Divine in scene from “Hairspray.”
BASTARDS — 2 STARS
A tragedy reveals an entwined world of secrets. (1:41) Not rated; Sexuality, nudity, violence. In French with subtitles. IFC.
An oblique, by-design and frustrating drama, Claire Denis’ film about a man’s mysterious suicide and its repercussions is creepy, but finally too vague. When Marco (Vincent Lindon) makes inquiries into his late brother-in-law’s life in Paris, including a mistress and child, he finds an older financier whose connection to the family is unexpected and amoral. It turns out to be all that and more, though Denis’ artful approach may be tough to puzzle out, as it lets audiences connect the dots.
I AM DIVINE — 4 STARS
Documentary about the late star of “Hairspray” and “Female Trouble.” (1:30). Not rated. Comically gross images. Cinema Village.
Like its subject — the drag queen star of director John Waters’ trash-cinema — this doc is bigger than life with a heart the size of Baltimore. Friends, family and castmates weigh in on the life and career of Harris Glenn Milstead, whom his childhood pal Waters christened “Divine” in a 1968 low-budget flick.
Gad Elmaleh (left) and Gabriel Byrne in “Capital.”
More than just a one-name star of pop culture’s alternative history, Divine’s story — terrorized by bullies, embraced by the outré, where he finds a home — stands for “all the outsiders,” as Waters says (between hilarious anecdotes). Terrific footage from behind the scenes (including the end of “Pink Flamingos”) helps make this recollection funny, full and sad.
Divine died of a heart attack after the mainstream success of “Hairspray” and just as a sitcom breakthrough promised a new beginning. But in Milstead’s brief 42 years there were separations and reunions, stumbles, success and, finally, a real American family, in movies oddly ahead of their time.
CAPITAL — 3 STARS
A financier steps into his boss’s position. Director: Costa-Gavras (1:53). Not rated. Sexuality. Paris, Union Square.
Though it traffics in internecine politics, the wheeling and dealing in director Costa-Gavras’ tense, wry corporate satire-drama winds up as a big picture indictment of old-boy power and the corrupt core of the 1 percent.
Gad Elmaleh plays the assistant to a megapowerful Parisian bank’s ailing CEO. The assistant is given his former boss’ title, but the board members want him to be simply a puppet, as they pull strings that cross the Atlantic, in the form of English financier Gabriel Byrne. Sex is plentiful, but the lust is for paydays. This is territory covered far more vibrantly in “Margin Call,” yet director Costa-Gavras (“Z,” “Missing”) still has good, old-fashioned indignation to count on.
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