movies Archives – CULTURE MIX

Culture Representation: Taking place in the 1950s, in Ohio and in New York state, the sci-fi drama film “The Actor” (based on Donald E. Westlake’s novel “Memory” features a predominantly white group of people (with one African American and a few Asians) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: After being hit over the head with a chair, a New York City-based actor gets amnesia and tries to get back his memories and identity.

Culture Audience: “” will appeal primarily to people who can handle watching tearjerking dramas about families affected by murder.

André Holland and Gemma Chan in “The Actor” (Photo courtesy of Neon)

The Actor is an intriguing blend of retro noir and sci-fi drama. This adaptation of Donald E. Westlake’s Memory novel (about an actor who has amnesia) has a more optimistic ending than the book but still demonstrates how identity is rooted in memories. The movie has excellent cinematography that blurs the lines between cinematic reality and a life being acted out on stage.

Directed by Duke Johnson (who co-wrote “The Actor” screenplay with Stephen Cooney), “The Actor” is based on Westlake’s “Memory” novel that was written n 1963 and posthumously published in 2010. Johnson and Kaufman received an Oscar nomination (Best Animated Feature Film) for co-directing 2015’s “Anomalisa,” another movie about a middle-aged loner experiencing an existential crisis. Kaufman is an executive producer of “The Actor,” which has elements of other Kaufman films where the characters’ “reality” might not be real at all.

“The Actor” (which takes place in the 1950s) begins by showing the title character Paul Cole (played by André Holland) having a sexual tryst in a bedroom with a woman he recently met named Mrs. Wilson (played by Cassie Lauren Lewis). Her husband Mr. Wilson (played by Jonathan King) bursts into the room and hits Paul over the head with a chair. The next thing Paul knows, he’s in a hospital and can’t remember who he is and what happened.

While Paul is in the hospital, some of Paul’s memories come flooding back to him in snippets. Hospital employees tell Paul he’s in Jeffords, Ohio, and he was an actor appearing in a theater production, but the cast and crew have left town without him. Paul finds out from the ID in his wallet that he lives at 125 Grove Street in New York City.

Paul doesn’t have enough money to travel back to New York City. And so, he gets a menial job at a local tannery. While he’s in Jeffords, he goes to a movie theater playing a Casper the Friendly Ghost movie. The only other person in a theater is a woman, whom Paul sees later when he’s eating at a diner.

The woman is a costume designer named Edna (played by Gemma Chan), who is wearing a clown’s outfit in the diner. Edna and Paul begin talking and have an immediate flirtatious attraction to each other. Paul tells her that he has amnesia and wonders aloud if he’s dreaming. Edna shows him that she can do a test to see if he’s dreaming or not. She squeezes his arm hard, and he flinches because he can feel the pain.

Edna and Paul go on a few romantic dates together. On one of these dates, they go back to Edna’s place, where she shows him that she kept the program booklet for the stage play that Paul was in before the assault that led to his amnesia. The name of the play is “My Soul to Keep.” She breaks things off with Paul when he tells her he has to go back to New York City. Paul invites Edna to go to New York with him, but she rejects his offer.

The rest of “Memory” shows how Paul struggles to find out more about his identity, which becomes even more challenging for him because he now also has short-term memory loss. He finds out that before he lost his memory, he was self-centered Lothario who had a habit of having sexual flings with other men’s wives. He gets run out of town on more than one occasion when an angry husband threatens to have Paul arrested.

“The Actor” can get confusing and repetitive in the way it keeps viewers guessing if what Paul is experiencing is real, or if Paul is still alive. However, the movie has very good performances from all the principal cast members, while the production design and cinematography above-average and immersive in evoking a dream-like state of mind. Each principal cast member portrays multiple characters throughout the movie, except for Holland, who plays the constantly confused Paul.

Many of the characters who interact with Paul have significant speaking roles but do not have names in the movie. Among the various characters are Mrs. Malloy (played by Tracey Ullman), a landlady who rents a room to Paul when he’s staying in Jeffords; Nicky (played by Joe Cole), Paul’s closest friend in Paul’s artsy New York clique; Benny (played by Fabien Frankel), a man staying in Paul’s New York City apartment while Paul was away; Rita (played by May Calamawy), a girlfriend of Paul’s in New York City; an unnamed actor (played by Asim Chaudhry), who co-stars with Paul in a live TV production; Helen (also played by Ullman), Paul’s ambitious agent; an unnamed private detective (played by Toby Jones); and an unnamed doctor (played by Simon McBurney) at the hospital where Paul gets treated for the assault injuries to Paul’s head.

One of the movie’s changes from the “Memory” book is how the character of Edna is depicted. In “Memory,” Edna is described as plain-looking and insecure. The movie’s version of Edna is beautiful and confident. This alteration is one of the reasons why “The Actor” is a more glamorous and more romantic-looking version of the “Memory” book.

Paul is anxious to get back to New York City, but he has detours along the way. He has doubts about whether or not the life he had before his amnesia is a life that is worth resuming, or if she should start a new life. “The Actor” is not quite like the original “The Twilight Zone” TV series, which wraps up each episode with at least some semblance of an answer to the episode’s mystery. The movie concludes in way that answers some questions but leaves a lot up to interpretation.

Neon released “The Actor” in select U.S. cinemas on March 14, 2025.

Review: ‘Papa’ (2024), starring Sean Lau, Jo Koo, Dylan So and Lainey Hung

March 16, 2025

by Carla Hay

Sean Lau in “Papa” (Photo courtesy of Illume Films)

“Papa” (2024)

Directed by Philip Yung

Cantonese with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in Hong Kong, from 2010 to 2014 (with flashbacks to previous years), the dramatic film “Papa” (inspired by true events) features an all-Asian group of people representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: A father struggles with guilt and depression after his teenage son murders the father’s wife and daughter.

Culture Audience: “Papa” will appeal primarily to people who can handle watching tearjerking dramas about families affected by murder.

Sean Lau, Lainey Hung, Dylan So and Jo Koo in “Papa” (Photo courtesy of Illume Films)

“Papa” is a beautifully filmed and heart-wrenching drama about a widower coping with his son murdering the father’s wife and daughter. Some viewers won’t like the timeline jumping, but this drama is an impactful portrait of grief and mental illness. At least half of the movie consists of flashbacks to the years before the family was ripped apart by this tragedy.

Written and directed by Philip Yung, “Papa” has a “present-day” storyline that takes place from 2010 to 2014. The flashbacks go back to the 1990s and continue through 2009. “Papa” is based on the real-life Heung Wo Street murder, which happened in July 2010, on Heung Wo Street in Tsuen Wan, Hong Kong. A 15-year-old boy named Kan Ka-leung murdered his mother Lam Lin-kam and his 12-year-old sister Kan Chung-yue, by hacking them to death with a cleaver at ther family’s apartment home, while his father Kan Fuk-kui was working the night shift at the family’s diner across the street.

Ka-leung immediately confessed to the crime when he made a 999 phone call to get help. He was later diagnosed with having schizophrenia because he said he heard voices telling him to murder because the world was overpopulated. In his mind, he was helping the environment by reducing the population with these murders. In 2012, after a trial where Ka-leung entered a not guilty plea due to insanity, he was sentenced to live in a psychiatric hospital, where he received treatment and was eventually considered well enough to be released from criminal containment.

“Papa” includes these facts in the story but changes the names of the family members and takes a speculative interior look at the father’s state of mind as he goes through the grieving process. Just like what happened in real life, there also comes a point in time when the son is set for release from the psychiatric hospital, so the father has to decide if he will let the son live with him. This review will not reveal what the father’s decision was, but the movie shows this decision.

“Papa” (which is told in non-chronological order) begins in July 2010, by showing family patriarch Nin Yuen (played by Sean Lau) on the street outside his family’s apartment building in Tsuen Wan. Nin is looking up at his apartment in shock because he can’t quite believe what he has heard. His house is a crime scene because Nin’s loving wife Yin (played Jo Koo) and extroverted 12-year-old daughter Grace (played by Lainey Hung) were found slaughtered inside the apartment. The news media have already been reporting that Nin and Yin’s 15-year-old son Ming (played by Dylan So) confessed to the crime when he called 999.

As the horror continues for Nin, the movie shows snippets of the trial and Ming living in a psychiatric hospital that treats convicted criminals. Nin is allowed to visit Ming four times a month and visits Ming on a regular basis. Helen Tam has a small supporting role as Dr. Lee, Ming’s psychiatrist. At the hospital, Ming keeps mostly to himself, but he strikes up a friendly acquaintance with an elderly man maned Uncle Kim (played by Tai Bo), a fellow patient who is in the facility for murdering his wife.

