Tag: drama

Review: ‘Average Joe’ (2024), starring Eric Close and Amy Acker

October 21, 2024

by Carla Hay

Eric Close in “Average Joe” (Photo courtesy of Fathom Events)

“Average Joe” (2024)

Directed by Harold Cronk

Culture Representation: Taking place from 1978 to 2022, in Washington State, the dramatic film “Average Joe” (based on real events) features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few African Americans) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: A high school football coach is pressured to quit his job for briefly praying on the field after each game, and he takes his religious freedom case all the way to the Supreme Court.

Culture Audience: “Average Joe” will appeal mainly to people who are interested in faith-based dramas or legal dramas that are inspired by true stories.

Amy Acker and Eric Close in “Average Joe” (Photo courtesy of Fathom Events)

“Average Joe” is not a great movie, but there’s solid acting in this faith-based drama, inspired by a true story, about a high school football coach who took his fight to pray on the field all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. It’s preachy but watchable. The movie doesn’t portray anyone as saintly; all of the main characters have flaws.

Directed by Harold Cronk and written by Stephanie Katz, “Average Joe” takes a while to get to the heart of the story. The movie is really a biopic of Joe Kennedy, a former U.S. Marine who became a football coach and crusader for religious freedom. Whether or not people believe in any religion, the issue that the movie addresses is where people in the United States can have a right to pray if this prayer is not imposed on others.

Much of “Average Joe” (which takes place mostly in Washington state) is a narrative flashback told by middle-aged Joe (played by Eric Close) and his wife Denise (played by Amy Acker), as they sit on a living room couch and tell their story as if they’re talking to documentary filmmakers. (“Average Joe” was actually filmed in Louisiana.) Beginning in 1978, Joe—then known as Joey (played by Ezra Richardson)—was a rebellious 12-year-old who frequently got arrested for fighting or petty theft.

Joey’s unnamed adoptive parents (played by Ann Mahoney and Lyle Brocato) essentially give up on him, relinquish custody of him to the state, and move away. Joey eventually ends up in a group home for boys, where an adult leader named Ben (played by John Neisler) advises Joey to give God a try in finding inner peace. Ben also shows Joey an old, gnarly tree and says that Joey reminds him of the tree because the tree is a survivor.

During this time, Joey meets 12-year-old Denise Kennedy (played by Anabelle Holloway), who also comes from a troubled background. Her parents are constantly fighting. Denise’s father is also physically abusive. Denise and Joey find comfort in each other and develop romantic feelings for each other. Joey and Denise also write love letters to each other.

In 1990, when Joe (played by Austin Woods) is in his mid-20s, he enlists in the U.S. Marines. Joe and Denise lose touch with each other. During a visit back to his hometown, Joe sees Denise (played by Andrea Figliomeni) at a pub and hopes to rekindle their romance, but is dismayed to see that she is married and pregnant.

Denise tells Joe that she’s sorry that she stopped writing to Joe, but her life went in a different direction. Present-day Joe (on the living room couch) then says that after he found out that Denise was married, Joe married Denise’s cousin when he was in his 20s. He also quips that family reunions were “awkward.”

Denise and Joe each had children from these marriages, but each marriage ended in divorce. Denise’s first husband was abusive to her. In 2005, middle-aged Joe and Denise—now both divorced with adult children who no longer live with them—reconnect, have a whirlwind romance, and get married.

After a long and distinguished career in the U.S. Marines (where he was a staff drill sergeant), Joe retires from the military. In 2008, he becomes a part-time football coach for Northlake High School, whose football team is called the Wolverines. The team is somewhat on a losing streak until Joe uses some of his military training to improve the team.

After every game, Joe gets down on one knee and prays silently and briefly on the field. He doesn’t hold his hands in prayer. It just looks like he’s doing a short, non-verbal meditation as he bows his head. He doesn’t force or ask anyone to pray with him. This prayer ritual doesn’t become a problem for Joe until 2015, when some people in the community start complaining about it because they think it’s a violation of the separation between church and state that is required for government-operated schools.

Northlake High School is a public school, which is why some people in the community object to Joe’s prayer meditations in public on school property. Other people in the community support Joe and think that a public school should not dictate if someone prays in this way on school property. Joe is given a warning by the school district to stop praying in public on school property, or else he will get fired. Joe doesn’t stop, but he then submits his forced resignation before he can be fired. (In real life, Joe Kennedy resigned from Bremerton High School in Washington state in 2015.)

Complicating matters, Denise works in human resources for the school district. Joe decides to take legal action, by claiming the school district committed religious discrimination against him and violated his First Amendment rights. This legal battle eventually takes a toll on the marriage of Denise and Joe. Denise also has anxiety/mental health issues that are aggravated by this legal fight.

Even though “Average Joe” is about a serious subject matter, the movie has light touches of comedy that usually work adequately. The narrative structure needed improvement by reducing some of the screen time for Joe’s younger years, because by the time the legal battle is shown, the movie is more than halfway over. Many viewers already know the outcome of this case, but those who don’t know shouldn’t be surprised, because Joe’s story wouldn’t have been made into a movie if it had another outcome.

Even with some hokey aspects of “Average Joe,” the movie is fairly credible when depicting the marriage of Joe and Denise, who are best friends and soul mates but who also have their share of realistic marital clashes. “Average Joe” could have used more insight into how Joe and Denise are as parents. However, the story makes Joe and Denise well-rounded enough that they come across as believable people. “Average Joe” delivers on being a feel-good movie, as long as viewers know in advance that it has a faith-based perspective.

Fathom Events released “Average Joe” in U.S. cinemas on October 11, 2024.

Review: ‘Exhibiting Forgiveness,’ starring André Holland, John Earl Jelks, Andra Day and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor

October 19, 2024

by Carla Hay

André Holland and John Earl Jelks in “Exhibiting Forgiveness” (Photo courtesy of Roadside Attractions)

“Exhibiting Forgiveness”

Directed by Titus Kaphar

Culture Representation: Taking place in the 2020s, with flashbacks to the 1990s, mostly in New Jersey, the dramatic film “Exhibiting Forgiveness” features a predominantly African American cast of characters (with some white people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A successful and talented painter artist has his emotional well-being thrown into turmoil when his estranged father comes back into his life and wants to reconcile.

Culture Audience: “Exhibiting Forgiveness” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and impactful dramas about generational trauma and family relationships.

André Holland in “Exhibiting Forgiveness” (Photo courtesy of Roadside Attractions)

“Exhibiting Forgiveness” presents an authentically raw and poignant story of a painter artist navigating different emotions when his estranged father comes back into his life. This well-acted drama skillfully shows various perspectives. Some of the narrative is a little jumbled in the beginning, but the movie gets better as it goes along.

Written and directed by Titus Kaphar, “Exhibiting Forgiveness” is his feature-film directorial debut. “Exhibiting Forgiveness” had its world premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. The movie (which was filmed location in New Jersey and in New York) is largely inspired by experiences from Kaphar’s own life. All of the artwork for the movie’s protagonist is Kaphar’s own artwork.

In “Exhibiting Forgiveness,” protagonist Tarrell Rodin (played by André Holland) is a talented painter artist who lives in his native New Jersey and seems to have it all: He’s happily married to his singer/songwriter wife Aisha (played by Andra Day); they are loving and devoted parents to an adorable and intelligent son named Jermaine (played by Daniel Michael Barriere), who is about 4 or 5 years old; and Tarrell’s career is on the rise, thanks to a recently critically acclaimed exhibit of his art.

But underneath this seemingly middle-class bliss, Tarrell is struggling with trauma and emotional damage from his childhood. Throughout the movie, it’s shown that Tarrell has used his art (which consist mostly of “slice of life” portraits of people and things in his life) as a form of therapy, in addition to being a way to express himself. The main cause of Tarrell’s unhappy childhood is his estranged father La’Ron (played by John Earl Jelks), nicknamed Ronnie to some people.

Flashbacks show that when Tarrell was about 12 or 13 years old (played by Ian Foreman), he worked part-time with La’Ron, who had his own lawn care/landscaping business. Tarrell was La’Ron’s only “employee,” although the movie implies that Tarrell probably wasn’t paid much if he was paid at all. La’Ron was seriously addicted to crack cocaine for almost all of Tarrell’s childhood. La’Ron was verbally and physically abusive to Tarrell and to Tarrell’s mother Joyce (played by Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor), who worked in an unnamed service industry job.

One of the heart-wrenching scenes in the movie is when young Tarrell accidentally steps on a nail while working with La’Ron. It’s a deep injury that causes a lot of bleeding and pain. Instead of taking Tarrell to a hospital for medical care, La’Ron shouts at Tarrell to toughen up like a man and keep working. He forces Tarrell to mow a lawn and do other work with this injured foot.

While Tarrell is a passenger in La’Ron’s truck, Tarrell then sees La’Ron take the money they made that day and drive to a drug dealer to buy crack cocaine. A disgusted and anguished Tarrell then decides to walk home while limping from his foot injury. His mother Joyce finds out what happens and takes him to a hospital.

Tarrell, who is now in his 40s, shows signs of post-traumatic stress disorder. He has nightmares but won’t talk about it with Aisha, who has grown frustrated because Tarrell is reluctant to take her advice to seek therapy. “I can’t do this with you anymore,” Aisha says in exasperation after Tarrell wakes up from another bad dream but won’t talk about it. “Call a doctor,” she adds. Tarrell says not-very-convincingly: “I will.”

