Our heroine thwarts her antagonist in the most unlikely of places, right under his nose and abode, in Louise Archambault’s thrilling and often moving dramatic WWII-era film Irena’s Vow (B). Real-life Roman Catholic nurse Irena Gut, splendidly played by Sophie Nélisse, makes a life-changing decision to be resilient in the face of evil after she witnesses an atrocity in the streets of occupied Poland. Soon she finds herself sheltering and protecting twelve Jewish people during the Holocaust by hiding them in the cellar of the home where she is employed as a housekeeper by Nazi officer Eduard Rügemer (a somewhat thankless role played by Dougray Scott). The dozen refugees hidden below in this upstairs/downstairs scenario are largely secondary in a story that focuses on the suspense of close calls between Irena and Eduard. Polish actors Eliza Rycembel and Filip Kosior are among the supporting standouts, creative while confined. Andrzej Seweryn is wonderful as an ally and Maciej Nawrocki terrifying as an adversary. Archambault continually amps up the tension, allowing the protagonist to demonstrate her cleverness in the face of great danger. Nélisse is impressive and believable in the pivotal titular role. Some of the story’s payoffs play out better than others, but the overall miracle of the rescue of lives will undoubtedly move those who see the film.
Note: This movie was the opening night screening of the 2024 Atlanta Jewish Film Festival with theatrical movies running through February 26 and streaming films through March 7. An encore screening of this feature is scheduled for Wednesday, February 14 at the Tara Theatre. Full line-up of films can be found here: https://ajff.org
So insistent on its own cleverness as it churns out plot twists like sorcerer’s apprentice brooms, Matthew Vaughn’s meta spy thriller comedy Argylle (C) has the cumulative effect of wearing out its welcome. Bryce Dallas Howard plays a cat-loving spy novelist drawn into a real-life adventure similar to the events in her popular book series, accompanied by visions of her fictional hero (an underused Henry Cavill) and a mysterious stranger portrayed by a scrappy Sam Rockwell, who wrings whatever comedy he can out of his character. Howard and Rockwell lack the chemistry or distinction to cannily add much to the “author embroiled in her own book” canon à la Romancing the Stone and Lost City, so Vaughn spends most of the film’s unnatural duration trying to confound audience expectations with a Russian roulette of reveals. Once it’s apparent the central characters are mind-numbingly mid, all the shooting spree ballets and choreographed lair infiltrations feel like a prodigious pile-on. The notion of doubling down and doubling back on double agents leading double lives starts off octo-feisty but devolves into fussy galore. Meanwhile the busy enterprise squanders the talents of John Cena, Bryan Cranston, Ariana DeBose, Samuel L. Jackson and Catherine O’Hara while gliding through lackluster set pieces. The dapper design aesthetic Vaughn has been building for his Kingsman films just feels like a joyless rut here, with globetrotting locales appearing like LED screen backdrops; and for all the kinetic stunts and needle drops, the movie doesn’t register as brisk or snappy. There are occasional inspired bits and handsome flourishes dotting this often leaden lark, but it’s all too much at the service of a clunky vehicle in constant motion. Overly salted and shaken, this action romp proves to be cluttered popcorn.
A surprising film debuted at Sundance 2024, and you could say it’s got buzz. And whistles, beeps and chirps. Sally Aitken’s documentary Every Little Thing (B) is a gentle, non-ironic glimpse at the life’s work of a West coast woman named Terry Masear, who operates a hummingbird rescue mission out of her L.A. home. This consummate and patient healer’s own wounded background undergirds the true tale, but the recovering birds are really center cage in this realm, each with cute names and back stories as they begin their fragile resurgence. Aitken gently follows some amazing animals in startling close-up as they learn their flights of fancy again. Like March of the Penguins, it’s a canny diorama exploring the sociological machinations of a bird order. This engaging journey is quietly observant, inspiring and entertaining.
Writer/director Amrou Al-Kadhi’s title character of Layla (B-) is a Muslim drag performer in East London with a one-of-a-kind story to tell in one of several Sundance Film Festival 2024 entries focused on queer identity. Bilal Hasna is mostly sensational in the central role of what is ostensibly a romance film, playing opposite Louis Greatorex, who has a more conventional and mainstream way of presenting himself to society. Opposite such a complex persona, this boyfriend hardly stands a chance. Constantly negotiating several dimensions of identity in one fabulous vessel, Hasna’s Layla is a fascinating portrait, augmented by marvelous costumes, kaleidoscopic parties and music that could be just a little bit better. Saltburn has nothing on this film’s stilettos as the movie balances a walk on the wild side with romcom tropes. Somewhat flimsy writing and fleeting characters threaten to derail the perfectly good pairing at the film’s center, but Layla prevails. Layla’s story deserved just a little bit better but is still an absorbing, singular and fierce wonder to behold.