Nin has memories triggered every time he sees something that reminds him of when Yin and Grace were alive. Nin’s flashbacks go all the way back to the 1990s, when he and Yin met, began dating, and fell in love. On their first date, they went to a karaoke bar. After they got married, Nin worked as a chicken butcher. He then owned and operated a cha chaan teng (a Chinese word for a Hong Kong-styled diner or cafe), which was open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Yin and Nin took turns working at the cha chaan teng in 12-hour shifts.

“Papa” shows small slices of life indicating that this tight-knit family was happy for many years. Grace found a stray calico kitten whom she named Carnation, who became the family’s beloved pet. After Carnation became an adult, Nin remembers how Grace lost interest in Carnation, and Ming became the person in the household who ended up taking care of Carnation the most. Carnation is Nin’s only companion at home after the murders.

Nin’s memories of his life before Ming and Grace reached adolescence are all very blissful. It’s the movie’s way of showing how people dealing with a traumatic event tend to selectively remember only the good things that happened before the traumatic event. The cast members who portray Ming at various stages of his life are Travis Choi (Ming at 2 years old); Yeung Taz Hong Cayson (Ming at 5 years old); and Edan Lui (Ming as an adult). Tsang Sin Tung has the role of Grace at 2 years old.

Ming had always been a quiet and obedient child. But as he grew older and approached adolescence, he seemed withdrawn and troubled. Nin thought it had to do with Ming being a loner and bullied by other students a school. Nin found out much too late that Ming had thoughts that were much more disturbing than what the family had ever imagined.

Nin also understandably feels guilt in wondering if he could’ve done anything differently to prevent this tragedy. He has painful memories of Ming complaining that he wished that Nin and Yin could spend more time with Ming at home. A scene in the movie shows that Nin brought up the idea to Yin to reduce the open-for-business hours for the cha chaan teng, but Yin said they should wait until Ming and Grace get older. After the murders, Nin sold the cha chaan teng to a loyal employee named Salty (played by Yeung Wai Lun) and eventually moved to another apartment.

Ming developed in interest in photography and asked Nin if he could have a smartphone. Nin refused this request and gave Ming a digital camera instead. It was a gift that Ming rejected. This digital camera became a symbol of how Ming and Nin had begun to start growing apart. Ming worked part time at the cha chaan teng, where Nin and Ming sometimes clashed over the rigid ways that Nin expected Ming to do the work.

Nin has male friends who try to cheer him up, but Nin remains lost in an emotional fog of grief. Nowhere is this detachment more evident than in a scene where Nin and his friends are at a nightclub. Nin’s friends are enjoying the amorous attentions of younger women in a back room. Nin is the only person in the group who seems completely disinterested in being social. And even though Nin is not alone, he looks very lonely.

Nin isn’t completely removed from his emotions though. There’s a scene that won’t be fully described here but it’s enough to say that Nin has a sobbing meltdown after someone cheats him out of his money. His outpouring of sadness isn’t really about the money but about losing a chance to connect with someone who had promised to spend time with Nin.

Due to the movie’s creative direction and film editing, the narrative structure of “Papa” is like artfully made pieces of a puzzle that are offered out of sequence, and it’s up to the viewers to piece everything together. Ding Ke’s musical score for “Papa” is also quite effective at stirring up emotions. The acting from Lau is superb as grieving father Nin, while So gives a very memorable performance as a teenager who suffers in silence when he begins to feel like he’s losing his grip on sanity.

“Papa” has many sad moments of family heartbreak balanced with uplifting moments of family love. Without being preachy, the movie shows that it’s okay for people to have different ways to grieve, with recovery often being a rough experience with stops and starts. “Papa” serves as a thoughtful reminder about not taking loved ones for granted and giving parents the grace to not have all the answers to life’s problems.

Illume Films released “Papa” in select U.S. cinemas on March 14, 2025. The movie was released in Hong Kong on December 5, 2024.

Review: ‘The Diplomat’ (2025), starring John Abraham, Sadia Khateeb, Kumud Mishra, Sharib Hashmi, Revathy and Ashwath Bhatt

March 16, 2025

by Carla Hay

John Abraham, Vidhatri Bandi and Sadia Khateeb in “The Diplomat” (Photo courtesy of Panorama Pictures)

“The Diplomat” (2025)

Directed by Shivam Nair

Culture Representation: Taking place in 2011, in Pakistan, in India and briefly in Malaysia, in 2017, the dramatic film “The Diplomat” (based on real events) features an all-Asian group of people representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: J. P. Singh, Deputy High Commissioner of India in Pakistan, leads a rescue effort to save an Indian woman who wants to be classified as a refugee because she says a Pakistani man forced her into abusive marriage and wants to keep her in captivity in Pakistan.

Culture Audience: “The Diplomat” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in watching dramatic recreations of real-life international political stories involving refugee rescues.

Jagjeet Sandhu in “The Diplomat” (Photo courtesy of Panorama Pictures)

Based on a true story about an Indian woman seeking an embassy rescue from her abusive Pakistani husband, “The Diplomat” tends to portray the heroes and villains as two-dimensional. This drama is still very compelling. And even when some of the movie gets melodramatic, the performances are never boring and carry the story through to a predictable but gratifying ending

Directed by Shivam Nair and written by Ritesh Shah, “The Diplomat” (which takes place in 2017) does not change the names of the main real-life people who are depicted in the movie. The movie’s first sequence is filled with gripping tension that doesn’t really let up until the expected outcome. “The Diplomat” realistically shows how the woman asking to be rescued had to go through clearance checks and skepticism before she was believed.

“The Diplomat” begins on May 5, 2017, by showing Uzma Ahmed (played by Sadia Khateeb), a woman in he 20s who is covered head-to-toe in veiled clothing as a passenger in a car driven by her husband Tahir Bashir (played by Jagjeet Sandhu), with Tahir’s best friend Basheer (played by Bhawani Muzamil) as a passenger. They are traveling in Pakistan from the district of Buner to the capital city of Islamabad. Uzma is an Indian citizen and they are going to the Indian Embassy in Islamabad to get some legalities sorted out for her passport.

At first glance, it looks like a leisurely trip. But Uzma is very quiet, and there is tension brewing. When Tahir, Basheer and Uzma arrive at the embassy, they go through the usual security checkpoints. But as soon as Uzma gets out of the eyesight range of Tahir and Basheer, she frantically runs to an employee in a glass enclosed booth, announces that she’s an Indian citzien, and begs for help because she says her life is in danger because she’s being forcibly detained in Buner.

The employee lets her go into a room that has other employees. The room has a locked door. Uzma grows increasingly hysterical and paranoid that the employees will let Tahir and Basheer into the room. Uzma says she was tricked into going to Pakistan and forced to marry Tahir, who has been physically abusing and keeping her in captivity.

The employees don’t know what to think without proof that what Uzma is saying is true. Uzma has a valid passport. A background check shows that she does not have a criminal history. Meanwhile, Tahir and Basheer are outside and demanding that Uzma go back to the car with them. Uzma refuses.

And that’s when a supervisor is called in to investigate the matter: J.P. Singh, the Deputy High Commissioner of India in Pakistan. J.P. (played by John Abraham) has a tall, commanding presence and a take-charge, no-nonsense style of leadership. When he questions Uzma in a conference room, he’s skeptical of her story because Uzma says that she was able to go to Buner without passing through checkpoints or having any records on immigration travel sheets.

When Uzma is in a room with two female employees, Uzma shows them the bruises that she says came from Tahir’s beating. A medical inspection shows that Uzma has bruises from sexual assault. A female employee named Seerat (played by Vidhatri Bandi) sees all of Uzma’s injuries and tells J.P. that she believes Uzma. J.P. still does not want to come to any conclusions because he says that even if the injuries were not self-inflicted, there’s no proof that Tahir caused these injuries and no proof that Uzma is being held captive.

Other people involved in the investigation are Sushma Swaraj (played by Revathy), India’s Union Minister of External Affairs, who calls J.P. to get updates on the case; Tiwari (played by Sharib Hashmi), an Indian Foreign Service official in Pakistan; and Malik Sahab (played by Ashwath Bhatt), Pakistan’s Director General of Inter-Services Intelligence. N.M. Syed (played by Kumud Mishra) is a senior diplomat/attorney who works at the Indian Embassy in Pakistan. N.M. brings a little bit of comic relief to the movie because he is a character who often seems surprised when J.P. tells him to do something that N.M. thinks he won’t be able to handle, but then N.M. ends up handling it pretty well.

