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Juniper review – Charlotte Rampling is absolutely furious and fabulous

An alcoholic veteran war photographer and her grieving teenage grandson are thrown together in this insightful first-time feature from Matthew J Saville

“G ive me my gin, you little shit!” It’s a role that only Charlotte Rampling could play: a veteran war photographer famous for her adventuring, bravery and hard drinking. Now almost elderly, ill and perhaps afraid of being alone, Ruth has flown from England to New Zealand to stay with her son. The little shit is her teenage grandson Sam (George Ferrier), recently expelled from school. He’s grieving the death of his mum and is not best pleased to be left alone in the house with Ruth. “I’m not looking after that old bitch.”

You can exactly see where this is going from the off. Ruth and Sam – each raging at the world – inching towards friendship and a sense of peace. Still, while first-time feature director Matthew J Saville won’t be winning any awards for originality, he has made an emotionally satisfying film. It’s beautifully acted with insightful things to say about how alcoholism and dysfunction echo unhappily down the generations.

The character of the hard-bitten been-there-seen-that war reporter is a bit of a movie cliche. But Rampling is wonderful, adding layers to rude, arrogant Ruth, showing her affinity with those who are suffering. Ferrier is very good, too, as Sam, all unprocessed grief and defiance.

Juniper, unfortunately, is let down by a couple of corny moments that belong in the made-for-TV version. It’s a shame because elsewhere the directness is refreshing. There’s a scene in which a doctor advises Ruth to have a catheter fitted. She replies archly: “What if I meet someone, we have a few drinks, and …?” She leaves the final bit hanging, enjoying watching the doctor squirm as he explains she must refrain from sex. In another she catches a glimpse of herself in a mirror. “I’ve still got it” – and boy does Ramping still have it, in spades.

• Drama films
• Charlotte Rampling
• New Zealand

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'Juniper' Review: A Tough Watch, but a Must-Watch For Charlotte Rampling Fans

Charlotte Rampling gives an excellent performance in this story of regrets, unsaid words, and failed relationships.

There are some movies you are simply not prepared for. You could watch a trailer for Juniper , get a sense of what the story is about, but that 2-minute montage could never convey the depths that this drama is willing to dive into in order to convey its message. And even though the movie isn’t attempting to reinvent the wheel – we’ve seen young person/old person bonding stories to boot by now – it finds its own way to tell its beautiful and devastating story.

Juniper tells the story of Sam ( George Ferrier ), a problematic teenager who comes home from boarding school only to find out that he’ll have to spend the summer with his ailing grandmother while his father is away. Less than eager to start a relationship that he sees as destined to fail, Sam is surprised when he discovers that he shares some similarities with his elder.

Let’s get right to the point and state the obvious: You can’t talk about Juniper without going straight to Charlotte Rampling . There’s nothing that can be said about the Oscar nominee that hasn’t already been stated, but that clearly doesn’t stop the actor from delivering a top-tier performance every single time. Her very first scene is a masterclass in acting: Rampling dominates the screen, and from her opening lines you can get a full sense of who Ruth is, how she sees life, and what she doesn’t tolerate. The scene only gets more powerful when you consider that, after establishing the character as a domineering figure, the story immediately throws her in a vulnerable position which quickly makes you realize how she feels and will continue to feel throughout the movie. It’s the kind of scene that screenwriters ache to be able to put together, and writer/director Matthew J. Saville nails it.

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From that point on, Ruth’s relationship with Sam is one that makes you eager to discover how the movie will develop. As you expect, though, when two people who don’t take crap from anyone go head to head, the situation is bound to get ugly. And it does. Juniper isn’t afraid of digging into the down and dirty of two characters who are at the lowest point in their lives. That means we witness some pretty hard-to-watch moments, like the one with the cup and when Sam goes out into the open field to find a very specific tree.

As the relationship between Sam and Ruth evolves, Juniper also veers away from the hopeful and feel-good vibes from other stories of the type. You do get the sense that they’re getting some sense of enjoyment and have made each other’s lives a little better. However, both are still in a pretty grim headspace, and the quiet and short moments of bliss they have undoubtedly resonates with anyone who’s been depressed but still tries to put one foot in front of the other.

The way that Juniper deals with alcoholism is also pretty different from what you’d expect from a movie. Even though Ruth’s habit of having drinks all day long ends up becoming sort of a bonding element of the lady and her grandson, Saville's script is careful enough to never romanticize addiction. Like all characters in the movie, we look the other way whenever the jar with gin lands beside Ruth, but it’s always with a dose of concern for her future.

Juniper also does a pretty good job of showing how this particular family failed in almost every aspect. Living their lives as practically strangers, they lack the most basic bonds you could form with close relatives, and tragedy only made them drift apart even more. So, whenever a tender gesture is made, you can feel its impact because they are rare and practically inexistent. Which is why the final scene of Juniper is the most impactful and tear-inducing.

Another interesting aspect of Juniper is that even the comic relief feels calculated, but in a good way. It comes in very small doses, usually through the nurse Sarah ( Edith Poor ). But since the movie never forgets it’s a heavy story, the humor never takes over to the point of making us forget the situation that each character is going through. The only bad part of this is that we don’t get to see much of Poor, who is able to work a little miracle with her brief scenes.

Juniper is a tough watch that constantly reminds us that, for some people, life is a collection of regrets, unsaid words, and failed relationships. It sends the very urgent message that you don’t want to be like Ruth, and that keeping people at arm’s length takes a very heavy toll in the long run. The movie is one of those films that beautifully encapsulates life experiences, but breaks your heart in a way that you don’t immediately want to revisit it.

Juniper is now playing in theaters.

Review: The flavorless ‘Juniper’ does boast a superb Charlotte Rampling in a thankless role

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The well-acted, well-intended family drama “Juniper” is inspired by the true-life experiences of first-time feature writer-director Matthew J. Saville. So why doesn’t it feel richer and more lived-in?

There’s little new about the setup of the crabby older person forced together with a resistant youngster only to surmount their mutual disdain and form a life-changing bond. We’ve seen it in countless movies: “True Grit,” “On Golden Pond,” “Scent of a Woman,” “Gran Torino” and the recent Olivia Colman starrer “Joyride,” to name but a few.

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As such, much about the 1992-set “Juniper,” which pits salty, gin-guzzling, ex-war photographer Ruth ( Charlotte Rampling ) against her angsty, self-destructive, 17-year-old grandson, Sam (George Ferrier), feels familiar and predictable. This wouldn’t automatically be a problem if the pair’s journey grew in deeper, more involving and plausible ways. But Saville too often skims the surfaces of his characters, substituting traumatic concepts and plot devices for narrative logic and truly authentic, compelling emotion.

To wit, Ruth starts off as such an inexplicably monstrous figure — cursing, growling, demanding, hurling highball glasses at Sam’s head (and wounding him) — that her switch to more acquiescent soul-searcher feels like an impossible leap. With her wartime past, supposedly brilliant career and fiery independent streak, she’s a potentially fascinating character. And the superb Rampling plays her for all she’s worth; it’s wonderful to watch such a pro in action. But the veteran star’s outsize talent far outweighs the thin material.