Just because it debuted at Sundance doesn’t mean it’s any good. And co-directors Daniel Hoesl and Julia Niemann’s German dark comedy Veni Vidi Vici (D+) certainly doesn’t seem to be here to make any friends. It’s a stark portrait of a billionare crime family living in its own bucolic bubble, unimpeachable in every way as they go about terrible activities such as furtive sniper shootings of local innocents. Photographed beautifully but soulless in spirit, the film is dead-set on shocking viewers about these aristocrats without a moral compass but neglects to offer a story or counterpoint to yield any intrigue or interest. The ensemble including Laurence Rupp and Ursina Lardi as the twisted parents and Dominik Warta as a potentially intriguing outsider aren’t given much at all to do. It looks like and is sometimes filmed like a social satire but only tells part of one side of a story. For all the fuss, it ends up a great one-note bore.
As more megaplex audiences get to experience the story of an author exploring his pseudonym in the mainstream hit American Fiction, a new Sundance Film Festival entry depicts a young British novelist leading a shocking double life in Mikko Mäkelä’s Sebastian (B-). Rharidh Mollica plays the indie film’s title aspiring writer who becomes a sex worker to land fascinating stories; and although the actor’s own part is a bit underwritten, his vantage point becomes a gateway to bridging his understanding of several generations of older gay men, with all its fights, frailty and fantasia. The film is very explicit in its bedroom scenes but also rich in honesty and humanity. Sequences opposite the great actor Jonathan Hyde demonstrate why films like this deserve a place in the discourse. Cinematographer Iikka Salminen’s London is one of deep isolation and loneliness, underscoring the austere and clinical viewpoint of its title character. There are also some titillating bits, so get ready. The movie falls into some of the typical traps of auto-fiction and gives scant development to characters such as the protagonist’s friend and colleague played by Hiftu Quasem. Ultimately the film escorts viewers to tender and touching revelations mostly more than skin deep.
This is a last great gasp of mainstream Sundance Film Festival cinema in which a feisty independent-living grandma treks across L.A. to get even with a telephone fraudster who almost got the best of her. Josh Margolin’s Thelma (B) features a mighty performance by the wonderful June Squibb and another by the late, great Richard Roundtree as a friend from a neighboring nursing home with one last great adventure left in him as well. Fred Hechinger is a hoot as her technology enabling grandson, but Parker Posey and Clark Gregg don’t have much to do as his parents. The film is at its clever best as it follows a sleuthing spy type storyline, with hearing aid volume controls and GPS identity bracelets subbing in for the kinds of gadgets Q used to whip up in the lab. As Thelma, Squibb is a fully rounded character with spunk, sass and a sharp mind. The film fully humanizes her character, even though the script and story could have been much stronger. Still, it’s a fun lark and a great chance to watch Squibb and Roundtree whoop it up.
Like Once and The Commitments before it, Rich Peppiatt’s Kneecap (B-) follows in a grand tradition of Ireland-set ragtag musical dramas with a splash of comedy and political revelations thrown in for good measure. Set in post-Troubles Belfast, this Sundance tuner tells the origin story of the titular trio of real-life bandmates – Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, Naoise Ó Cairealláin, and JJ Ó Dochartaigh rapping a blend of English and native Irish rhymes for politically charged times. The characters become accidental activists as their Gaelic native tongue is on the brink of being banned by the government. Kneecap’s music sweeps viewers up into a ketamine-fueled, energetic series of episodes to encounter the meaning of pure defiance, laced with funny animated lyrics and playful surprises. Michael Fassbender helps ground the grassroots story as a martyred leader in exile. He’s head over heels better at acting than his fellow mates in the ensemble; by what the Kneecap bandmates lack in natural acting, they make up in manic energy. It’s a rollicking, rebellious rap revolution with a heart for preserving the best of one’s cultural heritage and a lovely sense of anarchy.
