Offshore

Opening in New York this weekend: Offshore, directed by Diane Cheklich

Sounds a little strange, but potentially interesting, from the film's website's synopsis:

Fairfax Furniture’s call center is about to come under attack. CEO Derek Abernathy must cut costs or lose his job, so he does what any modern businessman would do: he sacrifices others. He declares Voxx of India their new call center, putting the jobs of lifers like Carol Silvers and Gen-Xers like Bridgette Mars on the block.

But first they must train their replacements.

In India, businessman Devendra Tiwari and his earnest halfwit son Ajay have their work cut out for them: Voxx doesn’t actually exist. Yet. From the masses desperate for work, they pick three candidates to go to America to be turned into trainers. Nikhil, Anjali and Reva are thrilled to land these prestigious jobs, but when they arrive in Detroit they find they are not at all welcome. In fact, Carol and her furious co-workers have declared war.

The job thieves are tormented at every turn. Carol gives them the wrong training information, makes sure they are socially ostracized, and even rallies the local television muckraker to her cause.

Meanwhile, in India, Voxx’s call center is cobbled together with mismatched phones, malfunctioning computers, employees straining to adjust to the night shift and the prayers of a swami.

All Voxx needs now are its trainers.

But back in America, the trainers are broken, one by one. Carol has nearly won her war against the Indians. But Abernathy is determined to make good on this faltering deal. He tells Voxx they’ve got 24 hours to go live – or they will all lose everything.

The trainers return home to utter chaos – and the unbreakable belief that this ragtag start-up can accomplish their impossible mission.

OFFSHORE is the corporate war between the Fairfax cowboys and the Indians.

Can anyone win?

New York Times review here.

Pressure Cooker

Opening today: Pressure Cooker, directed by Jennifer Grausman and Mark Becker

Synopsis from the film's website:

Pressure Cooker highlights two semesters in the culinary arts class of Wilma Stephenson, an irreverent high school teacher in Northeast Philadelphia whose no-holds-barred teaching style helps her students earn scholarships to college. Mrs. Stephenson spells it out on the first day of school by telling the newcomers that eleven members of last year's class earned over three-quarters of a million dollars in scholarships, a staggering amount. She offers her students her version of the American Dream: You choose a realistic goal. You work hard. You work the system. You get out of Northeast Philly.

New York Times review here, and IndieWire interview with the directors here. They will also be doing several post-screening Q&A's at the IFC Center this week.

Unspeakable

Screening sponsored by New York Women in Film and Television: Unspeakable, directed by Sally Heckel

Synopsis from the film's website:

On a bright spring morning in May, Dr. George Heckel climbed the stairs to the attic of his home in Rochester, New York, and shot himself. He had a thriving medical practice, a wife and three children, and a beautiful home. Why would a man who seemed to have it all take his life and leave his family devastated?

Twenty years later, his daughter, filmmaker Sally Heckel, 17 at the time of her father's death, started making a non-fiction film exploring her father's despondent state of mind. It soon grew to an expression of anger and accusation toward her father, ultimately leading to an in-depth perusal of the suicide and the years surrounding it.

In a storyline that bridges past and present, Heckel weaves home movies of what appears to be an idyllic post-war American childhood with dramatic silent recreations of a home life that reveal a darker side of the American family. The film paints a picture of a man few people really knew, who had, in pursuit of a successful societal and professional position, gradually and inexorably alienated himself from his family, with profound consequences to himself and those around him.

Acting as the film's narrator, Heckel coaxes her family and friends out of their silence. Through their voice-over recollections and reflections, Heckel crafts a layered portrait of an idealized but ambivalent American patriarch, his family, and the tensions that simmered beneath the surface and beyond public view.

More information about the screening here.

The trailer:

You can find more clips from the movie here.

Andrea Arnold Shares Jury Prize Win

Congratulations to Andrea Arnold, whose Fish Tank won the Jury Prize at Cannes, sharing the laurels with Thirst, directed by Chan-wook Park.

A clip from Fish Tank:

Milton Glaser: To Inform and Delight

Opening this weekend in New York: Milton Glaser: To Inform and Delight, directed by Wendy Keys

His presence is so integral to American iconography that even those who have never heard the name will instantly recognize the work of graphic designer Milton Glaser. Glaser's manifold accomplishments, exhibiting a vast array of styles and approaches, include the "I [Heart] NY" campaign, the multicolored menus at the Rainbow Room, and the now-iconic album covers by Townes Van Zandt, Nina Simone, Lightnin' Hopkins, and many other artists, and literally scores of other accomplishments — making him not only synonymous with graphic design in the U.S., but a veritable godfather of pop-culture publicity. As helmed by neophyte director Wendy Keys, Milton Glaser: To Inform and Delight introduces audiences to the legendary creator, with glimpses of his exhaustive portfolio, and candid discussions revealing his intelligence, insight, sense of humor, and boundless creative spirit. — Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

The full New York Times review is here, and the trailer is below.


MILTON GLASER: TO INFORM AND DELIGHT: Movie Trailer - The best free videos are right here

Cendres et Sang

Opening today at Cannes: Cendres et Sang, written and directed by Fanny Ardant

Fanny Ardant, French film legend, steps behind the camera for Cendres et Sang, a juicy-looking family drama. Synopsis from the film's website:

Exiled from her country since her husband's murder ten years earlier, Judith lives in Marseille with her three children.

After having refused to see her family for years, Judith, in spite of her fears and secrets, allows herself to be influenced by her children's wishes and accepts an invitation to their cousin's wedding. They set off to spend a summer in the old country, discovering their roots and their past. But Judith's return revives old hatreds between rival clans. The spiral of violence is inexorably set in motion, blood will tell...

A couple of clips seem to be making the rounds as well...

Map of the Sounds of Tokyo

Showing at Cannes tomorrow: The Map of the Sounds of Tokyo, directed by Isabel Coixet

Isabel Coixet is a Spanish director whose best-known films in the US are My Life Without Me (starring Sarah Polley, a director in her own right) and Elegy (starring Ben Kingsley). The Map of the Sounds of Tokyo debuts at Cannes tomorrow, so here is a synopsis from the film's website:

Ryu is a solitary girl whose fragile appearance is in stark contrast with the double life she leads, working nights at a Tokyo fishmarket and sporadically taking on jobs as a hit-woman.

Mr Nagara is a powerful impresario mourning the loss of his daughter Midori, who has committed suicide. He blames David, a Spaniard who runs a wine business in Tokyo.

Mr Nagara's employee, Ishida, was silently in love with Midori and hires Ryu to murder David.

A sound engineer, obsessed with the sounds of the Japanese city and fascinated with Ryu, witnesses this love story which searches the shadows of the human soul, reaching deep into places where only silence has the power of eloquence.

Here's the trailer (definitely not safe for work):