Film Reviews

BEYOND HONOR Terrible movies about trivial subjects are commonplace and inconsequential, but a terrible movie that grapples with potentially inflammatory subject matter is far worse, because its aspirations are higher — which makes the failure of Varun Khanna’s moralistic drama all the more spectacular. In Southern California, Sahira (Ruth Osuna), a beautiful Egyptian-American medical student, nimbly juggles schoolwork, a romantic relationship with a white classmate (Jason David Smith) and the harshly conservative customs of her Muslim family, led by her racist, misogynist father (Wadie Andrawis). For the first 50 minutes, Beyond Honor depicts Sahira’s Old World/New World tug of war through a trite forbidden-love storyline. Then, at the halfway point, the film goes for its big dramatic shockeroo as Sahira’s family strikes back at her desire for personal freedom in an act of retribution, which Khanna blithely dispenses in agonizing slo-mo. From there, this clumsy culture-clash examination turns into a histrionic melodrama that lacks the artistry or character depth needed to adequately grapple with the political and emotional powder keg ignited by Sahira’s family. Because of its topicality, and the crude way in which its horrific plot twist is introduced, some will applaud Beyond Honor for its blunt “honesty,” but a movie this awfully scripted, acted and executed forfeits its right to be forgiven for good intentions. (Music Hall; Fallbrook; One Colorado) (Tim Grierson)

GO EVIL Pitched somewhere between inspirational coming-of-age tale and bloody-knuckled social drama, Swedish director Mikael Håfström’s adaptation of Jan Guillou’s autobiographical teen novel reveals a hard-edged contempt for the so-called wonder years. In 1950s Stockholm, violent juvenile delinquent Erik (Andreas Wilson) has been expelled from school for fighting, after which his mother ships him off to a distinguished private academy as a last resort. There, Erik’s attempts at reform are immediately tested by the vindictive senior class, led by Otto (Gustaf Skarsgård), which follows an unspoken school tradition of sadistically hazing underclassmen to instill discipline. Though Erik could easily end the harassment with his fists, he can’t risk another expulsion and so must learn to navigate his way through this more “civilized” environment. Superficially, the plotline is awfully familiar — the poor outsider kid who stares down the bullies and wins the love of a good girl. But Håfström (whose American debut was last year’s Derailed) doesn’t follow a predetermined course. Instead, Evil (a 2004 Oscar nominee for Best Foreign Language Film) evolves into a commentary on the troubling gray area between acceptable and unacceptable forms of violence, especially where the molding of boys into “real men” is concerned. Håfström doesn’t soft-pedal the abuse meted out by either his antihero or his nemeses, which will disturb audience members who want a clean demarcation between good guys and bad. But the excessive brutality drives home the point that those we lazily classify as “evil” aren’t always born that way — some get it beaten into them. (Royal; One Colorado) (Tim Grierson)

GO GAME 6 No writer could ever top the high drama witnessed in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series — which may be the point of this sloppy but endearing mash note to baseball, art and fate. Playwright Nicky Rogan (Michael Keaton) has the misfortune of having his newest Broadway show open on the same night that his beloved Red Sox try to finish off the Mets. Novelist-turned-screenwriter Don DeLillo then piles on more conflict for his lead character — Rogan’s wife (Catherine O’Hara) hands him divorce papers, the lead actor in his play (stage veteran Harris Yulin, in an expert turn) forgets his lines, and, yes, a gun-carrying drama critic (Robert Downey Jr.) takes his seat right behind the playwright’s daughter (Ari Graynor). Downey is inspired as the critic (who merits favorable comparisons to the screen’s great poison pen, George Sanders’ Addison DeWitt from All About Eve), but it’s not theater that makes Game 6 interesting. Instead, it’s Keaton’s monologues about baseball — a fixation of DeLillo’s since his first novel — and Boston’s (now broken) curse that work the movie’s modest magic. Don’t expect grace on the level of the author’s Pafko at the Wall, or even Vin Scully’s classic NBC play-by-play, but for viewers counting the minutes until opening day, Game 6 provides a quirky cinematic alternative to next week’s Benchwarmers. (Fairfax; Fallbrook) (James C. Taylor)

GO THE GRACE LEE PROJECT In this delightfully bighearted documentary, Korean-American filmmaker Grace Lee goes in search of her own identity by seeking out other owners of the most ubiquitous female moniker on the Asian books, and looks in vain for any evidence to support the persistent notion that all Grace Lees — and, by extension, all Asian women — are invariably petite, quiet, intelligent and sweet. Though clearly a feminist, Lee also has an abiding curiosity and openness of mind that allows her to celebrate not only the vibrant octogenarian Marxist Grace Lee, who has worked in poor black communities all her life, or the lesbian activist Grace Lee she finds blazing trails in Seoul, or the Grace who set fire to her high school, but also the Grace-Kelly Graces and the many Christian Graces, including a bunch of P.K.’s (pastor’s kids) who bring an infectious moxie to their calling, and whose certitude Lee envies even as she realizes she’s cut from different cloth. Niftily shot and edited, The Grace Lee Project isn’t just a witty unpacking of stereotype. It’s also a welcome freshening of the old documentary saw that there’s no such thing as an ordinary person. (Fairfax) (Ella Taylor)