Tag: TIFF

Review: ’40 Acres,’ starring Danielle Deadwyler, Kataem O’Connor, Michael Greyeyes, Leenah Robinson and Milcania Diaz-Rojas

July 1, 2025

by Carla Hay

Danielle Deadwyler, Michael Greyeyes, Kataem O’Connor, Haile Amare and Jaeda LeBlanc in “40 Acres” (Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures)

“40 Acres”

Directed by R.T. Thorne

Culture Representation: Taking place in Canada, the dramatic film “40 Acres” features a racially diverse cast of characters (black, white, Latin and Native American) who are survivors of an apocalypse.

Culture Clash: In a famine -plagued world where some humans are cannibals, a former military soldier orders her family not to trust any strangers, but her son defies those orders when he secretly helps a woman who hides in the family’s barn.

Culture Audience: “40 Acres” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of well-acted movies about how people live with a “survival of the fittest” mentality in an apocalyptic world.

Kataem O’Connor and Milcania Diaz-Rojas in “40 Acres” (Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures)

The apocalyptic drama “40 Acres” does not have as much thrilling action as some viewers might expect. Instead, the movie impressively shows how isolationism affects a farm-dwelling family and how mistrust can be either a shield or psychological poison. There are some horror elements in “40 Acres” but it’s not completely a horror movie.

Written and directed by R.T. Thorne, “40 Acres” is Thorne’s feature-film directorial debut. “40 Acres” had its world premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. The movie takes place in an unnamed area of Canada and was filmed in the Canadian province of Ontario.

At the beginning of “40 Acres,” it’s explained that a pandemic that began 15 years ago has lead to widespread famine. Food has become more valuable than ever before. That’s why the members of the Freeman family, who are at the center of the story, know that they are always at risk because they live on a fertile farm and are not starving for foor. Making matters worse in this apocalypse, some people have become cannibals, who are called “flesh eaters” in the movie.

These are the members of this tight-knit farm clan:

  • Hailey Freeman (played by Danielle Deadwyler) is a former military soldier who is the family’s leader who expects everyone on the family to be ready and able to use the arsenal of weapons (including several guns) that they have on the farm. She treats the family like a military unit and orders them not to trust strangers. If any trespassers on their property, Hailey’s attitude is like to the be “Shoot first. Ask question later.”
  • Emmanuel, nicknamed Manny (played by Kataem O’Connor), is Hailey’s eldest child. Manny is in his early-to-mid-20s and is starting to question Hailey’s strict ways. Naturally, this leads to Manny and Hailey clashing over various issues.
  • Danis (played by Jaeda LeBlanc) is Hailey’s middle child. Danis is in her mid-teens is occasionally torn between following Hailey’s orders and being more of a free-thinking individual like her older brother Manny. Danis and Manny have the same biological father, who is deceased and not seen in the movie.
  • Cookie (played by Haile Amare) is Hailey’s youngest child. Cookie is about 10 years and is very obedient. She is curious about life outside the farm, but Cookie knows that she’s too young to do anything that could put her family’s safety at risk.
  • Galen (played by Michael Greyeyes) is Hailey’s romantic partner and the biological father of Cookie. If Hailey is he general of the family, Galen is Hailey’s loyal lieutenant general. Galen is more laid-back than Hailey, but he will not hesitate to scold any of the children if they get out of line.
  • Raine (played by Leenah Robinson), who is in her late teens, is Galen’s biological daughter from a previous relationship. Raine’s biological mother is deceased. As the second-oldest child in this blended family, Raine is eager to be given the same responsibilities that Manny has, but Hailey thinks Raine will be suitable only after Raine learns how to “follow directions.”

Flashbacks reveal that the tension between Hailey and Manny go back long before the apocalypse. For a period of time, up until Manny was about 6 or 7 years old (played by Jacob Gabriel), Manny was raised by Hailey’s father Felix Freeman (played by Tyrone Benskin), because Hailey was too busy with her military career. One of the flashbacks shows Hailey going to see Manny at Felix’s house, and Manny has to be told who Hailey is because he doesn’t know her.

Early on in the movie, the family members fend of an attack from flesh eaters, who invade the property and are killed off in a corn field by the family using sniper tactics. Hailey communicates by CB radio with a woman named Augusta Taylor (played by Elizabeth Saunders), who is a friend from Hailey’s past. August warns Hailey that roaming flesh eaters have been on the attack and are getting closer to where Hailey and her family live.

Later in the movie, Manny finds a stranger hiding in the family barn. Her name is Dawn (played by Milcania Diaz-Rojas), and she says she is looking for the Freeman family and that she means no harm. Manny doesn’t tell her right away that he’s in the Freeman family, but he doesn’t treat like an enemy either. Manny and Dawn seem to be immediately attracted to each other, which is why Manny does what he’s under orders not to do: He trusts this stranger and decides to keep her hidden in the barn. The movie shows what happens after Manny makes this decision.

Meanwhile, the family is on edge because of the flesh eaters who could show up at any moment. Dialogue in the movie reveals that many of the flesh eaters are white supremacists who specifically target people who aren’t white to be the cannibals’ murder victims. This racial tension (all of the people in the Freeman family are people of color) is an emotionally charged but not overstated aspect of the story, which presents this tension as getting worse because of the famine.

In a director’s statement, Thorne said: “The film’s title, ’40 Acres,’ refers to the historic promise of land ownership made by Union General William Tecumseh Sherman on January 16, 1865, to formerly enslaved Black farmers. The promise, backed by the Federal government, was to grant 40 acres of farmland and a mule to freed enslaved people of African descent. However, this promise was tragically reversed during the Reconstruction era, denying the Black community once again. Hailey Freeman and her family are the last descendants of generational African American farmers who settled in Canada after the Civil War. In a world that has imploded, the land they live on represents their legacy, freedom, and heritage.”

Some suspension of disbelief is required in “40 Acres” because it’s hard to believe that the Freeman’s plentiful farm hasn’t been discovered and raided already. Although the movie has no signs of modern communication, such as the Internet or phone service, word of mouth would travel fast about the type of farm where the Freeman family lives. The farm is isolated but it’s still fairly accessible because it has no protective walls or borders.

“40 Acres” sometimes has slow pacing, which is offset by bursts of action scenes involving battles. And although Deadwyler capably handles the role of Hailey, at times scowling and uptight Hailey becomes a little to one-note. O’Connor, as Emmanuel/Manny has the most complex role in the movie, because he’s torn between his family’s custom of trusting no o one outside of the family and a new lifestyle that he wants to try: trusting strangers on a case-by-case, individual basis.

Although the a few of the scenarios in “40 Acres” are a tad unrealistic, the performances from the principal cast members are believable. The movie offers plenty of food for thought about the pros and cons of isolationism in apocalyptic circumstances. Many of the themes in “40 Acres” also apply to the real world and invite viewers to ponder if extreme separatism does more harm than good.

Magnolia Pictures will release “40 Acres” in U.S. cinemas on July 2, 2025. A sneak preview of the movie was shown in U.S. cinemas on June 16 and June 19, 2025.

Review: ‘The Life of Chuck,’ starring Tom Hiddleston, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Karen Gillan and Jacob Tremblay

June 3, 2025

by Carla Hay

Annalise Basso and Tom Hiddleston in “The Life of Chuck” (Photo courtesy of Neon)

“The Life of Chuck”

Directed by Mike Flanagan

Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed city in the United States, the dramatic film “The Life of Chuck” (based on the 2020 short story of the same name) features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few African Americans and Latin people) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: The life of accountant Charles “Chuck” Krantz is shown in various stages, before and during an apocalypse.

Culture Audience: “The Life of Chuck” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and are interested in unusual dramas about living life to the fullest.

Mia Sara, Mark Hamill and Cody Flanagan in “The Life of Chuck” (Photo courtesy of Neon)

“The Life of Chuck” is a unique, philosophical drama that shows gloom, doom, hope, and love via a biography of main character Charles “Chuck” Krantz. Tom Hiddleston is not in most of the movie. Benjamin Pajak gives a breakout performance. Hiddleston and Pajak portray the character of Chuck at different stages of Chuck’s life. The scenes of Chuck’s childhood have the most impact in the film.

Written and directed by Mike Flanagan, “The Life of Chuck” is based on a short story of the same name that was in Stephen King’s 2020 short story collection “If It Bleeds.” Even though horror master King authored the source material, “The Life of Chuck” is not a horror story, although there are scenes in the movie about an apocalypse and some supernatural elements. “The Life of Chuck” had its world premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival, where it won the People’s Choice Award, the festival’s top prize.

“The Life of Chuck” (which takes place in an unnamed U.S. city) is told in three acts, in reverse chronological order. Act Three, titled “Thanks Chuck,” shows what happens during an apocalypse and how the survivors keep seeing the signs, billboards and other things about Chuck. Act Two, titled “Buskers Forever,” is a glimpse into a day in the life of Chuck when he was 39 years old. Act Three, titled “I Contain Multitudes,” chronicles certain parts of Chuck’s childhood, from the ages of 7 to 17 years old.

Hiddleston portrays Chuck at 39 years old. Cody Flanagan has the role of Chuck at 7 years old. Pajak depicts Chuck from the ages of 10 to 12. Jacob Tremblay has the role of Chuck at age 17. All of them are convincing in portraying the evolution of Chuck. However, Pajak’s performance, as well as the movie’s “I Contain Multitudes” section, tie everything together will resonate the most with viewers. Nick Offerman is the voice of the movie’s unseen narrator.

The apocalyptic scenes are actually the most boring and most confusing of the movie. It’s shown in news reports that over a period of a little more than a year, Earth has experienced an environmental apocalypse that has killed millions of people. Many of these deaths are suicides. Some populated parts of the world have become giant sinkholes or has land that has sunk into oceans. Mass communication services, starting with the Internet, gradually stop working.

An English literature teacher named Marty Anderson (played by Chiwetel Ejiofor), who works at a middle school, still wants to live his life as normally as he can, until he faces the reality that things will never be “normal” again for him and many other people. Marty tries to reconnect with his ex-wife Felicia Gordon (played by Karen Gillan), who works as a nurse in an emergency hospital room. Felicia sees firsthand several of the depressing deaths that have become common during this apocalypse.

