Capsule reviews for April 26

Body at Brighton Rock

While it effectively taps into some common fears of the unknown, this lighthearted, low-budget thriller doesn’t have enough twists to maintain its suspense at feature length. The creepy set-up involves a bumbling state park ranger (Karina Fontes) assigned to trail duty during an ordinary summer day. Then she becomes lost. Then she finds a dead body. And then she learns that the authorities can’t help her until the following morning. That concept generates some early tension, yet once the sun sets, the film struggles to garner sufficient rooting interest for its protagonist —or many legitimate frights — as she spends a night alone in the woods. (Rated R, 88 minutes).

J.T. Leroy

Identity confusion extends beyond the characters to the mundane execution of this true-life drama from director Justin Kelly (King Cobra). It chronicles the early 2000s literary hoax perpetrated by Laura Albert (Laura Dern), a troubled author who writes under the titular pseudonym, claiming to tell the autobiographical struggles of a teenage boy. Then she recruits her boyfriend’s androgynous sister, Savannah Knoop (Kristen Stewart), to generate publicity as the bisexual J.T. For anyone already familiar, this adaptation of Knoop’s memoir doesn’t provide much genuine insight or incentive for emotional attachment to the characters. The performances convey a depth and complexity that the muddled screenplay can’t match. (Rated R, 108 minutes).

The White Crow

Within a familiar coming-of-age trajectory, this biopic of Russian ballet star Rudolf Nureyev from actor-director Ralph Fiennes (The Invisible Woman) eventually finds its step. It focuses on his formative years, when Nureyev (expressive newcomer Oleg Ivenko) as a brash yet talented teenage dancer from a modest upbringing trying to achieve fame. The screenplay by David Hare (The Hours) tracks his bisexual relationships, his love of travel, and his eventual decision to defect from the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War. After a slow start, the evocative film gains narrative momentum in the final hour as it examines artistic freedom amid sociopolitical obstacles. (Rated R, 127 minutes).