Of course, Uzma is telling the truth about being kidnapped and trapped in an abusive marriage. Tahir is the type of abuser who wants to appear calm and rational to authorities, but Basheer is a loose cannon and immediately threatens violence if Uzma is not returned to them. It’s enough for the embassy officials to see that Uzma is probably telling the truth. And the movie quickly mentions that Uzma’s brother Aamir works for the Indian Embassy. Having that type of inside connection definitely helped.

What also helps Uzma is that because her rescue plea was so dramatic and so public, the media latches on to the story, which becomes big news in India and in Pakistan. With all the media attention, Uzma’s refugee story becomes an international political and legal case that can’t be dealt with quietly. Tahir ends up filing legal action that leads to a big courtroom showdown.

Before that happens, Uzma tells her story (shown in flashbacks) about how she ended up in this terrible situation. Uzma is a divorcée raising a daughter named Noor (played by Maryam Patel), who looks about 3 or 4 years old. Noor has thalassemia, an inherited blood disorder that causes the body to have less hemoglobin than normal. Uzma cannot afford the medical treatments that Noor needs.

Uzma met Tahir while they were both visiting in Kuala Lumpur, Maylasia. Tahir charms Uzma into a romance. He convinces her to move to Pakistan because he says that Noor can get affordable medical care in Pakistan. Uzma has relatives in Pakistan, which is why she did not hesitate to make this move. The relationship with Tahir and Uzma becomes serious enough where they make plans to live together.

On the drive to Buner (which is an area that is a lot more isolated and rural than Uzma expected), Tahir and Basheer are in the car with Uzma. Because they are driving in a winding mountain area, Tahir says Uzma might get motion sickness, so he gives her pill that he says will help her not get motion sickness. The pill is really a drug that makes Uzma feel disoriented.

When they arrive at Tahir’s home, the nightmare begins for Uzma. She finds out that he’s already married with kids and has a harem of other women who do whatever he says. Uzma is locked up in a room, where she is frequently beaten and raped by Tahir. The rape scenes are not graphic and poignantly show a closeup of Uzma’s eyes while she has this abuse inflicted on her.

Tahir then forces Uzma to marry him. (Polygamy is legal in Pakistan, with certain restrictions.) Uzma is living like a tortured prisoner. But with help from another woman in Tahir’s harem, Uzma is able to make a phone call that saves Uzma’s life. It’s the phone call that gives her the opportunity to go the Indian Embassy in Islamabad.

“The Diplomat” is focused primarily on showing J.P. to be the type of crusading professional that almost seems too good to be true. There are brief glimpses into J.P.’s home life in a few scenes that show he has a wife (played by Shriswara) and an underage son (played by Shaunak Duggal), as if to prove that he has a life outside of work. J.P.’s only vulnerability is shown in flashback scenes that reveal that J.P. is still feeling trauma over being in an embassy bomb explosion caused by the Haqqani Network, a Sunni Islamist militant group.

“The Diplomat” tells a story about the best and worst of humanity. However, the movie tends to depict its characters in broad strokes, with performances to match. All the “heroes” don’t have any personality flaws. All the “villains” are nothing but personality flaws. The performances are very watchable in the way that most superhero movies are watchable: You know that what’s on screen is exaggerated for dramatic purposes, but it’s a “good versus evil” story that’s kind of irresistible despite the familiar filmmaking formulas.

“The Diplomat” has no subtlety or nuances about its intentions to be a valiant refugee movie, with the Indian government presented as the best possible rescuer. It’s not quite propaganda, but the movie noticeably diminishes or sidelines the roles of the Pakistani government diplomats in this case. “The Diplomat” is not trying to educate people on the intricacies of international law. This movie succeeds in its main intention to tell a gripping refugee story based on real events, while tugging at viewers’ heartstrings.

Panorama Pictures released “The Diplomat” in select U.S. cinemas and in India on March 14, 2025.

Review: ‘The Accidental Getaway Driver,’ starring Hiệp Trần Nghĩa, Phi Vũ, Dali Benssalah and Dustin Nguyen

March 19, 2025

by Carla Hay

“The Accidental Getaway Driver”

Directed by Sing J. Lee

Some language in Vietnamese with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in Orange County, California, the dramatic film “The Accidental Getaway Driver” (based on real events) features a predominantly Asian group of people (with some white people) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: A taxi driver is taken hostage by three escaped prison inmates, who force him to drive them to their intended destination.

Culture Audience: “The Accidental Getaway Driver” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in watching crime dramas that have deeper meanings about human connections during a crisis.

Dustin Nguyen and Hiệp Trần Nghĩa in “The Accidental Getaway Driver” (Photo by Ron Batzdorff/Utopia)

“The Accidental Getaway Driver” sometimes suffers from tedious pacing. However, the movie still delivers effective performances and enough suspense in this drama about a taxi driver forced to transport three escaped prisoners. “The Accidental Getaway Driver” is based on a true story that happened in 2016, when three inmates broke out of Orange County Men’s Central Jail in Santa Ana, California. The real name of the taxi driver remains the same in the movie, but the names of the real inmate escapees have been changed for the movie.

Directed by Sing J. Lee, “The Accidental Getaway Driver” was co-written by Lee and Christopher Chen. “The Accidental Getaway Driver” (which is Lee’s feature-film diectorial debut) had its world premiere at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Directing prize in the U.S. Dramatic Competition. The movie takes place in Orange County, California, where “The Accidental Getaway Driver” was filmed on location.

As already revealed in the movie’s synopsis and trailer, it’s no accident that taxi driver Long Mâ (played by Hiệp Trần Nghĩa) has been forced to be the getaway driver for these fugitives. The movie doesn’t waste any time because this abduction is shown near the beginning of the film. “The Accidental Getaway Driver” is told from Long’s point of view.

Long is a divorced father who lives alone. He is at an age (his 70s) when most people are retired, but he can’t afford to retire. It’s mentioned later that Long and his ex-wife have two adult children. Long is self-employed and has his own small private taxi service, which is why there is no agency or no company that gets the unusual call that he gets on a fateful night. The only car for Long’s taxi service is his Toyota Camry.

Long gets a call for a passenger pickup to go to convenience store called ABC Market in Orange County’s Little Saigon neighborhood. At first, Long says no because he says he’s off duty and it’s too late at night. However, Long changes his mind when the caller offers to pay double the rate of what Long would normally charge. This offer turns out to be a trap.

There are three adult male passengers in this ride. Long will soon find out that these men have escaped from an Orange County jail, where they were incarcerated for various violent crimes. The fugitives have a gun, and they are going to force Long to help with their escape. It becomes apparent that Long was chosen because two out of the three fugitives are Vietnamese, and the plan is to hide out in areas that have a large Vietnamese population.

Thess are the three kidnapping criminals:

Aden Sahli (played by Dali Benssalah) is the 37-year-old mastermind of the group and is the one who is most likely to get violent. Aden, who is an Iranian immigrant who served in the U.S. military, has a nasty temper and is a devious manipulator. The character of Aden is based on real-life convicted kidnapper Hossein Nayeri, who was in jail for an unrelated 2012 kidnapping, torture and mutilation that he planned with other accomplices.
Tây Duong (played by Dustin Nguyen) is 43 years old and was incarcerated for attempted murder and firearm possession. Tây says that he has an older sister named Linda (played by Tiffany Rothman), who lives in the local area with her husband Minh (played by Vu Tran). The character of Tây is based on the real-life Bac Duong.
Edward “Eddie” Ly (played by Phi Vũ) is 20 years old and was incarcerated for attempted murder and murder. Eddie is also an alleged gang member. The character of Eddie is based on the real-life Jonathan Tieu.

As soon as Long picks up these three passengers, he notices that they are acting suspiciously when they go to ABC Market. Long sees that there are drops of blood in the back seat, where Aden and Eddie have been sitting. Tây is sitting in the front passenger seat.

When the three strangers finish their shopping and get back in the car, they are carrying shopping bags that contain items that they need while hiding as fugitives. Tây then pulls out a gun, points it at Long, and says, “You’re going to help us, okay?” Long finds out that these passengers have escaped from jail and there’s a $2,000 reward for information leading to their capture. The kidnappers refuse Long’s request to be let go.

