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Reviews for April 24th, 2026

 

      Bernstein's Wall is an illuminating and well-researched, but unfocused, hagiographic, overstuffed and undercooked documentary about the legendary composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein. Director Douglas Tirola uses archival footage and the letters that he wrote in order to inform the audience of how Bernstein became a composer and conductor, of his childhood, of his relationship with his father and of his bisexuality. The film is all over the place thematically, so better edited and focus would've helped it to flow better. Beyond that, though, it feels too dry and academic. Bombarding the audience with archival footage isn't enough to make it transcend as a documentary or to engage anyone who isn't a fan of classical music. It also overstays its welcome, feels repetitive and drags, especially during the last 30 minutes. There's nothing about the doc that requires it to be seen on the big screen. Unfortunately, director Douglas Tirola doesn't manage to find the right balance between entertaining the audience and provoking them emotionally as well as intellectually. At a running time of 1 hour and 45 minutes, Bernstein's Wall opens at Film Forum.

Number of times I checked my watch: 3





 

      In A Blind Bargain, Dominic Fontaine (Jake Horowitz), a Vietnam war veteran and drug addict struggling to make ends meet, agrees to seek help at the rehab clinic of Dr. Gruder (Crispin Glover) who offers him money if he can bring his mother for an experiment that involves turning people into their younger selves. Writer/director Paul Bunnell has made a trippy, bonkers and unconventional horror thriller with stylish cinematography, but it's also tedious and exhausting. Set during the 1970s and based on a lost 1922 film of the same name, A Blind Bargain suffers from a convoluted plot that takes itself too seriously.   If it were campier or more darkly comedic, it would've been more fun to watch and a mindlessly entertaining guilty pleasure. Perhaps this would've worked better as a short. As a feature length film, though, it stretches its concept too thinly without much depth, and it runs out of steam very quickly. A Blind Bargain would be the inferior B-movie in a double feature with The Substance. That said, at least it's not as cringe-inducing and disappointing as Death Becomes Her. At a running time of 1 hour and 35 minutes, which feels more like 2 hours, A Blind Bargain  opens at Angelika Film Center via Vitagraph Films.  

Number of times I checked my watch: 3







      Sybil (Rebecca Calder), a lonely mortician, struggles to cope with the grief after the death of her parents who died in a car crash in Broken Bird. She falls in love with Mark (Jay Taylor), a museum curator, even though he has a fiancée. Meanwhile, Mr. Thomas (James Fleet), the owner of the funeral home that Sybil works at, grieves the death of his wife. In a parallel subplot, Emma (Sacharissa Claxton), a police officer, grieves the death of her son. Writer/director Joanne Mitchell and her co-writers Dominic Brunt, Tracey Sheals and Dominic Brunt, have made a creepy, foreboding and tender psychological thriller that bites off more than it could chew. Does the plot really need three characters dealing with grief? They could each be the protagonist of separate films. The subplot involving Emma distracts from the main plot about Sybil who goes through extreme measures to deal with Mark's fiancée of being an obstacle for her. Sybil comes across as taciturn and clearly in a lot of emotional pain that she's unable to process and heal from healthily. She's a complex and fascinating character with a dark side that won't be spoiled here.

      Rebecca Calder sinks her teeth into the role very convincingly with her nuanced performance. She opens the window into Sybil's heart, mind and soul for the audience even during the quiet moments. Everything from the lighting to the camera work to the set design add both style and substance to the film simultaneously. Broken Bird manages to be understated and captivating until its over-the-top and unsubtle ending where it takes a slight nosedive. That said, it's far more smart and engaging horror film than The Mortuary Assistant, so if you didn't that film, you'll like this one much better. At a running time of 1 hour and 39 minutes, Broken Bird opens in select theaters nationwide via Seismic Releasing.

Number of times I checked my watch: 1





 

      Princess Hind (Aiysha Hart) refuses to become the concubine of Emperor Kisra (Ben Kingsley), so she teams up with Hanzala (Anthony Mackie), a bandit, to battle him and Jalabzeen (Sharlto Copley) in Desert Warrior   Writer/director Rupert Wyatt and his co-writers, David Self and Erica Beeney, have made an intense and occasionally thrilling, but bland and vapid action adventure with great production values. If only more attention were spent on the screenplay. Set in Arabia during the 7th Century, Desert Warrior suffers from style over substance and not enough character development which means that it's hard to be emotionally invested in what happens to Princess Hind or Hanzala or to care about their relationship. The dialogue sounds either stilted or on-the-nose. The filmmakers fail to breathe much-needed humanity into the film or let any of the scenes breathe. Anthony Mackie, Sharlto Copley and Ben Kingsley give decent, but unremarkable performances. It's a shame that they're all undermined by a weak screenplay. At a running time of 1 hour and 54 minutes, which feels more lik 3 hours, Desert Warrior opens in theaters nationwide via Vertical.  