Marty has brief conversations with various characters who have cameos in the movie. These characters who appear briefly in the story to talk with Marty include Gus (played by Matthew Lillard), a neighbor who works in utilities maintenance; Sam Yarborough (played by Carl Lumbly), a stranger whom Marty meets on a street; Josh (played by David Dastmalchian), a forlorn parent of one of Marty’s students; and Iris (played by Violet McGraw), a roller-skating adolescent who lives near Felicia.

Throughout this apocalypse, people see signs, billboards, video displays and even a message written in the sky that say “Charles Krantz. 39 Great Years, Thanks, Chuck!” A photo of Chuck is also part of these displays. No one seems to know who Chuck is. But there’s a clue about what’s going on when Marty and Felicia talk about what it would look like if the history of Earth had been condensed into one calendar year.

As an adult, Chuck meets a heartbroken young woman named Janice Halliday (played by Annalise Basso), who was recently dumped by an ex-boyfriend. Chuck and Janice share a memorable spontaneous dance on the street, as a drummer busker named Taylor Franck (played by the Pocket Queen, also known as Taylor Gordon) provides the music. The interaction between Chuck, Janice, and Taylor is a chance encounter between three strangers who find a brief respite to their personal troubles.

The childhood years of Chuck show his life after he became an orphan when he was about 7 years old. His parents and unborn baby sister were killed in a car accident. Chuck then went to live his grandfather Albie Krantz (played by Mark Hamill) and Sarah Krantz (played by Mia Sara), who are the parents of Chuck’s deceased father. Albie (who is an accountant) and Sarah (who inspires Chuck’s interest in dancing) are loving and supportive of each other and of Chuck.

Albie has one major strict rule for Chuck: The cupola room in their Victorian-style house is off-limits and cannot be opened. The room is padlocked from the outside. Albie has the key, but he won’t tell Chuck why Chuck is forbidden to go in the cupola room or even open the door. Meanwhile, lonely Chuck finds artistic passion and acceptance in an after-school dance class, where he impresses the dance teacher Miss Rohrbacher (played by Samantha Sloyan) and a fellow student named Cat McCoy (played by Trinity Jo-Li Bliss), who’s considered the best dancer in the class.

“The Life of Chuck” has many moments of mystery that will intrigue or frustrate viewers. There are huge parts of Chuck’s life that aren’t seen or explained. For example, his wife Virginia “Ginny” Krantz (played by Q’orianka Kilcher) and Brian Krantz (played by Antonio Raul Corbo) briefly appear in the movie, with only minimal hints of what Chuck was like as a husband and father. Some of “The Life of Chuck” tends to wander with subplots that don’t really lead anywhere. Other scenes in the movie are absolutely riveting and are the heart and soul of “The Life of Chuck.” Although part of the movie is about a deadly apocalypse, the ultimate message of the film is life-affirming and hopeful about humanity.

Neon will release “The Life of Chuck” in select U.S. cinemas on June 6, 2025, with an expansion to more U.S. cinemas on June 13, 2025. A sneak preview of the movie was shown in U.S. cinemas on June 2, 2025.

Review: ‘Jane Austen Wrecked My Life,’ starring Camille Rutherford, Pablo Pauly, Charlie Anson, Annabelle Lengronne, Liz Crowther, Alan Fairbairn and Lola Peploe

May 26, 2025

by Carla Hay

Charlie Anson and Camille Rutherford in “Jane Austen Wrecked My Life” (Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics)

“Jane Austen Wrecked My Life”

Directed by Laura Piani

French with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in Paris and in England, the comedy film “Jane Austen Wrecked My Life” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few black people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: French introvert Agathe Robinson, a bookstore employee who is a big fan of author Jane Austen, gets unexpectedly accepted into a prestigious writers’ retreat in England, where she struggles with self-doubt and her feelings for her male best friend in Paris and the English literature professor whose parents founded the retreat.

Culture Audience: “Jane Austen Wrecked My Life” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in European romantic movies that are made in the spirit of Jane Austen novels.

Pablo Pauly and Camille Rutherford in “Jane Austen Wrecked My Life” (Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics)

When a romance-themed movie has the name Jane Austen in the title, you can probably predict how the movie is going to end. “Jane Austen Wrecked My Life” is very shallow in some areas, but Camille Rutherford’s magnetic performance carries this uneven comedy. The supporting actors also give entertaining performances, but your interest in watching the entire movie will come largely from whether or not you care about what happens to the protagonist portrayed by Rutherford.

Written and directed by Laura Piani, “Jane Austen Wrecked My Life” is her feature-film directorial debut. The movie had its world premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. “Jane Austen Wrecked My Life” was filmed in France and has a very European sensibility when it comes to comedy. The pace is slower than a typical American romantic comedy. And the emphasis is on comedy found in situations rather than filling the movie with jokes and hilarious people.

“Jane Austen Wrecked My Life” begins by showing protagonist Agathe Robinson (played by Rutherford) at one of the few places where she feels at home and at ease: a Shakespeare & Company bookstore where she works in Paris. Agathe, who is in her mid-to-late-20s, is a sales clerk who has a passion for the work of 1800s British novelist Jane Austen (“Sense and Sensibility” is Agathe’s favorite Austen book) and generally has a preference for romance novels.

As shown in the movie’s opening scene, when Agathe is alone in the bookstore (such as when the store is closed to customers), she feels like a lighthearted kid in a playground. There’s a mirror in the store that has become a message board where customers have placed hand-written Post-It notes to strangers they’ve seen in the store and want to meet in person but were too shy to approach in the store. Agathe likes to read these notes, which remind her that she’s not the only lonely heart looking for love.

In her personal life, Agathe is a bachelorette who has self-esteem issues. She’s an introvert who has become pessimistic about finding true love. She dislikes the modern dating scene and would rather have a traditional courtship instead of a bunch of casual boyfriends. Agathe, who likes to travel by bicycle, wonders to herself if she was born in the wrong century.

Would she have been happier in Jane Austen’s era, when gender roles for dating and marriage were more defined but also much stricter? It’s later revealed that Agathe has been celibate for the past two years, but she doesn’t consider herself to be an uptight prude. She considers herself to be very selective.

Agathe is an aspiring writer who has yet to finish her first novel. She’s insecure about her skills as a writer. In a creative writing class that Agathe takes in her spare time, the teacher gives her criticism for writing generic short stories. This criticism affects Agathe and makes her doubt if she’s got the talent to be a professional writer.

Agathe lives a quiet and simple life in an apartment with her older sister Mona (played by Alice Butaud), who is a single mother to a 6-year-old boy named Tom (played by Roman Angel), who is adorable and friendly. Tom has noticed that Agathe hasn’t been dating anyone because he says remarks early one morning that there’s a man in Mona’s bed, but Agathe hasn’t had a man in her bed in a long time. Mona’s attitude toward dating is the opposite of Agathe’s, but the two sisters respect each other’s choices and don’t meddle or lecture each other about their love lives.

An early scene in the movie shows that Mona is somewhat dismissive of a man named Gabriel (played by Pierre-François Garel), who’s spent the night with Mona and who’s awkwardly hanging around the next morning to have breakfast with the family. Mona doesn’t care to remember Gabriel’s name and keeps calling him Raphaël, even after he politely corrects her. Mona treats Gabriel as a one-night stand she doesn’t want to see anymore, but Gabriel can’t take the hint and acts like he hopes that he and Mona will continue to see each other. Gabriel is never seen again in the movie.

Mona’s best friend (and apparently, her only friend) is Félix (played by Pablo Pauly), who is a sales clerk that the same Shakespeare & Co. bookstore where Agathe works. Félix is a carefree bachelor who openly dates many women and tells his lovers that he doesn’t want a commitment with any of them. He’s not particularly good-looking, but he has a confident and flirtatious way about him that some women find attractive. Félix is a heartbreaker, but he’s not intentionally cruel about it.

Félix flirts with Agathe too, but she refuses to let their relationship be anything other than a close platonic friendship. Agathe has let it be known to Félix that she doesn’t want to be one of his many sexual conquests. He accepts this decision, but he still flirts with her in the hope that Agathe might change her mind.

Félix thinks Agathe is a more talented writer than Agathe thinks she is. He secretly submitted her work to a prestigious writers’ retreat called the Jane Austen Residency, which selects less than five writers and meets for two weeks at a mansion in England. It’s an all-expenses-paid-trip for those chosen for this retreat. Agathe gets accepted into the retreat but is appalled and frightened when Félix tells her the news because Agathe doesn’t think she’s good enough to be at this residency.

With just a few days left to go before the retreat begins, Agathe is still having doubts about whether or not to go and is stressed-out about her decision. While having a late-night snack of pasta, Agathe gets a mild scolding from Mona, who tells Agathe not to pass up this opportunity to go to this retreat.

“You’ve put your life on hold since the accident,” Mona tells Agathe. It’s later revealed that a great deal of Agathe’s insecurities and anxieties are from her grief over a car accident that killed their parents about seven years ago. Agatha’s father had a stroke while he was driving the car. Agathe and her mother were in the car, but only Agathe survived because Agathe was in the back seat.

Of course, Agathe decides to go to the retreat. Félix happily sends her off and gives her a romantic kiss before she leaves for the train station. Agathe surprises herself by immediately kissing him in the same way. She starts to wonder if maybe they maybe she could have a “friends with benefits” situation with Félix and if it could lead to true love.

When Agathe arrives in England, some of the romantic comedy clichés behind. She meets her driver—a serious-looking man about 10 years older than Agathe—named Oliver (played by Charlie Anson) and tells him that she gets panic attacks when she’s in cars, but she can handle getting in his car if that’s her only choice. And then, she vomits on Oliver’s shoes.

The car ride to the mansion is fraught with tension. Agathe is impressed when she finds out that Oliver is the son of the retreat’s founders—and he’s the great-great-great-great nephew of Jane Austen. But her admiration turns to dismay when Oliver says he’s not a fan of Jane Austen. Agathe defends Jane Austen by saying how pioneering Austen was for writing female characters as more realistically complex, in an era when most novels about women were written by men portraying women as either saintly or devilish.

