Tag: film festivals

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 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 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.

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 Amenian 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 substance-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 cetain 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 tell 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 a least at 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 tru to fight death. “The Room Next Door” is a 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.

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” has 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 Turner, whose life changes forever due to an unfortunate series of circumstances. In 1962, Elwood (played by Ethan Herisse), whose parents are deceased, lives with his widowed grandmother Hattie (played by Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor) in the racially segregated community of Frenchtown, Florida. Elwood and Hattie (who works as a hotel maid) 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 is a bright, empathetic and socially conscious 16-year-old, who will soon turn 17. He 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 the 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 make it look like the 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’s eagerly inflict 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 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 Sidney Poitier and Tony 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 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 October 25, 2024.

Review: ‘Wolfs,’ starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt

September 22, 2024

by Carla Hay

Brad Pitt and George Clooney in “Wolfs” (Photo courtesy of Apple Studios)

“Wolfs”

Directed by Jon Watts

Culture Representation: Taking place in New York City, the comedy/drama film “Wolfs” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few Asians) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: Two fixers compete over who’s better at covering up the same scandal.

Culture Audience: “Wolfs” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of stars George Clooney and Brad Pitt and movies about dirty dealings that aren’t as edgy and smart as they try to appear to be.

George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Austin Abrams in “Wolfs” (Photo courtesy of Apple Studios)

Wolfs is like a sheep in wolf’s clothing. It’s a boring and derivative dark comedy with George Clooney and Brad Pitt as rival fixers who repeatedly snipe, scowl, and smirk though a weak and bland plot about a scandalous hotel tryst and stolen heroin. The movie tries very hard to make these two fixers seem like dangerous underworld characters, but the performances of Clooney and Pitt fail to convince. These two actors just look like exactly what they are during this entire movie: overpaid, privileged movie stars just going through the motions while doing an unimaginative movie.

Written and directed by Jon Watts, “Wolfs” had its world premiere at the 2024 Venice Film Festival. The movie, which takes place and was filmed on location in New York City, starts off as a potentially intriguing story. The opening scene shows the Manhattan skyline at night and then zooms in on an upscale hotel, where there’s the sound of glass breaking and a woman screaming in horror.

Viewers eventually find out what happened: A divorced, middle-aged district attorney named Margaret (played by Amy Ryan) was sexually hooking up with an unnamed guy (played by Austin Abrams), who’s young enough to be her son, in the hotel suite she had rented for the night. The guy, who is identified in the film’s end credits as Kid, is an undergraduate college student in his late teens or early 20s, who met Margaret at the hotel bar and accepted her invitation to “hang out” with her in her hotel suite.

While jumping up and down on the bed, Kid fell backward and right into a portable glass bar table. He’s bloody and presumed to be dead. In a panic, Margaret calls an unnamed “fixer” (played by Clooney), based on a referral. Margaret tells this fixer (who is identified as Margaret’s Man in the film’s end credits) that an unidentified man she knows gave her this phone number to call if she ever needed serious help.

Margaret’s Man is suspicious and asks her multiple times how she got his phone number. Margaret then seems to say the magic words because she tells this fixer: “He said to say there’s only one man in the city who can do what you do.” And just like a password unlocking a portal, the fixer changes his wary attitude and is convinced he can trust Margaret.

He hears what Margaret’s problem is and calmly assures her: “Everything is going to be fine.” He also orders her not to touch anything and wait for him to arrive at her hotel suite. When he arrives, he finds a nervous Margaret, who tells him that she can’t be connected to this scandal because she’s a district attorney. Margaret’s Man talks to her about establishing an alibi. They agree that she should go home and pretend she was with her teenage daughter all night.

Margaret denies that this unnamed young man in the suite is a prostitute. It’s used as a weird running joke in the movie, where various people assume that Kid is a sex worker and someone replies, “He’s not a prostitute.” This “joke,” which really is pointless and silly, gets tiresome very quickly. Because really: Even if this guy were a sex worker, the bigger problem is that he could be seriously injured or dead.

