New York Film Festival Archives – Page 2 of 12

Review: ‘The Perfect Neighbor’ (2025), a riveting documentary about the killing of Florida mother Ajike Owens

October 18, 2025

by Carla Hay

A scene from “The Perfect Neighbor” of kids holding up a photo of Ajike Owens. Her eldest child Isaac is pictured second from left. (Photo courtesy of Netflix)

“The Perfect Neighbor” (2025)

Directed by Geeta Gandbhir

Culture Representation: The documentary film “The Perfect Neighbor” features a group of white and African Americans in archival footage from 2022 to 2024, in the case of Ajike Owens, a 35-year-old mother of four, who was killed by a neighbor in Ocala, Florida, on June 2, 2023.

Culture Clash: Owens was shot to death by Susan Lorincz, who was 58 years old at the time, after several months of an escalating feud between Lorincz and her neighbors, who accused each other of harassment.

Culture Audience: “The Perfect Neighbor” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in documentaries about racist crimes and neighbor disputes that turn deadly.

Susan Lorincz (seated) in “The Perfect Neighbor” (Photo courtesy of Netflix)

The all-archival documentary “The Perfect Neighbor” uses mostly police camera footage to tell the harrowing story of how lies from a hateful bigot can escalate into the killing of a defenseless person. There are no follow-up interviews with anyone involved in the case. This well-edited documentary is presented as a series of incidents, police interviews and events that were recorded on video from 2022 to 2024.

Directed by Geeta Ganbhir, “The Perfect Neighbor” had its world premiere at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Directing Award: U.S. Documentary. “The Perfect Neighbor” had its New York premiere at the 2025 New York Film Festival. The movie’s footage (which is shown in chronological order) was primarily filmed in Ocala, Florida, where the killing of 35-year-old Ajike “A.J.” Owens took place on June 2, 2023. Owens, who was unarmed, was shot to death on the front doorstep of the rented house of her neighbor Susan Lorincz, who was 58 years old at the time and living by herself. Owens was a single mother of four children.

Lorincz admitted to shooting Owens through Lorincz’s locked door. Lorincz claimed she was acting in self-defense because Owens was pounding on the front door and threatening Lorincz. About two minutes before Lorincz shot Owens, Lorincz called 911 to report this alleged threat. Florida’s “stand your ground” laws say that a person can claim self-defense in a killing if the killer reasonably felt that their life was threatened by the person or persons who were killed, in the moments before the killing.

Almost everyone in the documentary’s footage is not identified by their names, except for Lorincz, Owens, Owens’ mother Pamela Dias, and Owens’ two eldest children: sons Isaac and Israel, who were both interviewed by police immediately after the shooting. Isaac says that he saw his mother getting shot. The most heartbreaking part of the documentary is the footage showing Ajike Owens’ loved ones, especially her children, being told that she died.

“The Perfect Neighbor” director Ganbhir has said in interviews that Ajike Owens’ family gave permission to include all of the footage that is in this documentary. Ganbhir says she got involved in making this documentary because Ajike Owens was the best friend of Ganbhir’s sister-in-law. A portion of the documentary’s revenue is reportedly going to financially help Ajike Owens’ children.

The documentary shows that Lorincz was in a police interrogation room (but not yet under arrest) when she found out that Ajike Owens died. Lorincz’s reaction shows signs of her being a malignant narcissist because she’s more concerned about herself rather than feeling remorse that she killed another human being. Lorincz’s attitude throughout the questioning is saying versions of this “blame the victim” excuse: “I no choice but to shoot her because she was pounding on the door, and I was scared.”

Police body cam footage in the documentary shows that for more than a year leading up to this shooting, Lorincz called police several times to complain about neighborhood kids and their parents, whom she claimed were harassing her by making too much noise or leaving garbage near her house. In February 2022, she claimed that Ajike Owens threw Lorincz’s small “No Trespassing” sign at Lorincz. In a interview with police who were called to the scene, Ajike admitted that she tossed the sign behind her, but she said she wasn’t specifically aiming at Lorincz.

In April 2023, Lorincz called police for a complaint saying one of the neighborhood boys tried to put a dog in the back for her truck. By May 2023, police received the first report that Lorincz was showing people she had a gun, and she told people she wouldn’t hesitate to use the gun. She often demanded that police arrest certain kids or their parents whom she accused of harassing her. However, no arrests were ever made from her complaints because Lorincz could never provide any proof, and witnesses interviewed said that Lorincz was lying.

The people she accused told a very different story from what Lorincz was claiming in her accusations. They said Lorincz was the harasser, who would curse and yell at kids for playing in nearby streets or in a grassy vacant lot that she didn’t own. By her own admission, Lorincz (who is white) would also hurl hate speech slurs meant to insult black people and mentally disabled people when she would have disputes with her neighbors. Most of the people she complained about are African American.

On the night that Ajike Owens was killed, Owens had gone over to Lorincz’s house to retrieve a computer tablet that her second-eldest son Israel had accidentally left outside near Lorincz’s house. Ajike Owens believed that Lorincz had taken the tablet out of spite. According to Israel, Lorincz threw the tablet and rollerskates at him but the objects did not hit him.

When Israel’s older brother Isaac went to confront Lorincz about her violent act of throwing items that could cause injuries, Lorincz angrily told Isaac to get his mother to come over to talk to Lorincz. Witnesses said that when Ajike Owens went over to Lorincz’s house, Ajike Owens was shouting at Lorincz through the Lorincz’s closed front door, but Ajike Owens wasn’t shouting any threats to harm Lorincz. Ajike Owens did not have any weapons when she went over to Lorincz’s house.

The documentary also includes police body cam footage of Lorincz being arrested—in an unrelated incident in March 2023—for ramming her truck against a wire fence and damaging the fence because the fence was locked, instead of contacting the owner to unlock the fence. An eyewitness had come forward and had identified Lorincz as the person who damaged the fence. In the police body cam footage of cops interviewing Lorincz about the incident, Lorincz initially lies about being outside during the time of the property damage.

But when she’s told that a witness identified her as the person causing the fence damage with her truck, Lorincz admits she caused the damage. When Lorincz starts to understand that she might be under arrest, she tries to make the excuse that she had a panic attack when she damaged the fence because she had been beaten and raped in the past. When a cop reads her Miranda rights (including the right to remain silent), Lorincz says she doesn’t want to talk to the arresting cops anymore, but then she contradicts that statement by continuing to talk.

When one of the cops mentions to Lorincz that the owner of the fence wants someone to pay for the damage, Lorincz tries to talk her way out of getting arrested by saying she’d like to resolve the situation privately with the owner. Unfortunately, “The Perfect Neighbor” does not mention what was the result of this arrest. The only reason to put this footage in the documentary was to show that Lorincz had been arrested before for committing violence, as well to show how she acts when she’s about to be arrested for a crime that she admitted doing.

There is no other background information on the victims or the killer in the documentary. What is clear from the footage of this escalating feud, Lorincz’s arrest for the killing, and her subsequent trial: She often tried to look like a helpless victim, but her actions show that she is someone who committed a cold-blooded crime and didn’t have much remorse about it.

The footage shows that as she was about to be arrested for manslaughter in a police interrogation room, Lorincz refused to stand up from the chair where she was sitting when the three cops in the room asked her to stand up so she could be arrested. The cops also didn’t touch her during her refusals, and they gave her plenty of time to decide when she wanted to stand up and be taken to the arrest booking area. Lorincz also tried to talk her way out of the arrest by saying that she didn’t feel well. In other words, the documentary shows that, unlike many other crime suspects, Lorincz was always treated politely by the police.

Lorincz was arrested four days after killing Ajike Owens. The movie also shows some of the controversy about why it took this long for Lorincz to be arrested. Family members, friends and other supporters of Ajike Owens were very open in declaring that there was a racial disparity in how cordially Lorincz was treated during the investigation, compared to people of color who are suspected of manslaughter. After Lorincz killed Ajike Owens and before Lorincz was arrested for manslaughter, Lorincz was given police escorts to and from where she wanted to go because she claimed she needed safety protection.

Because this is a high-profile crime case, the outcome of Lorincz’s trial is well-known: She was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 25 years in prison. This impactful documentary serves as an example of how people should not take false accusations lightly from anyone who has a toxic and dangerous agenda. It also shows how important it is to seek justice when a perpetrator pretends to be a victim.

Netflix released “The Perfect Neighbor” in select U.S. cinemas on October 10, 2025. The movie premiered on Netflix on October 17, 2025.

Review: ‘No Other Choice,’ starring Lee Byung-hun, Son Ye-jin, Park Hee-soon, Lee Sung-min, Yeom Hye-ran and Cha Seung-won

October 12, 2025

by Carla Hay

“No Other Choice”

Directed by Park Chan-wook

Korean with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in South Korea, the comedy/drama film “No Other Choice” (based on the novel “The Ax”) features a predominantly Asian cast of characters (with some white people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A manager at a paper manufacturing company gets laid off after 25 years with the company, and he decides to murder the rival applicants for the job that he wants.

Culture Audience: “No Other Choice” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of filmmaker Park Chan-wook, the movie’s headliners, and dark comedies that skewer the cutthroat sides of business.

“No Other Choice” is a compelling satirical look at unemployment trauma and how a laid-off manager goes to extreme lengths to eliminate competition for a new job that he wants. The movie takes a while to get suspenseful, but the performances are superb. This dark comedy is a searing commentary on how a company making layoffs for cost-cutting reasons can take a very real and damaging toll on human lives that go beyond what can be measured in financial terms.

Directed by Park Chan-wook, “No Other Choice” was co-written by Park, Don McKellar, Lee Kyoung-mi and Lee Ja-hye. The movie is adapted from Donald Westlake’s 1997 novel “The Ax,” which was set in the United States. “No Other Choice” takes place in South Korea. The movie had its world premiere at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival and made the rounds at other film festivals in 2005, including the Toronto International Film Festival, the New York Film Festival and the BFI London Film Festival.

“No Other Choice” begins by showing the idyllic family life of factory manager Yoo Man-su (played by Lee Byung-hun) at their comfortable middle-class home. Man-su, his wife Lee Mi-ri (played by Son Ye-jin), their two children—son Si-One (who is about 11 or 12 years old) and their non-verbal daughter Ri-One (who is 10 years old)—are having a barbecue party in their backyard for Mi-ri because it’s her birthday. The four family members are the only people at this party.

Mi-ri (who works as a dental hygienist) and Man-su are happily married. Their children are good kids who don’t cause any problems. The family seems to be so picture-perfect, they’ve named their two Golden Retriever dogs (Si-Two and Ri-Two) after the two children. Mi-ri opens her birthday gift from Man-su. It’s a pair of high-heeled shoes. She jokes good-naturedly, “They say you shouldn’t give shoes to your lover because they might run away.

For the past 25 years, Man-su has been employed by Solar Paper, a paper manufacturing company. He is currently a well-respected manager of a Solar Paper factory. He prides himself on being a paper expert. During the barbecue party, Man-soo reads note that he received the company. The note says, “Thanks for your hard work at Solar Paper.” Man-su gathers his family around him so they can give each other a group hug. “I have it all,” Man-su says aloud with happiness and contentment.

Man-su’s stable life will soon be disrupted by changes at Solar Paper. First, he’s ordered to lay off 20% of his staff due to budget cuts. And then, Man-su is laid off too. Man-su is in shock because he thought that his longevity, hard work, excellent performance reviews, and loyalty to the company would make him immune from the layoffs. At the suggestion of Solar Paper, a despondent Man-su joins a support group for laid-off employees.

