Film Ahead is a weekly column focused on special events and repertoire programming for discerning Camberville moviegoers. It also includes capsule reviews of films that have not been feature reviewed.
local focus
It’s more of “(some of) the best of 2022” Brattle Theater It was Day’s film critic’s favourite, not making the overall top ten this week. It includes the Afrofuturist musical “Neptune Frost,” which premieres on Monday. (The real Neptune Frost was a slave who lived in Cambridge, was freed, fought in the American Revolutionary War, and was buried in the Old Cemetery in Harvard Square.) and played on Jan. 29); Also, two of my favorites dealing with true crime and social issues. He embarks on a journey to justice in the wake of one of the most heinous hate crimes in U.S. history, “Till” (Daniel Deadweiler Knocks Out His Performance, premieres January 29). Others on the list include ‘Pearl’ by Ti West and Mia Goth, and ‘X’, a tribute sequel to her ’70s porn industry/slasher genre that the two filmed in the same year. “X” and “Pearl” will play as part of Thursday’s double feature. On the animation side, Richard Linklater’s boyhood fantasy Apollo 10½: Childhood in the Space Age (Saturday), the adorable abandoned mollusk story “Marcel the Shell in Shoes” (also Saturday), Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” (Friday and Saturday). Also on this week’s agenda is the spotlight on last year’s lo-fi online horror flicks “We’re All Going to the World’s Fair” (Tuesday) and “Crimes of the Future” (the latest outrageous musings on movie-making mutilation). There is something to do. Icon David Cronenberg (Friday).
a lot is happening in Landmark Kendall Square Theater This week, a week-long filmmaker focuses on Rian Johnson, not just Tuesday’s Kubrick Retro Replay “Barry Lyndon” (1975), a film that has polarized among the director’s fans. . Sorry, no ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi,’ but plenty of mysteries and thrillers, starting with the one most likely to get an Oscar nod on Tuesday: ‘Glass Onion: Knives Out Mystery’ and Daniel Billion Craig as Detective Benoît Blanc trying to solve a murder case on the millionaire’s Greek island; Johnson’s high school noir “Brick” (2005) brought Joseph Gordon-Levitt to the attention of the film industry. “The Brothers Bloom” (2008), sibling con artists starring Adrien Brody, Rachel Weisz, and Mark Ruffalo; Bruce Willis and Gordon-Levitt duo in his time-bending sci-fi thriller “Rooper” (2012). And, of course, “Knives Out” (2019), the Boston Shot bass of Bran and the franchise. Each movie has multiple showings.
of Somerville Theater Daniels’ genre-bending immigration tale, IRS, audits, nightmares, POV, multiverse hopscotch, and “Everything Everywhere All at Once” give you a week worth of big-screen tribute. The film, directed by Emerson’s Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, is likely to win the majority of Oscar nominations when the Academy announces its selection on Tuesday. and won Best Actress (Michelle Yeoh) and Best Supporting Actor (previously known primarily for her childhood turns in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and The Goonies). Boston Film Critics Association. (Allie Johnson and I are members.) The film also made the Top 10 Movies of the Day list for 2022.
