Capsule reviews for Oct. 31

The Great Invisible

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill from 2010 might have dropped out of the headlines, but its aftermath still has a harrowing effect on survivors and Gulf Coast residents who depend on the environment for their livelihood. That’s the focus of this insightful documentary from director Margaret Brown (The Order of Myths), which features interviews with oil-rig workers, fishermen, seafood processors and others who claim that they are still feeling the effects of the historic spill and a corporate refusal to ensure worker safety or follow through with restitution. The result struggles to convey both sides, yet some of its quieter moments are both infuriating and powerful. (Not rated, 92 minutes).

Horns

Credit Daniel Radcliffe for his continued effort to break away from Harry Potter, even if this collaboration with director Alexandre Aja (The Hills Have Eyes) is more bizarre than unsettling. Radcliffe plays a man grieving the death of his girlfriend (Juno Temple) and trying to combat public perception that he killed her. One day, his temples mysterious sprout devil-style horns, which have strange effects not only on him but those he encounters. This adaptation of a novel by Joe Hill (son of Stephen King) has elements of horror, comedy, mystery and supernatural thriller, but winds up only as a slick and sporadically amusing oddity. (Rated R, 121 minutes).

Missionary

The Mormon church puts its stamp of approval on a handful of films each year, but this is certainly not one of them. Of course, it’s unlikely anyone else would approve, either, of this low-budget domestic thriller about a young LDS missionary (Mitch Ryan) who falls for a conflicted single mother (Dawn Olivieri) on one of his home recruiting visits, and begins an affair that turns into a web of deceit, jealousy and obsession. Solid performances keep it afloat for a while, but  things spiral downhill in predictable fashion, squandering a premise about faith and temptation that should have been much edgier and more provocative. (Rated R, 86 minutes).

The Overnighters

As bleak as its wintry landscape, this haunting if structurally flawed documentary follows a Lutheran pastor at a church in Williston, N.D., who offers shelter to men desperate to latch on to the glut of jobs provided by a recent oil boom in the area. But the outsiders bring plenty of emotional and criminal baggage that frightens the locals, causing a rift in the town and the congregation. The film offers an insightful probe of organized religion and how notions of trust, compassion, forgiveness and redemption sometimes clash with small-town values and contemporary socioeconomic realities. By refusing to take sides, it makes a powerful statement. (Rated PG-13, 102 minutes).

Private Peaceful

This modest examination of how battlefield wounds extend beyond the front lines takes place in England during World War I, where teenager Tommo (George MacKay) enlists in the Army along with his older brother Charlie (Jack O’Connell), partly as an effort to prove himself to a young woman (Alexandra Roach), before the horrors of war tear their bond apart. Adapted from a novel by Michael Morpurgo (War Horse), it’s an earnest interpretation of familiar themes – such as heroism, sacrifice and military bravado – given an old-fashioned visual treatment by director Pat O’Connor (Sweet November) that’s only intermittently exciting or poignant. There’s not much subtlety or surprise. (Not rated, 102 minutes).