The Lost Daughter
Watch afterDon't Look Up (2021), The Power of the Dog (2021), tick tick... BOOM! (2021), West Side Story (2021),
StarringDagmara Domińczyk,
StudioEndeavor Content,
Much to the Republican Party’s dismay, the birth rate in the United States has been gradually on the decline, hitting an all-time low in 2020. Couples are not only waiting longer to have children, they’re having less of them, with an average of 1.6 per family. While climate change and cost of living expenses are the primary factors in the decision to have fewer children (or none at all), a small part of it can also be attributed to more people accepting a difficult truth: that raising children can be an incredibly hard and thankless task. Maggie Gyllenhaal makes an assured debut as a writer and director in her adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s The Lost Daughter, a complicated and strangely moving psychological drama/thriller about two women who bond over this truth. Continue Reading →
劇場版 美少女戦士セーラームーンCosmos 前編
SimilarNausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984), Paris Can Wait (2016), Princess Mononoke (1997),
StarringAyane Sakura, Hisako Kanemoto, Junko Minagawa, Kotono Mitsuishi, Marina Inoue, Mariya Ise, Megumi Hayashibara, Sayaka Ohara, Shizuka Itoh, Shoko Nakagawa,
StudioKing Records, Studio Deen, Toei Animation, Toei Company,
One cannot review Being the Ricardos without addressing the curious casting choice of Nicole Kidman as First Lady of Comedy Lucille Ball. Other than being a redhead, Kidman looks nothing like Ball, and has never been known for her comedic chops. Given that the teaser trailer went out of its way to not show her, it seemed a disaster in the making, a future camp classic originally intended to be Oscar bait. Continue Reading →
West Side Story
SimilarA Real Young Girl (1976), Chicago (2002), Rope (1948),
Watch afterLicorice Pizza (2021), Nightmare Alley (2021), The Power of the Dog (2021), tick tick... BOOM! (2021), West Side Story (2021),
Studio20th Century Studios, TSG Entertainment,
While audiences and critics often bemoan the plethora of sequels and remakes that litter the media landscape, retelling a familiar story isn’t inherently bad. After all, Shakespeare’s most famous play, Romeo and Juliet, was based on earlier works, and in 1957 playwright Arthur Laurents (along with composer Leonard Bernstein and lyricist Stephen Sondheim) adapted the tale into West Side Story, which Robert Wise turned into a classic musical in 1961. Sixty years later, Steven Spielberg has thrown his hat into the ring with a new adaptation of the material. But can he make a familiar plot relevant to the 21st century? Continue Reading →
Spencer
Pablo Larraín’s sympathetic “fable” about Diana, Princess of Wales, also compassionately addresses the secret shame of eating disorders.
CONTENT WARNING: this article addresses eating disorders and self-injury. See our spoiler-free overview of Spencer here.
If Pablo Larraín’s Spencer doesn’t change your mind about royalty being aspirational, then nothing will. Sure, you’ll have access to wealth and fancy clothes, but at the cost of your time and privacy. Every part of your life, every holiday, even “off time” with your family, is scheduled down to the last minute, and everything you do is judged according to tradition and propriety. Maybe it’ll be you who breaks tradition, who makes things different through sheer force of will. But probably not. You’ll be a dress-up doll in a glass case, to be taken out and shown off whenever the occasion calls for it, whether you want to be or not. Continue Reading →
tick, tick... BOOM!
SimilarDriving Miss Daisy (1989), Erin Brockovich (2000), Maria Full of Grace (2004), Pi (1998), Stranger Than Paradise (1984), The Straight Story (1999),
Watch afterDon't Look Up (2021), The Power of the Dog (2021), West Side Story (2021),
StarringRenée Elise Goldsberry,
New York City. January 29th, 1990. Composer and playwright Jonathan Larson (Andrew Garfield) turns 30 at the end of the week. SUPERBIA, the dystopian science fiction musical he's spent most of a decade writing, is about to have its first-ever full workshop. It's a critical moment for Jon, one that could well make his career (or break it irreparably). If SUPERBIA bombs, Jon will be washed up before he ever set out to sea. To crank up the pressure, the show is missing a critical song, a tune that the whole affair will turn on. Continue Reading →
The Electrical Life of Louis Wain
SimilarBack to the Future Part III (1990), Copying Beethoven (2006), Metropolis (1927), The Elephant Man (1980),
StarringSophia Di Martino,
StudioFilm4 Productions,
The Electrical Life of Louis Wain is an alternatively madcap and melancholic retelling of the artistic and personal life of the peculiar Louis Wain by making a lot of noise but not saying much. Biographical films have to tread a very difficult line. They must tell their central characters’ life and accomplishments while humanizing them through their rituals and quirks. And they must do this all without turning the movie idealization or fetishization of such things. Narratively, what Louis Wain gets right is that focusing on the man as a deeply troubled individual and melds his artistic work along with the afflictions that he suffered. What it gets wrong is its inability to dig deeper into Louis Wain beyond his whimsies and mannerisms and the surrounding greater Victorian English culture. Continue Reading →
The Tragedy of Macbeth
Watch afterNightmare Alley (2021), The Power of the Dog (2021), West Side Story (2021),
StudioA24,
(This is part of our ongoing NYFF coverage.) Continue Reading →
Passing
Watch aftertick tick... BOOM! (2021),
StudioFilm4 Productions,
Rebecca Hall adapts Nella Larsen's novella about Black social mobility (and its corresponding resentments) to haunting effect.
(This review is part of our coverage of the 2021 Sundance Film Festival.)
Nella Larsen's 1929 novella Passing is a fascinating text, a frank but elegant discussion of the intersections of race, class, and gender as cold and delicate as its subject matter. It makes sense, then, that Rebecca Hall's adaptation is similarly airy and ominous, an intimate portrait of resentment and racial/social mobility set amid the stifling backdrop of 1920s New York. Continue Reading →
Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson's documentary about the Harlem Cultural Festival is insightful and loving.
(This review is part of our coverage of the 2021 Sundance Film Festival.)
The word “Woodstock” enters consciousness at a young age. It has become synonymous with classic rock, with music festivals, and with a decade of counterculture. With an estimated 400,000, Woodstock cemented itself as a part of popular culture, an ironic shift in its original meaning and its now-reformed image. Continue Reading →