Three months later, the only work that Man-su has been able to find is a low-paying job stocking products at a big-box retail store. One of his former Solar Paper subordinates named Nam-su, who was also laid off by Solar Paper, now works for a rival company called Papyrus. Nam-su helps Man-su get a job interview at Papryus, but it’s a job at a lower level than what Man-su had at Solar Paper. In fact, if Man-su gets this job at Papyrus, he would have to report to Nam-su.

Man-su needs the money, so he does the job interview, which is conducted by a panel of four men. During the interview, Man-su rattles off a list of his accomplishments. When he’s asked what he think is his biggest weakness, Man-su replies that his biggest weakness is not being able to answer that question. This cheekiness doesn’t work. Man-su doesn’t get the job.

At home, Man-su is feeling the pressure of bringing in an income so that he and his family can continue in the life to which they’ve become accustomed. In order to reduce their expenses, the Man-Su and Miri cancel the family’s Netflix subscription and give the family’s two dogs to Mi-ri’s parents (played by Oh Gwang-rok and Lee Yong-nyeo), but Mi-ri does not want to cancel Ri-One’s cello lessons because Ri-One is a very talented cello player. Mi-ri says that Ri-One is a musical prodigy who should have a teacher who is a college-level music professor.

Man-su’s biggest fear is that he will have to sell their house, which was his childhood home that he bought after he and his family moved around several times. He fulfilled a major dream by buying this house. However, the house mortgage is in default, and the house will be in foreclosure if the overdue mortgage is not paid in three months. Mi-ri thinks that they should sell the house, but Man-su vehemently disagrees.

Desperate people sometimes do desperate things. Man-su applies for a manager position at another company called Moon Paper, which is even more successful than Solar Paper. The job would also pay more than the salary that Man-su had at Solar Paper. With the deadline approaching to pay his overdue mortgage, Man-su finds out who else applied for the job, and he plans to kill them all.

One of the most darkly comedic parts of the movie is how Man-su deals with a Moon Paper job applicant rival named Koo Beom-mo (played by Lee Sung-min), who has been unemployed for eight months, is often drunk, and is having marital problems with his aspiring actress wife Lee A-ra (played by Yeom Hye-ran), who resents having to be the sole source of income for their household. Other supporting characters in the movie are Moon Paper line manager Choi Sun-chul (played by Park Hee-soon) and Moon Paper job applicant Ko Si-jo (played by Cha Seung-won).

“No Other Choice” (which clocks in at 139 minutes) doesn’t get to the murder schemes until the last half of the film. It’s the movie’s way of showing the gradual mental unraveling of Man-su and how he is planning on committing crimes that he wouldn’t have ever considered doing if hadn’t lost his job. Although all of the acting is done very well, Lee Byung-hun is the obvious standout as the troubled Man-su, an anti-hero who is both overwhelmed but also calculating about his predicament.

“No Other Choice,” which has impressive cinematography by Kim Woo-hyung, is a rare movie that skillfully balances a tone that is darkly disturbing and absurdly comedic. The movie also invites viewers to ponder the emotional cost of Man-su’s murderous schemes. Even if Man-su succeeds in getting what he wants, will he lose his soul in the process? Considering that there’s no guarantee that he won’t get laid off from the job that he wants, “No Other Choice” has an ironic title and story about obsessive tunnel vision that doesn’t consider life’s unexpected possibilities.

Neon will release “No Other Choice” in select U.S. cinemas on December 25, 2025, with an expansion to more U.S. cinemas. A sneak preview of the movie will be shown in U.S. cinemas on December 8, 2025. “No Other Choice” was released in South Korea on September 25, 2025.

Review: ‘Late Fame,’ starring Willem Dafoe, Greta Lee and Edmund Donovan

October 11, 2025

by Carla Hay

“Late Fame”

Directed by Kent Jones

Culture Representation: Taking place in New York City, the dramatic film “Late Fame” (based on the novella of the same name) features a predominantly white cast of characters (with some African Americans, Latin people and Asians) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: An elderly post-office worker, who gave up on being a poet after his 1979 book of poems was a commercial failure, is “rediscovered” by a group of young artists, who want him to make a comeback.

Culture Audience: “Late Fame” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and movies that take aim at false images that are presented when artists try to market themselves as “authentic.”

The witty drama “Late Fame” gives amusingly accurate observations about the pretensions of ambitious artists. Willem Dafoe exquisitely plays a disillusioned poet who is plucked from obscurity for an agenda-driven comeback. Although “Late Fame” gives a very specific portrait of what New York City’s artistic scene can be like in the 2020s, many of the movie’s themes can apply to any artistic community that has no shortage of brilliant talent as well as wannabes and pretenders.

Directed by Kent Jones and written by Samy Burch, “Late Fame” is adapted from Arthur Schnitzler’s 1894 novella of the same name. “Late Fame” had its world premiere at the 2025 Venice International Film Festival and its North American premiere at the 2025 New York Film Festival. The movie was filmed on location in New York City.

“Late Fame” begins by showing post-office worker Ed Saxberger (played by Dafoe) coming home to his modest apartment in New York City’s Manhattan borough. Ed (who is in his late 60s or early 70s) is a bachelor who lives alone and doesn’t have much of a social life, except for hanging out with a few co-workers at a local bar/pool hall. It’s implied that Ed has no children because there is no mention of him being a father. If Ed was ever married, that’s not mentioned in the movie either.

Ed mentions later in the movie that when he was 17 years old and a high-school dropout from western Pennsylvania, he moved to New York City with very little money and had big dreams of becoming a professional poet. In 1979, Ed had a book of poems published titled “Way Past Go.” The book was a flop and has long since been out of print. Shortly after the commercial failure of “Way Past Go,” Ed gave up his dreams to be a poet. He has been working as mail sorter for the U.S. Postal Service for the past 37 years.

When Ed arrives at his apartment building on this particular day, he finds out from his nosy neighbor Paulie (played by Tony Torn) that a young male admirer has been waiting “like a prom date” for Ed outside of the building. Ed is curious about who this stranger is, so Ed goes to talk to him. The stranger introduces himself as Wilson Meyers (played by Edmund Donovan), who is in his early-to-mid-30s, and says he prefers to be called by his last name.

Meyers already knows who Ed is and tells him breathlessly and enthusiastically, “I read ‘Way Past Go.’ It’s as if the poems were written yesterday. They just slap you across the face with their relevancy.”

Ed is surprised and flattered. Meyers mentions that he bought “Way Past Go” at a place that sells out-of-print books. When Meyers asks Ed what Ed is doing with his life now, Ed matter-of-factly says that he’s a postal service worker who sorts mail. “Ah, a man of letters,” Meyers says as a friendly joke.

Meyers (who describes himself as a poet) offers to take Ed out to dinner and gushes to Ed, “You wrote a masterpiece, whether people know it or not.” Ed thanks Meyers for the compliments but politely declines the dinner offer.

Meyers tells Ed that Meyers isn’t the only admirer of Ed’s work. Meyers says that he’s part of a small group of artists called the Enthusiasm Society, who are all fans of “Way Past Go” and would love to meet Ed. Meyers says that Ed has an open invitation to hang out with the Enthusiasm Society at a local cafe called Any Old Place in Manhattan’s East Village, where the group meets on a regular basis.

When Ed gets home, he listens to a voice mail message from his sister Barbara (voiced by Welker White), who is annoyed that Ed hasn’t been returning her phone calls. She gives an update on their ailing brother Jimmy, who is apparently close to dying. Barbara scolds Ed for not seeming to care about Jimmy. “He’s your brother too,” she says.

Ed’s reluctance to return his sister’s phone calls is the movie’s only indication that Ed’s family represents a painful part of his past that Ed feels he doesn’t want to revisit. When Ed decides to go to the cafe to meet the Enthusiasm Society, you get the sense it’s not just because of curiosity but also because a part of him might be seeking a new family, especially a group that he knows already adores him before even knowing him.

Ed meets the Enthusiasm Society when he sees stalkerish Meyers again. Meyers asks Ed if he can read and evaluate Meyers’ poetry. It’s during this conversation that Meyers persuades Ed to meet the other members of the Enthusiasm Society, who mostly want to be referred to by their last names.

As expected, the members of the Enthusiasm Society treat Ed like a long-lost celebrity. Meyers introduces the rest of the group to Ed. They are mostly in their mid-to-late 20s. Ed soon finds out that most of the members of the Enthusiasm Society aren’t really struggling financially because they come from affluent families who are funding their artistic endeavors.

Chia Carmichael (played by Arthur Langlie) is a fairly quiet aspiring playwright. Brussard (played by Clay Singer) is a brooding cynic who is a cultural critic/essayist. Sherfey Fernandez (played by Graham Campbell) is a graduate of Rhode Island School of Design and has taken a vow of silence, so he is non-verbal for the entire movie. Winn (played by Luca Padovan) is a very perky multi-format writer and the youngest member of the group: He’s about 17 years old and still in high school.

Meyers tells Ed that the members of the Enthusiasm Society have a particular fondness for and want to emulate the beatnik artists of the mid-to-late 20th century. (Allen Ginsberg is a particular hero of the Enthusiasm Society.) Meyers says that the Enthusiasm Society consists of counterculture non-conformists who think social media and technology addictions are ruining society. The Enthusiasm Society members have a particular disdain for social media influencers, whom they point out in the cafe as shallow non-intellectuals.

Someone else is part of the group and shows up later: Her name is Gloria Gardner (played by Greta Lee), who is a theater actress and cabaret singer. Gloria is the only woman and only person of color in the Enthusiasm Society. And until Ed is asked to join the group, Gloria (who is in her early 40s) was the oldest member of the Enthusiasm Society.

Everyone tells each other a little bit about their personal backgrounds, except for Gloria, whose personal background is “murky,” according to Meyers. When Gloria does show up, she does a lot of preening and swanning. She talks a lot about how hard it is to get funding for a play that she wants to do. Mostly, she acts like she’s a fabulous and in-demand diva, even though it’s an obvious façade.

When the Enthusiasm Society members decide to have dinner at a nearby restaurant, the group wants to hear Ed tell stories of any respected artists whom he used to know. When he’s asked if he knew any of the Beat Poets, Ed says no. Gloria leans over and quietly suggests to Ed that when someone asks him that question, he should lie and say yes. Clearly, Gloria is accustomed to putting on false airs for herself, so it’s no wonder she thinks other people should do it too.

Ed is attracted to Gloria, but Brussard privately warns Ed that Gloria likes to manipulate men and is already involved with Carmichael. Gloria senses that Brussard has been saying negative things about her to Ed. She tells Ed that Brussard made a pass at her but she rejected Brussard.

Gloria leans into Ed and says seductively, “I have a high tolerance for despicable men.” Regardless of who’s telling the truth, it doesn’t lessen Ed’s attraction to Gloria. She openly flirts with him and goes out of her way to spend some time alone with him.

It isn’t long before Meyers tells Ed that the Enthusiasm Society is having an introductory event where the members will have their work performed in public. Meyers wants this event to be a showcase for Ed’s comeback and suggests that Ed write a new poem that Gloria can perform at this event. Ed is taken aback by this idea, but he eventually agrees to this plan.

Meyers invites Ed over to his place so they can get to know each other better. It’s here that Ed finds out how rich Meyers really is and how Meyers (who doesn’t have a job) has been living off of his family’s money. (Observant viewers will notice at the end of the scene that Meyers, who supposedly is very anti-technology, uses Amazon’s A.I. virtual assistant Alexa in his home, which is something that’s revealed after Ed’s visit ends.) Meyers, who has a master of arts degree from New York University, shrugs off his privileged lifestyle and says that the Enthusiasm Society doesn’t care about where its members went to school or who their fathers are.

But then, Meyers proceeds to ask Ed the type of questions that are aimed out finding out Ed’s educational background and family status. Ed mentions how he dropped out of high school and moved to New York City at age 17. When Meyers asks if Ed is Jewish (because Ed’s last name is Saxberger), Ed says his father was a non-practicing Jew, and his mother was a Catholic homemaker.