Esteban Arango’s rollicking rollercoaster of a Sundance Film Festival entry Ponyboi (B+) features an unconventional intersex protagonist who shows there’s no clear pathway to forge between point X and point Y when it comes to the thrill of a crime caper. This neon-illuminated film glides successfully on the resplendent and deeply touching performance of River Gallo who is a force to be reckoned with and also the writer and producer behind the work. Gallo plays a resilient Jersey Shore sex worker caught up in a series of misadventures on a berserk Valentine’s Day; soon life on the streets of the turnpike becomes an all-out getaway and a big choose-your-own-adventure between a full escape and an unexpected invitation home by a formerly unsupportive parent. Other familiar cast members are Dylan O’Brien as a vile pimp and drug dealer (he’s magnificent), Victoria Pedretti as a wannabe ally and Murray Bartlett as a mysterious cowboy who may or may not be the titular character’s saving grace. Arango consistently raises the stakes through locales ranging from laundromats to diners and nightclubs; there’s an absorbing sequence in a pharmacy where favors are traded for hormones mid-way through a gangster chase, and viewers simply haven’t seen this exact series of predicaments before. This film is poised to be a gritty hit indie and will hopefully break through for those up for something radically different in a familiar genre.
Just as many moviegoers are experiencing the wider release of awards season darling The Zone of Interest, a film about what’s not happening at the Holocaust, the top prize winner at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival traces the lives of two sisters over two decades through four brief summers visiting their alcoholic father and omits off-screen the other dozens of seasons comprising umpteen collective years of their more consistent formative experiences. Still as a poetic and humanist glimpse at growing up while mesmerized and repulsed by traits of an erratic father figure whose frailties they certainly don’t wish to emulate, Alessandra Lacorazza’s In the Summers (B-) features lovely performances and sensitively maps the topography of the human heart in the unexpected terrain of desert town Las Cruces, New Mexico, with a predominantly Latino cast. Like Moonlight, the kids growing up are played by different actors in each of the film’s successive chapters, capturing a vibe if not a precise facsimile, with urban music star René Pérez Joglar (aka Residente) the constant with a marvelous lived-in portrayal of the troubled father. Each pair of actresses builds a successive solid foundation, paying off in anguished final act performances by Sasha Calle and Lio Mehiel. Along the bittersweet journey are suggested sexual awakenings and implied chemical dependencies, but viewers may find themselves at a distance with only snapshots disclosed along the sisters’ throughlines. Despite a relaxed pace, some critical junctures are rushed or unresolved. Some of the movie’s metaphors about decay and distrust, evident in the unkept family pool and literal scars from skirmishes, become a bit too obvious as the film is revealed to not have a huge head of steam in the plot department. Cinematographer Alejandro Mejía creates delicate frames for an often moving series of portraits, including lovely chapter dividers depicting souvenirs of each epoch of summertimes when the living isn’t easy. Viewers will find they deeply care about these girls growing up even if the film’s format doesn’t always dwell on the most interesting parts of their stories.
There’s lots of talk about surprises and snubs as we process this year’s Academy Award nominations, announced this morning from Hollywood. Before we barrel toward what will undoubtedly be “Oscar-heimer” March 10 when the 13 times nominated Oppenheimer looks to cement its status as the epic opus of the big screen, here are some trends and films to watch:
1 A bumper crop of acting talent across the year edged out two of the most popular movie stars, Margot Robbie (titular star of Barbie) and Leonardo DiCaprio (antihero of Killers of the Flower Moon), from scoring their next nods, but their co-stars America Ferrera and Ryan Gosling and Lily Gladstone and Robert DeNiro, respectively, demonstrate their high-profile movies are still very popular in the running.
2 The director’s branch loves an auteur. You’d never mistake the film aesthetic or themes of Martin Scorsese or Christopher Nolan or Yorgos Lanthimos with those of anyone else. Two of these artists who often work in the comedy milieu – Barbie’s Greta Gerwig, known for chronicling strong women’s stories, and The Holdovers’ Alexander Payne, who has consistently made character-driven tales in distinct environments, didn’t make the cut. Instead two helmers of international films, Justine Triet (courtroom thriller Anatomy of a Fall) and Jonathan Glazer (the Holocaust adjacent The Zone of Interest), put distinguished imprints on their respective films. This notorious club still hasn’t invited Gerwig in despite all three of her films receiving nominations for Best Picture, but she wasn’t snubbed for others who weren’t also playing at the top of their game. Nolan has this in the bag anyway.