Just as Margaret’s Man fixer is about to start cleaning up and disposing of the body, another fixer shows up who is there for the same reason. This other fixer is identified in the end credits as Pam’s Man (played by Pitt) because he works for Pamela Dowd, the owner of this fairly new hotel. Margaret’s Man and Margaret find out that the hotel has a hidden video camera in the suite (which is totally illegal surveillance and one of the many stupid plot twists in the movie), and Pamela was alerted about this tryst gone wrong that was recorded by the hidden camera.

Pamela gets on the phone and tells Margaret’s Man that her fixer will take care of the problem because she’s going to do whatever is necessary to preserve the reputation of the hotel by covering up this scandal. Even though Margaret’s Man points out this illegal surveillance is a felony (and whatever was recorded probably wouldn’t be admissible evidence in court because the video is an illegal recording), Pamela ignores Margaret’s Man insistence that he should be the one to do the job. Pam’s Man immediately tries to make Margaret’s Man feel like an interloper, while Margaret’s Man tries to make Pam’s Man feel like an amateur

Margaret suggests that these two fixers work together. The two fixers reject the idea. They immediately despise each other in such a stereotypical way, if “Wolfs” hadn’t been such a hollow display of macho heterosexual posturing between these two fixers, then you could easily think that this “instant dislike” for each other might turn this movie into gay romantic comedy. And so begins a tedious back-and-forth egotistical battle between Margaret’s Man and Pam’s Man to prove who’s the better fixer.

Margaret has already gone home when Margaret’s Man and Pam’s Man find out there’s going to be more to this situation than cleaning up the room and getting rid of evidence, including Kid’s body. The two fixers find out that Kid has some bricks of heroin in his backpack. The fixers immediately deduce that whoever owns the heroin will come looking for it, so it’s better to find that person and give back the heroin.

It’s all just a silly excuse to prolong the movie with time-wasting detours. The trailer for “Wolfs” already reveals that Kid really isn’t dead. He becomes an annoying third wheel who gets caught between the bickering between these two smug fixers.

Margaret’s Man is supposed to be the ice-cold fixer, who thinks he’s superior because he has more experience and more underworld connections. Pam’s Man is supposed to be the wisecracking fixer, who thinks he’s superior because he’s in better physical shape and more skilled at new technology. It’s really just Clooney and Pitt do pale imitations of their characters in the “Ocean’s” movie franchise.

As for Abrams, because of his physical resemblance to Timothée Chalamet, he will get inevitable comparisons to Chalamet, who has more acting range. Abrams isn’t terrible in his “Wolfs” role, but he gives the type of performance that never lets people forget that he’s acting. “Wolfs” looks like a movie that Chalamet probably rejected, so the “Wolfs” filmmakers decided to go with a Chalamet look-alike.

The dialogue in “Wolfs” is often irritating and very artificial-sounding. Nowhere is this more evident than in a self-pitying monologue that Kid spews out in the middle of the movie. There are the typical scenes of bumbling criminals, gun fights and car chases that don’t do anything clever but just play out in a predictable manner.

Zlatko Buric has a small role as a Croatian gangster named Dimitri, who has a run-in with Margaret’s Man and Pam’s Man when the two fixers crash the wedding of Dimitri’s daughter. In an effort to hide from Dimitri, the two fixers try to blend in during a group circle dance. It looks as ridiculous as it sounds.

“Wolfs” has eye-catching cinematography but it can’t make up for such a lackluster story. Women in this shallow movie are background characters or disappear quickly. People who want to see Clooney and Pitt co-star in a more entertaining movie are better off watching “Ocean’s Eleven.”

Apple Studios released “Wolfs” in select U.S. cinemas on September 20, 2024. Apple TV+ will premiere the movie on September 27, 2024.

Review: ‘Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story,’ starring Will Reeve, Matthew Reeve, Alexandra Reeve Givens, Gae Exton, Michael Manganiello and Steven Kirshblum

September 21, 2024

by Carla Hay

Christopher Reeve in “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story” (Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures)

“Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story”

Directed by Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui

Culture Representation: The documentary film “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story” has a nearly all-white group of people (with one African American) who are connected in some way to actor Christopher Reeve and who talk about his life and career.

Culture Clash: American actor Christopher Reeve (who died in 2004, at the age of 52) achieved worldwide fame as the star of four “Superman” movies, but his life took an unexpected turn when a horse-riding accident left him with paralysis from the neck down, and he became a disability rights activist.