Things go from bad to worse when the car breaks down on a deserted road and Oliver doesn’t know how to fix the car. Oliver tells Agathe that he’s only the driver for the retreat because his father lost his driver’s license. As Oliver tries to figure out how to fix the car, Agathe calls Mona on her cell phone and tells Mona in French that she’s stuck in a broken-down car with a rude and arrogant guy who hates Jane Austen. And faster than you can say “Mr. Darcy from ‘Pride and Prejudice’,” Oliver tells Agathe that he can speak and understand French because he had a five-year live-in relationship with a French woman.

During the course of the story, Oliver and Agathe open up to each ther about their lives. He was a literature professor whose French ex-girlfriend was a co-worker who broke his heart because she cheated on him with several people in their literature department. Oliver has been suspended from his professor job because he trashed the faculty break room in anger.

Oliver’s parents—Todd (played by Alan Fairbairn) and Beth (played by Liz Crowther)—are warm and welcoming to their guests. But it soon becomes apparent why Todd lost his driver’s license: He has early on-set dementia that seems to be getting worse. Agathe gets emotional about Todd because she tells him that he reminds her of her father.

Félix has made plans to visit Agathe at the retreat. Agathe and Oliver have a growing attraction to each other, but Agathe doubts she could have a future with Oliver because she has no intention of moving from France to England. Even with this “love triangle” storyline, you know where this story is going to go and which “suitor” is going to win Agathe’s heart.

Along the way, “Jane Austen Wrecked My Life” has some slapstick comedy that is mildly amusing and a little corny. There are two separate scenes where Agathe encounters two llamas outdoors and gets spit in the face by one of the llamas.

On her first day at the mansion, Agathe settles into her room and gets ready to take a bath or shower. She walks fully naked into a room next door to her bedroom that she assumes is her bathroom. But surprise! The room is actually Oliver’s bedroom and he’s right there to see her walk in naked. An embarrassed Agathe screams and tells a smirking Oliver to keep that side of his door locked.

“Jane Austen Wrecked My Life” comes up very short in developing the other characters who are writers at the retreat: Olympia (played by Lola Peploe), Chéryl (played by Annabelle Lengronne) and Sybil (played by Rodrigue Pouvin) have very little revealed about them in the movie. It could be the way of the movie showing that introverted Agathe has a hard time making friends, but that’s not an excuse to prevent these supporting characters from having fully developed personalities.

Olympia is the only one of these three other writers whose personality stands out. She is bossy, pretentious and argumentative. During a group gathering, Olympia berates Agathe by saying that authors’ work must always have a political purpose. Agathe disagrees. Later, Olympia reveals her own persona heartbreak that is supposed to make Olympia more sympathetic.

The only thing that viewers find out about Chéryl is she likes to read people’s fortunes by using cards. As for Sybil, he’s barely in the movie and has a blank personality. (Documentary fans should look for a cameo from documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman, who appears near the end of the movie as a poet giving a reading of his work.)

Even with the movie’s flaws, Rutherford gives Agathe a relatable humanity that makes this protagonist seem the most realistic character in the film, even if some of the situations around her are sometimes contrived. Agathe is mopey but also cautiously optimistic about finding a soul mate. She’s confident about what she’s most passionate but hesitant about how she goes after things that seem to come easier to other people.

Pauly and Anson do the best with what they’ve been given in the somewhat limited roles of Agathe’s potential love interests Félix and Oliver. “Jane Austen Wrecked My Life” strives for romantic wish fulfillment but a lot of the story is about Agathe’s journey to self-confidence, regardless if she ends up with Félix, Oliver or neither. In that regard, “Jane Austen Wrecked My Life” is a worthy but not spectacular tribute to the classic Austen heroine, who moves forward in life, even at the risk of painful and embarrassing experiences.

Sony Pictures Classics released “Jane Austen Wrecked My Life” in select U.S. cinemas on May 23, 2025. The movie was released in France on January 22, 2025.

Review: ‘Friendship’ (2025), starring Tim Robinson, Kate Mara, Jack Dylan Grazer and Paul Rudd

May 9, 2025

by Carla Hay

Tim Robinson and Paul Rudd in “Friendship” (Photo courtesy of A24)

“Friendship” (2025)

Directed by Andrew DeYoung

Culture Representation: Taking place in the fictional U.S. city of Clovis, the comedy/drama film “Friendship” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few African Americans) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A married marketing executive becomes fixated on having a close friendship with his married weatherman neighbor, resulting in discomfort and some things that spiral out of control. 

Culture Audience: “Friendship” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and dark comedies about obsessive people.

Kate Mara and Jack Dylan Grazer in “Friendship” (Photo courtesy of A24)

“Friendship” is intentionally dark “cringe comedy” that won’t appeal to everyone. This memorable story (about a man who becomes obsessed with having a close friendship with his neighbor) blurs lines between what is socially awkward and mentally ill. It’s a compelling satire, but at times it comes dangerously close to being a cruel mockery of people with mental health struggles.

Written and directed by Andrew DeYoung, “Friendship” is his feature-film directorial debut, after directing several TV episodes (for shows such as “PEN15” and “Shrill”) and short films. “Friendship” had its world premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival and its U.S. premiere at the 2025 SXSW Film & TV Festival. This is a movie that can be described as “an acquired taste.” You’ll know within the first 15 minutes if it’s going to be interesting enough for you to keep watching.

“Friendship” begins by showing a support group for cancer survivors and their loved ones. In the meeting are spouses Craig Waterman (played by Tim Robinson) and Tami Waterman (played by Kate Mara), who have very different personalities. Tami is calm and laid-back. Craig is fidgety and high-strung. Tami mentions that she’s been cancer-free for 12 months. (It’s never revealed in the movie what type of cancer she had.)

Tami also gets candid and says that because of the toll that the cancer recovery has taken on her, she wonders if she’ll ever have an orgasm again. Crag pipes in and says that he’s pretty sure that he’ll have an orgasm. It sets the tone of what’s to come as the movie shows how rude, narcissistic and lacking in self-awareness that Craig can be. He doesn’t see himself that way. He sees himself as a good guy who is misunderstood.

Craig (who is a marketing executive at a company called Universal Digital Innovation) and Tami (who has her own home-based florist business) live in a middle-class house in the fictional U.S. city of Clovis. (The state were Clovis is located is never mentioned in the movie, but Clovis is in a state that has snow during the winter. “Friendship” was actually filmed in Yonkers, New York.) Near the beginning of the movie, it’s revealed that Craig and Tami’s house is for sale because Tami wants a bigger house for her floral business.

Tami and Craig have a teenage son named Steven (played by Jack Dylan Grazer), who has his 17th birthday about halfway through the movie. Steven and Tami are very close, but Steven has a very distant and tension-filled relationship with Craig. It goes beyond teenage rebellion against a parent. Craig is just downright embarrassing to be around because of his very strange and off-putting way of interacting with people. Craig acts like a man-child, with an emotionally immature outlook on life.

One day, a package is mistakenly delivered to the Waterman household. The package is meant for Austin Carmichael (played by Paul Rudd), who leaves near the Watermans on the same street. Craig brings the package over to Austin’s house and is greeted in a friendly manner by Austin, who thanks Craig for giving him the package. Austin, who is a meteorologist for a local TV station, lives with his wife Bianca (played by Meredith Garretson), who is barely in the movie. Austin and Bianca have no children.

At first, Craig doesn’t think too much about this interaction with Austin. Shortly after Craig and Austin have met, Tami says she’s going out to have drinks that evening with an ex-boyfriend named Devon, who is never seen in the movie. Tami tells Craig that Austin invited Craig over to Austin’s house as a thank you for Craig making sure that Austin received the package. Craig whines that instead of going to Austin’s place, he’d rather go see the latest Marvel movie playing in a theater. Craig asks Steven if he wants to go see the movie with him, but Steven isn’t interested.

Craig reluctantly goes over to Austin’s house to hang out for a while. This experience will change both of their lives—and not necessarily in a good way. But during this first time they hang out together, things go fairly well. Austin shows Craig an unusual stone that Austin says was used as a carving tool used by humans in the prehistoric era. Craig warms up to Austin because he can see that Austin has eccentric tendencies, just like Craig.

Austin confides in Craig that he feels underappreciated at work. Austin works the night/evening shift, but what he really wants is to get the more prestigious morning shift so that he doesn’t have work at night. Craig also relates to Austin in this way because Craig also feels disrespected at his job. Craig is treated like a weirdo by his co-workers, who exclude him from a lot of their clique activities outside of the office.

On the night that Austin and Craig first hang out with each other, Austin convinces Craig to go on a spontaneous “adventure” with Austin. They go to a fenced-in area that has a “Restricted Access” sign and sneak through the fence. At first, Craig is very nervous, but he lets Austin lead the way. Austin shows Craig that this fenced-in area has a discontinued underground aquaduct tunnel that leads to Clovis’ city hall. Austin has been secretly using this tunnel, just for fun.

Craig feels flattered that Austin has been sharing secrets with him. And he starts to feel like Austin is now his best friend. Austin can see that Craig is emotionally needy and maybe a little off-balance mentally. But Austin likes feeling that someone is looking up to him in admiration, so he is manipulates Craig a little bit.

It doesn’t help that Austin does some unusual things that give the impression that he’s offbeat like Craig. A major example is when Austin calls Craig at work while Craig is in the middle of an important meeting. Austin doesn’t care and tells Craig to meet him in a wooded area right away.

When Craig meets Austin in the woods, he finds out that Austin just wants to show him where non-poisonous, non-psychedelic mushrooms are in the woods. Craig and Austin then pick several mushrooms, some of which Craig takes home and fries for a meal. This mushroom-picking excursion in the woods is the beginning of Craig’s obsession with Austin.

Several times in the movie, Craig has vivid fantasies. For example, Austin moonlights as the lead singer/guitarist of a punk rock band called Mayor Nichols Sucks. Austin invites Craig and Tami to watch the band play at a local bar. While the band is playing on stage, Craig has a fantasy that he’s the drummer in the band. A few days later, Craig shows up at Austin’s front door with a full drum kit and says, “Let’s jam.” (Austin’s reaction is exactly what you would expect it to be.)

Craig’s bizarre outbursts and antics won’t be described in full detail here. But it’s enough to say that Austin begins to distance himself from Craig after a social gathering that turns into a very uncomfortable disaster. Austin also gets the job promotion that he wants, which also affects his attitude toward Craig, as Austin becomes more image-conscious about things that will affect his career.