That Ruth (being Ruth) would have chosen to travel halfway around the globe from England to recuperate from a badly broken leg with her estranged, widowed son, Robert ( Marton Csokas ), and the grandson she’s never met, stretches credibility even after we learn what’s behind her motivation.

In addition, the extent of the damage to Ruth and Robert’s relationship goes underexplained beyond that she sent him away to boarding school as a boy and would never reveal who his real father was. It feels as if hunks of time, especially given Robert’s enduring contempt for her, are unaccounted for.

Citing a desire for his mother to get to know Sam, Robert begrudgingly — yet also unconvincingly — lets Ruth and her nurse, Sarah (Edith Poor), move into his rural New Zealand home. But he immediately flies off to London to, we’re told, deal with Ruth’s finances, leaving the clearly ill-equipped, emotionally fragile Sam to oversee his awful grandmother. It’s terrible parenting (for a father who’s painted as remote but not terrible) as well as a head-scratching contrivance to kickstart the story.

Saville does a better job fleshing out the case of Sam, who’s so undone by his beloved mother’s death that he’s a whirling dervish of conflicting emotions and unbridled actions, some of which get him thrown out of boarding school. Unfortunately, that event plays like another device as does an abortive attempt to hang himself on his mum’s birthday. Still, the handsome Ferrier, with his open, expressive face and strong delivery, proves a worthy sparring partner against the formidable Rampling.

After the film’s tempestuous start (which includes a “meet-not-cute” in which Sam must help his wheelchair-dependent grandma to the toilet), Sam and Ruth find common ground over a shared penchant for booze, even if the flinty Ruth can drink the naïve teen under the table.

It leads Ruth, who’s apparently flush with dough, to throw a beer bash for Sam and his circle of guy friends in return for them cleaning up the home’s neglected garden (the daily view from her wheelchair). Ruth becomes “cool grandma” for a day, even proves her skills with a rifle, and it strengthens her connection with Sam. But the sequence goes on too long and diffuses its point when word spreads among the local kids and an all-night rager ensues.

The film, strikingly shot by Marty Williams, comes together in more sentimental, mainstream fashion than most of what precedes its audience-friendly conclusion. The result, although not an unsatisfying way to take us out, doesn’t feel sufficiently earned.

As for the movie’s curious title, it suggests the juniper berries that are a main ingredient in gin and lend the liquor its singular flavor. If only the film was as distinct.

'Juniper'

Not rated Running time: 1 hour, 34 minutes. Playing: Laemmle Monica, Santa Monica; Laemmle Town Center 5, Encino; AMC Burbank Town Center 8; AMC Rolling Hills 20, Torrance; Laemmle Claremont 5

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‘juniper’: film review.

Oscar-nominated actress Charlotte Rampling shares the screen with New Zealand newcomer George Ferrier in this character-driven drama.

By Stephen Farber

Stephen Farber

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Charlotte Rampling has made films all over the world over the course of her long career, and she has one of her best roles in the New Zealand movie, Juniper , which received its U.S. premiere at the Santa Barbara Film Festival this month. The film suffers from a certain predictability, but it is well-made and affecting, and positively thrilling when Rampling is on screen.

She plays Ruth, an obstinate, hard-drinking woman who lands in New Zealand from England after her son (Marton Csokas) decides to bring her there to recuperate from a broken leg. But he has a secondary motive; he has a sneaking suspicion that she might be helpful to his unruly teenage son, Sam (George Ferrier), who has been thrown out of boarding school and who is still grieving over the death of his mother several months earlier.

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Venue:   Santa Barbara International Film Festival

Cast:  Charlotte Rampling, George Ferrier, Marton Csokas, Edith Poor

Director-screenwriter: Matthew Saville

Sam rebels at the idea of giving up his room to the grandmother he has never known, and he has no appetite for a role as even part-time caretaker. Yet Sam and Ruth find they are well matched by a certain dark view of life, and the rapport that they come to share surprises both of them.

First-time feature director Matthew Saville largely stays away from sentimentality to highlight black humor instead. He has a good feel for character and also for the atmosphere of rural New Zealand, outside of Auckland. Cinematography by Marty Williams is definitely one of the film’s assets, but this is more of a chamber piece than a visual epic.

Exchanges between Sam and Ruth are extremely well-written. Gradually we learn that she once had a storied career as a war photographer. (Saville has said that he modeled the character in part on war correspondent Martha Gelhorn, who was Ernest Hemingway’s third wife.) Her anger at the narrowing of her once-expansive world has led to the fury that she vents toward most of the people in her life, while she displays a sardonic sense of humor and indulges an appetite for alcohol. (The juniper berries that dot the landscape happen to be the primary ingredient in gin, Ruth’s drink of choice.)

Ruth’s relationship with her son might have been more fully developed. Csokas (who has appeared in such films as The Debt , The Equalizer , Loving and Ridley Scott’s recent The Last Duel ) hasn’t been given enough material to build a three-dimensional character. On the other hand, Edith Poor as Ruth’s nurse, who is trying without much success to convert Ruth to religion during her convalescence, makes the most of her scenes as foil to the more acerbic characters.

Ferrier is a new face in New Zealand films, and he makes a striking impression. Handsome and charismatic, he also conveys a convincing sense of bitterness and a dangerous tendency toward self-destruction. For the film to work, both of the actors must be commanding, and Ferrier makes a perfect foil to his older co-star. With luck he should have a promising future.

Rampling started in films as more of a striking presence than a great actress. In her first major role, in 1966’s Georgy Girl , she didn’t seem to have the acting chops of her co-stars Lynn Redgrave, James Mason and Alan Bates. But many top directors wanted to work with her, and she counted filmmakers like Luchino Visconti, John Boorman, Liliana Cavani, Sidney Lumet and even Woody Allen among her admirers. (She co-starred with Allen in 1980’s Stardust Memories .) Later she struck up fruitful collaborations with contemporary filmmakers like François Ozon, and she earned her first Oscar nomination when she was almost 70, in Andrew Haigh’s 45 Years , delivering a great performance that exuded bitterness as well as bemused intelligence. She is also on screen during this year’s Oscar season, in Denis Villeneuve’s Dune .

Needless to say, that sci-fi extravaganza doesn’t give Rampling quite the same opportunity that she finds in a chamber drama like Juniper . She seizes the moment, demonstrating her star presence as well as a certain modesty and generosity in her willingness to share the screen with her co-stars. We can hope that Juniper eventually reaches more audiences around the world who will savor her performance.

Full credits

Venue: Santa Barbara International Film Festival

Cast: Charlotte Rampling, George Ferrier, Marton Csokas, Edith Poor

Producers: Angela Littlejohn, Desray Armstrong

Executive producers: Henriette Wollmann, Thierry Wase-Bailey, Andrew Mackie, Richard Payten, Mark Chamberlain

Director of photography: Marty Williams

Production designer: Chris Elliot

Costume designer: Jane Holland

Editor: Peter Roberts

Music: Marlon Williams, Mark Perkins

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Juniper Reviews

It's a cynical and unconvincing film about the bonding between generations.

Full Review | Original Score: B- | Jul 13, 2023

Filmmakers should showcase Rampling’s indomitable presence and deep-set eyes for as long as she’s working, but ideally with more actors capable of facing the look.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Mar 8, 2023

Saville’s directorial debut is solid, just like his script, even if it is not groundbreaking. Despite being rather slowly paced, at 94 minutes, the film goes by rather quickly and doesn’t feel like it overstays its welcome.

