A quick look at other films opening in theaters:
Hysteria (Sony Pictures Classics)
Directed by Tanya Wexler
Hugh Dancy plays Dr. Mortimer Granville, the real-life 1883 inventor of Granville’s Hammer, the first
electric vibrator. In Wexler’s sweet, droll rom-com, Granville gets mixed up with Charlotte, a social reformer played by Maggie Gyllenhaal. “Saucy and enjoyable,” wrote David Rooney from
Toronto, “even though it could have used a touch more spark in the writing. Gyllenhaal’s boisterous, vaguely contemporary energy fits her character’s hunger for emancipation.”
Polisse (IFC)
Directed by Maiwenn
French writer-director-actress Maiwenn, who plays a photographer documenting a Paris police child-protection unit, should break out internationally with this “powerhouse of emotional jolts, freewheeling comedy and socially minded storytelling,” wrote Jordan Mintzer from Cannes. “Like a whole season of The Wire packed into two hours.”
Virginia (Entertainment One)
Directed by Dustin Lance Black
A schizoid single mom (Jennifer
Connelly) hooks up with a kinky Mormon sheriff (Ed Harris) in Oscar-winning Milk writer Black’s attack on small-town religious hypocrisy. “Closer to bad camp than edgy satire,” wrote Michael Rechtshaffen from Toronto.
The Samaritan (IFC)
Directed by David Weaver
A grifter tries to go straight. “A gritty serving of pulp fiction masterfully perpetrated by Samuel L. Jackson as a philosophical ex-con,” wrote Rechtshaffen from Santa Barbara.
Also Opening May 18:
Battleship (Universal) Directed by Peter Berg
What to Expect When You’re Expecting (Lionsgate) Directed by Kirk Jones