Number of times I checked my watch: 3





 

      Francis (Dina Silva), a.k.a. Frankie, an aspiring singer, goes on a killing spree to seek revenge against anyone who fat shames or belittles her in Frankie, Maniac Woman.  Writer/director Pierre Tsigaridis and co-writer Dina Silva have made a visually stylish, unflinchingly violent and wildly entertaining horror thriller with a great command of tone that combines suspense, dark humor and campiness. The occasional use of black-and-white cinematography adds to the visual poetry and grittiness. There's plenty of blood and guts to please horror fans, but this isn't a non-stop gorefest like Terrifier; it has a compelling story with a few surprises and a complex, well-written villain with a tragic backstory that humanizes her. She's cut from the same cloth as Jason Voorhees: they've both been abused during their childhood and picked on for their looks. They're mad as hell and don't have the emotional maturity to know how to process their anger, sadness, self-loathing and emotional pain, so they resort to violence. It's reminiscent of Coralie Fargeat’s action thriller Revenge, and would make an interesting double feature with Muriel's Wedding which is also about a woman who's also insecure, bullied, body-shamed and self-loathing, although she deals with all of her issues in healthier ways than Frankie does. At a running time of 1 hour and 35 minutes, Frankie, Maniac Woman opens in select theaters nationwide via Two Witches Films.

Number of times I checked my watch: 1





 

       In  Fuze, Major Will Tranter (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) leads a team of bomb experts who must defuse an old WII bomb that's discovered in London. Meanwhile, Karalis (Theo James) and X (Sam Worthington) use the bomb scare as a cover for a bank heist that they commit at the same time. Gugu Mbatha-Raw plays the police's Chief Superintendent Zuzana. Director David Mackenzie and screenwriter Ben Hopkins have made a mildly engaging and intermittently suspenseful crime thriller that's ultimately less than the sum of its parts despite a charismatic ensemble cast, great cinematography and a few surprising twists. The plot feels pedestrian as though it just were going through the motions while the characters are merely plot devices. There are no bad laughs or clunky dialogue, but some of the dialogue does sound dull and on-the nose. Comic relief or some other form of levity would've helped to invigorate and enliven the film. That said, the screenplay avoids becoming too confusing or convoluted even as the twists pile up during the third act. McKenzie deserves to be commended for an unconventional ending that doesn't tie everything together neatly and that feels somewhat abrupt. It never reaches the heights of Heat, The Italian Job or Hell or High Water, but it's certainly better than Hurricane Heist. At a running time of 1 hour and 36 minutes, Fuze opens in theaters nationwide via Roadside Attractions and Saban Films.  

Number of times I checked my watch: 2





 

      James (Gabriel Casdorph), a divorced father living alone in the Oregon woods, battles alcoholism while coping with the mysterious disappearance of his young daughter who was swept out to sea and never found again in His Monster. He believes that a monster lurking in the woods took his daughter. Writer/director Erich Cannon has made an atmospheric, poetic and provocative amalgam of horror, sci-fi, mystery and drama. The plot feels most intriguing when it doesn't show the monster or try to explain whether or not James is just hallucinating it as a result of his alcoholism. So, the film works when Cannon creates psychological horror that leave room for interpretation. There's some use of clichés, like the fact that James lives in a cabin isolated in the woods, so the audience knows to expect something horrifying to happen. However, there's nothing wrong with clichés as long as they're used effectively which is the case here. It's a cliché to complain about clichés.

      Fortunately, His Monster remains unflinching and even somewhat heartfelt in its depiction of James' battle with alcoholism. His wife (Ashley Song) divorces him and there's some hope for him to start afresh with a woman,  Mira (Meranda Long), whom he meets while he's trying, but failing to stay sober. Kudos to Cannon for not relying on blood and guts to shock and gross-out the audience like too many horror films do these days (yes, I'm looking at you, Lee Cronin's The Mummy) or to reply on shaky cam to generate tension. Instead, His Monster's most compelling and effective tension, conflicts and Spectacle, derive from the the film's Truth: James' innate emotional battles as he tries cope with his grief, sadness, self-hatred, guilt and insecurity all of which are relatable and universal struggles. At a running time of only 1 hour and 27 minutes, His Monster opens at Rollin Studios in Brooklyn, NY via Compassionate Disaster Films.  

