***image1***Loners rule the latest releases.
THE MATADOR
R, 96 min.
Salesman meets assassin, salesman falls for assassin, salesman is disillusioned when assassin acts like, well, an assassin. In Richard Shepard's debut comedy, Greg Kinnear plays Danny, an out-of-luck Willy Loman drowning his sorrows in a Mexico City bar where he encounters sweet-talking Julian (Pierce Brosnan in the role of his life), an out-of-luck hitman doing likewise. An unexpected plot twist brings the two men together, yielding a peppery friendship-and a refreshingly different movie.
THE INTRUDER (L'INTRUS)
NR, 130 min.
French director (and critics' darling) Claire Denis helped adapt Jean-Luc Nancy's cold-blooded novel about Louis (Michel Subor), a 68-year-old man who, in need of a heart transplant, goes around the world in search of the replacement organ. Having acquired it, he then proceeds to seek out his prodigal Tahitian son-but can a villain like Louis ever really turn over a new leaf? Subor (and Denis) leave us guessing right up until and past the last possible minute; to say
L'Intrus
has an ambiguous and even shocking conclusion is like saying
The Usual Suspects
gets a bit squirrely at the end-it's like a fever dream you can never really unravel.
THE PASSENGER
PG-13, 119 min.
Originally
Professione: reporter
, Michelangelo Antonioni's rereleased 1975 film glows with its spare, evocative photography and an understated screenplay.
The Passenger
follows journalist David Locke (Jack Nicholson) through an unnamed northern African country where he chases-and loses-a story on guerrilla freedom-fighters. Returning to his hotel in defeat, he finds a dead body in his room, whereupon he does what any one of us would do: He steals his new acquaintance's passport and identity. Only one small problem: New dead friend was apparently an international arms dealer. Maria Schneider, fresh-faced from
Last Tango in Paris
, costars as the enigmatically named "Girl," almost stealing scenes out from under Jack.
