Deliver Us, Co-Starring Alexander Siddig

They are the ultimate Cain and Abel brothers. One will be the Messiah and the other will be the Anti-Christ. Of course, the big question is who will be whom? A lapsing priest will protect them both, believing (or at least hoping) all of God’s children are born innocent in Cru Ennis & Lee Roy Kunz’s Deliver Us, which releases this Friday in theaters and on-demand.

Father Fox is one of the Vatican’s most scholarly young priests, who also has an excellent record as an exorcist. However, he intends to renounce his vows, because he has fallen in love Laura “Kusic” (the press notes did not bother to supply her surname, but that is what it sounded like), an Estonian mining heiress, who is currently battling unfounded claims of water contamination. It seems the Devil very definitely works through environmental scare-mongering.

The Vatican browbeats Father Fox into accepting one last assignment. Supposedly, it will not be an exorcism, but rather a miracle vetting. Apparently, Sister Yulia is pregnant with twins, the immaculate way, of course. Learned Cardinal Russo, whose work Father Fox frequently cited in his own scholarship, has some theories as two who her unborn sons might be. Father Saul, from the ultra-righteous secret ecclesiastical society, Vox Dei, more-or-less confirms those theories when he attempts to abort both infants. However, the subsequent sacrilege Father Fox witnesses (whether real or a vision) makes him suspect Vox Dei hopes to subvert the Church rather than defend it.

With Kusic’s help, the Father and the Cardinal try to protect Sister Yulia and her babies, once they are delivered. Of course, “Father” Saul is hot on their trail—and the Anti-Christ is apparently trying to assist him. Meanwhile, a series of freakish environmental events seemingly herald the End of Days.

Deliver Us has some decent Catholic-themed demonic horror, which will strongly resonate with Catholic faithful who are frustrated with the state of the Church in Rome. Father Saul warns us the Anti-Christ will come when people feel furthest from the Church. Those are eerily frightening words, particularly coming at a time when the Pope has turned his back on faithful shepherds, like Cardinal Jospeh Zen of Hong Kong, cutting a deal with his oppressors, the CCP, which undermines the Church’s autonomy, instead—but perhaps I digress.

However, it often feels like Ennis, Kunz, and co-screenwriter Kane Kunz try to have things both ways to maximize the scares. Maybe one of the infants is not necessarily destined for evil, until they need him to start implanting temptations and Scanners-style pain in people’s heads. This film already has so many archetypal hooks—a little less would have ended up being a little more.

Regardless, Alexander Siddig is terrific as Cardinal Russo, both at his erudite start and his apocalyptic finish. He really is an under appreciated genre character actor (and occasional romantic leading man). Co-director Lee Roy Kunz has a Jared Leto thing going on as Father Fox that mostly works for the film. In fact, if you are a fan of Leto, it should be easy to pretend you are watching him.

21 Bridges: Boseman Protects and Serves

In this street-smart New York manhunt thriller, the cops deeply resent the grandstanding mayor, who has often thrown them under the bus. Yes, you can definitely say it is “ripped from the headlines”—recent headlines. We soon suspect a cabal of dirty cops could be the ultimate cause of all the trouble, so it is also ripped from 1970’s Serpico era headlines as well. Det. Andre Davis has a reputation for unholstering his firearm, making him the perfect point-man to track down two desperate cop-killers, but he turns out to be more of a loose cannon than anyone bargained for in Brian Kirk’s 21 Bridges, which opens today nationwide.

Ray Jackson and Michael Trujillo thought they had been recruited to steal 30 kilos of cocaine, but they find 300 kilos instead. For them, that is way too much of a “good thing.” Almost immediately thereafter, a firefight ensues with four Brooklyn cops, who did not arrive responding to any calls, before getting blown away by the better armed criminals. Subsequently, they fatally shoot four more officers legitimately dispatched to the scene, fleeing into Manhattan, in search of a buyer and a money-launderer. It is a mess that the local precinct captain and the deputy chief want Davis to clean up—permanently.

Given the considerable quantity of uncut coke recovered, local drug squad detective Frankie Burns will ride shotgun with Davis, whether he likes it or not. She seems tough enough, but many of her trigger-happy colleagues keep getting in his way. Nevertheless, Davis steadily closes in on his targets, thanks to his strategy the useless mayor agrees to implement. Every tunnel, train, ferry, and bridge (yes, all 21 of them) providing access out of Manhattan will be locked-down from 1:00 to 5:00 (so as not to interrupt the financial markets).

Basically, screenwriters Adam Mervis and Matthew Michael Carnahan want the audience to hate cops. However, their propaganda campaign is sabotaged by the steely but charismatic performance of their star, Chadwick Boseman. His intense screen presence is still acutely human, winning over viewer’s sympathy and largely carrying the film. Boseman and Sienna Miller, as Burns, nicely play good cop-bad cop together, but it is debatable which is which.