Full Review | Original Score: 6/10 | Mar 3, 2023

It feels personal in a lot of the details and production design... That elevates it from a generic story.

Full Review | Mar 3, 2023

We've seen this a million times -- but not with Charlotte Rampling, and she's what elevates this.

Juniper takes some time to get where it is going, but once invested in this odd couple, the familiar story beats fade and the strength of the relationship takes over, making for a more interesting ride to the film’s predictable conclusion.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 2, 2023

The evolution of a relationship between a seventeen year old boy and his grandmother is emotionally fulfilling.

Full Review | Original Score: 8/10 | Mar 1, 2023

The film turns toward a two-hander for the promising newcomer and the effortlessly brilliant acting legend.

Full Review | Mar 1, 2023

The movie holds back at every potential dramatic turn, gripping the emotional reins tight where it could have loosened them. But Rampling brings a quiet gravitas to the surly character.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Feb 27, 2023

Charlotte Rampling coming out of semi-retirement is an occasion that should be accompanied by fireworks — and she provides the fireworks herself in this film about healing fractured family dynamics.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Feb 27, 2023

The script is a good one and the director keeps things moving emotionally.

Full Review | Feb 27, 2023

Juniper is a lovely story of people connecting, with the young discovering their purpose, and the old passing on their wise knowledge of what it means to have lived.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Feb 26, 2023

There's never any doubt where it's headed, but the great Charlotte Rampling and an entirely capable ensemble elevate every step.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Feb 25, 2023

A meditative love story between grandmother and grandson, taking them from toxic to tender. If only the aftertaste of toxicity lingered less.

Full Review | Feb 24, 2023

[Rampling] brings a refreshing tartness to "Juniper" that keeps it from sinking entirely into gooey sentimentality.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Feb 24, 2023

Juniper is a tough watch that constantly reminds us that, for some people, life is a collection of regrets, unsaid words, and failed relationships.

Full Review | Original Score: A- | Feb 24, 2023

Rampling’s captivating performance bolsters this slight yet heartfelt drama about fractured family dynamics.

[A] poignant film centering the psychological toll of difficult lives rather than the goal to ease their pain. That exists too, but as a byproduct of their strength to deconstruct the games society often demands we play in lieu of confronting the truth.

Full Review | Original Score: 8/10 | Feb 24, 2023

A poignant and sometimes difficult look at the ways we can change if we open our minds and accept that connection and conversation to recover from trauma. The story’s based on the filmmaker's own experiences.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Feb 24, 2023

Saville too often skims the surfaces of his characters, substituting traumatic concepts and plot devices for narrative logic and truly authentic, compelling emotion.

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‘Juniper’ Review: Charlotte Rampling Is a Brazen Lush in Restrained Family Drama

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As far as film roles for older women go, Charlotte Rampling could do a lot worse than steely alcoholic Ruth, an ailing former war reporter who moves in with her estranged family in “Juniper.” The debut feature from Kiwi actor Matthew J. Saville, “Juniper” delivers its routine narrative beats with an effective restraint, though it rarely raises the pulse or quickens the heart. The movie holds back at every potential dramatic turn, gripping the emotional reins tight where it could have loosened them. But Rampling brings a quiet gravitas to the surly character, and there is something elegantly moving about watching her watch the world go by.

The film opens with teenager Sam (George Ferrier) being scooped from boarding school by his aloof father Robert (Marton Csokas), who abruptly informs him that his English grandmother, whom he’s never met, will be staying with them after breaking her leg. Overly concerned with which room she’s staying in, Sam surmises that she’ll be in the room where his mother died. Noticing two cases of gin clanking in the backseat, he is a bit shocked to learn his aging grandmother puts down a bottle a day. There is a spare naturalism to Saville’s script, which breadcrumbs expository information on a need-to-know basis, but it doesn’t offer much to latch onto.

When Sam arrives home, Ruth is already comfortably situated in the house, along with her young nurse Sarah (Edith Poor). He’s uninterested in the strange new presence at first, content to let Sarah handle all the heavy lifting. But when his father absconds to England to get Ruth’s affairs in order, Sam naturally gets pulled into helping once in awhile. Ruth isn’t happy about needing help to go to the bathroom, either, telling him, “I assure you, this is more embarrassing for me than it is for you.” She’s exacting with her drink order; a pitcher of slightly watered-down gin with a few lemon slices (“gin to here, water to here, and a squeeze of lemon,” she directs, eyeballing the pitcher). The mild concern Sam displays when he tries to water it down even more doesn’t go unnoticed, and Ruth isn’t afraid to throw a glass at his head to show her displeasure.

Ruth is clearly more interested in him than he is in her, though she uses a rather effective nonchalant approach to the moody teenager. “We’re not gonna have a decent conversation if you don’t get drunk,” she tells him, and Sam finally opens up about his mother after he’s downed a few gins. When he’s inevitably sick the next morning, Sarah warns him against trying to keep up with Ruth. Sarah seems an obvious point of intrigue for Sam, though their friendship hardly even rises to mild flirtation. (Perhaps the more politically correct choice, but not the most interesting.)

As Sam and Ruth’s bond builds, the familiar plot points roll out. “She says you dress like shit,” Sarah informs Sam, before delivering a fresh pile of button-ups, which Ruth calls “flannels.” Unimpressed with her sedentary garden view, Ruth offers Sam’s friends a few kegs in exchange for cleaning up the overgrown grounds. Watching the shirtless young men out her window, Ruth admits, “I’m enjoying the view.” She never shares real war stories, but she does impress the boys with her shotgun skills. These fanciful asides paint a fuller picture of Ruth as a certain kind of older woman — a little naughty, and has lived a life — but never amount to more than a thin sketch.

There are quiet moments that reach an emotional pitch, such as when Sam picks Ruth up and slow-dances with her by the fire. Rampling squeezes all that she can from this sweet but enfeebling moment. As Sam slowly spins her round, Ruth is resistant at first, humbled by her weakened body, but ultimately relaxes into the comfort of her grandson’s loving embrace. It’s the closest the film gets to any kind of denouement, and it only works because of Rampling’s immense skill.

In its effort to avoid cliche, “Juniper” resists taking any big swings that might have made a more lasting impression. Saville’s minimalist script shrewdly keeps the action limited to the house, and he is smart to focus on the four main characters. But with so few players, that they still manage to remain opaque seems like a lack of imagination, vulnerability, or both.

“Juniper” opens in select theaters on February 24. 

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Juniper Film Review: A Poignant Battle of the Ages

• William Stottor
• September 19, 2022

Two stubborn mules – one young, one older – shift from confrontation to affection in the predictable but moving Juniper .

Influenced by his own grandmother and childhood experiences, Juniper is a very personal film for director and writer Matthew J. Saville. Themes of grief, mortality and suicide aren’t always fully developed, but they all feel real and lived in. Juniper steers clear of oversentimentality, and two supreme, gut-wrenching central performances from Charlotte Rampling ( 45 Years , Dune ) and George Ferrier ( Kiwi Christmas ) help elevate it to the next level of emotional resonance. The two actors as grandmother and grandson bolster the frequently wistful Juniper , a transformative film which seems to find strength and peace within both life and death.