There are many scenes in “Friendship” where the story starts to wander and doesn’t really go anywhere. Certain scenes look like mini-comedy sketches that aren’t essential to the plot but are just more examples of how awkward and strange Craig can be. For example, there are multiple scenes of Craig trying to befriend an 18-year-old sales clerk named Tony (played by Billy Bryk) at an electronics store, but if these scenes weren’t in the movie, it would make no difference to the plot.

The movie also seems to have things to say about how Austin and Craig, in their own ways, have disdain for bureaucratic authority, but “Friendship” doesn’t go beyond surface level with these ideas. For example, Austin despises Clovis’ mayor Seth Nichols (played by Alex Webb) so much, the name of Austin’s band is Mayor Nichols Sucks, but there are no real details about why Austin has this hatred for Mayor Nichols. Meanwhile, Craig’s department gets hired to do the marketing for the mayor’s re-election campaign, which leads to yet another meltdown from Craig.

The movie under-develops the situation of Craig and Tami selling their house. The house sale is briefly talked about in a few scenes in the beginning of the movie and is then never mentioned again. A real-estate agent and potential buyers are seen quickly leaving the house in one scene, but the movie could’ve had more comedic situations for the house sale. It’s a missed opportunity to show how Craig’s obsession with Austin would be affected if Craig knew he had a limited period of time before he had to move away from the same street where Austin lives. You never get the sense of who in Craig and Tami’s marriage is really dealing with decisions about selling the house.

“Friendship” has cast members who are very talented in comedy, so their performances are what keeps this movie afloat. Robinson and Rudd play their roles well, even when their characters occasionally veer into caricatures. The tag line for the movie is “Men Shouldn’t Have Friends.” Although “Friendship” seems to be a message about masculinity in friendships, to say that this movie is about mostly masculinity would be missing the bigger picture. “Friendship” is much more about mental health than masculinity.

The movie depicts uncomfortable situations where people are faced with dilemmas about how to deal with Craig—someone who is clearly becoming mentally unhinged. Are there some laugh-out-loud moments in “Friendship”? Yes—mostly having to do with harmless slapstick comedy. But there are also plenty of moments that aren’t as funny as intended. The movie has a tone of laughing at Craig during his mental unraveling. He obviously needs therapy or some type of counseling, but no one steps in to help.

“Friendship” is a fictional comedy/drama and not a public-service announcement. However, by making Craig the “buffoon villain” of the story, the movie tends to perpetuate the worst stereotypes that cause mentally ill people to be hated. If the movie succeeds in one area of how it depicts mental illness, it’s to point out the sad reality that when people who are close to a mentally ill person do nothing to help, then they are part of the problem too.

A24 released “Friendship” in select U.S. cinemas on May 9, 2025, with an expansion to more U.S. cinemas on May 23, 2025.

Review: ‘The Luckiest Man in America,’ starring Paul Walter Hauser, Walton Goggins, Shamier Anderson, Brian Geraghty, Patti Harrison, David Strathairn, Johnny Knoxville and Maisie Williams

May 8, 2025

by Carla Hay

Brian Geraghty, Paul Walter Hauser and Patti Harrison in “The Luckiest Man in America” (Photo courtesy of IFC Films)

“The Luckiest Man in America”

Directed by Samir Oliveros

Culture Representation: Taking place in Los Angeles, in 1984, the dramatic film “The Luckiest Man in America” (based on true events) features a predominantly white group of people (with a few African Americans) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A man has a record-breaking winning streak on the game show “Press Your Luck,” and the show’s employees frantically try to find out behind the scenes if he is cheating. 

Culture Audience: “The Luckiest Man in America” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and movies about TV scandals or con artists.

Walton Goggins in “The Luckiest Man in America” (Photo courtesy of IFC Films)

“The Luckiest Man in America” is a well-acted character study that’s fascinating but incomplete. This drama omits many interesting details of the real-life story of Michael Larson, who won a record-breaking 1984 jackpot on the game show “Press Your Luck.” Larson’s long history as a con artist before and after this jackpot is hinted at but never fully explored in this mixed bag of a movie, which has an underwhelming ending.

Directed by Samir Oliveros, “The Luckiest Man in America” was co-written by Oliveros and Briggs. The movie had its world premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. In May 1984, Larson (who died in 1999, at the age of 49) won $110,237 on “Press Your Luck.” At the time, it was the largest jackpot in U.S. game show history. For the purposes of this review, the real Larson will be referred to by his last name, while the characters in the movie are referred to by their first names.

“Press Your Luck” (created by Bill Carruthers and Jan McCormack) originally aired on CBS from 1983 to 1986. “Press Your Luck” was revived in 2019 on ABC. In each “Press Your Lock” game episode, three contestants answer trivia questions. The contestant who is the first to anwer a trivia question correctly earns a “spin” on a crossword puzzle-styled game board displayed on a large video screen. In each square shown on the board is either a prize (usually cash) or a goblin-like cartoon figure called a Whammy. For each “spin,” the contestant presses a button that creates movement across the board. The contestant can control when to start and stop each spin.

When the spin movement stops, whatever is shown in the square that’s highlighted at the end of that stop is what the contestant will get. If the highlighted square is a prize, the contestant will get the prize. If the prize is something such as a trip, the cash value of that prize is counted for the contestant’s total. If the highlighted square at the end of a spin stop is a Whammy, then the contestant loses everything that was accumulated in the game and has to start over until the game time ends. The contestant with the highest cash total at the end of the game is declared the winner.

The “press your luck” aspect of the game has two meanings: Contestants have to press the button to stop and start on what they hope will be a square with a prize. But the “press your luck” aspect also has to do with contestants with the spin control of the board having to decide if they should keep going with the button pushing or if they should stop, so as not to risk getting a Whammy. If a contestant chooses to stop, the trivia round part of the game opens up again so all three contestants get a chance to get control of the board.

In real life, Larson had a “too good to be true” winning streak where he kept winning prize after prize and avoided the Whammy. Did he cheat or did he find a flaw in the system that allowed him to legally win these prizes? This review won’t answer that question because many people watching the movie won’t know until the movie reveals the answer about halfway through the story. Viewers who already know what happened in real life will probably more bored with this movie than viewers who don’t know what happened before seeing this film,.

“The Luckiest Man in America” (which takes place over a few days in May 1984) begins by showing 35-year-old Michael Larson (played by Paul Walter Hauser) doing an audition interview at a “Press Your Luck” production office at CBS’s Television City studio complex in Los Angeles. Some of the movie’s production design and cinematography makes it look like it’s set in 1970s, not the 1980s. The main clues that the movie takes place in the 1980s are scenes that show 1980s-styled cars, computers and VCRs.

Michael (who has grayish white hair and looks about 20 years older than his real age) is unkempt and schlubby, with a bushy beard and and uncombed hair. Michael is visibly nervous and gives a tacky-looking plate with a hand-drawn Whammy on it as a gift to the two interviewers: “Press Your Luck” creator/director Bill Carruthers (played by David Strathairn) and a “Press Your Luck” executive producer named Chuck (played by Shamier Anderson), who is looking for authentic contestants.

Michael is not an authentic contestant. It turns out he snuck into the audition by using the name of another person named Travis Dunne, who was selected for this audition. (Travis Dunne is never seen in the movie.) The only truthful things that Michael said in the interview is that Michael is from Lebanon, Ohio, and he works as an air conditioning repairman. During the summer, he also operates an ice cream truck.

When Michael’s impersonation ruse is discovered, he admits his real name is Michael Larson. He says that he only impersonated someone else out of despertation because he applied to be on “Press Your Luck” several times but never got a response. Michael’s excuse is not accepted, so he is told to leave immediately.

But something about Michael intrigues Bill, who wants to give Michael another chance. Bill immediately finds Michael in his ice cream truck in the studio parking lot. Bill tells Michael that he can be a contestant on the show if Michael cleans up his physical appearance (by dressing better and having tidier hair) and coming back to the studio promptly the next morning. Michael eagerly agrees to this deal.

Michael’s ice cream truck (which has the company name The Magic Garvey) parked in the studio lot is a contrivance for this movie because of certain things that happen later, when his truck becomes the center of an investigation. In real life, Larson did not drive his truck from Ohio to California. He took the trip by airplane.

Michael and other “Press Your Luck” contestants are given a short tour of Television City by a production assistant named Sylvia (played by Maisie Williams), a stressed-out Brit who becomes even more stressed-out when Michael begins acting erratically and occasionally disappears from the studio set during breaks after the game begins. The other two contestants in this game are an amiable Baptist minister named Ed Long (played by Brian Geraghty) and a smirky dental assistant named Janie Litras (played by Patti Harrison), with Michael seated in between Ed and Janie.

The host of “Press Your Luck” is Peter Tomarken (played by Walton Goggins), a toothy emcee who seems like he’s a game show host because he couldn’t be a successful stand-up comedian. Peter tells lukewarm and corny jokes that would probably get him heckled at a stand-up comedy club but get laughter and applause in this TV studio because staffers are holding up cue cards telling the studio audience how to react. When Michael goes on a winning streak, Peter reacts as if he doesn’t know if he’s witnessing a train wreck or a happy miracle.

Backstage, things aren’t quite as dubious about how certain people on the staff feel about Michael’s winning streak. At first, Bill thinks is amused by Michael because Bill thinks Michael is an eccentric underdog who makes for good television. When a control-room assistant director named Todd (played by David Rysdahl) asks Bill, “Where do you get these people?” Bill smugly answers, “What can I say? The crazies come to me.” Bill’s attitude then begins to change when he and Chuck begin to suspect that Michael is cheating, but they haven’t figured out how.

During breaks, Michael nervously makes phone calls in a hallway because he says he’s trying to reach his daughter Susie (played by Carlota Castro) to wish her a happy birthday, who’s about 7 or 8 years old. He really isn’t supposed to be making these phone calls, because it’s against the contestant rules to make or receive calls while they’re playing the game, but Sylvia let Michael use the phone because she fell for his sob story about Michael wanting to talk to Susie on her birthday.

During the contestant introductions part of the show, Michael mentions Susie and his wife Patricia. He gives the impression that he’s a happily married family man. The truth is much different: He’s been separated from Patricia (played by Haley Bennett), who has another man in her household: Lyle Roberts (played by Stefano Meier), whose relationship to Patricia and Michael is eventually revealed in the movie.