Meyers seems to think Ed being a high-school dropout who didn’t come from a wealthy family makes Ed look like some type of “cool” bohemian. Meyers suggests to Ed that Ed should write a memoir. It’s an idea that Ed is not enthusiastic about at all. However, Ed is open to the possibility of getting a new book deal to publish any of his new poetry. The attention that Ed gets from the Enthusiasm Society has renewed his interest in being a poet.

Meyers sets up a meeting with a literary agent whom he knows named Harrison (played by Jake Lacy), who works closely with a top publishing company called Novell. This meeting is an eye-opening experience for Ed, who finds out that what this agent has in mind for Ed is not what Ed wants to do. It’s also the first indication that Meyers wants to push Ed in a direction befitting what Meyers wants to do by promoting Ed as being worthy of a comeback.

As Ed spends more time with the Enthusiasm Society, their “high and mighty” intellectual ways start to rub off on him. Ed starts to avoid his blue-collar buddies Arnold (played by Clark Johnson), Irv (played by Stephen Badalamenti), Hank (played by Daniel Oreskes) and Leonard (played by William Hill) because Ed says he’s too busy with his new set of friends who admire him as a poet. And when Ed does hang out with his old friends, such as during Arnold’s birthday party, Ed literally says they’re too lowbrow for him. This insult happens after Ed gives “Way Past Go” as a birthday gift to Arnold, and Ed gets lightly mocked for it by the men at the party.

Ed ignoring his siblings and distancing himself from his longtime friends might sound like he’s a self-centered jerk. However, Ed has a very compassionate side to him, particularly when it comes to Gloria, whom he treats very well. His infatuation with Gloria, just like the Enthusiasm Society’s unexpected passion for Ed as a poet, seems to have reawakened Ed to a past version of himself that he thought had long disappeared.

“Late Fame” drops enough hints to show that certain people in the Enthusiasm Society are not exactly who they pretend to be. Why are they, especially Meyers, so fixated on making Ed a famous and widely respected poet? Ed is caught up in the non-stop flattery until he starts to see the true natures of some people who want to attach themselves to him.

“Late Fame” screenwriter Burch (who was Oscar-nominated for 2023’s “May December” screenplay) mines similar territory about how delusion and deceit can be a toxic mix in crafting public images. In addition to serving up biting commentary on privileged people pretending to be edgy struggling artists, “Late Fame” also skewers the hypocrisy that is often part of creating artists’ public personas. Ed has never been a “fake it ’til you make it” kind of guy, so he’s in for a rude awakening when he finds out that some of the aspiring artists he thinks are his new friends have no problem with telling lies to get ahead.

It leads to the inevitable question: How much of the Enthusiasm Society’s admiration for Ed is real or fake? It’s the part of the story that is the most intriguing. Dafoe (who can always be counted on to give above-average performances, even in his worst movies) is in fine form in “Late Fame,” as someone who has renewed hope in getting another chance at a long-abandoned dream. Dafoe’s portrayal of Ed has moments of wistfulness that are somewhat heartbreaking when you know that Ed’s Enthusiasm Society “fan club” is built on a shaky foundation of hidden agendas.

Jones’ engaging direction of “Late Fame” infuses an authentic blend of New York City’s artistic community in the present-day, by depicting those who are hungry for recognition and want the grit and the glamour, while chasing after fame and artistic credibility. The movie’s visual style and music also evoke some fond nostalgia for New York City of the 1970s, the decade that Ed had his biggest chance of “making it” as a poet. (Lou Reed’s 1976 songs “Charley’s Girl” and “Ooh Baby” are part of the soundtrack.) There’s a wonderfully simple but impactful scene of Ed taking out photo albums and scrapbooks when he’s by himself at his apartment, to remind himself of the “good old days” before his poet dreams were crushed.

Lee and Donovan also give standout performances for characters who are both similar and different from each other. Lee’s Gloria is obviously a “fake it ’til you make it” type of person, but you immediately sense that she does it out of necessity because she doesn’t have a rich family to support her, like Meyers does. Gloria also has the talent to back up her aspirations. There’s a scene where Gloria invites Ed to see her do a cabaret performance, and she sings a terrific rendition of “Surabaya Johnny” from the Kurt Weill/Bertolt Brecht musical “Happy End.” Ed is suitably entranced.

Donovan’s skillful portrayal of Meyers morphs from being a star-struck exuberant fan to being a calculating control freak. There are many different sides to Meyers, depending on who he’s talking to and what he wants. He can go from be a seemingly progresssive thinker who wants to relate to everyday people to being an elitist snob of the highest order. The Enthusiasm Society is supposed to be democratic, but Meyers often acts like a dictator.

“Late Fame” is not a cynical indictment of people who want another chance at pursuing goals and dreams. And although the movie has clear examples of how the “haves” and “have nots” can operate differently in society, “Late Fame” is not a complete attack on those who are more privileged than others. Rather, “Late Fame” is a clever and memorable story about identity and what can happen if we choose to let other people define who we really are.

UPDATE: Magnolia Pictures will release “Late Fame” on a date to be announced in 2026.

Review: ‘Is This Thing On?,’ starring Will Arnett, Laura Dern, Andra Day and Bradley Cooper

October 10, 2025

by Carla Hay

“Is This Thing On?”

Directed by Bradley Cooper

Culture Representation: Taking place in New York City, the comedy/drama film “Is This Thing On?” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with some African Americans, Latin people and Asians) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: A father, who’s separated from his wife, finds an emotional outlet in stand-up comedy, while he and his estranged wife decide if they get back together or get divorced.

Culture Audience: “Is This Thing On?” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners, filmmaker Bradley Cooper, and bittersweet movies about marriage and personal transformations.

Bradley Cooper and Will Arnett in “Is This Thing On?” (Photo by Jason McDonald/Searchlight Pictures)

The comedy/drama “Is This Thing On?” is less about becoming a stand-up comedian and more about whether or not a separated married couple will get back together. The movie’s talented performances mostly overcome the story’s shaggy and uneven tone. At times, “Is This Thing On?” looks like it can’t decide whether it wants to be an acerbic adult drama or a sentimental family comedy. It doesn’t completely succeed at either, but it has enough moments where its shines to keep most viewers interested or curious to see what will happen next.

Directed by Bradley Cooper, “Is This Thing On?” was co-written by Cooper, Will Arnett and Mark Chappell. Cooper and Arnett are two of the producers of the film. “Is This Thing On?” is the third movie that Cooper has directed, following the 2018 remake of “A Star Is Born” and the 2023 Leonard Bernstein biopic “Maestro.” “Is This Thing On?” (which had its world premiere at the 2025 New York Film Festival) doesn’t have a celebrity as the protagonist. Instead, the central character is a “regular guy” named Alex Novak (played by Arnett), who lives in New York City and is having a mid-life crisis that leads to a personal crossroads. (“Is This Thing On?” was filmed on location in New York City.)

In the beginning of the movie, Alex is shown looking bored and unhappy at an event where Chinese dragon dancers are performing at the school where his two sons (about 10 and 11 yeas old) are students. Older son Blake (played by Blake Kane) is intellectual and somewhat neurotic. Younger son Calvin (played by Calvin Knegten) is fun-loving and more adventurous than Blake. There’s a reason for Alex’s discontent: He and his wife Tess (played by Laura Dern) have separated after being married for 20 years and knowing each other for 26 years.

Alex’s job isn’t specifically stated in the movie (he makes a brief and vague mention that he works “in finance”), and he’s not seen at the office where he works. Tess is a homemaker who used to be an Olympic volleyball player in her 20s. She’s been a homemaker for an unnamed period of time—definitely since her children were born. After separating from Alex, Tess starts seeking out job opportunities to become a volleyball coach to Olympic hopefuls. Peyton Manning has a fairly small supporting role as Laird, a colleague from Tess’ past, who meets with her about a possible job as a volleyball coach.

Alex and Tess didn’t break up because of infidelity, addiction, abuse or financial problems. Their marriage crumbled because Alex and Tess are bored and frustrated with each other and their lives. The movie doesn’t have flashbacks to give any insight into what led up to their decision to separate. However, they are the type of estranged spouses who don’t get into vicious screaming arguments. They try to keep their verbal disagreements as civil as possible.

One night, Alex goes to a comedy club, but he doesn’t have the cash for the $15 admission fee. (It’s a weird contrivance for the movie. Doesn’t Alex have any debit cards or credit cards to pay the admission fee?) When he finds out that it’s open mic night at the club, and anyone who signs up to perform that night will get in the club for free, Alex impulsively decides to perform so he doesn’t have to pay the cover charge.

Alex’s first stand-up set is improvised and somewhat awkward. But he loves the freedom that stand-up comedy gives him to joke about his personal problems and other things in his life. Alex is hooked. He gets to know some of the people who consistently perform at the local comedy clubs. And he begins to consider doing stand-up comedy as a professional career.

Many scenes in “Is This Thing On?” were filmed on location at the Comedy Cellar in New York City with real paying audiences, not people who hired to act as audience members. Comedy Cellar manager Liz Furiati portrays herself in the movie. Amy Sedaris has a small role as the Comedy Cellar’s open mic emcee named Kemp.

Alex discovering stand-up comedy and becoming part of a stand-up comedy community could have been a very intriguing central concept for the movie. However, the majority of “Is This Thing On?” is about Alex and Tess going back and forth about whether or not they want to divorce or save their marriage. The stand-up comedy aspirations take a back seat to this spousal quandary.

The acting performances are credible, but the movie’s story is at times unfocused. Alex’s entrée into the New York comedy scene seems like a detour to the main story about his marital dilemma, when the stand-up comedy storyline and the marital storyline could have existed as parallel routes in a better screenplay. The teaser trailer for “Is This Thing On?” is somewhat misleading because it makes it look like the stand-up comedy storyline is the main story of the film. This “bait and switch” might or might not disappoint some viewers.

Supporting characters in the movie are a bit underdeveloped. Alex’s parents Marilyn (played by Christine Ebersole) and Jan (played by Ciarán Hinds) adore Alex and his family, but that’s all the movie shows about these two grandparents. Marilyn really likes Tess and gets along well with her, so Marilyn is naturally upset that Tess and Alex have split up. Marilyn tells Alex that she still wants to be a friend to Tess.

Alex and Tess, even after they’re separated, still hang out together with two longtime friends: an unhappily married stoner couple named Balls (played by Cooper) and Christine (played by Andra Day), who are the most annoying characters in the movie. Balls (a struggling actor who tends to get small roles in TV and in theater) and Christine (who appears to be a homemaker) are competitive with Alex and Tess. Christine and Balls have a 17-year-old son, who is heading to college but is never seen in the movie. And that’s all you’ll find out about this insecure “frenemy” couple.

Alex, Tess, Balls and Christine hang out with a friendly gay married couple named Stephen (played by Sean Hayes) and Geoffrey (played by Scott Icenogle), who have almost nothing told about them in the movie except they are a third couple in the “triple date” hangouts shown between these six people. “Is This Thing On?” makes Stephen and Geoffrey so vague and inconsequential to the story, Stephen and Geoffrey didn’t need to be in the movie at all. It seems like Stephen and Geoffrey are only in the movie as “tokens” who are not presented as anything but “gay friends to the story’s heterosexual protagonists.”

Perhaps the biggest disappointment in “Is This Thing On?” is the movie’s superficial depiction of the New York comedy scene. Although the movie has real-life comedians (such as Jordan Jensen, Chloe Radcliffe and Reggie Conquest) portraying themselves, they have cameos, not significant roles, in Alex’s life. Fun fact: “Is This Thing On?” cinematographer Matthew “Matty” Libatique also portrays a stand-up comedian in the movie.