After his current art exhibit gets a glowing review from an influential art critic, Tarrell’s agent Janine (played by Jaime Ray Newman) is ecstatic because she thinks this review can boost his career. “You got a fucking brilliant review from a critic who hates everything,” Janine says. Tarrell’s reaction seems to be that he doesn’t really care because he has other things on his mind.

The first time La’Ron is seen on screen, he is homeless and is in a convenience store that gets robbed. La’Ron tries to stop the robber, whose name is Tommy (played by Justin Hofstad), but Tommy beats up La’Ron and flees. La’Ron then finds a place to stay at a halfway house for recovering addicts. The halfway house has a strict 8 p.m. curfew for residents, who are also required to attend recovery meetings.

Because the movie introduces La’Ron in this way, he might generate automatic sympathy from viewers who see him as a down-on-his-luck vagrant/recovering addict who is trying to get his life together and on a path to recovery. And when La’Ron tries to reconnect with Tarrell at Joyce’s house, viewers might wonder why Tarrell is so angry at La’Ron and so resistant to forgiving him. “Exhibiting Forgiveness” reveals there’s more to La’Ron than what he appears to be in the movie’s first few scenes of him.

The flashbacks then show why Tarrell is so resentful toward La’Ron. These flashbacks might or might not change viewers opinions of La’Ron. These two sides of La’Ron will make viewers wonder if he deserves forgiveness or not. “Exhibiting Forgives” also invites viewers to ponder this question: “Who’s the best person to judge if La’Ron has really changed?”

Meanwhile, Joyce (who is very religious) has already forgiven La’Ron and wants Tarrell to do the same. Joyce acts as a mediator between La’Ron and Tarrell. “He’s trying,” Joyce pleads to Tarrell. “He’s changed.” She tells La’Ron: “You need to make peace with your son. You’re not going to back out on your promise this time.”

La’Ron insists that he’s been clean and sober, but that isn’t enough to convince Tarrell. Aisha meets La’Ron for the first time during this uncomfortable reunion. Later, Tarrell comments about La’Ron to Aisha: “I just thought the first time you would meet him would be in his casket.”

Finally, Tarrell agrees to have a one-on-one conversation with La’Ron and tries to connect with him in the best way that he knows how: through art. Tarrell brings a video camera and starts interviewing and filming La’Ron like a documentary filmmaker. Tarrell asks questions to La’Ron about La’Ron’s life story. And for the first time, Tarrell hears about La’Ron’s childhood (La’Ron also had an abusive father and a “saintly” mother) and how La’Ron got addicted to crack.

“Exhibiting Forgiveness” is also a movie about how denial and blocking out bad memories are ways that some people cope with trauma. Joyce is an example of this type of coping. In one of the movie’s most emotionally charged scenes, Joyce has a visceral reaction when Tarrell reminds her of a low point that he witnessed as a child during her troubled relationship with La’Ron.

It’s never made clear if La’Ron and Joyce officially divorced or have remained legally separated. But now that La’Ron is back in the neighborhood, Joyce almost seems giddy and ready to rekindle whatever romance that they had. She repeatedly tells people that La’Ron was her first love, as if that’s reason enough to welcome him back into her life. Joyce doesn’t want to be reminded that “first love” doesn’t always mean “healthy love.”

“Exhibiting Forgiveness” gets so wrapped up in the story of Tarrell and La’Ron, it somewhat falls short in having interesting details about Aisha and how she’s being affected by this family reunion. Because singer/actress Day first became known as a singer, “Exhibiting Forgiveness” at times seems more like a showcase for Day’s singing talent rather than character development for Aisha. Day performs an original song called “Bricks” in the movie.

The written words of James Baldwin and Maya Angelou are featured intermittently in the movie. These quotes come across as arty or pretentious, depending on your perspective. Holland, Jelks and Ellis-Taylor give compelling and very believable performances of three people who are flawed in their own ways and are trying to find a way to heal with dignity. “Exhibiting Forgiveness” doesn’t get preachy or too sentimental. Rather, it shows in unflinching ways that people can take different paths and have different versions of forgiveness that don’t always guarantee a happy ending for everyone.

Roadside Attractions released “Exhibiting Forgiveness” in U.S. cinemas on October 18, 2024.

Review: ‘We Live in Time,’ starring Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh

October 13, 2024

by Carla Hay

Grace Delaney, Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh in “We Live in Time” (Photo courtesy of A24)

“We Live in Time”

Directed by John Crowley

Culture Representation: Taking place from 2013 to 2023, mostly in London, the dramatic film “We Live in Time” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few black people and Asian people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A chef and a cereal company marketer meet under unusual circumstances, fall in love, and have ups and downs in their relationship, including an ovarian cancer diagnosis.

Culture Audience: “We Live in Time” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of stars Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh and romantic dramas about couples coping with a cancer diagnosis.

Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh in “We Live in Time” (Photo courtesy of A24)

“We Live in Time” tells an engaging, non-chronological story of a couple affected by cancer. The movie tends to gloss over many physical effects of cancer, but the charismatic performances from Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh make this drama worthwhile. People who don’t like non-linear stories might be confused by all the timeline jumping in the film, but the scenes from the couple’s lives together aren’t as diffcult to follow as one might think, since the ovarian cancer diagnosis is revealed early on in the movie.

Directed by John Crowley and written by Nick Payne, “We Live in Time” had its world premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. “We Live in Time” has a story that takes place from 2013 to 2023, mostly in London. Even though the couple’s romance takes place during this 10-year period, you can’t really tell it’s this long, because the two lovers never seem to age at all. “We Live in Time” needed more realistic makeup and hairstyling to show the aging process of people who are supposed to age from their 30s to their 40s.

In “We Live in Time,” chef/restaurateur Almut Brühl (played by Pugh) and cereal company marketer Tobias Durand (played by Garfield) are a live-in couple who are seen in the beginning of the movie in an idyllic romantic scene. Almut has made Douglas fir parfait for Tobias and is serving it to him, just as he has woken up in bed. It’s all very lovey-dovey. But flashbacks and flash-forwards from this scene show that the relationship between Almut and Tobias has had its share of conflicts and sadness.

The story unfolds to reveal that in 2013, when Almut and Tobias met, she was 34 years old and had a new restaurant with cuisine that she describes to him as “modern European takes on classic Alpine dishes—basically Anglo-Bavarian.” Tobias, approximately in his late 30s at the time he met Almut, is a marketer for Weetabix. He appears in TV ads for the company, so he is sometimes called Mr. Weetabix as an endearing nickname.

One evening, Tobias is in a London hotel room for a business meeting he’s having on an unnamed day. He has just received paperwork to sign to make his divorce final from a woman named Helen, who is never seen in the movie. Just as he’s about to sign the divorce papers, Tobias finds out that every pen in the room does not have ink. The only other writing utensil in the room is a pencil, which won’t do for this type of document.

Instead of contacting the hotel front desk to ask for a pen (which is what most people would do), Tobias (in a very contrived movie situation) walks outside in his bathrobe to the nearest convenience store. Just as he’s about to walk back to the hotel, he gets accidentally hit by a car on the street. Tobias ends up in a hospital with injuries, including having to wear a neck brace.

In a hospital waiting room area, Tobias strikes up a somewhat flirty, somewhat awkward conversation with a woman seated nearby. This woman is Almut. Their attraction to each other is immediate. And he soon finds out, as Almut tells him, that she was the one who accidentally hit him with her car.

And so begins the romance of Almut (who is fiery and outspoken) and Tobias (who is polite and patient), who have a whirlwind courtship. It’s already shown in the movie’s trailer and other marketing materials that Almut and Tobias becoming doting and loving parents to a daughter. Her name is Ella. In the movie, Ella is only seen as a baby and as a child who’s about 3 or 4 years old (played by Grace Delaney) in 2023.

“We Live in Time” shows the various stages of this romance, from courtship to parenthood. The movie shows whether or not Almut and Tobias get married. On their first date, Almut invites Tobias to her restaurant, where he is served a meal that she prepared herself. Tobias tells her that he’s newly divorced. He already knows that she’s single and available too. And then, they go back to her place and hook up.

The morning after their first sexual encounter, Tobias sees photos of Almut and her ex-lover Adrienne Duvall (played by Marama Corlett) and is immediately accepting that Almut is not heterosexual. Almut doesn’t state what her sexuality is but she tells Tobias that Adrienne was a former co-worker. Almut doesn’t go into details about why her romance with Adrienne ended. Tobias opens up about his divorce and says he and his ex-wife Helen split up because Helen got a job in Sweden, and he wanted to stay in London, but there were problems in the marriage before she moved to Sweden.

After Tobias and Almut have a few more dates, the subject comes up about how Tobias and Almut feel about becoming parents. Almut says that she and Adrienne thought about starting a family together, but Almut has decided she doesn’t want to have kids. Tobias is taken aback because he says he probably wants to become a father at some point in his life.

Almut gets very defensive because she thinks Tobias is rushing this conversation so soon in their relationship. Tobias tells her that he might be falling love with her but he doesn’t want the relationship to end in heartbreak because they can’t agree on wanting to have kids. This conversation leads to Tobias and Almut having their first big argument.

Of course, it’s already revealed that Almut changed her mind about becoming a parent. Viewers find out if Almut got pregnant before or after she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Almut is seen in various stages of her pregnancy, including an extended childbirth scene that is both amusing and touching.

