I learned from someone who had bought a ticket to see the amazing film Nightmare Alley last week that the theater emailed her to say they had canceled her screening to make room for more screens to show Spider-Man. It broke my heart.
Here in these last days of the year, the film studios are releasing most of their best titles-the ones that they think have a chance at awards. Most of them are not popcorn pics. They are more thoughtful, more artful, and often go unseen by large audiences. I just want to encourage film lovers to give these films a try- they are currently in limited theatrical release. Of course, someday they’ll be streaming somewhere, but give them your support at the cinema, if you can.
FLEE
The one most likely to reap even more awards nominations, this is a documentary that plays like a fictional feature film and…it’s mostly animated! You’ve seen migration stories before – they are harrowing, tense and often uplifting. They are also adventure in its purest form. FLEE is the 15 year culmination of Danish director Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s efforts to tell the story of his decades long friend, Amin Nawabi.
They met as teenagers in Denmark. Nawabi (and this is what the film is really about) had come from Afghanistan, arriving by himself. No family and he didn’t want to talk about his past, or how he got there.
Eventually, Nawabi lay down, like a psychiatric patient on a couch, and haltingly began to tell how he was a refugee after his country fell in 1989, and his father was taken away. The traumas he endured were many and varied, and the film takes us on his circuitous journey, flashing back but also back to the present for context and for us to learn the secret that Nawabi kept hidden.
It was the animation that made the movie possible- it gave Nawabi the anonymity he needed to tell his story. Rasmussen has done right by his longtime friend. He tells the story with empathy and humanity and heart.
The French Dispatch
I’d like to think that there is no bigger Wes Anderson fan in this world than I. I can say that I have loved or very much liked every movie he’s made since the beginning. His long-delayed and most recent, The French Dispatch, is probably my least favorite. It’s the licorice-flavored gumball that rolls out: I’m still going to chew on it and get to the sweet part, but it’s never gonna be my first choice.
Maybe because the film’s an anthology, I feel like I don’t have time to truly get into the characters?
The premise is that The French Dispatch magazine has just printed its last issue and the film is bringing the articles within it to life. In between the stories, Bill Murray as the publisher pops in for amusing interaction with his soon-to-be unemployed staff.
I’m not going to synopsize each story individually, they are quirky (drinking game: take a shot every time you use or think of the word “quirky” while watching an Anderson film), they are witty and there are some good laugh lines. But none of the stories sticks to your ribs. One is done and onto the next.
What I loved are the elements that make me wait for Anderson’s next films like a kid waiting on Christmas. The art team’s incredible work; the sets and costumes and the way the tiniest of details are given loving attention, all make it worth viewing. The cast of a thousand, which includes: Benicio del Toro, Adrien Brody, Tilda Swinton, Léa Seydoux, Frances McDormand, Timothée Chalamet, Lyna Khoudri, Jeffrey Wright, Mathieu Amalric, Stephen Park, Bill Murray and Owen Wilson, also make for a nice enough sit.
I just wanted to love it, and I don’t. Also, I’m going to watch it again. Told you I’m a fan.
The Novice
I knew absolutely nothing in advance about this Indie from director/writer Lauren Hadaway, but was instantly drawn in and riveted for the pacey 90 minutes of The Novice. I was happy to see that Isabelle Fuhrman (Orphan) has been nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for her performance as Alex Dall, a college freshman who is functioning yet disturbed. She lives a lot inside her own head and when she joins her university’s rowing team and becomes the most obsessively competitive and perfectionist athlete you’ve ever seen, Hadaway does a great job taking us inside Alex’s flashing thoughts and weird dreams and inner, unwell-ish self.
The narrative arc is ostensibly about her quest to earn a spot on the Varsity boat, and while Hadaway knows this world personally and, apparently, gets all the technical stuff right, we are probably ,ore interested in the politics and backstabbing and sabotage and all the other things that are cinematic roadblocks on her journey.
A nail-biting, satisfying watch – this one can already be streamed on-demand, though it’s in theaters.
As an aside, the character is LGBTQ+, and that is just a matter-of-fact part of who she is. I mention it only because the filmmakers mention that she is a “queer college freshman” in their own summary.
Check This Review of Another Indie to Catch in Theaters Now : Red Rocket
