NEW YORK MOVIE JOURNAL (Sept.-Oct. 2015)

[Chris Knipp]

Again I'll follow the same format of brief viewing notes for commercial releases seen in NYC at spare moments while covering the New York Film Festival.



SLEEPING WITH OTHE PEOPLE (Lesley Headland, of Bachelorette, 2015). An American rom-com with up-to-date vulgarity and a classic format: a couple (Jason Sudeikis, Alison Brie) who meet-cute in college, take years of sleeping around to realize they love each other. Also including Adam Brody and Amanda Peet. The movie belongs to Sudeikis for his energetic, deft delivery of the frequently funny dialogue penned by Headland. Is this also how young women talk now? At Regal Union Square with an enthusiastic young crowd Sat. night 12 Sept.2015.



WELCOME TO LEITH (Michael Beach Nichols, Christopher K. Walker 2015). A stark, chilling little documentary about how notorious white supremacist Craig Cobb, long followed by the Southern Poverty Law Center, attempted to take over a "registered ghost town" in South Dakota of 24 inhabitants, mostly farmers or ranchers. A perhaps more extreme version of the Skokie issue. During the filmmaking, Cobb and his young cohort Dutton are jailed for a menacing "armed patrol" and Cobb is convicted of a felony but released in a plea bargain deal. Like the town of <a href="http://www.chrisknipp.com/writing/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2873">Jesse Moss' The Overnighters</a> Leith is in an area that benefitted from the recent oil boom and it's a documentary that developed interestingly for the filmmakers, but The Overnighters isa richer, better film. At IFC Center 13 Sept. 2015.



QUEEN OF EARTH (Alex Ross Perry 2015). Perry moves Elizabeth Ross up from a minor rejected woman in his witty, acerbic Listen Up Philip to a spoiled drama queen hit by the double whammy of her famous artist father's suicide and being dumped by her boyfriend. As the friend who hosts her at a posh country house, Katherine Waterston provides limited dramatic contrast with a soppy performance. Perry ramps up the Strindbergesque angst without satisfying dramatic action. Patrick Fugit provides some clarity. At IFC Center 14 Sept. 2015. CK review.