MoviesNews

On the Big Screen This Week: The Black Europe Film Festival, a BDSM Date Movie, Oscar Shorts, and the Most Unnecessary Remake of the Decade

Friends, you know me. I prefer to use my mighty powers as a critic to promote the righteous rather than to punish the wicked. So when I call for a boycott, you know I don’t do so lightly.

But that’s what I’m doing this week with How to Make a Killing, a new movie that, like most new movies, stars Glen Powell and Margaret Qualley. Why? Because it violates my No. 1 rule of filmmaking: Don’t remake Alec Guinness movies.

I take this rule very seriously. The Ladykillers is the one Coen brothers movie I will never see. I even put off watching the Gary Oldman Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, which turned out to be quite all right.

Yes, How to Make a Killing is only “loosely based” on the 1949 Guinness classic Kind Hearts and Coronets. But rules are rules, and if you the see the new movie before you watch the old one you are my sworn enemy.

Instead, go see Pillion or Nirvanna the Band…, both of which I review below.

The Big StealPromotional still

Thursday, February 19

Salt of the Earth (1954)
East Side Freedom Library
Mexican zinc miners go on strike. Presented by TriLingua Cinema. Free. 6 p.m. More info here.

The First Wives Club (1996)
Emagine Willow Creek
Look out, husbands! $12. 7:30 p.m. More info here.

Wings of Desire (1987)
Grandview 1&2
Peter Falk has some advice for lovelorn angel Bruno Ganz. $14.14. 9:15 p.m. More info here.

The Big Steal (1949)
Heights Theater
Robert Mitchum is a cop framed for robbery. $16. 7 p.m. More info here.

Paul McCartney: Band on the Run (2025)
AMC Southdale/Lagoon Cinema
A former Beatle becomes a ’70s rock star. AMC: $15. 7 p.m. More info here. Lagoon: $15.50. 7 p.m. More info here.

Fanon (2025)
Main Cinema
This biopic of revolutionary theorist Franz Fanon opens this year’s Black Europe Film Festival. $12. 6:45 p.m. More info here.

Endless CookiePromotional still

Friday, February 20

The Substance (2024)
Alamo Drafthouse
Don’t do it, Demi! $20. 7:15 p.m. More info here.

Ganja and Hess (1973)
Heights Theater
Bill Gunn’s Black vampire classic. $13. 9:45 p.m. More info here.

Hanami (2025)
Main Cinema
A Cape Verdean girl grows up without her mother. Part of the Black Europe Film Festival. $12. 6:30 p.m. More info here.

Pets on a Train (2025)
Marcus West End
Aka Falcon Express—a movie so good it needed two titles. Through Sunday. $3. 12:30 p.m. More info here.

Twisted (2026)
Riverview Theater
Prof is in a horror movie. $7. 9:15 p.m. More info here.

When the Wind Blows (1986)
Trylon
An animated Threads? $8. 7 p.m. Saturday 8:30 p.m. Sunday 3 p.m. More info here.

Gwen and the Book of Sand (1985)
Trylon
Animated French film about a woman who journeys to free her love from a death cult. $8. 8:45 p.m. Saturday 7 p.m. Sunday 4:45 p.m. More info here.

Endless Cookie (2025)
Walker Art Center
In this animated film, two half-brothers—one Indigenous, one white—grow up very differently in 1980s Canada. Also Saturday. $12/$15. 7 p.m. More info here.

Rudy Gobert No. 27Promotional still

Saturday, February 21

Twin Peaks: The Return: Parts 1-4 (2017)
Alamo Drafthouse
Alamo’s trip through the Twin Peaksiverse continues. $10.99. Noon. More 
info here.

Deep Sky (2023)
AMC Southdale
Watch images from the Webb Telescope in IMAX. $6.50. 11:30 a.m. More info here.

Rudy Gobert No. 27 (2024)
Capri Theater
I’m so far behind, I’m still catching up with Rudy Gobert No. 16. Part of the Black Europe Film Festival. Free. 3 p.m. More info here.

Spike Lee: The Last King of Brooklyn (2025)
Capri Theater
He sure does love Brooklyn. Part of the Black Europe Film Festival. Free. 4:30 p.m. More info here.

Memory of Princess Mumbi (2025)
Capri Theater
The filmmaker will be on hand to discuss/defend his use of generative AI. Part of the Black Europe Film Festival. Free. 7 p.m. More info here.

