A Family of Ducks Try to Save Their Tails as They Head South in Illumination’s ‘Migration’

December 20, 2023

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Migration, all I ever wanted! (CREDIT: Illumination Entertainment & Universal Pictures)

Starring: Kumail Nanjiani, Elizabeth Banks, Caspar Jennings, Tresi Gazal, Danny DeVito, Awkwafina, Keegan Michael-Key, David Mithcell, Carol Kane

Director: Benjamin Renner

Running Time: 82 Minutes

Rating: PG for Culinary Cartoon Mayhem

Release Date: December 22, 2023 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: Mack Mallard (Kumail Nanjiani) and Pam Mallard (Elizabeth Banks) are a couple of homebody ducks. Or at least, Mack is definitely happy in their cozy New England pond, whereas Pam has at least a smidge of wanderlust. Their little ducklings Dax (Caspar Jennings) and Gwen (Tresi Gazal), however, are a heck of a lot more restless than their parents. So they eventually follow the rest of the flock and head south to Jamaica for the winter. But they get a little waylaid as they attempt to make their way through the skyscrapers and relentless traffic of New York City. Along the way, they meet a colorful cast of characters, including an eccentric heron (Carol Kane), a street-smart pigeon (Awkwafina), and a homesick Caribbean parrot (Keegan Michael-Key).

What Made an Impression?: Herons Are So Hot Right Now: Erin the heron isn’t in a whole lot of Migration, but she made more of an impression on me than any of the other fowl creatures. Partly that’s thanks to Carol Kane’s indefatigable loopiness, but I think it also has to do with me recently becoming a fan of this particular avian species in the wake of The Boy and the Heron. Migration is nowhere near as challenging as that latest Hayao Miyazaki feature, but it gets close with its own heron section. It’s an admirably dark moment for an animated family flick from Illumination, as the Mallards fret over the possibility that Gwen is going to eat them. The truth is more comforting, though no less freaky.
Vegans Represent?: Like a lot of talking critter movies, Migration ultimately reveals a clear pro-animal rights message, as the Mallards and their new friends must escape the clutches of haute cuisine. I wondered if the filmmakers were imbuing their own vegan/vegetarian convictions, or if this common trope was just being used as a crutch. It’s worth pointing out at this point that the screenplay was written by Mike White (yes, that Mike White), who is in fact vegan, so this was probably more than just a payday gig for him. The story isn’t exactly breaking the mold by foregrounding the animal perspective, but at least it has enough of a takeaway to elevate it from disposable fluff.
Minion Head Count: For me, the most important question when seeing any new Illumination movie is: how much are the Minions in it? When it’s a new Despicable Me feature, the answer is of course “a lot.” But even in non-Despicable movies, they tend to make a cameo, and in the case of Migration, they play the opening Universal Studios fanfare theme on a kazoo. Plus, there’s a new short that plays before the feature called Mooned that stars a quartet of Minions, as well as Jason Segel reprising his villainous role of Vector from the first film. So, my fellow despicable fans, you’ve got a little holiday treat this year.

Migration is Recommended If You Like: Chicken Run, NYC street food, Caribbean accents from non-Caribbean actors

Grade: 2.5 out of 5 Ducks

Should We Still Take Time to Notice ‘The Color Purple’ in 2023? Let’s Find Out!

December 19, 2023

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Look at all that purple in their souls! (CREDIT: Warner Bros. Pictures/Screenshot)

Starring: Fantasia Barrino, Phylicia Pearl Mapasi, Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks, Colman Domingo, Halle Bailey, Corey Hawkins, H.E.R., Ciara, Aunjanue Ellis, Jon Batiste, Louis Gossett Jr., David Alan Grier, Deon Cole, Tamela J. Mann, Stephen Hill, Elizabeth Marvel