However, there’s a glimmer of hope for Long when Tây says that they will let Long go after the kidnappers achieve their goal to drive north to go to a place where they can get fake passports. It’s explained that the kidnappers had pre-paid for fake passports from another place but got ripped off because they never got those passports. Will the kidnappers keep their promise to let Long go after the kidnappers get the passports they want?

The rest of “The Accidental Getaway Driver” shows Long’s ordeal as he is forced to stay with these kidnappers over multiple days. During this kidnapping, Long has flashback memories of different parts of his life. And an unexpected father/son type of bond forms between Long and one of the kidnappers.

Much of “The Accidental Getaway Driver” is about the pitfalls and regrets of loneliness. At one point, Long dejectedly admits to his kidnappers that no one in his life will notice if he’s missing for several days. This sobering thought makes Long re-evaluate the isolated life that he had been living when he got kidnapped.

And these kidnappers aren’t exactly friends with complete trust in each other. They just happened to be in the same jail and saw an opportunity to plan this escape together. As trust among the kidnappers begins to unravel, it becomes a question of whether or not they will stick together or have an “every man for himself” attitude.

The principal cast members of “The Accidental Getaway Driver” deliver very good performances, with Hiệp Trần Nghĩa being the obvious standout. Long knows that he’s no physical match for these younger kidnappers, so he doesn’t put up much of a fight and remains calm through most of this abduction. That doesn’t mean that Long has given up hope that he will survive this kidnapping. “The Accidental Getaway Driver” is a memorable depiction of what can happen when a surprising friendship forms among people who are supposed to be opponents in horrible circumstances.

Utopia released “The Accidental Getaway Driver” in select U.S. cinemas on February 28, 2025.

Review: ‘The 4 Rascals,’ starring Trấn Thành, Lê Giang, Lê Dương Bảo Lâm, Uyển Ân, Tiểu Vy, Quốc Anh and Nguyễn Cao Kỳ Duyên

March 15, 2025

by Carla Hay

“The 4 Rascals”

Directed by Trấn Thành

Vietnamese with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed city in Vietnam, the comedy film “The Four Rascals” features an all-Asian cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: Four people interfere in the volatile romance of a married couple, whose marriage falters when a female business colleague of the husband plots to seduce him and have him for herself.

Culture Audience: “The 4 Rascals” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and romantic comedies that adeptly blend slapstick scenarios with sentimental messaging.

Nguyễn Cao Kỳ Duyên and Quốc Anh in “The 4 Rascals” (Photo courtesy of 3388 Films)

“The 4 Rascals” comedy film mixes zany antics with a few dark plot developments in this story about friends and family members who want to steer the direction of a couple’s troubled romance. There’s some predictability but also some refreshing surprises. The movie is elevated by the cast members’ great comedic time and believable chemistry with each other.

Written and directed by Trấn Thành, “The 4 Rascals” (which takes place in an unnamed city in Vietnam) begins by showing a montage and voice narration from a woman in her 20s named Kiều (played by Uyển Ân), who confesses that she has always been envious of her best friend Quỳnh (played by Tiểu Vy) because things come easily for Quỳnh. Kiều, who describes herself as nerdy and stubborn, is jealous that physically attractive but shallow Quỳnh is able to easily get attention and advantages in life without having to do much.

The beginning of the movie also shows that while Kiều is stuck with an average-looking boyfriend who doesn’t treat Quỳnh very well, Quỳnh has a rich and handsome boyfriend who treats her like a queen. Quỳnh’s boyfriend is Quốc Anh (played by Quốc Anh, also known as Tran Quốc Anh), a banking executive who quickly rose through the ranks at his job. Quỳnh met Quốc when she was a customer of his. They had an immediate attraction to each other and soon began dating.

Quỳnh and Quốc get married. About six years into their marriage, they run into problems when Quốc becomes more consumed with his job. Quỳnh starts to feel neglected, so she becomes needy and argumentative with Quốc, resulting in Quốc keeping more of an emotional distance from Quỳnh. Their arguments are usually about Quỳnh and Quốc feeling disrespected by the other.

Quỳnh goes to a flamboyant fortune teller named Chết Xi Cà (played by Lê Dương Bảo Lâm) and asks if Quốc is cheating on her. The fortune teller says yes. Quỳnh is devastated and vows to find out who is the woman who could possibly wreck Quỳnh’s marriage to Quốc . Kiều feels a friendship connection to Chết Xi Cà (who is openly gay), and they start hanging out together. Kiều and Chết Xi Cà say that they will help Quỳnh any way that they can.

It’s around this time that Quốc has indeed met someone who could become his mistress. Karen (played by Nguyễn Cao Kỳ Duyên) is a seductive and wealthy business executive who meets Quốc at his bank because she might become an important client of the bank. Karen is attracted to Quốc, and she doesn’t care that he’s married. She flirts with him and makes sexual advances on him, but Quốc resists because he wants to stay faithful to Quỳnh, even though their shaky marriage is currently going through a rough patch.

During this time of marital strife, Quốc and Quỳnh go on a road trip vacation to visit some relatives of Quỳnh. Kiều and Chết Xi Cà are along for the ride. When they arrive in a marketplace area, a helmet-wearing man on a bike accidentally collides with the car and ends up on the car’s front windshield. Luckily, this bike rider isn’t injured.

And to Quỳnh’s surprise, she sees that this bike rider is none other than one of her uncles. In the movie, he is only referred to as Uncle 11 (played by “The 4 Rascals” director by Trấn Thành), and he is one of the goofiest characters of the movie. Uncle 11 is married to Dì Bón (played by Lê Giang), who is nosy and likes to be in other people’s personal business.

Chaos seems to follow Uncle 11 and Dì Bón wherever they go. When Quốc, Quỳnh, Kiều, Chết Xi Cà, Uncle 11 and Dì Bón go to a restaurant together, a fight breaks out between Uncle 11 and some other men. This dinner party of six people have to leave the restaurant in disgrace. Another scene at another restaurant shows Uncle 11 and Dì Bón trying to skip out on paying the bill by pretending that they thought the food was bad.

Karen uses certain tricks to try to seduce Quốc. She arranges for them to have what Quốc thinks will be a business dinner at a restaurant. When he gets there, he finds out that Karen rented out the entire restaurant so that she and Quốc could have a romantic dinner there by themselves. Later, Karen gives Quốc a expensive bottle of cologne as a gift, which he politely declines.

The rest of “The 4 Rascals” shows the roller coaster ride of Quốc and Quỳnh marriage, and how Kiều, Chết Xi Cà, Uncle 11 and Dì Bón (the “four rascals” referenced in the movie’s title) get involved in the couple’s marital problems. Although Kiều is the narrator of the film, “The 4 Rascals” really begins to center on Quỳnh and how her story evolves for the rest of the movie. Kiều’s envy of Quỳnh also changes because Kiều sees that Quỳnh’s life isn’t so perfect after all.

“The 4 Rascals” sometimes gets over-the-top ridiculous. However, it’s in the spirit of comedy, so none of the outlandish scenarios should be taken that seriously. There’s some brutal violence in the movie that is a tonal shift from the mostly lightweight comedic scenes. The violence isn’t gratutitous but seems meant as an emphasis that the stakes are high in what will happen to this marriage.

Longtime co-stars Trấn Thành and Lê Giang continue to have a great rapport with each other, while their younger co-stars also do well in their roles. Tiểu Vy’s performance is the standout in this film, since Quỳnh goes through unexpected things that change Quỳnh’s life. “The 4 Rascals” won’t be considered a groundbreaking, classic film, because it relies on many familiar romantic comedy formulas. However, the movie leaves enough room for some delightful twists that bring “The 4 Rascals” to a satisfying conclusion.

3388 Films released “The 4 Rascals” in select U.S. cinemas on March 14, 2025. The movie was released in Vietnam on January 29, 2025.

Review: ‘Dilruba’ (2025), starring Kiran Abbavaram, Rukshar Dhillon, Kathy Davison and John Vijay

March 15, 2025

by Carla Hay

Rukshar Dhillon and Kiran Abbavaram in “Dilruba” (Photo courtesy of Sivam Celluloids and Yoodlee Films)

“Dilruba” (2025)

Directed by Viswa Karun

Telugu with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in Mangalore City, India, the romantic comedy/actio film “Dilruba” features an all-Indian cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A former mechanical engineering student becomes a violent thug, as he gets caught up in a love triangle with his current love and his former childhood sweetheart.