Set in the idyllic countryside of New Zealand, Juniper consistently uses the landscape to enhance the onscreen events, relationships and messages; a beautiful new day dawning at the start of the film signals the need to start living again away from grief, whilst the aged, nostalgic hue reminds us of the importance of memories. Saville frequently balances life and death, happiness and sadness, humour and drama to great effect. His film centres on Sam (Ferrier) – a suicidal 17-year-old unable to process the death of his mother – and his estranged grandmother Ruth (Rampling), who has moved in with Sam and his father whilst she recovers from a broken leg. Both strong-willed and stubborn, their ensuing battle of supremacy is intense, sometimes violent, often sulky and surprisingly amusing.

Ruth drinks a lot of gin and, as she is wheelchair-bound, needs either her nurse (Edith Poor, The Power of the Dog ) or Sam to serve up this alcoholic supply to her. The deafening sound of her bell ringing for attention conjures up as much drama as the dinging dealt out by the character Hector Salamanca in Breaking Bad (and indeed, Ruth’s ferocious throwing of two empty glasses is not far off the volatility of that infamous drug lord). The early interactions in Juniper between Sam and Ruth are darkly hilarious , both characters shrinking in age to become squabbling children. What starts as an awkward relationship however quickly morphs into one of affection, respect and mutual support. Ruth, faced with her own mortality, and Sam, struggling to face his life ahead, find a striking and beautiful solace with one another.

For all the humour, Juniper still has these heavier themes buried within . Some are dealt with better than others; grief and mortality are handled impressively, whilst the elements of suicide (assisted or otherwise) feel underdeveloped and heavy-handed. For the most part, Saville’s screenplay paints a rich but delicate portrait of two people at different stages in their lives. Behind the floppy hair, furrowed brow and rugby playing physique, Sam is a young boy, bruised and hurting and unable to process his grief. Ferrier soars in the role, knowing when to show maturity, when to show naivety and fear, and also when to employ the largest bursts of emotion. Unsurprisingly, Rampling delivers another stellar performance in a glittering career, ranging from savagely rude to hilarious to caring with barely a pause in between; the shifts are seamless and indicative of one of the great actors working today. As a duo, the two find perfect chemistry, instilling their onscreen relationship with a sharp edge of realism and a dynamite humour.

Despite forming an impressive central relationship, Juniper ends up being tied up a bit too neatly . It lacks the human messiness and unpredictability of what has come before, although the emotional beats are still hit on a satisfying level. Evocative cinematography by Marty Williams creates a character out of the landscape to sit beside Sam and Ruth, which draws a detailed world around them and infuses their lives with hope. Despite its shortcomings, Juniper ’s celebration of life and family mark it out as a tender experience; these are two people, one scared of getting old and dying, the other scared of growing up and living, finding a serene solace in their familial connection (and their ability to drink copious amounts of gin).

Juniper is now available to watch on digital and on demand in the UK. In the US, the film will be released in US theaters on February 24, 2023 and on VOD on April 4.

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Juniper benefits from Charlotte Rampling's layered performance as a grandmother grappling with mortality

Juniper is a drama with black comic edges about a fragmented family, and the unexpectedly life-affirming influence of its particularly tetchy matriarch. In the lead role is Charlotte Rampling, an actor blessed with an epically scornful side eye capable of withering a vase of flowers from across a room.

The film relies in no small degree on Rampling's ability to deliver intensity from small gestures, because for most of the time she's nearly immobile, rendered almost inert by a broken leg and a mysterious underlying health condition, while her temper is inflamed by copious amounts of gin served to her in large glass jugs.

The first feature from New Zealand writer-director Matthew J Saville (not to be confused with the Australian filmmaker Matt Saville), Juniper plays on the conventions of movies about families thrust together in trying circumstances, who learn to get over their differences only after some excruciating trial and error.

In particular, it's about a cross-generational connection between Ruth and her grandson Sam (George Ferrier), a suicidal teen who attends a nearby private school and has never recovered from the death of his mother.

Sam's athletic good looks and crown of golden hair give off the aura of a confident private-school jock, but this is a film where appearances deceive, and Sam is troubled in his privilege — while Ruth, in turn, is the unlikely figure to pull him out of his malaise.

Set in the 90s, the film unfolds in a grand, if unkempt house somewhere green and leafy in New Zealand. This family is wealthy, clearly, and when Ruth arrives from her home in England after a considerable absence and in failing health, it initially appears like she might be the direct link to a moneyed bloodline in the Old Country.

Ruth has an unconventional past, as a war correspondent who once travelled the globe witnessing some of the best and worst of humanity. The experience scarred her, we will learn, but it also earned her valuable wisdom.

Her drinking, as well as her bullying, seem to be a manifestation of some sort of PTSD, long left simmering and unaddressed. Her grandson, who is left to help look after her while his father (an excellent but mostly off-screen Marton Csokas) is called away to England, becomes the chief target of her rancour.

The two are destined to become unlikely friends, but it takes time. As often occurs in scripts about grumpy old people and their influence on teenagers with their lives ahead of them, Ruth's abrasiveness serves a purpose, even if it's not initially clear.

Hal Ashby's 1971 absurdist black comedy Harold and Maude dealt with some of these cross-generational currents — including teen depression — with a little more imagination and less predictability. It would have been nice if Saville's film didn't conform quite so obediently to the redemptive notes of its final act.

But Rampling makes it worth watching, even if you sense where it's all heading. The role recalls her performance in another predominantly housebound film, Francois Ozon's 2003 mystery Swimming Pool, where she played an irritable British author trying to write her next novel, clashing with the young, feisty daughter of her French publisher.

Saville doesn't opt for any of that film's dreamy Hitchcockian intrigue, but he does exploit the house's rambling grandness, with its shadowy rooms and thresholds that offer views onto the verdant, slightly Gothic New Zealand countryside.

Downbeat indie rock and subtle zoom lenses help build an atmosphere of melancholy and cloistered tension, which extends to glimpses of Sam's posh high school with its dark hallways and neurotic orderliness.

Saville succeeds in creating an emotional authenticity to Ruth and Sam's difficult relationship, too, although it's a pity he doesn't linger in their mutually distrustful stage for longer.

As Rampling guides the film into its eventual emotional thaw, along the way she displays a range that occasionally surprises — in one especially poignant scene dragging herself ungracefully across the floor to get to a jug of booze.

Rampling is one of the great actors of her generation who remains a vital presence in anything she does. Quintessentially English but inexorably linked to European cinema (she's lived and worked in France for decades) she possesses a sharpness and nuance that have never deserted her through the various stages of her career.

After starting out as a model, she had her first roles in English movies during the swinging 60s before moving to the continent, becoming synonymous with the 70s peak of European auteur cinema in films such as Visconti's The Damned and Liliana Cavani's The Night Porter.

Her work ethic and versatility have underwritten a prolific career since, and despite her professional Eurocentrism, she gained an Academy Award nomination for the 2015 drama 45 Years , and is continuing her role in the Hollywood behemoth Dune (part two releases next year), where she brings a welcome gravitas.

At the centre of this modest, likeable New Zealand drama, she emanates a rich, layered sense of character. If you consider that Saville barely gives the audience much more than a few mocked up photos from Ruth's past, and just a couple of backstory anecdotes, it's a tribute to Rampling's subtly embodied acting that the character emerges so fully formed.