Chase Atlantic: LOST IN HEAVEN (2026)
AMC Southdale/Emagine Willow Creek
Hate to be a “never heard of ’em” guy, but… AMC: $15. 2 p.m. More info here. Emagine: $17. 2 p.m. More info here.

Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse (2018)
Heights Theater
We’re never gonna get another one of these, are we? $13. 11 a.m. More info here.

Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
Heights Theater
We’re now as far from the ’90s as the ’60s were from the ’90s. $13. 9:45 p.m. More info here.

NTL: Hamlet
Main Cinema
Hiran Abeysekera plays the Dane. $20. 11 a.m. More info here.

Almost FamousPromotional still

Sunday, February 22

Millennium Mambo (2001)
Alamo Drafthouse
Shu Qi is so pretty. $10.99. 4:15 p.m. More info here.

Titanic (1997)
Alamo Drafthouse
Please enjoy this photo of Kate Winslet and Nicole Kidman with Babe the Pig at the Oscars. $10.99. 11:45 p.m. Wednesday 2:30 p.m. More info here.

90’s Skate Video Night!
Emagine WIllow Creek
Just what it says. $6.21. 7 p.m. More info here.

Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)
Emagine Willow Creek
Mickey Rooney, how could you? Also Wednesday. $11. 3:45 p.m. & 6:30 p.m. More info here.

Almost Famous (2000)
Grandview 1&2
This is exactly what being a music journalist is like. Also Thursday. $14.14. 9:15 p.m. More info here.

Battleship Potemkin (1926)
Heights Theater
The Russian silent classic, with accompaniment from Katie Condon. $20. 11:30 a.m. More info here.

The Empty Grave (2025)
Main Cinema
Tanzanian families demand the return of their dead relations’ remains. Part of the Black Europe Film Festival. $12. 1:15 p.m. More info here.

The Travelers (2025)/Afro-Elderly (2025)
Main Cinema 
Two films about borders, belonging, and aging. Part of the Black Europe Film Festival. $12. 4 p.m. More info here.

Focus on Ethiopia
Main Cinema
A selection of short films about Ethiopia. Part of the Black Europe Film Festival. $12. 7:15 p.m. More info here.

The Room (2003)
Roxy’s Cabaret
Has anyone made it out to one of these Roxy’s Sunday movies? I’d like to check it out sometime. Free. 7 p.m. More info here.

The Neverending Story (1984)
Trylon
A boy escapes into a fantastical (and often creepy) storybook world. $8. 6:15 p.m. Monday-Tuesday 7 & 9:15 p.m. More info here.

MoonstruckPromotional still

Monday, February 23

Harold and Maude (1971)
Alamo Drafthouse
RIP Bud Cort. $13.99. 7:15 p.m. More info here.

Homecoming: The Tokyo Series (2026)
AMC Southdale 16/Emagine Willow Creek/Marcus West End
Baseball’s biggest Japanese stars return home. Also Tuesday. Showtimes, prices, and more info here.

Moonstruck (1987)
Edina Mann
When the Earth’s satellite spins out of orbit and heads our way, only Cher and Nicolas Cage can save. Also Wednesday. $12.12. 7 p.m. More info here.

Sugar Hill (1974)
Emagine Willow Creek
Watch out, mobsters—she’s using voodoo! $9. 7:30 p.m. More info here.

The Spook Who Sat by the DoorPromotional still

Tuesday, February 24

I Live Here Now (2026)
Alamo Drafthouse
A woman is trapped in a haunted hotel. An advance screening. $7. 5:30 p.m. More info here.

Ju-On: The Grudge (2002)
Alamo Drafthouse
Another J-horror hit that Hollywood recycled. $10.99. 8 p.m. More info here.

The Spook Who Sat by the Door (1973)
Bryant Lake Bowl
A Black CIA agent becomes an inner city guerilla leader. $5. 6:30 p.m. More info here.

In the Mood for Love (2000)
Parkway Theater
The yearningest movie ever made. $15. 7 p.m. More info here.

Black SamuraiPromotional still

Wednesday, February 25

Black Samurai (1976)
Emagine Willow Creek
Jim Kelly is Black. And he’s a samurai. $9. 7:30 p.m. More info here.

New York Dog Film Festival 2026
Lagoon Cinema
Just what it says. $15.50. 7 p.m. More info here.

Les Creatures (1966)
Trylon
In this Agnès Varda film, a writer looks for characters on a small island. Free for Trylon Club Members. 7 p.m. More info here

WTO/99Promotional still

Thursday, February 26

Perfect Days (2023)
Alamo Drafthouse
Wim Wenders’s lovely film about the joys of routine and the wonders of Japanese bathrooms. $10. 7 p.m. More info here.

