A Better Life Guillaume Canet (best known here as the writer-director of Tell No One) plays a solitary, working-class Parisian who tries to better his lot after falling for a tough single mother from Lebanon (Leila Bekhti). The two risk everything to open a bed-and-breakfast, only to be overwhelmed by debts and forced into poverty. Director Cedric Kahn (L’Ennui) situates this melodramatic story within a precisely observed social reality, thoroughly detailing the business of loan applications, restaurant management, and living on 200 euros a month. As in the Depression-era romances of Frank Borzage (Man’s Castle; Little Man, What Now?), the hard facts enhance the film’s emotional impact. In French with subtitles. —Ben Sachs 107 min. Fri 7/27, 7:30 PM.
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38 Witnesses The 1964 murder of Kitty Genovese—who was stabbed to death outside her Brooklyn apartment building as her neighbors supposedly stood by—inspired this drama by writer-director Lucas Belvaux (Rapt), about a childless, middle-aged couple (Yvan Attal, Sophie Quinton) who overhear a similar crime. The movie contains almost no subtext: characters constantly explain how they feel and what they think the incident implies about their community. To further underscore the obvious, Belvaux affects the same dour, defeatist tone for every scene. Also known as One Night. In French with subtitles. —Ben Sachs 99 min. Sun 7/29, 7 PM.
Music Box, Fri-Sun 7/27-7/29. Reviews of selected films follow; for a full schedule see musicboxtheatre.com.