Number of times I checked my watch: 1







      Four siblings, Jer (Jed Murray), Niall (Neill Fleming), Cass (Carolyn Bracken) and Evan (Eric O’Brien), have 24 hours to settle the estate of their estranged father, Colm (Lalor Roddy) who recently died in Horseshoe. They don't quite get along and struggle to come to an agreement. Meanwhile, each of them holds a grudge against him and interacts with him subconsciously to try to heal from their trauma. Co-director Edwin Mullane and co-writer/director Adam O'Keeffe have made a bittersweet and gently moving, but somewhat dull, monotonous and clunky portrait of a dysfunctional family with picturesque scenery. The pace moves slowly with very little narrative momentum. There are no flashbacks, so there's only a general sense of what the siblings' childhood was like with their abusive father. The performances are decent. but nothing exceptional. Unfortunately, the screenplay fails to design enough of a window into the heart, mind and soul of Jer, Niall, Cass and Evan each of whom goes through a lot of complex emotions that this film neglects to delve into deeply and unflinchingly. None of the scenes feel powerful or emotionally resonating, even the one with the siblings imagining their father and talking to him---a plot device that gets lazy and repetitive eventually. There's also a lack of comic relief that would've helped to counterbalance the heaviness of the themes explored. That said, the highlight of the film is its breathtaking scenic views of the Irish countryside. At a running time of 1 hour and 28 minutes, Horseshoe opens at Quad Cinema via Juno Films. It would be an interesting double feature with August, Osage County.

Number of times I checked my watch: 3





 

      In I Swear, John Davidson (Scott Ellis Watson) gets diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome at the age of 15 while living in Scotland with his mother, Heather (Shirley Henderson), who doesn't understand his disorder. His frustrated father, David (Steven Cree), left him and his mother when he was 12 and started showing signs of Tourette's. At the age of 25, John (now played by Robert Aramayo) still struggles to fit into society. He meets a former classmate, Murray (Francesco Piacentini-Smith), whose mother, Dotty (Maxine Peake), a mental health nurse, agrees to take care of him. She helps him to find a job at a community center working for Tommy (Peter Mullan), the caretaker. Writer/director Kirk Jones has made a sweet, tender, and funny emotional journey that's based on a true story. The screenplay hooks the audience from the very first scene, where an older version of John curses at Queen Elizabeth as she's about to honor him with an MBE. The film then flashes back to John at the age of 12. His life does have its fair share of tragic moments, including a suicide attempt and all of the bullying that he had experienced from others who put him down for his disorder. He's lucky to have met Murray and his mother, Dotty, who's kind, compassionate, and patient, even when he snaps at her. His mother isn't portrayed as a good parent, but she's not a villain either; she's just someone who lacks skills, awareness,and patience to deal with John's disorder. Dotty becomes his surrogate mother, while Tommy becomes a surrogate father.

       Writer/director Kirk Jones grasps the concept that comedy is often rooted in tragedy. He balances the heartbreaking moments with just the right amount of comic relief. You'll laugh one minute and cry the next. He also doesn't judge John nor does he ask the audience to; he just wants the audience to experience him and, above all, to empathize with him. John is a character who's complex and flawed, but also likeable and relatable.

       Robert Aramayo gives a breakthrough performance that opens the window into John's heart, mind and soul. It's an emotionally generous performance that captures John's vulnerability along with his courage, compassion and determination. Prepare to be inspired as you watch John gradually embrace the wisdom behind Pablo Neruda's poem: "They can cut all of the flowers, but they can't stop the spring from coming." I Swear is ultimately a crowd-pleasing delight that earns its uplift. It's a triumph that manages to be warm, wise and wonderful. At a running time of 2 hours, I Swear is one of the best British films in years. It opens in select theaters nationwide via Sony Pictures Classics.  

