2016 Sleepers
                                                              Part 5

Good grief, a friend muttered. Can you possibly have any more good 2016 sleepers? Well, yes, as a matter of fact I do.
I’m not usually a Jim Jarmusch fan. I have struggled through several of his films, awarding them anywhere from 3 to 6 (out of 10).  But I just really liked Paterson. Adam Driver is a city bus driver in Paterson, New Jersey. Every day he walks to work, gets on his bus, does his route and goes home. Then he walks his wife’s bulldog and stops at the local bar for a beer. But he is always listening to conversations around him, and he takes notes and writes poems. They are pretty bad. Once in a while he hits a really nice line, but usually not. Something happens to his poetry and I won’t spoil that plot device, and the very cool finish. Certainly not for everyone, Paterson is a true sleeper.
Gleason is a documentary that is frankly hard to take. It reminded me of an old ad for a children’s hospital: “Don’t look if you can’t stand the sight of courage.” Steve Gleason was a celebrated defensive back for the New Orleans Saints. A few years after retirement, he developed ALS (Lou Gherig’s Disease), becoming one of many former football players afflicted with problems of the brain. This film takes us from the onset of the problem all the way through to the end. Gleason’s courage is heart-warming, but also gut-wrenching.
Hunt For The Wilder-People is billed as a New Zealand adventure comedy-drama. I could not have said it any better. Left an orphan, Ricky goes to live with foster mother Bella and her taciturn husband Hec. Bella dies, and the child welfare people want Ricky back. Neither he nor Hec are keen on this, so they take to the woods and for most of the movie hide out from the authorities and meet interesting people. Aussie Sam Neill is good as Hec and newcomer Julian Dennison is just fine as Ricky. 
Japan’s Studio Ghibli, home of the marvelous anime films, produced the splendid The Red Turtle, a gentle fairy tale about people marooned on an island. The red turtle morphs into a beautiful girl. She and the guy conceive a son, who wants to set off and see the world. After a terrible storm destroys the island’s forest, the lad eventually sails away. The man and woman grow old together and there’s a heart-catching ending.
Julieta is Spanish Grand Master Pedro Almodovar’s 20th film and he is in fine fettle here. The film is based on three chapter’s of Alice Munro’s book, Runaway. The wonderful Ariana Ugarte shines as the title character. She may or may not have indirectly caused the death of her husband (you decide). In any event, this causes her daughter’s complete estrangement. Julieta spends the movie trying to re-establish contact with the daughter, only to be repulsed at every turn. There is a semi-happy Almodovar ending that sort of leaves you guessing. 
All of the movies in this article are available on DVD. All are for grown-ups.