by Audrey Callerstrom, Associate Editor and Staff Writer

The Cow (dir. Eli Horowitz)

Details behind The Cow have been kept deliberately under wraps. It slowly drops a few breadcrumbs, but this isn’t the kind of mystery/thriller that expects you’re keeping notes. If you’re like “Oh, I know!” No, you do not. It’s the first time in a long time that I felt like I was watching a film that was storyboarded. The majority of scenes are pretty short, fading to black, then snapping either forward or backward. Winona Ryder carries the movie wonderfully as Kath, a community ed teacher who is trying to relive some of her youth with a younger boyfriend, Max (the always affable John Gallagher, Jr, Cloverfield Lane).

Max and Kath go on an impromptu road trip to a cabin hours outside of town, and we get hints at what their relationship is like. Kath checks her forehead wrinkles in the rearview mirror. Max loses his favorite baseball cap when he sticks his head out a window, like a Labrador. Things turn eerie when Max and Kath get to the cabin and they find that it’s already occupied by a younger couple (Owen Teague and Brianne Tju). Was there a mistake with the reservation? The couple agrees to let Kath and Max stay the night. Kath is not comfortable with the young couple, while Max looks around agog at the items within the cabin. An old board game? Jamiroquai on vinyl? He even tells Kath she’ll like the cabin because it’s full of old things. Eek, maybe don’t say that to your older girlfriend.

I’ll stay mum on most of the details of the film, because I think the majority of the filmgoing public cares about spoilers and think part of the joy comes from elements of surprise. I’ll only mention that Dermot Mulroney shows up as the cabin’s owner. The film takes place in compact scenes, each which begin and end with fade-ins and fade-outs. There are small time jumps, sometimes days and weeks into the past. Kath admits to a coworker that she’s chasing her youth by dating this older, scruffy student of hers. She, rather callously, openly mocks him among her friends for wearing a Bad Brains shirt, since he’s trying not to look like a try-hard, but that the shirt probably cost $100 to ship from Tokyo. As someone who regularly buys band shirts off Etsy from people in California with screen printers for $20, I take mild offense.

The Cow had me genuinely curious as to where it was taking me. I kept asking myself, do I like this? Does this work? It doesn’t unfold like most modern films do. Ultimately, it does work, in large part to the care and thought that goes into each moment, and primarily, because of its lead. Ryder maintains a sense of stability and caution even as things get hectic. You can tell this is a woman who has had to maintain her composure around chaos (although her backstory is minimal). The suspense overall feels pretty low stakes, but that’s consistent with the film’s tone. Don’t expect any jumps or scares in this slow/low boil mystery/thriller, but do expect to stay curious as you watch it.

Cha Cha Real Smooth (dir. Cooper Raiff) 

After two films, Cooper Raiff is a filmmaker I’m completely on board with. Whatever he’s making, I’m there. He wrote, directed, and starred in the tender and funny Shithouse, about a college student who isn’t having the best first year at college. His follow up, Cha Cha Real Smooth, shares a lot of similarities with Shithouse. It’s also about a man who is about the same age as Raiff, who has a sibling and mother he’s close with, and a dad who is no longer around. He’s also hung up on a girl, and navigating a transitional period in his life. Although instead of connecting with a peer, like Raiff did so wonderfully with comedian/actress Dylan Gelula in Shithouse, it’s an older woman named Domino (Dakota Johnson), whom Raiff meets while taking his younger brother David (Evan Assante) to a bar mitzvah.

While Shithouse was, in some respects, a romantic comedy, Cha Cha Real Smooth leans a little more into drama, connecting these two individuals after a chance encounter. Raiff plays Andrew, a recent college grad whose girlfriend more or less dumps him when he shrugs off questions about his post-college plans. Domino is a mother of a teenage girl named Lola (Vanessa Burghardt), who has autism and was held back a few years, making her taller than all the other kids in her grade. Domino had Lola when she was really young, and she’s looking forward to the stability and commitment that comes with marrying an aloof attorney named Joseph (Raúl Castillo), who travels frequently for work. Domino and Andrew have a chance encounter on a night when they both are feeling vulnerable. Andrew ends up being the life of the party at the bar mitzvah, finding a calling as a bar mitzvah “party starter.” He befriends Lola, and later finds that Domino is hiding in the bathroom, having suffered a painful and messy miscarriage and gotten blood all over her dress. To cover it up, Andrew, Domino, Lola, and David all get oversized novelty spray-paint T-shirts, and leave in style.

Nearly every character in Cha Cha Real Smooth is up front about their vulnerability, which generates instant sympathy. Andrew’s mom (Leslie Mann), while caring and maybe a little too apologetic of her new-ish husband (Brad Garrett), has bipolar disorder, and is nervous about how she had a manic episode in front of one of the other moms. Domino is candid with Andrew about things like marriage, depression, and raising a child with autism (“It’s hard, sometimes, but not because of her,” she says). Even fling Macy (Odeya Rush, Lady Bird), admits that it’s hard to hook up with someone from high school without being instantly transported back to high school. There are some things in here that Raiff also used in Shithouse that perhaps aren’t necessary for the story. The film starts 10 years prior, where Andrew reveals his feelings to an older bar mitzvah host (Kelly O’Sullivan, Saint Frances). It doesn’t really come up again and I’m not sure it provides any further insight into the character. Similarly, a dialogue-free “Six Months Later” segment tacked on to the end doesn’t feel necessary. Overall Cha Cha Real Smooth is a heartwarming, earnest film with funny and true moments.