Reel-View Ratings: The Bigger The Beard, The Better The Movie

3 HEARTS

Humble tax collector Marc and the beautiful, mysterious Sylvie fall head over heels in love after a single night together — but happenstance of the most infuriating kind keeps them apart, until Marc unknowingly gets engaged to Sylvie’s beloved sister, Sophie, and realizes his terrible mistake. Things don’t go well for anybody after that. The film is strange, at least in that the plot is so contrived that it is unbelievable, and yet its lead actresses are convincing in their love for Marc. (The film also utilizes a tense soundtrack that seems both out of place and appropriate.) Viewers, too, will ultimately vacillate between frustration and compassion for the unlucky love triangle.

Plays at 1 p.m. May 22 at Doris Duke Theatre

CLOUDS OF SILS MARIA

The self-reflexive Clouds of Sils Maria finds women in Hollywood talking about … the state of women in Hollywood. World-renowned actress Maria (Juliette Binoche) is reluctant to step into the “older woman” role in the play that made her famous decades ago as the ingenue, and she’s even more unhappy to star alongside a tabloid-cover starlet (Chloe Grace Moretz). Her even-keeled assistant Valentine (Kristen Stewart) tries to help her rehearse for the role, but the lines of art and life soon get blurred. It’s a fascinating, incredibly relevant subject, buoyed by strong performances from Binoche and Stewart — but the movie does drag on at times, delighted with its own metaphors.

Opened May 15 at Kahala Theatre

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD

The guilty pleasure of the violent, frenetic action flick is tempered, ordinarily, by a decided absence of plot and character. But every now and then, a film comes along that does not hesitate to be both smart and explosion-happy. Mad Max is the first blockbuster of the summer to achieve that balance, to marvelous effect. Taciturn Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy) is roped into helping the intense, ferocious Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron, outshining everything and everyone) bring five beautiful slaves to safety. The movie is essentially an extended chase sequence, filled with fantastical imagery, intense-but-not-gratuitous violence and a surprising dose of feminism. Basically, it’s awesome.

Opened in wide release May 15