Less a documentary than an Impressionist, or more accurately Cubist, study of colonialism, with the (Belgian) Congo as its subject and American racism in the wings. Snippets of Black jazz greats, bold headlines and memorable archival footage, especially of the U.N., paint a rather condemnatory portrait of big power politics, business interests and Cold War […]
An audacious petit-opera from director Jacques Audiard, with four leading ladies, engaging singing and a message about human potential. All this in a setting reminiscent of Narcos. Zoe Saldana is winning awards, Selena Gomez is terrific, but it is Karla Sofia Gascon that does the real acting. The story has improbabilities, like every opera, but the […]
There is more nicotine than subtlety in this retrospective recounting of Lee Miller’s career as a wartime photographer. When every scene is high drama, none are. Kate Winslet trundles from one confrontation to another with enough overacting expressiveness to make Ralph Fiennes in Conclave seem restrained. But worst, probably, is that her character is neither sympathetic […]
A meditation/symposium on the subject of art repatriation, in this case from France’s Musee du Quai Branly to the Republic of Benin, not to be confused with the Kingdom of Benin from which the British looted art in 1897, five years after the French appropriated the objects at issue here from the Kingdom of Dahomey […]
Steve McQueen is an admirable writer-director of historical race-based dramas, and this film. is no exception. Unfortunately, it is easier to admire than to connect with, as bland characters and an unfocused story don’t measure up to the special effects and crowd scenes of London in the blitz. Young George reenacts “Lassie Come Home,” but […]
Writer/director/actor Jesse Eisenberg has crafted a charming short story of two cousins on a Holocaust tour of Poland, not a minute too long or too short. Unfortunately for one’s viewing pleasure, Kieran Culkin’s neurotic, or “unfiltered,” character is a real pain, albeit not the one alluded to in the film’s title (or is it?). Hearing […]
I love Bruce, his band, his music, his performances, but there was nothing new in this documentary about his latest tour. I would have learned what his producer Jon Landau looked like if I hadn’t just had dinner with him last month in New York.
The curtain opened and hilarity ensued. And ensued and ensued. Historical inaccuracy and period costumes added a patina to the comedy that made the farce engaging. The actors, especially Conrad Ricamora as “Mary’s Husband,” were so good and the action so bawdy that there wasn’t a moment or scene that wasn’t funny, but Cole Escola […]
A directorial tour de force from Sean Baker, this tale of an erotic dancer caught up with a Russian oligarch’s son trafficked in extreme after extreme without losing touch with reality and very funny moments without descending to farce. It was, however, rather longer than necessary: the opening act of excess carried on well after […]
Visually sumptuous–those cardinals’ robes plus the Sistine Chapel!–but the story and characters never grabbed me. Ralph Fiennes was all anguish and emotion, making me long for Anthony Hopkins. John Lithgow, Stanley Tucci and comparable Italian and African(?) stars just made me wonder what they were doing at the Vatican. The plot, too, was cardboard thin, […]
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