Catherine Curtin Archives

Review: ‘A Shot Through the Wall,’ starring Kenny Leu, Ciara Renée, Tzi Ma, Fiona Fu, Dan Lauria, Clifton Davis and Lynn Chen

February 18, 2022

by Carla Hay

Kenny Leu in “A Shot Through the Wall” (Photo courtesy of Vertical Entertainment)

Directed by Aimee Long

Some language in Mandarin with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in New York City, the dramatic film “A Shot Through the Wall” features a racially diverse cast (Asian and white, with some African Americans and Latinos) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: A Chinese American police officer accidentally shoots and kills an unarmed and innocent black man through an apartment building wall, and he becomes embroiled in a controversy over whether or not he should be convicted of manslaughter.

Culture Audience: “A Shot Through the Wall” will appeal mainly to people who are interested in suspenseful dramas that address real-life, hard-hitting issues about the American criminal justice system.

Ciara Renée and Kenny Leu in “A Shot Through the Wall” (Photo courtesy of Vertical Entertainment)

Gripping and well-acted, the drama “A Shot Through the Wall” brings a somewhat flawed but mostly realistic look at how the American criminal justice system deals with a police officer who shoots and kills an unarmed black man who wasn’t committing a crime. Most of the news stories about these tragedies are about white police officers who pulled the trigger. “A Shot Through the Wall” takes the unusual approach of telling this story from the perspective of a Chinese American police officer who did the killing.

Written and directed by Aimee Long, “A Shot Through the Wall” also explores immigrant issues, as well as prejudices that can exist between people of color from different races. Even though the story takes place in New York City, “A Shot Through the Wall” can apply to many places where racial inequalities determine how people are treated by the criminal justice system. The movie is fictional but inspired by the real-life case of Peter Liang, who was a New York City Police Department officer when he accidentally shot an unarmed, young black man named Akai Gurley through a wall in a Brooklyn apartment building. The 2020 documentary “Down a Dark Stairwell” is about this case.

At times, “A Shot Through the Wall” becomes melodramatic in how the accused police officer reacts to the accusations, when he does some things that would make a defense attorney cringe in real life. However, the movie makes up for some of these contrived-looking dramatics with a lot of dialogue and scenarios that are entirely realistic. The acting performances by the cast members also infuse a lot of authentic emotions into the movie.

The cop at the center of the story is Mike Tan (played by Keny Leu), who is in his late 20s. He lives in Brooklyn with his parents, who are both Chinese immigrants. His domineering mother May Tan (played by Fiona Fu) and his more laid-back father Chow Tan (played by Tzi Ma) were both wary but ultimately supportive of Mike’s decision to become a New York City police officer. Mike has an older sister named Grace Tan (played by Lynn Chen), who frequently visits this family home. Mike and Grace have a close relationship and, for the most part, they get along with each other.

In the beginning of the movie, Mike’s life seems to be going well. He and his fiancée Candace Walker (played by Ciara Renée) are very much in love with each other and will be making plans for their wedding. Candace’s father just happens to be Mike’s boss at the New York City Police Department. His name is Bill Walker (played Clifton Davis), who is deputy chief of the NYPD. Bill approves of Mike and Candace’s relationship, and so do Mike’s parents.

Candace’s mother abandoned the family when Candace was a child because (according to Candace) she didn’t want to raise a biracial child. Candace’s father is black, and her mother is white. Candace’s mother has not been in contact with Bill and Candace and is completely out of their lives. This abandonment has left emotional scars on Candace that come out in different ways. One of those ways is how she has vowed not to be like her mother, so Candace is very loyal to her loved ones.

People’s racial identities are at the forefront of this story, because these identities affect how people view themselves and others. Candace is like a lot of biracial or multiracial people who feel pressure to identify with one race more than any other. Because she was raised by a single black father, and because her skin tone and parentage automatically put her in the racial category of not being white/Caucasian, Candace chooses to identify as black. All of this is important background information when issues over race become the biggest source of tension in the story.

One day, Mike and his white cop partner Ryan Doheney (played by Derek Goh) are walking on patrol in Brooklyn. They talk about how Mike’s parents and Candace’s father will be meeting each other for the first time on an upcoming Friday of that week. Ryan is cocky and gives the impression that he’s kind of a bully. Ryan makes a racist comment that Mike’s “Chinese parents are afraid of meeting their black in-laws.”

Mike laughs it off as a light-hearted joke and replies, “I’m sure they’ll be fine.” Ryan says, “Yeah, that’s what you said about Candace.” Mike answers, “I love Candance now.” Ryan then smirks, “That’s because she’s ‘half,’ bro. You like the white part.” Mike then says with a trace of annoyance, “Go fuck yourself.”