“We Live in Time” is quite uneven in revealing other aspects of Almut and Tobias. The movie tells much more about Almut’s career and younger life than Tobias’ career and younger life. Almut, her protégée Jade Khadime (played by Lee Braithwaite) and their colleague Simon Maxon (played by Adam James) enter Bocuse d’Or, a prestigious international chef competition, which is a big subplot in the movie. By contrast, Tobias is briefly seen working a few times in the movie. It would be easy to forget that he has a job because he’s barely seen at his job in “We Live in Time.”

Almut’s family life also gets more details in the movie than Tobias’ family life. At one point in the movie, Almut and Tobias have dinner with their respective families at the home of Almut’s widowed mother Sylvia (played by Niamh Cusack). Tobias’ architect father Reginald Durand (played by Douglas Hodge) is a widower. Nothing else is revealed about Tobias’ family or his childhood.

Almut and Tobias seem to have great relationships with their families, but Almut has lingering emotional pain over her father’s death. (His cause of death is not mentioned.) Almut gets upset at this family dinner when her family shows videos of Almut being a champion ice skater when she was a teenager. Almut later tells Tobias that her father was the one who encouraged her to become an ice skater, but she quit the sport after he died. Almut says this is why it’s hard for her to look at videos of herself ice skating.

“We Live in Time” has a reality disconnect in the scenes where Almut has Stage 3 ovarian cancer. Almut is supposed to be close to her family, so it’s strange and unrealistic that her mother and other family members are nowhere to be seen when she is undergoing cancer treatment. Tobias is her only adult family support in these scenes. And in the scene where Almut is in childbirth labor and on her way to a hospital with Tobias, their family members aren’t contacted to let them know she’s about to give birth.

But the biggest disconnect is how Almut doesn’t show any physical decline when she has Stage 3 overian cancer and when she’s undergoing chemotherapy in the cancer scenes. Sure, there’s a scene where Almut shaves her head into a buzzcut to prepare for chemotherapy. But, quite frankly, during the worst of her cancer, Almut still looks like a healthy movie star.

“We Live in Time” should have had more realism about how the human body can be ravaged by cancer and chemotherapy. All that viewers will see in “We Live in Time” about actual physical effects of cancer is Almut vomiting on a few occasions. (Almut talking about surgery options is not the same thing as showing physical effects of cancer.) The movie doesn’t make having cancer look glamorous, but it downplays or ignores a lot of the physical deterioriation caused by cancer and the worst side effects of cancer treatment.

Despite these flaws, “We Live in Time” benefits from having the talented performances of Pugh and Garfield, who shine as a couple that viewers will want to see succeed. “We Live in Time” has some sex scenes that are filmed with a romantic tone and are meant for mature audiences. And because this is a love story where someone has cancer, expect to see some tearjerking moments. Although “We Live in Time” flubs a lot of the cancer medical aspects of the story, the movie gets the relationship aspects right, and that’s what will stay with this movie’s viewers the most.

A24 released “We Live in Time” in select U.S. cinemas on October 11, 2024, with an expansion to more U.S. cinemas on October 18, 2024.

Review: ‘Megalopolis’ (2024), starring Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito, Nathalie Emmanuel, Aubrey Plaza, Shia LaBeouf, Jon Voight and Jason Schwartzman

October 7, 2024

by Carla Hay

Adam Driver and Nathalie Emmanuel in “Megalopolis” (Photo courtesy of Lionsgate)

“Megalopolis” (2024)

Directed by Francis Ford Coppola

Culture Representation: Taking place in the fictional U.S. city of New Rome, the sci-fi drama film “Megalopolis” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few Latin people and African Americans) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A property mogul causes controversy over his development of an urban mega-complex, as he juggles various problems in his personal life.

Culture Audience: “Megalopolis” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola and many of the movie’s headliners, but celebrity name recognition does not save this disastrous and ill-conceived movie.

Aubrey Plaza in “Megalopolis” (Photo courtesy of Lionsgate)

“Megaflopolis” is a more accurate title for the bloated and idiotic “Megalopolis,” which is drunk on its own pretension and fails miserably to tell a coherent and interesting story. A star-studded cast can’t save this mess. This is the type of movie that can only be described as a giant waste on many levels: production budget, talent and a potentially intriguing concept.

Written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, “Megalopolis” has been an idea of Coppola’s since 1977. The movie’s production budget was reportedly $120 million to $136 million, much of which was independently financed by Coppola, whose best work is still considered to be his Oscar-winning films from the 1970s, such as 1972’s “The Godfather,” 1974’s “The Godfather Part II” and 1979’s “Apocalypse Now.” Coppola has been coasting on his reputation for being an “auteur,” so “Megalopolis” came with a certain standard of expectations. “Megalopolis” had its world premiere at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.

Unfortunately, the end result of all the years and money it took to make “Megalopolis” (which takes place in a futuristic fictional city of New Rome, inspired by New York City) is a movie that looks like a hack job on an over-inflated budget. This 138-minute catastrophe has a lot to show but doesn’t have much to say. Here’s the gist of the plot: An ambitious and frequently dour property mogul named Cesar Catilina (played by Adam Driver), who prefers to be called Catilina, causes controversy because of his high-priced plans to build a mega-complex called Megalopolis in the middle of the city. Meanwhile, Catilina gets involved in a love triangle, he has struggles with “mother issues” because his mother dislikes him, and he deals with various other people who come in and out of his orbit.

Catilina is getting a lot of criticism for displacing low-income people from their housing because of his development of Megalopolis, which includes business buildings, a shopping center and a giant recreational park. Years ago, Catilina went on trial for murder after he was accused of poisoning his wife. He was acquitted of the charges, but the scandal still affects his reputation.

One of Catilina’s biggest enemies is Mayor Franklyn Cicero (played by Giancarlo Esposito), who was the prosecuting district attorney in the murder trial. Mayor Cicero still thinks Catilina is guilty. Catilina calls Mayor Cicero “the chief slum lord” and doesn’t understand why the mayor is opposed to Catilina’s plan to “beautify” the city with Megalopolis. Another person who doesn’t get along well with Mayor Cicero is his hard-partying, sexually fluid daughter Julia Cicero (played by Nathalie Emmanuel), a medical school dropout, who is frequently in the tabloid media for her antics. Teresa Cicero (played by Kathryn Hunter), who is Mayor Cicero’s wife/Julia’s mother, is the calm counterpoint to Mayor Cicero’s fiery personality.

“Megalopolis” opens with a captioned statement in Latin (with subtitles): “Our American republic is not that much different from Old Rome … Will we fall victim, like Old Rome, to the insatiable appetite for power from a few men?” All this means is that “Megalopolis” has a lot of people looking ridiculous as they wear togas and other clothing that are supposed to be inspired by Old Rome. But then, the movies bizarrely drops in some references to William Shakespeare, such as in an early scene in “Megalopolis” when Catilina utters the famous line “To be or not to be” from “Hamlet.”

In the beginning of the story, Catilina has been having a casual fling with a TV talk show host named Wow Platinum (played by Aubrey Plaza), who has grown frustrated that Catilina won’t commit to a more serious relationship. In a TV interview, Wow Platinum asks him: “What’s it like to be rich?” Catilina answers, “You can scare people.” Get used to the cringeworthy dialogue, because “Megalopolis” is full of it.

Wow tells Catilina that she’s “bored” with being his casual lover and declares that she wants to be “one-half of a power couple.” She’s tired of waiting around for Catilina to propose marriage to her. And so, gold digger Wow has a quickie wedding with elderly billionaire Hamilton Crassus III (played by Jon Voight), who is Catilina’s uncle and who obviously has a lot of influence in the city. Hamilton’s sister is Cesar Catilina’s widowed mother: Constance Crassus Catilina (played by Talia Shire), who doesn’t hide her disdain for Cesar. Constance openly tells Cesar that she wish he had been born a girl.

Hamilton is a lot like dying prey, with vultures circling to wait until he can die and fight over his fortune. These vultures include his heirs and his new wife Wow. Hamilton has four grandchildren who are all spoiled siblings: Clodia Pulcher (played by Chloe Fineman), Clodio Pulcher (played by Shia LaBeouf), Claudine Pulcher (played by Isabelle Kusman) and Claudette Pulcher (played by Madeleine Gardella). Claudine is a party girl who is a lover of Julia, the mayor’s “wild child” daughter.

Supporting characters drift in an out of the story, some with more purpose than others. A pop music superstar named Vesta Sweetwater (played by Grace VanderWaal), who has an image of being a teenage virgin, performs at the wedding reception for Hamilton and Wow. Fundi Romaine (played by Laurence Fishburne) is Catilina’s loyal driver/butler/flunky. Nush “The Fixer” Berman (played by Dustin Hoffman) briefly scurries in and out of the movie like a rat scrounging for scraps. Nush is opposed to Megalopolis because he says it’s built on a waste foundation. Jason Zanderz (played by Jason Schwartzman) is a “yes man” in Mayor Cicero’s entourage.

It should come as no surprise that Julia (because she’s got “daddy issues”) decides to work for Catilina, her father’s biggest enemy. One thing leads to another, and Julia and Catilina become lovers, much to the horror of Mayor Cicero. “Megalopolis” has a tired, catty subplot of a jealous Wow trying to break up the relationship between Julia and Catilina (even though Wow is now married to Hamilton) because Wow can’t stand to see Catilina be in love with another woman.