Book Club (2018)
Emagine Willow Creek
Some ladies read 50 Shades of Grey. $12. 7:30 p.m. More info here.

Ghost Elephants (2025)
Emagine Willow Creek
Werner Herzog trails a naturalist seeking elephants. $13. 6:05 p.m. More info here.

Ratatouille (2007)
Granada
You’re telling me a rat tatted this touille? A Taste the Movies event. $169.99. 6 p.m. More info here.

Riot in Cell Block 11 (1954)
Heights Theater
Filmed on location at Folsom Prison. $13. 7 p.m. More info here.

Point Break (1991)
King Coil Spirits
Admission includes two drinks and popcorn. Presented by Trilingua Cinema. $30. 7 p.m. More info here.

Il Maestro (My Tennis Maestro) (2025)
Main Cinema
This year’s Italian Film Festival kicks off with this tennis comedy. $45.50. Pre-show opening event at 6 p.m. 7:30 p.m. More info here.

The Princess Bride (1987)
Parkway Theater
RIP Rob Reiner. $12/$15. Trivia at 6:30 p.m. Movie at 7 p.m. More info here.

WTO/99 (2025)
Riverview Theater
Newish doc about the 1999 clash between protesters and the WTO in Seattle. $10 donation requested. 7:15 p.m. More info here.

Follow the links for showtimes. 

See also  How to watch Packers vs Steelers 2025 — stream week 8 NFL game

All That’s Left of You
The mother of a Palestinian teen explains how he came to join a West Bank protest. 

EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert
Baz Luhrmann presents lost Elvis footage.

Fruitvale Station (2013)
The beginning of a beautiful friendship between Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan.

A Gift From Heaven
Vietnamese film about a six-year-old searching for his father.

Hey Bhagawan
The censors made them retitle this back in India. 

How to Make a Killing
Me and all my buddies from r/AlecGuinness are gonna review bomb the hell out of this.

I Can Only Imagine 2
Christian band MercyMe struggles with the pressures of fame.

Kokuho
The son of a yakuza gang leader.

Midwinter BreakPromotional still

Midwinter Break
Lesley Manville and Ciarán Hinds have relationship issues during a trip to Amsterdam

Pillion
Who says BDSM can’t be romantic? In Harry Lighton’s directorial debut, Harry Melling is Colin, a meek little gay fella who sings in a barbershop quartet at the local with his dad while his dying mom tries to fix him up with someone nice before she passes. Enter the opposite of her hopes and dreams: an impossibly chiseled Alexander Skarsgård as a biker named Ray. Under Ray’s laconic tutelage, Colin dives happily into his new submissive leather ‘n’ chains lifestyle, and the first half of Pillion is both warmly affectionate and flat-out hilarious. It loses its way for a bit in the midsection until Colin starts quietly asserting himself, hoping to get to know the Ray behind his dom exterior. The result is a crowdpleaser that doesn’t untangle its kink. If only it had opened here on Valentine’s Day weekend like it did in so many other cities. A-

Psycho Killer
A Kansas cop sets out the find her husband’s murderer.

Scare Out
Honestly, first I’ve heard of this Zhang Yimou spy thriller.

This Is Not a Test
Students battles zombies.

2026 Animated Oscar-Nominated Shorts
It’s that time of year. 

2026 Live Action Oscar-Nominated Shorts
More shorts.

Follow the links for showtimes.

Avatar: Fire and Ash
There’s a silly ongoing online debate that no, I will not join, about whether the Avatar movies have any “cultural impact.” But I can say that watching the first 10 minutes of each new sequel is like seeing your in-laws’ extended family over the holidays: Everyone looks kind of familiar but damned if you can be expected to remember their names, let alone what their deal is. And you know what? I like that. When you’re not actually watching an Avatar movie, nobody expects you to think about Avatar at all, and what more can you ask from a talented megalomaniac’s misguided passion project? James Cameron still can’t plot for shit, and even more than its two predecessors, Avatar: Fire and Ash is just one damn thing after another. (It hardly fits his grandiose vision, but what Cameron is narratively suited for, with his cliffhangery series of captures and escapes, is an old-fashioned serial.) So… do those damn things still look cool? Sigh, yes, they still look cool. We’re introduced to the Mangkwan, a more vicious race of Na’vi who shoot flaming arrows and practice dark magic, ruled by the sinewy, feline Varang (Oona Chaplin, whose hissing skills rival even Zoe Saldana’s). There’s a billowy, translucent trading vessel that floats through the air. Nasty squids with pincers haunt the ocean depths. So while all the usual caveats apply— Cameron’s ideas about indigenous peoples remain ideologically suspect, the younger actors still sound like they’re doing voice work for a tepid Scooby-Doo reboot, the whole thing’s just too damn long—Avatar remains your best one-stop-shop for state-of-the-art ecotopian fantasy and the righteous destruction of military hardware. B