Culture Audience: “Dilruba” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and don’t mind watching a time-wasting movie that doesn’t have much to say.

Kathy Davison in “Dilruba” (Photo courtesy of Sivam Celluloids and Yoodlee Films)

As a romantic comedy, “Dilruba” is dull, derivative, and definitely not worth your time. It has an unimaginative plot about a love triangle that is stretched out to irritating levels in this overly long film that has mediocre-to-bad acting. This poorly written, 153-minute movie stumbles from scene to scene with a weak narrative that gets repetitive because the plot is so thin.

Written and directed by Viswa Karun, “Dilruba” is told in non-chronological order, with flashbacks taking up a great deal of the movie. The tone is very uneven in how comedy, action, and song-and-dance numbers are clumsily placed throughout the film. “Dilruba” (which is a Telugu-language term of endearment for females) is very forgettable because this type of story has been in too many other movies to count.

“Dilurba” begins with a quick montage and mishmash of voiceovers taking place from 2022 to 2025 to explain what went wrong in the romance between two people who are now in their 20s: Siddharth “Siddhu” Reddy (played by Kiran Abbavaram) and his childhood sweetheart Maggie (played by Kathy Davison) grew up together in India. They broke up in 2024, because Maggie moved to the United States.

Maggie was the one who dumped Siddhu. The movie later reveals that there was another reason why Maggie broke up with Siddhu. It has to do with a business deal gone bad between the fathers of Siddhu and Maggie. This led to a tragedy in one of the families that has caused Siddhu to be angry and bitter. Ever since this tragedy, Siddhu refuses to say the words “sorry” and “thank you.”

In 2025, Siddhu isn’t completely over Maggie, who lives in New York City. He still calls her and sends her text messages, even though Maggie is now married to a man named Prakash, and she’s pregnant with their first child. Siddhu has a pregnant wife named Anjali (played by Rukshar Dhillon), who knows about Maggie. The movie has many flashbacks showing the up-and-down romance of Siddhu and Anjali.

After Siddhu was jilted by Maggie, he was abusing alcohol and was directionless in his life. He eventually decided to have a responsible life and became a mechanical engineering student at a local university in Mangalore City, India. Siddhu met his best friend Balaram Viraj (played Satya) at this university because they were in the same mechanical engineering class together.

Siddhu met Anjali at a pub frequented by sex workers who are under the control of a domineering pimp named Vicky. When Siddhu first saw Anjali, she was sitting next to Vicky but seemed fearful of him. She made eye contact with Siddhu and made a silent signal for help with her hands. And quicker than you can say “idiotic movie,” Siddhu has broken a beer bottle on Vicky’s head, and the two men get into a violent brawl in the bar. Siddhu wins this fight, but Vicky confronts Siddhu later to get revenge.

Siddhu is shocked to find out that Anjali is not only a student at the same university where he is, but she’s also the only female student in one of his mechanical engineering classes. Anjali seems to have gotten an instant crush on Siddhu because of how he “rescued” her from Vicky. This infatuation leads to several tedious and awkward scenes of Anjali aggressively pursuing and stalking Siddhu to try to get him to date her.

Siddhu eventually gets worn down by Anjali’s peskiness, and they end up dating. Anajli is quick to experess her feelings of love for Siddhu, but he still has unresolved feelings for Maggie. In the movie’s jumbled timeline, Maggie ends up becoming a visiting lecturer in one of Siddhu’s classes, as already revealed in the “Dilruba” trailer. Predictably, Anjali gets jealous.

“Dilruba” is nothing but scene after scene of Anjali and Siddhu having a relationship that turns hot and cold repeatedly. In addition to Siddhu still having feelings for Maggie, the other major source of conflict between Anjali and Siddhu is that Siddhu has a tendency to get into violent fights because of his bad temper. Anjali’s widowed father Mahadev Prasad (played by Aadukalam Naren) is a police inspector who’s skeptical that Siddhu can be a good match for Anjali. The scene where Siddhu meets Mahadev for the first time is one of the worst in the movie because of how badly written it is.

Much of “Dilruba” involves a silly subplot about Siddhu and a crime boss named Machi, nicnkamed Joker (played by John Vijay), which just drags out this annoying movie even more. The present-day scenes show mopey Siddhu still pining over pregnant Maggie, while pregnant Anjali worries about how Siddu’s lovesick feelings toward Maggie will affect Anjali’s marriage to Siddhu. It all becomes so tedious to watch after a while.

Siddhu doesn’t deserve much sympathy because the movie goes to great lengths to portray him as an underdog hero, when in reality he’s just a selfish jerk. Anjali apparently has a thing for bad boys because she gives Siddhu the nickname Villain. Anjali, who is just as insufferable as Siddhu, should’ve known what she was getting into with Siddhu when he rudely told her early on in their relationship: “Don’t be too smart. You’ll regret it if someone actually gobbles you up.”

“Dilruba” is supposed to be a romantic story, but it has a very problematic way of depicting male/female romances. Anjali repeatedly makes a fool of herself for Siddhu, who often treats her like garbage, and the movie promotes a fantasy that this abuse is supposed to be real love. In a movie filled with unimpressive acting, Dhillon gives the worst performance, as she overexaggerates Anjali’s ditsy actions and words. By the end of “Dilruba,” you won’t care who ends up with whom, as long as you don’t have to see these aggravating characters again.

Sivam Celluloids and Yoodlee Films released “Dilruba” in select U.S. cinemas and in India on March 14, 2025.

Review: ‘The Last Supper’ (2025), starring James Oliver Wheatley, Jamie Ward, Charlie MacGechan, Nathalie Rapti Gomez, Robert Knepper and James Faulkner

March 14, 2025

by Carla Hay

Jamie Ward in “The Last Supper” (Photo courtesy of Pinnacle Peak Pictures)

“The Last Supper” (2025)

Directed by Mauro Borrelli

Culture Representation: Taking place in the years 32 and 33 A.D., in Judaea (later known as Israel), the dramatic film “The Last Supper” features a predominantly white group of people (with a few Middle Eastern people) depicting the Christian story of Jesus Christ and his last days before he was crucified.

Culture Clash: Jesus Christ was betrayed by his apostle Judas Iscariot and crucified by Romans for saying that he was the Son of God.

Culture Audience: “The Last Supper” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in watching faith-based movies that are depictions of stories in the Christian Bible.

James Oliver Wheatley, Charlie MacGechan and Jamie Ward in “The Last Supper” (Photo courtesy of Pinnacle Peak Pictures)

“The Last Supper” has some pacing issues, but the movie gives an adequately entertaining interpretation of this well-known Christian story. The movie’s performances are credible and not as cringeworthy as those in other low-budget faith-based movies. This film knows its target audience and does not deviate too far from the source material of the Christian Bible.

Directed by Mauro Borrelli (who co-wrote “The Last Supper” screenplay with John Collins), “The Last Supper” could have done the predictable narrative by having the story told from the perspective of Jesus Christ. Instead, the story is told from the perspective of Peter, one of Jesus’ apostles. Peter is the narrator of the movie, which delves a little more into the motives of Judas Iscariot, the apostle who betrayed Jesus.

“The Last Supper” (which takes place in Judea, later known as Israel) begins in the year 32 A.D., near the Sea of Galilee, to show the Loaves and Fishes miracle, also known as the Feeding of the 5,000. In this scene a starving crowd of about 5,000 people have gathered near the sea to greet Jesus, who has a reputation as a miracle worker. Jesus (played by Jamie Ward) is able to turn five loaves of bread and two fish into enough fish and loaves of bread to feed the crowd and still have some left over. Jesus also performs another miracle by giving the ability to see to a blind boy.

Local leaders offer Jesus a chance to be “king among men.” Jesus turns down the offer by saying, “My kingdom is not of this world.” Judas (played by Robert Knepper), who is overly ambitious and craves power, is dismayed that Jesus has turned down this offer. Judas does not understand Jesus’ humility. By contrast, Peter (played by James Oliver Wheatley) is in constant awe and admiration of Jesus.

One year later, in 33 A.D., the Cleansing of the Temple happens, when Jesus is at the main temple in Jerusalem and gets angry when he sees that merchants have taken over the temple courtyard. Jesus thinks it’s disrespectful and sinful for people to buy and sell things in a sacred place of worship. He overturns the merchant tables and yells at the merchants: “My house is a house of prayer! And you have turned it into a den of thieves!”