Culture Audience: “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of Reeve, superhero movies, celebrity biographies, and documentaries about inspirational people.

Christopher Reeve in “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story” (Photo by Herb Ritts, courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures)

“Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story” is a moving tribute to his life and legacy, not only as an actor but also as influential activist for disability rights and medical care. This well-made documentary is sure to inspire repeat viewings. The movie doesn’t sugarcoat or downplay how difficult it was for Reeve to transition to being a disabled person after a horse-riding accident in 1995 left him with paralysis from the neck down. He died from infection complications n 2004, at the age of 52.

Directed by Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui, “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story” had its world premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. The movie is told in mostly chronological order and features archival voiceover narration from Christopher Reeve and his wife Dana Reeve, who died of lung cancer in 2006, at the age of 44. There is also a lot of expected archival footage of Reeve from his career and his personal life. The movie features interviews only with people who were close to him. Don’t expect any talking-head “expert” interviews examining the sociological impact of the “Superman” movies starring Reeve.

Even though Christopher was best known for his title role in four “Superman” movies that were released from 1978 to 1987, this part of his life is only a fraction of what’s covered in “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story.” Instead, this documentary is more interested in presenting a well-rounded portrait of a complicated man with an unpredictable life—someone who, with support from loved ones, chose to make the best out of a situation that would crush the souls of many other people who might experience similar things.

“Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story” also acknowledges that Christopher’s fame gave him certain privileges in medical care, although he was not as financially well-off as many people would assume that he was. More importantly, he used his fame to help others in his ongoing quest for civil rights, accessibility and medical care for disabled people. This activism included establishing the Christopher Reeve Foundation, which launched in 1982 as a funding center for spinal cord injury research and resources. In 2007, the non-profit group’s name was changed to the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation.

People interviewed in the documentary include Christopher Reeve’s three children: Matthew Reeve, Alexandra Reeve Givens and Will Reeve. Other people interviewed include Christopher Reeve’s British former live-in girlfriend Gae Exton, the mother of Matthew and Alexandra; Christopher’s longtime friend/foundation executive director Matthew Manganiello; Christopher’s half-brother Ken Johnson; Christopher’s primary care provider Dr. Steven Kirshblum; “Superman” movie producer Pierre Spengler; politician John Kerry; actor Jeff Daniels; and actresses Glenn Close, Whoopi Goldberg and Susan Sarandon.

Most of the people who are interviewed describe Christopher Reeve (who was born in 1952 in New York City) as someone who was haunted and emotionally damaged from growing up in a fractured and dysfunctional family. His parents—Franklin (an intellectual scholar/writer) and Barbara—divorced in 1956 and went on to get married and divorced twice to other people. Christopher craved approval from his demanding father, who was never really impressed with Christopher’s work as an actor, even though Christopher graduated from the prestigious Juilliard School for performing arts.

A story told in the movie is that when Christopher told Franklin that he got the role of Superman, Franklin seemed to show rare approval because Franklin mistakenly thought that the role was for George Bernard Shaw’s play “Man and Superman.” When Franklin found out that the role was for a Superman movie based on the DC Comics character, his approval turned to disapproval and derision. Several other people looked down on the role and told Christoper that starring a “Superman” movie would damage his artistic credibility and ruin Christopher Reeve’s career, including William Hurt, who was co-starring with Christopher and Daniels in an off-Broadway play when Christopher found out that he got the role of Superman.

The 1978 “Superman” movie turned out to be a blockbuster, groundbreaking hit, long before superhero movies became a regular part of any year’s movie release schedule. It was also somewhat of a typecasting boundary for Christopher, who went to great lengths to play very different roles in non-“Superman” movies, such as a time-traveling playwright in 1980’s “Somewhere in Time”; a murder victim in 1982’s “Deathtrap” and a corrupt journalist in 1987’s “Street Smart.”

As a result of not having any good role models for a lasting and healthy marriage, Christopher spent years being suspicious of marriage and refused to get married. Exton (who was Christopher Reeve’s partner from 1978 to 1987) describes their whirlwind and passionate courtship soon after they met at a movie studio cafeteria in London. Christopher and Exton lived in England but his long-distance work schedule and entanglements with other women eventually took a toll on their relationship until Christopher broke up with her. Exton gets tearful in the documentary when she describes the end of their love affair.