The Best Man (1999)

Blue MoonPromotional still

Blue Moon

Bugonia —ends February 19
Even when I like a Yorgos Lanthimos movie, I feel kinda played—there’s just something so smugly conniving about his glib riffs off our cultural moment, as though he’s figured out exactly how much nihilist grotesquerie titillates Americans without turning them off. But I can’t deny how thoroughly he rips a simple idea to shreds once his jaws clench down. Here, Lanthimos chomps on the paradox of how conspiracy theorists can acutely diagnose societal ills while veering so ludicrously off base when it comes to assigning blame. Jesse Plemons is Teddy Gatz, a beekeeper whose mother is in a coma because she participated in a clinical trial run by pharmaceutical behemoth Auxolith. Putting two and two together, Teddy arrives at the obvious conclusion that this is all part of an extraterrestrial plot to destroy humanity. With often reluctant help from his autistic cousin Don (Aidan Delbis, providing what little heart the movie has), Teddy kidnaps Auxolith’s glam girlboss, who is, of course, Emma Stone. Down as ever for whatever Yorgos flings at her, Stone particularly excels at the effortless doublespeak of the affluent, as she displayed in The Curse. I mean, rich people do sound like aliens when they talk to us. Bugonia succeeds primarily as a series of tense moments—Teddy’s interrogations of Michelle, a visit to Teddy’s home from a cop with a creepy past, Michelle’s attempts to turn Don against his cousin—but I appreciate how Lanthimos undercuts what could be an absurdist catharsis with a grim coda. And corporate queen Stone, head back, singing along to “Good Luck, Babe!” as her Range Rover cruises down the highway, is an indelible image of our age. A-

See also  Anuv Jain’s concert surprises singles with free hoodies

Cold Storage

Come See Me in the Good Lightends February 19

Crime 101

Dracula

Goat

Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die

Hamnet
There’s no reason this should work. Hamlet isn’t “about” the death of Shakespeare’s only son, and even if the play was his way of processing that calamity, what’s that to us? But while I feared the biographical fallacy would run amok through (cursed phrase incoming) Chloé Zhao’s first film since Eternals—movies have a tedious habit of treating works of art as riddles we decode to understand an artist’s life—Hamnet honors the complexity of human creativity. It helps that the central figure isn’t Shakespeare (Paul Mescal, here to make the girlies weep once more), but his wife Agnes (Jessie Buckley), a “forest witch” (as the villagers say) who takes to motherhood intensely, with a protectiveness born out of her visions of dark foreboding. With the aid of DP Łukasz Żal’s muddy tones and chiaroscuro interiors, and an allusive yet plainspoken script co-written with Maggie O’Farrell (author of the novel that serves as source material), Zhao creates a credible Elizabethan world, and Buckley’s performance, ranging from the subtle flickers of a smile to wracked howls of grief, is all-encompassing. The final segment—the premiere of Hamlet itself—is the emotional equivalent of juggling chainsaws, yet Buckley’s commitment anchors a conceit that could as easily elicit snickers as sniffles. In her expression we watch as the stuff of life—mourning, family drama, the unworthiness we feel in the face of personal tragedy—is subsumed into something greater than its components. A

The Housemaid
Sydney Sweeney is Millie, an ex-con living out of her car who miraculously lands a job as a live-in maid for the wealthy Winchester family. Amanda Seyfried is Nora, the too-perfect wife. Brandon Sklenar is Andrew, a kind Barry Lyndon buff who’s built like an underwear model. There’s also a daughter who looks like she sees dead people. No sooner does Millie sign on than Nora becomes unpredictably moody and vicious. Mysteries abound! Does Nora have an ulterior motive for hiring a hottie with a killer rack? Why does Andrew stick around with his cuckoo wife? Just what is the deal with that dead-eyed kid? If Sydney Sweeney can act, why does she deliver every line in the same flat zoomer mutter, as though she’s just getting the words out of the way? Seyfried has a ball throughout, and Sweeney does wake up for the finale, but trash shouldn’t be this impressed with itself, and the twist—you knew there was one—is undermined by an extended period of explanatory voiceover. Cartoonish about class, which is fine, and about domestic abuse, which is less so, and overall just not enough fun. Next time you think, “They don’t make movies like that anymore,” be careful what you wish for: This is what happens when they try. C+

