Tag: small town

“Chantal” – TV Series Review

A scene from the Dutch TV series “Chantal.” Courtesy of MHz Choice

We’ll start the review of “Chantal: Season One” with a “consumer caution:” if you’re looking for an extension of the 2007 soft-core porn flick with the same title, this ain’t nowhere close to the same ballpark, so cool the jets of your libido before starting.

Regular readers know I’ve reviewed a lot of European crime series here, including many that were comedic in tone. This dramedy offers a couple of unique aspects: it’s our first from Belgium, and it’s more droll than other light faves like “Capitaine Marleau” or “Captain Sharif”. The familiar part is that the eponymous police detective (Maaike Cafmeyer) comes to a small town to head its unit. She moves there with her daughter (Anna-Marie Missoul) seeking a less taxing turf than before, so she’ll have more time to study for the Commander exam. This is meant to be only a short-term gig before moving to Brussels for the higher-level training if she passes, and a meatier position thereafter.

The little town of Loveringem, located in the western part of Flanders, isn’t quite ready for a female cop. Even though Chantal is middle-aged, everyone she meets assumes this newcomer must be an underling. She’s also resented by Rik “the Sheriff” Cloedt (Dries Heyneman) who assumed he’d become top banana, only to be outranked by the first distaff colleague they’d seen. Besides the sexism, Chantal has to circumvent smug cops from higher-ranking agencies who diss her little band of locals and try to shunt them off to menial tasks… or less.

Part of the droll humor comes from the prevailing cowboy motif of the community, despite its apparent dearth of cattle. Most of the guys dress like extras in an oater. They typically drink beer from the bottle, rather than wine. The homey main bar/social hub (Café Misery) looks like a roadhouse teleported from the southern US, complete with country music and line dancing. Everything but a mechanical bull in the décor.

Season One consists of eight hour-long episodes, opening and closing with two-parters, surrounding six stand-alone murders to solve. As usual for Euro-fare, there’s not much action or visible gore throughout. The scripts are written well enough so that even the more obvious mysteries are entertaining to watch. The cast is completely non-glamorous, making all the characters as relatable as they come, with a mix of bad eggs, good folk and oddballs. A bunch of players get fleshed out with story arcs, making the series grow cozier for viewers as they continue.

No cliffhangers. Season Two has already aired abroad, and most who start here should be eager for Chantal’s further adventures to join this charming intro to our side of the Atlantic.

“Chantel” Season One, mostly in Dutch with English subtitles, begins streaming on MHz Choice starting Tuesday, Feb. 25.

RATING: 3 out of 4 stars

JULES – Review

(L-R) Jane Curtin as Joyce, Harriet Harris as Sandy, Ben Kingsley as Milton and Jade Quon as Jules, in JULES. Courtesy of Bleecker Street

A reclusive older man (Ben Kingsley), who has built his small-town daily routine around complaints about pedestrian safety at the town council meetings, has his routine upended when a flying saucer lands in his backyard, in director Marc Turtletaub’s dramedy JULES. Although sci fi is part of the premise, the real focus and strength of this whimsical, warm comedy JULES is an exploration of friendship in late life and aging generally, and the fine acting ensemble of Kingsley, Harriet Sansom Harris and Jane Curtin.

Milton (Kingsley) is more upset that the flying saucer took out his flower garden than he is surprised to find a spaceship in his backyard. With get-off-my-grass outrage, he calls the authorities to report the spaceship but gets the real world response you would expect: disbelief. They think the old guy is losing it. The thing is that is a kind of true, as Milton has been having memory problems, doing things like leaving his keys in the fridge, troubles he is hoping to conceal from his concerned daughter Denise (Zoë Winters).

Shortly after the flying saucer trashed the flowers, Milton is shocked to find an ailing alien (Jade Quon, made up like the usual Area 51 denizen) slumped on his patio. Moved by the alien’s pitiful, pleading gaze, Milton brings him/her/it inside, wrapping the creature in a blanket and setting the visitor on the couch. Milton offers his strange guest a plate with a selection of finger foods like cheese and crackers but the only things the visitor eats are the apple slices.

The creature doesn’t speak but seems very gentle, intuitive and cooperative – and a really good listener. Soon, Milton has a new routine, caring for the creature and then sitting on the couch, watching TV and chatting. He names the visitor Jules.

When Milton becomes even more reclusive than usual and starts buying lots of apples, it sparks the interest of two other seniors, also regular speakers at the city council meetings, Sandy (a wonderful Harriet Sansom Harris) and Joyce (Jane Curtin). Sandy decides to pay Milton a call, and is taken aback at seeing Jules. But she relaxes when Milton assures her the space visitor is harmless, even friendly. Not long after, Joyce, consumed by curiosity, also turns up at Milton’s door. Soon the threesome are inseparable – make that four.

