movies. This one is fairly dull, despite great acting from the leads Andrew Garfield and Claire Foy, though it is directed well by Andy Serkis in his directorial debut. The ending is a tear-jerker, as we all know this can only end one way.

Wind River is a beautiful film, cold and harsh like its setting, but beautiful still. Starring Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olsen, it is about a hunter and tracker, Cory, who finds a young lady beaten and frozen to death in the mountains of Wyoming. On an Indian reservation, most of the locals are of Native American descent, including the dead girl. The FBI sends Jane to investigate, and she and Cory team up to find out who killed the girl. The mystery hits Cory especially hard, as the dead girl was friends with his own daughter, who froze to death herself a couple years before. The movie explores the harsh living of the people still dwelling where our government chose to place them so many years ago. Light on action but still full of tense moments and plenty of intrigue, this film is a fantastic indie flick, written by Taylor Sheridan, who also wrote Sicario and Hell or High Water over the last couple years. Fans of mysteries, westerns, or just plain good writing will love this one.

American Assassin is a pretty ho-hum spy thriller, though lacking in mystery for what you might expect from a movie in this genre. A man, Mitch, is recruited by the CIA for an elite anti-terrorist group, led by hard nosed former SEAL Stan Hurley. Hurley drills his team relentlessly, but when the missions finally come down, things go sideways quickly. The plot is pretty paper thin and there are few surprises, but the acting by Dylan O’Brien and Michael Keaton is very good, and the action scenes do help make up for the light plotlines.

Based on a true story, Stronger is about the life of Boston Marathon bombing survivor Jeff Bauman. This movie is a wild ride of emotions from the very beginning. It is a deeply personal film, much more about the psychological demons Bauman faces than the physical ones. Bauman has to confront his mother, who revels in the attention the family receives, but also all of his neighbors, friends, and the people of the community, who see him as a hero, when all Bauman wants to be is a normal person. He is continually thrust into the spotlight, when all he wants is to disappear. As he struggles with depression and post-traumatic stress, he relies on the tenacity of his girlfriend who refuses to give up on him. Bauman eventually accepts his role as an inspiration to others, and finds hope and the will to live again. As usual, outstanding work by Jake Gyllenhaal in the lead.

I absolutely loved Personal Shopper, which stars Kristen Stewart as Maureen. Maureen is an assistant and shopper in Europe for a hollywood A-lister, Kyra. Maureen however hates her job almost as much as she hates Kyra, but doesn’t seem to be driven to do anything else. Maureen is also haunted by the recent death of her twin brother Lewis. She visits the house where he died, hoping to find some trace of his spirit, and connects with his girlfriend as well. The movie takes a decidedly sinister turn when Maureen starts getting texts from an unknown number, messages that seem very personal, which she credits to Lewis. For a movie where very little action takes place on screen, it is about as creepy as they come. Each subsequent text message ratchets up the tension, and her phone becomes almost another character in the film. Near the end, the thrills extend past the phone and into Maureen’s life. A fantastic movie, though don’t expect to have all the questions answered at the end.