“Is This Thing On?” glosses over or outright ignores how cutthroat and competitive stand-up comedy can be in real life. All the comedians who interact with Alex are immediately helpful and nice to him. If these new acquaintances have any dark sides to their personalities or personal demons (and many stand-up comedians do in real life), you don’t see any of that in this movie. Some of the comedians tell Alex that they think he’s got the potential to be a successful comedian if he works hard enough at it, but none of them seems jealous, and any criticisms they have for Alex about his comedic talent are told in a light-hearted manner. It’s all too good to be true.

There’s also a climactic scene using the Queen/David Bowie song “Under Pressure” that might remind people of the “Under Pressure” scene in the 2010 comedy/drama “It’s Kind of a Funny Story,” directed by Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden and starring Zach Galifianakis. Considering that Cooper and Galifianakis co-starred in “The Hangover” movies together, and Cooper is a well-known movie aficionado, it’s hard to imagine Cooper not being aware of this “Under Pressure” scene in “It’s Kind of a Funny Story” and possibly being inspired by it. It’s not a ripoff scene in “Is This Thing On?,” but more originality was needed for this movie’s climactic scene.

“Is This Thing On?” mostly excels in its performances. Arnett and Dern have believable chemistry as a couple trying to figure out if they should stay married or not, and as parents trying not to let their marital discord be traumatic to their children. Some of the stand-up comedy bits and other scenes are amusing. The movie’s cinematography (lots of shaky-cam closeups) might not be to everyone’s liking. However, as an overall cinematic experience, “Is This Thing On?” hits in enough of the right places to watch the movie at least once and get some enjoyment out of it.

Searchlight Pictures will release “Is This Thing On?” in U.S. cinemas on December 19, 2025.

Review: ‘Father Mother Sister Brother,’ starring Tom Waits, Adam Driver, Mayim Bialik, Charlotte Rampling, Cate Blanchett, Vicky Krieps, Sarah Greene Indya Moore and Luka Sabbat

October 8, 2025

by Carla Hay

“Father Mother Sister Brother”

Directed by Jim Jarmusch

Culture Representation: Taking place in the United States, Ireland, and France, the dramatic film “Father Mother Sister Brother” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with two African Americans) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: In this anthology film with three separate stories, various family members visit each other in reunions that have certain levels of tension.

Culture Audience: “Father Mother Sister Brother” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners, filmmaker Jim Jarmusch, and low-key independent films about families.

Luka Sabbat and Inya Moore in “Father Mother Sister Brother” (Photo courtesy of MUBI)

Viewers who know in advance that “Father Mother Sister Brother” is more of a character study than a plot-driven film will be more likely to appreciate this talkative and quirky drama. The movie has emotionally authentic depictions of family relationships. The storytelling is an uneven hodgepodge, but the talented cast’s performances are worth watching.

Written and directed by Jim Jarmusch, “Father Mother Sister Brother” had its world premiere at the 2025 Venice International Film Festival, where it won the Golden Lion, the festival’s top prize. “Father Mother Sister Brother” had its North American premiere at the 2025 New York Film Festival. The movie was filmed on location in three separate countries for each story: the United States, Ireland, and France.

“Father”

The first story, titled “Father,” features two siblings named Jeff (played by Adam Driver) and Emily (played by Mayim Bialik) sharing a car ride on the way to visit their unnamed widowed father (played by Tom Waits) on a winter’s day somewhere in New Jersey. The siblings’ widowed father lives in isolation in a small, remote house near a lake. Jeff (whose occupation is not stated in the movie) and Emily (who works in academia) don’t see their eccentric father very often.

Jeff and Emily don’t see each other on a regular basis either, but they keep in touch by phone or email. Therefore, these family members’ conversations with each other are often awkward—a mixture of polite small talk and judgmental remarks. The death of the siblings’ mother (when this death happened s never stated in the movie) seems to have made the siblings and their father more distant from each other.

Emily has a noticeably smug attitude with Jeff because she seems to think her life is “perfect” (married with kids, good job, comfortable lifestyle), compared to the life Jeff, who divorced, has no children, and is still emotionally struggling after his divorce. In the car ride on the way to their father’s house (Jeff is driving), Emily asks Jeff where their retired father gets money because she’s not sure if he’s eligible for Social Security benefits due to his long history of “not having a real job.”

Jeff replies, “I’m not completely sure. He always seems to have projects.” It leads to Emily asking Jeff if he’s sent money to their father recently. Jeff admits that he occasionally sends money to their father byut only because their father said he needed money for emergency repairs, such a fixing the house’s well, a septic disaster, and a caved-in wall. Jeff also says that their father told Jeff that the father can barely pay his for electricity and phone bills.

Emily comments that her husband Harold doesn’t like that Jeff sends money to the siblings’ father. Jeff admits that his ex-wife Cheryl didn’t like it either. Emily remarks, “That’s probably why she divorced you.” Emily seems to immediately regret saying this hurtful comment and tells Jeff that she’s sorry.

Before the siblings arrive, their father is seen quickly trying to tdy up his cluttered house as much as he can. He gives the impression that he like to hold on to a lot of old possessions.: His furnishings are outdated, and he prefers use a beat-up looking landline phone instead of a cell phone. When the siblings are at the house, the siblings and father greet each other warmly, but the conversation is strained.

The father’s mental health is alluded to when Jeff asks if the father if he’s had any recent “episodes” like the “episode” that the father had at the funeral of the siblings’ mother. The father says no. Jeff replies, “You handled it admirably.” The father mentions that he’s not taking any medication, but he adds, “I take a drink now and then.”

Emily notices that the father is wearing a Rolex watch, but he insists that it’s a fake Rolex. The father is fixated on serving water to drink for the three of them. When the father wants to make a celebratory toast with the glasses of water, Jeff asks if water can really be used to give a toast.

“Father” is the most comedic of the three stories, mainly because of Waits’ performance, where he plays his gravelly-voiced, disheveled persona to the hilt. “Father” is also the most intriguing of the three stories because of what happens in the last five minutes. It’s enough to say that all is not what it seems with one of these family members.

“Mother”

“Mother,” the second story, takes place in the Irish capital of Dublin. It’s another scenario where two siblings meet up with an elderly parent in the parent’s home. In this situation, the three family members are an unnamed single mother (played by Charlotte Rampling), her prim daughter Timothea (played by Cate Blanchett), and Timothea’s free-spirited younger sister Lilith (played by Vicky Krieps). All three women have gathered for their annual tradition of having tea with this dignifed and formal mother in her stately, well-kept home.

It’s mentioned that the mother talks on the phone with Timothea and Lilith about once every few weeks. Timothea calls more often than Lilith. Timothea was recently appointed to a lofty position at a historical society. It’s not stated what Lilith does for a living.

Timothea and Lilith drove in separate cars to their mother’s home. Timothea was driving her car but had some car trouble and called to tell her mother why Timothea was running late. Lilith got a car ride from a woman named Jeanette (played by Sarah Greene), who is Lilith’s lover, but Lilith doesn’t want Lilith’s mother to know. Lilith asks Jeanette to pretend that Jeanette is Lilith’s Uber driver.

Jeanette seems slightly amused and not offended, which is an indication that she and Lilith haven’t been dating each other for very long or have the type of casual relationship that Jeanette doesn’t care if Lilith’s mother is deceived about the true nature of the relationship. Later, Lilith tells her mother that she’s been dating a man named Richard but doesn’t want to marry him. “I’m not sure I want to be tied to a man,” says Lillith.

Unfortunately, “Mother” is the weakest of the three stories because it mostly shows a dull conversation between the mother, Lilith and Timothea. This is a family who also doesn’t talk about whatever issues they have—at least not in this visit. And so, viewers can only speculate why Lilith is lying about Jeanette to Lilith’s mother. The “Mother” story is the least interesting of the three because it reveals very little about the characters by the time this story ends.

“Sister Brother”

“Sister Brother,” the third story in the movie, is the most sentimental and sweet-natured. It takes place in the French capital of Paris and shows twins Billy (played by Luka Sabbat) and Skye (played by Indya Moore) going to the apartment where their recently deceased mother used to live and sorting through her possessions. The conversations between Billy and Skye also start off with polite small talk, but their discussions end up going emotionally deeper than the conversations in “Father” and “Mother.”

Based on these conversations, the siblings grew up in a non-traditional family who allowed Billy and Skye to express themselves freely. The twins agree that they’re glad they didn’t grow up in a conventional household. It’s a “slice of life” story where not much happens except the siblings reminiscing about their past and talking about their current lives.

The favorite song of the twins’ mother was Classics IV’s 1967 hit “Spooky.” Annika Henderson’s cover version of “Spooky” is played in the beginning and end of “Father Mother Sister Brother,” like lovely book ends. The movie also has a throughline of scenes that feature skateboarders rushing past the main characters in each story.

The film’s cinematography by Frederick Elmes and Yorick Le Saux often features several overhead shots to draw attention to attractive locations or props. For example, in the “Mother” story, there are multiple “bird’s eye view” shots of the tea and pastries that are laid out on the table for the family gathering. The musical score by Jarmusch and Henderson is both whimsical and dreamy.

“Father Mother Sister Brother” is not the type of movie that is meant to overwhelm or dazzle viewers. The performances are good, but not outstanding. It’s an artsy “hangout” film where viewers get a brief glimpse into the lives of some unique characters and some of their family dynamics. “Father Mother Sister Brother” invites viewers to think about not just what’s said but what’s left unsaid, which is a lot more like real life than a movie that shows and tells viewers exactly what viewers should think.

MUBI will release “Father Mother Sister Brother” in select U.S. cinemas on December 24, 2025.

Review: ‘Stiller & Meara: Nothing Is Lost,’ starring Ben Stiller, Amy Stiller, Christine Taylor, Ella Stiller and Quinlin Stiller

October 5, 2025

by Carla Hay

A late 1960s archival photo of (pictured clockwise, from left) Anne Meara, Jerry Stiller, Amy Stiller and Ben Stiller in “Stiller & Meara: Nothing Is Lost” (Photo courtesy of Apple TV+)

“Stiller and Meara: Nothing Is Lost”

Directed by Ben Stiller

Culture Representation: The documentary film “Stiller & Meara: Nothing Is Lost” features an all-white group of people who are connected in some way to American entertainer spouses Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara.

Culture Clash: Stiller and Meara, who came from different backgrounds (his family was Polish Jewish, her family was Irish Catholic), overcame obstacles in their careers and personal lives to become successful entertainers during their 61-year marriage.

Culture Audience: “Stiller and Meara: Nothing Is Lost” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the Stiller family of entertainers and celebrity documentaries that are told from the perspectives of family members.

Ben Stiller and Amy Stiller in “Stiller & Meara: Nothing Is Lost” (Photo courtesy of Apple TV+)

“Stiller and Meara: Nothing Is Lost” is the cinematic equivalent of looking at someone’s family photo albums, watching family home videos, and hearing family stories. This documentary is exactly what it appears to be: a loving tribute to Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, directed by their son, Ben Stiller. It’s a not groundbreaking film, but it nicely demonstrates themes of love, loyalty and legacy. At times, the movie almost detours into a Ben Stiller biography, but it generally stays on track and achieves its purpose of giving an up-close-and-personal look at the matriarch and patriarch in this longtime successful showbiz family.

“Stiller & Meara: Nothing Is Lost”(which had its world premiere at the 2025 New York Film Festival) follows a conventional format of mixing archive footage with footage filmed exclusively for the documentary. Ben Stiller (who is a famous entertainer in his own right) gives insightful narration, as he puts the documentary in a setting of himself and his older sister Amy Stiller sifting through their parents’ belongings in a New York City apartment. Meara died in 2015, at age 85. Jerry Stiller died in 2020, at age 92.