Harriet Sansom Harris might not be a familiar name but you’ll likely recognize her face, and this role gives this talented actor a chance to shine. Director Marc Turtletaub (LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, THE FAREWELL), gives Harris a plum part, as her character is the key to drawing out the reserved Milton, as the three humans form friendships and bond with the mute but attentive and intuitive alien played by Jade Quon. Quon does a fine job in the part despite the challenge of playing a character with a mostly frozen face who is unable to speak.

Along with a message of the value of being a good listener and being open to someone from somewhere else, this well-meaning dramedy explores issues of social isolation and friendship in late life with humor and heart. It is just set within a sci-fi-fantasy tale about an off-world stranger who knows how to listen.

One reason Milton doesn’t talk about the alien in the room is that he is covering his memory problems, particularly around his caring daughter. He worries about being forced out of his nice home into a retirement community or assisted living. Rather than risk calling attention to his memory problems, Milton just stops talking about the flying saucer that ruined his garden and starts spending more time with the wounded alien that crawled out of it and curled up on his patio. When Sandy and Joyce join him, helping Jules becomes everyone’s project, as they share their feelings and inner thoughts.

The acting is very good and the ensemble scenes with Kingsley, Harris and Curtin are often hilarious, and definitely highlights. The bits between Kingsley’s Milton and Jade Quon’s mute space visitor are touching.

With a brisk 87 minute running time, the story is certainly creative but the movie is best when it is about relationships. Eventually, the outer space visitor Jules feels well enough to start repairs on the spaceship but the sci-fi story becomes increasingly wonky and improbable as it unfolds, particularly after feds looking for the spaceship show up. There is a weird bit of ick factor in the solution to fixing the ship, especially for pet owners. In contrast, the funny, warm and believable interpersonal interactions between the characters, and the way it touches on issues of social isolation and worries of aging is always strong, authentic and touching.

JULES is at its best when focused on interpersonal interactions, with the two women, the mute alien and with his daughter. Where the film falls short is in the sci-fi tale part, which doesn’t make entire sense and has a bit of business that pet owners are likely to find off-putting.

JULES opens Friday, August 11, at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Cinema and in other theaters nationally.

RATING: 3 out of 4 stars

AMERICAN WOMAN – Review

Sienna Miller as Deb in AMERICAN WOMAN. Photo Credit: Seacia Pavao. Courtesy of Roadside Attractions

Sienna Miller stars as a single mother in rural small town in Pennsylvania whose life is transformed by a tragic event. AMERICAN WOMAN is both a character study and blue-collar family drama. It is the kind of human drama that some worry is being squeezed out of theaters by blockbuster action and superhero movies. The film follows the ups and downs in this working-class woman’s life over several years, but while it has length, it does not have as much depth, although it does treat the characters with respect. Sienna Miller turns in a fine performance but director Jake Scott never lets us really get inside the head of this American woman.

Deb Callahan (Miller) is a 32-year-old woman who still acts a bit like a teen, despite being the single parent of a teen herself. Like her mother before her, 17-year-old daughter Bridget (Sky Ferreira) is a teenage mother, with an one-year-old son named Jesse. While Bridget and her mother kid around affectionately, Deb is getting dressed up for a date, in a too-tight, too-short dress, to meet her married lover.

Deb’s married sister Kath (Christina Hendricks), her husband Terry (Will Sasso) and two young boys, live across the street but the sisters are not close. Kath scolds Deb for dating a married man, with the sisters’ mother (Amy Madigan) chiming in and bringing up their Catholic faith. Deb responds with anger, hinting at long-buried issues.

When Bridget goes missing, everything in Deb’s life changes. The cop in charge, Detective Morris (E. Roger Mitchell), question those who saw Bridget last, and organizes a community volunteer search party. Nonetheless, Deb is left to raise her grandson on her own.

The cast also includes Aaron Paul, as a construction co-worker that brother-in-law Terry introduces to Deb. The story takes place as Deb goes through a number of changes in her life, some wrenching, some more positive, jumping forward in a time twice as Deb raises her grandson to his teen years.

Oddly, although the film spans more than a decade and the children grow and change, none of the adults appear to age, apart from a few gray hairs on supporting characters that disappear and later reappear. It seems a bit strange but maybe it was intended to reflect the characters’ self-image.

The film has potential but falls short of what it might have been, particularly with this strong cast. While Sienna and the rest of the cast do all they can to give the characters depth and richness, they are thwarted by a script and direction that strives to keep things on the surface. It is frustrating at times, particularly when the dialog suggests a deeper backstory or hints at past experiences that shaped Deb’s character, details that are left unexplored. It is a curious choice.

AMERICAN WOMAN is a good film, with some sparkling performances, but one that could have gone deeper and been even better, perhaps even a great film. It opens Friday, June 14, at the Plaza Frontenac Cinema and

RATING: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars