(Criterion/HBO MAX/kanopy/tubi/VOD) Elaine May’s exploration of two desperate NYC mobsters (Peter Falk and John Cassavettes) trying to save themselves while using each other is as good as any take on weathered, toxic male friendship as you’re going to get on film.
(Plex/Prime/Tubi/VOD/Vudu)? A revenge thriller from director Natalia Leite (BARE) and actress/writer Leah McKendrick that pairs well with PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN. It’s a stylish tale about assault and baring yourself in your work, unfurls at a fine clip, and is more complex than you might expect.
(YouTube/DVD) THEODORA GOES WILD is a screwball comedy that not only features winsome repartee between leads Irene Dunne and Melvyn Douglas, but is also about liberating men and women from cultural shackles.
Dunne is Theodora Lynn, a Sunday school teacher by day, but racy, explicit romance author by night. No one but her publisher knows about her writerly habits, at least until Michael Grant (Douglas) the progressive cover artist of her book, discovers her secret and finds himself hellbent to convince her to come clean and live an open life, one where she be proud of her achievements and can actually spend her well-earned novel money. Consequently, he shows up in Theodora’s small town and weasels his way into her life posing as a gardener, and antics ensue.
It’s a tightly scripted, rollickingly good time from director Richard Boleslawski, based on a story from Mary McCarthy (who certainly pitched it as a story she wanted to see on screen). Yes, there’s some dated content, but it has aged remarkably well.
(kanopy/Mubi/VOD) THE TURIN HORSE is the last film from Béla Tarr (probably best known for WERCKMEISTER HARMONIES or, if you run in my circles, for the approximately seven hour long SATANTANGO). I tend to doubt it’s the last, as he’s still directing documentaries and producing shorts, but the film — which was co-directed by his wife Ágnes Hranitzky — certainly has a sense of finality to it.
It’s a gorgeous black-and-white piece, told over the span of roughly two-and-a-half hours, totals 30 shots and it moves at a glacial pace. It’s about a father and daughter, and the father happens to own the horse that was whipped so many times it made Nietzsche have a breakdown.
It’s an existential marvel, but, well, that’s not exactly what I remember it for. What I really remember are the boiled potatoes and, when I see a boiled potato, I think of this film.
If you don’t have the time for this masterpiece, may I suggest this 1m44s edit?
(N/A) Unfortunately, TIMER is difficult to watch via traditional means: you can’t stream it, it’s been out-of-print for a while, and copies sell for far more than I would expect. Consequently, I haven’t seen it in a number of years. However, I’m recommending it because, not only do I recall it being very charming, but Jac Schaeffer wrote and directed it, and she just happens to be the head writer of WANDAVISION.
TIMER (explicitly spelled as TiMER) is a high-concept romantic drama that would be an immediate Netflix success today, but barely found an audience when it was released. The trailer does a perfect job of succinctly summarizing matters, but I’ll still try: in the future, you can get a visible wrist implant that ticks down the moment to when you meet your soulmate. The lead, Oona (Emma Caulfield Ford, who also appears in WANDAVISION, but is best known as Anya from BUFFY) gets her implant and it’s blank, and the film is about her coping and navigating her love life with that uncertainty.
It’s winsome and smart, without completely leaning on a lot of traditional romantic drama tropes. Folks have their own agency and expectations and insecurities!
Again, I haven’t seen it in a number of years, but it makes sense that the writer/director of this film would do something interesting with a Marvel Cinematic Universe series.
(Criterion/DVD/BR) Unfortunately it’s currently not available to stream, but Criterion recently released a newly restored edition of SMOOTH TALK, a very dark coming-of-age tale from documentarian/director Joyce Chopra based on Joyce Carol Oates’ short story WHERE ARE YOU GOING, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? It’s vintage 80s, very sun-kissed, featuring Laura Dern in one of first roles, plenty of mall shopping, bangles, and teen girl sexuality.
It’s also worth noting that the new Criterion release also contains a copy of Oates’ short, well-worth reading after watching the film, if you haven’t read it already. (Or you can read it here.) I simply love it when Criterion does this sort of thing. For instance, my Criterion copy of PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK has a bundled copy of the source material.
(Prime) Tayarisha Poe’s debut SELAH AND THE SPADES can be described as DEAR WHITE PEOPLE meets BRICK and, while I can’t argue with that — it’s full of teens scheming in a neo-noir underworld of their very own making — it’s more than a mashup of those two, partially because it focuses predominantly on girls and power. Also, while it’s Jomo Fray’s first feature as a cinematographer, his experience with short films is wisely executed, providing a strikingly visual film while still keeping a steady hand on SELAH’s framing.
(peacock/VOD) AWAY FROM HER is Sarah Polley’s (THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN, DAWN OF THE DEAD (2004)) directorial debut, based Alice Munro’s short story THE BEAR COMES OVER THE MOUNTAIN. It’s a heartbreaking piece about a married couple, Grant (Gordon Pinsent) and Fiona Anderson (Julie Christie, DOCTOR ZHIVAGO) dealing with Fiona’s struggle with Alzheimer’s. Fiona moves to a nursing home where she starts to find herself attracted to another man in the home, and Grant has to cope with the repercussions of this new stage of their lives.
Polley keeps a light touch with the melodrama, letting the story breath and sit with you as opposed to amping up the tone. The end result is a marvelously confident first effort, marking the beginning of a new career.
(Criterion/VOD) A character profile of a man suffering from schizophrenia by writer/director Lodge Kerrigan (also the co-creator of Starz’s adaptation of Soderbergh’s THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE). Immaculate sound design, a strained, soulful performance from Peter Greene (PULP FICTION’s Zed) and a dearth of dialogue really make this film shine but, despite all of that, I’ll never forget it because of one scene featuring fingernails.
(HBO MAX/VOD) Holy hell, I finally finished watching this franchise! For whatever reason, it took me years to finally get around to watching the last film but I’m glad I did. I should have seen that end coming but, delightfully, I did not. FINAL DESTINATION 5 is a fine return to form after the lackluster FINAL DESTINATION 3 and the abysmal THE FINAL DESTINATION, featuring some fantastic set pieces and adds some nuance to the characters that’s often lacking with the franchise.
Allegedly, a new film — not a reboot — is in development, which is a bit of a shame considering how explosive FINAL DESTINATION 5 ends, but then again it didn’t seem like a fifth film was necessary either.