The movie has an intimate tone because most of the people interviewed for the documentary are family members. In addition to featuring conversations with Ben and Amy, the documentary shows separate conversations that Ben with his actress wife, Christine Taylor, and their two children: Ella (born in 2002) and Quinlin (born in 2005). Also interviewed are Jerry’s sister Doreen Stiller; Dawn Eaton, a longtime associate of the Stiller family; and playwright John Guare, whose original 1971 off-Broadway production of “House of Blue Leaves” starred Meara.

The documentary chronicles what is already publicly known, such as how Meara and Jerry met in 1953, and fell in love in their hometown of New York City; how they got married in 1954, and became a famous comedic duo; and the end of their comedy duo act and what projects the spouses did separately. They were truly a case of opposites attract: He was from a Polish Jewish family and was neurotically insecure about his talent. She was from an Irish Catholic family and was the “life of the party.” He started his entertainment career doing mostly comedy. She came from a serious drama background in theater.

According to Ben, Jerry would be the type of entertainer who would diligently over-rehearse, while Meara was comfortable with improvisation. Jerry thought that Meara was more talented than he was, so he felt like he had to work harder. It’s mentioned several times in the documentary that the couple’s on-stage interactions were reflections of their off-stage relationship. Meara was the more outspoken partner who would often take the lead in conversations, while Jerry tended to be more deferential.

The documentary also includes discussion of the childhoods of Jerry and Meara. Jerry’s father Willie (who was a driver of taxis and buses) was a wannabe actor who attempted to make a career out of it but never made it. In an audio archival interview, Willie said he gave up acting because he had to have a job “to make ends meet.” Willie passed on his love of entertainment to Jerry, who graduated from Syracuse University in 1950 with a bachelor’s degree in speech and drama.

By all accounts, Meara (who had no siblings) had a family who did not expect her to work in showbiz. Meara’s path to becoming an entertainer started in 1947, when she took acting classes at the New School in New York City. Meara’s father Edward was an attorney, and she was deeply affected by her mother Mary’s suicide, which happened when Anne was 11 years old.

It’s hinted that this childhood trauma, which Anne did not like to discuss, could have led to her adult problem of alcohol abuse, which she was able to overcome with Jerry’s help. The movie gives some insight into how this drinking problem negatively affected her marriage and other relationships, However, you get the feeling that there was a lot more that happened concerning the alcohol abuse that was deliberately kept out of the documentary.

The documentary also shows that Jerry was the “pack rat”/family archivist. While sifting through boxes of his parents’ possessions, Ben marvels, “It’s insane what he kept.” (Some of the memorabilia includes admission tickets to places where the family went to in the 1960s and 1970s.) Jerry also kept articles about the family. One of the best parts of the documentary is when Ben reads excepts from a few of his parents’ love letters to each other.

“Stiller & Meara: Nothing Is Lost” would be remiss if it didn’t talk about the influence that this famous couple had on their children. Ben and Amy both share fond childhood memories of being encouraged to create characters and do skits. Ben says he became influenced to become a filmmaker when his father got him a Super 8 camera when Ben was a child.

In the documentary, Ben and Amy both say that their parents like to work on their comedy material behind closed doors and didn’t like to be disturbed when working. However, what made it into the comedy act was often dialogue that Ben and Amy say came from real-life conversations that their parents had. There are several clips in the documentary showing Amy and Ben being interviewed on TV with their parents, who clearly did not discourage their children from being in the spotlight.

Although Ben and Amy tell similar stories of their own childhoods, the documentary admirably shows how two siblings who grew up in the same family can also tell a story in two different ways. Ben says that when he decided to become a professional entertainer, he felt that his parents’ fame cast a long shadow, and he was determined to prove he could make it on his own. But then, Amy chimes in and reminds Ben that Ben always put either or both of their parents in almost every film or sketch he did early in his career.

The movie includes archival footage of Jerry and Anne in Ben’s audition video for “Saturday Night Live.” Ben had a short-lived stint on “Saturday Night Live” as a featured player during show’s 14th season in 1989. Ben’s big comedy series breakthrough was on “The Ben Stiller Show,” which was on the air from 1990 to 1995. The documentary also includes archival clips of Anne and Jerry on “The Ben Stiller Show.”

Ben describes his parents as loving, but his mother was harder to please. Even though Jerry and Anne were most famous for comedy, Ben says his mother still had a drama snob mentality for most of her life. She maintained an opinion that if entertainment has a hierarchy, then comedy is on the lower level. Viewers might be surprised to learn that although Ben might have benefited from being a “nepo baby,” Ben says his mother didn’t really encourage or fully approve of the comedy films that he became famous for, such as 1998’s “There’s Something About Mary” or 2000’s “Meet the Parents.” Anne liked it when Ben did a more “serious” movie like 1998’s “Permanent Midnight” or 2010’s “Greenberg.”

At times, “Stiller & Meara: Nothing Is Lost” gets a little too wrapped up in Ben’s perspective. For example, there’s a sequence that shows Jerry and Anne doing their comedy act on a breakthrough 1963 appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” intercut with footage of Ben appearing at the Ed Sullivan Theatre in New York City for an appearance on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.” It’s meant to show how aspects of Ben’s life are continuations or parallels of his parents’ lives. However, it comes across as a bit self-indulgent because viewers are smart enough to already know that Ben has made public appearances at many of the same places that his parents did.

Despite a few missteps where the documentary’s tone veers into “enough about Jerry and Anne, here’s more about Ben,” the documentary benefits from Ben’s candor when he talks about his motivation for doing the documentary. Ben says that after his father died in 2020, Ben confesses that he felt “unhappy,” “out of balance” and “a little lost.” Having experienced a separation and reconciliation in his own marriage, Ben set out to make a documentary about his parents and their long-term marriage. “I wanted to understand how they did it.”

“Stiller & Meara: Nothing Is Lost” is about more than a marriage that survived the perils of showbiz. It’s a crowd-pleasing story about a family that is undoubtedly influenced by two people who paved the family’s way in the entertainment industry but also held the family together when so many others fall apart in similar circumstances. The message of the documentary is having an emotionally healthy and supportive family is an accomplishment and a privilege that matters so much more than fame and fortune.

Apple Studios will release “Stiller & Meara: Nothing Is Lost” in select U.S. cinemas on October 17, 2025. The movie will premiere on Apple TV+ on October 24, 2025.

Review: ‘If I Had Legs I’d Kick You,’ starring Rose Byrne, Conan O’Brien, Danielle Macdonald and A$AP Rocky

October 3, 2025

by Carla Hay

“If I Had Legs I’d Kick You”

Directed by Mary Bronstein

Culture Representation: Taking place on New York’s Long Island, the comedy/drama film “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few African Americans and Asians) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: A therapist begins to mentally unravel while caring for her sick child, and several other stressful things happen to her.

Culture Audience: “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and dramas that take a surrealistic and dark comedy look at motherhood and caregiving.

A$AP Rocky and Rose Byrne in “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You” (Photo by Logan White/A24)

“If I Had Legs I’d Kick You” delves deep into the unraveling psyche of a sick child’s caregiver mother, who cracks under the pressure of feeling overwhelmed and underappreciated. Rose Byrne’s performance is a master class in anxious empathy and tragicomedy. The movie has surrealistic and absurd elements but remains realistic when making viewers think about who’s looking after the well-being of caregivers.

Written and directed by Mary Bronstein, “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You” had it world premiere at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. It has since made the rounds at other film festivals in 2025, including Berlin International Film Festival (where Byrne won the prize for Best Lead Performance), the Telluride Film Festival and the New York Film Festival. “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You” takes place on New York’s Long Island, where the movie was filmed on location.

“If I Had Legs I’d Kick You” begins by showing frazzled mother Linda (played by Byrne) in a doctor’s meeting with Linda’s only child: a daughter named Phoebe (played by Delaney Quinn), who’s about 7 or 8 years old. Phoebe’s face is not shown in the movie until a pivotal point in the story.

This meeting is to discuss any progress in Phoebe’s medical condition, but Phoebe has told the doctor that she’s worried about her mother being “stretchable” like “putty.” Phoebe also tells the doctor that her mother is “sad.” Linda tries to appear calm and tells the doctor that’s she’s not “stretchable” and is definitely not “sad.” Linda wants to give the impression that she’s got everything under control.

“If I Had Legs I’d Kick You” doesn’t reveal right away why Phoebe is under medical care. However, it’s shown through flashbacks, conversations and other snippets of information that Phoebe has a mental illness that has made her afraid to eat food. Therefore, Phoebe has to be fed through a feeding tube that is inserted into her stomach, with the feeding usually done at night when she’s asleep. Phoebe was hospitalized for an unnamed period of time, but she is now getting outpatient care. The family has a feeding tube machine in their rented apartment.

Phoebe also has other anxieties. She is terrified of dying and doesn’t like to stay away from Linda for too long. Phoebe goes to school during the day, but it’s hard for her to make friends. Linda’s husband Charles (played by Christian Slater) is away for eight weeks because of his job in the U.S. military. Linda, who works as a psychotherapist in the Long Island hamlet of Montauk, doesn’t have any help in taking care of Phoebe when Charles is away.

Linda thinks Phoebe is well enough to no longer need the feeding tube. However, Linda is told by the hospital’s medical professional that the feeding tube can’t be removed until Phoebe reaches a minimum weight that Phoebe has not yet reached. If Phoebe doesn’t reach this weight by a specific deadline, Linda could be considered an irresponsible caregiver, and the hospital could decline the health insurance coverage for Phoebe.

Within the first 10 minutes of the movie, something happens that sets off a chain of events leading to one stress after another for Linda. Water suddenly gushes out from a bedroom ceiling in the family’s apartment, leaving a large hole in the ceiling and significant water damage in the room and other rooms in the apartment. When Linda looks up at the hole, she sees what can only be described as firefly-type lighting in an abyss-like galaxy. It’s the first indication that Linda might be losing some grip on reality.

Linda’s inattentive landlord (played by Manu Narayan) is responsible for repairing the damage. In the meantime, Linda decides to temporarily live in a motel with Phoebe while still maintaining a full-time work schedule. Being in this new and uncomfortable environment is a catalyst for Linda taking a very difficult and emotionally painful look at the toll it takes on her to try to be a “supermom.”

During this nerve-racking time in Linda’s life, the medical professionals who are supposed to help Linda are cold and clinical in their interactions with Linda. Her unnamed therapist (played by Conan O’Brien), who works on the same building floor as Linda, barely tolerates her and doesn’t seem to like her at all. Phoebe’s physician Dr. Spring (played by Bronstein) only talks to Linda about Phoebe, in terms of the weight that Phoebe is supposed to have and trying to get Linda to set their next appointment.

Linda finds some emotional comfort with an unexpected person: James, nicknamed Jamie (played by A$AP Rocky), a stoner maintenance employee at the motel. James is kind to Linda, while his front-desk co-worker Melanie (played by Amy Judd Lieberman) is rude. The movie also shows Linda in therapy sessions with clients Stephen (played by Daniel Zolghadri), Kate (played by Ella Beatty), Eva (played by Helen Hong) and Caroline (played by Danielle Macdonald).

Caroline, who is the mother of a baby boy named Riley, is extremely paranoid about leaving Riley with anyone who isn’t Caroline. Caroline brings Riley to the therapy sessions, which make Linda feel guilty because while Caroline appears to be a doting and overprotective mother, Linda is becoming an increasingly impatient and irritable mother. When Phoebe is asleep, Linda often leaves the motel room so she can have time for herself.

“If I Had Legs I’d Kick You” shows how a mental breakdown can sneak up on someone if that person isn’t getting the proper mental health care. Stresses can accumulate like a dripping water faucet can cause water to accumulate until there’s an overflow that can cause damage. And sometimes, all it takes is one bad day for someone who go into a mental health freefall.

