Capsule reviews for July 28

A Family Man

Some truths about corporate greed and absentee parenting are buried deep within this superficial redemption melodrama that’s more predictable than provocative. Dane (Gerard Butler) is a cutthroat Chicago headhunter whose obsession over profit-making schemes tends to distance him from his wife (Gretchen Mol) and young son (Max Jenkins). But when the family confronts a medical crisis, Dane’s priorities are tested, along with his loyalty to his ruthless boss (Willem Dafoe). As Dane transforms from boiler-room brute to doting daddy, plenty of lessons are learned along the way, delivered with sledgehammer subtlety by Butler and rookie director Mark Williams. But he hasn’t earned our sympathy. (Rated R, 108 minutes).

From the Land of the Moon

Marion Cotillard can’t rescue some mediocre material in this deliberately paced French drama from director Nicole Garcia (Place Vendome) featuring some pretty scenery and not much else. Cotillard plays an unstable woman in a post-World War II small town whose romantic dreams don’t match her reality. She flees an arranged marriage by checking into a sanitarium, where she falls for an ex-soldier (Louis Garrel) who’s also a patient. However, they’re torn apart, causing her midlife crisis to resume. Instead of any meaningful exploration of mental illness, the film exploits the affliction of its protagonist for a meandering romantic melodrama with an unconvincing final-act twist. (Rated R, 119 minutes).

Menashe

This tender and heartfelt Yiddish drama is a gritty example of familiar themes being given fresh life within unique settings. The title character (Menashe Lustig) is a widower in Brooklyn whose refusal to quickly remarry has made him an outcast of sorts in the Hasidic Jewish community in Brooklyn, causing him to fight for custody of his son (Ruben Niborski) from his smarmy brother-in-law (Yoel Weisshaus). Rookie director Joshua Weinstein emphasizes authenticity in the film’s setting, which benefits this low-budget if uneven examination of how rigid customs sometimes conflict with basic human emotions. Bittersweet yet charming, the result is both intimate and relatable for parents everywhere. (Rated PG, 82 minutes).

Person to Person

There’s a familiarity in both the setting and the structure of this low-budget ensemble drama, which intercuts five stories of relationship troubles among New Yorkers, from an eager journalist (Abbi Jacobson) tracking a murder case to a jazz aficionado (Bene Coopersmith) chasing down a rare vinyl record. The approach is grounded in gritty realism, but while it manages some scattered moments that are both amusing and affecting, the disjointed film doesn’t yield much of a cumulative effect because its stories don’t really intersect. It’s essentially five shorts cut together, with some segments better than others. The cast includes Michael Cera and Philip Baker Hall. (Not rated, 84 minutes).

Strange Weather

Holly Hunter’s committed performance and an evocative depiction of life in the blue-collar Mississippi Delta region can’t quite rescue this earnest melodrama about guilt and redemption from its formulaic trappings. Hunter plays a college administrator facing job uncertainty while still mourning the suicide of her adult son six years ago. As she sets out on a cathartic odyssey with a friend (Carrie Coon) to get some answers, a revelation about one of her son’s friends fuels a desire for revenge. The screenplay by director Katherine Dieckmann (Diggers) is a heartfelt and modestly poignant examination of maternal grief, yet it’s consistently undermined by plot mechanics and clichés. (Rated R, 92 minutes).