Michael acts suspiciously from the beginning, like he’s on the verge of a sweaty meltdown, but a lot of it looks fabricated for the movie. During one of his breaks backstage, he takes a detour into a studio where a talk show is being recorded, and he starts talking to host Leon Hart (played by Johnny Knoxville), as if Michael is in a therapy session. It’s a surreal part of the movie that is meant to show that Michael is starting to lose touch with reality.

Hauser gives a compelling performance as fidgety Michael, whose methods and motives become clearer as time goes on. The other cast members do well-enough in ther roles, althoug many of the supporting characters seem underdeveloped. Where the movie falls short is not showing or not telling who Michael was before he was on this game show and how the prize money (and the high-profile scandal) affected his life. Despite an ending that falls a little flat, “The Luckiest Man in America” can be passably entertaining to watch, but it’s not the type of movie that will become a beloved classic.

IFC Films (now known as Independent Film Company) released “The Luckiest Man in America” in select U.S. cinemas on April 4, 2025. The movie was released on digital and VOD on May 6, 2025.

Review: ‘Seven Veils,’ starring Amanda Seyfried, Rebecca Liddiard, Vinessa Antoine, Mark O’Brien and Douglas Smith

May 6, 2025

by Carla Hay

Douglas Smith, Michael Schade, Amanda Seyfried and Tara Nicodemo in “Seven Veils” (Photo courtesy of XYZ Films)

“Seven Veils”

Directed by Atom Egoyan

Culture Representation: Taking place in Toronto, the dramatic film “Seven Veils” features a predominantly white group of people (with a few black people and Latin people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A theater director is invited to direct the “Salome” opera version of that was created by her deceased mentor, and her work on the opera triggers unpleasant memories from her past. 

Culture Audience: “Seven Veils” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of star Amanda Seyfried, filmmaker Atom Egoyan, and opaque dramas that have layers of symbolism and meanings.

Rebecca Liddiard and Michael Kupfer-Radecky in “Seven Veils” (Photo courtesy of XYZ Films)

Not all of the elements work in how “Seven Veils” draws parallels between an avant-garde production of the opera “Salome” and a theater director’s reckoning with her own troubled past. Amanda Seyfried’s gripping performance lifts the film above mediocrity. “Seven Veils” is multilayered film that some viewers might think is too overstuffed with subplots and ideas that don’t always have satisfying answers or resolutions

Written and directed by Atom Egoyan, “Seven Veils” was largely inspired by Egoyan’s own experiences of directing “Salome” for the Canadian Opera Company. The movie had its world premiere at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival and also screened at the 2024 Berlin International Film Festival. You don’t have to like opera to enjoy “Seven Veils” because the actual performance of “Salome” in the movie is secondary to the drama that happens off stage.

The opera “Salome” is based on the Judeo-Christian story of Salome, a Jewish princess who was the daughter of Herod II and princess Herodias. Herod the Great was her grandfather. Herod Antipas was her stepdaughter. Salome wanted John the Baptist (a disciple of Jesus Christ) to be her lover, but he rejected her. Salome than persuaded Herod Antipas to have John the Baptist beheaded so she could kiss John without him being able to stop it. In the lead-up to this morbid act of lust, Salome also did a seductive dance called the Dance of the Seven Veils.

“Seven Veils” begins by showing theater Jeanine (played by Seyfried) walking through the opera house in Toronto where she will soon be leading a remounting of “Salome,” as a tribute to her mentor who died one year ago. The opera house is bustling with the activity sets being built and people getting ready for rehearsals.

Jeanine walks around as if she’s in a dream. She also sees a large video projection on the wall that shows a girl (played by Elizabeth Reeve) walking through the woods. It’s later revealed that this projection screen is a manifestation of Jeanine’s memories, and the girl is Jeanine in her childhood. Throughout the movie, other scenes of the girl in the woods play out in Jeanine’s mind.

When Jeanine was in her 20s, her mentor/teacher was a theater director named Charles. His widow Beatrice (played by Lanette Ware) knew that Jeanine was one of Charles’ favorite students, so Beatrice personally invited Jeanine to remount the version of “Salome” that Charles had when Jeanine was his protégée/student.

Beatrice formally announces Jeanine as the theater director of this production at a press event. The stars of this version of “Salome” are also introduced. Ambur Dion (played by Ambur Braid) has the role of Salome. Johan Mueller (played by Michael Kupfer-Radecky) has the role of John the Baptist. (Braid and Kupfer-Radecky had these “Salome” roles in real life.)

Other people who are involved in the production are ambitious Rachel (played by Vinessa Antoine), who has the understudy Salome role; eager-to-please Luke (played by Douglas Smith), who has the understudy role of John the Baptist; brittle Nancy (played by Tara Nicodemo), who is the show’s managing producer; and artistic Clea (played by Rebecca Liddiard), the makeup artist who has been assigned to document her “Salome” work on social media. One of Clea’s biggest makeup responsibilities for the production is to design the prosthetic of John the Baptist’s severed head.

Jeanine and Nancy have conflicts because Jeanine wants to make some “minor” changes to the production, but Nancy doesn’t want any changes at all because Nancy says that Beatrice expects Jeanine to keep Charles’ version intact. Clea and Rachel are lovers and are secretly hoping that there will be a reason for Ambur to drop out of the production so Rachel can take over the Salome role. And there’s a sexual harassment incident in this workplace that is reported to management and could derail the entire production.

Meanwhile, Jeanine has to spend a lot of time away from her home because of this job. She communicates by videoconference calls with her restless husband Paul (played by Mark O’Brien) and their daughter Lizzie (played by Maya Misaljevic), who’s about 11 or 12. The family has a nanny named Dimitra (played by Maia Jae Bastidas) as well as Jeanine’s widowed mother Margot (played by Lynne Griffin) to help take are of Lizzie. Margot tells Jeanine that she thinks Paul is having an affair with Dimitra. What Jeanine doesn’t tell Margot is that Jeanine and Paul have decided to try having an open marriage.

All of this sounds like it could be a soap opera, but “Seven Veils” is more complex than that. Jeanine has a dark and disturbing secret that comes back to haunt her the more that she gets involved in the “Salome” production. Her feelings about making changes to the production get more intense as time goes along. And her feelings about power and control of the production become intertwined with how she feels about power and control of her personal life. Although the principal cast members play their roles well, Seyfried is the obvious standout because the Jeanine is the heart and soul of the movie.

“Seven Veils” has cinematography that can be very dreamy and atmospheric but also stark and alarming. It’s a creative way of showing how fuzzy memories and harsh realities sometimes co-exist and collide. Jeanine’s secret is revealed about halfway through the movie, so the rest of “Seven Veils” shows how she copes when she’s forced to think about things that she would rather forget. “Seven Veils” is not always an easy film to watch (and some of it is downright dull and pretentious), but it has a compelling uniqueness that is appealing enough for anyone who is curious about how the story is going to end.

XYZ Films released “Seven Veils” in U.S. cinemas on March 7, 2025.

Review: ‘A Normal Family,’ starring Sul Kyung-gu, Jang Dong-gun, Kim Hee-ae and Claudia Kim

April 26, 2025

by Carla Hay

Cast members of “A Normal Family.” Pictured in back row, from left to right: Jang Dong-gun, Kim Hee-ae, Claudia Kim and Sul Kyung-gu. Pictured in front row, from left to right: Kim Jung-chul, Byun Joong-hee and Hong Ye-ji. (Photo courtesy of Room 8 Films)

“A Normal Family”

Directed by Hur Jin-ho

Culture Representation: Taking place in South Korea, the dramatic film “A Normal Family” (based on the 2009 book “The Dinner”) features an all-Asian cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: Two affluent brothers and their wives have their parental obligations and morality tested when they find out that two of their children have secretly committed a heinous crime.

Culture Audience: “A Normal Family” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners, the book on which the movie is based, and intense dramas about power, privilege and crime.

Pictured clockwise, from left: Sul Kyung-gu, Claudia Kim, Kim Hee-ae and Jang Dong-gun in “A Normal Family” (Photo courtesy of Room 8 Films)

Riveting and tension-filled, “A Normal Family” is a twisty drama that adds excellent cinematic layers to this superior adaptation of “The Dinner” book. The movie has absorbing performances in showing how family members react to their children’s crimes. There have been four separate movie adaptations of Herman Koch’s 2009 novel “The Dinner,” also known as its original Dutch title “Het Diner.” “A Normal Family” (the fourth movie adaptation of the book) is arguably the best movie version of the book so far.

Directed by Hur Jin-ho, “A Normal Family” was written by Park Eun-kyo and Park Joon-seok. The movie premiered at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival and was released in South Korea in 2024. The previous movie adaptations of “The Dinner” had the same title as the book.

The first movie adaptation was a Dutch film directed by Menno Meyjes and released in 2013. The second movie adaptation was an Italian film directed by Ivano De Matteo and released in 2014. The third movie adaptation was an American film directed by Oren Moverman and released in 2017. In all three of these previous adaptations, the movies stuck to the original premise of making the movie focused on a long conversation between two couples during a dinner at an upscale restaurant.

“A Normal Family” admirably expands the world of the main characters by showing much more of their lives outside of a restaurant. The dinner conversations in “A Normal Family” are lynchpins to the story but do not get the most screen time because there are many other things that are shown in the movie that make the characters and their situations more complex. “A Normal Family’s” change to the story structure allows the characters to be more developed than in previous cinematic adaptations of “The Dinner” book.

“A Normal Family” begins by showing a road rage incident that turns into a tragedy. A man in his 20s named Hyung-cheol (played by Yoo Su-bin) gets into a confrontation with a man in his 30s (played by Yoo In-sun), whose last name is Yang, at an intersection on a busy street in an unnamed city in South Korea. The two men have a car collision and a very angry argument about who is at fault.

Mr. Yang, who is a professional baseball player, happens to have a baseball bat in his car. He stops the car, takes out the baseball bat and walks toward Hyung-cheol. Hyung-cheol’s response to so step on the accelerator and hit Mr. Yang head-on with the car. Mr. Yang dies almost immediately. He was in the car with his 8-year-old daughter Yang Na-rae, who is taken to a nearby hospital and goes into a coma.