As far as the merchants are concerned, this is vandalism by self-righteous hoodlum who thinks he’s the Messiah. Jesus has now made several enemies in Judea. Caiaphas (played by James Faulkner) is the High Priest of Israel and becomes the chief schemer to murder Jesus. Caiaphas attempts to bribe Judas to help with this assassination plot, but Judas refuses. Caiaphas keeps the offer open in case Judas changes his mind.

Throughout the movie, Judas is shown as being conflicted over whether or not to betray Jesus. This conflict is depicted as Satan (played by Ahmed Hammoud) appearing to Judas as a demon and as a snake while saying tempting words to Judas. These scenes are like something out of a fairly mild horror movie. They aren’t gory scenes, but they might be a little too intense for viewers under the age of 8.

“The Last Supper” also depicts the ongoing tensions between Jews and Romans during this time period. At the time that Jesus is alive, the Romans had control of Judea. The Romans would ultimately decide Jesus’ fate when he was arrested for claiming to be the Messiah.

The movie’s namesake scene of a fateful Passover dinner is a highlight of the movie. Jesus washes the feet of apostle John (played by Charlie MacGechan) as a sign of humility, in one of the more memorable scenes in the film. The movie does not show the crucifixion, but it has some scenes of Jesus being whipped. This violence is not too explicit, but it might be disturbing to some viewers.

One of the things that the movie could have done better is give personalities to the apostles who aren’t Peter, Judas and John. Peter is loyal but he has his flaws, and his loyalty will be test. Judas is brooding and morally conflicted. John is a fun-loving good guy.

The rest of Jesus’ 12 apostles are blank slates when it comes to their personalities in the movie. Andrew (played by Fredrik Wagner), James (played by Ottavio Taddei), Philip (played by Vincenzo Galluzzo), Bartholomew (played by Abdeslam Bouhssini), Thomas (played by Billy Rayner), Matthew (played by Youssef Ben Hayoun), James the Lesser (played by Youssef Tounzi), Thaddaeus (played by Yassin Aamir) and Simon the Zealot (played by Harry Anton) don’t say much in the movie, compared to Peter, Judas and John.

Jesus’ mother Mary (played by Mayssae El Halla) and Mary Magdalene (played by Nathalie Rapti Gomez), the reformed sex worker who becomes part of Jesus’ entourage, are also underdeveloped characters. All of the villains except for ruthless Caiaphas have vague or non-existent personalities. Pontius Pilate, the Roman official who presided over the trial of Jesus, is not in this movie.

Some of “The Last Supper” is dragged down by slow pacing. However, the performances—particularly Wheatley as Peter and Knepper as Judas—stand out as realistically human. Ward’s depiction of Jesus is satisfactory and very empathic. During scenes where Jesus gets tearfully emotional, people in the audience might feel the same way.

The cinematography, musical score and costume design for “The Last Supper” are admirable, considering the movie’s budget is lower than most cinematic versions of Biblical stories. Is this version of “The Last Supper” outstanding? No. But it’s not terrible either. It’s a solid option for anyone who is inclined to see this type of movie and doesn’t want to see disturbing scenes about Jesus’ crucifixion.

Pinnacle Peak Pictures released “The Last Supper” in select U.S. cinemas on March 14, 2025.

Review: ‘Opus’ (2025), starring Ayo Edebiri, John Malkovich, Juliette Lewis, Murray Bartlett, Amber Midthunder, Stephanie Suganami, Young Mazino and Tatanka Means

March 14, 2025

by Carla Hay

John Malkovich and Ayo Edebiri in “Opus” (Photo by Anna Kooris/A24)

“Opus” (2025)

Directed by Mark Anthony Green

Culture Representation: Taking place in New York City and in Green River, Utah, the horror film “Opus” features a predominantly white group of people (with some African Americans, Native Americans and Asians) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A music journalist and several other people are the targets of deadly terror when they go an exclusive listening party at the isolated compound of a mysterious pop star, who says he’s coming out of a 30-year retirement.

Culture Audience: “Opus” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners, but this horror movie fails to do anything interesting or clever.

Murray Bartlett, Ayo Edebiri, Juliette Lewis, Melissa Chambers in “Opus” (Photo courtesy of A24)

“Opus” starts with an unoriginal horror movie concept of people experiencing terror in an isolated area. It goes downhill from there. Yet another campy and weird performance from John Malkovich (as a reclusive pop star) cannot save this misguided movie. “Opus” seems to want to make bold statements about the dangers of obsessive celebrity worship, but it’s really just a substandard slasher flick that takes too long to get to the horror part of the movie.

Written and directed by Mark Anthony Green, “Opus” is his first feature film. “Opus” had its world premiere at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. The movie takes place mostly in Green River, Utah, and partially in New York City. (“Opus” was actually filmed in New Mexico.) Several characters are introduced and then are left underdeveloped. And there are too many plot holes to ignore. “Opus” is like a song that spends too much time on an intro, pretends to be original, but is really just a slipshod ripoff of better previously released work from other creators.

“Opus” begins by showing a snippet of concert performed by music superstar Alfred Moretti (played by Malkovich), who goes by the name Moretti. His face is not revealed until later in the movie. As the movie’s opening credits roll on screen, individual concertgoers are shown in slow-motion as they dance and look ecstatic. The movie has visual effects that make it look like Moretti’s most star-struck fans have glints in their eyes like glowing stars.

The movie’s first scene with dialogue takes place in the New York City headquarters of an unnamed print magazine whose specialty is music coverage. During a staff meeting in a conference room, 27-year-old journalist Ariel Ecton (played by Ayo Edebiri) pitches an idea to do a feature article on the possible comeback of a legendary singer named Tamara Camden, whose two most recent albums have been flops.

Ariel’s boss Stan Sullivan (played by Murray Bartlett) rejects the idea. But then, he quickly changes his mind and assigns the story to a male writer. Ariel is hurt by this rejection because this type of snub has happened to her before at this magazine where she has worked for the past three years.

Ariel is then seen having lunch with her friend Kent (played by Young Mazino) and complaining that she’s not respected at her job. Ariel wants to do articles about celebrities because she thinks that will bring more attention to her. She has yet to be assigned this type of article. Kent tells her with brutal honesty that Ariel probably isn’t respected at the job because she comes across too average, too boring and too inexperienced in life.

Kent bluntly says to Ariel: “You’re middle as fuck,” meaning that she’s too “middle-of-the-road.” This is the only scene where anything is mentioned about Ariel’s personal history. She grew up in a stable, middle-class home with her two married parents. And she has a hard time letting anyone get close to her. These are all things that Kent says out loud to Ariel. And then, Kent is not seen again for the rest of the movie.

When Ariel goes back to the office, her co-workers are abuzz because Moretti’s flamboyant publicist Soledad Yusef (played by Tony Hale) has posted an online video announcing that Moretti is coming out of a 30-year retirement to release his 18th studio album, titled “Caesar’s Request.” A select number of people (about 50 to 75 guests) from around the world will get invitations to an exclusive listening party for the album, with each guest getting an all-expenses-paid trip to the party. Moretti is hosting the party at his sprawling compound in a very remote desert area in Green City, Utah.

It’s explained that before Moretti “disappeared” into retirement, he was the biggest pop star of the 1990s. He had 38 No. 1 singles and the highest-grossing concert tour of all time. His retirement was abrupt. He has not done any interviews since his retirement. And he has rarely been seen in public. However, he still has a devoted fan base.

The trailer for “Opus” already reveals that Ariel and Stan are two of the people who received invitations to the listening party. Arrangements are made for them to get flown by private jet to Green City. When Ariel and Stan arrive in Green City, they are greeted by Moretti’s chief assistant Jorg (played by Peter Diseth), who is welcoming but has an intensity about him that is unsettling. Jorg dresses like he got throwaway clothes from “Star Trek.”

Ariel and Stan are then told that they will go on a tour bus called The Debutante to go to Moretti’s compound. The other people on the bus are tabloid TV host Clara Armstrong (played by Juliette Lewis); paparazzi photographer Bianca Tyson (played by Melissa Chambers); social media influencer Emily Katz (played by Stephanie Suganami); and an entertainment journalist named Bill Lotto (played by Mark Sivertsen), who is a competitive rival to Stan. Later, it’s revealed that Moretti has a grudge against Bill for a very petty and uninteresting reason.