“Megalopolis” lurches from scene to scene and puts forth some not-very-original futuristic ideas (such as cars that travel by air) that are clumsily plopped into the story but never fully developed. Many of the scenes are mind-numbingly bad and embarrassing for the people in these scenes, as well as for Coppola, because of all the substandard acting and terrible dialogue. If you waited your whole life to see disgraced actor LaBeouf in drag as he says, “Revenge tastes best when wearing a dress,” then “Megalopolis” is the movie for you. For people with good taste in cinema, “Megalopolis” should definitely be left off of the menu.

Lionsgate released “Megalopolis” in U.S. cinemas on September 27, 2024. A sneak preview of the movie was shown in U.S. cinemas on September 23, 2024.

Review: ‘Anora’ (2024), starring Mikey Madison, Mark Eydelshteyn, Karren Karagulian, Vache Tovmasyan, Yura Borisov, Darya Ekamasova and Aleksey Serebryakov

October 6, 2024

by Carla Hay

Mark Eydelshteyn and Mikey Madison in “Anora” (Photo courtesy of Neon)

“Anora” (2024)

Directed by Sean Baker

Some language in Russian and Armenian with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in 2018 in New York City and in Las Vegas, the comedy/drama film “Anora” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few Latin people and African Americans) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A 23-year-old sex worker/stripper thinks she’s hit the jackpot when she marries a 21-year-old customer, who is the son of a billionaire Russian mogul, but her dream turns into a nightmare when her new husband’s family pressures her to annul the marriage.

Culture Audience: “Anora” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of filmmaker Sean Baker, star Mikey Madison, and movies that tell sordid stories from a sex worker’s perspective.

Mark Eydelshteyn and Mikey Madison in “Anora” (Photo courtesy of Neon)

“Anora” takes viewers on a frenetic and wild ride that goes on for a little too long as it zig zags to an inevitable outcome in this story about a sex worker and a Russian heir who have a quickie marriage. This foul-mouthed movie’s best asset is the acting. There’s really not much to the comedy/drama plot, which is stretched nearly to the breaking point during the movie’s 138-minute runtime.

Written and directed by Sean Baker, “Anora” is another movie in Baker’s filmography about people (usually sex workers) who live in the margins of society and are financially struggling or struggling to make a lot more money than they are now. Baker’s movies are filled with people shouting, cursing, getting naked, hustling, lying, and doing drugs. The characters in his movies are presented in a way that is not judgmental or exploitative but as a way to show how people like this live with a combination of self-absorbed survival skills and a yearning for some type of human connection underneath their “tough” exteriors.

“Anora” had its world premiere at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Palme d’Or (the festival’s top prize), the equivalent of Best Picture for the festival. “Anora” has also made the rounds at other major festivals, including the Telluride Film Festival, the Toronto International Film Festival and the New York Film Festival. Unlike other movies that have previously won the Palme d’Or, “Anora” isn’t particularly innovative, and the movie’s story is quite predictable. But for viewers who can tolerate some of the repetitive nature of the story, “Anora” is worth watching for the principal cast members’ captivating performances, particularly from Mikey Madison, who portrays the movie’s title character.

The movie (which takes place over a few weeks in 2018) begins with a scene in New York City, where much of “Anora” was filmed on location. A 23-year-old Russian American named Anora (played by Madison), who prefers to be called Ani (pronounced Annie), is shown working at her job at a dark and seedy strip club that tries to look more upscale than it really is. Ani, who does topless dancing, is a pro at flirting with customers and is very skilled at convincing many of them to spend more money on her by going in the back room for lap dances. Most of her customers are men who are in their 30s, 40s and 50s.

But one night, a 21-year-old Russian immigrant named Ivan “Vanya” Zakharov (played by Mark Eydelshteyn) goes to the club with his best friend Tom (played by Anton Bitter), who is also Russian and about the same age. Ani immediately catches the eye of Vanya, who doesn’t speak English very well. Ani happens to be fluent in Russian because, as she tells Vanya, she had a Russian grandmother who never learned English.

It doesn’t take long for Vanya to invite Ani to party with him the next day at the Brooklyn waterfront home where he lives by himself. She eagerly accepts his invitation. When Ani goes to this home, she is in awe when she sees that Vanya must be very affluent to live in this sleek and luxurious house.

At first, Vanya plays games with Ani when she asks him how he could afford this place. He lies to her and says he’s a drug dealer. And then he says he’s an arms dealer. Finally, he tells her the truth: His father is a famous Russian billionaire named Nikolai Zakharov (played by Aleksey Serebryakov), and Vanya has been in the United States as a university student.

Vanya has recently dropped out of school, so he is under orders by his father to return soon to Russia to start working in the family business. Ani knows exactly why she was invited to party with Vanya. He tells her he wants to have sex with her. They negotiate the price that he will pay her. They smoke some marijuana and get down to business.

Vanya is 21 years old, but he’s immature and acts more like someone who’s about 16 or 17 years old. He has a teenager’s fascination with playing video games. He’s impulsive and irresponsible. He’s also very sexually inexperienced. (Ani sometimes tries not to laugh at how quickly Vanya finishes during sex.) But Vanya becomes immediately infatuated with Ani, who teaches him how to improve his sexual performance.

Vanya invites Ani back to his place for a big party the following night. Ani brings along her best friend from work: another sex worker named Lulu (played by Luna Sofia Miranda), who’s about the same age as Ani. Vanya introduces Ani and Lulu to some more of his partier friends, who have already heard that Ani is a paid escort.

Vanya and Ani continue to have sex with each other, get drunk and stoned (on marijuana and cocaine), and hang out and goof around together with their friends on Coney Island. By the time Vanya and Ani have had a few sexual encounters, he tells her that he will pay her to be his “horny girlfriend” for a week. After they negotiate on a price ($15,000), Vanya admits he would’ve paid up to $35,000 if Ani had asked.

And so begins a binge of sex and partying, fueled by alcohol and drugs, that leads Vanya and Ani to go to Las Vegas and live like visiting high rollers. Vanya surprises Ani by proposing marriage to her. She thinks he’s joking at first, but he’s not. She gleefully accepts his proposal. Ani and Vanya then quickly elope (without a prenuptial agreement) at a small wedding chapel in Las Vegas.

Now that she’s married to the heir of a billionaire fortune, Ani quits her job at the strip club, where her co-worker rival Diamond (played by Lindsey Normington) is very jealous and declares that the marriage won’t last long. Ani doesn’t want to listen and essentially struts out of the club like someone who has won the lottery. Ani also makes plans to move out of her rented apartment as she envisions a life of being a pampered and jetsetting wife of a billionaire.

You know where all of this is going, of course. When Vanya’s family members in Russia find out that he has married an American sex worker, they immediately set out to get the marriage annulled. An aggressive Armenian thug named Garnik (played by Vache Tovmasyan) and his more mild-mannered sidekick Igor (played by Yura Borisov) have been dispatched to track down Ani and Vanya and end the marriage.

Garnik and Igor report to a “fixer” named Toros (played by Karren Karagulian), who reports directly to Vanya’s father Nikolai. Vanya seems to be afraid of Nikolai. But when Vanya’s mother Galina Zakharov (played by Darya Ekamasova) gets involved, it’s easy to see who is the more ruthless parent.

“Anora” has a lot of expected hijinks and mishaps, as Ani and Vanya (who gets intoxicated to the point of being incoherent and barely conscious) encounter the people who want to end the marriage. The marketing materials for “Anora” have described this movie as a “love story.” But make no mistake: This is a gold digger story. “Anora” fails to convince any viewer with enough life experience that what Ani and Vanya have is more than drug-fueled lust. And in Ani’s case, that lust includes lust for money.

“Anora” gets a little bit ridiculous with some of the sitcom-like scenarios in the last third of the movie. However contrived these scenarios are, the talented cast members make their characters’ personalities convincing enough to maintain viewer interest. “Anora” invites viewers to question if Ani really is capable of having lasting love if there isn’t some transactional financial benefit for her and if she isn’t offering herself for sale as a sexual plaything. The impact of the movie is when Ani begins to understand that she herself doesn’t know the answer to that question.

Neon will release “Anora” in select U.S. cinemas on October 18, 2024.

Review: ‘Queer’ (2024), starring Daniel Craig, Drew Starkey, Lesley Manville, Jason Schwartzman, Henrique Zaga and Omar Apollo

October, 5, 2024

by Carla Hay

Daniel Craig and Drew Starkey in “Queer” (Photo by Yannis Drakoulidis/A24)

“Queer” (2024)

Directed by Luca Guadagnino

Some language in Spanish with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in the early 1950s in Mexico City and in South America, the dramatic film “Queer” (based on William Burroughs’ novel of the same name) features a white and Latin cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: While living in Mexico City, a wealthy, drug-addicted, queer American writer looks for love with a man and goes on a quest to find an elusive psychedelic drug.

Culture Audience: “Queer” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of filmmaker Luca Guadagnino, star Daniel Craig, author William Burroughs and decadent movies told from a queer perspective.

Daniel Craig, Drew Starkey and Lesley Manville in “Queer” (Photo by Yannis Drakoulidis/A24)

Like a lot of movies that portray drug addiction, “Queer” is sometimes unfocused, rambling and incoherent. However, Daniel Craig gives a memorable and uncompromising performance in this experimental drama inspired by Williams Burroughs’ life. “Queer” is not a biopic but a movie based on a semi-autobiographical novel. It’s a portrait of a troubled person who has self-esteem issues and who is struggling to find love and acceptance in a world that is often unwelcome and hostile to people who aren’t cisgender heterosexuals.