Christopher changed his mind about marriage with Dana, a singer who was the mother of Will. Christopher and Dana’s courtship was very different from the courtship that Christopher had with Exton. In archival comments, Dana says she was reluctant to get involved with Chrstopher at first because of his playboy reputation. However, the spark between them was undeniable, and they ended becoming soul mates.

Dana and Christopher Reeve’s marriage was a true testament to sticking to the marriage vows “in sickness and in health.” After the horse-riding accident (which nearly severed his head from his body) it was uncertain if Christopher would live or die. Christopher’s mother thought he should be taken off of life support. Dana wanted Christopher to live but said he could make the final decision. And, as he says in an archival voiceover, Dana told him the words that made him want to live: “You’re still you. And I love you.”

As a father, Christopher went from being someone who put a lot of emphasis on athletic activities for family time (just like his own father did) to having to adjust to the painful reality that he couldn’t participate in the same physical activities that he was used to doing with his family. Instead, he learned to be more emotionally present for his family, who never abandoned him during his most difficult times, when shortly after his paralysis, he fell into a depression and wanted to be isolated from a lot of people in his life. Will’s perspective is perhaps the most heart-wrenching of Christopher’s three children because he lost both of his parents while he was still an underage child.

Perhaps one of the most poignant aspects of “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story” is how it details the longtime friendship of Robin Williams and Christopher, who became fast friends while they attended Juilliard and who both achieved worldwide fame around the same time. Through the ups and downs of their lives, this friendship endured. Robin Williams and his second wife Marsha Garces Williams (who were married from 1989 to 2010) are given a lot of credit for helping the Reeve family during some tough times. Robin Williams had his own personal issues (substance abuse and depression), and he committed suicide in 2014, at the age of 63. Mutual friend Close says in the documentary that she believes Robin would still be alive if Christopher were still alive.

There are plenty of tearjerking moments throughout the documentary, but there are also many moments of joy and hope. The most important takeaway from “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story” isn’t what fame, wealth and good luck can do for people but rather what people’s true characters are like when they are at the lowest points in their lives. They can ether wallow in self-pity and misery or do what Christopher Reeve did and turn his pain into something positive that helped other people. With or without a celebrity name, that is the definition of a true hero.

Warner Bros. Pictures and Fathom Events released “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story” in U.S. cinemas for a limited engagement on September 21, September 25 and October 11, 2024. The movie will premiere on HBO and Max on a date to be announced.

Review: ‘Speak No Evil’ (2022), starring Morten Burian, Sidsel Siem Koch, Fedja van Huêt, Karina Smulders, Liva Forsberg and Marius Damslev

September 14, 2024

by Carla Hay

Sidsel Siem Koch and Morten Burian in “Speak No Evil” (Photo courtesy of IFC Films and Shudder)

“Speak No Evil” (2022)

Directed by Christian Tafdrup

Danish, Dutch and English with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in the Netherlands (and briefly in Italy and in Denmark), the horror film “Speak No Evil” features an almost all-white group of people (with one person of Middle Eastern heritage) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: While on vacation in Italy, a Danish family of three meet a Dutch family of three, and later experience terror as guests in the Dutch family’s home.

Culture Audience: “Speak No Evil” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of psychological thrillers and don’t mind if there are some lapses in logic in the story.

Sidsel Siem Koch and Morten Burian in “Speak No Evil” (Photo courtesy of IFC Films and Shudder)

“Speak No Evil” rips apart the false sense of security that people have when they think strangers are instant friends. The horror in this thriller isn’t delivered until the movie’s last third, but it packs a very bleak wallop. “Speak No Evil” has some noticeable flaws and plot holes, but the movie’s message is loud and clear: If something doesn’t feel right, don’t be passive because you’re afraid people will think you’re being rude for standing up for yourself.

Directed by Christian Tafdrup (who co-wrote the “Speak No Evil” screenplay with his brother Mads Tafdrup) had its world premiere at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. The movie begins by showing a foreboding scene that takes place at night. A grim-looking man and woman are driving a car in an isolated wooded area into the driveway of their farmhouse. With them is a boy who’s about 11 years old. Viewers of “Speak No Evil” will eventually find out who this family is and that the area is in an unnamed part of southern Holland.