As shadows of regret and anger in her performance give way to warmer accents of love and kindness, not to mention a rascally appetite for fun, she makes the film's slightly worn conceit believable, and even inspires a lingering fondness.

Juniper is in cinemas now.

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‘Juniper’ Review: Charlotte Rampling Burns A Hole In The Screen

Charlotte rampling coming out of semi-retirement is an occasion that should be accompanied by fireworks — and she provides the fireworks herself in this film about healing fractured family dynamics..

Confession: I love Charlotte Rampling . I have always loved her, since I first grew entranced while watching her early screen appearances as Lynn Redgrave’s bitchy roommate in Georgy Girl (1966), and, especially, in James Salter’s sensitive 1969 drama Three, in which she played an alluring girl who breaks up the relationship between two best-friend American college students on a summer vacation in the South of France. Three is a brilliant, nuanced film so obscure that few people ever saw it. It has never been released on home video, but you can find it on You Tube. It launched a unique career in films that has broken new ground in works by demanding directors of value and taste from Luchino Visconti to Woody Allen. Now, at 77, on the rare occasion when Charlotte Rampling does come out of semi-retirement from her home in Paris to appear in a movie, it is a moment that should be accompanied by fireworks.

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Such an occasion is Juniper, a new work from New Zealand in which she burns a hole through the screen in another of her captivating  claims to an otherwise unexceptional role, devouring every frame like raw sirloin. She plays Ruth, a celebrated war correspondent and photojournalist forced reluctantly by age and illness into retirement. After a bad fall that has left her with a broken leg, her grown son Robert ( Marton Csokas , so wonderful opposite Ian McKellan and Natasha Richardson in the harrowing 2005 British film Asylum) , who has been estranged from his mother for years, transports her to the remote family farm to heal, and forces his handsome teenage son Sam (a stunning debut by New Zealand newcomer George Ferrier ) to leave school and return home to take care of her.

A hostile, distrustful and challenging relationship between a furious, raging grandmother and her unhappy grandson ensues. Sam blames Ruth for his mother’s misery before she died and doesn’t want to be there. He hardly knows “the old bitch,” but he grudgingly agrees to relieve her long-suffering nurse’s duties as long as he doesn’t have to talk to her. No wonder. Ruth is acerbic, demanding, implacable, and mean as a cobra, even in her infirmity, grounded in her wheelchair and sipping gin all day. Predictably, the movie, tenderly directed by Victor Saville, is about how these divergent worlds come to a gradual meeting point on the protractor of life.  

Don’t expect any surprises. You know where the narrative is going from the minute Ruth arrives, and the emotional upheavals only add to the over-all message the film delivers about the importance of healing fractured family dynamics. As Ruth gradually melts, I melted with her, and the eventual maturity Sam displays is poignantly examined by first-time director Saville in his equally compelling screenplay. Of course it goes without saying that Ms. Rampling triumphantly reigns over the material in myriad ways. No longer the great beauty of her youth, she is nevertheless still mesmerizing and unique, and she’s forgotten nothing about craft. The distant look in her eyes belies the total concentration that keeps her focused. When she defrosts just long enough to urge her grandson to throw a drunken party for his friends, I wanted to be invited, too. Furiously smoking and drinking with the best of the men and teaching them how to properly fire a hunting rifle, she wins them over—and her grandson, too. By the time her cantankerous personality mellows, tragedy strikes and Sam is more than anxious to move her to the hospital by ambulance, his change of heart as he showers her with attention is honest and understandable. “Have I still got it?” “Yes, you have,” says her nurse. I second the motion and the case is closed. The final scene of resignation and the kind of freedom that made Ruth the kind of woman she used to be is genuinely touching.

I still don’t understand the title. I’m told it refers to the juniper berries used in the making of the potent gin Ruth savors from beginning to end, but that’s a stretch, if you ask me. I prefer to think of Juniper as chamber music—muted, soft, with a certain ache that lingers. 

Observer Reviews are regular assessments of new and noteworthy cinema.

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By Andy Howell | March 26, 2022

In  Juniper,  Mack (Madison Lawlor) decamps to her family’s cabin on the anniversary of her sister’s death, seeking some time alone to reflect. However, her solitude is interrupted by a surprise visit from her best friend Alex (Decker Sadowski) and Alex’s friend, Dylan (Olivia Blue). Before long, Alex’s brother Riley (Jacob Nichols) and his best friend Cole (Adam Rodriguez) show up as well. Tensions rise as the group struggles with different ways of processing grief, recall diverging memories of the past, causing long-buried secrets to be brought to the surface.

Director and co-writer Katherine Dudas has made a solid entry into the mumblecore genre, citing the Duplass brothers as an influence. The film is about the inner lives of 20-somethings told almost exclusively through dialogue. It was conceived during the pandemic when one of the actors, Olivia Blue, came up with the concept and called on her friends and fellow actors to star and Dudas, with whom she had worked before, to direct. The group raised $74,000 through crowdfunding and, with that tiny budget, managed to pull off a production that looks and feels like one several orders of magnitude more expensive.

“… the group struggles with different ways of processing grief …”

Where  Juniper  excels is in the performances, particularly of the lead trio. One of the hardest things to pull off in a low-budget independent movie is having charismatic leads who can really shine on screen and carry the story. Lawlor, Blue, and Sadowski are captivating, and they all get to run the emotional gamut from carefree laughter to tears to anger. Each character has their distinct point of view, even if their perspective is hidden at first, and all are completely convincing and compelling to watch. It is especially impressive that the dialogue and delivery work so well since most scenes were improvised. The group worked out the plot through Zoom sessions during the pandemic, and the leads share a writing credit with the director.

I’m not sure whether this is good or bad, but it was noticeable that some of the funniest lines come off camera. The director said she wanted the actors not to have the pressure of being funny in the moment but to concentrate on the intensity of the emotional journey. Given that they only had the budget for a few takes per scene, it is understandable that there were some punch-ups in the edit. I’d rather have the lines in there than out.

Juniper  has some particularly outstanding individual sequences where characters start in one place and end up in a completely different one after a series of revelations. Some of these moments could go toe-to-toe with big-budget Hollywood films completely populated by professional actors. That’s particularly impressive given that this was the first feature for a few of the actors. The editing by Dudas and Michelle Botticelli is particularly tight – the movie breezes by at 72 minutes, and there is no fat left to cut. All scenes advance the plot or better develop the characters.

Juniper (2022)

Directed: Katherine Dudas

Written: Katherine Dudas, Madison Lawlor, Olivia Blue, Decker Sadowski

Starring: Madison Lawlor, Olivia Blue, Decker Sadowski, etc.

Movie score: 7/10

"…thoroughly and unapologetically a female-centered film..."

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I think this was one of the best movies for 2022. I have a sister and it made me want to tell her to watch it and shes telling someone else and someone else. The actors were so real. It seemed like a true story. Thank you so much. All 5 actors were aweso.e.

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Where to Watch

Madison Lawlor (Mack) Decker Sadowski (Alex) Olivia Blue (Dylan) Jacob Nichols (Riley) Adam Rodriguez (Cole)

Katherine Dudas

When an individualistic young woman escapes to the woods to reconcile her sister's tragic death, her solitude is quickly squashed when her relentless childhood friend shows up unannounced.