Number of times I checked my watch: 1







      Michael is a biopic on the rise-to-fame of the legendary pop star Michael Jackson (Jaafar Jackson). Nia Long plays his mother, Katherine, Colman Domingo plays his domineering father, Joe, whom he fires as his manager before hiring John (Miles Teller) as his new manager, and Juliano Krue Valdi plays Michael as a child. Director Antoine Fuqua and screenwriter John Logan have made a glossy, emotionally hollow, hagiographic and sugar-coated biopic that almost becomes a satire. One minute Michael is talking to his agent, the next he's interacting with his pet chimpanzee, and the next he's watching Modern Times and Singing in the Rain with his mom. Oh, and did I mention that he also gets a giraffe as a pet?

      Where does his love of animals come from? Does he have any friends? What about lovers? Is he lonely? How does he feel about finally standing up to his abusive dad? Is he happy? He sure does smile a lot, but what's underneath that smile? Unfortunately, neither the shallow screenplay nor the weak performance by Jaafar Jackson manage to answer those questions that would've provided much-needed depth. Michael doesn't seem interested in getting to know the iconic legend behind the curtain, so-to-speak, so Michael remains at a cold distance from the audience from start to finish. It's overstuffed, undercooked and says nothing new, revealing or insightful. The music is better than the movie. Ultimately, it's just as disappointing as Whitney Houston: I Want to Dance with Somebody and the Aretha Franklin biopic, Respect. At a running time of 2 hours and 7 minutes, Michael opens nationwide via Lionsgate.

Number of times I checked my watch: 3





 

      Norma (Bárbara Mori), a French-Peruvian woman abandoned by her husband, struggles to open a restaurant with assistance of her butler, Oscar (César Ballumbrosio), in Mistura.   Writer/director Ricardo de Montreuil has made a breezy, charming and heartwarming drama about a woman who finds the determination and innate strength to follow her dreams despite some setbacks and obstacles. The screenplay, set in 1960s Peru, feels somewhat sugar-coated and contrived while biting off more than it could chew. The film isn't emotionally unflinching not does it offer any surprises, but it's nonetheless sweet and avoids becoming saccharin or melodramatic. That's a testament to the charismatic and emotionally convincing performance by Bárbara Mori. She's the film's MVP and the source of the film's emotional depth which comes for her performance, not from the screenplay.   

       The other radiant stars of the film are the many succulent food dishes, so foodies will be delighted. Mistura doesn't reach the heights of Mostly Martha, Babette's Feast or The Taste of Things, but it comes close and manages to be a warm comfort movie that would be a good double feature with the equally comforting Nonnas. At a running time of 1 hour and 41 minutes, Mistura opens at Cinema Village via Outsider Pictures.  

Number of times I checked my watch: 2





 

      Sam (Elizabeth Atkinson), a young Māori girl with cancer, befriends two other kids, Bronco (Terrence Daniel) and Mallory (Reuben Francis), while climbing the sacred Mount Taranaki in New Zealand in hope that it will cure her cancer in The Mountain. Writer/director Rachel House and co-writer Tom Furniss have made a heartwarming, funny and wholesome adventure with breathtaking scenery. It's a sweet film that manages to avoid becoming cloying. The plot focuses on the three young kids bonding together as they head toward the mountain. Meanwhile, their worried parents search for them and soon learn through a text message that they're okay. Not a lot happens in terms of action or suspense, but that's okay because what matters is the friendship that develops between the kids. The sensitive screenplay along with the terrific performances by the child actors help to provide Sam, Bronco and Mallory each with their own unique personalities and struggles which make them more human and relatable. Fortunately, The Mountain isn't the kind of film that panders to younger audiences. It's exhilarating, moving and even somewhat inspirational for the whole family without any scenes that are too intense, dark or disturbing for kids. At a running time of 1 hour and 29 minutes, The Mountain opens at AMC Empire 25 via Hope Runs High Distribution.

Number of times I checked my watch: 2





 

      In Omaha, a father (John Magaro) becomes homeless when his house gets foreclosed, so he wakes his takes his young daughters, Ella (Molly Belle Wright) and Charlie (Wyatt Solis), up and takes them on a cross-country road trip. Director Cole Webley and screenwriter Robert Machoian has made a well-acted and mildly heartfelt, but underbaked slice-of-life with shades of Ken Loach. The screenplay doesn't offer much exposition nor does it spend time with a first act or flashbacks that delve into how the nameless father ended up with a foreclosed home. It's okay to keep the father nameless, but why avoid including more of his backstory? That choice of omission just seems lazy and leaves the audience feeling like many scenes are missing. It's as though the screenplay were just the first draft because it has a decent premise, but without enough meat on its bones. Much of the poignancy comes from the natural performances by John Magaro, Molly Belle Wright and Wyatt Solis, who ground the film in authenticity and help to make it mildly engrossing even when dullness starts to seep in. If you could imagine an underwritten and less engrossing version of a Ken Loach film, it would look something like the blandly-titled Omaha. At a running time of just 1 hour and 24 minutes, Omaha opens at IFC Center via Greenwich Entertainment.  