“If I Had Legs I’d Kick You” isn’t a completely depressing movie. The story shows some comedic moments (usually those involving Linda and James), especially in how Linda seeks to relieve some of her stress through alcohol, marijuana and other drugs. A scene in the movie reveals that even if Charles had been home during this time, he would still expect Linda to do the vast majority of the caregiving while she still works full-time.

Linda can be petulant, flaky, and self-absorbed, but she’s also well-intentioned and usually tries her best to be a good parent. In other words, she’s thoroughly human and realistically flawed. And considering the circumstances she’s under, no one should be expected to be perfect.

However, as much as society expects caregivers (especially female caregivers) to be expert multi-taskers, Linda puts a lot of this pressure on herself too. One of the best scenes in the movie is when Linda attends a caregiver support group led by Dr. Spring and gives an outspoken rant that goes against what Dr. Spring is saying to counsel the support group. It’s in this scene where Linda shows a lot of self-loathing for not meeting her own expectations of who she wants to be as a caregiver and as a mother.

Although all the cast members do well in their roles, Byrne gives the movie its emotionally authentic core and foundation—even when the story and direction tend to wander into episodic scenes that resemble a sitcom. A few of the subplots seem thrown into the story to stretch the movie’s runtime. And the movie’s forays into surrealism sometimes look “try hard” awkward and might alienate some viewers.

Some viewers might also have issues with how Linda (and the movie, by extension) can take for granted that Linda is privileged, compared to other people with the same problems. However, not every movie has to be about people experiencing poverty or oppression. “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You” is an impactful look at how mental distress doesn’t discriminate, being a “supermom” is near-impossible standard, and caregivers need people looking after them too.

A24 will release “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You” in select U.S. cinemas on October 10, 2025, with an expansion to more U.S. cinemas on October 24, 2025. The movie will be released on digital and VOD on November 18, 2025.

Review: ‘It Was Just an Accident,’ starring Vahid Mobasseri, Mariam Afshari, Ebrahim Azizi, Hadis Pakbaten, Majid Panahi, Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr and Delnaz Najafi

October 1, 2025

by Carla Hay

“It Was Just an Accident”

Directed by Jafar Panahi

Persian with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in Iran, the dramatic film “It Was Just and Accident” features an all-Middle Eastern cast of characters representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: A former political prisoner kidnaps a man whom he thinks was a government agent who tortured him and other political prisoners, but he has doubts that he has abducted the right person.

Culture Audience: “It Was Just an Accident” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners, filmmaker Jafar Panahi, and intense crime thrillers about vigilante justice.

Afssaneh Najmabadi, Delmaz Najafi and Ebrahim Azizi in “It Was Just an Accident” (Photo courtesy of Neon)

Harrowing and often darkly absurdist, “It Was Just an Accident” explores the moral dilemmas of revenge during a kidnapping that could be a case of mistaken identity. This piercing drama also has sharp observations of the damaging effects of oppression. The movie asks questions about redemption and forgiveness while not offering easy answers.

Written and directed by Jafar Panahi (who is also one of the film’s producers), “It Was Just an Accident” takes place in Iran, where the movie was filmed on location. “It Was Just an Accident” had its world premiere at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Palme d’Or, the festival’s top prize. “It Was Just an Accident” also screened at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival and the 2025 New York Film Festival. The movie was partially funded by a French production company, which is why “It Was Just an Accident” is France’s official entry for Best International Feature Film for the 2026 Academy Awards.

“It Was Just an Accident” begins by showing what appears to be a normal car ride taken at night by a family of three: Eghbal (played by Ebrahim Azizi) is driving the car. His pregnant wife Azam (played by Afssaneh Najmabadi) is in the front passenger seat. Their daughter Nilufar (played by Delmaz Najafi), who’s about 7 or 8 years old, is in the back seat.

Nilufar, who is happily playing with a Westland Terrier dog toy, seems excited to be on this trip. There are hints that the family is living an isolated existence. Nilufar mentions that their family has no neighbors. Later in the movie, Nilfar also says she’s not allowed to use a phone.

The reason for the car trip is never stated, but it appears to be an unusual outing for this reclusive family. Suddenly, Eghbal accidentally hits something with the car. He gets out and sees that he hit a dog, who is close to death. The dog is never seen in the movie, but its wounded whimpers can be heard. Eghbal leaves the dog on the street and gets back in the car to continue the journey.

Nilufar is very upset about what happened to the dog. Azam tries to bring some comfort and says, “It was just an accident. God put that dog in our path for a reason.” Nilufar responds, “He killed the dog! God had nothing to do with it!”

A few minutes later, the car engine stops working. Azam also thinks this car trouble is an omen. The family is stranded on a nearly deserted road near a mechanic garage that has closed for the night. A man named Omid passes by on a motorcycle and sees the stranded family.

Eghbal asks where the nearest car repair shop is that’s open, and Omid says it’s about two kilometers (about one mile) away. Eghbal thinks that’s too far for his family to walk at night, so he asks Omid to see if he can possibly help fix the car. Omid obliges this request. Observant viewers will notice that Eghbal doesn’t use a cell phone to call for help.

Omid has a co-worker named Vahid (played by Vahid Mobasseri), who is also at the garage that night. However, Vahid is acting strangely as soon as he sees this family. Vahid doesn’t want to be seen and stays in another room. He also disguises his voice when Eghbal asks him where a toolbox is.

The next day, a tow truck takes the family’s car to be repaired. Vahid stalks the repair shop to see when Eghbal gets his repaired car returned to him. And then, Vahid follows Eghbal by car and waits until Eghbal is walking on a street. When Eghbal passes by Vahid’s car, Vahid deliberately opens his car door to knock Eghbal unconscious.

As already revealed in the trailer for “It Was Just an Accident,” Vahid is a former political prisoner who ends up kidnapping Eghbal, because he thinks Eghbal was a government agent who tortured Vahid and other political prisoners several years ago. Eghbal now has kidney problems because of this torture. The prisoners were blindfolded while in captivity, but Eghbal says he remembers certain details about who tortured him.

Eghbal has a left leg that is prosthetic. Vahid tells Eghbal that he immediately identified him because he vividly remembers the unique scraping sound that Eghbal’s prosthetic leg makes when Eghbal walks. Vahid tells the kidnapped man that his nickname for Eghbal is Peg Leg. Vahid is also fairly certain that he recognizes Eghbal’s voice as the voice of the man who tortured Vahid.

Vahid is about to bury his captive alive in a desert, but the man whom Vahid has kidnapped insists that Vahid has kidnapped the wrong person. The kidnapped man says his name is Rashid, not a government agent named Eghbal who tortured Vahid years earlier. The kidnapped man says that he’s only had a prosthetic leg for about a year, and he shows Vahid a fresh scar on his leg as if to prove it. The man also says that he was on his way to a doctor’s appointment, and his doctor can also prove his identity.

Vahid is now thoroughly confused and begins to wonder if he kidnapped the wrong person. Vahid decides to tie up the captive, put him in a wooden box in the back of Vahid’s van, and show him to some other former political prisoners whom he knows were also tortured by Eghbal. The rest of the movie shows what happens during this topsy-turvy kidnapping scheme.

The former political prisoners who get involved in the kidnapping are a motley crew of people who all want revenge on Eghbal. High-strung bride Golrokh (played by Hadis Pakbaten) and her level-headed groom named Ali (played by Majid Panahi) get mixed up in the kidnapping on the eve of their wedding. The couple’s feisty wedding photographer Shiva (played by Mariam Afshari) is wary of Vahid at first but eventually learns to trust him. Shiva’s volatile ex-lover Hamid (played by Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr) is the person in the group who is the most eager to kill the kidnapped man.

Before going to these former political prisoners for help, Vahid asks another former political prisoner named Salar (played by George Hashemzadeh) to seek advice and to see if Salar (who was also tortured by Eghbal) can identify the kidnapped man as Eghbal. Salar is an elderly man who works in a bookstore. Salar cannot be certain that the kidnapped man is Eghbal, but he advises Vahid not to get revenge by killing the kidnapped man.

“This is not like you, Vahid,” Salar tells Vahid. “We are not killers. We are not like them. Even if it is him, let him go. You can’t get away with it.” It’s later revealed that Vahid has another reason to seek revenge against Ehgbal: Vahid’s fiancée committed suicide because of Eghbal’s sadistic actions.

“It Was Just an Accident” is an intense crime story that has touches of very dark comedy. Things go wrong in this kidnapping, and there are situations where the kidnappers come very close to getting caught. The kidnappers also bicker about what to do with the kidnapped man, as time is running out before he might need medical attention.

“It Was Just an Accident” also shows how police corruption and being falsely accused of crimes have become so common in this community, people are almost numb to it. The performances by the cast members are stellar all around, particularly with Mariam Afshari, Elyasmehr, and Mobasseri, since their characters in the movie have the most influence in how the group handles the kidnapping. The movie’s screenplay and direction masterfully weave a tension-filed story of revenge that might or might not be a misguided vendetta.

Iranian filmmaker Panahi is famously a former political prisoner in Iran for two months in 2010, and then from July 2022 to February 2023, after being accused of spreading propaganda against the Iranian government. Panahi was banned from filmmaking in Iran from 2010 to 2023, but he continued to make films in Iran during this time period. He has said in interviews that much of the dialogue in “It Was Just an Accident” was inspired by real conversations with former political prisoners in Iran.

Beneath the madcap screwball comedy aspects of “It Was Just an Accident” is an underlying tone of both rage and resignation about political oppression that seems to have no end in sight. How to resist this political oppression is open to debate, as depicted in how this ragtag group of kidnappers can’t agree on what to do with the person who’s in their captivity. After all the anger and chaos, “It Was Just an Accident” builds up to an impactful finale that shows with quiet intimacy that regardless of what happens in this kidnapping, the unjust imprisonment and torture of others will continue.

Neon will release “It Was Just an Accident” in select U.S. cinemas on October 15, 2025. The movie will be released on digital and VOD on December 16, 2025.

Review: ‘Sentimental Value’ (2025), starring Renate Reinsve, Stellan Skarsgård, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas and Elle Fanning

September 30, 2025

by Carla Hay

Renate Reinsve and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas in “Sentimental Value” (Photo courtesy of Neon)

“It Was Just an Accident”

Directed by Joachim Trier

Norwegian with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in Norway, Sweden, and France, the dramatic film “Sentimental Value” features an all-white cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A famous filmmaker plans to end his long hiatus by writing and directing a biographical movie about his mother, and this film project opens up long-festering wounds between the filmmaker and his two estranged adult daughters.

Culture Audience: “Sentimental Value” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners, filmmaker Joachim Trier, and compelling dramas about how families deal with their family histories.

Stellan Skarsgård and Elle Fanning in “Sentimental Value” (Photo by Kasper Tuxen Anderson/Neon)

“Sentimental Value” is an absorbing character study and impressive cinematic achievement in showing layers of a complicated relationship between a filmmaker and his two estranged adult daughters. The acting performances are top-notch. And the movie will keep viewers invested and curious in how the story is going to end.

Directed by Joachim Trier, “Sentimental Value” was co-written by Trier and Eskil Vogt. The movie had its world premiere at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Grand Prix Award (second place) for movies in the In Competition main slate. “Sentimental Value” has since made the rounds at other film festivals in 2025, including the Toronto International Film Festival and New York Film Festival. “Sentimental Value” is Norway’s entry for Best International Feature Film for the 2026 Academy Awards.

“Sentimental Value” begins with a visual montage showing slices of life in the history of a family with the surname Borg in Oslo, Norway. (The movie was filmed on location in Norway, Sweden, and France.) A voiceover says that when Nora Borg was in the sixth grade, she was asked to write an essay about any object. Nora chose to take the perspective of the family’s two-story house, which has been in the Borg family for several generations.