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"Postmodern Drama with a Pinch of Redemption"

What You Need To Know:

Miscellaneous Immorality: Strong miscellaneous immorality includes a father and his 17-year-old son are initially hateful of the father’s elderly mother and are clear they are only taking her in because of the money she brings the family and an elderly woman routinely gives bad advice to a teenager (encouraging him to get drunk, to defy his father’s instructions and orders, etc.).

More Detail:

JUNIPER is a New Zealand drama that tells the bittersweet story of an unlikely relationship which blooms between a suicidal 17-year-old and his grandmother after the man’s father reluctantly takes in his mother, whose self-destructive nature matches that of her grandson’s, but who may ironically come to be the key to the teenager’s reclamation. JUNIPER has some powerful, intense, uplifting moments, with some positive Christian, redemptive content that concludes life is beautiful and worth living, but ultimate meaning in God and Jesus still seems out of reach for the characters, and the movie has strong foul language, scenes of drunkenness, references to suicide, and brief lewd content deserving extreme caution.

Ruth is a diehard alcoholic who drinks to dangerous excess. A renowned journalist and world traveler, Ruth comes to see that there’s more of her in her 17-year-old grandson, Sam, than she had thought. The two get to know each other over drinks and over deep philosophical conversations about the meaning of life and death. The question of mortality becomes preeminent for both people. Could it be that a disturbed, unhappy teenager can help a world-weary, difficult elderly woman face death as she helps him to embrace life?

The New Zealand cinematography in JUNIPER is breathtaking and makes an excellent backdrop to the tale being told. The shots of the red sunrise are particularly beautiful and meaning-laden. The concision of the writing, impressionistic storytelling, and running time of the movie make it powerful in a way other similar movies are not. Its strength is that it communicates the agony and ecstasy of people in pain and seeking meaning with power and intensity. The movie’s brevity can be seen as a symbol of the brevity of life and that the movie does come to see that life is beautiful, though ultimate meaning remains out of reach.

The movie’s worldview is one of postmodern nihilism with a theme of biblical morality running through it. The redemptive theme of Ruth’s saving the life of her grandson by investing in him where no one else has is uplifting and keeps the movie from being simply a meditation on death. However, this redemptive theme is not enough in itself to outweigh the movie’s strong nihilistic overtures. For example, Ruth’s “no games,” no pretenses approach to life would seem to be the opposite of the postmodern persuasion, except that it becomes clear that she herself is playing games in a way she simply cannot admit to herself. Thus, her assumption that people can’t “have a decent conversation unless [they] get drunk” is illustrative of the escapist view of “getting through life,” which is characteristic of postmodern nihilism. Also, though the two leads appear to overcome this nihilism in the end through their relationship, it remains unclear what the worldview takeaways are, for both the movie’s characters and the viewer. Ruth’s actions in correctly defining war to her teenage grandson and engaging him and his directionless friends in honest, helpful activity are noble, but, in the final analysis, she, her son, her grandson, and her grandson’s friends are not totally transformed by these acts. It’s also unclear whether Ruth herself comes to any sort of meaningful change of heart by being given the gift of not having to die alone, or that her efforts to keep her grandson from committing suicide is any proof of a lasting redemption, much less salvation. The positive content in JUNIPER keeps this family drama from being a mere tragedy, but they don’t necessarily equal a worldview paradigm shift. For example, though Ruth does accept absolution and communion before death, she does so at the urging of a Christian friend and seems rather put out by it all.

Finally, JUNIPER also contains 11 “f” words, one strong profanity, drunkenness, contemplation of suicide, and brief lewd content. So, MOVIEGUIDE® advises extreme caution.

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Movie Reviews

Tv/streaming, collections, great movies, chaz's journal, contributors, jupiter ascending.

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In a cynical age, poker-faced sincerity is tough to pull off. When it's coupled with innovative filmmaking techniques and visual bombast, the degree of difficulty goes up and up, to the point where you're inclined to give films points for attempting the near-impossible. That's the entertainment netherworld in which the sibling filmmaking team Lana and Andy Wachowski have been trapped, by choice, since the first "Matrix" film arrived on screens 16 years ago, and updated the " Star Wars "-styled space fantasy for the age of virtual reality.

The Wachowskis' "Matrix" sequels and " Speed Racer " and " Cloud Atlas " all have defenders, deservedly so. Amid stretches that don't work for one reason or another, you'll find passages of beauty and simplicity and goofy grandeur. And there's something perversely admirable about the Wachowskis' willingness to spend hundreds of millions on popcorn fantasies that are proudly, at times mystifyingly, personal.  But even if you adore the idea of the Wachowskis, there comes a point when it would be foolish to deny the disappointing reality. That point has arrived, and the film is called "Jupiter Ascending." 

It's the story of another "Matrix"-style messiah figure (female this time) fighting for control of the solar system against a " King Lear "-type family of squabbling villainous siblings. The baddies, surviving members of the Abrasax dynasty, keep trying to force Jupiter to sign some kind of intergalactic property deed and harvest her eggs so they can keep siphoning energy from the  bodies  of imprisoned humans, or something. (I  have no idea what was at stake in this film, what the bad guys wanted, what the good guys were trying to do; I'm sure it's possible to figure it out, but I'd rather do something more pleasurable, like untangle wadded-up strands of Christmas tree lights.) Meanwhile, Jupiter's brawny half-man, half-werewolf warrior-protector zips through widescreen panoramas on jet-propelled boots, rescuing her over and over, duking it out with winged demons and sickly humanoid "Keepers" as spaceships crash through asteroid belts and skyscrapers, and explosions rumble and flash, and a symphony brass section topped by a quasi-mystical choir shrieks in your ears. 

In case you read that last part and thought, "That sounds kind of awesome," rest assured it isn't.  "Jupiter" mostly lacks the crackpot inspiration that's been the Wachowskis' stock-in-trade since the late '90s. The cast stars Mila Kunis as the title character, a Russian-American cleaning lady named Jupiter Jones, and Channing Tatum as Jupiter's aforementioned jet-skating bodyguard and wannabe-boyfriend, who's literally a puppy dog cousin of The Terminator (part lycanthrope, he claims) and just as literally a fallen angel (he has scars where wings used to be).  The civil-warring siblings at first seem intriguingly campy/ridiculous; the way Balem ( Eddie Redmayne ), Kalique ( Tuppence Middleton ) and Titus ( Douglas Booth ) purr  every bitchy line, they might as well swipe the air with kitty-cat claws. But they end up being subsumed by the tediously familiar visuals, sound effects and music (composer Michael Giacchino seems to be recycling cues from the " Star Trek " movies, which weren't too distinctive in the first place). Equally unimpressive is Kunis, who admittedly doesn't have much to work with here (compared to Jupiter, Neo from " The Matrix " is psychologically complex) yet still seems disconnected from the wild emoting around her. 

Tatum's emotional transparency makes you care about Jupiter's protector, Caine Wise, even though he's as much a stick figure as the other characters. Tatum cries the best righteous manly-man tears in cinema. He's a rare American hunk who can sell Boy Scout decency without seeming like a con artist. But like the other lead actors, he's defeated by the movie's pre-fab cinematic world. Too many of the action scenes, creatures, cityscapes and starships will make you wish you were watching " Guardians of the Galaxy " or " The Fifth Element " instead, even if you didn't like them.

