Capsule reviews for May 15

Alice

Audacious and richly textured, this French morality tale skillfully navigates some tricky narrative terrain, bolstered by a committed debut from Emilie Piponnier in the title role. Alice is a Parisian mother whose husband (Martin Swabey) suddenly disappears, leaving the family on the brink of financial ruin. Alice learns that he’d spent their savings on call girls, and desperately decides to pursue that trade herself, hoping to avoid eviction with a quick payday. Rather than portraying Alice as weak-minded or pitiful, she’s fully empowered in the screenplay by rookie Australian director Josephine Mackerras. Within a familiar framework, the steely and provocative film smartly sidesteps clichés. (Not rated, 103 minutes).

Castle in the Ground

Although it’s delivered with well-meaning compassion, this gritty low-budget Canadian drama about opioid addiction doesn’t explore much new ground. Small-town teenager Henry (Alex Wolff) tends to his bedridden mother (Neve Campbell) by serving up pain meds until she dies, then becomes hooked himself to cope with the grief. Then he meets a self-destructive junkie neighbor (Imogen Poots) who might either plunge him deeper into a downward spiral or be his key to recovery. Strong performances by the two leads help create a vivid intimacy in their scenes together, but the screenplay by director Joey Klein (The Other Half) turns tedious and contrived in the second half. (Not rated, 106 minutes).

Proximity

Whether it’s meant to be taken seriously is up for debate, but either way, this campy if earnest science-fiction drama is pretty inept. It follows a nerdy NASA scientist (Ryan Masson) who ventures into the woods to investigate a strange signal, then claims he was abducted by aliens. Despite video evidence to prove it, he’s ridiculed and ostracized and then chased by a corrupt government agency with some Stormtrooper-like robots at their disposal. Things go bonkers pretty quickly, and the visual effects are actually competent, reflecting the background of rookie director Eric Demeusy. His ambitions far outweigh the execution, however, thanks to a laughably incoherent screenplay. (Not rated, 119 minutes).