The Ledge
Clunky writing and flat-footed direction derail this initially intriguing exploration into both the power and limits of belief. Structured as a flashback-heavy mystery, writer/director Matthew Chapman's debut feature opens with a solitary man (Sons of Anarchy's Charlie Hunnam), stepping onto the ledge of a high-res building, poised to leap to his death when the clock on an adjacent building strikes noon. While he waits, a cop (Terrence Howard) ascends to the roof to try to talk him down. Instead, the jumper regales him with a tale of woe involving a beautiful, emotionally damaged woman (Liv Tyler), their lusty affair and her jealous, fundamentalist husband (Patrick Wilson) that has presented him with an impossible choice: sacrifice his life for hers or allow her to die while he lives. It's a great hook for a movie, but Chapman doesn't exploit it particularly well, allowing the inherent tension to dissipate amidst overwritten conversations and unnecessary subplots, like the cop's doubt over the paternity of his children. (This half-baked storyline feels like something that was specifically added to attract a bigger-name actor like Howard to an otherwise low-budget movie.) At least the movie offers a strong showcase for the perpetually underrated Hunnam, who delivers a compelling performance as the unbeliever that comes to understand the way religion can heal (as well as hurt) others. Hey Hollywood, be sure to remember this guy when Sons of Anarchy ends its run. (Available now via IFC on Demand. Also playing in limited theatrical release in select cities.)
Best Scene: A tense dinner between Hunnam, his gay roommate (Chris Gorham), Wilson and Tyler that prematurely ends when Wilson outs himself as a homophobe.

Magic Trip
Arguably the most over-analyzed decade in the entire history of our planet, the 1960s have been dissected in so many different ways and in so many different mediums that it's virtually impossible to approach the subject in a way that feel fresh. So it's no real surprise that the new documentary Magic Trip, directed by Oscar-winner Alex Gibney and his longtime editor Alison Eastwood, mostly reinforces the standard narrative of the '60s, namely the way the youthful energy and positive vibes of the hippie movement gave way to a darker, more destructive hedonism. The film tells this story through the specific experiences of author Ken Kesey and his self-styled "Merry Band of Pranksters," who piled into a multi-colored bus in 1964 and drove cross country to attend the New York's World Fair. The group brought along a 16mm film camera with the intention of making a movie out of their road trip, but after years of trying to shape nearly 30 hours of footage into a releasable feature, the project was abandoned and the reels locked away in an archive. Now Gibney and Eastwood have completed it for them, mixing that earlier footage with archival news clips and recreations of a few key moments. And while the film contains several new interviews with the surviving Pranksters (their ringleader died in 2001), the directors wisely choose to avoid the standard "talking heads" doc approach, instead overlaying the subjects' comments on top of scenes of their younger selves cavorting about, high on LSD and other hallucinogens. While the movie doesn't offer any new insights into the era in which these folks embarked on their magical mystery tour, it is a trip to see the home movies they shot on the road and hear them reminisce about their experiences with an entertaining mixture of nostalgia and wry cynicism. (Available now via Magnolia on Demand. Also opening in limited theatrical release on August 5.)
Best Scene: The recounting of the Pranksters' thwarted attempt to meet with psychedelic guru Timothy Leary, who wanted nothing to do with them.

Septien
Three equally strange brothers get together for a long-overdue reunion in filmmaker/film critic Michael Tully's rural drama, which lays some Southern Gothic flourishes on top of a familiar dysfunctional family-learns-to-become-functional narrative arc. Tully writes, directs and stars in the film as Cornelius Rawlings, a drifter who returns to his family's homestead after an 18 year absence. There he reacquaints himself with his brother Ezra, a busybody that has appointed himself head of household after their parents' death, and his other sibling Amos, who dedicates himself to strange art projects that occasionally involve human feces. For a while, it looks like their divisions may be too great to be overcome, but then a mysterious stranger shows up and helps guide them towards some much needed catharsis. Filmed on location in in the backwoods of Tennessee, the film takes advantage of its striking setting, but unfortunately the characters at its center gradually reveal themselves to be less interesting than they initially appear. (Available now via IFC on Demand. Also playing in limited theatrical release.)
Best Scene: While looking vaguely like a homeless person, Cornelius challenges a tennis player to a match and reveals himself to be a potential Roger Federer-in-the-making.

Good Neighbors
So this is what mainstream Canadian cinema looks like! Writer/director Jacob Tierney (a former child actor who starred in, among other things, the bizarre 1993 kiddie road movie Josh and S.A.M., which you can get a taste of here) -- enlists some of the Great White North's biggest exports, including Undeclared's Jay Baruchel and Felicity's Scott Speedman, for an engaging, if somewhat preposterous thriller set in a Quebec City apartment complex. At the center of the story is Louise (Emily Hampshire), a sarcastic single woman who seems inordinately obsessed with news reports about a serial killer that's haunting the area. Louis enjoys a flirtatious relationship with her downstairs neighbor, the wheelchair bound Spencer (Speedman), and also cozies up to the building's newest resident, Victor (Jay Baruchel, who appeared opposite Hampshire in Tierney's last movie, The Trotsky, as well). But the anxiety caused by the lurking killer is getting to her, as is the irritating lady next door that seems to have it in for Louise's beloved cat. Eventually something's gonna happen that pushes her over the edge and, sure enough, it does and the fallout has a serious impact on her two "boyfriends" as well. Tierney establishes a nice atmosphere of tension and mystery that brings to mind one of Roman Polanski's apartment-set thrillers -- think Rosemary's Baby or The Tenent -- though it lacks the ingenious storytelling and memorably eccentric characters that those movies possess. Still, Good Neighbors is a solid, respectable genre piece that should play extra well when watched late one night in your own one or two-bedroom high-rise dwelling.
Best Scene: A wordless moment that reveals a key detail about Spencer, completely changing our perception of him.

Also on VOD This Month
Movies on Demand: The excellent Duncan Jones-directed, Jake Gyllenhaal-starring thriller Source Code arrived on MOD on July 8, well ahead of its July 26th DVD debut. Other prominent new titles include the Topher Grace '80s comedy Take Me Home Tonight, Limitless starring Bradley Cooper, Werner Herzog's hit documentary Cave of Forgotten Dreams and Conan O'Brien Can't Stop, the fascinating behind-the-scenes portrait of Conan O'Brien's comedy tour that we raved about a few weeks back.
IFC on Demand: The well-reviewed documentary Buck offers a portrait of real-life horse whisperer (and the guy on who that Robert Redford film was based), Buck Brannaman.
Magnolia on Demand: Forget gentle Niles Crane -- David Hyde Pierce goes full-on psycho in the dinner-party-gone-wrong chiller, The Perfect Host.

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