This brief conversation is a peek into the racial dynamics between Ryan and Mike, and what Ryan thinks of black people. It’s also enough to figure out that if Ryan encounters a black person while he’s on duty as a cop, Ryan is likely to instigate a situation to try to get that person in trouble. And sure enough, when Ryan sees five black teenage boys walking down the street together and minding their own business, he immediately tries to accuse them of doing something wrong.

Ryan points out this group of teens to Mike. The two cops walk toward the teenagers, while Mike shouts at the group: “Aren’t you supposed to be in school right now?” One of the boys says that their school sessions have ended for the day. That answer isn’t good enough for these cops. Would these teens have gotten so much scrutiny from these cops if these children were all white? Most people living in the real world would say, “Definitely not.”

Mike asks to see what’s in the teenagers’ backpacks. It’s a request that’s inappropriate, considering the teenagers weren’t bothering anyone. Cops in America don’t have a right to search belongings without a warrant, probable cause related to a crime, or permission from the owner of the belongings. One of the teens (played by Justin Withers) knows it and says so, which annoys Mike and Ryan that this teen knows his rights. Before this disagreement turns into a full-blown argument, one of the other teens (played by Michael Kelly) panics by quickly running away.

It’s reason enough for Mike and Ryan to give chase. After running through some streets, the teen goes into an apartment building. Mike and Ryan run in the building too. They follow the teen until he loses them on the floor where he’s hiding. Mike and Ryan don’t know which apartment unit could be the hiding place of the teenager. And that’s when Mike makes a critical mistake: Mike takes out his gun.

When people talk about unconscious or conscious racial bias, this act of a cop pulling out a gun for this minor situation can be used as an example of this type of racial bias. When the teenager was running away, he was not making any threats. He did not appear to have a weapon. And so, what would make Mike think that this teenager needed to have a gun pulled on him at that moment? It’s an example of racial bias that “A Shot Through the Wall” demonstrates well without saying a word.

Anyone can argue that the teenager shouldn’t have run away. But it’s more important to remember that the cops shouldn’t have approached the teenagers so aggressively in the first place. Maybe the teenager had nothing to hide, but he didn’t want to be around in a situation where the cops might start physically harassing him and his friends. There are all sorts of reasons why people might run away, just like the teenager did. It doesn’t automatically make that person a criminal.

The cops never do find the teenager because something horrible happens that turns this police chase into a tragedy: In Mike’s heightened state of being ready to pull the trigger, Mike accidentally discharges his gun. The bullet goes through a wall. And seconds later, a woman is heard wailing inside the apartment that someone has just shot her son.

Mike and Ryan go inside the apartment where they hear the woman screaming for help. And that’s where they see the victim on the kitchen floor. His name is Jordan Wiggins (played by Darrell Leal), a 27-year-old black man, who was not involved in the chase that led to this shooting. Jordan’s panicked and distraught mother Felicia Wiggins (played by Michelle Wilson) begs the cops to save her son’s life.

Mike and Ryan call for an ambulance and frantically use CPR methods to try to revive Jordan, but it’s too late to save him. A neighbor (played by Timothy Ware-Hill) hears the commotion and goes to the open door to find out what’s happening. When the neighbor sees that it’s an emergency situation, he starts filming this activity with his phone. Mike angrily tells the neighbor to stop filming. The neighbor backs off, but he keeps the video footage. And you just know what’s going to happen to that footage.

Later, Mike and Ryan find out that Jordan was a social worker with no criminal record. The shooting is all over the local news. And immediately, Mike and Ryan are told to meet with the NYPD’s union lawyer Ritchie Barrett (played by Dan Lauria), a jaded and no-nonsense counselor. Ritchie tells Mike and Ryan not to talk to the media and that these two cop partners better get their stories straight. In the meantime, Mike and Ryan have been suspended without pay, as the NYPD’s internal affairs department conducts an investigation. Ritchie also assures Mike and Ryan that this incident will eventually blow over, and they’ll be back on the job.

Mike feels a lot of guilt and shame over what happened, but he doesn’t think that he should go to prison over it. Mike’s family and Candace are horrified too, but they also don’t think that Mike should go to prison. For a brief period of time, Mike’s and Ryan’s names are kept out of the media, because the NYPD and most police departments don’t publicly release the names of cops who are under investigation by internal affairs.

During this brief period of anonymity, Mike and Candace go to an outdoor candlelight vigil being held in tribute to Jordan. The event is open to the public. Jordan’s mother Felicia is there, and so are some civil rights activists in the community. Felicia gives a short but emotional speech. Mike and Candace keep to themselves at this vigil and don’t reveal who they are. When Mike sees the impact of what he did by taking the life of an innocent man, it hits him hard.