Director: Blitz Bazawule

Running Time: 140 Minutes

Rating: PG-13 for Slaps, Threats of Gunfire, and References to Even Worse Abuse

Release Date: December 25, 2023 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: Near the Georgia coast in the early 20th century, Harris sisters Celie (Phylicia Pearl Mapasi and Fantasia Barrino) and Nettie (Halle Bailey and Ciara) are each other’s best friends and dearest protectors. Love and support are valuable attributes for anyone, especially when you’re young, Black, and poor in the early 1900s. And they certainly need that connection when Celie is sold into an abusive marriage with Albert “Mister” Johnson (Colman Domingo), who is about as mean as they come. Nettie tries to move in with her sister to escape their abusive father, but Mister kicks her out, leaving Celie profoundly alone. But she gradually finds community in the colorful cast of characters who weave in and out of her small town, and she even eventually grasps a fair amount of independence for herself. All the while, she keeps Nettie in her heart despite all the forces trying to keep them apart.

What Made an Impression?: A Unlikely Dose of Fanservice: I must admit that I’m a bit of a Color Purple novice. I’ve never read Alice Walker’s 1982 novel, nor have I seen the Steven Spielberg-directed 1985 film. And I’ve never seen the musical production that premiered on Broadway back in 2005, which this film is most directly based upon. But I’m aware that it’s a deeply felt cultural touchstone for a lot of people. And that was abundantly clear at my screening, which featured one of the most receptive audiences I’ve been part of in quite a while. Seriously, the vibe was like the latest superhero movie on opening night, with the whoops and cheers crying out at every name in the credits, at the end of every musical number, and especially during a cameo appearance from one of the original film’s stars. While the crowd response made the power of this movie unmistakably clear, I like to think that I would have recognized it even if I’d been watching alone. After all, what we’ve got here is a simple formula, but an effective one: remain earnest and open-hearted in the face of the darkness, and your time will come.
Making a Meal Out of Their Characters: The current Color Purple cast has the benefit of audience members like me who are coming in fresh. But of course, they also have the disadvantage of everyone else who’s familiar with the likes of Oprah Winfrey and Whoopi Goldberg in the original movie, or the likes of Cynthia Erivo and Jennifer Hudson in the stage version. Or in the case of Danielle Brooks, there’s the challenge of reprising a part she’s already played on the stage. Luckily, the biggest compliment I can deliver is that none of them are afraid to take on their assignments. The aforementioned Brooks and Taraji P. Henson both especially go for broke as the two biggest personalities in the ensemble, while Domingo finds shades of vulnerability in a monster. Meanwhile, David Alan Grier is predictably a wise old hoot as a local reverend. And as for Barrino, she capably handles the weight of a whirlwind of emotions on her shoulders and in the depths of her diaphragm. It all adds up to a balm for the soul.

The Color Purple is Recommended If You Like: Spiritual healing

Grade: 3.5 out of 5 Pants

‘The Zone of Interest’ is a Strangely Terrifying History Lesson

December 13, 2023

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CREDIT: A24

Starring: Christian Friedel, Sandra Hüller

Director: Jonathan Glazer

Running Time: 105 Minutes

Rating: PG-13 for Discussions About the Holocaust

Release Date: December 15, 2023 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: The Zone of Interest might be the most banal movie ever made about the Holocaust. I don’t mean that as a criticism, but rather as objectively as possible. It revolves around the day-to-day goings-on of real-life German SS officer Rudolf Höss (Christian Friedel) and his wife Hedwig (Sandra Hüller) during the reign of Hitler. Most of the film takes place at their home and garden while they take care of chores and their kids run around without a care in the world. Then the last third or so revolves around government meetings in which Rudolf helps implement plans to round up Hungarian Jews into concentration camps. Afterwards, Rudolf walks up and down some staircases by himself. And then the film just ends.

