Capsule reviews for March 13

Cymbeline

One of Shakespeare’s more obscure tragedies should remain that way after this stylish contemporary reworking by director Michael Almereyda (who did the same thing with Hamlet in 2000). It’s a romance about a drug kingpin (Ed Harris) whose biker gang is under siege from a corrupt police force while his daughter (Dakota Johnson) ignores the wishes of her stepmother (Milla Jovovich) and pledges her love to a poor drifter (Penn Badgley). Almereyda’s adaptation strips down the Bard’s narrative and ramps up the sex and violence, which is fine, but as with other such projects, the anachronistic dialogue is awkward and the storytelling is muddled and convoluted. (Rated R, 98 minutes).

Eva

The development of artificial intelligence presents a host of provocative ethical and social conflicts, but you don’t get that from watching this Spanish science-fiction saga, set, in the near future, about a reclusive robotics engineer (Daniel Bruhl) who returns to his alma mater to help with the creation of a lifelike android child. But the assignment causes friction in his personal life when he begins using his brother’s young niece (Claudia Vega) as inspiration. Rookie director Kike Maillo employs some solid effects and introduces some intriguing concepts but generally relegates the science to the background in favor of human drama that’s not as compelling or surprising. (Rated PG-13, 94 minutes).

It Follows

Both darkly funny and unsettling, this clever and suspenseful low-budget thriller follows a teenager (Maika Monroe) who becomes tormented by a series of creepy encounters with zombie-like creatures that are invisible except to her. Apparently she became a target after it was passed on from an ex-boyfriend. As it gradually reveals the phenomenon behind the attacks, the script by director David Robert Mitchell is more concerned with the psychology of horror than the blood and guts, as the film preys on common fears and paranoia without turning manipulative or sacrificing tension. The result is a stylish portrait of suburban teenage angst that subverts genre expectations. (Rated R, 100 minutes).