Directed by Luca Guadagnino and written by Justin Kuritzkes, “Queer” is adapted from Burroughs’ 1985 novel of the same name. The “Queer” movie is the second film released in 2024 that was directed by Guadagnino and written by Kuritzkes, who previously collaborated on the tennis drama “Challengers,” another sexually charged film with themes of obsession, ambition and transactional relationships. Unlike the sex scenes in “Challengers,” the sex scenes in “Queer” have full-frontal nudity and are much more explicit. “Queer” had its world premiere at the 2024 Venice International Film Festival. It later had its North American premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival and its U.S. premiere at the 2024 New York Film Festival.

In “Queer” (which take places over a three-year period in the early 1950s), Craig has the central role as William Lee, which is the alias that Burroughs used briefly and early in his long career as a writer. Burroughs was know as an influential Beat Generation author, whose best-known work is the 1959 novel “Naked Lunch.” Burroughs was born in 1914, in St. Louis, Missouri. He died in 1997, in Lawrence, Kansas. Burroughs was a Harvard University graduate and an heir to the fortune of the Burroughs Corporation, which was founded by his paternal grandfather William Seward Burroughs. This wealth allowed Burroughs the writer to live a lifestyle where he didn’t have to work, and his drug addiction (he was openly addicted to heroin) was well-funded.

The William Lee in the “Queer” movie prefers to be called Lee. He is in his late 40s and is exactly what you think a well-educated, drug-addicted intelluctual writer would be: On the one hand, he has a fierce snobbery toward anyone who can’t discuss literary work that’s up to his standards. On the other hand, he loves getting down and dirty with shady, uneducated people and criminals. He uses his ability to float between high society and the unlawful margins of society as the source of many of his writings.

Lee’s writing is not as much of a priority to him as his main preoccupations: doing drugs and looking for gay sex. Omar Apollo has a small role in the movie as young man whom Lee picks up for a casual sexual tryst in the movie’s first sex scene. Lee has his flings at a motel where the manager is so accustomed to the place being used for gay sexual hookups, he lays out a towel on the bed as soon as guests rent a room.

In real life in the early 1950s, William Burroughs was divorced from his first wife Ilse Klapper and living in Mexico City with writer Joan Vollmer, their son William Burroughs Jr., and Vollmer’s daughter Julia Adams from her ex-husband Paul Adams. (A scene in “Queer” recreates how Vollmer died in real life, but with another character in this movie’s death scene.) In the movie “Queer,” Lee is not married, and he’s not exactly “in the closet.” He’s living the life of an openly gay bachelor in Mexico City, with no family ties at all. In fact, his loneliness and detachment from any family members are the reasons why Lee makes many of the decisions in this story.

Lee hangs out at a gay bar called the Ship Ahoy, where many men from the U.S. Navy are known to frequent. Lee’s bar-hopping pals are mostly other American queer men. His closest friend is Joe Guidry (played by Jason Schwartzman), who loves to gossip about his sex life and other gay/queer men’s sex lives. A running joke with Joe is that the men he often sleeps with end up stealing things from Joe. Another frequent Ship Ahoy customer is Winston Moor (played by Henrique Zaga), who is sometimes Lee’s drinking companion.

One night, Lee is walking down a street and casually observing a group of Mexican men who are involved in rooster fighting. Lee looks up and notices another white American man, who’s in his 20s. The stranger is across from Lee and is also casually walking by this disgusting and inhumane animal cruelty. Lee and this stranger look at each other in the way that people do when you know there’s an instant and unspoken attraction between them.

Lee is surprised to see this stranger again that night at Ship Ahoy. The stranger is at a table by himself. When Lee awkwardly bows and tries to flirt with the younger man, this would-be paramour seems to be a little turned off and doesn’t show any interest. Lee keeps seeing this stranger at various places until they finally have a conversation and get to know each other better.

The stranger’s name is Eugene Allerton (played by Drew Starkey), who used to be in the U.S. Navy but is currently an unemployed student in Mexico City. Lee is unsure of what Eugene’s sexuality is. Eugene hangs out at the Ship Ahoy (a known establishment for gay men), but Eugene is also seen dating a fiery redhead named Joan (played by Ronia Ava), who looks like the type who wouldn’t want Eugene to be dating anyone else.

Lee is a big talker, but he’s surprisingly shy about coming right out and asking Eugene what Eugene’s sexuality is, even though Lee clearly wants to have sex with Eugene. When Fred advises Lee to ask Eugene if Eugene is queer or not, Lee says it’s not a good idea and tells Fred that it would be too forward and impolite to ask Eugene. Meanwhile, Lee and Eugene have the type of flirtation that you just know will lead to something more. Because it’s already revealed in the movie’s trailers, it’s not spoiler information to say (and it should be no surprise) that Lee and Eugene eventually become lovers.

Lee falls in love with Eugene. The problem for Lee is that he isn’t quite sure if Eugene feels the same way about Lee, or if Eugene is just using Lee for a “sugar daddy” situation. Eugene also doesn’t seem to want to commit to declaring if he’s gay, bisexual or neither. When Eugene is around certain people, such as Joan, he gives the appearance that he’s heterosexual. Meanwhile, Lee can eventually no longer hide from Eugene that Lee is seriously addicted to heroin. Lee also abuses other drugs, such as alcohol, cocaine and psychedelics.

“Queer” is told in three chapters and one epilogue. Much of the third chapter is about a trip that Lee and Eugene take to South America to find an elusive psychedelic drug called yage (prounced “yah-way”), also known as the plant that is the basis for ayahuasca, a potent psychedelic. They travel to a remote jungle area, where they meet a grungy psychedelic American expert named Dr. Cotter (played by Lesley Manville, who is almost unrecognizable) and a man she calls her husband named Mr. Cotter (played by Lisandro Alonso). It leads to the most hallucinogenic and visually creative part of the movie.

“Queer” makes some interesting musical choices that are meant to be unconventional but sometimes comes across as pretentious and downright annoying. Oscar-winning music composers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (who also wrote the musical score for “Challengers”) have composed very modern music for a movie that’s set in the 1950s. For better or worse, “Queer” does the same thing that “Challengers” does: It often plays the score music so loudly in certain scenes, this blaring volume can become an irritating distraction.

The songs on the “Queer” soundtrack consist mostly of songs that were written decades after the 1950s. A few Nirvana hits are prominently featured in the beginning of the movie: first, with Sinéad O’Connor’s cover version of “All Apologies” and later with Nirvana’s original recording of “Come as You Are.” Later in the movie, a few songs from Prince (such as “Musicology”) can be heard when “Queer” ramps up its sexual content.

Purists who think the music of a movie should be realistic for the time period of when the movie takes place will no doubt be put off by these musical choices in “Queer.” Some viewers who aren’t aware of this musical mismatch might feel disoriented when watching “Queer” and might think to themselves when they see clothes and cars from the 1950s but hear music from the 1990s and 21st century : “What decade is this movie supposed to be in anyway?”

At 135 minutes long, “Queer” tends to a little bloated in the story it’s trying to tell. The movie is based on a short story. And it’s easy to see why because there isn’t much of a plot. “Queer” has some “druggie” movie clichés such as “dope sick” scenes, “getting high” scenes, and “desperate to find drugs” scenes. The cinematography is very immersive, while the movie’s visual effects (although often grotesque) are quite unforgettable.

Despite the movie’s flaws, Craig gives a riveting performance throughout “Queer” as the insecure and self-destructive Lee. Starkey is also quite good in the role of the emotionally mysterious Eugene. Manville is a scene stealer and gives one of the most transformative performances of her career. Ultimately, “Queer” is not the type of movie that expects everyone to understand it or like it. It’s a movie that exists on its own terms, in all of its messiness in chronicling a period of time in the life of a privileged but troubled writer.

A24 will release “Queer” in select U.S. cinemas on November 27, 2024.

Review: ‘The Room Next Door’ (2024), starring Julianne Moore, Tilda Swinton, John Turturro and Alessandro Nivola

October 4, 2024

by Carla Hay

Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore in “The Room Next Door” (Photo courtesy of El Deseo/Sony Pictures Classics)

“The Room Next Door” (2024)

Directed by Pedro Almodóvar

Culture Representation: Taking place in New York state, the dramatic film “The Room Next Door” (based on Sigrid Nunez’s novel “What Are You Going Through”) features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few Latin people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A woman with cervical cancer reconnects with a close friend and enlists her to go on a monthlong retreat, where the cancer patient plans to kill herself and wants her friend to keep this plan a secret.

Culture Audience: “The Room Next Door” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar; stars Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton; and well-made movies about human euthanasia.

Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore in “The Room Next Door” (Photo courtesy of El Deseo/Sony Pictures Classics)

“The Room Next Door” raises thought-provoking issues about euthanasia for terminally ill people who want to choose when they will die. This well-acted, gorgeously filmed drama also has a lot to say about friendships and loyalty. “The Room Next Door” might inspire debates about these issues, but there’s no question that the movie is a compelling story about what could happen in real life under the circumstances portrayed in the film.

