“In Fabric” and “Little Joe,” two grimly funny British freakouts arriving in U.S. theaters this week, push this dialectic to weird, fascinating extremes. A red dress, of course, has long been one of the cinema’s most vivid signifiers of desire — and danger. Alice, a single mom, has named the specimen “Little Joe” after her adolescent son, Joe (Kit Connor), whom she loves but has little time for thanks to her chronic workaholism. Kit Connor in the movie “Little Joe.” (Magnolia Pictures)That’s a troubling conceit, to be sure. But “Little Joe,” blunt and obvious as it may seem on the surface, is full of rich and slippery implication underneath.

Source: Los Angeles Times December 05, 2019 21:45 UTC