“Counting,” IFC Center, ongoingJem Cohen’s latest is a work of extreme patience for both filmmaker and audience. A global city-symphony, “Counting” unravels over 15 chapters of various lengths, capturing moments of street-life in New York, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Istanbul, and various other locations. But the film is more than a series of episodes from a tour around the world. Cohen has a miraculous, critical eye that looks toward human interaction and the nature of working-class life, and a fondness for the native juxtapositions we find in every city between ever-growing commercialization of space and labor.Like his previous work, “Museum Hours,” this is not just a film about how we engage in the act of looking, but also a film about travel. Some of the best parts of “Counting” are filmed in transit, Cohen on the subway in Brooklyn or in a car traveling through the dark and wet streets of St. Petersburg, capturing fleeting images in a single moment. “Counting” was one of the best films that played at the recent BAMCinemaFest, and deserves a wider audience.(Read an ARTINFO interview with Jem Cohen from 2013 here.)“The Kindergarten Teacher,” Film Society of Lincoln Center, ongoingWhen “Policeman” director Nadav Lapid’s latest film screened at New Directors/New Films earlier this year, I couldn’t get it out of my head. The film opens with the titular teacher solemn and quiet, a wannabe poet who spends her days working with young children and her nights dealing with an obnoxious husband and son. She wants more, and finds it in one of her students, who begins suddenly reciting poems of remarkable beauty, seemingly off the top of his head. Witnessing his genius, she transcribes his words and passes them off as her own in her poetry workshop. But that isn’t enough. She also tries to cultivate his talent, and her infatuation with the small child escalates to dizzying heights. You won’t see a film burning with more intensity at a theater this summer.“Listen to Me Marlon,” Film Forum, through August 11A remarkable documentary about the legendary actor Marlon Brando told through his own words, recorded over his lifetime into a tape recorder with clarity and wit. We get all the highlights — his studies with Stella Adler, his work with Elia Kazan, his later reemergence with “The Godfather” and “Last Tango in Paris,” and his late-in-life tragedies. But what’s even more stunning is hearing Brando’s intimate probing of his own life. (Read the ARTINFO review of the film here.)“On the Waterfront,” Museum of Modern Art, August 6, 8So you’ve already seen the Marlon Brando documentary and want more? How about heading up to the Museum of Modern Art for its “Scorsese Selects” program and watch what is, maybe, his best performance, in “On the Waterfront.” The image of Brando most people have lodged in their brains comes from this film, directed by Elia Kazan with a script from Budd Schulberg.“The End of the Tour,” Brooklyn Academy of Music, ongoingThis film was not really needed but is worth seeing. Why? Because if you find yourself in a bar in Brooklyn you can engage in some ribbing with the cuffed-pants literary set, who are currently sweating over Twitter flame wars regarding this film. Does this capture the real spirit David Foster Wallace? I don’t know and I don’t really care. But the guy who made a teenage romance flick with Shailene Woodley directed this film, so why anybody expected something more than the schmaltz that we get is beyond me. Also, this might have the dumbest ending of a movie all year. But you know, don’t judge until you’ve blah, blah, blah.
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