The next scene shows a seemingly idyllic and sunny scene at a swimming pool at an unnamed resort in Italy. It’s here that two married couples with children, who are all about the same age as each other, will meet and have their lives collide under tragic circumstances. One of the couples at this resort is the same couple seen in the beginning of the film , but instead of looking somber, they look very cheerful.

Patrick (played by Fedja van Huêt) and Karin (played by Karina Smulders) are visiting from Holland. They have an 11-year-old boy named Abel (played by Marius Damslev), whom they introduce as their son. Abel is mute because, as Patrick explains, Abel has congenital ankyloglossia, which is the medical term for being born with a very short or stunted tongue. Patrick says he’s a medical doctor. The movie never mentions details about any job experiences that Bjørn, Louise and Karin have had.

Patrick is the first to introduce himself to the other couple in the story. Bjørn (played by Morten Burian) and Louise (played by Sidsel Siem Koch) are visiting from Denmark and are accompanied by their daughter Agnes (played by Liva Forsberg), who’s about 11 years old. Patrick meets this family when he asks if they are using an empty lounge chair next to them because he would like to take the chair over to his family and use it. Bjørn and Louise politely tell Patrick that the chair is available for him to take.

This vacation resort is the type that has long dining tables for several people to eat at the same table. Bjørn and Louise notice that Patrick is an “alpha male” extrovert type because he leads a toast at the table. Karin is less talkative and seems to be the type of wife who will do whatever her husband tells her to do. Bjørn and Louise have the opposite dynamic in their relationship: Bjørn is much more passive and less inclined than Louise to speak up if something is wrong.

Agnes is unusually attached to a stuffed bunny rabbit toy named Ninus that she has brought with her on this trip. One day on this trip, Agnes announces with distress to Bjørn that she can’t find Ninus. Bjørn goes looking for the rabbit toy and eventually finds it left on a stone barrier overlooking a scenic area.

Bjørn, Louise, Karin and Patrick eventually strike up another conversation with each other when Bjørn returns from finding Ninus and sees that Patrick and Karin are talking to Louise and Agnes. The couples and their children eventually hang out together for the remainder of their time in Italy.

When Bjørn and Louise are back in Denmark a few months later, they get a postcard from Patrick and Karin. The postcard photo is a picture of the two families on vacation in Italy. The postcard is a welcoming invitation for Bjørn, Louise and Agnes to visit Patrick, Karin and Abel and stay with them at Patrick and Karin’s home in southern Holland. The invitation says that Abel misses Agnes and would like to see her again.

Louise has some doubts about staying at the house of people they barely know, in a country they aren’t very familiar with either. But after Bjørn and Louise discuss the matter with another married couple who are close friends, they decide to accept the invitation from Patrick and Karin. It’s a decision that Bjørn and Louise will eventually regret.

Bjørn, Louise and Agnes arrive at the remote house by starting off with good cheer because of the warm welcome they receive from Patrick and Karin. But eventually, Patrick and Karin start testing the boundaries of what Bjørn and Louise will find acceptable. First, Patrick insists that Louise eat the red meat that he prepared for a meal, even though he knows that she’s a pescatarian. Louise uncomfortably obliges. In return, Patrick mocks Louise for calling herself a vegetarian when Louise says that she eats fish.

Another moment of discomfort comes when Patrick and Karin plan a family outing at a restaurant, but Bjørn and Louise are surprised to find out that Patrick and Karin don’t want the kids to come along for this outing. Instead, Patrick and Karin surprise Bjørn and Louise by telling them that Agnes and Abel will be looked after by a “neighborhood babysitter”: a scruffy-looking man named Muhajid (played by Hichem Yacoubi), who doesn’t speak Danish, Dutch or English.

Louise is very uneasy about this arrangement because she doesn’t know anything about Muhajid and is wary of leaving her child alone with this stranger. Patrick and Karin insist that the kids will be safe with Muhajid, whom they say gives cheap babysitting services. Bjørn is much more accepting of this explanation and tries to make Louise feel like she’s overreacting. Not wanting to be rude, Louise goes along with this arrangement.