After coming home from the vigil, Mike and Candace have a big argument, which is one of the best scenes in the movie. Candace tells Mike, “You don’t know what it’s like to grow up in a world where talking to a cop can get you killed, just because of the color of your skin. It’s not something that happens to someone like you.”

Mike defensively replies, “What? It happens to you? You’re the daughter of a cop!” Candace then says, “You’re right, but my mom walked out on us because of the color of my skin. My dad gets dragged up on the podium to be a black face for the department, every time a black man is shot in Brooklyn. So no, I don’t have the problems they have, but I’ve been dealing with this shit my entire life!”

And just what does Candace’s father think of this shooting? For obvious reasons, Bill doesn’t want Mike to go to prison either. However, that doesn’t mean he will always be on Mike’s side as other things start to happen. Eventually, news of Mike and Ryan being suspended quickly gets leaked, and it’s reported in the media. The identities of Mike and Ryan are now public.

Ryan’s attitude is that he won’t get in as much trouble as Mike because Mike was the one who pulled the trigger. Therefore, when Mike tries to get some emotional support from Ryan, it’s easy for Ryan to tell Mike: “It was an accident. Remember that. It was a horrible thing. You shot him as that happened, but you are not to blame here. You were just doing your job.”

The media attention over the case leads to several public protests and rallies from civil rights activists, who don’t want Ryan and Mike to be let off the hook so easily. After all the media attention, a district attorney named Cynthia Kostas (played by Catherine Curtin) gets involved. Mike finds out the hard way that Ritchie was wrong when he assured Mike and Ryan that everything would be okay.

Mike gets indicted for manslaughter. It’s not spoiler information, since the trailer for “A Shot Through the Wall” shows Mike in court being asked what his plea is. Whether or not he goes to trial is revealed in the movie. But during this legal process, Mike ends up getting his own high-profile defense attorney named Larry Berman (played by Kelly AuCoin), a slick operator who advises Mike to do a TV interview to tell his side of the story. As shown in the movie’s trailer, Mike chooses to do an interview with TV journalist Holly Crane (played by Janie Brookshire), who remains neutral but wants to get as many exclusive scoops that she can from this story.

But the TV interview just makes Mike’s face more well-known to the public. And you can imagine the backlash that Mike experiences as a result. And even though Mike is at the center in this controversy, the movie raises the question of whether or not he would’ve been treated differently by his colleagues and by the public if he had been white. Fortunately, “A Shot Through the Wall” does not shy away from the unique challenges and issues that Asian cops face in police departments where Asians are a small percentage of the racial minorities.

“A Shot Through the Wall” takes a few twists and turns—some more predictable than others. Viewers see how the stress of this shooting case takes a toll on everyone who’s been affected the most by this tragedy. It also becomes apparent that Mike and Grace place a high level of importance on getting approval from their traditional parents, because there’s a very minor subplot about Grace being afraid to tell her parents that she’s queer. Grace is secretly dating a woman and hides this romance from her family.

This fear of parental disapproval and possibly being disowned leads Mike to keep a secret from his parents, who have given Mike a place to live when he’s at an age when most people no longer live with their parents. The movie opens with a scene of Mike and his mother May in the kitchen, as she directs him on the correct way to make and prepare boiled eggs. It seems like a tranquil family moment. But the movie then flashes back three months earlier, to show what led up to this tragedy. The scene is revisited later again in the movie to show that the circumstances under this mother/song bonding in the kitchen aren’t so tranquil after all.

Although “A Shot Through the Wall” is told from Mike’s perspective, other people in the movie get their moments that add depth to their characters. All of the cast members give admirable performances, but Leu and Renée are particularly effective in portraying how this tragedy can forever change a relationship and bring a reckoning over racial issues. Fu and Ma, as Mike’s parents, are also quite good at expressing the anguish they feel, as well as how generational racism can still have ripple effects, even with people who claim that they aren’t racists.

The movie’s pacing and well-placed scenes make it engrossing to watch, even when some situations look condensed for dramatic purposes. “A Shot Through the Wall” is an emotional roller coaster that’s intended to make viewers think about how people are really affected by these tragedies, in ways that aren’t necessarily in news reports. It might be easy for some people to say that this type of shooting death is a cop problem, but the movie poignantly peels back the layers in showing how it’s a larger society problem that often begins with how people treat others who are of different races.

Vertical Entertainment released “A Shot Through the Wall” in select U.S. cinemas, on digital and VOD on January 21, 2022.

