Dear Watchers,Even far into the future, boys still love dinosaurs. That’s the case in “Arco,” an animated drama that has a 30th-century kid with time-travel capabilities trying to visit the Mesozoic Era — and ending up in 2075 instead. It is one of the two picks this week from our sci-fi expert Elisabeth Vincentelli. Her other selection is a gooey, oddball Greek thriller about an invasion of tentacled creatures. Read below what Elisabeth has to say about both movies, then head here for three more of her selections. Happy Watching. ‘Arco’
Where to watch: Stream “Arco” on Hulu. Let’s get a technicality out of the way: The dubbed version of this French animated eco-fable is the most easily available in the United States, but at least it is deluxe, with a voice cast that includes Will Ferrell, Natalie Portman, America Ferrera and Mark Ruffalo. This seems to assume that the movie is strictly for kiddies, which isn’t the case at all. Like Studio Ghibli productions, with which it shares concerns and aesthetics, Ugo Bienvenu’s debut feature welcomes audiences young and old. The 10-year-old Arco (voiced by Juliano Valdi, who plays the young Michael Jackson in “Michael”) lives in the tranquil 30th century, where people inhabit environmentally progressive homes perched on gigantic stalks, and time travel is common. One night, Arco slips out to attempt to go back to the dinosaur era — dino love is clearly evergreen — but ends up crash-landing in 2075, where he is rescued by a little girl named Iris (Romy Fay). Much of the story follows Arco’s wide-eyed discovery of an increasingly troubled past (our relatively near future) as he attempts to return to his own timeline. The movie is melancholy in its portrayal of encroaching technology and destructive weather events in 2075, but it also suggests humanity may learn from its mistakes. ‘Minore’
Where to watch: Stream “Minore” on Plex. After tentacled beasties divebomb a small seaside town, the baffled visitor William (Davide Tucci) asks: “Is this a Greek thing?” Having never been there, I can’t say for sure whether vicious flying octopus-like creatures are common in that part of Europe. But Konstantinos Koutsoliotas’s “Minore” is certainly “a Greek thing” — in that it belongs to that country’s “weird wave” school of oddball filmmaking. William, a sailor, is staying in a small hotel while trying to locate his missing father. He has better luck getting to know the locals, who include the friendly waitress Aliki (Daphne Alexander). The town is quiet and lovely, with eccentric characters and traditional music jams at the taverna. Some of the men love hanging out shirtless, sometimes covering themselves in oil, and William himself looks like the wholesome cousin of the Jean Genet sailor Querelle — though Koutsoliotas doesn’t push the queer vibe very far. Mostly he just lets us hang out with this eccentric ragtag crew, until the attacks begin and the director turns up the Grand Guignol dial to 11. We are told the new arrivals are the children of “the Great Devourer,” and anybody with a passing knowledge of Lovecraft lore will get a kick out of that term. Watching the villagers resist the cosmically terrifying visitors is a hoot, even when things get gory, as they are wont to do when the worst tourists in the universe descend on a Greek beach.
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