What Made an Impression?: Fly on the Wall: I haven’t read the Martin Amis novel that the movie is based on, so I didn’t come into The Zone of Interest knowing too much of what to expect. I did watch the two trailers, but they’re among the vaguest previews I’ve ever seen. It might have helped if I had read a synopsis, but only barely. Writer-director Jonathan Glazer shoots it all like a cinéma vérité documentary, and the presentation is so insular that it can be pretty difficult to suss out even the setting if you haven’t prepared ahead of time. There’s something especially unnerving about this lack of explanation. It feels like you’ve been dropped into a place where you don’t belong, and when you realize where you are, it only becomes even more terrifying.
Surreal & A Little Supernatural: The Zone of Interest prompted one of the most surprising comparisons I’ve ever made in my life as a film buff. Specifically, there are a few moments throughout the film in which a character appears to be trapped in a black space in which all the colors have been flushed out and the sound is distorted. It’s like a cut to hell or some sort of netherworld that felt a lot like the temporal and spatial warping in the Paranormal Activity franchise. The message seems to be: an evil entity is always lurking around Rudolf and his ilk, even if he can’t quite put his finger on it. Continuing the theme of inexplicable time travel, there’s also a flash forward to some janitorial workers at a present-day Holocaust museum, which is just as unforgettably banal as the rest of the film. I spent most of my time watching The Zone of Interest confused about when the plot would actually start moving. Now I can’t get its disturbing plainness out of my head.

The Zone of Interest is Recommended If You Like: The Act of Killing, Staring into the face of evil, Avant-garde film scores

Grade: 4 out of 5 Swastikas

‘American Fiction’ is a Relentless Satire, and Quite a Bit More

December 12, 2023

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A Fictional American Man (CREDIT: Claire Folger/© 2023 Orion Releasing LLC. All Rights Reserved.)

Starring: Jeffrey Wright, Tracee Ellis Ross, John Ortiz, Erika Alexander, Leslie Uggams, Sterling K. Brown, Myra Lucretia Taylor, Raymond Anthony Thomas, Issa Rae, Adam Brody, Keith David

Director: Cord Jefferson

Running Time: 117 Minutes

Rating: R for Angry and Literate Profanity

Release Date: December 15, 2023 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: Thelonius “Monk” Ellison (Jeffrey Wright) just can’t believe the state of the literary industry. Publishers say they want books by Black authors. He’s a Black author, but they don’t want his books! What they really mean is that they want stereotypical stories about economic disparity that performative white liberals will lap up to prove their progressive bona fides. So Monk comes up with a little satirical trick in which he anonymously writes “My Pafology,” the most cliched Black trauma novel possible, while pretending to be a fugitive felon. And of course, it quickly becomes the most in-demand thing he’s ever written. But will he slip too far into his new persona? Meanwhile, he and his sister Lisa (Tracee Ellis Ross) and brother Cliff (Sterling K. Brown) have to care for their widowed mother Agnes (Leslie Uggams) as she slips into dementia.

What Made an Impression?: The Expected & The Unexpected: American Fiction pulls off one of my favorite cinematic tricks: it’s exactly the movie that the trailers sell it as, while also being completely something else. You don’t have to be Black to understand the righteous fury that writer/director Cord Jefferson is smuggling into his characterization of Monk, you just have to be paying attention. From the get-go, the satire is brazen and LOL-worthy. I was hoping for all of that to be true. But I was completely unprepared for how much time we end up spending with Monk’s mom and siblings. And I’m not complaining, because this is also perhaps the most affecting and deeply felt family drama of the year.
A Self-Righteous Struggle: Monk could’ve easily been a blank slate of a personality who just stares in disbelief at every outrageous twist and turn. And if that were the case, the movie he’s in would’ve been just as hilarious. But instead, it’s a little more complicated, and wonderfully so. Instead of laughing off the success of “My Pafology,” he takes every one of its triumphs as a personal affront. His frustrations with performative allyship are well-founded, but he doesn’t account for taste. Perfectly decent people of all races like these books just fine without making a big deal out of the state of the world. But Monk just can’t let things go without a fight. He always leads with his anger to the point that it ruins every relationship with whomever doesn’t have the patience to deal with him.
Remaining Clear-sighted: In keeping with the theme of surprise, the most important lesson of American Fiction is not what I was expecting. Perhaps I shouldn’t be too shocked, since the racial satire, while on-target, wasn’t exactly new. So instead, what really stuck with me was the importance of clear-sightedness. That is to say, the characters who focus on what’s really important are the ones who are also the most satisfied and at peace. In that regard, the Ellisons’ longtime housekeeper Lorraine (Myra Lucretia Taylor) is an absolute angel. She isn’t blind to the strife among the people in her care, but all she has to offer them is unconditional love. And then there’s Adam Brody as a slick movie producer who can’t wait to option the story of an actual real-life felon. At first, he seems just as awful as the patronizing publishers. But when Monk lets him in on the truth a bit more, he pivots to another idea. True, he might be just as opportunistic as ever, but taking advantage of an opportunity isn’t exactly a bad thing when you’re honest and enthusiastic. The Monks of the world would benefit from being tempered by this realization.