Review: ‘Werewolves Within,’ starring Sam Richardson, Milana Vayntrub, Catherine Curtin, Michaela Watkins, Michael Chernus, Cheyenne Jackson and Harvey Guillén

July 12, 2021

by Carla Hay

Pictured clockwise, from left: Catherine Curtin, Milana Vayntrub, Harvey Guillén, Cheyenne Jackson, George Basil, Sarah Burns and Sam Richardson in “Werewolves Within” (Photo by Sabrina Lantos/IFC Films)

“Werewolves Within”

Directed by Josh Ruben

Culture Representation: Taking place in the fictional city of Beaverfield, Vermont, the horror film “Werewolves Within” features a mostly white group of people (with one African American, one Latino and one biracial Native American) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A newly appointed forest ranger arrives in Beaverfield, a rural city that’s in turmoil over a fracking debate and speculation that a killer werewolf is on the loose.

Culture Audience: “Werewolves Within” will appeal primarily to fans of the “Werewolves Within” video game and to people who are interested in memorable horror comedies with quirky characters.

Michaela Watkins in “Werewolves Within” (Photo by Sabrina Lantos/IFC Films)

There’s a particular art to blending horror and comedy that “Werewolves Within” achieves with goofy and quirky charm. It’s a well-cast movie that has obvious influences—namely, filmmaker brothers Joel and Ethan Coen 1996 dark comedy “Fargo” and filmmaker Edgar Wright’s 2004 zombie comedy “Shaun of the Dead.” However, “Werewolves Within” (directed by Josh Ruben and written by Mishna Wolff) still keeps the wacky spirit of the Ubisoft video game on which it is based. It’s one of the few video-game-to-movie adaptations that isn’t an embarrassment to the video game.

“Werewolves Within”—which takes places during a snowy winter in the fictional rural city of Beaverfield, Vermont—has a wisecracking tone throughout the film but still maintains an aura of impending doom, as the body count begins to increase. When newly appointed forest ranger Finn Wheeler (played by Sam Richardson) arrives in Beaverfield to start his new job, he arrives in a city that’s plagued by divisive tensions over a fracking controversy. There’s also speculation that a wild animal (possibly a werewolf) is responsible for a recent bloody death of a hunter in the woods, nearly a month earlier.

Finn has his own personal issues going into this job. He’s very insecure about being perceived as a wimp who’s too nice. The first time that viewers see Finn is in his car, as he’s driving to Beaverfield. He’s listening to a self-help motivational podcast or audio recording to learn how to be an assertive alpha male. During the course of the movie, viewers will see that Finn (who was transferred to Beaverfield by the U.S. Forest Service) has to battle his own inner demons and insecurities, as well as the major problems that he comes across in Beaverfield.

“Werewolves Within” moves at such a quick pace that within the first 15 minutes of the film, Finn has met all of the characters who will be in this story. They are:

Jeanine Sherman (played by Catherine Curtin), the mild-mannered owner of the Beaverfield Inn, where Finn is living.
Sam Parker (played by Wayne Duvall), an arrogant executive from Midland Gas, the company that wants to buy land in Beaverfield for fracking purposes.
Cecily Moore (played by Milana Vayntrub), a friendly and talkative mail carrier from the U.S. Postal Service, who lives at the Beaverfield Inn rent-free in exchange for assisting with the inn’s cleaning duties.
Dr. Jane Ellis (played by Rebecca Henderson), a politically liberal, serious-minded sociologist and environmentalist who is vehemently against anything that she thinks is damaging to the environment, such as what Midland Gas wants to do.
Emerson Flint (played by Glenn Fleshler), a gruff and reclusive animal trapper who is the subject of a lot of the town’s gossip.
Devon Wolfson (played by Cheyenne Jackson), a vain millionaire who founded a tech company and who gave up life in a big city for a more laid-back lifestyle in Beaverfield.
Joaquim Wolfson (played by Harvey Guillén), Devon’s flamboyant and sassy husband who owns a yoga studio in town.
Trisha Anderton (played by Michaela Watkins), an uptight neurotic who has a passion for crafting and is the owner of Anderton Farms, which has been in her family for 90 years.
Pete Anderton (played by Michael Chernus), Trisha’s politically conservative, lecherous husband who has a wandering eye and wandering hands when it comes to women who aren’t his wife.
Gwen Sieczkowski (played by Sara Burns), a tough-talking mechanic who had a somewhat secret affair with Pete.
Marcus (played by George Basil), Gwen’s boyfriend who is unemployed, financally broke and very dimwitted.

