Capsule reviews for Oct. 4

Blink

Effective enough as a global travelogue, this life-affirming documentary finds deeper meaning through the perspective of its subjects. It follows a family from Montreal in which three of the four preteen children are diagnosed with an incurable eye condition that leads to blindness. So before it’s too late, their parents use their resources to plan a yearlong trip around the world, hoping to pack their minds with visual memories to last a lifetime. As they check items off the bucket list, the curious kiddos make enthusiastic tour guides while taking in some breathtaking scenery. The emotional stakes are heightened, of course, but they keep it grounded. (Rated PG, 83 minutes).

Daaaaaali!

One surrealist is inspired by another in the latest absurd trifle from French filmmaker Quentin Dupieux (Deerskin), whose quirky fantasy — it’s not a biopic — provides some playful laughs at the expense of Spanish painter Salvador Dali. The loosely structured story follows a journalist (Anais Demoustier) so persistent about landing an interview with the pompous and misanthropic Dali (played by various actors) that she caters to all of his ridiculous whims during a midlife crisis. Beneath the exaggerated eccentricities, Dali is vain and chauvinistic, yet not in a mean-spirited way. As it satirizes fame and artistic appreciation, Dupieux’s amusing script emphasizes narrative misdirection over substantial insight. (Not rated, 78 minutes).

Food and Country

More of a sampler platter than a full meal, this documentary from director Laura Gabbert (City of Gold) is illuminating as a dissection of food availability and affordability, although a lack of focus compromises its impact. Legendary food writer Ruth Reichl is the guide for an in-depth examination of how the pandemic exacerbated existing wounds within the United States food industry, such as speed and price taking greater priority over nutrition and sustainability. Reichl visits with struggling independent farmers and restaurateurs, trying to find an economic path forward. The result finds hope in innovation, although it ultimately tries to bite off more than it can chew. (Not rated, 100 minutes).

Goebbels and the Fuhrer

Although it’s moderately provocative and persistently unsettling, this disjointed chronicle of Nazi demagoguery is more noteworthy for ambition than execution. Delving into the relationship between the titular Third Reich leaders over their final seven years, it makes a persuasive argument that power-hungry Adolf Hitler (Fritz Karl) was primarily a complicit puppet and warmongering spokesman for the horrific manipulations of propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels (Robert Stadlober). With director Joachim Lang inviting moviegoers to draw their own contemporary parallels, the audacious film yields some genuine chills, but it seems more concerned with justifying its own authenticity and purpose than offering an insightful or cohesive portrait of evil. (Not rated, 123 minutes).

Hold Your Breath

A richly textured performance by Sarah Paulson (“American Horror Story”) anchors this slow-burning thriller that lacks a compelling story to match its ominous atmosphere. Paulson plays a single mother raising two young daughters amid the constant dust storms ravaging rural Oklahoma during the 1930s. Plagued by paranoia and hallucinations due to the conditions, they reluctantly welcome in a stranger (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) who claims to be a faith healer, unaware of his sinister intentions. Generating some scattered frights as a tale of empowerment and survival, the film struggles to build consistent suspense with its underwhelming twists and muddled character dynamics. It becomes lost in the desert. (Rated R, 94 minutes).

Monster Summer

Trying to mix kid-appropriate frights with nostalgia for adults, this lightweight horror trifle from director David Henrie (This Is the Year) is overall formulaic and forgettable. It follows Noah (Mason Thames), a teenage aspiring journalist on Martha’s Vineyard whose friends begin experiencing strange and potentially sinister occurrences. For his investigation, Noah partners with a reclusive and eccentric former detective (Mel Gibson) and targets a suspicious visitor (Lorraine Bracco) to a bed and breakfast run by his mother (Nora Zehetner). As it delves into the supernatural, the film maintains its modest throwback charms and the young cast is appealing, although it’s never very suspenseful or scary. (Rated PG-13, 97 minutes).

The Problem with People

A breezy and affable fish-out-of-water story, this quirky and well-acted comedy delivers its misanthropy with a hint of irascible charm. Barry (Paul Reiser) is a New York real estate mogul who receives a call from his estranged Irish cousin (Colm Meaney) at the request of his dying father, who wants them to reunite and mend fences. Barry reluctantly makes the trip if not the effort, as spiteful behavior on both sides serves to reignite the family feud. Although it’s mildly contrived and struggles to raise the emotional stakes as a tale of bittersweet reconciliation, the film finds genuine humor and heart in its dysfunctional family dynamics. (Not rated, 102 minutes).

Salem’s Lot

Heavy on style but short on suspense, the latest cinematic resurrection of one of Stephen King’s earliest novels indulges in genre tropes rather than freshening the material in meaningful ways. It’s set in small-town Maine, where a writer (Lewis Pullman) returns home to write a book about some creepy childhood memories. He falls for a local real estate broker (Makenzie Leigh). But his arrival also coincides with some mysterious deaths, and hints about possible vampire involvement. The screenplay by director Gary Dauberman (Annabelle Comes Home) crafts some effective chills yet struggles to develop the characters or context to build those straightforward scares into more visceral terror. (Rated R, 113 minutes).

Things Will Be Different

Pushing the boundaries of moviegoer patience and goodwill, this low-budget thriller nevertheless finds its own unique rhythm as a clever genre hybrid while the narrative puzzle comes together. After committing a robbery, estranged siblings Joe (Adam David Thompson) and Sidney (Riley Dandy) flee to an abandoned rural farmhouse, which is able to transport them to the past. But while laying low, they become trapped by mysterious captors and visitors with ulterior motives, with the cash a secondary concern. Although it struggles to generate consistent tension while requiring buy-in to the high-minded concepts, the screenplay by rookie director Michael Felker pays off with a riveting climax. (Not rated, 102 minutes).