Iron Lung

KPop Demon Hunters

Love and Basketball (2000)ends February 19

Marty Supreme
Josh Safie and Ronald Bronstein’s script brings the frenetic energy of postwar Jewish fiction to the story of an annoying little man who is very good at 1) ping pong and 2) getting people to do what he wants. In the course of two and a half hours, Marty Mauser robs his uncle, knocks up a married woman, bangs an aging movie star, opens for the Harlem Globetrotters, loses a mobster’s dog, swindles some Jersey rubes, and screws over anyone who gives him a break. The cast is uniformly great, even (grits teeth) Kevin O’Leary, but this is the Timothée Chalamet show, let’s be real. He gets that Marty’s ego and his willingness to be humiliated all come from the same place, that drive to succeed that either hollows you out or reveals your hollowness. Open wounds from the last war seep out all over this film via Jewish resentment, Holocaust survival, Japanese nationalism. And despite an anachronistic ’80s new wave/pop soundtrack blended with composer Daniel Lopatin’s audition to become this generation’s Giorgio Moroder, the production design is impeccable: No one in this movie looks like they’ve ever seen a cell phone. So smart and frantic and bracing that if you’re not careful you might even mistake its closing scene for a moment of heartwarming redemption. A-

Melania

Mercy

The Momentends February 19

Nirvanna the Band the Show the MoviePromotional still

Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie
Matt Johnson cashes in the cred he earned with his 2023 film Blackberry to turn his ‘00s cult web series with Jay McCarrol into perhaps the most relentlessly Canadian hit comedy movie since Strange Brew. The two jokesters play their fictionalized selves, with Matt devising increasingly desperate plans to score their musical duo a gig at a Toronto rock club as Jay grudgingly goes along. When Matt invents a time machine, the fellas find themselves back in 2008 (when their show first streamed), and the trail of period clues leading to the moment when Matt realizes he’s not in 2025 anymore are perfect. As time travelers will do, Matt and Jay soon foul up the time line by interacting with their former selves and must undergo a series of hilarious convolutions to set things right. The Main was a-hootin’ when I saw this, with a guy behind me shouting “Oh no! OH NO!” in anticipation of one gag. (Though there was no reaction quite like the theater-wide groan when a certain music vlogger appeared on screen.) But the movie’s heart is its investment in Toronto as a place, evident as Matt and Jay interact with ordinary Torontonians and tourists and leading to climactic gag that involves the CN Tower, miles of electrical cord, and a police chase. You think studios will take the hint and start green-lighting more low-budget romps like this from funny weirdos? Nah, me either. B+

See also  Saatva Classic and the Saatva Solaire — we’ve tried both mattresses and this is the one we recommend to seniors shopping the Black Friday sales

A Private Lifeends February 19

The Rose: Come Back to Me

The Secret Agent
Kleber Mendonça Filho’s exhilarating new film is deceptively titled. Not only isn’t Marcelo, a.k.a. Armando (Wagner Moura), a spy, but The Secret Agent isn’t even exclusively about him. Mendonça follows Moura’s character, an academic whose clash with a bureaucrat has endangered his life under Brazil’s military dictatorship in the late ’70s, because this story brings us in contact with so many others. The gas station attendant who struggles for days to get the cops to retrieve a dead body. The chatty, energetic Dona Sebastiana (Tânia Maria), who knows everyone in town and helps those in need hide. The Angolan refugee Claudia (Hermila Guedes), hoping for true revolution in her homeland. If you’ve seen the film, each of these characters will live on in your imagination afterward, examples of the breadth of humanity that flourishes despite repression. Searching for some record of his mother, who he never met, Armando visits his son, who while living with his mother’s parents has become obsessed with Jaws. Meanwhile, Armando’s enemies find his location and target him for death. Coincidentally, a human leg is discovered in the jaws of a shark; soon urban legend has it that it’s become reanimated and is prowling the town  For added chaos, this takes place during carnival. All this and Udo Kier’s final role too. A-