Inescapable: Syrian Hospitality

Assad’s Syria is not exactly a family friendly tourist spot.  Unfortunately, a former secret policeman’s reticence only intrigued his grown daughter.  When she disappears in Damascus under mysterious circumstances, he must temporarily return to his former homeland and life of deception in Ruba Nadda’s Inescapable (trailer here), which opens this Friday in New York at the IFC Center.

While the Assads are never mentioned by name, their portraits are everywhere in Inescapable’s Damascus.  The current civil war never intrudes into the narrative, but the oppressive atmosphere is unmistakable.  Once a promising young operative Adib Abdel Kareem had to leave Syria in a hurry, for reasons he and his ex-comrade Sayid Abd Al-Aziz understand only too well.  That is why the senior intelligence officer is slightly surprised when Kareem shows up in his office, demanding he help the convicted traitor find his daughter.

Kareem already has the reluctant help of Fatima, the former teammate and lover Kareem was forced to abandon, for whom Al-Aziz has long carried a torch.  While the desperate father checks in with the Canadian embassy simply so his presence in Syria will be officially recorded, he soon discovers the smarmy consular officer Paul Ridge is actually well acquainted with his daughter.  It will become a rather tricky affair, involving a high ranking pedophile in the Syrian government and Kareem’s old Soviet spymaster colleague.

Born in Canada, the half-Syrian Nadda obviously has an affinity for the country’s culture and people, but no affection for the current government.  As in the unusually elegant Cairo Time, she sets the mood well.  Unfortunately, she is not a master of grabby thriller pacing.  As much as viewers will want to embrace Inescapable as an art-house Taken, there is simply too much back-tracking and narrative down time.  Frankly, Nadda’s screenplay probably would have benefited from some input from a genre hack.  The power struggles going on in the upper echelons of power are potentially juicy stuff, but the film tends to lose momentum in rather workaday sequences.

Alexander Siddig is a charismatic screen presence, who does a credible slow burn as Kareem.  In contrast, Marisa Tomei’s Fatima just does not have the right edginess for a femme fatale or the purposefulness of woman conspiring against a despotic regime.  In truth, it is not really clear what she is there for, besides picking up Kareem at the border.  However, Israeli Oded Fehr (a veteran of the Israeli Navy, El-Al security, and The Mummy franchise) brings some roguish style points to the film as Al-Aziz.

Largely shot in South African instead of Syria and its neighbors, for obvious reasons, Nadda and cinematographer Luc Montpellier still make it feels like it was filmed in the bazaars and back alleys of Damascus.  Indeed, the look and vibe of the picture are right on target, but the tension is sometimes lacking.  Still, Inescapable is certainly topical, earning Nadda credit for essentially scooping Hollywood.  For those hungry for Middle East intrigue, Inescapable opens this Friday (2/22) in New York at the IFC Center.

Brief Encounters: Cairo Time

A mysterious city of great beauty and terrible ugliness, Cairo also has a rigid social system delineated by both gender and class. It is the sort of place where it helps to know someone with local knowledge. That is why a United Nations official asks his former colleague to look after his wife while he tends to a crisis. Both get more than they expected from their time together in Ruba Nadda’s Cairo Time (trailer here), the winner of the best Canadian feature award at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival, which opens this Friday in New York.

Juliette often intended to meet her husband Mark in Cairo, but life always intervened. Now that she finally made it, he is held up at his riot-plagued refugee camp. Fortunately, his friend Tareq is willing to show her the sites, but not the pyramids. As a symbol of marital fidelity, Juliette scrupulously saves those for Mark. Not surprisingly, when the two mature but attractive adults meet, they quickly develop a flirtatious rapport. However, as Mark’s delays continue, their relationship deepens into something perilously close to romance.

Nadda’s story follows in the elegant tradition of David Lean’s Brief Encounter and other chaste cinematic affairs. These characters take commitment seriously, so they do not fall into other people’s arms lightly. Indeed, for Juliette, a trip to the pyramids with another man would constitute nearly as great a betrayal as an amorous assignation. It is that mature sensibility that makes Cairo such an engaging film.

Truly, the Egyptian city sparkles through Luc Montpellier’s lens, but Nadda has not penned a starry-eyed love letter. As Juliette learns first-hand, it can be a frightening place for women to walk the streets alone, even in broad daylight. There are also numerous places explicitly off limits to women, including Tareq’s coffee bar, but of course she knows the owner, so she has an ‘in.”

Patricia Clarkson and Alexander Siddig (best known as Dr. Bashir on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) hit all the right notes as Juliette and Tareq. Their graceful chemistry make viewers want them to be together, though we know they ultimately never can. In a way, Cairo bears certain similarities to Lost in Translation, bestowing unexpected depth on a chance meeting, while maintaining a wistful vibe throughout. Yet unlike the annoyingly self-indulgent characters of Sophia Coppola’s film, Juliette and Tareq are self-aware, self-denying grown-ups. As a result, spending time with them is a quiet pleasure.

Nadda’s gentle rhythms and striking visuals make for a seductive cinematic blend. Never loud or crass, Cairo is an adult film, in the classiest sense. Warmly recommended, it opens this Friday (8/6) at the IFC Center.