In her essay, Nora wondered if the house preferred to be full and noisy or empty and quiet. Nora came to the conclusion that the house preferred to be full. Nora’s paternal grandfather noticed that the house also has crack in a wall that is causing the house to slowly sink. It’s at this point you know the house is a symbol for what the Borg family could become.

Nora’s parents—filmmaker Gustave (played by Stellan Skarsgård) and psychiatrist Sissel (played by Ida Marianne Vassbotn Klasson, seen in flashbacks)—got divorced before Nora and her younger sister Agnes were teenagers. This fracture in the Borg family would have long-lasting effects that still haunt the family. Gustave abandoned the family and remained out of the lives of Nora and Agnes for many years.

Nora (played by Renate Reinsve), a never-married bachelorette who is now in her late 30s, grew up to become an actress working in theater and television. Nora gets leading lady roles, but she’s not so famous that she’s a household name. An early scene in the movie shows Nora having a panic attack before she goes on stage to perform in a play, with some comedic things that happen backstage in the frantic efforts to get Nora to perform on stage.

Nora’s younger sister Agnes Borg Pettersen (played by Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas), who’s about two or three years younger than Nora, works as a history researcher. Agnes is married to a nice man named Even (played by Andreas Stoltenberg Granerud), who is a loving and supportive husband and father. Agnes and Even have an adorable and bright son named Erik (played by Øyvind Hesjedal Loven), who’s about 7 to 9 years old during this story, which takes place over the course of about one year.

Not only do Nora and Agnes have different lifestyles, but they also have different personalities. Nora is confrontational, stubborn, and likes being a non-conformist. Agnes is non-confrontational, willing to compromise, and likes having a traditional life. Nora loves being an actress, in contrast to Agnes, who was a child actress and gave it up years ago because she didn’t like acting. Their father Gustav cast Agnes in a particular movie which proved to be Agnes’ last movie and the movie that has been considered Gustav’s greatest achievement. (“Sentimental Value” has more details about this fateful movie.)

It’s eventually revealed that Nora has issues with intimacy and trust that have a lot to do with her childhood. She has a married lover named Jakob (played by Anders Danielsen Lie), who is an actor co-starring with her in the theater production that is shown in the beginning of “Sentimental Value.” In a scene where Nora and Jakob are in bed together after having sex, he comments on how she doesn’t like to cuddle, and she tells him that she’s glad that he’s married so she doesn’t have to commit to him.

Gustav suddenly and unexpectedly comes back in to the lives of Nora and Agnes after the death of Sissel. Gustav shows up unannounced and uninvited at the family house during the wake after Sissel’s funeral. After Gustav and Sissel divorced, he let Sissel have the house, but she never got around to filing the paperwork to get legal ownership of the house.

Nora and Agnes know that Gustav technically still owns the house, and he could very well sell it, because he has no intention of living there again. The sisters are wary of Gustav and why he is really back in their lives. Nora’s resentment of Gustav is angry, while Agnes’ resentment is sad and more willing to possibly forgive.

It turns out that Gustav has a motive for this uneasy reunion: In a private conversation with Nora, Gustav tells her that he’s decided to end his years-long hiatus from filmmaking by writing a movie about his mother. Gustav also plans to direct the movie. He tells Nora that he wants her to have the starring role of his mother. Nora flatly and immediately refuses and reminds him that he’s unreliable because he’s often drunk.

A short while after this rejection, Gustav goes to the Deauville Film Festival in France, where he is being honored with a retrospective tribute. He does a Q&A after the screening of his movie that starred Agnes, where she played a child named Anna who has a heartbreaking separation from someone close to her. Gustav gets an enthusiastic and warm reception from the film festival audience.

In the audience at this screening and Q&A is an American actress named Rachel Kemp (played by Elle Fanning), who is an ardent fan of Gustav. Rachel is very famous but is known for doing lightweight movies. She wants to change the direction of her career by doing more artistic films so she can be taken more seriously as an actress. Rachel is a vibrant free spirit who is a refreshing counterpoint to moody and complex Nora.

During the Deauville Film Festival, Rachel invites Gustav to have dinner with her and some members of her clingy entourage, which includes Rachel’s publicist Nicky (played by Catherine Cohen) and Rachel’s agent or manager Sam (played by Cory Michael Smith), who might or might not be Rachel’s lover. (“Sentimental Value” leaves it open to interpretation.) The dinner party continues on a beach, where Gustav is charmed by Rachel’s constant flattery.

Gustav tells Rachel about his movie in development and says the movie is on hold. Rachel correctly guesses that Gustav needs financing. Because Rachel makes it so obvious that she wants to work with Gustav, and she has the type of star power to attract investors, it isn’t long before Gustav decides to make Rachel the star of the movie. He invites her to Norway to visit the family house, which will be a centerpiece in Gustav’s film.

The rest of “Sentimental Value” shows what happens during the process of getting Gustav’s film made. Family secrets and hard feelings, which have long been buried, come to the surface. And you don’t need to be a therapist to predict how Nora feels about Rachel getting the type of attention that Gustav never showed Nora and Agnes. Rachel is star-struck by Gustav and doesn’t really know the side to him that was a neglectful father.

Gustav’s mother died in a tragic way that he wants recreated in his movie. (The details won’t be mentioned in this review.) This recreation is the cornerstone of some of the most impactful moments in “Sentimental Value.” These moments can be tremendously somber or darkly comedic.

“Sentimental Value” also traces other aspects of the Borg family history. The movies shows glimpses of Gustav as a young adult (some flashback scenes feature Skarsgård with de-aging visual effects) and how he was affected by the death of his older sister Karin Irgens, who was executed for spreading “anti-Nazi propaganda.” Gustav can be a self-absorbed jerk, but the movie shows a lot of underlying emotional pain in his life that has a lot to do with why he is the way that he is.

Because there are so many flashback scenes in “Sentimental Value,” several actors portray the Borg family members at different stages in their lives. Nora as a baby is portrayed by Ibi Trier. Iben Policer Havnevik and Irma Trier portray Nora from about 5 to 8 years old. Olivia Thompson has the role of Nora as a tween. Julie Østhagen portrays Agnes at about 3 or 5 years old. Ida Atlanta Kyllingmark Giertsen depicts Agnes as a tween.

Emmet Øverland Crompton has the role of Gustav as a child. Aasmund Almdahl portrays Gustav as a teenager. Knut Roertveit and Nicholas Bergh depict Gustav as a young adult. Sigrid Lorentzen Abelsnes has the role of Karin as a child. Vilde Søyland depicts Karin as an adult. Eiril Tormodsdatter Solberg portrays Karin’s sister Edith as a child. Mari Strand Ferstad has the role of Edith as an adult.

Although all of the principal cast members give admirable performances in “Sentimental Value,” Skarsgård and Reinsve are the standouts for their realistic and soul-piercing depictions of Gustav and Nora, who are more alike than this father and daughter would care to admit. “Sentimental Value” has poignant observations about how the best and worst of family relationships can be repeated and passed down through generations. The house is like a silent character that has witnessed much of the Borg family’s history and faces an uncertain future.

Reinsve also starred in “The Worst Person in the World,” the Oscar-nominated movie that was directed by Trier and written by Trier and Vogt. (Norwegian actor Lie was also in “The Worst Person in the World,” where his role was much bigger than it is in “Sentimental Value.”) “The Worst Person in the World” (released in Norway in 2021 and in other countries in 2022) was about the personal journey of an indecisive bachelorette who also has a tense relationship with her father, but the movie is less about family and more about choices that the protagonist makes in her love life.

“Sentimental Value” is all about family and is a multifaceted film that invites viewers to wonder if family dysfunction is a curse that can be stopped in this particular family. The cast members bring such depth to their performances, viewers might wonder if “Sentimental Value” is based on a true story. (It’s not. “Sentimental Value” is a fictional story from an original screenplay.) The movie uses “story within a story” techniques that could have been gimmicky but are so creatively filmed, they make “Sentimental Value” a much richer and more meaningful viewer experience that will stay with viewers long after the movie is over.

Neon will release “Sentimental Value” in select U.S. cinemas on November 7, 2025. The movie was released in Norway on September 12, 2025.

Review: ‘Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere,’ starring Jeremy Allen White, Jeremy Strong, Paul Walter Hauser, Stephen Graham, Odessa Young, Gaby Hoffmann and Matthew Pellicano Jr.

September 29, 2025

by Carla Hay

“Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere”

Directed by Scott Cooper

Culture Representation: Taking place from December 1981 to September 1982 (with flashbacks to 1957) in New Jersey, New York, and California, the dramatic film “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere” (based on real events and the non-fiction book “Deliver Me From Nowhere”) features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few African Americans) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: Bruce Springsteen writes and records his deliberately non-commercial 1982 album “Nebraska,” as he struggles with depression and comes to terms with how his father’s alcoholism affected his childhood.

Culture Audience: “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of Springsteen, the movie’s headliners, filmmaker Scott Cooper, and thoughtfully made movies about celebrities and coping with past trauma.

Jeremy Allen White and Jeremy Strong in “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere” (Photo by Macall Polay/20th Century Studios)

This well-acted drama has a riveting portrayal of Bruce Springsteen when he made his 1982 album “Nebraska” while he battled depression and traumatic memories. It’s somber, introspective, and hopeful, but doesn’t look entirely candid about unflattering info. In this memorable movie, which can’t avoid some “hero worship” tendencies, Springsteen is portrayed as a little too “squeaky clean” to be completely believable as someone who was a rock star for several years at this point in his life.

Written and directed by Scott Cooper (who is also one of the producers of the movie), “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere” is adapted from Warren Zanes’ 2023 non-fiction book “Deliver Me From Nowhere: The Making of Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska.” The movie “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere” had its world premiere at the 2025 Telluride Film Festival and its New York premiere at the 2025 New York Film Festival, where the real Springsteen did a short, surprise performance at the premiere event. For the purposes of this review, the real Bruce Springsteen will be referred to by his last name, while the character of Bruce Springsteen in the movie will be referred to by his first name.

“Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere” portrays two versions of Bruce Springsteen: The main version is 32-year-old bachelor Bruce (played by Jeremy Allen White), during the period of December 1981 to September 1982. The other version is 8-year-old Bruce (played by Matthew Pellicano Jr.) in flashback scenes that take place in 1957. Most of the movie takes place in Bruce’s home state of New Jersey, but some scenes take place in New York and California. “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere” was filmed partially at Steiner Studios in New York City.

“Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere” begins with one of these flashback scenes, by showing boyhood Bruce riding his bicycle on a street in his hometown of Freehold, New Jersey. It starts out looking like a carefree scene, but then the truth about Bruce’s childhood is soon revealed: His father was an abusive alcoholic, while his mother was a co-dependent who stayed in the marriage.

Bruce’s mother Adele Springsteen (played by Gaby Hoffmann) drives Bruce to a local bar, where his father Douglas “Doug” Springsteen (played by Stephen Graham) has apparently been for hours. Adele tells Bruce to go inside the bar in a way that indicates this isn’t the first time Bruce is going to do what he’s about to do. Bruce approaches his inebriated father and says, “Daddy, mom says it’s time to come home.” When the family members are at home, Bruce looks frightened and sad while he sits on his bed and hears his parents loudly arguing behind closed doors.

This troubling scene then abruptly cuts to 1981, when a sweat-drenched Bruce is on stage performing his 1975 signature breakthrough song “Born to Run” to a cheering and packed arena audience. It’s the end of his successful tour for his multiplatinum 1980 album “The River” (his fifth studio album), which is best known for the hit single “Hungry Heart.” To the outside world, Bruce has what most rock musicians want: fame, adulation, industry respect, hit albums and lucrative tours.