Without giving away too much information, it’s enough to say that Patrick and Karin (especially Patrick) keep pushing boundaries that make Louise uncomfortable. Some of the boundary crossing is very inappropriate (such as Patrick watching Bjørn and Louise have sex without the couple’s consent) and some of the boundary crossing has blurred lines of inappopriateness, such as Karin scolding Agnes on what type of manners to have while eating.

All of the acting in “Speak No Evil” is competent, although the scenarios might frustrate some viewers who think they would act very differently from all the passiveness and indecisiveness exhibited by Bjørn and Louise. The movie doesn’t tell much about Bjørn and Louise beyond the fact that they are from Denmark. The last third of “Speak No Evil” is the most suspenseful and terrifying, but when a major secret is revealed, it’s handled a bit clumsily. The end of “Speak No Evil” is horrifyingly dark and raises questions that are never answered, which is the intention of making the ending so unsettling to viewers.

IFC Films released “Speak No Evil” in select U.S. cinemas on September 9, 2022. Shudder premiered the movie on September 13, 2022.

Review: ‘My Old Ass,’ starring Maisy Stella, Percy Hynes White, Maddie Ziegler, Kerrice Brooks and Aubrey Plaza

September 13, 2024

by Carla Hay

Maisy Stella and Aubrey Plaza in “My Old Ass” (Photo by Marni Grossman/Amazon Content Services)

“My Old Ass”

Directed by Megan Park

Culture Representation: Taking place in the Muskoka Lakes area of Canada’s Ontario province, the comedy/drama film “My Old Ass” features a predominantly white group of people (with a few black people) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: In the summer before she goes away to college, a restless teen takes psychedelic mushrooms on her 18-year-old birthday and meets her 39-year-old self, who gives her some advice that the teen is reluctant to take.

Culture Audience: “My Old Ass” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and well-acted stories about growing pains in young adulthood.

Kerrice Brooks, Maisy Stella, and Maddie Ziegler in “My Old Ass” (Photo courtesy of Amazon Content Services)

“My Old Ass” capably blends comedy, drama and fantasy in this sarcastically sweet coming-of-age story about an 18-year-old communicating with a manifestation of her 39-year-old self. Maisy Stella gives a standout performance as a teen on an identity quest. The movie isn’t for everyone but it will find appeal with open-minded people who aren’t offended by how obscene cursing, casual sex and illegal drug use are presented as part of a teenager’s life.

Written and directed by Megan Park, “My Old Ass” had its world premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. The tone of the movie is much lighter than “The Fallout,” Park’s feature-film directorial debut about teenagers dealing with the aftermath of a mass-murder shooting at their school. Park has a knack for casting very talented people in the roles that are right for them because they inhabit their roles in authentic ways. “My Old Ass” is Stella’s impressive feature-film debut after having roles in television, such as the TV series “Nashville.”

“My Old Ass” takes place during a summer in an unnamed city in the Muskoka Lakes area of Ontario, Canada, where the movie was filmed on location. Main character Elliott (played by Stella) lives on a cranberry farm owned by her parents Tom (played by Al Goulem) and Kathy (played by Maria Dizzia), who are very loving and supportive of each other and their three children. Elliott is the middle child.

Elliott’s older brother Max (played by Seth Isaac Johnson) is about 19 or 20. He has chosen to be in the family business of cranberry farming. Max and Elliott have an emotionally distant relationship because they are almost polar opposites of each other. Max is introverted and straight-laced. At one point in the movie, Max says to Elliott: “I’m everything you hate. I like farming. I like sports. I hate [the TV series] ‘Euphoria.'”

The younger brother of Max and Elliott is Spencer (played by Carter Trozzolo), who is nice but doesn’t have much of a personality. Elliott definitely likes Spencer more than she likes Max. Still, Elliott doesn’t really hang out with her brothers very much. Elliott also tells anyone who will listen that she can’t wait to move away from this cranberry farm and live her life in the big city of Toronto. In the meantime, Elliott spends a lot of time cruising on a motorboat in a lake.

In the beginning of the movie, Elliott will be leaving in 22 days for her freshman year at the University of Toronto. Also in the beginning of the movie, Elliott identifies as a lesbian, but that will change when she falls for a guy about a year or two older than she is. Elliott has a flirtation with a teenage woman named Chelsea (played by Alexandria Rivera), who’s about the same age, and the flirtation turns into a sexual fling.

