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Blu-Ray cover for Phoenix, directed by Christian Petzold
Blu-Ray cover for Phoenix, directed by Christian Petzold

Phoenix,

directed by Christian Petzold

(PG-13, 98 minutes)

Staged in the aftermath of the Holocaust, Phoenix is a risky journey of discovery built on subtle performances and a stunning script. Setting it apart is an enigmatic ending that allows viewers to come to their own conclusions.

The story starts in shell-shocked Berlin at the end of World War II. Jewish vocalist Nelly (Nina Hoss), returning to the city from time spent at Auschwitz, has been damaged by her ordeal. With the generous help of Lene (Nina Kunzendorf), she undergoes extensive reconstructive facial surgery to repair the effects of a gunshot blast. The results produce an attractive woman. But Nelly is having trouble recognizing herself, as well as reconciling herself with her altered appearance.

Living in a pleasant apartment where Lene encourages her to move to Haifa or Tel Aviv with the help of her ample inheritance (due her upon the deaths of the rest of her family), Nelly has another use for her time. Nearly nonverbal yet fiercely determined, she intends to track down her musician husband Johnny (Ronald Zehrfeld), although Lene insists that Johnny was responsible for Nelly's arrest and hurriedly divorced her after she was sent to the concentration camp.

Wandering among the sleazy bars in the city's American sector, Nelly finds Johnny in a dive called Phoenix. He does not recognize his wife. But he tells Nelly she bears a resemblance to his wife, whom he claims is dead. He proposes that she pose as Nelly in order to collect her inheritance, which he will split with her.

Nelly, who identifies herself to Johnny as Esther, accepts his proposal, and the film takes a surreal turn as she sees herself as a different woman from Nelly. And the more time she spends with Johnny, the more she's convinced he didn't betray her. "I know he loves her," she says, with "her" meaning "me."

Does he? Director and co-writer Christian Petzold's skill at playing cat-and-mouse may not produce a coherent outcome. But the film fascinates with possibilities.

Son of Saul (R, 107 minutes) If you don't think you can take yet another Holocaust movie, let this one pass you by. Son of Saul, winner of the 2016 Academy Award for best foreign language film, is a manufactured representation of hell.

Saul Auslander (Geza Rohrig) is a Hungarian Jewish prisoner who works as a member of a Sonderkommando unit at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. Sonderkommandos were prisoners forced to dispose of the bodies of their fellow prisoners after they'd been murdered in the gas chambers.

While the title provides a mild spoiler, the point is not what Saul finds (a child who has somehow survived the gassing) or what happens to that child, but the moral purpose that Saul finds in the aftermath, a course of action that pits him against his captors and fellow prisoners.

Saul isn't quite a hero, but a man capable of adapting quickly to changing circumstances and exploiting tiny advantages. He's determined to do what he must. As the whole world dies, he has found a reason to exist. With Levent Molnar; directed by Laszlo Nemes. Subtitled.

Krampus (PG-13, 98 minutes) Horror for the holidays! An unsettling and intermittently entertaining tale of a disagreeable family whose bad attitudes cause a demonic spirit to cut loose, bent on wreaking havoc on those who don't embrace the Christmas spirit. With Toni Collette, Adam Scott, Allison Tolman, David Koechner; directed by Michael Dougherty.

Jane Got a Gun (R, 97 minutes) A low-energy, ambling yet violent Western, awash in momentum-destroying flashbacks, in which outlaws threaten the well-being of Jane Hammond (Natalie Portman), who is determined to protect her home. With Ewan McGregor, Boyd Holbrook, Noah Emmerich, Joel Edgerton; directed by Gavin O'Connor.

Ride Along 2 (PG-13, 102 minutes) As much as you might want to like this sequel to the comedy that in 2014 first paired Kevin Hart and Ice Cube, there's not much going on in this silly and utterly forgettable buddy-cop caper. Even the stars seem to sense the futility of the project, although they struggle gamely to deliver some laughs. With Ken Jeong, Olivia Munn, Benjamin Bratt; directed by Tim Story.

Backtrack (R, 90 minutes) A lightweight, formulaic suspense thriller, with a measure of horror thrown in, in which a psychologist (Adrien Brody) faces a career-busting reality: The patients he has been seeing are ghosts. With Sam Neill, Robin McLeavy; directed by Michael Petroni.

MovieStyle on 04/29/2016

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