The Netflix documentary “The Remarkable Life of Ibelin” is an involving film about a solitary Norwegian teenager named Mats who suffered from a rare form of muscular dystrophy. Upon his death, his parents inadvertently discovered that he had a rich online life they knew nothing about. He had made many friends and affected many lives through the role play game, “World of Warcraft.” The filmmakers cleverly combine animation inspired by the game with the usual talking heads to help tell the expansive story of Mats and his alter ego, Ibelin. “The Remarkable Life of Ibelin” is a surprisingly moving experience.
“Your Monster” is a movie that isn’t quite sure what it wants to be. Is it a rom com, a fantasy, a horror flick, a backstage musical? Melissa Barrera stars as a wannabe Broadway actress suffering from cancer whose boyfriend bails on her. To complicate matters, she discovers a threatening monster living in her closet. The filmmakers deserve credit for trying something different, but the tone of “Your Monster” is all over the place and the disparate elements they throw in don’t add up to a satisfying whole.
Cate Blanchett leads a game cast in “Rumours,” a bizarre and offbeat satire written and directed by a trio of avant-garde Canadian filmmakers. During a global crisis, the leaders at the G7 summit begin acting like helpless, petulant children when they become lost in the woods and encounter self-pleasuring zombie bog people and a giant brain. One’s enjoyment of this black comedy will depend mostly on one’s affinity for decadent, idiosyncratic and unorthodox material. “Rumours” is unapologetically odd.