Written and directed by Oscar-winning Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar, “The Room Next Door” is his first English-language movie. Almodóvar adapted “The Room Next Door” screenplay from Sigrid Nunez’s 2020 novel “What Are You Going Through.” “The Room Next Door” had its world premiere at the 2024 Venice International Film Festival, where it won the Golden Lion (top prize), which is the festival’s equivalent of Best Picture. “The Room Next Door” subsequently had its North American premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival and its U.S. premiere at the 2024 New York Film Festival.

“The Room Next Door” begins in New York City, by showing a successful author named Ingrid (played by Julianne Moore), who is signing autographs of her most recent book at a personal appearance event. Although she was only obligated to be there for one hour, and that hour has passed, Ingrid says she will stay until all the people who are waiting in line will get their books autographed. It’s the first sign that Ingrid is a caring and compassionate person.

Ingrid’s latest non-fiction book is about how people should try to live their best lives for as long as possible. Ingrid openly says that she has a fear of dying. She views death as inevitable but a negative and sad part of existence. One of the people waiting in line to get her book autographed is a friend she hasn’t seen a while named Stella (played by Sarah Demeestere), who lives in the Boston area. Stella tells Ingrid some surprising news: Their mutual friend Martha (played by Tilda Swinton), a retired journalist, has cancer.

Ingrid and Martha haven’t seen or spoken to each other for years because they simply drifted apart. But this news about Martha’s health has prompted Ingrid to get in touch with Martha, who also lives in New York City. Ingrid visits Martha at the hospital where Martha is getting medical treatments.

They catch up on what’s been going on in their lives since they previously saw each other. Martha tells Ingrid that she has Stage 3 cervical cancer. “I swing between euphoria and depression,” Martha says of her state of mind. “Survival feels almost disappointing.”

Through conversations in the movie, it’s revealed that Martha and Ingrid used to work together in the 1980s at Paper magazine, during the “party girl” phases of their lives. Ingrid and Martha were lovers for period of time. Their sexual relationship didn’t last, but they remained close friends. Ingrid lived for several years in Paris but has been living in New York City in more recent years.

During the 1980s, Martha and Ingrid also dated writer Damian Cunningham (played by John Turturro) at different times. However, their dating relationships with Damian didn’t last either. Damian is also now a well-known author who is still a trusted friend of Ingrid.

Ingrid and Martha are both bachelorettes who don’t have a special love in their lives. Ingrid does not have children. Martha has one child: a daughter named Michelle, who was born from a short-lived fling that Martha had with a schoolmate named Fred, who was in his late teens when Martha was also a teenager. Martha and Fred started dating each other shortly before he went off to serve in the military in the Vietnam War, not long before the war ended in 1975.

For years, Martha lied to Michelle by saying that she didn’t know who Michelle’s father was. It was only after Michelle became an adult that Michelle found out the truth. According to Martha, after Fred came back from the Vietnam War, he was a different person and had issues with his mental health. Fred knew about Michelle, but he wasn’t involved with raising Michelle and stayed out of her life after he and Martha ended their relationship. Fred then got married to another woman and died in his 20s, when he rushed into a burning house to save what he thought were people who need rescuing. (This scene is shown as a flashback in the movie.)

The relationship between Martha and Michelle has also been strained because, by Martha’s own admission, Martha made her career a priority over being a parent. Martha worked for years as a war journalist. This demanding work schedule meant that she often had to travel and be away from home. Martha admits that Michelle still has a lot of resentment toward Martha because of Martha being a frequently absent parent.

Martha and Ingrid are opposites in many ways. Ingrid is nurturing, sincere and open with her feelings. Martha can be prickly, dishonest and emotionally guarded. They also have very different views about death. Martha doesn’t want pity but she wants to choose how and when she will die and has meticulously planned it. Ingrid believes that people should try to live as long as they can and try to avoid death for as long as possible.

Martha tells Ingrid that she wants Ingrid’s help with a big secret: Martha has rented a luxury vacation home for a month in New York state. (Most of “The Room Next Door” was actually filmed in Spain.) Martha bought a euthanasia pill on the black market and plans to take this pill on a day that only Martha will know. Martha asks Ingrid to accompany her on this trip for support and as a last goodbye. Martha insists to Ingrid that Ingrid can’t tell anyone else about this plan.

Ingrid is horrified but agrees to this request to go on this retreat, out of loyalty to Martha. Ingrid also thinks she can change Martha’s mind about ending Martha’s life. When they get to the rented house, Martha tells Ingrid that Ingrid can stay in the room next door to the room where Martha will be staying. Martha says that if Ingrid sees that the door to Martha’s room is closed, it means that Martha has taken the euthanasia pill and is probably dead.

The rest of “The Room Next Door” is an emotional rollercoaster for Ingrid, who is conflicted about this entire plan. As a safety measure, she confides in Damian about Martha’s plan. Damian says that he can recommend a good attorney for Ingrid, in case Ingrid needs an attorney. Ingrid is adamant that she is not going to help Martha commit euthanasia, but Ingrid’s advance knowledge of Martha’s plan would make Ingrid an accessory to this unlawful act. Alessandro Nivola has a small supporting role as a police investigator named Flannery who gets suspicious and questions Ingrid about matters related to Martha.

“The Room Next Door” is a very talkative and occasionally boring movie that consists mainly of the conversations between Martha and Ingrid, as they reconnect under these unusual and stressful circumstances. Now that Martha has decided when she will end her own life, she has become reflective about her life and wonders about things that she could have done differently. Ingrid offers advice and comfort but is also worried about Martha’s safety and emotional well-being.

Martha has a tendency to be self-absorbed and scatter-brained, which leads to some darkly comedic moments in the movie. For example, upon arriving at the rental home, Martha finds out that she left the euthanasia pill at her home in New York City. Martha insists that she and Ingrid drive all the way back to New York City to retrieve the pill, which takes a while because Martha forgot where she put the pill.

“The Room Next Door”—which has exquisite cinematography from Eduard Grau—juxtaposes the ideal beauty of the upscale location with the unpleasant sense of foreboding that Martha and Ingrid have that one of them plans to die before this trip is over. At times, Ingrid is in deep denial that Martha will follow through with this plan. Other times, Ingrid goes into a panic over it.

During this bittersweet reunion, this question looms: Will Martha reach out to Michelle one last time in an attempt to reconcile or at least say goodbye? Martha says that Michelle has rejected Martha’s previous attempts to communicate with Michelle. Moore and Swinton give riveting performances that stay authentic to their characters’ personalities.

No matter how viewers feel about terminally ill people who want to choose when to end their own lives, “The Room Next Door” presents these issues in a non-judgmental way by showing two friends who are directly affected by this issue. Some people try to avoid death, while others run toward it or don’t try to fight death. “The Room Next Door” is an impactful reminder that how people choose to live is remembered much more than how people die.

Sony Pictures Classics will release “The Room Next Door” in select U.S. cinemas on December 20, 2024.

Review: ‘The Outrun,’ starring Saoirse Ronan, Paapa Essiedu, Nabil Elouahabi, Izuka Hoyle, Lauren Lyle, Saskia Reeves and Stephen Dillane

September 29, 2024

by Carla Hay

Saoirse Ronan in “The Outrun” (Photo by Anne Binckebanck/Sony Pictures Classics)

“The Outrun”

Directed by Nora Fingscheidt

Culture Representation: Taking place in the United Kingdom, the dramatic film “The Outrun” (based on Amy Liptrot’s memoir of the same name) features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few black people and Middle Eastern people) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: A 29-year-old woman recovering from alcohol addiction moves back in with her mother, who lives on a farm, and there are flashbacks to what led her to this point in her life.

Culture Audience: “The Outrun” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of star Saoirse Ronan and well-acted movies about people coping with addiction and mental health issues.

Saoirse Ronan and Stephen Dillane in “The Outrun” (Photo by Anne Binckebanck/Sony Pictures Classics)

“The Outrun” has a narrative that is told in non-chronological fragments, but collectively, the story is an impactful portrait of alcohol addiction and recovery. Saoirse Ronan gives a devastatingly realistic performance. This thought-provoking drama also has authentic portrayals of how mental illness in families can leave generational trauma.

Written and directed by Nora Fingscheidt, “The Outrun” is based on Amy Liptrot’s 2015 memoir of the same title. “The Outrun” had its world premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival and its European premiere at the 2024 Berlin International Film Festival. The movie was filmed primarily in Scotland’s Orkney islands, but some parts of the story take place in London.

In “The Outrun,” the main character is named Rona (played by Ronan), a 29-year-old who has a master’s degree in biology but whose life is in spiral of alcohol addiction. It’s briefly mentioned that Rona also does psychedelic mushrooms, but alcohol is her main drug of choice. Because the movie’s timeline jumps all over the place, viewers have to put the pieces of the story’s puzzle together.

What emerges is Rona’s story of self-loathing that’s intertwined with her addiction. Her hair is different colors in the film. During her worst addiction periods, her hair is bright pink or aquamarine. During her period of recovery, her hair is mostly her natural blonde. In the beginning of the movie, Rona is seen being aggressive while she’s drunk at a pub and is eventually forced to leave the bar.

Rona grew up in Scotland’s Orkney islands but has an Irish accent because her mother Annie (played by Saskia Reeves) is Irish. For the past 10 years, Rona lived in London, where she was living a party girl lifestyle with her best pal (played by Izuka Hoyle). But a turning point came when something happened that made Rona go back home to Orkney islands and live with her mother while Rona recovers from her alcoholism.