American Fiction is Recommended If You Like: Sorry to Bother You, Undercover Brother, Thanksgiving dinner

Grade: 4.5 out of 5 Fake Felons

‘Maestro’ + ‘Godzilla Minus One’ = ???

December 11, 2023

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CREDIT: Jason McDonald/Netflix; Toho/Screenshot

Maestro

Starring: Bradley Cooper, Carey Mulligan, Matt Bomer, Maya Hawke, Sarah Silverman, Michael Urie, Brian Klugman, Gideon Glick, Sam Nivola, Miriam Shor, Alexa Swinton, Josh Hamilton, June Gable

Director: Bradley Cooper

Running Time: 129 Minutes

Rating: R

Release Date: November 22, 2023 (Theaters)/December 20, 2023 (Theaters)

Godzilla Minus One

Starring: Ryunosuke Kamiki, Minami Hamabe, Yuki Yamada, Munetaka Aoki, Hidetaka Yoshioka, Sakura Ando, Kuranosuke Sasaki, Mio Tanaka, Sae Nagatani

Director: Takashi Yamazaki

Running Time: 125 Minutes

Rating: PG-13

Release Date: December 1, 2023 (Theaters)

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‘Poor Things’ Seeks to Break Free

December 6, 2023

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How POOR are they?! (CREDIT: Atsushi Nishijima/Searchlight Pictures)

Starring: Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe, Ramy Youssef, Christopher Abbott, Jerrod Carmichael, Margaret Qualley, Kathryn Hunter, Suzy Bemba, Hanna Schygulla

Director: Yorgos Lanthimos

Running Time: 141 Minutes

Rating: R for Weird Science and Lots and Lots of Sex

Release Date: December 8, 2023 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: The case of Bella Baxter (Emma Stone) is a strange one. Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe) discovers her body after she attempts suicide and proceeds to bring her back to life via reanimation and a brain transplant. But because the brain he uses is that of a baby, Bella reverts to a rather infant-like mental state upon her resurrection. Her development back to a fully conscious adult happens remarkably quickly, all things considered, perhaps because that brain recognizes that it’s been encased inside an adult body. Nevertheless, Bella also gets to have the profound experience of being able to rediscover all the sensory pleasures of life on Earth.

Dr. Baxter understandably tries to keep her locked away from the outside world, though he does invite into the fold medical student Max McCandles (Ramy Youssef), who soon finds himself proposing marriage to Bella. But before that wedding can happen, she’s decided to see the outside world alongside hedonistic lawyer Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo). As in many a hero’s journey, she will eventually return back to her starting point, having changed. But unlike a lot of other hero’s journeys, Poor Things features an unbound number of ecstatic sex scenes.

