Every Tuesday, discriminating viewers are confronted with a flurry of choices: new releases on disc and on-demand, vintage and original movies on any number of streaming platforms, catalog titles making a splash on Blu-ray or 4K. This weekly column sifts through all of those choices to pluck out the movies most worth your time, no matter how you’re watching.
This week brings us a much-ballyhooed new bio-doc, a fall festival favorite, an intensely personal documentary, and several noteworthy catalog titles, including a quintet of ‘90s work by one of our finest filmmakers.
ON NETFLIX:
“Miss Americana”: It’s okay to feel a smidge of skepticism about an official, authorized behind-the-curtain documentary about one of the most impeccably managed superstars in all of pop music. But director Lana Wilson (“After Tiller”) brilliantly turns that skepticism into the film’s subject, pushing in on Taylor Swift’s self-proclaimed need “to be thought of as ‘good,’” which she describes as her “complete and total belief system,” and the difficult decision to blow that up in an attempt to present herself as something closer to who she is. “Miss Americana” is, surprisingly enough, not a music documentary at all (there may not be a full song performance in it); it’s an in-depth profile of a young woman at a crossroads, candidly confessing how she got there, and where she hopes to go from there.
ON AMAZON PRIME:
“The Cabin in the Woods”: The tide-shift in public opinion of Joss Whedon has been fairly swift, and though this 2012 meta-horror/comedy – new on Prime – was mostly framed as his project (he co-wrote and produced), perhaps it’s best to revisit as the debut of co-writer/director Drew Goddard, whose 2018 feature “Bad Times at the El Royale” is already accumulating something of a cult following. A deliriously giddy and relentlessly entertaining goof on slasher movie conventions, “Cabin” also provides an early peek at Chris Hemsworth’s comic chops, and serves as a nagging reminder that the world needs more Richard Jenkins / Bradley Whitford buddy movies. Also, can we get some more Kristen Connolly vehicles lined up?
ON 4K:
“Boyz N The Hood”: It’s been less than a year since the untimely death of filmmaker John Singleton, which makes Sony’s 4K release of his acclaimed debut feature more than a little bittersweet. But it’s also a fine tribute to his considerable gifts. A good, old-fashioned coming-of-age story (with echoes of “Stand by Me” and “American Grafitti,” amongst others) imbued with the urgency of rising crime in South Central Los Angeles, “Boyz” showcases Singleton’s off-hand naturalism, masterful control of image and sound, and sharp eye for casting – it features early, excellent work by Cuba Gooding Jr., Ice Cube, Regina King, Angela Bassett, Morris Chestnut, Nia Long, and Laurence Fishburne. Part of a wave of early ‘90s African-American filmmaking that was cut short too soon, “Boyz” now stands as both a keenly observed time capsule and a timeless, vibrant work. (Includes audio commentary, deleted scenes, audition videos, featurettes, music videos, press conference, trailer, and tribute to Singleton.)
ON BLU-RAY / DVD / VOD:
“Waves”: Trey Edward Schults (“Krisha,” “It Comes at Night”) writes and directs this shifting-narrative drama, tackling high school romance, toxic masculinity, and familial responsibility. Kevin Harrison, Jr. is a marvel in (initially, at least) the leading role, crafting a raw, vulnerable performance that soon reveals the rage inside. Like his father, Sterling K. Brown masterfully shows us where both sides of that personality come from – he can shift from soft-spoken to shudderingly steely in the blink of an eye – and Lucas Hedges is disarming, deploying his considerable charisma to help the film’s unexpected hinge moment work. “Waves” was met with some derision when it hit theaters last fall, and it certainly has its problems. But the earnestness of the picture is undeniable, and there are moments here of genuine, unvarnished power.
ON DVD/ VOD:
“The Disappearance of My Mother”: “I have spent my life filming and photographing my mother,” explains Beniamino Barrese, “never knowing why.” In this personal essay documentary, he tries to find out. His mother, Benedetta Barzini, spent her life in the spotlight, first as a model, then as a journalist and teacher; now, reaching old age, she’s ready to step out of that spotlight, to go off the grid and not return. Barrese attempts to understand why, and she’s not exactly a willing subject (she’s only making the movie, she insists, “because I tried in every way to tell you no”), and some of the best – and funniest – material details the filmmaker simply trying to make his movie, and her refusal to indulge him. “I look forward to this being over,” she announces, “so I can find Ben again.” But you see why he wanted to make it – she’s a remarkable woman with a fascinating journey, and his film is intensely personal and, by its conclusion, surprisingly moving. (Includes audio commentary by Eric Hynes, deleted scenes, and trailer.)
ON BLU-RAY:
“Mo’ Better Blues”: The real heroes of this New Release Tuesday are KL Studio Classics, who are releasing a jaw-dropping five vintage Spike Lee joints, most of them on Blu-ray for the first time. First up is his 1990 jazz drama “Mo’ Better Blues,” widely dismissed at the time of its release – as, it seems, any follow-up to a masterpiece like “Do the Right Thing” might be. But it’s an appropriate successor, grappling as it does with the responsibilities of the artist, and the struggle between creating “pure” works and commercial ones. This struggle, a defining one for Lee’s jazz-musician father, reappears in “Crooklyn”; Lee’s jazz heritage is reflected by the filmmaking, which leans in to the mellow vibe of the music and collaborative nature of its players. Denzel Washington is terrific in the first of his four collaborations with Lee; the stand-out supporting cast includes Wesley Snipes, Cynda Williams, Giancarlo Esposito, and the late, great Robin Harris. (Includes audio commentary by K. Austin Collins and trailer.)
“Jungle Fever”: Lee’s fifth feature was titled and marketed as a provocative look at interracial relationships, and both sell the picture short; with its big, busy ensemble cast, and their heady discussions and long digressions into race, sex, drugs, relationships, and family, this is Spike’s “Nashville” or “Magnolia” – a big-canvas portrait of New York City in the Dinkins era. Wesley Snipes and Annabella Sciorra are the ostensible leads, as a Harlem-dwelling architect and Bensonhurst-born secretary who fall into (at the very least) lust and watch as their affair disrupts their neighborhoods and their lives. Things get a little sloggy when the dialogue gets too explicit, and the ending doesn’t work at all. But it’s full of rich characters and layered performances – particularly Samuel L. Jackson, electrifying as Snipes’ destructive, drug-addicted older brother.
“Crooklyn”: Much as “Mo’ Better” was shrugged off after “Do the Right Thing,” Lee’s first film after “Malcolm X” didn’t make much noise. But it’s one of his most personal pictures, co-written with sister Joie Susannah Lee (who co-stars in most of his early films) and brother Cinqué Lee, inspired by their childhood in the streets and stoops of Brooklyn, circa 1973. The warm colors and home-y style recall the cinema of the era, while his usual stylistic playfulness runs wild (love how the glue-sniffing neighborhood junkies float upside down), and the use of period music is unsurprisingly brilliant. But the real power is in the performances; Alfre Woodard is a wonder, no-nonsense but heartbreaking, as their mother, while Delroy Lindo is warm and sensitive as the dad. The Lees’ sharp script dramatizes the tiny conflicts that break a family apart while lending weight to the kind of tiny slights that feel like the end of the world when you’re a kid. It’s one of Lee’s most nakedly emotional – dare I say sentimental – works.
“Clockers”: When Lee took on this adaptation of Richard Price’s novel for producer Martin Scorsese, he was hoping to have the final word in the so-called “hood movie,” the subgenre of gangster flicks that had flooded in the market in the wake of “Boyz” and “Menace II Society.” And that aim is clear the execution – this is a bleak piece of work, depicting the life and future of a low-level drug dealer (then-newcomer Mekhi Phifer) as hopeless and best and a death sentence at worst. Yet the filmmaking is exhilaratingly alive, and Price’s characters are as complicated and unpredictable as ever – particularly Lindo as the patriarchal drug lord, Harvey Keitel as the police detective at the story’s center, and John Turturro as his partner. (Includes audio commentary by K. Austin Collins and trailer.)
“Summer of Sam”: The summer of 1977 was a busy time in New York City: there was a heatwave and a blackout, disco was the rage, punk was on the rise, Plato’s Retreat was open (and open), and oh yeah, a serial killer who called himself “Son of Sam” was murdering brunettes late at night. Lee lived through all that – he made one of his first documentaries about that summer – so his attentiveness to replicating the city, its details, and its paranoia is unsurprising but still breathtaking. What’s strange about “Summer of Sam,” considering all that was happening and all the stories to tell, is how Lee and his screenwriters conclude viewers would be most interested in the Madonna-Whore Complex of leading man John Leguizamo. His marital woes end up eating way too much of the running time, but there are nevertheless some incredible moments here and sequences of incredible energy and verve. (Includes audio commentary, Leguizamo interview, and trailer.)
