Showing Up (Kelly Reichardt, 2023). Kelly Reichardt demonstrates again that she’s a modern master of small, resoundingly human stories. Working from a screenplay coauthored with her regular writing partner, Jon Raymond, Reichardt tells the story of Lizzy (Michelle Williams), a … Continue reading Then Playing — Showing Up; Dear White People; California Split
My American Cousin (Sandy Wilson, 1985). This amusing, small-scale coming-of-age drama from Canadian writer-director Sandy Wilson draws on her own childhood to tell the story of a girl on the cusp of her teenaged years (Margaret Langrick) whose drowsy summer … Continue reading Then Playing — My American Cousin; The Trouble with Harry; Zero Motivation
#53 — Jenny Slate as Donna Stern in Obvious Child (Gillian Robespierre, 2014) When Gillian Robespierre developed her feature directorial debut, Obvious Child, she had Jenny Slate in mind for the lead role of Donna, a woman whose drunken canoodling … Continue reading Greatish Performances #53
Without You I’m Nothing (John Boskovich, 1990). Too much of an iconoclast to have an easy path in the world of entertainment, Sandra Bernhard had to make her own way. In the late nineteen-eighties, she mounted a one-woman stage show … Continue reading Then Playing — Without You I’m Nothing; Love Is Strange; The One and Only Dick Gregory
Laggies (Lynn Shelton, 2014). There are other films that depict a twenty-something character’s panicked retreat from the looming responsibility of adulthood, but few make the minor insurrection as charmingly pathetic as Laggies. Directed by Lynn Shelton (working from someone else’s … Continue reading Then Playing — Laggies; This Changes Everything; Buck and the Preacher
Cop Car (Jon Watts, 2015). Like the product of a mysterious third Coen brother who got some of Steven Spielberg’s DNA spliced into him in utero, Cop Car begins with a simple premise, predicated on the wonderstruck and impulsive decision … Continue reading Playing Catch-Up — Cop Car; The Predator; The Case Against 8
Clouds of Sils Maria (Olivier Assayas, 2014). In this wryly funny and wise rumination on aging and celebrity, the grand Juliette Binoche plays Maria, a movie star who is coaxed into a production of the play that made her a star, … Continue reading Playing Catch-Up — Clouds of Sils Maria; 13 Rue Madeleine; Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Get Low (Aaron Schneider, 2009). A wry comic drama all baled up in folksy charms, Get Low is so thoroughly pitched toward star Robert Duvall’s strengths that its difficult to imagine the film existing in a universe without him. Duvall … Continue reading Playing Catch-Up — Get Low; Ex Libris: New York Public Library; What We Do in the Shadows
#32 — Essie Davis as Amelia Vanek in The Babadook (Jennifer Kent, 2014) In some ways, actors in horror movies have it easy. There is a clear vernacular to the art of duplicating terror, honed through decades upon decades of … Continue reading Greatish Performances #32
Cinderella (Kenneth Branagh, 2015). It’s grading on the most generous of curves, but as a crass attempt to develop a new revenue stream for a beloved Disney animated class, the live action Cinderella isn’t so bad. It’s certainly a damn sight better than the grotesque senses assault of Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, which basically established this type of cinematic tomb raiding. Similarly, Kenneth Branagh’s directing is more tightly controlled and snappily efficient than anything else he’s done in ages, the stricter corporate oversight perhaps taming his penchant for dragging indulgence. Most of the acting is merely perfunctory, save for … Continue reading Branagh, Brooks, Leigh, McGrath, Trank
Coffee for Two 