In-Theater/Streaming Releases of the Week 

In Jonas Carpignano’s insightful and unpredictable character study, Swamy Rotolo is marvelous as a teenager separated from her family and put in foster care after she gets a little too nosy looking into her father’s disappearance in the Mafia-run Calabria area of Italy.

 

 

Carpignano has a subtle and sympathetic touch, which extends from the illuminating use of sound to the persuasive and expressive performance of Rotolo, one of many nonprofessionals (including several of her family members) that the director has cast to give his exploration of a girl’s coming of age the authenticity and clarity it needs.

 

 

 

 

 

Double Threat 

This routine action flick follows Jimmy, a meek bystander who ends up driving Natasha, who was behind the counter of a convenience store he happened to be in when it was being robbed—she blasted both robbers and is now running from her ex-fiancé and all the firepower his shady rich father can muster.

 

 

Although there are no surprises in its 90 minutes, there’s one reason to watch Shane Stanley’s derivative “lovers on the lam” drama: Danielle C. Ryan, who makes the split-personality heroine Nat/Tasha into someone worthy of a better movie. She’s charming, amusing and even credible in a credulous role.

 

 

 

 

 

Fanny—The Right to Rock   (Crave) 

I thought I knew my classic rock, but the band Fanny—an all-female hard-rock group that released albums and toured in the early ‘70s to great acclaim but relative popular indifference—was one I knew nothing about, so happily, Bobbi Jo Hart’s documentary sets things right by chronicling the women’s long-ago career, their comeback and how those in the know (David Bowie, for one) hyped their greatness years later.

 

 

The Sacramento-based band’s energetic tunes are showcased in vintage video and audio clips; there’s also new material the latest incarnation has put together as well as a healthy dose of archival and new interviews that provide an intimate glimpse at a band more rock fans should know about.

 

 

 

 

 

Miracle 

Romanian director Bogdan George Apetri’s blistering drama tells two related stories: first, we follow a novice nun who leaves the safety of her convent to go to the hospital but who is sexually assaulted by her cab driver; in the second, a police investigator attempts to solve the case.

 

 

Aperti’s drama might seem too much of a good thing as it follows the no-nonsense, real-time blueprint of other Romanian imports, but the subtle direction, authentic atmosphere and casually shocking visuals make this one of the most original films in recent memory.

 

 

 

 

 

Vengeance Is Mine 

Michael Roemer’s barely-seen 1984 melodrama stars Brooke Adams—a woefully underused actress known for her memorable supporting roles in 1978’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Days of Heaven—as a woman returning to her hometown to escape her own personal problems but who finds herself immersed in those of her family’s neighbors, particularly an estranged couple (Trish Van Devere, Jon De Vries) and their young daughter (Ari Meyers).

 

 

Diffuse and extremely rough around the edges. Roemer’s film is nearly amateurish at times, but the strength of the acting—mainly van Devere and Adams, who gives a searing portrayal—makes this worth a look.

 

 

 

 

 

Blu-ray Releases of the Week

One of the holy grails for Police fans, this film documenting the group’s first world tour in 1979 and 1980 has finally been restored and upgraded to hi-def. Of the various release formats, I have the Blu-ray/CD version, so the documentary itself looks terrific and showcases the band at its most energetic onstage and off, a couple of years before Sting, Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland became the world’s biggest band—bonus Blu-ray performances comprise four complete songs not included in the film, while the CD has live performances of 12 songs from the tour.

 

 

“Expanded” is a misnomer, however—the performance of “De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da” has been excised from the film, probably because Sting is embarrassed that he threatened a zealous French fan.

 

 

 

 

 

Row 19 

Russian director Alexander Babaev’s horror movie is pretty ruthless to its heroine, the lone survivor of an airplane crash as a child who now brings her own young daughter onboard with her for a flight that may or may not be a replay of that fateful one from 20 years ago.

 

 

It’s a scant 78 minutes, so there’s no fat, but in this case the leanness of the narrative doesn’t really help: there’s no reason this intelligent, independent and capable woman (especially as played by Svetlana Ivanova) should get on this plane in this weather with all the obvious warning signs; she does so only so Babaev can provide a painfully blatant twist ending. There’s a sharp hi-def transfer.