GUERRILLA: THE TAKING OF PATTY HEARST
unrated, 89 mins.

The 1974 kidnapping and subsequent conversion (or brainwashing, depending on one’s point of view) of then teenaged heiress Patty Hearst by the ragtag guerrillas of the Symbionese Liberation Army has been a part of the public imagination ever since. Robert Stone’s documentary is not the first film made about the Hearst kidnapping (Paul Schrader’s intriguing 1988 fictional version of the tale was unjustly neglected), but it does have a sheen of authority.

Beginning with a detailed look at how the SLA came into being and interviewing former leaders such as Russ Little – who was in prison for murder at the time of Hearst’s kidnapping – Mr. Stone’s film successfully places the SLA in perspective. These were a bunch of delusional kids who fused rabid left-wing views with the impressionistic good guys-bad guys iconography of their childhood. (Errol Flynn should be credited with a supporting role, given the number of times he shows up here in cut-aways to “The Adventures of Robin Hood.”) But Mr. Stone’s lack of access to Hearst – the heart of his film – is a near-fatal flaw.

She would be something of an unreliable witness, having claimed to join the group only to later renounce her association while incarcerated. But the unstated mystery at the heart of this film remains: What really happened during the titular taking? It’s understandable that Stone doesn’t have the answers; the problem is he never quite poses the question. Instead, the film drifts towards a critique of the media – never quite as interesting or compelling.

– Bilge Ebiri

PURPLE BUTTERFLY
R, 127 mins.

Sometimes you want to spank a director. Like China’s Lou Ye, whose “Vertigo” remix, “Suzhou River,” thrilled critics in 2000. His latest movie, “Purple Butterfly,” about the Chinese resistance in Shanghai during World War II, is a beautifully chaotic blur centered on a complex performance by Zhang Ziyi, but its stylistic tics wind up bringing it to the ground before it reaches the finish line.

Zhang plays Cynthia, a Chinese girl having an affair with a Japanese man named Itami in 1931. Itami is called back to Tokyo, Cynthia is crushed. We jump forward a few years. Itami is a high official in the occupied Shanghai, anti-Japanese riots engulf the city, and agents of Purple Butterfly, a resistance group, meet to plan the assassination of Itami. Purple Butterfly is, of course, led by Cynthia. The movie ends with the characters shattered, and the Japanese rampaging through Southern China.

This French-Chinese co-production is a collision of all the worst excesses of bad French cinema (disregard for story, long boring silences) and Chinese cinema’s best instincts (operatic emotions, kinetic action) and the result is a worthwhile misfire, which is too bad since all the pieces are in place for what could have been a minor masterpiece.

– Grady Hendrix

EASY
R, 97 mins.

‘Easy” is a surprisingly vibrant riff on the hackneyed genre of romantic comedy. The usual elements are here: a quirky 20-something heroine with bad luck in love, a choice between two lovers, infidelities. But writer and director Jane Weinstock, in her debut feature, infuses all of these with vitality, thanks in no small part to the subtle performances by the cast and a splendid Southern-California-evoking pop score by Grant-Lee Phillips.

After a string of one-night stands and rejections, Jamie (Marguerite Moreau) finds herself ardently courted by two men: John, a soft-spoken, moony British poet (Naveen Andrews) and Mick, a garrulous Irish comedian (Brian F. O’Byrne). In order to disperse mounting confusion, she commits herself to three months of celibacy.

Ms. Moreau plays Jamie with the right blend of silliness, solemnity, and frustration. Mr. O’Byrne, in the thankless role of the one Jamie wants to “just be friends” with, invests Mick with a sympathetic candor. Ms. Weinstock sustains moments of anguish for almost unbearable lengths, and delivers a script that adheres remarkably to the contours of genuine experience.

The film’s most affecting moments emerge almost accidentally from Jamie’s emotional life. When was the last time we had a romance that allowed a character to toss off a casual reference to Nazi architect Albert Speer? “Easy” is as unflinching and honest a look at a conventional relationship – with all of its attendant pleasures and cruelties – as we could hope for.

– Arthur Vaughan

A FOND KISS
R, 103 mins.

A ‘Fond Kiss” is a love story that deals with culture and religion – and the politics that come with them – but is not overwhelmed by these themes. Ken Loach’s take on the ‘Romeo and Juliet’ genre is a lovely film that demonstrates the charms of what is possible with a first-rate director and a capable (if unknown) cast.

Newcomer Atta Yaqub plays Casim Khan, the middle child of Pakistani immigrants Tariq (Ahmad Riaz) and Sadia (Shamshad Akhtar). The two, fairly successful and devout Muslims, have arranged a marriage between him and his comely cousin Jasmine. Casim wants to please his family (he hasn’t much of a choice), but is taken aback when he meets Roisin Murphy, the popular Irish part-time music teacher at his younger sister’s school (played irresistibly by Eva Birthistle).

Torn between someone he cares for and the respect he feels for his father, culture, and heritage, Casim attempts to keep the two separate.

The approach of Mr. Loach and his screenwriter Paul Laverty (this is their sixth collaboration) remains surprising and unconventional, even as their film ventures into familiar territory. It is one of the finer films in a distinguished career.

– Eddie Goldberger