This tragedy affects the lives of two very different middle-aged brothers in contrasting ways. Older brother Yang Jae-wan (played by Sul Kyung-gu) is a cunning and ruthless defense attorney, who is hired by Hyung-cheol’s wealthy father to defend Hyung-cheol, who could be charged with murder. Younger brother Yang Jae-gyu (played by Jang Dong-gun) is the hospital doctor who is supervising the medical care of Yang Na-rae. Jae-gyu is a compassionate doctor who makes people a priority over profits, sometimes to the detriment of his own career.

Na-rae’s distraught mother Seon Ju (played by Choi Ri) tells Jae-gyu that her deceased husband had the baseball bat in the car only because he was a professional baseball player, not because he used the bat as a weapon. She thinks that Hyung-cheol wrongly assumed that her husband was a thug. For now, Seon Ju is focused on her daughter recovering from the coma, but Seon Ju wants justice for her husband’s death.

Meanwhile, Jae-wan suggests to Hyung-cheol that his defense could be that Hyung-cheol thought Mr. Kang was going to kill Hyung-cheol with the bat, and Hyung-cheol “miscalculated” an attempt to swerve out of the way when Hyung-cheol hit Mr. Kang with the car. Jae-wan is fairly certain that the Kang family will accept a lucrative financial settlement from Hyung-cheol’s wealthy family in exchange for not pressing charges against Hyung-cheol.

Jae-wan also advises that the Kang family is more like to agree to an out-of-court settlement if Hyung-cheol makes a personal apology, but Hyung-cheol is reluctant to do that. Hyung-cheol says appearing apologetic in this case should be Jae-wan’s responsibility. The movie introduces this storyline about the road rage criminal case as a parallel comparison to what happens with the children of Jae-wan and Jae-gyu.

Jae-wan has two children, both daughters. His elder daughter is 17-year-old Hye-yoon (played by Hong Ye-ji), who was born from his marriage to his deceased first wife. Jae-wan’s second wife Ji-su (played by Claudia Kim) is about 20 years younger than Jae-wan. Ji-su has recently given birth to their baby daughter Sa-rang.

Hye-yoon is pretty and intelligent but also very spoiled, materialistic and selfish. It’s later revealed that Hye-yoon has applied to Cambridge University in England and is waiting to hear if she’s been accepted. The first time that Ji-su is seen in the movie, she’s exercising to lose weight that she gained from her pregnancy. It’s implied that she wants to stay thin because she knows she’s Jae-wan’s “trophy wife.” Clearly, this a household that places a lot importance on status and image.

Jae-gyu has one child with his older wife Lee Yeon-kyung (played by Kim Hee-ae), who has a brittle personality that masks deep insecurities. The couple’s 17-year-old son Yang Si-ho (played by Kim Jung-chul) has low self-esteem, partly because of his problems at school: He is often bullied by other students, and his academic grades are low enough where he could fail his last year in high school. The unnamed mother (played by Byun Joong-hee) of Jae-wan and Jae-gyu lives in Jae-gyu’s household, and she has dementia.

Jae-wan, Jae-gyu and their wives have a tradition of going on double dates at an upscale restaurant on a regular basis. Despite these family get-togethers, Jae-wan and Jae-gyu have had tensions in their brotherly relationship. Jae-wan thinks that it’s time for their mother to be put in a nursing home. Jae-gyu doesn’t like that idea, even though he admits that being a caregiver for a dementia patient has become overwhelming and stressful for the people in his household.

Jae-wan tells Jae-gyu that he found an ideal nursing home for their mother. The cost would be a $200,000 deposit and $6,000 a month. Jae-wan offers to pay only $1,000 of that $6,000 monthly cost. It’s an example of Jae-wan’s tendency to be inconsiderate. Jae-wan is also pretentious and often likes to show off his wealth.

There’s tension between the wives too. During one of the restaurant dinners, Yeon-kyung is very standoffish to Ji-su, who is trying to be friendly to Yeon-kyung. Yeon-kyung’s negative attitude toward Ji-su seems to be because Yeon-kyung is envious that Ji-su is younger and prettier than Yeon-kyung. When they are both in a ladies’ restroom, Ji-su tells Yeon-kyung that she would like them to be friends, but Yeon-kyung says no. Ji-su feels insulted and rejected, so for the rest of the evening, Ji-su makes not-so-subtle digs about Yeon-kyung being older, by calling Yeon-kyung “ma’am.”

Si-ho is being tutored by his cousin Hye-yoon to help Si-ho improve his academic grades. However, an early scene in the film shows that the two teens are also involved in some mischief. They have a secret social media account where Si-ho has uploaded a bootlegged “snuff” video of the road rage incident and the deadly results. Si-ho tells viewers he had to pay a lot of money to get the video, so they need to “like and subscribe.”

One night when the spouses are having dinner at a restaurant, Si-ho tags along on a date that Hye-yoon has with a slightly older teen named Jaeden (played by Park Sang Hoon), who is a student at the University of California at Los Angeles. The three teens go to a house party where there’s no adult supervision. Si-ho gives in to peer pressure to drink liquor, and he quickly gets drunk.

Si-ho then sees Hye-yoon and Jaeden making out at the party, while no one is paying attention to Si-ho. Feeling like a drunk outsider, Si-ho gets angry and storms out of the party. He ends up in a nearby alley where there are trash cans. He starts throwing things around and is soon joined by Hye-yoon, who followed him.

What happens in that alley takes a horrific turn, as the teenagers’ parents find out later. As already revealed the trailer for “A Normal Family,” Si-ho and Hye-yoon didn’t know that there was a surveillance camera that filmed what took place in the alley that night. Si-ho and Hye-yoon saw a homeless man in the alley and viciously kicked him and beat him up and then dragged him into a dark corner.

The homeless man is now in a coma at the same hospital where Jae-gyu works. And the surveillance video is all over the local news and has gone viral on the Internet. The faces of the two assailants are not clearly seen in the video. Yeon-kyung is the first of the parents to see the video and immediately sees that Si-ho is one of the attackers because she recognizes a shirt that he is wearing.

What happens during the rest of “A Normal Family” shows how the parents and the teenagers handle this troubling situation. The movie goes beyond a dinner conversation in one location by depicting how the weight of this crime affects the everyday lives of the people who know who committed the crime. Not everything is clear-cut and predictable. It’s enough to say that some people change their motives and opinions, while others do not.

“A Normal Family” has very good acting from all the principal cast members, with standout performances from the cast members who portray the parents. This movie does not pass judgment on decisions that certain people make. Instead, the entire movie is an effective observation about how definitions of loyalty and betrayal can differ, depending on the individuals and circumstances. It’s also a disturbing look at how far some people are willing to go to preserve a family name and reputation to fit the image of “a normal family.”

Room 8 Films released “A Normal Family” in select U.S. cinemas on April 25, 2025. The movie was released in South Korea on October 9, 2024.

Review: ‘On Swift Horses,’ starring Daisy Edgar-Jones, Jacob Elodri, Will Poulter, Diego Calva and Sasha Calle

April 23, 2025

by Carla Hay

Will Poulter, Daisy Edgar-Jones and Jacob Elordi in “On Swift Horses” (Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics)

“On Swift Horses”

Directed by Daniel Minahan

Culture Representation: Taking place from 1956 to 1957, in California and in Nevada, the dramatic film “On Swift Horses” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with some Latin people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A bored and unhappy wife pines over her bisexual/queer brother-in-law, while she starts a secret affair with a female neighbor.

Culture Audience: “On Swift Horses” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and the book on which the movie is based, and are interested in dramas about queer relationships in the 1950s.

Jacob Elordi and Diego Calva in “On Swift Horses” (Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics)

Even with a talented cast, “On Swift Horses” is a superficial drama about five people who have sexual entanglements based mostly on infatuation. The movie is adapted from a novel but seems more inspired by pretty postcards with vapid thoughts. “On Swift Horses” tries but fails to convince that any of the main characters are experiencing true love. The lover who is the most “sought-after” in the story is actually selfish and unreliable and is considered attractive mostly because of his physical appearance.

Directed by Daniel Minahan and written by Bryce Kass, “On Swift Horses” is based on Shannon Pufahl’s debut 2019 novel of the same name. The movie had its world premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival and its U.S. premiere at the 2025 SXSW Film & TV Festival. “On Swift Horses” takes place from 1956 to 1957, in California and in Nevada, with filming taking place in California. The nearly two-hour run time of “On Swift Horses” suggests that it could have been a sweeping and engaging epic romantic film. Instead, it’s mostly plodding and dull, with contrived-looking sex scenes that fizzle more than sizzle.

“On Swift Horses” begins with one of these sex scenes by showing military man Lee Walker (played by Will Poulter) having sex with his girlfriend Muriel (played by Daisy Edgar-Jones) at the Kansas house that Muriel inherited from her deceased mother. It’s obvious that Muriel isn’t really enjoying the sex. She seems to be going through the motions out of obligation. Lee is on leave from military service in the Korean War and has to go back in three days. He asks Muriel to marry him. She says no.

Muriel certainly perks up when she meets Lee’s younger brother Julius (played by Jacob Elordi), a handsome rebel who’s got “heartbreaker” written all over him. As soon as Julius comes to visit, and he meets Muriel for the first time, it’s obvious that Muriel is much more interested in Julius than she is in Lee. (The “meet cute” moment between Julius and Muriel happens he asks her to toss him a cigarette.) Julius and Muriel slow dance in front of Lee, who seems oblivious or in denial about the mutual attraction between Muriel and Julius.

That’s all you need to know about what type of person that Muriel is: She has no qualms about possibly causing a rift between two brothers for her own self-centered reasons. Julius is even more selfish than Muriel. “On Swift Horses” has an annoying way of treating these two toxic people as star-crossed “unlucky in love” lovers whom viewers are supposed to root for, when anyone with enough life experience can see how much emotional damage that Muriel and Julius cause and how Muriel and Julius don’t deserve admiration.

During Julius’ visit with Lee and Muriel, it’s mentioned that Julius also served in the military during the Korean War, but he has been discharged. Julius is queer or bisexual. Lee has known for years that Julius is not heterosexual, but Lee and no one else in the movie say the words “queer,” “gay” or “bisexual” out loud. People who are not heterosexual in the movie are just politely called “different.” It’s a very unrealistic portrayal of how queerness was described in 1950s America, when hateful homophobia was not only openly expressed but it was also legal.