These residents of Beaverfield have various opinions of what Midland Gas wants to do in Beaverfield. Beaverfield Inn owner Jeanine is reluctant to sell her property to Midland Gas, even though the company is offering her a lot of money to sell. Devon and Joaquim, who identify as progressive liberals, are inclined to be against what Midland Gas wants to do.

Meanwhile, Trisha, Pete, Gwen and Marcus think that Midland Gas will bring a lot of business to Beaverton, and they want to profit from it as much as possible. Cecily hasn’t expressed a strong opinion one way or another. But she does tell Finn that she likes her living arrangement, and that she hopes that the Beaverfield Inn won’t be sold to Midland Gas, which would demolish the inn for fracking activities.

The first time that Cecily and Finn meet, it’s at the inn, and there’s an immediate attraction between them. Finn isn’t as obvious about his attraction to Cecily when they first meet, because he tells her that he has a girlfriend named Charlotte, who’s in the city where he used to live. Charlotte is never seen in the movie, but her phone conversations with Finn make it clear to viewers that she likes to nag and henpeck Finn and doesn’t really respect him.

Finn decided to transfer to Beaverfield as part of his goal to be an alpha male, by taking on a challenge outside of his comfort zone. His relationship with Charlotte is somewhat in limbo because he doesn’t know how long he might be in Beaverfield. Meanwhile, Cecily notices that Finn and Charlotte’s relationship is on shaky ground. Cecily isn’t afraid to tell Finn what she thinks about it.

Because she’s a mail carrier who knows a lot of the personal business of the Beaverfield residents, Cecily is Finn’s main source of information and gossip about what’s been going on in Beaverfield. She tells Finn that Jeanine’s husband left Jeanine to run off to Belize with another woman. Cecily is also the one to tell Finn about Pete and Gwen’s affair, which appears to be over. Pete’s wife Trisha and Gwen’s boyfriend Marcus don’t know about the affair.

Finn doesn’t get a friendly welcome from Emerson. Immediately after Finn arrives in Beaverfield, Cecily gives Finn a written complaint about Emerson from Dr. Ellis, who has accused Emerson of illegal trapper activities in her complaint. When Finn goes over to Emerson’s cabin to investigate, Emerson (carrying a rifle and wearing wolf hide with the wolf’s head still attached) angrily chases Finn off of his property.

A huge snowstorm soon hits the area, leaving all transportation to and from Beaverfield temporarily suspended. Somehow, everyone in this story except for Emerson ends up at the Beaverfield Inn for shelter. And that’s when the killings start with a vengeance.

“Werewolves Within” has such distinct characters that it’s very easy to tell all of them apart from each other. The movie has fun with spoofing stereotypes. Dr. Sherman is an unsmiling, “gloom and doom” type who might or might not be a mad scientist. Gay couple Devon and Joaquim are fussy and argumentative. Trisha and Pete are superficial, materialistic and show hints of being racist and homophobic.

Although there aren’t many set pieces in this movie, which takes place in a very confined area, the production design is done well for this low-budget film. (“Werewolves Within” takes place in Vermont, but the movie was actually filmed in New York state.) Of particular note is the Axe Den, a recreational room that’s on the Beaverfield Inn property. It’s Cecily’s favorite place to hang out, and she introduces Finn to an empty Axe Den during the snowstorm.

The Axe Den is a kitschy place filled with vintage arcade games and a jukebox that has mostly pop songs from the 1990s. Ace of Base’s hit “The Sign” is prominently featured in “Werewolves Within,” with great comedic effect. And it should come as no surprise that the Axe Den is where the movie’s biggest showdown happens.

The very self-aware comedy of “Werewolves Within” doesn’t come at the expense of delivering a genuinely engaging mystery. Dr. Ellis has been able to determine in her makeshift lab at the inn that a wolf-like animal is responsible for this killing spree. However, some of the people trapped at the Beaverfield Inn aren’t convinced. Who or what is the real killer? The answer is revealed at the end of the movie.

All of the cast members handle their roles with aplomb, even though some characters verge on parody. Most of the emotional core of the film is with Finn and Cecily, who have to navigate their attraction to each other during the growing terror about the killer on the loose. Richardson and Vayntrub have believable chemistry as a would-be couple caught in this precarious situation. Their comedic timing is one of the highlights of “Werewolves Within.”

The comedy in the movie isn’t for everyone, because some viewers might find it to be too glib or too on-the-nose. But for everyone else—especially for people who like horror comedies with a cheeky tone— there’s a lot that’s appealing about “Werewolves Within.” This movie would make a great double feature with 2020’s “The Wolf of Snow Hollow,” another werewolf horror movie that combines comedy with a murder mystery.

