'Them That Follow'

If only the plot of the Appalachia-based drama “Them That Follow” matched its atmosphere and its acting, as it depicts life in a tight-knit community bound by their religious faith — which involves snake handling.

Lemuel (Walton Goggins) is the pastor who brings out the rattlesnakes during services. Sometimes a member of the congregation will get bit, which is how Zeke (Jim Gaffigan) lost his thumb sometime back. But Zeke and his wife Rose (Olivia Colman) maintain their faith that God will cure anything, including snakebites.

Maura (Alice Englert), Lemuel’s daughter, has a bigger problem. While young buck Garret (Lewis Pullman) has asked Lemuel for Maura’s hand, Maura has deeper feelings for Augie (Thomas Mann), Rose and Zeke’s son, who has fallen away from the faith. Complicating this love triangle is the secret Maura is keeping: She’s carrying Augie’s baby.

The plot comes down to one question: Who’s going to find out Maura is pregnant, and in what order? Beyond that, there’s little suspense in what happens in the movie, even regarding the snakes, whose unpredictability is at the root of the faith. 

Even when things get nasty and violent, it’s telegraphed well ahead of time. (Before one gruesome moment, at least half a dozen Sundance patrons had enough time to exit the theater before it happened.)

Directors Britt Poulson and Dan Madison Savage capture the small-town atmosphere, and the reverence for God and freedom, with pinpoint detail. The cast is compelling, particularly Goggins, who has this wild-eyed southern act down to perfection, and Colman, who glides past the easy stereotypes to which a true-believer character like this might fall prey.

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‘Them That Follow’

★★1/2

Opened August 2 in select cities; opens Friday, August 9, at the Broadway Centre Cinemas (Salt Lake City) and the Megaplex at Jordan Commons (Sandy). Rated R for some disturbing violence. Running time: 98 minutes.

(This review previously ran on this website on January 31, 2019, after I saw it at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival.)

'Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am'

Toni Morrison tells stories. Timothy Greenfield-Sanders creates portraits. So Greenfield-Sanders’ documentary, “Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am,” is a perfect melding of their talents, an incisive portrait brimming with great stories.

Saying Morrison is a great storyteller may seem blindingly obvious, considering the 88-year-old author received the Nobel Prize for literature in 1993, won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1988 (for “Beloved”), and has enough awards to break a bookshelf. But she reveals in this PBS-produced documentary a raconteur’s ear for anecdote as she recalls the mileposts of her autobiography, from her childhood in Ohio, her college days at Howard University, her years as a single mom of two boys, and her work as an editor for Random House.

What becomes clear, in Morrison’s interview for Greenfield-Sanders’ camera and in archival footage (including interviews with Dick Cavett and Charlie Rose), is that Morrison is leaving out some facets of her personal life. We hear little about her brief marriage, and nothing about the untimely death of her younger son, Slade, in 2010.

The focus here, fittingly, is on Morrison’s work and its place in the literary firmament. Greenfield-Sanders gathers an array of prominent thinkers who discuss different facets of Morrison’s genius. Activist Angela Davis describes how Morrison, as editor of her 1974 autobiography, helped channel political fury into incisive prose. Her editor at Knopf, Robert Gottlieb, praises her gift for story structure. Poet Sonia Sanchez and author Walter Mosley talk about how Morrison defied her critics by writing from a perspective besides that of the white male gaze — the default setting of the literary establishment, then and now.

The most familiar face among the interview subjects is Morrison’s friend and champion, Oprah Winfrey, who boasts that she brought Morrison’s books to the masses through her “Oprah’s Book Club.” Also, Winfrey produced and played the main role of Sethe in the only movie adaptation of a Morrison book, “Beloved” (1998).

Morrison, the documentary points out, took readers into the African-American experience — and, more to the point, the female African-American experience — deeper than any author before, and possibly since, in such books as “Sula,” “Song of Solomon,” “Beloved,” “Jazz,” “Paradise” and others. Greenfield-Sanders gives Morrison her due, by letting her tell her own fascinating story.

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‘Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am’

★★★1/2

Opened June 21 in select cities; opens Friday, August 2, at the Broadway Centre Cinemas (Salt Lake City). Rated PG-13 for some disturbing images/thematic material. Running time: 120 minutes.

'Fast & Furious Present: Hobbs & Shaw'

One shouldn’t go into “Hobbs & Shaw” — officially, “Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw,” for those who can’t get enough ampersands — expecting a mental chess match or clever plotting or Shakespearean acting.

No, “Hobbs & Shaw” is a meat-and-potatoes — or should that be “meat & potatoes”? — action movie, with more cars than a Hot Wheels set, more guns than an Army shooting range, and more body slams than star Dwayne Johnson threw in his entire wrestling career.

Read the full review at sltrib.com.

'The Farewell'

Last summer, movie audiences got to meet the rapper/comedian Awkwafina twice, in “Ocean’s 8” and “Crazy Rich Asians.” Now, in “The Farewell,” writer-director Lulu Wang entrusts Awkwafina to be the central figure in her movie — and, even more daunting, embody the filmmaker’s own self in a sweet comedy about cross-cultural and cross-generational conflicts.