Julius’ sexual attraction to men is probably why Lee doesn’t see Julius as a threat to Lee’s relationship with Muriel. In his ignorance, Lee probably thinks Julius is gay, not bisexual. Lee (who is socially rigid but an overall good guy) is the only person of the movie’s five main characters who shows unconditional love to his partner, even though that love is wasted on someone who doesn’t love him and doesn’t hesitate to cheat on him.

The insipid dialogue starts to pollute the movie within the first 10 minutes. In a scene during Julius’ visit of Lee and Muriel, the three of them play poker. Julius says, “The thing about cards is poker isn’t just poker.” Before he serves the deck of cards, Julius babbles some more nonsense by saying that a card is a symbol of time.

Muriel looks at Julius as if he’s a poker philosopher extraordinaire. But her fantasy about him sweeping her off of her feet comes crashing back down to reality when it becomes obvious that Julius is a drifter who has no intention of settling down in a committed relationship. Sometime after the poker game, Lee proposes marriage again to Muriel while Julius is in the same room. This time, Muriel says yes.

If Julius is jealous, he doesn’t show it. Lee wants to settle down with Muriel and buy a house in Arroyo Canyon in California. In order to get the money to buy a house, Lee asks Muriel to sell her childhood house in Kansas. Muriel is reluctant to sell the house because the house is the last connection she has to her family.

“On Swift Horses'” then abruptly switches to showing Lee and Muriel as a married couple living in California. Muriel has been writing letters to Julius and asking him to come back to California. Not long after Lee finishes his military service, he and Muriel decide to move to San Diego. Lee becomes a factory worker. Muriel works as a waitress at a diner.

The newlyweds are financially struggling and get tired of living in cramped living quarters. And so, Muriel changes her mind about selling her childhood Kansas home. Lee and Muriel use the money from the sale to buy the middle-class home that they want. Muriel secretly keeps some of the leftover money from the sale in a hiding place in the home. She later hides some other cash that she gets from betting on horse races without Lee’s knowledge.

Muriel acts bi-curious when she spends some time at Del Mar Racing (a horse racetrack), after she has overheard some horse-betting tips from customers at the diner. Muriel ends up winning money from horse-race bets and notices that a woman named Gail (played by Kat Cunning) is flirting with her at the racetrack. Muriel is somewhat surprised by this attention but she doesn’t reject it. Gail (a socialite who’s married to a much-older, wealthy man) is a frequent customer at a local lesbian bar, which is where Muriel goes out of curiosity and to see how far things might go between her and Gail.

Julius tells Muriel in letter correspondence that he’s moving to the California city of Stockton, which is about 460 miles northeast of San Diego. Even with this long distance, that’s all Muriel needs to hear to get excited that Julius could be in her life. Julius asks her for money for this relocation. She sends the money to Julius, but he uses the money to move to Las Vegas instead. Muriel is hurt when she finds out that Julius told Lee that it was good that Lee married Muriel because “that sad girl needs somebody to tell her what to do.”

“On Swift Horses” then meanders along as it shows what Julius did when he was in Las Vegas. He ends up meeting Henry (played by Diego Calva), another drifter/hustler type, on Julius’ first day of his job as a security worker at a casino. Julius and Henry are co-workers whose job is to hide in a secret room overlooking the casino floor and look out for any gamblers who are cheating during card games. Julius and Henry then have to report any cheaters to the casino’s security bouncers, who rough up and throw out the cheaters.

Henry flirts with Julius and immediately figures out that Julius is attracted to him. Henry makes the first move when he and Julius become lovers. It’s hard to believe that Henry and Julius (who are both self-absorbed and opportunistic) are really in love because their relationship is based mostly on lust and convenience. Henry and Julius eventually decide to become con artists together by going to other casinos and cheating at card games in the same ways that they’ve seen other cheaters have done it.

Meanwhile, Muriel (who’s still pining over Julius but she doesn’t want to admit it) meets androgynous Sandra (played by Sasha Calle) when Muriel and Lee decide to move to the San Fernando Valley and look for houses there. Sandra has a mini-farm on her property and sells things like olives and eggs. Sandra’s house, which has been in her family for 60 years, is near the house that Lee and Muriel end up buying.

The first time that Muriel and Sandra meet, there’s sexual tension between them and very unsubtle homoerotic subtexts. Sandra tells Muriel to taste some of her olives. When Muriel does and spits out one of the olive pits, Sandra holds out her hand and expects Muriel to spit the olive pit onto Sandra’s hand. You know where all of this is going to lead, of course.

The relationship with Muriel and Sandra is described as “love” in the marketing materials for “On Swift Horses,” but it sure doesn’t look like mutual love. Sandra is the one who seems to be falling in love with Muriel, but Muriel acts like Sandra is a just a fling and tells Sandra that their affair is just about having sexual fun. If this sounds like spoiler information, it’s only to let viewers know that there really is no great love affair in this disappointing and torpid movie, which pulls an irritating bait and switch in many ways.

Worst of all, “On Swift Horses” awkwardly fumbles the movie’s last 15 minutes, turning the film into an unrealistic mushfest where two people desperately look for Julius at the same time—as if disrespectful fraudster Julius is the answer to their problems and unhappiness. Edgar-Jones and Calle do their best to try to give their respective characters some depth in “On Swift Horses,” but they can’t overcome the maudlin screenplay that reduces potential romances to scenes of insecure people using each other for sexual companionship. The other principal cast members are even more stymied by portraying characters with cardboard personalities. And ironically, this movie with the word “swift” in the title has slow and drab pacing. By the time “On Swift Horses” lumbers along to its corny and vague ending, you probably won’t care about seeing these characters ever again.

Sony Pictures Classics will release “On Swift Horses” in U.S. cinemas on April 25, 2025. A sneak preview of the movie was shown in U.S. cinemas on April 14, 2025.

Review: ‘The Shrouds,’ starring Vincent Cassel, Diane Kruger, Guy Pearce and Sandrine Holt

April 17, 2025

by Carla Hay

Vincent Cassel and Diane Kruger in “The Shrouds” (Photo courtesy of Sideshow and Janus Films)

“The Shrouds”

Directed by David Cronenberg

Culture Representation: Taking place in Canada, the sci-fi horror film “The Shrouds” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few Asian people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A widower, who owns an unusual business where people can visually monitor corpses that are insides of graves, tries to solve the mystery of who’s trying to sabatoge his business.

Culture Audience: “The Shrouds” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of filmmaker David Cronenberg, the movie’s headliners and body horror movies.

Vincent Cassel and Guy Pearce in “The Shrouds” (Photo courtesy of Sideshow and Janus Films)

“The Shrouds” can get muddled and has some pacing that’s too slow. However, it’s a generally intriguing mix of a sci-fi horror story, a mystery thriller and a conspiracy tale that explores the intersections of corporate greed and death exploitation. The movie is supposed to be set in an unspecified period of time but it touches on timeless issues of grief and what happens beyond death.

Written and directed by David Cronenberg, “The Shrouds” had its world premiere at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival and subseuqently made the rounds at other film festivals in 2024, including the Toronto International Film Festival and the New York Film Festival. “The Shrouds” takes place in an unnamed city in Canada. The movie was actually filmed in Toronto.

“The Shrouds” begins by showing a widower named Karsh (played by Vincent Cassel) looking through a hole in a rock wall as he sees the floating corpse of his wife Rebecca, nicknamed Becca (played by Diane Kruger), who died of cancer six years ago. The movie has several dream-like sequences where the lines are blurred between reality and hallucinations.

Viewers soon find out that Karsh is so obsessed with what’s happening to the corpse of his wife, he’s made an entire business of out it. Karsh also has an artificial intelligence assistant named Hunny (also played by Kruger), who looks eerily like a young version of Becca. Hunny is a perky and helpful assistant.

Karsh is next seen getting a dental exam. His dentist Dr. Hofstra (played by Eric Weinthal), tells Karsh, “Grief is rotting your teeth.” Dr. Hofstra then offers to give Karsh the JPG photos of Becca’s teeth from past dental exams. Karsh politely declines this offer.

The next scene takes place at The Shrouds, the name of the business that Karsh owns. It’s a combination of a high-tech, non-denominational cemetery and a restaurant, with the cemetery located right outside the back of the restaurant. As morbid as this might sound, apparently the business is doing well enough that Karsh hopes to expand his business to other cities and is looking for investors.

Karsh is having lunch at The Shrouds restaurant while he’s on a first date with a woman named Myrna Shovlin (played by Jennifer Dale), who describes herself as someone who’s been divorced for 20 years. This date was arranged by Dr. Hofstra, who thought that Karsh and Myrna would hit it off and because he thinks lonely Karsh needs to start dating again. The Shrouds restaurant is decorated with artifacts of ancient shrouds (displayed in glass cases) that Karsh tells Myrna are real shrouds.

Karsh and Myrna makes some small talk. He admits he’s still having a hard time getting over the death of his wife Becca. He tells Myrna that when Becca was buried, “I had an intense, visceral urge to get in the box with her.” Karsh also says that he can’t stand the thought of Becca being alone in her grave. He also describes himself as a “non-observant atheist.”

He further explains that Becca was Jewish, which is why she didn’t want to be cremated. Karsh adds, “She said she wanted to lie beside me in death.” Karsh then shows Myrna what The Shrouds cemetery business looks like by demonstrating how he uses it.

That’s how Myrna finds out that the business has hi-tech graves with built-in video screens that allow people to watch and monitor the corpses inside the graves by computer-related devices with access to the screens. Karsh brags to Myrna that his company has invented the technology (called GraveTech) to make this type of grave monitoring possible. He tells Myrna that people who sign up for this service are not repulsed by looking at rotting corpses but are comforted by this activity.

Karsh also tells Myrna that by monitoring Becca’s corpse, he feels connected to her with her body in death, just as he was in life—perhaps even more in death because he has complete control over when he can see Becca. “And it makes me happy,” Karsh comments. This creepy revelation is enough to make Myrna feel uncomfortable. She quickly ends the date, and Karsh never sees her again.

