Last week saw the release of two rather cynical American films, Brady Corbet’s Vox Lux and Clint Eastwood’s The Mule. The first addresses our culture’s acclimation to random violence, while the second considers our nation’s losing war on drugs. Neither film proposes solutions to the issues they raise, suggesting fatalistically that we’re simply stuck with them. But where Vox Lux raises a sense of alarm over this conclusion, The Mule—a more complex and ultimately more provocative work—is disarmingly upbeat. Eastwood, directing a script by Nick Schenk, suggests that the country’s social ills haven’t fundamentally altered the American character; the people the movie depicts are still capable of being nice to one another and even doing good in spite of the dark cultural climate they inhabit. This position stands in sharp contrast to that of Vox Lux, which depicts both American society and individual Americans as irreversibly diseased. Corbet’s film is bitter and angry and leaves a bad taste in your mouth, while Eastwood’s gives you something to savor and chew on.

Where Vox Lux is undone by its self- righteousness, The Mule thrives in teasing ambiguity. Based on a true story, Eastwood’s film centers on Earl Stone, a 90-year-old World War II vet who improbably becomes the top drug runner for a Mexican cartel. Like the protagonist of Eastwood’s Gran Torino (which was also scripted by Schenk), Earl is stubborn, casually bigoted, and hoping to make up for a lifetime of regrets. After paying off the mortgage on his house, he uses the money he makes from drug smuggling to buy the affection of his estranged family members and fix up the local VFW hall. One comes to regard Earl as inherently well-intentioned even though he shows no moral compunction about breaking the law; the filmmakers luxuriate in this irony, testing audience sympathy throughout. Eastwood’s affecting performance as Earl distracts from the immoral decisions the character makes—one shares in Earl’s willed ignorance of the cartel’s brutality, excusing it on the grounds that he uses his dirty money to perform such nice acts.

Directed by Clint Eastwood. R, 116 min. In wide release.Vox Lux ★★ Directed by Brady Corbet. R, 115 min. In wide release.