of Harvard Film ArchiveThis week, we focus on the barrier-breaking icon of Japanese cinema who died in 1977, and put its ‘Kinuyo Tanaka – Actress, Director, Pioneer’ program in high gear with Kenji Mizoguchi’s classic Ugetsu (1953). The ravages of war and the plight of women. The film, adored by Akira Kurosawa, also became something of a roadmap for Hiroshi Teshigahara’s immersive The Woman in the Dunes (1964). “Ugetsu” is performed on Mondays and Fridays, starring Tanaka. The program then turned to Tanaka’s work behind the lens in “Forever a Woman” (Friday, 1955), about a mother of two children who struggles with an unfaithful husband, breast cancer, and her desire to be a poet. Move on. Tanaka’s directorial debut “Love Letter” (1953, premiered January 29), which depicts love and identity in Japan after World War II, and his second year entry “Moon has risen” (1955) 2012, also performed on January 29) is another post-war production. contemplation. It is set around a widower (Chishu-ryu) who is trying to raise his three daughters on the temple grounds. (Tom Meek)
in theaters or streaming
“Son” (2022)
Playwright Florian Zeller’s directorial debut, the film adaptation of his Academy Award-winning play The Father (2020), was a powerful rendition of the perspective of an older man with dementia. If you’ve been waiting for Zeller’s next landmark film, brace yourself for disappointment.plot of In “The Sun,” ex-wife Kate (Laura Dern) stirs up domestic bliss with new love, as her ex-husband, Manhattan attorney Peter (Hugh Jackman) and his second wife Beth ( Vanessa Kirby), their son Nicholas (Zane McGrath) is not going to school. When Peter checks in with Nicholas, his son pleads to move in with him and Peter agrees. The arrangement is that Beth does the day-to-day rearing, and Peter thinks the occasional exchange of jokes will solve Nicholas’ crushing depression. Given the great cast, Zeller suffers from a sad sophomore slump, perpetuating the stereotype that people with mental illness are dangerous. , Peter is a sluggish, empty protagonist, and all the other characters yawn for no apparent reason other than his ability to deliver warm responses that seem to be generated by ChatGPT. Other than their abilities, they are worshiped for some reason. These prose dumps allude to Peter’s depth, while Zeller shows only the hollow, superficial shell of a tall, handsome man incapable of substantive thought. A nice cameo chews up his offspring, but it’s not enough to save this lackluster movie. (Sarah Vincent) At the Landmark Kendall Square Cinema, 355 Vinny Street
“Missing” (2023)
18-year-old June (Storm Reed) is unhappy that her mother, Grace (Nia Long), is going to Columbia with her boyfriend Kevin (Ken Leung, “Lost”) for a week and wants to buy beer. I’m drowning my sorrow in anger fueled by . She slips under the watchful eye of her Grace’s best friend and attorney Heather (Amy Landecker, “Transparent”). June sobers up and meets her mother at LAX, but her mother never arrives and June spends her time and money restoring the hotel’s security camera footage before it’s wiped. We had a fierce competition. This standalone sequel to ‘Searching’ (2018) is part of the budding screenlife her genre, found footage mystery her thriller, with almost every scene displayed on a computer screen or smart her device. increase. How you enjoy this installment depends on your age. Reed is charming and sympathetic as the innovative, high-tech Nancy Drew, but she can’t bring the same acting range that John Cho did in the first film as the father searching for his missing family. and Leon silently steal the film as their characters exchange messages exposing their vulnerabilities on online dating services during their courtship. (Sarah Vincent) At Apple Cinemas Cambridge 168 Alewife Brook ParkwayCambridge Highlands near Alewife and Fresh Pond, and AMC Assembly Row 12, 395 Artisan WayAssembly Square, Somerville.
“All Beauty and Blood” (2022)
Laura Poitras (“Citizenfour”) latest work features artist and activist Nan Goldin. Nan Goldin seeks retribution from the Sackler family by founding the organization PAIN (Prescription Addiction Intervention Now) after a fatal overdose. We see members stand up at famous museums to invoke influence (think climate change protesters throwing soup at the Mona Lisa), but the one with the most emotional weight is , is a snapshot of her early life as an emerging photographer in the 80s and 90s. From her work documenting the impact of relationships, her art and the stories it tells take center stage. For Goldin and other marginalized artists, this is poignant because advocacy often informs the outcome, and vice versa. Poitras skillfully depicts decades with seamless transitions and masterful editing. It is an amazing and stimulating work that informs the audience and leaves them wanting to learn more. (Allie Johnson) at the Brattle Theater 40 Brattle StreetHarvard Square.
“Holy Spider” (2022)
A true crime serial killer thriller directed by Ali Abbasi. As Saeed Hanayei, a construction worker who feels the need to rid the Shia stronghold of Mashhad, Iran, of prostitutes, Mehdi Bajestani delivers a performance that is as mesmerizing as it is terrifying, and never flinching. increase. His preferred method of performing these cleansing acts is strangulation, and the violence is rendered in a lingering, disturbing intimacy–considering Hitchcock’s “Frenzy” (1972), see this as a big trigger warning. After such an act, Sayid simply returns to his family as if exhausted from a day’s work. , a crowd of people in the street, supporting Said. (Tom Meek) at the Brattle Theater 40 Brattle StreetHarvard Square.
Cambridge writer Tom Meek’s reviews, essays, short stories and articles appear in WBUR’s The ARTery, The Boston Phoenix, The Boston Globe, The Rumpus, The Charleston City Paper and SLAB literary journals. Tom is also a member of the Boston Film Critics Association and rides his bike everywhere.