A clue about this turning is shown early in the movie in a scene where Rona (who has a bruised right eye and lesser injuries) is being interviewed by a female counselor who asks unemployed Rona what’s her age, occupation and if her family has a history of mental illness. Because this scene takes place right after the scene where drunk Rona got thrown out of a pub for being too rowdy, it might be easy to assume that Rona got the bruised eye from a pub fight. However, “The Outrun” eventually reveals the real reason for Rona’s injuries.

Rona has a tense relationship with Annie, who is very religious and thinks that praying for Rona will help Rona on her rough road to recovery. Rona has a lot of anger and resentment over Annie’s religious beliefs and drunkenly tells her in a scene where Rona has relapsed: “They [Annie’s religious friends] have you brainwashed. That’s why dad left you … All that praying didn’t help.” Rona is immediately remorseful over these cruel remarks and sobs when she tells Annie, “I’m sorry.”

Rona’s father is named Andrew (played by Stephen Dillane), who has a sheep farm, where Rona goes to visit him. (She also helps in lambing, the birthing of lambs.) Andrew is bipolar, so Rona’s feelings about him are complicated. She clearly likes spending time with Andrew more than she likes spending time with Annie. But Andrew is unpredictable. When he’s having a manic episode, Rona often has to act like she’s his psychiatrist and parental figure to calm him down.

“The Outrun” also has some flashbacks to Rona’s childhood when 11-year-old Rona (played by Freya Lexie Evans) witnessed some horrific events because of her father’s mental illness. For example, she saw her father being airlifted by helicopter because he was being involuntarily committed to a psychiatric facility. In another scene, Andrew smashed windows in their home during a storm because he wanted to let the gusty winds to flow throughout the house.

When she was living in London, Rona was dating a man who’s about her age named Daynin (played by Paapa Essiedu), and they fall in love. However, Rona’s alcoholism gets worse during their relationship. The movie shows what happened to Daynin and Rona as she starts to get more and more out of control.

The scenes between Daynin and Rona are among the best in the film in their raw realism. For example, after Daynin has protectively come to Rona’s rescue during an alcohol-induced low point in her life that put her in a hospital, he sits with her outdoors on a street, where a pub is nearby. Rona is so deep in her addiction, she nods toward the pub asks Daynin, “Do you want to get a drink?” The incredulous expression on Daynin’s face says it all.

“The Outrun” also has scenes of Rona is Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, led by no-nonsense Julie (played by Lauren Lyle) and where she meets a goofy jokester named Samir (played by Nabil Elouahabi), who is one of the few people who can make Rona laugh. Rona finding some tranquility when she watches seals swimming in the ocean. Swimming and outdoor scenes represent Rona’s respite during the inner turmoil that she experiences during her addiction and recovery.

“The Outrun” is not an easy film to watch for certain scenes that show the painful and damaging results of addiction. Some viewers who are expecting a more traditional narrative might also be put off or confused by all how the story is told in bits and pieces instead of as a continuous storyline. However, the acting “The Outrun” is superb, with Ronan (who is one of the producers of the “The Outrun”) being entirely compelling throughout the movie. “The Outrun” might not have a traditional narrative structure, but it’s a more honest movie about addiction than many of those that follow a familiar formula.

Sony Pictures Classics will release “The Outrun” in select U.S. cinemas on October 4, 2024. A sneak preview was shown in select U.S. cinemas from September 26 to September 30, 2024.

Review: ‘A Different Man’ (2024), starring Sebastian Stan, Renate Reinsve and Adam Pearson

September 28, 2024

by Carla Hay

Sebastian Stan, Renate Reinsve and Adam Pearson in “A Different Man” (Photo by Matt Infante/A24)

“A Different Man” (2024)

Directed by Aaron Schimberg

Culture Representation: Taking place in New York City, the sci-fi/drama/comedy film “A Different Man” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few black people and Latin people) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: An aspiring actor, who has a severely disfigured face, undergoes an operation that gives him a handsome face, but he starts to psychologically unravel when a play is made about his life, and he is upstaged by a disfigured man who is cast to star in the play.

Culture Audience: “A Different Man” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of star Sebastian Stan and movies with social commentary about how physical appearances can dramatically affect people’s lives.

Renate Reinsve and Sebastian Stan in “A Different Man” (Photo by Matt Infante/A24)

“A Different Man” is an interesting social satire about the superficiality of being judged by physical appearances, and how good looks aren’t necessarily synonymous with confidence. However, the film’s concept runs out of steam in the last 30 minutes. “A Different Man” had its world premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival and its European premiere at the 2024 Berlin International Film Festival, where Sebastian Stan won the prize for Best Acting in a Leading Role.

Written and directed by Aaron Schimberg, “A Different Man” takes place in New York City, where the movie was filmed. “A Different Man” begins with a scene of aspiring actor Edward Lemuel (played by Stan) acting in a filmed scene in a room, where he is directed to act less like he’s freaking out over having a brain aneurysm and act more like as if he’s woozy. Edward has a very disfigured face that he developed for unknown medical reasons. A scene later in the movie shows a childhood photo of Edward, who did not have a disfigured face when he was a child.

Edward is a loner who lives in a small apartment, where he has a leaky roof that he delays getting fixed. The leaky roof later becomes a symbol of how Edward handles his life before and after he has facial surgery. Based on what is shown in the movie, Edward doesn’t work much as an actor. The most recent gig he’s been able to get is doing a corporate workplace video on how to treat disfigured co-workers, but the video is very tone-deaf and condescending. Viewers can assume that Edward lives off of government disability payments since he is obviously not wealthy and he seems to be mostly unemployed.

One day, someone moves into the apartment across the hall from Edward. This new neighbor is an aspiring playwright/theater director named Ingrid Vold (played by Renate Reinsve), who seems to be friendly and is very curious about Edward. When she comes over to Edward’s apartment to borrow laundry detergent, it just happens to be right after he has accidentally cut himself with a knife while slicing some onions.

Ingrid immediately applies bandages to Edward’s wounded hand. He is visibly affected by this stranger showing him kindness when he has become accustomed to most people insulting him, staring at him rudely, or trying to avoid looking at him. Ingrid notices that Edward has an antique red typewriter where he has written: “They taunt me and beg me to show my face, only so when I do, they can turn away in horror.” Later, Eward gives the typewriter to Ingrid as a gift.

Ingrid is curious about Edward and seems to genuinely want to be his friend. But it turns out she has an ulterior motive. Meanwhile, Edward undergoes radical surgery to get a new face that isn’t disfigured. He is told that this surgery is risky, but the rewards could outweigh the risks. After the surgery, his hand wound disappears, his disfgured face painfully peels off, and his new handsome face is underneath. Edward keeps the outer skin of his old face as a mask memento.

Edward decides he wants a new identity with his new face. He tells people, including those in his apartment building, that Edward suddenly died by committing suicide. Edward pretends to be a bachelor named Guy Morantz (also played by Stan), who now lives alone in the apartment unit. The movie’s narrative then kind of sloppily fast-forwards to Guy being celebrated at his job as a hotshot real-estate agent, where the company uses him to be a spokesmodel in its advertising.

“A Different Man” never bothers to answer questions about how Edward/Guy was able to get this real-estate job and how he was able to establish this new identity so quickly without anyone (such as his landlord) finding out the truth. The movie also doesn’t explain why “Guy” has kept all of Edward’s belongings and why there are no records of Edward’s death. In other words, there are plot holes in this part of the movie.

Guy/Edward is a little overwhelmed by but enjoying his new life as a good-looking, available bachelor. The attention he gets from women when he’s out in public is obviously very different from when he had a disfigured face. Guy/Edward is still very much attracted to Ingrid, who seems to be distracted by something else.

Even so, Guy/Edward and Ingrid strike up a flirtation and eventually become lovers, as Guy/Edward keeps his secret about his fake Guy identity from her and everyone else in his life. Guy/Edward then finds out something shocking to him: Ingrid is writing an off-Broadway play based on Edward’s life. The play is holding auditions for the lead role of the disfigured man. Guy/Edward auditions for the role using his disfigured face mask, even though he is uncomfortable with Ingrid exploiting his life story for her own personal gain.

In rehearsals for the play, Guy/Edward makes criticisms about Ingrid’s choices for the play. He also isn’t a very good actor in this role. Things start to go awry for Guy/Edward when a British man named Oswald (played by Adam Pearson) auditions for the role and is clearly a better actor. Ingrid decides to cast Oswald in the role instead, especially since he is authentically disfigured.

Oswald has an outgoing personality and charms many people, including Ingrid, although he can be a little pushy in how he barges in on people’s social circles. The rest of “A Different Man” shows how Guy/Edward becomes increasingly unstable as his jealousy over Oswald takes over Guy/Edward’s life. Ingrid also shows that she has a sexual fetish for men with disfigured faces. Whatever her kink is, Ingrid ultimately only cares about exploiting Edward’s life story to make it into a play that she wants to be financial hit and for the play to be a means get accolades for herself.

Stan gives a very watchable performance about a man leading two different lives because of having two different faces. However, what Guy/Edward eventually figures out is that he’s still the same person inside with the same personality flaws. Pearson provides much of the comic relief in his performance as the effervescent and confident Oswald. “A Different Man” shows in subtle and not-so-subtle ways that having a physical appearance that society considers “better” than another can only get someone far enough if they don’t have healthy self-esteem and are constantly seeking approval from people based on physical appearances.