Number of times I checked my watch: 3





 

      Dan (Jason Segel) and his wife, Lisa (Samara Weaving), who both detest each other, get more than they bargained for when they spend time together at remote cabin where they secretly plan to kill each other in Over Your Dead Body.  Director Jorma Taccone and his co-writers Nick Kocher and Brian McElhaney, have made an uninspired, asinine, tonally uneven dark comedy that's more gory and consistently mean-spirited than funny. If you could imagine The Roses if it were a pale imitation of a Tarantino, McDonaugh or Coen brothers film, it would look something like Over Your Dead Body. The screenplay suffers from a plot that gets increasingly preposterous while offering very little imagination to compensate for the lack of logic. The dialogue lacks wit, and the film's attempts at macabre humor and offbeat humor fall flat. It also needlessly flashes back to someone else's perspective at times to add exposition, but the flashbacks just take away from the film's narrative momentum.

      If shock value and grossing out the audience is all that the filmmakers wanted to achieve, they achieve it with flying colors because the violence leaves nothing to the imagination and doesn't hold back on the blood and guts. It doesn't help that there are a whopping total of 0 characters who are even slightly likable, sane, moral or worth rooting for. Does attempted rape sound funny to you? Then this might be your kind of comedy. The third act, which goes on for too long, leaves a bad aftertaste. Even the over-the-top performances but Juliette Lewis and Timothy Olyphant, who looks like Billy Bob Thornton here, don't generate any laughs. At an overlong running time of 1 hour and 45 minutes, Over Your Dead Body opens in theaters nationwide via Independent Film Company.  

Number of times I checked my watch: 3







      In Ricky, 30-year-old Ricky (Stephan James), has just been released from prison and struggles to start afresh after serving there for 15 years. He reunites with James (Maliq Johnson), his younger brother, and Winsome (Simbi Kali), his mother. Meanwhile, Joanne (Sheryl Lee Ralph), his parole officer, keeps an eye on him as his mentor and worries that he'll end up back in prison. Writer/director Rashad Frett and his co-writer, Lin Que Ayoung, have made a powerful, well-acted and engrossing emotional journey. It also can be seen as a refreshingly honest and fascinating character study of a man who's trying his best to stay out of trouble, to conquer his adversities, to heal from a traumatic past while getting a second chance in life. Without flashbacks or voice-over narration, learns a lot about Ricky and his past, but not all at once. The screenplay does an effective job of spreading the exposition out in a way that doesn't overwhelm the audience while also leaving a little mystery, e.g. what crime Ricky committed that led to his incarceration. All of the characters and their relationships feel true-to-life. Bravo to the filmmakers for seeing and treating Ricky and everyone else as complex human beings and for not asking the audience to judge him. Instead, the audience merely empathizes with him and wants him to find happiness and stability. He went to prison as a child, but now he has to learn responsibility as a man and to show emotional maturity which is no easy task, but there's hope for him.

      Ricky manages to show Ricky's hope and some of his despair without wallowing in it or becoming too emotionally devastating. The film's Spectacle can be found in its slice-of-life scenes that don't rely on violence, edge-of-your-seat suspense or big twists to engage the audience. Stephan James gives a breakthrough performance that opens the window into Ricky's heart, mind and soul for the audience to peer through. The raw, heartfelt performances by the entire ensemble cast, including those in supporting roles, are also part of that Spectacle while grounding the film in humanism, a truly special effect. It's empowering to watch Ricky as he embraces the wisdom behind Pablo Neruda's poem: "They can cut all of the flowers, but they can't stop the spring from coming." and also Maya Angelou's wise words, "Nothing can dim the light that shines from within." Ultimately, Ricky the perfect antidote to all of the loud, shallow and overproduced Hollywood movies. At a running time of 1 hour and 49 minutes, it opens at AMC Empire via Blue Harbor Entertainment.