Awkwafina plays Billi, a struggling writer who has lived in New York since her parents (Tzi Ma, Diana Lin) moved the family from China when Billi was 6 years old. She’s behind on her rent, she lost out on a Guggenheim fellowship, and at age 30 is sick of being asked when she’s going to get married.

One day, her parents reluctantly inform Billi of some bad news: Her beloved grandmother in China (Zhao Shuzhen) has been diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer, and is given only months to live. The family has decided not to tell Nai Nai, because there’s nothing to be done and the information would only make her sad.

As it happens, Billi’s cousin is marrying his Japanese girlfriend, and the family is letting Nai Nai make all the arrangements for a traditional Chinese wedding banquet. The wedding is also a chance for everyone in the family to visit Nai Nai one last time — though they all must be careful not to act like they’re saying goodbye.

Billi objects strongly to keeping the truth from Nai Nai, and only reluctantly goes along with the plan. This allows Wang, who first told this story on public radio’s “This American Life,” to explore the culture clashes and misconceptions Chinese people and Americanzed Chinese immigrants have for one another.

Wang’s sense of humor is low-key, usually, as she dives into the gaudiness of the wedding banquet Nai Nai has prepared, if only so neighbors don’t think she’s cheap. Awkwafina neatly underplays her role, as Billi is torn between defying her family or being a liar to her grandma. The result is a story that’s both culturally specific and emotionally universal, as it gives a talented star a chance to shine.

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‘The Farewell’

★★★1/2

Opened July 12 in select cities; opens Friday, July 12, at the Broadway Centre Cinemas (Salt Lake City). Rated PG for thematic material, brief language and some smoking. Running time: 100 minutes; in English, and in Mandarin with subtitles.

(This review first ran on Jan. 26, when the movie premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival.)

'Sword of Trust'

Some people will believe anything, and there are always people ready to take advantage of those people — which a depressingly timely message for director Lynn Shelton to tuck into the semi-improvised comedy “Sword of Trust.”

Cynthia (Jillian Bell) and Mary (Michaela Watkins) are a loving couple who have ventured down to Birmingham, Ala., to tie up the affairs of Cynthia’s recently deceased grandpappy. The old man’s house belongs to the bank, because of a reverse mortgage to cover his medical bills, but he did leave Cynthia with a family heirloom: A Union officer’s sword from the 1860s, some documents, and a rambling letter explaining that the sword is proof that the South really won the Civil War.

Cynthia and Mary decide to sell the sword, and take it to a pawn shop owned by Mel (Marc Maron), a jaded New Mexico transplant who spends most of the store’s hours berating his slightly dim employee, Nathaniel (Jon Bass). Mel offers $400 cash for the sword, which the ladies turn down.

After doing some research online, Mel discovers a bottomless pit of conspiracy theorists who actually believe the South won the Civil War. What’s more, they’ll pay a ton of money for any physical evidence to support that bogus claim. Soon, Mel and Nathaniel are partnering with Cynthia and Mary to broker a bigger deal for the sword.

Shelton is a pro at this kind of conversation-driven comedy; look at “Humpday” and “Your Sister’s Sister” as past examples. Here, the script she and Mike O’Brien (formerly of “Saturday Night Live”) have written is a framework for the actors to improvise — and with comic talents like Maron, Bell and Watkins (another “SNL” alum) at work, that dialogue is loose, funny and sometimes touching.

Shelton’s ace-in-the-hole is Maron, who invests plenty of pathos in Mel’s backstory — a drug-addicted past, and a damaged ex-girlfriend, played by Shelton herself — for a performance that’s wry, sardonic and quietly heartbreaking. Within the comic grace notes of “Sword of Trust,” it’s Maron who cuts the deepest.

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‘Sword of Trust’

★★★1/2

Opened July 19 in select cities; opens Friday, July 26, at the Broadway Centre Cinemas (Salt Lake City). Rated R for language throughout. Running time: 89 minutes.

'Shadow'

It’s been nearly a year since Chinese legend Zhang Yimou’s “Shadow” rolled out on the festival circuit — first Venice, then Toronto, then Fantastic Fest — and finally regular movie audiences can experience one of the most visually breathtaking movies in recent memory.

Set in ancient China — the movie never specifies, but the press notes say the Third Century — the movie tells of two rival kingdoms, Yang and Pei, who formed an alliance to take control of the walled city of Jing. Before the pact was made, though, the commander of the Pei army (played by Deng Chao) was wounded severely, and is tended to by his wife, Madam (Sun Li, Deng’s real-life wife).

The commander returns to the court of the Pei king (Zheng Kai), declaring that he has challenged the Yang king (Jun Hu) to combat — so the Pei kingdom can retain control of the walled city from Yang’s army. The Pei king, though, is afraid of breaking the alliance, so he punishes the Pei commander by stripping him of his rank and armor.

