“Kinds of Kindness”
Do you like your Yorgos Lanthimos dark? Perhaps not as whimsical as his last two features? Granted, the Greek director’s interpretation of whimsical isn’t anywhere close to a Disney musical, but with ‘Kindness,’ he touches upon the tenor of his international breakout “Dogtooth” and the underrated thriller “The Killing of a Sacred Deer.” This movie centers on three different stories thematically tied together and features a stellar cast playing different characters in each chapter. While Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe, and Margaret Qualley are superb, its Cannes Film Festival Best Actor winner Jesse Plemons, who steals the show with a remarkable set of performances. – GE [read our review]
“Challengers”
A movie that is effectively a love triangle between two male tennis players and a former women’s prodigy turned coach should not be this cool. Tennis is fun, but it’s not necessarily known or being aesthetically on the cutting edge. Well, no one told that director Luca Guadagino, who helmed the bloody heck out of a somewhat conventional storyline, transforming it into one of the sexiest and pulse-pounding sports movies in years. Driven by a slammin’ late ’90s inspired techno score from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, as well as the addictive energy of three lead actors clearly having a blast – Zendaya, Mike Faist, and O’Connor—“Challengers” is the sort of movie a generation of undergraduate film college students won’t stop talking about for years. And, trust, for Guadagino, that sort of longevity might be worth more than the film’s glowing box office returns. – GE [read our review]
“La Chimera”
Not only can Josh O’Connor play a convincing professional-level tennis player, but the Emmy Award winner and indie film favorite can also pull off a startling performance almost entirely in Italian. Writer and director Alice Rohrwacher follows O’Connor’s ex-pat tomb-raiding archeologist on a surrealistic quest for lost love, treasure, and purpose. Earah Oheded praised the movie in their review from the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, noting, “As with her other works, ‘La Chimera’ is a gift of a film, a philosophically stimulating piece of cinema that has the rare capacity to genuinely transform the way we look at the world.” – GE [read our review]
“Tuesday”
There were two impressive directorial debuts at the 2023 Telluride Film Festival. The first, Annie Baker’s “Janet Planet,” already praised here, and the second, Daina O. Pusić’s startlingly imaginative “Tuesday.” Featuring a captivating performance from Julia Louis-Dreyfus, the movie centers on a teenage girl, Tuesday (Lola Petticrew), battling a terminal illness as her mother (Louis-Dreyfus) tries to come to grips with her diagnosis. When Tuesday meets death embodied in the form of a macaw bird, things take a very surreal turn. Especially when mom takes things into her own hands (or should we say mouth?). The result is a gut-wrenching drama from a filmmaker wonderfully dancing on a wire and perhaps the most impressive visual effect on an independent budget we’ve seen in forever. – GE [read our review]
“Problemista”
One of the most original creative voices of the past decade, Julio Torres has proven he can master stand-up (“My Favorite Shapes”), television (the Peabody Award-winning “Los Espookys”), and, now, cinema. With “Problemista,” he stars, writes, and directs a comedy about an immigrant toy designer hunting for a new sponsor for his work visa. If he can’t find one in 30 days, his dream of working for toy giant Hasbro will come to an end, and he’ll be sent back home to El Salvador. He thinks he’s found a savior in Elizabeth (Tilda Swinton), a kooky art critic who has plenty of her own problems to deal with. Along the way, Torres manages to work in cryogenic preservation, corporate espionage, a physical manifestation of the Craigslist website (in the form of Larry Owens), and a narration from Isabella Rossellini to boot (and that’s honestly just the beginning). It’s funny, a snapshot of post-pandemic New York, and more often than not, simply delightful. – GE [read our review]