It’s the weekend again, and that means Film Focus. Here’s Mike Laidman with what’s new in local theaters.




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It’s likely that Fantastic Beasts will take the box office and popular choice again this weekend, but to challenge its repeat ambitions there are two much smaller films opening, looking to add a little more drama, a little more subtlety to your weekend.


Let’s make our way through About Ray and Tale of Tales, two serious dramas, one slipping in some comedy, the other a fantasy, but both ready to carry you away.


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Mike Laidman


Welcome to another edition of Film Focus. I’m Mike Laidman.


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About Ray (2015, Gaby Dellal)
A young woman decides to transition from female to male.


About Ray is perhaps the ultimate coming-of-ago story. A family in New York must deal with a life-changing transformation by one among them that ultimately affects them all. Ray is a teenager who has come to the realization that he isn't meant to be a girl and has decided to transition from female to male. His single mother, Maggie, must track down Ray's biological father to get his legal consent to allow Ray's transition. Dolly, Ray's lesbian grandmother, is having a hard time accepting that she now has a grandson. They must each confront their own identities and learn to embrace change and their strength as a family in order to ultimately find acceptance and understanding.


This movie hits things squarely in the middle, establishing Ray as transsexual, but then pushing that storyline slightly into the wings as it focuses more on more common family relationships, such as abandonment and broken families. The biggest hit against it is that it turns into more of a conventional romantic melodrama by the third act.


A strong cast with Naomi Watts and Susan Sarandon keeps things rolling, but About Ray seems to have some identity issues of its own.




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Tale of Tales (2015, Matteo Garrone)
Inspired by the fairytales by Giambattista Basile.


Once upon a time there were three neighboring kingdoms, each with a magnificent castle, from which ruled kings and queens, princes and princesses. One king was a fornicating libertine, another captivated by a strange animal, while one of the queens was obsessed by her wish for a child. Sorcerers and fairies, fearsome monsters, ogres and old washerwomen, acrobats and courtesans are the protagonists of this loose interpretation of the celebrated tales of Giambattista Basile.


A fairy tale for more mature audiences, Tale of Tales is visually splendid and narratively satisfying, a product of gothic imagination. Dark, gory, and gruesome, this is the fairytale of the year to beat.