3 People returned to movie theatres this year, so it’s telling that movies from the big studios and even the indies dominated again in the top awards, with only Netflix’s Maestro in multiple categories and Nyad and Rustin getting into acting slots. Apple kept Killers of the Flower Moon in theatres so long that most folks forgot it was actually made for streaming, where many are finally watching it now with bathroom breaks.
4 Early releases and late releases didn’t pay off in the awards sweepstakes. The lovely Past Lives started strong at Sundance last year but only scored two noms, albeit in the prestigious Picture and Screenplay races. The wonderful ensemble film Air was buzzed about at 2023 South by Southwest and on Prime streaming but came up empty-handed. Two cerebral masterpieces, Origin and All of Us Strangers, were held too long from viewers to generate much word-of-mouth and didn’t get any nominations. The Color Purple musical adaptation eschewed festivals and instead showed up on Christmas Day and only scored one mention for Danielle Brooks.
5 The two-way race in the Animated Feature category between The Boy and the Heron and Spider-man: Across the Spider-Verse has remained without a consensus choice in the precursors. If one of these two acclaimed films had dominated the season, it could likely have scored one of the ten Picture slots. It’s one of the true horse races left with suspense for Oscar night.
6 The Leonard Bernstein biopic Maestro, which has been losing steam and generating the most backlash on social media, still scored seven nominations but isn’t poised to win many. Bradley Cooper is up for best actor and screenplay but probably would have given up either for a coveted director nod he didn’t land.
7 Colman Domingo (Rustin) and Jeffrey Wright (American Fiction) scoring Best Actor nomination nods is the first time we’ve had two Black actors in the category not named Denzel Washington or Will Smith. It’s re-assuring to see these talented thespians recognized. Rustin is a solid biopic, and American Fiction is a wonderful comic send-up of the literary and cinematic obsession with only certain kinds of racial stories.
8 The autumn 2023 actor and writer strikes may have quietly benefitted Nyad, a sleeper streamer about the cantankerous swimmer and her indomitable coach that scored both industry legends Annette Bening and Jodie Foster their latest nominations. It’s a fun watch, by the way, about achieving impossible dreams late in life. Bening may rival Glenn Close in her Quixotic hope for Oscar glory. And two time Best Actress winner Foster’s last nomination in the supporting category was when she was 14.
9 Supporting acting races seem to be decided with Da’Vine Joy Randolph of The Holdovers and Robert Downey, Jr. of Oppenheimer winning most awards of the season already. But there’s genuine drama in the Emma Stone (Poor Things) vs. Lily Gladstone and Cillian Murphy vs. Paul Giamatti match-ups. Anyone could win these, with several spoilers waiting in the wings.
10 The splendid import Anatomy of a Fall, which just debuted on streaming, has over-performed across the awards season after winning the Cannes Film Festival Palm d’Or and then not being picked by its home country of France as its official Oscar selection for International Feature. Now this beguiling courtroom thriller is nominated for five Oscars, as many as the popular American dramedy The Holdovers, also being seen en masse on Peacock. Both are highly recommended.
Note: The Academy Awards telecast will start an hour earlier than usual when it airs from the Dolby Theater on ABC March 10, 2024. So that’s one less hour to get caught up on watching all the nominees!
The 2024 Screen Actors Guild award nominations have been announced, with Oppenheimer and Barbie leading the nomination tally with four nominations each. I’ve seen everything on the list, so click on any of these hyperlinks for my reviews.
Nominees for outstanding performance by a lead actress are Annette Bening in Nyad, Lily Gladstone in Killers of the Flower Moon, Carey Mulligan in Maestro, Margot Robbie in Barbie and Emma Stone in Poor Things.
Nominees for outstanding performance by a lead actor are Bradley Cooper in Maestro, Colman Domingo in Rustin, Paul Giamatti in The Holdovers, Cillian Murphy in Oppenheimer and Jeffrey Wright in American Fiction.
Nominated supporting performances are Emily Blunt in Oppenheimer, Danielle Brooks in The Color Purple, Penélope Cruz in Ferrari, Jodie Foster in Nyad and Da’Vine Joy Randolph in The Holdovers and Sterling K. Brown in American Fiction, Willem Dafoe in Poor Things, Robert DeNiro in Killers of the Flower Moon, Robert Downey Jr. in Oppenheimer and Ryan Gosling in Barbie.
