The romantic triangle posited in “Gray Matters” has some intriguingly
kinky implications that fail to be mined. The result is a movie that might have
been edgy and comically dark — akin to “Hannah and Her Sisters” with a gay
twist and a whiff of incest — that instead contorts the triangle until it’s
hopelessly square and portrays characters far too naive to exist in the
sophisticated Manhattan cribbed from Woody Allen. They’d be hooted out of
Dubuque.

Their goings-on are so implausible that you quickly lose patience with,
and interest in, any of this motley crew, despite the best efforts of an
attractive cast and the diversion of fabulous clothes and shots of a glistening
New York skyline.

It would be interesting to know who uncorked screenwriter Sue Kramer’s
audacious ideas — a brother and sister in their 30s who live together and
are often mistaken for a couple, who both fall for the same woman — and
allowed the fizz to escape. Her resume mentions numerous scripts (including one
for Julia Roberts) presumably languishing on floppy disks. So Kramer’s
eagerness to not only have a screenplay finally on the big screen but also get
to direct for the first time might have made her a willing accomplice in
circumventing the dark places where “Gray Matters” clearly should have gone.

The subtext is still there, buried beneath layers of fluff. When we first
see Sam (Tom Cavanagh) and Gray (Heather Graham), they’re out together dancing
cheek to cheek. Although they gamely make it through the number without
tripping (a real feat for Graham in her 3-inch red heels), Fred and Ginger they
are not.

The siblings float through life as if in a movie musical. They prefer each
other’s company to anyone else’s, a predilection of prurient interest to their
friends and some alarm to Gray’s unorthodox shrink (Sissy Spacek), who
ministers therapy while bowling or rock climbing at a gym. Spacek deserves
better than such a ludicrously contrived role.

At a park, brother and sister meet someone — the same someone. The
lanky and lovely Charlie (Bridget Moynahan from TV’s “Six Degrees”) is
naturally enough earmarked for Sam. After a courtship of a few days, they
decide to wed immediately in Vegas (the reason for their rush isn’t explained,
nor is the absence of any other family at the nuptials, although the latter
could be due to a skimpy budget that limited the supporting cast).

On the eve of her wedding, Charlie gets smashed and starts kissing Gray.
Her enthusiastic response convinces Gray that she’s a lesbian, even though
nothing more transpires between the two. How Gray could have reached her third
decade without any inkling she might be gay is another of the plot holes left
unfilled. This is one instance where the blankness Graham often projects
onscreen suits her character perfectly.

What happens next in “Gray Matters” is so preposterous, it hardly matters.
The nadir comes when Gray patronizes her first lesbian bar accompanied by a
cabdriver (Alan Cumming) who was romantically interested in her until she
switched teams. When he’s denied admission because of a girls-only policy, she
refuses to go in without him. Demonstrating his unwavering support, he puts on
a black cocktail dress and pearls and gains admittance. None of the big-city
women appear to notice that he’s obviously in drag.

Like Spacek, Cumming is completely wasted in a part intended to be sweet
when sly and wicked is his forte. Molly Shannon has a few funny moments as a
gossipy colleague at the ad agency where Gray works. But Shannon’s shtick is
allowed to go on to the point of annoyance.

The brother-sister relationship at the heart of the movie gets lost as
Gray sets out to find herself. Every once in a while you catch glimpses of
originality and see what “Gray Matters” might have been if it hadn’t gone soft
and safe.

– Advisory: Sexual content and language.

– Ruthe Stein

‘Commune’

Documentary.
Directed by Jonathan Berman. (Not rated. 83 minutes.At the Red Vic.)

There was a lot of frolicking in the nude, and there’s film to prove
it. There was plenty of free love, even the occasional orgy. But at the Black
Bear Ranch commune, there also were committed idealists who have gone on to
devote their lives to the betterment of society, most in the Bay Area.

There is a teacher, a lawyer who helps disadvantaged youths, a farmer, an
acupuncturist, an expert in alternative medicine — even an actor-activist,
Mill Valley’s Peter Coyote.

Watching Jonathan Berman’s affectionate documentary, “Commune,” about the
influential establishment in Siskiyou County, brought to mind the recent
documentary “Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple.” Both are about
Northern California alternative communities that turned their back on
conventional society in an era of Vietnam and Watergate.

Despite the sad end at Jonestown, many of the survivors in Stanley
Nelson’s film praised the ideals and considered their time with the Peoples
Temple to have been the best period of their lives. So, too, the residents at
Black Bear Ranch, which still exists and is now an occasional meeting place of
the original members and their offspring.

The commune was first established in 1968, with the $22,000 purchase price
funded at least partly by rock stars and Hollywood actors. At first, the
surrounding community felt threatened by the free thinkers; the county sheriff
even raided the compound and confiscated “suspicious looking plants and leaves”
that the sheriff used as a photo op for the local papers.

They turned out to be tomato plants.

Not that there were never drugs at Black Bear Ranch, but as one former
resident put it, “Any drugs that got brought in were used so fast that there
weren’t any around.”

Gradually, as with all pure ideas that become corrupted through actual
practice, the bloom wore off, especially in the late 1970s, when the Shiva Lila
– a cult that worshiped children — moved in. The innocent debates that
occurred a decade earlier (such as, “is coffee an imperial food?”) morphed into
larger philosophical divisions about conduct, behavior and gender issues.

Still, Black Bear Ranch’s legacy of environmentalism (the residents were
on the forefront of the anti-deforestation movement), and the endearing
long-term relationships it engendered, endure.

Utopia is a beautiful concept, but the problem is everyone has his or her
own idea of what it means.

– Advisory: This film contains nudity and strong language.

– G. Allen Johnson

‘Tazza: The High Rollers’

Action. Starring Jo Seung Woo, Kim Hye Soo. Directed by Choi Dong Hoon. In
Korean, with subtitles. (Not rated. 140 minutes. At the 4 Star.)

“Tazza: The High Roller” is not the usual kind of foreign film that
hits these parts. No angst, humanitarian crises or desolate introspection here;
this South Korean movie is an unapologetically commercial piece of slickly
packaged entertainment.

It’s a ton of fun, a totally irresistible tale of gambling, greed, love
and violence. With gorgeous actors, designer clothes and thrilling action, it’s
fast-moving (even at 2 hours, 20 minutes) popcorn entertainment.

No wonder it was the No. 2 film at the 2006 Korean box office.

The story follows a young gambler, Goni (heartthrob Jo Seung Woo), who
vows revenge for the murder of his mentor (Baek Yun Shik) with the help of his
sometime lover, the mysterious Madame Jeong (Kim Hye Soo), a con artist who
turns out to have a few tricks hidden up her sleeveless dress.

Director Choi Dong Hoon has offered up a glittery, big-budget confection
of exotic locations, fast cars and gunplay — and, of course, lots of Tazza.

And what is Tazza? It is Korean slang for a gambler at the height of his
powers. “Tazza” is, indeed, a good bet.

– Advisory: This film contains violence, nudity and language.

– G. Allen Johnson