The Art of Racing in the Rain

It starts out sad and gets more depressing from there. Yet there’s something compelling about “The Art of Racing in the Rain” (2019). As hypnotic as a puppy’s gaze, it sinks its teeth into you and will not release until it makes good on its unspoken aim: You will cry. Narrated by Kevin Costner, the golden retriever of American actors, it’s a dogography steeped in mysticism, tracing the life of Enzo from the moment he meets his race-car-driving, chronically unlucky Job of a human until the two take one last, precious, lap around the track. And, perhaps, beyond. Good boy.

First Reformed

I can’t imagine the American Society for Depressed People was too keen on “First Reformed” (2018). I wouldn’t recommend it if you’ve been Googling “methods of suicide.” Writer-director Paul Schrader was trying to make some kind of perverse statement that Jesus would be an environmental extremist if he were around today, but ends up making an even more perverse argument that suicide is contagious. What begins as a character study of a depressed pastor gets progressively lazier as said pastor gets progressively drunker, until he (or we) starts imagining things. Supporting characters are one-dimensional handmaidens to Ethan Hawke’s affected performance.

Gringo

There have been a lot of these movies. You know, pick from the following create-a-story list: the hapless protagonist, the crime, the double-cross, the mistaken identity, the triple-cross, the bigger crime, the mobsters/cartel, the feds, the plot twist, etc. It becomes a comedy of errors, on one level or another. You know. There have been a lot of them. But the films that can spin enough of those a la carte plates to keep things interesting without making a mess are really good. Like “Gringo” (2018). David Oyelowo is the perfect hapless protagonist. Please ignore the violations of car-wreck physics.