What Made an Impression?: A Fresh Set of Eyes: If there’s one lesson to be learned from Bella Baxter above all others, it’s the power of childlike wonder. Most of us have been living within our systems and routines too long to ever be able to fully question if there’s a better way. But Bella is a blank slate blessed with a mature body that can take advantage of her pleasures as much as possible. It’s a big reason why she charms everyone she encounters so much, despite her profoundly off-kilter, often juvenile disposition. It’s also, of course, why she enjoys sex (which she dubs “furious jumping”) as much as she does. However, her lack of inhibitions sometimes lead her astray, such as when she threatens to punch a crying baby, or when she tries to upend the carefully tended business practices at a Parisian brothel. But as her mental capacities lock into focus, she eventually devises compromises that she is uniquely qualified to conceptualize.
A World of Experimental Wonders: Bella is not Dr. Baxter’s only test subject, as we also get to meet some hybrid animal creatures wandering around his property that have been formed by head and body swapping among a goose, pig, and bulldog. The obvious antecedent here is Victor Frankenstein, but I also detected some playfulness in Dafoe’s performance, a la Futurama‘s Professor Farnsworth. Dr. Baxter has plenty in common with his hubristic brethren, particularly his tendency to seem like a deity to his creations. (It’s not for nothing that his first name is abbreviated to “God.”) Despite his tendency to control, he’s not as much of a monster as you might suspect. Instead, he’s one of the titular poor things, considering his history of abuse and experimentation at the hands of his own father. His abode is terrifying, but comfortingly so.
Soaking It All Up: If you somehow can’t engage with any of the characters of Poor Things, you can hopefully at least appreciate all the pretty business that director Yorgos Lanthimos and his crew have assembled. He’s certainly developed a unique visual style over the course of his career, and a movie set in an alternate version of the late Victorian era has allowed him plenty of room to be indelible. Fisheye lenses, purple-pink skies, spiral staircases that hover in the sky, and plenty more design choices make an inimitable visual impression. It’s all lived-in, anachronistic, and surreal, which is to say, an ideal environment for the Bella Baxters of the world to thrive in.

Poor Things is Recommended If You Like: American Pie, Socialist feminism, Steampunk

Grade: 4 out of 5 Transplants

Hayao Miyazaki Swoops In Out of Retirement to Deliver ‘The Boy and the Heron’

December 5, 2023

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Boy? Or Heron? (CREDIT: GKIDS)

Starring: Japanese Cast: Soma Santoki, Masaki Suda, Aimyon, Yoshina Kimura, Takuya Kimura, Shōhei Hino, Ko Shibasaki, Kaoru Kobayashi, Jun Kunimura
English Dubbed Cast: Luca Padovan, Robert Pattinson, Karen Fukuhara, Gemma Chan, Christian Bale, Mark Hamill, Florence Pugh, Willem Dafoe, Dave Bautista

Director: Hayao Miyazaki

Running Time: 124 Minutes

Rating: PG-13 for Lethal Flames and Freaky-Looking Talking Animals

Release Date: December 8, 2023 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: During the middle of World War II, 12-year-old Mahito’s mother Hisako dies in a hospital fire. One year later, his widowed father Shoichi remarries Hisako’s younger sister, Natsuko, and they all move from Tokyo to the countryside. Everyone at the estate is eager to lavish attention on Mahito, including the gaggle of maids, as well as a strange, persistent grey heron. Soon enough, that bird leads Mahiko into an alternate world where parakeets are the size of humans and Mahito’s missing granduncle is a wizard keeping existence in perfect balance. As the boy and the heron make their way through this parallel plane, the entire fate of his family might just rest upon the success of their journey.