On the way to the compound, these six guests see Moretti fans who weren’t invited to the party but are camped out as close to the compound entrance as they can get. When the guests arrive at the compound, a tall and imposing staffer named Najee (played by Tatanka Means) tells the guests that they are required to hand over their phones during the trip. Later, Ariel finds out that her laptop computer was taken without her consent from her guest room. A note is left behind, saying that her laptop computer was taken to “ensure your comfort,” with the promise that she will get her computer back at the end of the trip.

Once at the compound, Moretti makes his big entrance (his wardrobe is a combination of 1970s Elton John and New Age guru) and almost everyone does some type of celebrity worship of Moretti. Ariel gets caught up in it too, but not to the extent that she sees other people excessively fawning over Moretti. She notices that Jorg and other Moretti employees refer to themselves and Moretti’s other devoted fans as Levelists, with each person having to attain different levels to get closer to Moretti.

Stan mostly ignores Ariel because he is more interested in schmoozing with Clara and seeing if he can be the first person to interview Moretti at this party. And so, at the first big group dinner, where everyone is seated at long tables, Ariel is by herself when she is approached by a friendly girl named Maude (played by Aspen Martinez), who is about 8 or 9 years old. Maude invites Ariel to sit next to her at the dinner.

Maude is one of the few children in this group of adults. Who is Maude and why is she there? Don’t expect any answers to that question. Later, Moretti is seen holding Maude’s hand like a parental figure. There is no mention of Moretti being a parent to Maude. Where are Maude’s parents? Don’t expect the movie to answer to that question either.

In another scene, Jorg tells Ariel that Jorg used to be a music teacher in Charlotte, North Carolina, but he suddenly left it all behind when he got a surprise phone call from Moretti, who asked Jorg to work for him. Jorg tells Ariel, “I was on the plane the next day.” Jorg says part of his job is to teach music theory to Maude, but whatever musical skills Jorg might have are never shown in the movie.

Ariel sees many other indications that Moretti is the leader of a cult. People obey his orders, no matter how strange they are. All of the people at the first group dinner are expected to eat from the same loaf of bread by biting into the bread loaf. By the time the loaf gets to Ariel, it’s lumpy and sticky from other people’s saliva. She hesitates to take a bite, but she gives in to peer pressure and does it anyway. The guests are also given specific schedules for their activities during this trip.

Later, Ariel and the other guests are each assigned a “minder,” who is supposed to keep them under surveillance, 24 hours a day. Ariel’s minder is a scowling Levelist concierge named Belle (played by Amber Midthunder), who follows Ariel almost everywhere. Ariel is given some privacy (Belle stays outside Ariel’s room when Ariel’s is in her room), but the movie never explains how Belle can really watch Ariel 24 hours a day, as if Belle doesn’t need to sleep. (“Opus” is not a science-fiction movie where the Levelists are really surprise non-human creatures.)

There’s too much build-up and not much payoff happening in “Opus.” At least half of the movie is about showing Ariel getting increasingly uncomfortable about being at the compound. Something that really raises alarms for her is the fashion/beauty makeover that she and the other guests are required to have before the listening party.

An employee Levelist named Rachel Malick (played by Tamera Tomakili), whose perky personality seems very fake, oversees this makeover. And let’s just say that the grooming is too close for Ariel’s comfort. Rachel tries to shame Ariel into thinking that Ariel is being too uptight if she refuses any part of this makeover. “Opus” repeatedly makes the point that people will overlook and excuse a lot of uncomfortable weirdness if it mean pleasing someone who’s rich and famous.

One of the biggest failings of “Opus” is that it tells nothing about who Clara, Bianca, Emily and Bill really are, even though they are all put in the same group as Ariel and Stan for various activities at the compound. Clara gets the most dialogue with Ariel and Stan, but Clara is ultimately shallow and has nothing interesting to say. Bianca’s presence in the movie is unnecessary because Bianca has absolutely no bearing on the story.

For most of “Opus,” Ariel just exists to react to the bizarre things that she experiences, including witnessing extreme oyster shucking in a sweat-lodge tent; hearing Moretti tell a weird story about Chuck Norris and Muhammad Ali competing with each other backstage at a 1980s Mortetti concert to see who could slice up a mosquito the most with his bare hands; and watching an offbeat puppet show called “The Tragedy of Billie” about Billie Holiday. As a journalist, Ariel has lousy investigative skills and not much common sense. But then again, horror movies often rely on characters to make less-than-smart decisions. Edebiri gives a serviceable performance as Ariel, who is likable but dull.

Malkovich’s performance as demented creep Morett might get mild chuckles from viewers, but Moretti is not scary enough or funny enough to be an outstanding villain. As for Moretti’s songs, they are mediocre electro-pop tunes written by Grammy-winning writers/producers Nile Rodgers and The-Dream. If you waited your whole life to see Malkovich gyrate to bland pop while pretending to be a pop star, then “Opus” is the movie for you.

Most horror movies are not expected to be masterpieces. But the best horror movies should get viewers interested enough to care what happens to the main characters. Unfortunately, “Opus” fails to deliver, in terms of characters and a story that can be engaging. The last awful 15 minutes of “Opus” drag like a strand of toilet paper clinging to a toilet bowl before being flushed down the toilet. And that’s probably the best way to describe how this derivative flop film wasted a lot of opportunities to be a better movie.

A24 released “Opus” in U.S. cinemas on March 14, 2025.

Review: ‘October 8,’ starring Debra Messing, Irit Lahav, Tessa Veksler, Sheryl Sandberg, Lorenzo Vidino, Ritchie Torres and Mosab Hassan Youssef

March 14, 2025

by Carla Hay

“October 8”

Directed by Wendy Sachs

Culture Representation: The documentary film “October 8” features a predominantly white group of Jewish people (with a few African Americans, Latin people and Asians) talking about how the rise of antisemitism is related to the Gaza war.

Culture Clash: Several people in the documentary say that Palestinian extremists in Hamas have co-opted the political agendas and strategies of civil rights groups that fight for oppressed people.

Culture Audience: “October 8” will appeal primarily to people who are against discrimination that violates civil rights, but the documentary tends to oversimply some political issues regarding the Gaza war.

A scene from “October 8” (Photo courtesy of Briarcliff Entertainment)

“October 8” succeeds as a passionate rebuke against antisemitism related to the Gaza war, but there are complicated war issues that this movie oversimplifies. A better documentary would have included interviews with opposing viewpoints. “October 8” (originally titled “October H8te”) certainly presents plenty of evidence that there is antisemitism cloaked in rhetoric of nationalist pride. However, the documentary doesn’t fully acknowledge that war causes destruction to innocent civilians on both sides.

Directed by Wendy Sachs, “October 8” gets its title in reference to the day after the Gaza war began, with the documentary referring to October 8 as the first day that people around the world should have been aware of the human-rights violations against Israelis during this war. The war began in the Gaza strip on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led Palestinian groups launched a surprise attack on Israel. An estimated 1,195 Israelis and people from other nations, including 815 civilians, were killed during the attack that day. Approximately 251 people were taken hostage.

“October 8” is essentially a compilation of interviews with mostly Jewish people and some non-Jewish allies who give their opinions, present some facts, and tell their stories about the rise in antisemitism since the Gaza war began. “October 8” is a little too preachy in demanding that anyone who doesn’t take Israel’s side in the war can risk being labeled as antisemitic. Many people interviewed in the documentary want the war to end. But even the most casual observer will notice that this documentary downplays facts about civilians who were killed in Palestine when Israel defended itself during this war.

“October 8” tends to ignore the reality that both of these things can be true at the same time: Someone can be against the murdering and torture of innocent civilian Palestinians during the war and not be antisemitic. Someone can have sympathy for innocent lives being destroyed on either side without being antisemitic. “October 8” is somewhat rigid in dismissing that these truths can exist at the same time.

The documentary focuses in particular on antisemitism at U.S. colleges and universities, where pro-Palestinian protests and activism have been very popular. “October 8” is meant to sound the alarm that impressionable young people are at most risk of being indoctrinated with antisemitism. The documentary mentions Students for Justice in Palestine as a group affiliated with American Muslims for Palestine and says that the general public needs to be more educated on who’s really funding these groups.

Rabbi David Wolpe, who was a visiting scholar at Harvard University when the Gaza war began, places a lot of blame on Harvard for why pro-Palestine protests have become widespread at U.S. college campuses. He says that “Harvard set the tone” when Harvard controversially allowed antisemitism in speech and written words related to these pro-Palestine campaigns on Harvard’s campus. In January 2024, Claudine Gay resigned as president of Harvard during this controversy. She had been on the job for only six months.