At least Redmayne's mannered acting plants a freak flag in the movie's swollen purplish heart. At times his performance seems modeled on how Redmayne imagines Glenn Close might look and sound, should she live to be 100. He trembles and flares his nostrils. He whispers 90% of his lines and shrieks the other ten. Not once does he blink when you expect him to, or for as long. Did Redmayne decide it was necessary to destroy the film in order to save it? If so, give the man an "A" for anarchy.

"Jupiter Ascending" is an example of a particularly depressing sort of bad blockbuster: one made by artists that you might not know were artists unless you'd seen their other films. It's not "so bad it's good," which would at least promise a certain lunkheaded obsessiveness. Nor is it aim-for-the-moon-and-land-among-the-stars bad, or any other sub-category of bad that one could make a critical case for. It's blandly, often listlessly bad, check-the-blockbuster-boxes bad, just-out-of-film-school-and-shopping-a-tentpole-screenplay bad. That's the last thing I would have expected from the directors of "Speed Racer," a film whose neon-and-steel-and-peyote aesthetic went beyond incoherence and attained psychedelic poetry, and "Cloud Atlas," a fable about reincarnation, the indestructibility of true love, and the Brotherhood of Man that wanted to be a modern "Intolerance" and got startlingly close at times.  

Maybe the version that was supposed to hit theaters last summer has more nuanced characters, a more comprehensible plot, and an altogether surer touch. No matter: the two-hour version released to theaters this weekend is striking mainly because long sections of it feel as though they could have been written and directed by anyone with a pile of money to throw around, and a decade's worth of cliched action-fantasies to ape rather than re-imagine. 

To be clear, the problem isn't that the movie lacks passion or sincerity. This is a defiantly corny silent-movie-with-sound, in which Jupiter keeps falling and falling and falling and Caine keeps soaring in, Superman-style, to scoop her up in his arms. The problem is that the film fails to find a new or even halfway distinctive way to express itself. For all its noise and color, "Jupiter Ascending" looks, sounds and moves too much like every other sci-fi or fantasy adventure you've seen in the aftermath of the "Matrix" and "Lord of the Rings" and "Hobbit" trilogies and "Star Wars" prequels. 

It's time to reboot the special effects blockbuster before we all die of boredom. The monsters and vehicles and gladiatorial do-gooders duking it out amid overstuffed, busily-photographed CGI landscapes all seem to have been created from one of the same ten or eleven software programs. Even the most lavish movies have an off-the-rack feeling, and "Jupiter Ascending" has it, too. The been-there done-thatness dulls rather than excites the senses. Technically and artistically, this is the first time the Wachowskis seem to be behind the curve rather than surfing the next wave.

Matt Zoller Seitz

Matt Zoller Seitz is the Editor at Large of RogerEbert.com, TV critic for New York Magazine and Vulture.com, and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in criticism.

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Film credits.

Jupiter Ascending (2015)

Rated PG-13 some violence, sequences of sci-fi action, some suggestive content and partial nudity

127 minutes

Channing Tatum as Caine

Mila Kunis as Jupiter Jones

Eddie Redmayne as Balem

Tuppence Middleton as Kalique Abrasax

Sean Bean as Stinger

Douglas Booth as Titus

Jo Osmond as Droid

Terry Gilliam

Vanessa Kirby as Katharine Dunlevy

James D'Arcy

Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Famulus

• Lana Wachowski
• Andy Wachowski

Original Music Composer

• Michael Giacchino

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‘Juno’ is neither a pro-life or a pro-choice movie

Traditionally, becoming a parent means you have completed your journey into adulthood. By having (and raising) your own child, you leave behind the remains of your childhood. Following the blueprint of the mid-century American Dream, becoming a parent is preceded by other achievements: a college degree, a steady job, marriage, a house and a car. Of course, in reality, we know that there are as many different paths to parenthood as there are parents. For some, having a child is where the journey to adulthood begins.

That’s the case for 16-year-old Juno (Elliot Page), the sardonic protagonist of “Juno” (2007) , directed by Jason Reitman with an Academy-Award-winning script by Diablo Cody. Discovering that she’s pregnant after a one-nightstand with her sweet and awkward friend Paulie (Michael Cera), Juno decides to give her child up for adoption. She finds a couple, prim Vanessa (Jennifer Garner) and laidback Mark (Jason Bateman), through a classified ad. While Juno hopes to return to her normal, teenage life with minimal disruption, her simple arrangement with Vanessa and Mark turns out to be anything but. Faced with adult responsibilities and complications, Juno realizes that she has a lot of growing up to do before her baby is born.

Upon its release, the film generated a lot of debate over whether the film was pro-life or pro-choice in Juno’s pivotal decision not to get an abortion. America weighed in and I agree with that take: It would be an exaggeration to call “Juno” pro-life, but it is encouraging to see a popular film diverge from the familiar culture war battle lines. (Cody, for the record, is vociferously pro-choice, and told The Hollywood Reporter in 2022 that she was horrified when her Catholic high school thanked her for writing a pro-life film).

Juno’s decision to carry her child to term is less a political statement than it is an evocation of the film’s central theme: that growing up means taking responsibility for your relationships with others. Juno starts self-centered to the point of being callous, wrapping any sincere emotion in spiky layers of sarcasm. (She’d be unlikeable if she weren’t so funny, and Page delivers a layered, charismatic performance.) But as her pregnancy goes on she has to reckon with how her words and actions impact others: both the harm she’s capable of causing and the kindness she’s capable of offering.

She’s not the only one trying to figure it out. Vanessa has all of the trappings of picture-perfect adulthood but is unable to bear children. She tells Juno that she was born to be a mother, but you can tell Vanessa fears it will never happen—that she is unworthy in some way. But Vanessa already has the most important qualification of a parent: the ability to love selflessly. In “Amoris Laetitia,” Pope Francis called parents “a sign of the free and selfless love of Jesus.” In our faith, and in “Juno,” selfless love is a truer mark of maturity than any other.

Through her pregnancy, Juno comes to appreciate the sources of selfless love in her own life—her parents, Paulie—and to offer that love in return. She’s not ready to be a parent, but she is on the path to becoming a more mature, more loving human being. Of all the steps on the path to adulthood, maybe that’s the most important one.

“Juno” is streaming on Hulu.

John Dougherty is the director of mission and ministry at St. Joseph’s Prep in Philadelphia, Pa.

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6 New Movies Our Critics Are Talking About This Week

Whether you’re a casual moviegoer or an avid buff, our reviewers think these films are worth knowing about.

By The New York Times

CRITIC’S PICK

Going ape for another ‘Apes’ movie.

‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’

The latest in this sci-fi series follows a group of rebels as they face off against an authoritarian ruler who has twisted the peaceful teachings of a previous leader.

From our review:

There’s a knowing sense that all this has happened before, and all this will happen again. That’s what makes “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” powerful, in the end. It probes how the act of co-opting idealisms and converting them to dogmas has occurred many times over. What’s more, it points directly at the immense danger of romanticizing the past, imagining that if we could only reclaim and reframe and resurrect history, our present problems would be solved.