What Made an Impression?: A Thin Line Between Reality and Fantasy: If you had no idea before reading this review that The Boy and the Heron was written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, chances are you would’ve figured it out immediately upon reading that synopsis. In his decades-long career of helming animated classics like Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, and Ponyo, Miyazsaki has tapped into eternal childlike wonder by having fantastical realms spring up within the confines of real world settings. Mahito’s trip into the alternate reality is so gradual that it almost feels like this sort of thing could happen to anybody who’s watching. It certainly helps that his situation always remains tethered to his starting point. That’s the sort of magic that Miyazaki is famous for, and it’s just as potent as it’s always been.
Seeking Harmony: Mahito’s world is in flux in pretty much every imaginable way on both grand and intimate scales. He’s been displaced by war, he’s lost a parent, and now animals are talking to him! No wonder the ultimate message of The Boy and the Heron is about putting everything back in balance. Mahito’s granduncle faces a mighty foe in this struggle in the form of the king of the parakeets, which feels a bit like avian slander, but in the context of the story, it works appropriately enough. Anyway, by the end of the movie, it’s kind of questionable whether or not full balance has actually been maintained. But perhaps that’s because the story is not really over. Mahito will be an adult soon enough, and this is exactly the sort of formative experience he could use to make sure that he grows up to be a valuable citizen of the world.
Subs vs. Dubs: And finally, I’ll offer a note about whether you should seek out the subtitled or dubbed version of The Boy and the Heron. I saw the former, which I generally prefer when it comes to foreign-language films, because I like to hear the native tongue, and I usually have the captions on anyway even when I’m watching something in English. But in this case I was a little disappointed that I didn’t get to see the dubbed version, because the English voice cast looks so promising. I’ll probably have to check it out eventually just so that I can hear Dave Bautista as the Parakeet King. If you have a choice between one or the other, I think you’ll be fine either way. And if you have the time and the inclination, then go ahead and give both versions a whirl!

The Boy and the Heron is Recommended If You Like: Miyazaki in general, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Aflac Duck

Grade: 4 out of 5 Parakeets

‘Eileen’ Contains Multitudes

November 30, 2023

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Come on, Eileen! (CREDIT: NEON)

Starring: Thomasin McKenzie, Anne Hathaway, Shea Wigham, Marin Ireland, Owen Teague

Director: William Oldroyd

Running Time: 98 Minutes

Rating: R for Masshole Behavior and a Sudden Violent Turn

Release Date: December 1, 2023 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: Eileen Dunlop (Thomasin McKenzie) has a real going-nowhere job as a secretary at a juvenile prison in 1960s coastal Massachusetts. She lives with her alcoholic widowed father, Jim (Shea Wigham), who mostly berates her for not measuring up to her married sister. But her world is suddenly opened up by an exponential order of magnitude when she befriends the prison’s new resident psychologist, Rebecca (Anne Hathaway). There’s an undeniable frisson of romance as well, but Eileen is so enthralled by Rebecca mainly because she’s never encountered anyone so cosmopolitan. Their connection is deep and genuine, but a much darker story is lurking in plain sight

What Made an Impression?: Breaking Free: In the likes of Leave No Trace, Jojo Rabbit, Last Night in Soho, and well, pretty much everything she’s had a starring role in, Thomasin McKenzie has specialized in playing the most delicate of delicate creatures. And Eileen sure looks like she’s just the latest scarred entrant in this distinguished lineup. But she quickly demonstrates that she’s much more complicated than a standard-issue shrinking violet. Her self-assuredness was actually there all along, or at least it was present by the time that we meet her. She just needed the right spark to be set off.
Sapphic Thrills: What a joy it is to luxuriate in endlessly seductive dialogue! While it’s abundantly clear in their conversations just how smitten Eileen is with Rebecca, there’s also a hint that she’s somewhere in the middle of the Kinsey scale, as we also see her fantasizing about a male co-worker. So her romantic struggles thus far haven’t been for lack of bodies, but for want of wit and philosophy. Rebecca is just the right amount of individualistic and unapologetic to activate the same in Eileen. And the dialogue as a whole is just wonderfully ferocious throughout, coming courtesy of co-writers Luke Goebel and Ottessa Moshfegh (the latter of whom is adapting her own novel).
Here Comes the Twist: On Christmas Eve, Rebecca unexpectedly invites Eileen over for the evening. And she eagerly accepts. After all, her next best option is looking over her dad while his liver wastes away. At this point in the story, I was all ready for the two ladies to just toast to the baby Jesus as the credits roll, or maybe, if they’re feeling dangerous, to drive away together to somewhere that their love will be accepted. But then something much more unpredictable happens. I won’t say anything anymore, and honestly I’m worried I may have already said too much. But this was the moment for me that Eileen went from perfectly satisfying to astoundingly unforgettable. It might have been nice if the running time were 10 or 20 minutes longer to let this swerve breathe a little bit. Still, it’s a bracing and breathtaking conclusion to an unexpected thrill ride.

