Pat Redmond
The troubles they have seen: Jon Voight and Gleeson in The General.
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The GeneralWritten and directed by John Boorman
A Sony Picture Classics release
Opens December 18
Lena's Dreams
Written and directed by Heather Johnston and Gordon Eriksen
At Anthology Film Archives
December 2031
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Working on a minimal budget, Johnston and Eriksen shot the film in very long takes with a hand-held camera (their cinematographer Armando Basulto is a wiz). It's a dangerous choice and it doesn't always work but it's also wildly appropriate because it lets the actors (rather than an editor) determine the pace and the momentum of each scene. Forte, a fiercely concentrated performer with a big emotional range and a deft sense of humor, rises to the occasion. She builds a character before our eyes, exposing the process whereby she makes Lena's dreams her own. The film is unimaginable without her.