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Reviews for October 4th, 2024



      64 Days is a spellbinding and immersive documentary about the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6th, 2021. Director Nick Quested bravely embedded himself with the Proud Boys to get unprecedented access to them behind the scenes on the days leading up to the attack and during the attack itself. Even if you've seen footage from the historic event, you haven't seen it with such up close and personal access that will make you feel like you're there witnessing it with your very own eyes. What ensues is clear-cut evidence that Trump incited the Capitol attack and that influential people like Roger Stone were key players. 64 Days often feels thrilling and terrifying because it's all real, not a Hollywood movie. It also serves as a powerful cautionary tale of how extremists end up carrying out domestic terrorism and how easy it can be to lose democracy in a country that with a very dysfunctional democracy. What the documentary doesn't delve into, though, is what defines "terrorism" and whether or not the government has a consensus on its definition. At 1 hour and 40 minutes, it opens at Cinema Village via Goldcrest Films.

Number of times I checked my watch: 2







      Blink is a heartfelt documentary with breathtaking scenery, but undercooked, repetitive, sugar-coated and too limited in scope. Co-directors Edmund Stenson and Daniel Roher, follow Edith and Seb Pelletier as they embark on a trip around the world with their four children because three of them, Collin, Mia and Lauren, suffer from an eye disease called retinitis pigmentosa that will eventually make them blind. Their parents want them to take in beautiful sites, like the desert or a sunset, so that they can remember those images once they go blind. Blink is essentially a picturesque travelogue, but without nearly enough insight or depth. The pacing feels uneven occasionally, and the editing could've been tighter, i.e., during a lengthy, intense scene where the family gets trapped inside a gondola for a long period of time. At 1 hour and 24 minutes, it opens at Angelika Film Center via National Geographic Documentary Films.

Number of times I checked my watch: 3





 

      Judith (Anais Demoustier), a journalist, interviews Salvador Dali (Edouard Baer, Gilles Lellouche and Pio Marmaï) for her magazine, but he refuses to do the interview without a camera filming him in Daaaaaalí!. She teams up with Jérôme (Romaine Duris), a producer, and schedules another interview with him, but he breaks the camera. Writer/director Quentin Dupieux has made another zany, absurd and silly comedy that never takes itself too seriously. It gets trippy and convoluted pretty quickly, so, this time around, Dupieux seems more interested in creating a mindfuck with scenes within a scene within a scene within a scene. Although that makes the film meta, unconventional and unpredictable, it's forgettable and not quite as funny as his previous films and it eventually runs out of steam. Four actors portray Dali including Didier Flamand who plays Dali's elderly version. Fortunately, Daaaaaalí never becomes exhausting because Quentin keeps the running time brief. At 1 hour and 17 minutes, it opens at Quad Cinema via Music Box Films.

Number of times I checked my watch: 2





 

      Food and Country is a mildly engaging, but undercooked and unfocused documentary. It tackles the issues plaguing the US food supply system. Director Laura Gabbert follows food writer Ruth Reichl as she interviews farmers, chefs, ranchers, restaurateurs and other experts who discuss how the pandemic affected their part of the industry. Consumers opt for cheaper alternatives while the restaurant industry struggles to make ends meet. Restaurateurs are stuck in a quagmire because they can't suddenly stop buying from their suppliers and expect the same relationship with them when they start buying from them again. Even one month of no supply purchases makes a significant difference. Food and Country puts a human face on the food supply crisis in the US and raises awareness of some of the issues, but beyond that it doesn't dig deeper or provoke the audience's emotions enough. What's happening should be making people feel enraged. Ruth Reichl comes across as warm, intelligent and compassionate, but she's not a great interviewer---i.e., a question she asks a farmer in which she makes an assumption about the answer before he even answers her, and it turns out that her assumption was wrong. There are a lot of talking heads here, mostly through Zoom interviews. There's nothing exceptional about the film's cinematography or editing which is fine and forgivable. What's not fine nor forgivable, though, is that it ultimately bites off more than it could chew and leaves the audience hungry for more insights. At 1 hour and 40 minutes, Food and Country opens at IFC Center via Greenwich Entertainment.