Send Help
Sam Raimi the schlock lover and gross-out king is back, and he hasn’t had this much fun since Drag Her to Hell—there are moments of eyeball-gouging here worth the price of admission alone. Rachel McAdams is nerdy office worker Linda, a spreadsheet wiz who’s been screwed over by her new boss, fratty nepo baby Bradley (Dylan O’Brien). En route to a Thailand business meeting, their plane crashes (an understatement—Raimi gleefully rips apart the aircraft and its occupants), with only Linda and Bradley surviving. Naturally, Linda, a Survivor fanatic, thrives in their new island home, while Bradley struggles. If that makes Send Help sound like a late entry in the eat-the-rich movie trend of a few years back, well, kinda, yes, but Raimi is less overwrought and, well, European about class conflict. McAdams is an underutilized comic actress who deserves more roles like this and O’Brien builds off his success in last year’s Twinless—if modern Hollywood wasn’t so inherently tedious he’d have Glen Powell’s career, though selfishly I’d rather have him making the movies he does. (It’s also the second movie in a row where he shows his butt.) Send Help is the best kind of horror comedy, where rather than fearing what awful thing might come next, you look forward to it. What you might dread instead is that the movie could stumble into opposites-attract territory, with Linda and Bradley learning a little something about each other and finding l-u-v. Rest easy. Raimi didn’t save up all his Dr. Strange money just to piss it away on a romcom. A-

Shelter

Sinners
Ryan Coogler’s Jim Crow vampire flick is a truly rare thing: a wholly self-assured mess. Technically and narratively, Coogler knows exactly what he wants to do, whether or not you can keep up, and each of the performers are just as committed. You get Michael B. Jordan distinguishing the murderous twins Smoke and Stack without resorting to caricature, Delroy Lindo as an aged bluesman. Hailee Steinfeld as a seductive quadroon, Jack O’Connell as an undead banjoist, Wunmi Mosaku as a wise hoodoo woman, Saul Williams as a preacher with a new wave hairdo, and I could just keep going. They all populate a vividly simulated Clarksdale, Mississippi to which Jordan’s gangsters have returned to open a juke joint soon targeted by bloodsuckers—you could call this August Wilson’s From Dusk to Dawn. There are visual moments that split the diff between cornball and visionary (I truly did not know Autumn Durald Arkapaw had this in her) and more ideas—about Black spirituality and its vexed relationship to Christianity, about the social role of music, about integration as a deal with the devil—than your average multiplex sees in a whole summer. And if Coogler never slows down to develop those ideas, they still pack a conceptual wallop that complements the film’s lived-in texture. This world is so engrossing that by the time the vamps come calling, I almost wished Coogler would just let his people have their one night undisturbed. But America’s not really like that, is it? A-

Solo Mio

Step Back, Doors Closedends February 19

The Strangers: Chapter 3

The Testament of Ann Lee
Hard not to see Mona Fastvold’s telling of the story of Ann Lee, the woman who brought the Shaker movement to America, as a companion piece to her partner Brady Corbet’s more lauded The Brutalist, which was also built off a Fastvold-Corbet script. Both capture the tension between immigrant outsiders and the ethos of the land they’ve moved to. But Ann Lee is ambitious in a less conventional way, a way I hesitate to call “feminine” but is at least non-masculine, typified in how Ann Lee strives to create a community where Laszlo Toth constructed an accusatory and alienated landmark, and in the film’s flowing structure as well. Though there’s plenty of incident here, there’s not much drama: The “And then… and then…” mode of the religious text that the screenplay takes doesn’t lend itself to that. Fastvold captures the textures of 18th century Britain, the grubby toil and the joyless sex, reminding us that religious extremism once served as a route to agency for the oppressed, and her tone aims for the ecstatic austerity of the Shakers themselves. That’s undercut by a pop sweetness to the hymns and a choreographed precision to the dances that feels stagey; this is a movie musical as much as it’s a representation of the Shaker belief in worship through song. Then again, maybe that genre movie is Fastvold feminizing, even queering, the film epic? Regardless, Amanda Seyfried’s cult leader is both intensely physical and otherworldly; with her luminous eyes, beatifically parted lips, musical Mancunian drawl, and quiet presence, you can see why she has so many followers, despite her “no sex ever” rule. As I overheard one woman say on her way out of the theater, “If celibacy makes you sing like that…”  B

Time Hoppers: The Silk Roadends February 19

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple

“Wuthering Heights”

Zootopia 2




Source link

Digit

Digit is a versatile content creator with expertise in Health, Technology, Movies, and News. With over 7 years of experience, he delivers well-researched, engaging, and insightful articles that inform and entertain readers. Passionate about keeping his audience updated with accurate and relevant information, Digit combines factual reporting with actionable insights. Follow his latest updates and analyses on DigitPatrox.
Back to top button
close