Although “A Different Man” has good acting and solid cinematography, the movie’s portrayal of the concept gets wobbly and weak toward the end of the film. The satirical situations that make Guy/Edward a buffoon start to wear thin and become tiresome. The movie also lets duplicitous Ingrid off the hook way too easily. However, if people want to watch a dark satire where there are no heroes or villains as main characters—just deeply insecure people who make questionable decisions—then “A Different Man” can pass the time but ultimately doesn’t have anything profound to say.

A24 released “A Different Man” in select U.S. cinemas on September 20, 2024, with the movie going into wider release on October 4, 2024.

Review: ‘Nickel Boys,’ starring Ethan Herisse, Brandon Wilson, Hamish Linklater, Fred Hechinger, Daveed Diggs and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor

September 27, 2024

by Carla Hay

Brandon Wilson and Ethan Herisse in “Nickel Boys” (Photo by L. Kasimu Harris/Amazon Content Services)

“Nickel Boys”

Directed by RaMell Ross

Culture Representation: Taking place in Florida and in New York City, from the late 1950s to 2003, the dramatic film “Nickel Boys” (based on the novel “The Nickel Boys”) features a predominantly African American cast of characters (with some white people and a few Latinos) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: Two teenage boys become friends while they live at at a reform school and endure an oppressive, abusive and racist environment.

Culture Audience: “Nickel Boys” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of filmmaker RaMell Ross, the book and which the movie is based, and well-acted movies about how people process childhood trauma.

Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor in “Nickel Boys” (Photo courtesy of Orion Pictures)

Artfully made and absorbing to watch, “Nickel Boys” is a risk-taking drama that makes unorthodox choices about memories and perspectives. Inspired by real events about a reform school that abused teenage boys, this movie also has compelling acting. It’s the type of movie that will test the patience of viewers who might be expecting a more traditional narrative structure. But for open-minded movie fans who appreciate bold, artistic moves in cinema, “Nickel Boys” is like watching an unpredictable formation of a mosaic. “Nickel Boys” had its world premiere at the 2024 Telluride Film Festival and later screened at the 2024 New York Film Festival.

Directed by RaMell Ross (who co-wrote the “Nickel Boys” screenplay with Joslyn Barnes), “Nickel Boys” is adapted from Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 2019 novel “The Nickel Boys.” The book is loosely based on the real-life story of the Florida School for Boys, also known as the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys, which was a state-operated reform school in Marianna, Florida, from 1900 to 2011. The school was permanently shut down after numerous lawsuits and a U.S. Department of Justice investigation uncovered decades of torture and other abuse against children who were at the reform school.

“Nickel Boys” (which takes place from the late 1950s to 2003) tells the non-chronological story of Elwood Curtis, whose life changes forever due to an unfortunate series of circumstances. In 1962, Elwood (played by Ethan Herisse) is a bright, empathetic and socially conscious 16-year-old, who will soon turn 17. Elwood’s parents are deceased.

Elwood lives with his widowed grandmother Hattie (played by Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor) in the racially segregated community of Frenchtown, Florida. Hattie (who works as a hotel maid) and Elwood have hope for and enthusiastic interest in the burgeoning U.S. civil rights movement led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., even though Hattie and her co-workers have been ordered not to talk about politics when they’re on the job. Elwood excels in academics and has a promising future.

Elwood has a teacher/mentor named Mr. Hill (played by Jimmie Fails), who recommends Elwood for an advanced-placement academy program called the Melvin Griggs Technical School, which has college-level courses but accepts intellectually gifted high school students for enrollment. Mr. Hill is also involved in the civil rights movement. When a student asks Mr. Hill if he’s a Freedom Rider and how he got a scar on his head, Mr. Hill replies: “Nashville. A white man slugged me with a tire iron.”

One day, Elwood accepts a car ride from a man driving an emerald turquoise Impala. Elwood doesn’t know this man, who appears to be friendly and helpful. Elwood isn’t in the car for very long when the car is pulled over by a racist cop, who pulls the driver by the ear and tells him the car has been reported stolen and “only spooks” steal this type of car. Elwood is in the wrong place at the wrong time, so he is arrested and charged with being a theft accomplice.

“Nickel Boys” doesn’t show Elwood’s courtroom proceedings because the movie makes a point that Elwood was going to be found guilty no matter what, in a system that is racially biased and stacked against people who can’t afford good legal representation. Elwood gets sentenced to Nickel Academy, a reform school for boys. It becomes a terrible experience where he is desperate to escape.

On the surface, Nickel Academy tries to give the impression that this institution truly cares about making these boys into better people. When new enrollees first arrive, they are told about the four levels of existence at Nickel Academy, where reaching the highest level will supposedly get an enrollee released from Nickel Academy. The lowest level is being a Grub, which is the level that all new enrollees are automatically assigned. From there, an enrollee can work his way up to being an Explorer, then a Pioneer, and then the highest level: Ace.

But the reality is that Nickel Academy is an institution that regularly abuses boys who are imprisoned there. In addition to getting vicious beatings and whippings, boys are often locked in solitary confinement in unsanitary conditions and sweltering temperatures. It’s also a racially charged environment because the people on the receiving end of this abuse are mostly black, while the people in authority positions are white. The people in power at this school include a sadistic administrator named Spencer (played by Hamish Linklater) and a bullying school employee in his 20s named Harper (played by Fred Hechinger), who is essentially a henchman who eagerly inflicts abuse and punishment.

Elwood starts off as an introverted loner at Nickel Academy. But he strikes up a tentative acquaintance with Jack Turner (played by Brandon Wilson), who likes to be called by his last name and appears to be more street-smart and tougher that Elwood. As the two teens get to know each other better and become close friends, it becomes apparent to both of them that Elwood has more bravery when it comes to fighting against injustice. Elwood is also the one who is more likely to meticulously plan an escape.

Meanwhile, Elwood’s separation from his protective and worried grandmother Hattie takes a toll on her mental health. There’s a heartbreaking scene where she’s alone at her kitchen and begins talking out loud to herself while cutting slices of frosted cake. Ellis-Taylor isn’t a main character in “Nickel Boys,” but her performance has an indelible impact on the emotional core of the movie.

Because the story of “Nickel Boys” is mainly about the friendship between Elwood and Turner, other enrollees at Nickel Academy don’t get much character depth. Two of the teenage side characters who get some screen time are (1) physically large Griff (played by Luke Tennie), a student boxer who is exploited for money by academy officials and (2) Jaime (played by Bryan Gael Guzman), a friendly and somewhat bashful Latino who is often shunned or excluded by other students because he isn’t black or white.

The movie’s scenes with middle-aged Elwood (played by Daveed Diggs) unfold gradually to reveal what he did with his life after he left Nickel Academy. Without giving away too much information, it’s enough to say that he moved to New York City not long after his hellish experience at Nickel Academy and has been living in New York City ever since. In the early 2000s, Elwood’s bad memories about Nickel Academy are triggered when he finds out that Nickel Academy has been in the news for horrific discoveries that were made about the academy.

“Nickel Boys” (which has cinematography by Jomo Fray) often has extreme close-ups of people or objects that could be somewhat jarring to viewers who want to see everything in that scene. But these extreme close-ups force viewers to pay more attention to the dialogue rather than get distracted by what’s in the background. The lighting and hues in the movie range from vibrant when Elwood’s life is bursting with optimism to bleak when Elwood’s life reaches depressing low points.

There’s one particular flashback scene early on in the movie that is example of how these extreme close-ups make the movie look more artistic: In a scene taking place in the late 1950s, when Elwood (played by Ethan Cole Sharp) is about 11 or 12 years old. His grandmother Hattie is ironing something, and as her iron slides back and forth, Elwood can be seen reflected in the iron.

The camera’s point of view often switches back and forth from a first-person angle to an observational angle. When the middle-aged Elwood is on screen, his face isn’t fully shown until much later in the movie. “Nickel Boys” also has interludes of real-world archival footage as context and comparison.

Clips from the 1958 dramatic film “The Defiant Ones” (starring Sidney Poitier and Tony Curtis as prison escapees) are shown when Elwood is in a situation where he and someone else are entangled with law enforcement. For example, when Elwood is in the back of a police car with someone, there’s also a similar clip of Poitier and Curtis in the back of a police vehicle. “The Defiant Ones” is an interesting choice because it’s a movie that was controversial in its time because of its observations of race relations and the criminal justice system.

Beyond the unconventional camera angles and somewhat abstract editing, “Nickel Boys” has a very talented principal cast authentically conveying the complex experiences of their characters. Herisse and Wilson are a dynamic duo together and separately in their portrayals of two teens fighting to keep their sanity and dignity when trapped in a cruel institution that wants to do permanent harm to them. Diggs also shines in his role as middle-aged Elwood, who is an example of survivor resilience.

“Nickel Boys” might get some criticism from people who think the world has more than enough movies about racism, child abuse and other struggles experienced by people who are often oppressed and exploited. However, even though “Nickel Boys” is a story that takes place in the past, the movie also serves as a reminder that these injustices are still going on today. And with children in institutions often being the targets of these crimes, “Nickel Boys” is also an urgent wake-up call to hold institutions accountable when they do more harm than good.

Amazon MGM Studios’ Orion Pictures will release “Nickel Boys” in select U.S. cinemas on December 13, 2024.

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