Elliott’s two best friends are also free spirits: Ruthie (played by Maddie Ziegler) is tactful and a romantic at heart. Ro (played by Kerrice Brooks) is more outspoken and pragmatic. For Elliott’s 18th birthday, the three pals plan to go camping overnight in the woods and take psychedelic mushrooms that were purchased by Ro. Elliott doesn’t bother to tell her family about these camping plans, so there’s a scene of Elliott’s family waiting forlornly at their dining table with a birthday cake that Elliott never sees on her birthday.

While high on the mushrooms, Elliott is near a campfire when she suddenly sees a woman (played by Aubrey Plaza) sitting next to her. The woman says that she is Elliott at 39 years old. Elliott doesn’t believe her at first until the woman shows Elliott that she has the same torso scar that Elliott got from a childhood accident. Both of the Elliotts have some back-and-forth banter—younger Elliott thinks 39 is middle-aged, while older Elliott thinks 39 is still a young age—and trade some snide quips about what the future holds for Elliott.

The older Elliott will only reveal that she is a Ph. D. student in Toronto and is dating a woman. Younger Elliott asks Older Elliott for life advice. Older Elliott tells Younger Elliott to be nicer to her family and not take them for granted. Younger Elliott also asks older Elliott what her definition is of healthy love. Older Elliott says that healthy love is safety and freedom at the same time. After some of the jokes and semi-insults, older Elliott gets serious and gives younger Elliott a dire warning to not have sex with someone named Chad, but older Elliott won’t say why. It’s a warning that confuses and haunts younger Elliott for most of the movie.

Elliott goes home after the camping trip and thinks older Elliott was just a hallucination until she sees that older Elliott had put her phone number in younger Elliott’s phone. Not long after this psychedelic experience, Elliott is skinny dipping in a lake when has a “meet cute” experience with a guy named Chad (played by Percy Hynes White), who’s also in the lake for a swim. It turns out that Chad is an undergrad college student who is working at the farm for the summer. He has plans to eventually get a master’s degree in pharmacology.

“My Old Ass” then becomes mostly about Elliott trying to navigate and understand her growing feelings for Chad, who is intelligent, funny and kind. Elliott is confused not only because her older self told her to stay away from Chad but also because Elliott had always assumed that she would only be sexually attracted to women. Chad is clearly attracted to Elliott too, but she is very reluctant to get involved with Chad.

“My Old Ass” has a lot of familiar “will they or won’t they” scenes in movies about two people who are romantically attracted to each other, but one person is hesitant to act on these feelings. The movie has some quirky comedy, including another hallucinogenic experience involving Justin Bieber’s 2009 hit “One Less Lonely Girl.” All of the principal cast members are utterly believable in their roles and have great comedic timing in the performances.

What might surprise viewers and is perhaps somewhat disappointing is that the older Elliott isn’t in the movie as much as the trailer for “My Old Ass” would lead people to believe. In fact, there’s a great deal of the movie where younger Elliott is frantic and frustrated because older Elliott won’t return younger Elliott’s phone calls. There are also huge parts of the movie where best friends Ruthie and Ro aren’t seen at all.

“My Old Ass” has themes that are timeless, but a lot of the movie’s jargon and pop culture references are very mid-2020s and already kind of outdated. Some of the dialogue sounds forced, like an adult’s idea of what a progressive-minded, motormouthed teen (Elliott) would sound like when it just sounds like movie dialogue, not real-life dialogue. These are small flaws in a movie that is overall well-paced, fairly unique and elevated by a very talented cast.

Even though there could have been more scenes between younger Elliott and older Elliott, the movie makes a point of showing that this story doesn’t want to rely too heavily on a time-traveling gimmick. And although the movie’s title is “My Old Ass,” the story’s focus remains consistently from the perspective of younger Elliott. Viewers will be curious to know what older Elliott’s secret is about Chad, but the most interesting and best part of the movie is how Elliott reacts when she inevitably finds out this secret.

Amazon MGM Studios released “My Old Ass” in select U.S. cinemas on September 13, 2024, with an expansion to more U.S. cinemas on September 27, 2024.

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