Number of times I checked my watch: 3





 

       Frankie Freako is a silly and delightfully zany sci-fi comedy about a prude man, Conor (Conor Sweeney) who lives with wife, Kristina (Kristy Wordsworth). While she's away for a week for work, he unleashes a mysterious goblin Frankie Freako (voice of Matthew Kennedy) and his sidekicks, Dottie (voice of Meredith Sweeney) and Boink (voice of Adam Brooks). The screenplay by writer/director Steven Kostanski doesn't take its concept far enough in terms of dark comedy, wit, campiness or shock value, but it's nonetheless a mildly engaging slice of mindless entertainment with cheesy visual effects that doesn't elevate beyond a forgettable B-movie  At 1 hour and 22 minutes, Frankie Freako opens at Alamo Drafthouse in Manhattan via SHOUT! STUDIOS.

Number of times I checked my watch: 2







      In Joker: Folie à Deux, Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) meets and falls in love with Harleen “Lee” Quinzel (Lady Gaga) at a mental hospital while awaiting his murder trial. Catherine Keener plays Maryanne, Arthur's lawyer, and Brendan Gleeson plays a hospital guard. The screenplay by writer/director Todd Phillips and co-writer Scott Silver is an anemic, shallow and clunky amalgam of musical, romance and crime thriller. Very few of the beats land especially because Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga have little to no palpable chemistry. The musical interludes feel awkward, distracting and unnecessary while barely helping to invigorate the films. Joaquin Phoenix tries his best to breathe much-needed life into his role, but he doesn't quite manage to accomplish that like he does in Joker. Lady Gaga gives a mediocre performance at best and feels miscast here. Keener and Gleeson are wasted in underdeveloped supporting roles that provide them without much in terms of personality. It's as though their roles merely exist as plot devices. The cinematography stands out, though, while adding some grittiness. Unfortunately, that's the only grit to be found through the course of the film, so with the lack of emotional grit, a far more important type of grit, Joker: Folie à Deux falls flat and turns into a dull slog that overstays its welcome long before the end credits roll. At a bloated 2 hour and 18 minutes, it opens nationwide via Warner Bros. Pictures.

Number of times I checked my watch: 3





 

       In the Japanese animated film Look Back, Kyomoto (voice of Mizuki Yoshida), a shy and introverted student, befriends her less shy classmate, Fujino (voice of Yuumi Kawai), and bond over the love of writing manga before tragedy befalls one of them. The screenplay by writer/director Kiyotaka Oshiyama begins as a gently moving story about friendship told in a non-linear structure. A major twist occurs which won't be spoiled here, but it takes the film into much darker, bold and melancholic territory while also adding emotional depth. It's not nearly as moving, haunting or powerful as the Japanese animated classic Grave of the Fireflies, though. At a running time of only 56 minutes, Look Back opens in select theaters via GKIDS.

Number of times I checked my watch: 2





 

       Noah (Mason Thames), a young teenager and aspiring journalist, investigates a mysterious evil force that that's haunting his town and possessing one of his friends, Ben (Noah Cottrell), in Monster Summer, directed by David Henrie. Could it have something to do with Miss Halverson (Lorraine Bracco), his new neighbor who's acting suspiciously? Ben (Noah Cottrell), a retired cop, helps him to get to the bottom of the mystery. The screenplay by co-writers Bryan Schulz and Cornelius Uliano doesn't score any points for imagination, surprises or originality for that matter. It's a harmless, pleasantly diverting albeit forgettable sci-fi mystery made for younger audiences without being too scary or too intense for kids. If only it were more engaging for adults, though, because most adults find the movie to be dull. That said, it's not a bad way for kids to be introduced to Mel Gibson before they're old enough to watch him in more grown-up fare like Braveheart, Signs and Lethal Weapon. How many live action Mel Gibson films are there for kids? Well, now there's finally one. At 1 hour and 37 minutes, Monster Summer opens in select theaters nationwide via Pastime Pictures.

Number of times I checked my watch: 3







      New Wave is an illuminating and surprisingly moving at times, but conventional and somewhat unfocused documentary about 1980s Vietnamese New Wave music and the relationship between the director, Elizabeth Ai, and her estranged mother and grandmother. The film covers a lot of ground as it tries to juggle both topics. So, it's a fine introduction to a lesser known music and its significance in bringing together the Vietnamese community, but, beyond that, New Wave isn't exceptional, profound, transcendent nor is it a must-see among the plethora of documentaries opening every weekend. At 1 hour and 28 minutes, it opens at DCTV's Firehouse Cinema via Cinereach.