Ruben’s direction of “Werewolves Within” keeps it at a brisk pace (the movie’s total running time is 97 minutes), so there’s little chance of boredom setting in with viewers. The movie doesn’t over-rely on slapstick comedy but instead derives a lot of comedy from how the cast members interpret the snappy dialogue. “Werewolves Within” is the type of horror film where it’s very entertaining to watch these characters for the entire movie, even if you’d never want to be stuck in snowstorm with most of them.

IFC Films released “Werewolves Within” in select U.S. cinemas on June 25, 2021, and on digital and VOD on July 2, 2021.

Review: ‘The Artist’s Wife,’ starring Lena Olin, Bruce Dern, Juliet Rylance, Avan Jogia and Stefanie Powers

September 30, 2020

by Carla Hay

“The Artist’s Wife”

Directed by Tom Dolby

Culture Representation: Taking place in New York state in the cities of East Hampton and New York, the dramatic film “The Artist’s Wife” has a nearly all-white cast (with a few African Americans and one Indian American) representing the middle-class and upper-middle class.

Culture Clash: A woman who is married to a famous artist has problems dealing with his dementia, and she regrets abandoning her own artistic career to cater to her husband.

Culture Audience: “The Artist’s Wife” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in watching dramas about privileged people who find out that money and fame can’t make them immune from certain problems.

Lena Olin in “The Artist’s Wife” (Photo courtesy of Strand Releasing)

The dramatic film “The Artist’s Wife” takes an often frustratingly uneven look at a mid-life crisis of a woman coming to terms with some of the decisions that she’s made in her life. On the one hand, the movie is mostly well-acted and has some scenes that are heartfelt and genuine. On the other hand, “The Artist’s Wife” writer/director Tom Dolby makes some inconsistent choices in tone and editing that lower the quality of the movie. Ultimately, the movie’s occasional lack of cohesion is superseded by the good (but not great) performances by lead actors Lena Olin and Bruce Dern.

“The Artist’s Wife” will no doubt annoy people with feminist sensibilities because it’s about a submissive woman who spends most of the story coddling, enabling and making excuses for her awful husband. However, as uncomfortable as this movie might make some people feel about this very unequal partnership, the reality is that a lot of people have a relationship that’s just like the dysfunctional marriage of Richard and Claire Smythson, the fictional couple at the center of the movie. People’s lives can be messy and complicated, and they don’t always make the right decisions.

In the beginning of the film, Richard (played by Dern) and Claire (played by Olin) are being interviewed on TV while they sit on a couch together. Richard is a very famous artist who hasn’t shown a completed new painting in years, so he’s been coasting on his legacy. During the interview, Richard says as Claire looks lovingly at him: “I create the art. She creates the rest of our life. Everything we do is up to Claire.”

This interview might paint a rosy picture of Claire being a strong leader, but the reality is that Claire is not the one in charge in this marriage. She spends most of the movie doing whatever it takes to please Richard, who is demanding, stubborn, self-centered and extremely rude to everyone around him. Claire abandoned her own promising career as an artist to become a full-time homemaker.

It’s a decision that both Claire and Richard seemed happy with, as they’ve led a charmed and privileged life in East Hampton, New York. But then, Claire gets some bad news that turns her comfortable life upside down: Richard has been diagnosed with dementia. Claire knew that Richard was being more forgetful lately, but she assumed it was because of the natural aging process and because he’s been drinking more alcohol. However, it’s clear as the movie goes on that Richard’s terrible personality was a problem, even before he got dementia.

After Claire gets over the shock and denial about Richard’s dementia, she goes into “I’m going to fix this” mode, even though she’s been told by medical professionals that there’s no cure for dementia. One of the first things that Claire does is call Richard’s estranged daughter Angela (Richard’s only child) to tell her the news. Angela’s reaction is emotionally distant, as she tells Claire: “I didn’t want your money five years ago, and I don’t want it now.” Angela says, almost as an afterthought, “I’m sorry about Richard.”

It’s during this phone call that Claire finds out that Angela has a son whom Claire and Richard have never met. The son, who is 6 years old, can be heard in the background during the phone call. It’s clear that Angela doesn’t really want to talk to Claire for long, because Angela is abrupt and dismissive during their brief phone conversation.

The movie doesn’t go into details over what happened to Angela’s mother (who is not seen or mentioned in the film), but it’s implied that Angela’s parents probably got divorced when Angela was very young. It’s unclear whether or not Claire was the reason for the divorce, but Claire and Richard weren’t the ones who primarily raised Angela.

Richard has not had a good relationship with Angela for years. Angela comments to Claire about Richard: “He’s never really known me.” Later in the movie, Angela makes a snide offhand remark to Claire about Richard being good at disappointing people.

One day, Claire takes it upon herself to go unannounced to Angela’s apartment in New York City, to see if Angela wants to discuss reconciling with Richard. Claire also wants Richard to get to know his grandson before Richard dies. Claire’s unannounced visit goes as badly as you might expect it would.

Claire’s closest confidant is Richard’s art agent Liza Caldwell (played by Tonya Pinkins), who has resigned herself to thinking that Richard isn’t going to show any of his new paintings anytime soon. During a dinner videoconference call that Richard and Claire have with Liza, he refuses to show Liza a new painting he says he’s working on because his policy is that he and Claire are the only two people who get to see any of his unfinished paintings.

Even though Richard is not making any money from his unfinished paintings, apparently he has enough money to afford a $94,000 clock that’s the size of a cuckoo clock. Claire finds out that Richard made this purchase when the clock arrives in the mail and she opens the package and sees the total cost. She mildly scolds Richard, who angrily responds that he did nothing wrong because he wanted that clock. Claire then mutters to herself that she’s going to return the clock and get a refund.

To take her mind off of Richard’s grim medical diagnosis, Claire spends a night out in New York City with Liza at a gallery opening. Claire ends up getting drunk and misses the bus that would take her back to East Hampton. And so, Claire decides to make another unannounced visit to Angela’s apartment.

Claire asks Angela if she could stay over at Angela’s place. Claire says that she doesn’t want to take a taxi or rideshare drive back to East Hampton because she doesn’t want to be stuck in a long car ride with a stranger. Angela immediately says no, but then she reluctantly agrees to let Claire spend the night at her apartment. Angela also astutely tells Claire that Claire probably subconsciously wanted to get drunk and miss the last bus to East Hampton so Claire could use it as an excuse to come over to Angela’s place.

The next morning, Angela is introduced to Claire’s bright and adorable son Diego, nicknamed Gogo (played by Ravi Cabot-Conyers), and his caregiver Danny (played by Avan Jogia), who is an aspiring musician in his 20s. Angela is a lesbian who is going through a difficult divorce from her estranged wife (who is not seen in the movie), who is Gogo’s other parent.

Angela tells a sympathetic Claire that her estranged wife ended the relationship and moved in with a female fitness instructor eight days after leaving Angela. In other words, Angela is not in an emotionally good place in her life right now. But is Angela willing to mend her relationship with her father Richard and for Richard to get to know his grandson? That question is answered in the movie.

Meanwhile, it’s easy to see why Angela is reluctant to be in Richard’s life: He’s an emotionally abusive bully. Richard teaches an art class at a university, where he berates his young students about what he thinks it means to be a true artist. It’s horrendous behavior that he’s been getting away with for years because of his status as a famous artist.

During one of these sessions, he asks a female student what she paints with, and she gives a puzzled look before answering, “My brush?” That’s the wrong answer for Richard, who responds by pointing to a male student and says that the male student “paints with his cock. You paint with your cunt.”

Before the shocked and embarrassed female student can say anything, Richard sneers, “Maybe I should’ve taken a sensitivity training class before I came in today.” He tells the female student, in case she’s thinking about quitting on the spot: “The minute you go out that door, you’re telling me and everyone else in the class that you don’t have it. It’s not a painting unless you leave a piece of yourself on the canvas.” Rather than walking out of the class, the female student stays, probably out of fear.

In other class session, Richard asks a male student to explain the inspiration and meaning for one of the student’s paintings that has been completed and is sitting on an easel. The nervous and tongue-tied student can’t really answer the question, so Richard takes the painting and destroys it by smashing it on top of an easel. The shocked student is crushed by this humiliating act.

Claire is shown in the movie having a meeting with a school administrator, who tells Claire that the school had no choice but to fire Richard because of all the complaints that he was getting over the years. Claire’s reaction is to get angry and tell the administrator that Richard is just temperamental because that’s just part of his creative process and that the school should feel lucky to have Richard teaching there. The administrator takes out her phone and shows Claire a video of the incident where Richard destroyed the student’s painting. Claire just clucks her mouth and looks away, as if she doesn’t want to believe that Richard is that bad.

As Claire leaves the building in a huff, she removes one of Richard’s donated paintings that was on display in the building’s lobby. When a school employee tries to stop Claire from taking the painting, which was given as a gift to the school, Claire haughtily replies that the school was happy to use Richard’s name to attract students, and she thinks she has a right to take back the painting since Richard doesn’t work there anymore.

This scene is problematic but entirely consistent with Claire’s enabler attitude about the troublesome way that Richard mistreats other people. Claire doesn’t just stand by and do nothing; she vehemently defends Richard, despite knowing how much he hurts other people. There are plenty of real-life examples of people who are married to famous and powerful abusers, but they stay in marriages like this because they don’t want to give up access to power, which usually involves money and massive egos.

At home, Richard is an emotionally unavailable husband who is prone to unprovoked temper tantrums. And he’s far from a passionate lover. There’s a sex scene in the movie between Richard and Claire where he has some performance problems that Claire is understanding about and seems to be used to experiencing.

Earlier in the film, Claire asks her housekeeper Joyce (played by Catherine Curtin) why Joyce left her husband Bill and got divorced. Joyce replies, “I guess you could say we left each other … I didn’t know until Bill moved out how unhappy I’d been.” This conversation is an indication that Claire has also contemplated leaving Richard and divorcing him.

Although “The Artist’s Wife” has some realistic dialogue and acting, where the movie falters is in some of the hokey and predictable scenarios that are in the story. (Dolby wrote the movie’s screenplay with Nicole Brending and Abdi Nazemian.) In one scene, Claire is in her kitchen and squeezing a pomegranate to make some juice. She’s wearing a white T-shirt, and some of the pomegranate juice gets on the shirt. She then crushes the rest of the pomegranate so more juice can be spilled on her, as if her shirt is an art canvas.

It’s at this point you know that Claire’s desire to become a painter again is somehow “awakened.” And sure enough, Claire suddenly starts to paint as if her life depended on it. (Just like Richard, she does abstract art.) She buys art supplies and uses a barn-like shed on her property as her secret studio. Despite this reignited urge to paint again, she’s still afraid of what Richard will think.

Another motivation for Claire starting to create art again is when she visits an old friend she hasn’t seen in about 10 years: an avant-garde European artist named Ada Risi (played by Stefanie Powers), who just happens to have a retrospective exhibit in New York City. Claire goes to the exhibit, which has a lot of modern and futuristic pieces, and admires the art displays, probably with a little bit of envy. At the exhibit space, Claire has a friendly reunion with Ada, who definitely is an uninhibited free spirit, because during Claire’s visit, Ada does a photo session fully nude with other naked people.

There’s also a subplot about how Claire tries to get to know Angela and Gogo better, which means that Claire is also spending more time with Danny. When Claire and Danny first met, she assumed that he was gay, just like Angela. But he cheerfully corrected her and told her that he’s straight. You can easily predict the scenario that eventually happens between Claire and Danny.

“The Artist’s Wife” tries very hard to make it look like Claire is having some kind of feminist awakening in the last third of the movie. But it’s a false impression because she makes choices that all come back to how she feels in relation to her suffocating marriage to Richard, instead of how she feels as an individual. And she never really confronts Richard and holds him accountable for how he’s mistreated her and other people. Throughout the story, Claire goes out of her way to please Richard instead of being honest with him over how she really feels.

The movie also has a very “straight male gaze” to it, because only Olin is shown in a state of undress in the bedroom scenes. There’s a scene where Olin is standing around in a lacy bikini lingerie, as the camera lingers on her toned body. And the full-frontal nude scene with Powers also makes sure to highlight her physically fit body.

There’s almost a self-congratulatory way that director Dolby frames these fully nude and partially nude scenes with the women, as if to say, “See, I’m showing that women over the age of 60 can be sexy.” But it’s not exactly feminist when the male characters aren’t filmed in the same way. Jogia, who plays Danny, is a very good-looking man, and Danny might or might not end up being a “boy toy” for Claire. And yet, Jogia isn’t even seen with his shirt off in the movie.

There are so many things in the movie that are reminders that although the movie is called “The Artist’s Wife,” the women are written as hovering entities in Richard’s orbit. The character of Angela remains an enigma and could have been written better. The whole purpose of having Angela in the story is so that Richard can get a chance to redeem himself.

During many parts of the movie, Claire is almost like a supporting character, because she spends so much time focused on Richard’s wants and needs and cleaning up his messes. And she literally cleans up after him in more than one scene, such as when he smashes a bowl full of cereal on the kitchen floor, or when Claire comes home to find out that Richard has destroyed all of the furniture in the living room.

It’s questionable if “The Artist’s Wife” is really more concerned about the wife’s self-esteem or the husband’s redemption. The movie wants to give safe and predictable answers, by showing some trite scenarios that don’t always ring true. The most emotional authenticity in the movie comes from how Dern and Olin bring their characters to life in depicting a marriage that is a lot unhealthier than the spouses would like to admit.

Strand Releasing released “The Artist’s Wife” in select U.S. cinemas and on VOD on September 25, 2020.