Karsh will soon become consumed with two other women who become his lovers, as already revealed in “The Shrouds” trailer. Terry (also played by Kruger) is Becca’s twin sister. Terry used to be a veterinarian, but she now works as a dog groomer. Terry is a conspiracy theorist who believes that Becca was secretly being used for experiments during Becca’s cancer treatments.

Soo-Min (played by Sandrine Holt) becomes Karsh’s other lover. She meets Karsh because she was sent by her husband Karoly Szabo (played by Vieslav Krystyan), a wealthy Hungarian who might be interested in bringing The Shrouds to Europe. Soo-Min happens to be blind, but she doesn’t let her blindness stop her from being a shrewd and calculating businessperson.

Before these romantic entanglements happen, The Shrouds cemetery is mysteriously vandalized. The perpetrator also sent a video recording to Karsh of the nighttime vandalism when it happened. The video does not show the vandal’s face, and the vandal doesn’t speak in the video.

Karsh doesn’t report this crime to law enforcement because he thinks it will be bad publicity for his business. Instead, he enlists the help of a computer technology expert named Maury Entrekin (played by Guy Pearce) to try to find out who’s behind this sabotage. Maury also happens to be the ex-husband of Terry, but he has remained on friendly terms with Karsh since the divorce.

The movie’s most valuable player in the cast is undoubtedly Kruger, who gives standout performances as three very different characters. She makes each character very distinct from each other in very convincing ways. Cassel is adequate in his role but comes across as somewhat stiff in some scenes. Holt and Pearce are serviceable in their performances.

Cronenberg is known for making movies with striking and inventive visuals. In this regard, “The Shrouds” continues that tradition. However, this movie won’t be considered a masterpiece. Some of the characters could have been better-developed. For example, Terry is ultimately defined by her feelings for Karsh (she had a longtime crush on him) and some sibling rivalry cattiness (Terry was jealous of the more-glamorous Becca), rather than being a well-rounded person with a full life of her own

“The Shrouds” blends the multiple storylines—the mystery of the vandal, Karsh’s love triangle, and the business expansion of The Shrouds—to sometimes clumsy results. And at one point in the movie, it becomes very easy to figure out (before it’s actually revealed in the movie) who’s responsible for trying to ruin Karsh’s business. And as a horror movie, it’s not that scary and is really more of a psychological drama. Despite these flaws, “The Shrouds” can keep viewers interested if they are curious about finding out the answer to the mystery and want to think about what would happen if GraveTech cemetery technology existed in real life.

Sideshow/Janus Films will release “The Shrouds” in select U.S. cinemas on April 18, 2025, with an expansion to more U.S. cinemas on April 25, 2025.

Review: ‘The Assessment’ (2025), starring Elizabeth Olsen, Himesh Patel, Alicia Vikander, Indira Varma, Nicholas Pinnock, Charlotte Ritchie, Leah Harvey and Minnie Driver

April 13, 2025

by Carla Hay

Himesh Patel and Elizabeth Olsen in “The Assessment” (Photo by Magnus Jønck/Magnolia Pictures)

“The Assessment” (2025)

Directed by Fleur Fortuné

Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed society in an unspecified period of time, the sci-fi drama film “The Assessment” features a predominantly white group of people (with a few South Asian and black people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A married couple must past a rigorous seven-day assessment test, conducted by a government assessor, in order to determine if the couple will be approved to have a child.

Culture Audience: “The Assessment” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and sci-fi dramas about futuristic worlds where the governments are oppressive and the protagonists have to make difficult decisions about compliance versus rebellion.

Alicia Vikander and Elizabeth Olsen in “The Assessment” (Photo by Magnus Jønck/Magnolia Pictures)

“The Assessment” is an emotionally somber but visually stylish drama that shows a post-apocalyptic society where people have to pass a government evaluation test for approval to become parents. The principal cast members give memorable performances. This movie seems intentionally set in an unspecified time and place because the underlying message is that what happens in the movie could happen in some variation at any time, in any place.

Fleur Fortuné, who has a background in directing music videos and short films, makes her feature-film directorial debut with “The Assessment.” The movie was written by Dave Thomas (under the alias Mr. Thomas), Nell Garfath Cox (under the alias Mrs. Thomas) and John Donnelly. “The Assessment’ (which was filmed in Spain) had its world premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival.

“The Assessment” begins by showing a scene of a girl name Mia (played by Suhayla Balli Al Soufi Del Diego), who’s about 12 or 13 years old, swimming in an ocean. Her mother is on the rocky shore and calls out to her: “Mia, come back!” It’s a flashback memory to a period of time when Mia last saw her mother. What happened to Mia’s mother is revealed in bits and pieces of conversations. Mia also had a sister, who is mentioned in the movie.

What is revealed is that this is a relatively new society that has left its “old world” behind because the “old world” became too polluted. Certain people who were considered “undesirable” or too rebellious were left behind in the “old world.” Those who made it to this new world are considered to be worthy of procreating so future generations can live in this new world.

But even among these “elite” survivors, there’s a hierarchy. Only a small percentage of people are chosen by the government to become parents. Those who are chosen have to go through a rigorous seven-day assessment test. During these seven days, the assessor lives with the prospective parents. The assessor’s decision is final on whether or not to approve the application.

When viewers first see adult Mia (played by Elizabeth Olsen) and her husband Aaryan (played by Himesh Patel), all of this background information is not revealed right away. What is shown early on in the movie is that Mia and Aaryan are happily married, but this upcoming visit from the assessor has caused tension in their marriage. In bed, Mia says to Aaryan: “What if we’re not good enough? I’m just nervous. It’s just all so secretive.”

Mia and Aaryan live in a modern-yet-retro-looking home on a rocky beach area. Mia is a sculptor who makes her art in a converted greenhouse. Aaryan works for the government as an artificial intelligence (A.I.) designer. The government has exterminated all real pets, so Aaryan is developing a secretive project that creates lifelike pets powered by artificial intelligence. The idea for these robot pets is so people can have a safe alternative to real pets. Aaryan has already built an A.I. cat as a beta test.

Artificial intelligence is an everyday and accepted part of life in this society. Mia and Himesh have an A.I. assistant that’s very similar to Amazon’s Alexa. The device’s owner can program the A.I. assistant to have different voices. Aaryan lets Mia know that he has changed their A.I. assistant’s voice to sound like his mother. Mia is okay with this change.

The couple’s assessor shows up fairly early on in the movie. Her name is Virginia (played by Alicia Vikander), who is a calm professional but very aloof and clinical. Virginia informs Mia and Aaryan that the couple made it into the top 1% of couples who are chosen for this assessment. Virginia tells Mia and Aaryan that they have the right to end the assessment at any time but warns that if they choose to end the assessment before it concludes, they won’t be given another chance to apply for another assessment.

Mia and Aaryan are also expected to give samples of their bodily fluids to Virginia, such as blood, mucus, semen and vaginal secretions. Virginia also says that Mia and Aaryan will be evaluated on their mental and emotional stability. And they are required to keep confidential everything that happens during this assessment visit. Needless to say, it’s a high-pressure situation for Mia and Aaryan to have one person (Virginia) decide whether or not Aaryan and Mia are fit to be parents.

At first, Mia and Aaryan are overly accommodating and polite because they want to do everything they can to impress Virginia. But over time, Mia becomes very uncomfortable with the process and openly questions Virginia’s tactics. Mia’s discomfort starts on the first day, when Virginia asks for explicit details on the couple’s sex life. Virginia writes everything down in a notebook.

Later that evening, when Mia and Aaryan are in their bedroom and getting sexually intimate, they are shocked to see that Virginia has opened the door to watch them in the hallway. Mia and Aaryan are embarrassed and stop what they’re doing. But Virginia orders them to keep doing what they’re doing and to pretend that she’s not there. Mia is much more reluctant than Aaryan to go along with this order.

Another major test comes when Virginia does some Method acting and pretends that she is a misbehaving and cranky toddler, 24 hours a day. The idea is to test the parental patience of Aaryan and Mia. You can easily predict which of the spouses will get frustrated and lose patience first.

What isn’t so easy to predict are some of the mind games that Virginia plays with this couple. These mind games have nothing to do with their skills as a parent but have to do with testing how strong the couple’s marriage is and their trust in each other. Viewers will start to wonder about Virginia’s manipulations: “Is this really part of the assessment, or is this something that Virginia that is doing that’s separate from the assessment?”

Although there’s friction between Mia and Virginia, there are a few moments where Mia opens up to Virginia. When Mia is asked why she wants to become a parent, Mia says: “I want to give a child what I never had: a sense of belonging.” Mia is the character who is the most likely to be an independent thinker, which is why Olsen gives the movie’s standout performance. Vikander’s performance becomes more layered as more things are revealed about Virginia.

Most of “The Assessment” features scenes only with Mia, Aaryan and Virginia. However, there’s a pivotal scene during Day 4 of the assessment’s when Virginia has invited six guests over to the couple’s house for a dinner party on short notice, without the consent of Mia and Aaryan. It’s another one of Virginia’s tests.

The six people invited to the party are Aayran’s accomplished mother Ambika (played by Indira Varma); a prominent scientist named Walter (played by Nicholas Pinnock); Walter’s snobbish wife Evie (played by Minnie Driver); and a friendly lesbian couple named Serena (played by Charlotte Ritchie) and Holly (played by Leah Harvey) with their daughter Amelia (played by Anaya Thorley), who’s about 5 or 6 years old. Serena and Holly, who are strangers to Mia and Aaryan, reassure Mia and Aaryan because they say that Amelia was the result of Serena and Holly getting an approved assessment. There’s tension between Mia and Evie because Mia used to be Walter’s lab assistant before Mia was married and might or might not have had an affair with Walter.

“The Assessment” is meant to make viewers ponder just how far they would be willing to go to take this type of test. The test isn’t just about getting “approval” to become parents. It’s also about how much control people will allow a government to have in their lives and how much people will choose to go along with outrageous orders without questions or criticism.

Some viewers might not like how the movie ends. However, the conclusion of the movie can be effectively intepreted as a sign of despair or sign of hope. Viewers are free to decide, based on their personal opinions and perspectives.

Magnolia Pictures released “The Assessment” in select U.S. cinemas on March 21, 2025. The movie was released on digital and VOD on April 8, 2025.

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