Critic’s Picks In Theaters this April: Maren Ade, Banksy and Jacques Perrin

People are always telling me “there aren’t ever any good movies out there“, to which I respond, “there are…you just have to look for them“. Usually in this type of exchange, I get the follow up question of, “so what’s coming out?”. So….I’m going to try out a consumers guide aid/suggestions for the 7th art at the top of the every month — a question of pointing out the films you should seek out, give a quick summary on what has been said and a tag on some other creds and relevant news as to why I think the film is a must see. I’m going to stick to a three count, which is ample enough suggestions when you consider that your average moviegoer hits theaters than a dozen times per year. Here is the most updated U.S theatrical releases for the month of April and here are my “critic’s picks” in order of release date:

Maren Ade’s Everyone Else
The Cinema Guild – Opens April 9 at the IFC Center in NY
What the critic’s are saying?:
This has got some killer ratings from IndieWIRE’s collection of critics. Karina Longworth praises how Ade dissolves the individual within the relationship stating, “it’s extremely difficult to use traditional narrative tools to depict how sometimes one person seems to be at least two people, how that changeover happens almost imperceptibly, and how this personality schizophrenia can be a result of outside forces and how outsiders are forced to adapt accordingly.” A.V Club’s Mike D’Angelo thought the film was in-tune with the quirks of couplehood, citing “Ade makes a case for the importance of kitsch in romance, for the need to embrace with your lover the same gestures and platitudes that so nauseate you when you see them indulged by others.” Kevin B. Lee convinces me that I’ve missed out not once, but twice by selling me on the idea that, “Ade has already proven, whether in grungy DV in Forest and gorgeous 35mm in Everyone Else, is that the things that are beautiful and interesting about people are less what’s on the surface than what’s within and between them, and never settled.”

Why is it in my top three picks?:
I don’t do Berlin (where it won the Silver Bear – Jury Prize) and the film traveled to festivals that were simply beyond my reach so I haven’t seen this film, nor have I seen her debut The Forest For the Trees (which was released by Film movement), so for someone who prides himself in being a lover of art-house needs to get a double dose one day this month. If the Cinema Guild folks are listening – you can send me a screener, I’ll take care of the other portion of the double bill.

Exit Through the Gift Shop
Cinetic – April 16th – New York release
What the critic’s are saying?:
Several other critic’s liked the dynamic between the person pointing the camera, and the person reflected in the lenses, Variety’s Peter Debruge’s mentions the “radically nonstandard approach, in which helmer and subject switch places, perfectly suits these artists’ anarchic personae.” A.V Club’s Noel Murray reminds us that I should go into my viewing of the film with a blank slate, “it tells a story with a lot of twists and turns, and it’s probably better if viewers don’t know them all.”

Why is it in my top three picks?:
If you didn’t read the headlines out of Sundance and Berlin the news flash is this docu-melange was the it film of both festivals. Personally it was the one film (along with Catfish) that I left unturned back in January, so I’m glad I didn’t have to wait that long.

Oceans – Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud
Disneynature – Earth Day release on the 22nd.
What the critic’s are saying?:
The Hollywood Reporter mentions that the doc “chooses poetry and wonder over storytelling and effects” – which is fine by me, when you consider a recent film about Dolphins was fed to audiences as a Mission Impossible flick.

Why is it in my top three picks?:
Picking up from what THR mentioned, “four years of 75 diving expeditions in 50 locations all over the world, where camera teams captured about 80 species of outlandish fish, dolphins, whales, squid, lizards, crabs, turtles and creatures that simply defy classification” – can’t wait to see the footage. Plus Perrin’s last film was bliss.