Movie Reviews: 'Tabu' and 'Allegiance'

Movie Reviews: 'Tabu' and 'Allegiance'

Shad “Bow Wow” Moss (center) in “Allegiance”

TABU â€" 4 stars

A woman learns the early history of her elderly neighbor (1:58). Not Rated: Mature themes. In Portuguese with subtitles. Film Forum.

If “Try new things” is at the top of your 2013 resolutions list, you could do far worse than to start with Miguel Gomes’ defiantly unclassifiable romance.

Divided into two major sections, this gorgeous, black-and-white melodrama tells the tragic story of Aurora (Laura Soveral), a widow in Lisbon. In the first half, we see her as an old woman being tended to by her worried neighbor (Teresa Madruga) and impassive nurse (Isabel Cardoso).

Before Aurora dies, she asks them to find a mysterious man named Ventura, who then narrates Aurora’s poignant early history in colonial Africa.

In its decidedly postmodern way, the picture is partially designed to resemble a silent film. (The title and structure reference F.W. Murnau’s “Tabu: A Story of the South Seas,” from 1931.) But while the style is enchanting, the substance is, too. Not a bad way for film fans to end one year, or begin another.

Elizabeth Weitzman

ALLEGIANCE â€" 2 stars

A soldier goes AWOL from his unit in Iraq. (1:32). Not Rated: Language, violence. Cinema Village.

In 2004 Iraq, as part-time soldiers were being deployed in numbers not seen since World War II, a National Guardsman (Shad “Bow Wow” Moss) requests a transfer so he can be stateside while his sick child receives care. His request is denied by a tough commander (Aidan Quinn), but a sympathetic lieutenant (Seth Gabel) helps out â€" at the risk of reassignment or consequences from his incoming replacement (Pablo Schreiber) and amid dangerous circumstances off the base.

Though produced with honorable intentions by a collection of military veterans, director Michael Connors’ mission into the mindset of duty-bound soldiers never gets rolling into its complicated issues, and the film is paced like a 10-mile hike with full pack. Still, it’s a serious effort, and Moss, Schreiber and Gabel do nice work as men with opposite viewpoints in a time, and place, filled with tension.

Joe Neumaier