But on the inside, Bruce is dealing with emotionally crippling memories of his childhood, shown in flashbacks throughout the movie. His unresolved trauma is affecting every aspect of his life, including how he sleeps, what songs he writes, and how he handles personal relationships. For Bruce, his greatest love is music, but even that isn’t enough to soothe the type of emotional pain that he is experiencing.

The movie portrays Bruce as someone who hangs out with the members his E Street Band only when he’s working with them. Therefore, don’t expect the movie to have any insights into the band members’ personalities. The band members are only in the movie to be backup musicians in certain scenes of Bruce performing on stage and working in the recording studio. In addition to being a singer and a guitarist, Bruce is the only songwriter for almost all of the songs that he records. Marc Maron has a small role as music producer Chuck Plotkin.

Bruce is barely shown having conversations with the E Street Band members depicted in the movie: guitarist Steve Van Zandt (played by Johnny Cannizzaro), saxophonist Clarence Clemons (played by Judah L. Sealy), keyboardist Roy Bittan (played by Charlie Savage), drummer Max Weinberg (played by Brian Chase), bass guitarist Garry Tallent (played by Mike Chiavaro), and organist/ accordionist Danny Federici (played by Andrew Fisher). Patti Scialfa, who would become Springsteen’s second wife, joined the E Street Band as a backup vocalist in 1984, and is therefore not depicted in this movie.

The Bruce shown in “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere” is a loner who wants to record demo tracks for the album that would become “Nebraska” in his bedroom, with only one engineer—Mike “Mikey” Batlan (played by Paul Walter Hauser)—in attendance for any technical issues. The character of Mike is in the movie for less than 15 minutes, but he’s shown as the person who introduced Bruce to the portable recording equipment that Bruce uses to record these demos. Bruce has already made up his mind that he wants “Nebraska” to be a no-frills, stripped-down album that doesn’t have songs that sound like pop hits.

When Bruce does venture outside, it’s usually to hang out in a low-key, non-celebrity way at local diners. This is in an era when there are no smartphones, no Internet and no social media to obsessively document what famous people do in their free time. Paparazzi photographers do not hang out where Bruce likes to go. And in case you didn’t know it was 1981, the movie reminds viewers with cued soundtrack songs, such as Foreigner’s “Urgent” and Santana’s “Winning.”

How much of a “regular guy” is Bruce in this movie? Even though he’s been a rock star for at least six years since his “Born to Run” breakthrough, there’s a scene where he’s shown buying a black Chevy 305 at a car lot, and Bruce comments to the car salesman (played by T. Ryder Smith) that this is the first time he’s ever owned a new car. The salesman compliments Bruce by calling him a “handsome-devil rock star” and says, “I know who you are.” Bruce replies, “That makes one of us.”

“Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere” also has some subtle and not-so-subtle indications that at this point in his life, Bruce is famous but he isn’t rich. It’s mentioned that his net profit from “The River” tour was only $20,000. He lives in a modest house in New Jersey. And if it’s taken him this long to buy a new car, then it’s probably because he had to be careful with his money.

Bruce has generated millions of dollars in revenue by 1981, but where did all that money go? It’s indicative of bad contracts that artists often sign when they’re desperate to get a big break. This type of exploitation entails a whole other set of issues that the movie does not address at all, probably because it would interfere with the almost saintly way that Bruce’s manager Jon Landau (played by Jeremy Strong) is depicted in the movie. Artist exploitation is one of several noticeable things that the movie glosses over or ignores when it comes to realities in the music business for an artist like Springsteen.

Bruce can’t stay away from performing for too long when he’s not on tour. He goes back to the Stone Pony nightclub, a venue in Asbury Park, New Jersey, which is famous for being the place that regularly booked Springsteen before he was famous. There are multiple electrifying scenes where Bruce performs at the Stone Pony with a local band called Cats on a Smooth Surface. Real-life musicians portray the unnamed members of Cats on a Smooth Surface, such as Rival Sons lead singer Jay Buchanan, Greta Van Fleet lead guitarist Jake Kiszka, Greta Van Fleet bass guitarist Sam F. Kiszka, drummer Aksel Coe and keyboardist Henry Hey.

In the movie, Bruce is first seen performing at the Stone Pony with Cats on a Smooth Surface when they do a rousing version of Little Richard’s “Lucille.” After this show, a fan named Joey Romano (played by Jeff Adler), who is a former high school classmate of Bruce’s, approaches Bruce to say hello. Joey introduces Bruce to Joey’s younger sister Faye Romano (played by Odessa Young), who is also a fan but trying to play it cool.

Bruce remembers Joey from high school because they were classmates, but he doesn’t remember Faye, because she was a few years behind them in school. Joey is obviously trying to play matchmaker and leaves the conversation so Bruce and Faye can talk alone. Bruce tells Faye that he’s “kind of seeing someone,” but she gives her phone number to Bruce anyway, in case he wants to casually hang out with her. He ends up taking her up on her offer.

Faye is a single mother to a daughter named Haley (played by twins Vienna Barrus and Vivienne Barrus), who’s about 4 or 5 years old. Before Faye and Bruce have their first official date, Faye mentions she has a habit of choosing the wrong men as intimate partners. And when Bruce asks where Haley’s father is, it should come as no surprise that Faye describes him as a deadbeat dad who doesn’t want to be in contact with them. Faye says that she and Haley are better off without Haley’s father.

The romance between Bruce and Faye is sweet, but people with enough life experience already know what is mostly likely to happen to this relationship. The movie all but telegraphs it when Bruce becomes more absorbed with writing and recording the album that would become “Nebraska.” Faye learns the hard way that brilliant and talented artists often put their art above everything else, so it’s difficult for her to deal with feeling that Bruce isn’t paying enough attention to her after they become lovers.

Jon is depicted as Bruce’s loyal protector, who never second-guesses Bruce’s decisions. Jon staunchly defends Bruce when skeptical Columbia Records executives such as Al Teller (played by David Krumholtz) hear the “Nebraska” demos and are frustrated that none of the songs sounds like a hit single. Jon is also adamant when he tells Columbia that Bruce has decided that there will be no singles, no touring and no press for “Nebraska.”

In real life, this would be a major fight behind the scenes for artists to have this type of control, but there’s hardly any debate about it in the movie. Jon just “lays down the law,” and executives at Columbia just agree to it, with almost no pushback. No one even curses in discussions about this radical marketing strategy for an album. They have fairly civil conversations about it.

Get real. This is the music business, where an artist like Springsteen is responsible for making millions of dollars for many people. There’s no way that in real life that Jon Landau, Columbia executives, attorneys, and many other necessary people didn’t get into protracted disputes about Springsteen’s refusal to tour, release singles or do press for the “Nebraska” album. Instead, the movie unrealistically makes it look like Landau was able to easily persuade Columbia to do what Bruce wanted.

Similarly, when it comes to any “sex, drugs and rock and roll” depicted in “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere,” the movie makes Bruce look almost like a choir boy. There’s no mention of Bruce ever indulging in drugs, alcohol, sex with groupies, or even smoking cigarettes. The sex scene that Bruce and Faye have is very tame, with no nudity. His lifestyle in the movie looks too sanitary to be believed. “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere” needed more realistic grit to make it look more honest.

Despite these shortcomings, Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere” has terrific portrayals of Bruce as a creative artist, thanks to White’s committed performance. White does his own singing on the Springsteen songs “Born to Run,” “Nebraska,” “Atlantic City,” “Mansion on a Hill,” “I’m on Fire,” “State Trooper,” “Reason to Believe,” “Highway Patrolman,” “Born in the U.S.A.” and “My Father’s House.” Although he doesn’t physically resemble the real Springsteen, White admirably captures the spirit and swagger of a man trying to hold his life together when he feels like he’s falling apart inside.

Strong’s portrayal of manager Jon is not as a flamboyant, larger-than-life personality who wants to be famous too, which is a stereotype of many real-life managers of music superstars. Instead, Jon comes across as a fan who is happy to carry out Bruce’s wishes. (Landau’s background as a former music journalist is not mentioned in the movie.) Jon, who gives compassionate and helpful advice to Bruce, is not quite a “yes man” enabler who will agree with bad decisions, simply because the movie makes it look like Bruce’s instincts and decisions are always right when it comes to his music and career. It’s just all too good to be entirely true.

The person who gives the best supporting actor performance in the movie is Graham as Bruce’s troubled father Doug, who is (depending on the situation) a bully, a pathetic lost soul and/or someone who tries (but often fails) to be a good father. Doug thinks getting in fist fights is the way to resolve certain problems. When Bruce was a child, Doug put pressure on Bruce to learn how to box when Bruce clearly didn’t want to do it. Bruce’s mother Adele, who is loving and compassionate, stays with Doug during their volatile marriage, but lets it be known to Doug that she will choose to protact Bruce over Doug if necessary.

The movie hints but doesn’t explicitly show that there was domestic violence in the Springsteen household. At the very least, Doug’s alcoholism caused him to be verbally abusive. When Bruce is an adult, Doug’s alcoholism is worse and leads to some harrowing incidents after Adele and Doug moved to California. Graham’s portrayal of Doug shows Doug to be heinous at times and heartbreaking at other times but always realistically human. A big tearjerker moment in the movie is a scene of Doug and adult Bruce backstage after one of Bruce concerts.

Young and Hoffmann do quite well in their roles as Faye and Adele, the two women with the most screen time and most dialogue for women in the movie. However, Adele and Faye mostly exist in the movie to portray “good mothers.” Almost everything they do is in reaction to what the men in their lives are doing. Bruce Springsteen’s real-life sister Pamela is depicted briefly as a child named Virginia Springsteen (played by Arrabella Olivia Clarke), in a scene where Doug takes Bruce and Virginia to play in an open field near a stranger’s mansion. Other than that scene, Pamela or any acknowledgement that Springsteen has a sibling is erased from this story.

Bruce’s songwriting and recording sessions are entertaining and fascinating in the movie but don’t reveal much that would be considered new information to die-hard Springsteen fans. As shown in the movie, some of the songs that he wrote in isolation in Colts Neck, New Jersey (such as “Born in the U.S.A.” and “I’m on Fire”), would end up on his 1984 blockbuster album “Born in the U.S.A.” Bruce and his longtime friend Toby Scott (played by Bartley Booz) take a road trip to California after Bruce decides to move to the Los Angeles area to finish “Nebraska.” But that trip is rushed into the movie, when it could’ve been better used as an opportunity to show Bruce in situations that don’t revolve around him making music. The completion of “Nebraska” is breezed over with a fast-forward that takes place 10 months later.

“Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere” is a glimpse into a short but impactful time in Springsteen’s life. The movie offers some trivia information that many fans might already know, such as Springsteen being influenced by the 1973 movie “Badlands,” by writing a song also titled “Badlands.” “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere” also has a scene where Jon tells Bruce that screenwriter/director Paul Schrader (who’s not seen in the movie) wants Robert De Niro and Bruce to co-star in Schrader’s “Born in the U.S.A.” movie, which later became the 1987 movie “Light of Day,” starring Michael J. Fox in the role that was originally conceived for Springsteen.

As expected, the musical selections in “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere” are satisfying and placed very well in each scene. Aside from being a better-than-average movie about a music legend, “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere” has a lot of merit for giving a responsible depiction of coping with mental health issues. The movie might not tell all about the “man behind the myth,” but it shows enough humanity for people to see some of the real-life struggles behind the sheen of a celebrity image.

20th Century Studios will release “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere” in U.S. cinemas on October 24, 2025. The movie will be released on digital on December 23, 2025. “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere” will be released on 4K Blu-ray on January 20, 2026.