“October 8” presents a compelling argument that pro-Palestinian sentiments at U.S. colleges and universities tend to come from people who are students, faculty and staff at educational institutions that have images of being politically liberal or politically progressive. These liberal/progressive institutions latch on to civil rights causes that fight discrimination against groups of people who are typically underrepresented and marginalized, such as people of color. Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) has typically been supported by people with these politically liberal leanings. Several people in the documentary believe that Hamas and other terrorist groups have manipulated that civil rights good will by portraying Israelis as white oppressors and Palestinians as oppressed people of color.

Scott Galloway, professor of marketing at New York University’s Stern School of Business, is one of the people in the documentary who holds this viewpoint. However, he might offend some viewers when he defines support for Palestine as DEI gone wrong. “DEI started off with good intentions,” Galloway says. But, according to Galloway, Hamas terrorists have co-opted the same activism strategies and language used by DEI advocates and U.S. civil rights groups, in order to get many U.S. citizens on the side of the Palestinians in the Gaza war.

Although that certainly might be the case in many situations, it seems faulty to bring up DEI (which is mainly about opportunities in employment and education) and equating DEI with much more complicated political war issues. Blake Flayton, a Jewish writer who is interviewed in “October 8,” goes as far as saying that DEI is antisemitism. Elsewhere in the documentary, Israeli journalist Emily Schraver comments, “Zionism is civil rights for Jewish people.”

What all of these statements have in common is bringing up the question about whether or not some people deserve more civil rights than others. And when it comes to the Gaza war, the controversy over political activism has to do with people disagreeing on which side in the war deserves more support than the other. “October 8” presents a lot of proof that many pro-Palestine activists are antisemitic, but the documentary isn’t convincing when it tries to lump all pro-Palestine activists into the category of antisemitic.

Many people in the documentary also equate anyone who stays silent about what’s happening to Israelis in the Gaza War as being the same as people who stayed silent when Nazis took over parts of Europe and murdered millions of Jewish people during the Holocaust in the 1930s and early 1940s. The main problem with that comparison is that Jewish people in Europe in the 1930s and early 1940s did not have their own military force that was able to kill thousands of Nazis in defense. World War II involved several nations (not just two nations) fighting in the war to defeat the evils of Nazi terrorism.

Several of the Jewish interviewees express dismay that in the immediate aftermath of the Gaza war, not enough of their gentile colleagues and gentile friends expressed explicit support for Israelis and Jewish people. Danielle Haas, a former senior editor of Human Rights Watch, says she was Human Rights Watch’s only Jewish editor living in Israel when the Gaza war began on October 7, 2023. Haas says she was deeply offended that a Human Rights Watch report about this tragic event did not mention that what happened was a massacre of mostly Israelis.

“It was visceral,” Haas says of how she felt sickened by this inaccurate report, which she interpreted as antisemitic. She says when she took her concerns to Human Rights Watch supervisors, her concerns were ignored. Haas says she quit Human Rights Watch for these reasons. It’s unknown if the documentary filmmakers contacted Human Rights Watch to get Human Rights Watch’s side of the story.

Probably the biggest flaw in “October 8” is how the documentary inaccurately makes it sound like very few people in the entertainment industry are publicly supporting Israel during this war. Debra Messing (who is an executive producer of “October 8”) and Michael Rapaport are the only Jewish American entertainers interviewed in the documentary. Messing and Rapaport (who are actors in television and movies) both describe Hollywood entertainers as overwhelmingly indifferent to Israeli Jewish suffering during the war.

Rapaport comments that he was the most well-known entertainment celebrity to speak at the March for Israel rally in Washington, D.C., on November 14, 2023. There could be any number of reasons why he was the most famous entertainer to speak at the event, but the documentary doesn’t delve deeper to explain. Maybe the rally organizers wanted mostly politicians to speak at this non-partisan event. The other speakers were Israeli President Isaac Herzog (who spoke via video from Jerusalem), U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and U.S. Senator Joni Ernst. Other speakers included entertainer Montana Tucker and televangelist John Hagee.

In another part of the documentary, Messing laments about what she thinks is the entertainment industry’s lack of support for Israel during the Gaza war: “I felt completely betrayed by Hollywood.” However, what “October 8” fails to mention is that on October 12, 2023, about 700 people (Jewish and gentile) in the entertainment industry, under the collective name Creative Community for Peace, signed an open letter condemning the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023. Among the celebrities who signed the letter are Gal Gadot, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Douglas, Chris Pine, Mayim Bialik, Liev Schreiber, Amy Schumer, Jerry Seinfeld and Helen Mirren.

“October 8” has heart-wrenching scenes filmed in the Gaza Strip to show the aftermath of the destruction caused by the war. Israeli survivors such as Irit Lahav and military soldier Maya Bentwitch describe the horrors that they experienced. Talia Kahn, an American Jewish student at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, visits the site of the Supernova Sukkot Gathering, an open-air music festival where 364 people were killed, 40 people were taken hostage, and other atrocities occurred on October 7, 2023. The site is now a memorial. Kahn is overcome with grief and weeps.

Sheryl Sandberg—founder of Lean In and former chief operating officer at Meta (formerly known as Facebook)—says in the documentary that Jewish people all over the world are afraid that what’s happening in the Gaza war will turn into a World War II-level Holocaust genocide of Jewish people. Sandberg (who lives in the U.S.) says that she asked a gentile friend, “Would you hide me?” She had to explain to the friend that she was asking if the friend would hide her in the way that gentile allies hid Jews from Nazis in Europe. Sandberg says her friend said yes without hesitation.

The documentary has plenty of footage of pro-Palestine people showing antisemitism in public. This footage includes people expressing antisemitism online and at pro-Palestine events; testimonials from people who’ve been targets of antisemitism; and people in the U.S. tearing down missing-person flyers of Israeli civilians who were taken hostage by Hamas. However, it’s all presented as a repetitive echo. A more impactful and braver documentary would have had thoughtful discussions where people on both sides of the issues could confront their differences.

For example, Tessa Veksler (whose parents are Russian Jewish immigrants) talks about her ordeal of being cyberbullied and nearly being ousted as student body president of University of Californa at Santa Barbara because she publicly expressed her pro-Israel opinions after the Gaza war began. The documentary only tells her version of the story. It would’ve been a better learning experience if the documentary tried to find out the totality of the circumstances, by interviewing anyone who wanted Veksler to be removed from her elected position.

Several other university-affiliated people are interviewed including Shai Davidai, an assistant professor/researcher at Columbia Business School; Lorenzo Vidino, director of the Program on Extremism at George Washington University; Michael Masters, professor of biological anthropology at Montana Technological University; Noa Fay, a Barnard College/Columbia University student; Talia Dror, a Cornell University student; Eyal Yakoby, who was a University of Pennsylvania student activist at the time he was interviewed.

Other people interviewed in “October 8” are Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League; Kirsten Gillibrand, U.S. Senator for New York; Noa Tishby, an Israeli activist/actress; Liad Diamond, head of the Public Diplomacy Office in the Israel Defense Forces; Tal-Or Cohen Montemayor, founder/CEO/executive director of CyberWell, an online database that tracks antisemitism; podcast host Dan Senor; activist Shabbos Kestenbaum; author/commentator Douglas Murray; Oren Segal, senior vice president of Counter-Extremism and Intelligence; Bari Weiss, editor of The Free Press; former Israeli politician Einat Wilf; Hillel Neuer, executive director of United Nations Watch; writer Hen Mazzig; historian/diplomat Deborah Lipstadt; and Jonathan Schanzer, senior vice president of research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

“October 8” has some interviews with gentile pro-Israeli supporters including activist Mandana Dayani; former Hamas member Mosab Hassan Youssef; and politician Ritchie Torres, a U.S. Representative for New York’s 15th congressional district. Youssef says, “My definition of Intifada is chaos.” Torres (who identifies as gay, Afro-Latino and a liberal Democrat) says in the documentary there should be no question that Israel is on the right side of history in the Gaza war.

“October 8” is a mixed bag. It has understandaby righteous indignation about antisemitism, but the documentary shuts out a full range of perspectives and facts, thereby lowering the quality of the documentary. This very American-centric movie could have used more perspectives of Israeli Jews who are Gaza war survivors. “October 8” doesn’t hide that it has a well-intentioned agenda, but better investigative journalism would have given this documentary more credibility.

Briarcliff Entertainment released “October 8” in select U.S. cinemas on March 14, 2025.