In theaters. Read the full review .

A thermal thriller that’s hot and cold.

‘aggro dr1ft’.

This hallucinatory romp directed by Harmony Korine conveys the journey of an assassin entirely through thermal imaging with added digital effects.

Whether it’s the thermal imaging or the augmentation, the visual style renders eyes practically invisible, leaving the actors without an important means of communication. … That absence might account for why “Aggro Dr1ft” is so unengaging on a narrative level, but the monotony might also have to have something to do with the protagonist, a hit man extraordinaire who is also (gasp) a family man. The world’s greatest assassin has been saddled with the world’s most sophomoric internal monologue. “I am a solitary hero. I am alone. I am a solitary hero. Alone,” he mumbles.

Think ‘On the Road,’ but for Gen-Z.

‘gasoline rainbow’.

Five teenagers embark on a road trip to a “party at the end of the world” and encounter many fellow misfits along the way in the latest from filmmakers Bill and Turner Ross.

There’s an uncommon sweetness to this film, which is less about running away from something and more about discovering the road of life is littered with goodness, if you know where to look. There’s a loose, languorous quality to “Gasoline Rainbow,” which the Rosses shot using a mostly improvised format, a collaboration between actors and filmmakers. It feels like a home movie, or a documentary — a capture of a slice of life in which there’s no plot other than whatever happens on the road ahead.

A destination wedding that goes nowhere.

‘mother of the bride’.

At a surprise last-minute wedding, the mother of the bride (Lana, played by Brooke Shields) gets another surprise when she discovers that her daughter is engaged to the son of her ex-beau, Will (Benjamin Bratt).

“Mother of the Bride” is directed by Mark Waters (“Mean Girls”) with an apparent allergy to verisimilitude. Early on, we are told that the opulent Thai ceremony will be bankrolled by Emma’s company (she’s an intern) and livestreamed to “millions of eyes.” These fantasies of pomp and circumstance often serve to make Lana and Will’s budding romance feel like a B-story to the action — although that may be a blessing when the best screwball gag this movie can muster is a pickleball shot to the groin.

Watch on Netflix . Read the full review .

Chris Pine goes off the deep end.

In Chris Pine’s directorial debut, he plays a pool cleaner who is enlisted to help uncover a mysterious water heist.

The sure-why-not plot, modeled on the California water grab in “Chinatown,” is less interesting than the charismatic cast that rambles along with Pine on his excellent adventure. Pine’s yarn was savaged when it premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival last year, but the sour response is a bit like getting mad at a golden retriever for rolling around in the grass.

Small drama, big stars.

Seeking asylum, a young Nigerian woman (Letitia Wright of “Black Panther”) navigates the complications of applying for permanent residency in Ireland in this drama from writer-director Frank Berry. Josh O’Connor of “Challengers” also stars.

At the beauty salon where she works, Aisha’s rightly cagey as she listens to her customers. But at the shelter, she turns warm, when she gives makeovers to fellow immigrants. As he did for his award-winning prison film, “Michael Inside,” Berry used nonprofessional actors with intimate experience of the system — here, Ireland’s International Protection Office, which processes asylum applications — he wanted to depict. It’s a gesture that keeps the film from lapsing into melodrama.

Bonus review: A rural throuple

It’s not immediately apparent how courtly intrigue figures in “A Prince” (in theaters) , Pierre Creton’s spellbinding French pastoral drama, though sex, death and domination hang palpably in the film’s crisp, Normandy air.

Creton looks to the divine powers and chivalric codes that fuel swords-and-shields epics like “Game of Thrones,” but whittles these elements down to a mysterious essence. Eventually, the film shifts into explicitly sexual and mythological terrain with a B.D.S.M. edge.

The story is slippery by design, loosely tracking the gay coming-of-age of an apprentice gardener, Pierre-Joseph. Throughout the film, a series of wordless and seductively austere tableaux, he forms bonds with various individuals in his rural community. Multiple narrators speak in retrospect, as if looking back from the afterlife at the characters onscreen.

Pierre-Joseph eventually comes to form a throuple with Alberto and Adrien, his mentors. The naked bodies of these much older gentleman appear suggestively weathered next to their younger lover’s sprightly form. Yet there is no mention of taboo. That passion could bloom in such spontaneous and unexpected forms is part of this enigmatic film’s potency.

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‘Gasoline Rainbow’ Review: Five Zoomers Hit the Road to Put Off Growing Up in an Endearing, Semi-Improvised Indie

Corralling a quintet of young actors, Bill Ross IV and Turner Ross’ radical filmmaking approach is worth the trip but doesn’t quite manage to cast a spell.

By J. Kim Murphy

J. Kim Murphy

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Everybody’s trying to get to the End of the World — or at least a party spot called that — in “ Gasoline Rainbow ,” a road trip independent feature that follows a group of zoomer besties on their fantastical send-off to adolescence. The Mubi release, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival last fall, sees directing brothers Bill Ross IV and Turner Ross applying their semi-improvised production stylings to five teenage actors: a compelling technique that doesn’t manage to fully satisfy its appetite for behavioral observation.

Popular on Variety

It’s a warm, uncomplicated characterization that forecasts a lot of easy riding. “Gasoline Rainbow” fully indulges in its leads’ carefree attitude. Even as they wander through the desert or covertly hitch a ride on a freight train, their safety never seems in even the slightest jeopardy. The world is their backyard. Despite the film’s observational visual approach, a guiding hand can often be felt moving the teens from place to place — a protectiveness that comes from the heart, but also quickly limits the film to a wispy, mystical register. Most of the places the teens pass through seem transient and few of the friendly strangers they meet — punk runaways and traveling skateboarders and other wild things — make an impression.

That surrender to naivety is also the essential charm of “Gasoline Rainbow,” as well as its narrative spine, with the teens’ giddy pull toward the party at the End of the World, mythologized in passing by nearly everyone they encounter. The friends’ drive to keep up the good vibes despite some logistical complications clues into how these speed bumps are preferable to the worse apocalypse that they are delaying. As one of the girls puts it, “When we come back, we all have to get fucking jobs.” The vacation reaches a poignant final stretch with an oceanside, fourth-wall-breaking finale practically, but effectively, ripped from “The 400 Blows” — the New Wave coming-of-age grand-daddy to “Gasoline Rainbow.” With it, the Ross brothers’ film asks the same question for this new generation: Childhood is over. Now what?

Reviewed at Sepulveda Screening Room, Los Angeles, April 24, 2024. In Venice, SXSW film festivals. Running time: 108 MIN.

• Production: A Mubi release of a Department of Motion Pictures, Mubi, XTR production. Producers: Michael Gottwald, Carlos Zozaya. Executive producers: Efe Cakarel, Jason Ropell, Bobby Allen, Bryn Mooser, Kathryn Everett, Justin Lacob, Andrew Hsieh, Matt Sargeant, Josh Penn. Co-producers: Claire Haley, Joanne Feinberg, Olivia West Lloyd.
• Crew: Directors, camera, editors: Bill Ross IV, Turner Ross. Music: Casey McCallister.
• With: Makai Garza, Micah Bunch, Nichole Dukes, Nathaly Garcia, Tony Aburto.

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