Newsletter: Indie Focus: a pre-Oscars break from awards season with ‘XX,’ ‘Kedi’ and ‘You’re Killing Me Susana’

Hello! I’m Mark Olsen, and welcome to another edition of your regular field guide to a world of Only Good Movies.

As this week’s newsletter is hitting inboxes we are T-minus one week away from the Oscars. This year has been so unusual in that many of the top-nominated, most-discussed films — “La La Land,” “Moonlight,” “Manchester by the Sea,” “Fences,” “Arrival,” “Hidden Figures” and more — are movies that people aren’t nearly as sick and tired of as they often are by this point in the season. And yet because of other forces in the world, our new president and the like, this year’s Oscar season has seemed oddly muted, as if people’s attentions were simply elsewhere.

The Times’ Jeffrey Fleishman had this illuminating sit-down with Denzel Washington, a best actor nominee for his role in “Fences,” a film Washington also directed.

The article captures something special about Washington, as when Fleishman notes, “He can appear elusive and hard to penetrate in conversation; taking a question, tossing it back, playing with meaning and challenging the intention of each syllable. Like Maxon, he has the hard stare of a long-ball hitter, fixed on the slightest crack. He does not mind silence.”

Later in the article, Washington noted, “Someone asked me, how do you feel about playing someone people don’t like?’ You can’t go into a role worrying about who likes it. What’s the truth.”

And Amy Kaufman got to the really real essence of the Oscars: How’s the food? How does lobster corn dogs, gold-dusted truffle popcorn and baked potatoes with caviar sound to you? (And photographer Al Seib, who captures the Oscars like no one else, has photos from the Governors Ball press preview.)

And if you’re feeling sick of the Oscars or just looking to think about another movie for a bit, Los Angeles is ready for you. The UCLA series on female filmmakers of the ’70s and ’80s is reaching a peak with screenings of Bette Gordon’s “Variety,” Susan Seidelman’s “Smithereens” and Barbara Loden’s must-see “Wanda.”

The Cinefamily will be showing Claire Denis’ mesmerizing “Beau Travail” on the same night “Wanda” plays at UCLA, so anyone looking to explore the history of female filmmakers (and lodge a low-key protest vote against the lack of women directors recognized by the academy) should make these films part of their Oscars weekend calendar. (I’ll be at “Beau Travail,” because it’s been longer since I’ve had a chance to see it in a theater. If you’re there, say hi!)

And we had a really great screening event with Macon Blair’s Sundance grand jury prize winner, “I Don’t Feel at Home In This World Anymore,” this past week followed by a delightful Q&A with lead actress Melanie Lynskey. Our next event will be on Monday, May 6, with a screening of “Trainspotting 2” and a Q&A with director Danny Boyle. (Full disclosure: we’re super-giddy about that one.) Check in at events.latimes.com for more info.

‘XX’

An anthology of four short films directed by women, “XX” is ostensibly a series of horror, but also an examination of women’s lives and the terrors of getting through the day both big and small. Directing the four pieces are Karyn Kusama, Roxanne Benjamin, Jovanka Vuckovic and Annie Clark, the musician better known as St. Vincent and making her filmmaking debut here.

For The Times, Katie Walsh wrote, “It’s fascinating to observe how the feminine perspectives of ‘XX’ create for powerfully compelling and original horror tales that operate within the genre while testing the boundaries of traditional storytelling and style. It’s an argument for inclusion and a celebration of unique female voices in this world.”

For the Chicago Tribune, Michael Phillips called the film “a collective shiver … for those in the mood for sprightly, short-form misfortune.”

Indiewire’s Kate Erbland interviewed Kusama about her recent turn to horror, having followed up “Jennifer’s Body” with “The Invitation” and now her contribution to “XX.”

As Kusama said, “I can say, categorically, I could not have predicted this. What I do think is really interesting is that, as I get older and more mature, I’m really attuned to how frightening this world is that we live in.”

And I spoke to Clark and Benjamin at Sundance for a short video interview.

‘Kedi’

It shouldn’t be a surprise, but there seems to be some cross-over between people who like cats and film critics. So the positive response to the Ceyda Torun film “Kedi,” about the street cats of Istanbul, shouldn’t be too much of a surprise.

For the L.A. Times, Kenneth Turan wrote, “while you don’t have to be crazy about cats to enjoy this documentary, it would certainly help.” He added that “one of ‘Kedi’s’ virtues is the picture it provides of modern Istanbul, giving us a dawn-to-dusk tour of the metropolis and showing us neighborhoods that feel very much like the real, everyday Istanbul, not the tourist mecca we usually see.”

At Indiewire, Eric Kohn wrote, “If Grumpy Cat is the blockbuster franchise of cat videos, ‘Kedi’ is the “Citizen Kane” of the genre. Though technically a sophisticated, artful documentary from Turkish filmmaker Ceyda Torun, ‘Kedi’ will automatically find devout fans among anyone who delights at all things feline.”

For MTV, Amy Nicholson noted, “I checked out ‘Kedi’ to get a good look at some foreign cats. Instead, I kept thinking about humans like me who grew up certain that the best way to care for an animal is to trap it within four walls and make it obey our rules instead of its own. What makes Turkish mammals — both Homo sapiens and Felis catus — so different from Americans? Torun doesn’t talk about it. She just wants to make an art-house charmer. … What lingers is ‘Kedi’s’ awareness that the city is alive. For every violinist on a street corner, there’s a kitten somberly judging their skill.”

At Artforum, Amy Taubin said, “In ‘Kedi,’ Torun captures what remains of her childhood paradise, creating a remembrance of and a model for a generous and humane way of life. … But if ‘Kedi’ never feels like a memory piece, it is because cats always live in the present moment. That’s why one man says they are better for him than his worry beads. “A cat curled up at your feet is life smiling at you.”

‘You’re Killing Me Susana’

A hit in Mexico, the film “You’re Killing Me Susana” finds Gael García Bernal playing an actor who travels to America to find the woman (Verónica Echegui) who left him.

For The Times, Kenneth Turan says the film is “an engaging romantic comedy with some serious things on its mind, ‘Susana’ is not only a fine showcase for Bernal’s talent but it also combines tones and textures in an unexpected and involving way.”

Gael García Bernal and Verónica Echegui in the film “You’re Killing Me Susana.”

(Hola Mexico Distribution / Hola Mexico Distribution)

At the Village Voice, Sherilyn Connelly lauded the film for “examining modern masculinity, Mexican stereotypes and especially the privilege of beauty,” while also noting that “Gael García Bernal could still charm the chrome off a bumper on his worst day.”

Email me if you have questions, comments or suggestions, and follow me on Twitter @IndieFocus.