Number of times I checked my watch: 2





 

       Nurse Unseen is a heartfelt, well-edited and illuminating documentary about the under-reported fact that many Filipino nurses in the US died of COVID-19 during the pandemic. Director Michele Josue charts the history of Filipino nurses in the Philippines and how they ended up in the US to begin with. She then interviews Filipino nurses and families of Filipino nurses, some of whom died of COVID-19. Their deaths were preventable because they didn't receive enough PPE, but they continued to work nonetheless. A truly great documentary ought to find the right balance between entertaining the audience and provoking them emotionally as well as intellectually. Nurse Unseen accomplishes that feat with flying colors while remaining focused, captivating and poignant, so it avoids turning into a dry or academic documentary. Moreover, it moves at just the right pace and doesn't overstay its welcome, become exhausting or emotionally devastating. At 1 hour and 33 minutes, Nurse Unseen opens at Quad Cinema via FANP LLC.

Number of times I checked my watch: 1





 

       In The Outrun, Rona (Saoirse Ronan) lives in London and suffers from alcoholism before her boyfriend, Daynin (Paapa Essiedu), dumps her and she moves back in with her father, Andrew (Stephen Dillane), in rural Scotland, to recover. She decides to move to a tiny island to continue her recovery. The screenplay by writer/director Nora Fingscheidt and her co-writers, Amy Liptrot and Simon Barrett, tells Rona's story non-linearly. That structure makes the film seem less by-the-numbers, but, to be fair, it's unnecessary. At its core, The Outrun is about a young woman conquering adversity, learning to love herself and to overcome her traumatic childhood. Occasionally, the depiction of alcoholism feels unflinching, although it doesn't quite reach the emotional depth or grittiness of other films about alcoholics like Leaving Las Vegas. Nora Fingscheidt opts for a somewhat lighter and more lyrical approach with some stunning cinematography that adds visual poetry. Saoirse Ronan gives a raw, convincingly moving performance while finding the emotional truth of her role. She's the movie's heart and soul, so it's a testament to her acting skills that she manages to ground the film in humanity. Kudos to her and to the filmmakers for seeing and treating Rona as a complex human being, warts and all , and for showing empathy toward her as well. The terrific editing is also worth mentioning because the constant flashbacks and flash forwards work smoothly without being confusing or diminishing the narrative momentum. At 1 hour and 58 minutes, The Outrun is an engrossing, captivating and poetic emotional journey. It opens nationwide via Sony Pictures Classics.

Number of times I checked my watch: 1







      Writer/director Daisuke Miyazaki's Plastic is a mildly engaging, engrossing and slow-burning story about two teenagers, Jun (Takuma Fujie), a musician, and Ibuki (An Ogawa), who bond over their love of the psychedelic rock band Exne Kedy and embark on a quest together to find them. Meanwhile, they start seeing each other before breaking-up and dating other people. The significance of the film's title is eventually explained in a scene that could be seen as a metaphor which won't be spoiled here. At 1 hour and 44 minutes, Plastic opens at Metrograph via Kani Releasing.

Number of times I checked my watch: 3







      Separated is a provocative, well-edited and eye-opening documentary about the systemic issues of the U.S. border policies and how it leads to illegal immigrant mothers and fathers separated from their children. Director Errol Morris interviews Jonathan White, an official from a government program, Office of Refugee Resettlement, and Scott Lloyd, the former director of the program. Both of them give illuminating interviews because Morris asks them and his other subjects good questions which don't make the program look good. The most shocking insight is that there's not a single law that can prevent any government program from separating illegal immigrant children from their families. In archival footage, an official refuses to claim that there's anything wrong with that separation because, according to her, adult U.S. citizens who get arrested also end up separated from their children. Many illegal immigrant children aren't reunited with their parents or other family members. The U.S. government keeps better track of property than it does of those children who are no more human than you and I. If you tickle them, do they not laugh? Prepare to be indignant and justifiably disturbed. At 1 hour and 24 minutes, Separated is a powerful wake-up call. It opens at IFC Center via MSNBC Films.

Number of times I checked my watch: 1