Number of times I checked my watch: 1





 

      13-year-old Sam Miller (Kue Lawrence), a bullied young boy living in Florida with his single mother, Beth (Christina Brucato), enlists in a state-sanctioned "school duel", a competition which has students battle each other using guns in The School Duel. The winner lives and the losers die. Eugenie Bondurant plays the very strict middle school's principal, Principal Wigton, who wrongfully assumes that Sam's list of people who he admires is his hit list. Writer/director Todd Wiseman, Jr. had made a provocative, timely and disturbing albeit heavy-handed satire. To be fair, the plot could've used a bit more world-building because all that the audience knows is that it's set in a dystopian future where Florida's governor, Anthony Ramiro (Oscar Nuñez), has outlawed gun control and has sponsored the school duel. Sam has been grieving the death of his father who comitted suicide. So, The School Duel is a very dark satire along the lines of The Long Walk that doesn't sugar-coat anything.  

       At the same time, subtlety isn't among its strengths, and there's little that's left to interpretation beyond the use of stunning black-and-white cinematography. To be fair, though, sometimes bluntness is necessary to make a point without beating around the bush, so it's a forgivable flaw in this case. Prepare yourself for a powerful and searing protest for gun control. At a running time of 1 hour and 31 minutes, The School Duel opens at Alamo Drafthouse in Manhattan and Brooklyn via Altered Innocence. It would be a great double feature with American Solitaire.

Number of times I checked my watch: 1





 

      In Two Seasons, Two Strangers, Li (Shim Eun-kyung), a lonely young woman who works as a screenwriter, writes a film about Nagisa (Yuumi Kawai) and Natsuo (Mansaku Takada), lonely strangers, meet by the seaside during the summer. Li visits an isolated inn during the winter and bonds with the innkeeper, Benzo (Shinichi Tsutsumi). Writer/director Shô Miyake has made a meditative drama with breathtaking cinematography, but a sluggish pace and not enough narrative momentum makes for a dull, tedious and monotonous experience.  He trusts the audience's patience, perhaps too much, because too many scenes drag and overstay their welcome. The film within the film with Nagisa and Matsuo is slightly more engaging than the story of Li and Benzo, so if Miyake were to have focused just on that story and fleshed it out with more depth, this would've been a more emotionally potent and captivating film. It's not quite clear if Li has learned anything about loneliness or solitude by the end because she remains at a cold distance from the audience and doesn't have enough of a character arc. Based on the short stories  "A View of the Seaside" and "Mr. Ben and His Igloo" by Yoshiharu Tsuge, Two Seasons, Two Strangers, probably would've worked better as a short. It's ultimately less than the sum of its parts while the nice scenery and exquisite cinematography come with diminishing returns. At a running time of 1 hour and 29 minutes, which feels more like 3 hours, Two Seasons, Two Strangers opens at The Metrograph. In a double feature with the far more profound and engrossing I Know Where I'm Going! which explores similar themes, it would be the inferior B-movie.

Number of times I checked my watch: 4





 

      Violette (Laurence Leboeuf), a mother who's stuck in an unhappy marriage, considers having an affair when she meets and befriends her neighbor, Florence (Karine Gonthier-Hyndman), whose husband, David (Mani Soleymanlou), allows her to sleep around with other men in Two Women. They both try to seduce a sexy exterminator (Maxime Le Flaguais). Director Chloé Robichaud and screenwriter Catherine Léger has made a funny and amusing sexy comedy that's tonally uneven when it tries to be serious and poignant. Some of the comedic moments include Violette going to the extent of pretending to have a mouse problem by placing hamster poop around her home just so that she has an excuse to call that exterminator over. Does she really think that he won't be able to tell the difference between hamster poop and mouse poop? When she first meets Florence, she accuses her of making sounds of a crow while having sex because she hears crow calls, but can't find any crows outside. Her seduction of the plumber is somewhat funny, too.

      Unfortunately, when it comes to exploring her and Florence's friendship, self worth and marital problems, Two Women comes up short while barely scratching the surface of those complex topics. It's not quite clear how they've both changed by the end of the film and if they've had any true epiphanies. Therefore, the ending feels rushed and contrived---of course, the final shot reverts back to comedy. With a more profound and perceptive screenplay that balanced comedy and drama more organically, Two Women could've been an empowering, wise and emotionally engrossing experience instead of one that leans more toward farce. At a running time of 1 hour and 40 minutes, Two Women opens at Angelika Film Center via Joint Venture.  

Number of times I checked my watch: 2