What the Pei king doesn’t know is that the commander isn’t really the commander. He’s a body double, a “shadow” named Jing (also played by Deng), trained by the real commander, who lives underground and has aged because of his wound. Still, he’s a fearsome fighter, and sending his shadow to battle the Yang king is part of a devious plan to reclaim the city and exact revenge.

There’s added drama involving Madam, who is lady-in-waiting to the Pei king’s sister, the Princess (Guan Xiaotong). Madam is loyal to her ailing husband, but keeping up the charade of a happy marriage with Jing has taken an emotional toll — and she and Jing struggle to keep their feelings for each other in check.

Some of the intricate plot (in a script by Zhang and Li Wei) may get jumbled here and there, especially when the viewer’s brain is dealing with Zhang’s amazing visual scheme. The sets and costumes are all rendered in stark blacks, grays and whites, modeled on Chinese calligraphy and inspired by the symbol of yin and yang. The characters’ skin and the blood — of which there’s a lot — provides the onscreen color.

I haven’t mentioned yet that this is a martial-arts movie, though it takes awhile to get to the fight scenes, which have elements of the magical wuxia style. Once the battles begin, the spectacle is intense, with inventive weaponry and tightly choreographed action that’s both brutal and balletic.

With a team including cinematographer Zhao Xiaoding and production designer Ma Kwong Wing, Zhang creates an eye-popping tale of loyalty, revenge and hidden motives. If you want to see a movie that stretches the visual and emotional boundaries of action films, “Shadow” is not to be missed.

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‘Shadow’

★★★1/2

Opened May 3 in select cities; opens Friday, July 26, at the Tower Theatre (Salt Lake City). Not rated, but probably R for violence. Running time: 116 minutes: In Mandarin with subtitles.

'The Fighting Preacher'

Utah filmmaker T.C. Christensen’s latest dive into Latter-day Saint history, “The Fighting Preacher,” charms by focusing on a human story of a missionary family pushing back against prejudice with kindness and patience.

It’s 1915, and former pro boxer Willard Bean (David McConnell) and his young wife, Rebecca (Cassidy Hubert), are given an assignment by the leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The calling: Take up residence in the farm that was the home of Joseph Smith, the church’s founder, in Palmyra, N.Y.

Read the full review at sltrib.com.

'The Art of Self-Defense'

Sometimes writer-director Riley Stearns’ bleak comedy “The Art of Self-Defense” is a punch to the gut — and sometimes it’s sneakier, like a sleeper hold by which the movie leaves you wondering how you ended up on the floor.

Jesse Eisenberg stars as Casey Davies, a wet noodle of a man who seems afraid of life, whether it’s trying to inject himself into his more masculine coworkers’ conversations or conversing with his pet dachshund. One night, a walk to the store for his dog’s kibble turns into a harrowing ordeal, as he is mugged by some motorcycle-riding thugs and beaten to within an inch of his life.

While recovering from his injuries, Casey looks for a way to protect himself from a future attack. His first impulse is to buy a gun, but he learns there’s a waiting period. Then he walks past a karate dojo, and becomes fascinated with the sport — and with the dojo’s leader, who is known by the students only as Sensei (played by Alessandro Nivolo).

Sensei, Casey sees at once, is every idea of manhood that Casey lacks. He’s poised, focused, confident, and capable of taking down the biggest opponent. Sensei also sees something in Casey: A student he can mold into a version of himself.

Casey eagerly learns karate moves, and takes to heart Sensei’s heartfelt mentions of his teacher, Grand Master, who died under mysterious circumstances. Sensei speaks in hushed tones of Grand Master’s greatest karate move, the one-finger punch, a deadly and effective maneuver that Sensei never had the chance to learn.

Casey also finds himself attracted to Anna (Imogen Poots), Sensei’s most devoted student and the teacher of the dojo’s children’s classes. But Casey’s interest in Anna, and his devotion to Sensei, is put to the test when Sensei invites Casey to attend his intense night class.

Stearns, whose previous film was the 2014 horror thriller “Faults,” has created a grittier, less internalized version of “Fight Club” — a red-knuckled examination of masculinity taken to its toxic extremes. Casey’s slow acceptance of Sensei’s training, and his sudden realization of the violent realities behind it, make for a disturbing modern fable that is not for every taste.

So which taste are you? It helps to be a fan of Eisenberg, whose nebbishy neediness in the early parts of the movie is off-putting, but whose blossoming is perfectly calibrated and intriguingly psychotic. Stearns’ movie constantly flips one expectations, and leaves the audience on the mat, looking up for answers.

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‘The Art of Self-Defense’

★★★

Opened July 12 in select cities; opens Friday, July 19, at the Broadway Centre Cinemas (Salt Lake City), Megaplex Jordan Commons (Sandy), Cinemark Jordan Landing (West Jordan), Megaplex at The District (South Jordan) and Megaplex Thanksgiving Point (Sandy). Rated R for violence, sexual content, graphic nudity and language. Running time: 104 minutes.