Eileen is Recommended If You Like: Carol, Lady MacBeth, Gone Girl

Grade: 4 out of 5 Martinis

It’s a ‘Silent Night’ for All the Worst Reasons in John Woo’s Christmas-Set Tale of Vengeance

November 29, 2023

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Joel Kinnaman and Catalina Sandino Moreno having a Silent Night (CREDIT: Lionsgate)

Starring: Joel Kinnaman, Scott Mescudi, Catalina Sandina Moreno, Harold Torres

Director: John Woo

Running Time: 104 Minutes

Rating: R for Bloody Violence, Mostly Due to Gunfire

Release Date: December 1, 2023 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: Brian Godluck (Joel Kinnaman) has just survived the most terrible tragedy during the holiday season. His young son has been killed by a stray bullet in a gang-related shootout. Fueled by adrenaline in the heat of a moment, he chases after the men who are responsible, a decision that ends with him being shot in the neck. He manages to make it out alive, but in the process he loses the ability to speak. After recovering, vengeance takes over his life, and he circles Christmas Eve on his calendar as the day for payback. And because the movie he’s in is called Silent Night, there’s hardly any audible dialogue throughout.

What Made an Impression?: Poetic Vengeance: It’s quite the challenge for an actor to realize a full characterization without being heard. Scott Cudi (aka the rapper Kid Cudi), for example, can only do so much as the lead detective, although to be fair, he doesn’t have that many scenes, and he’s mostly filling a utilitarian purpose. Kinnaman at least has plenty to do as the main character, with anguish written all over his face even at his most determined. But perhaps the most profound performance is delivered by Catalina Sandina Moreno as Brian’s wife Saya. With her deep eyes and full cheeks, she’s always had a visage that you can get lost in, and director John Woo knows exactly how to frame her. In many ways, Saya is the stereotypical action movie spouse who gets dropped by the wayside before the flashy set pieces arrive. But her eventual absence hits more profoundly than most, as Brian sinks further and further into the underworld.
Unrelenting … and Cathartic?: There are plenty of Christmas-set movies that aren’t exactly holly-jolly, so Silent Night isn’t exactly sacrilegious. But it is among the bleakest ever in this particular subgenre. When all is said and done and Brian has fed his desperation as much as he possibly can, I couldn’t help but feel devastated, even knowing that this is just a movie. But in a way, Silent Night also works as a what-not-to-do guide if the Worst Possible Thing happens to you as a parent, much the same way that the true crime genre is so popular in part because it can help warn us how to be less vulnerable in the face of life-threatening danger. Additionally, I can’t help but be impressed by Woo’s commitment to the gimmick, and breathe a sigh of relief when the tension of the whole mission finally concludes.

Silent Night is Recommended If You Like: Bracing yourself for the absolute worst tragedy

Grade: 3 out of 5 Christmas Sweaters

Am I Thankful for ‘Priscilla,’ ‘May December,’ and ‘The Marvels’?

November 25, 2023

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Priscilla being all Priscilla-like (CREDIT: Philippe Le Sourd/A24)

Priscilla

Starring: Cailee Spaeny, Jacob Elordi, Ari Cohen, Dagmara Domińczyk, Lynne Griffin, Dan Beirne

Director: Sofia Coppola

Running Time: 113 Minutes

Rating: R

Release Date: October 27, 2023 (Theaters)

May December

Starring: Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore, Charles Melton

Director: Todd Haynes

Running Time: 117 Minutes

Rating: R

Release Date: November 17, 2023 (Theaters)/December 1, 2023 (Netflix)

The Marvels

Starring: Brie Larson, Teyonah Parris, Iman Vellani, Zawe Ashton, Samuel L. Jackson, Gary Lewis, Park Seo-joon, Zenobia Shroff, Mohan Kapur, Saagar Shaikh

Director: Nia DaCosta

Running Time: 105 Minutes

Rating: PG-13

Release Date: November 10, 2023 (Theaters)

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