Friday, March 7, 2025

Ghostlight (2023)

Jack and I both loved this moving story of a taciturn construction worker reeling from a tragedy and joining a community theatre group. Keith Kupferer is joined by his real life wife Tara Mallen and their daughter Katherine Mallen Kupferer, playing his wife and daughter, and all are terrific, as are Dolly De Leon as a petite hot-tempered actress and the rest of the cast of the play within the movie.

Kelly O'Sullivan and Alex Thompson co-direct from a script by O'Sullivan. The details of the tragedy are doled out very slowly and carefully. In an interview O'Sullivan called Tara and Keith "Chicago theatre legends."

Composer Quinn Tsan's twenty tracks can be streamed on Apple Music and probably elsewhere, and is accompanied in the movie by these songs.

This sleeper has six wins and nineteen other nominations, both here and abroad. Apparently the term ghostlight refers to a light left on in an empty theatre, but I didn't hear it uttered in the movie.

O'Sullivan (as screenwriter), Thompson, and Tsan were last blogged for Saint Francis–this is O'Sullivan's feature directing debut. The Mallen-Kupferer family is new to me but not to the craft: Keith has been acting for thirty years, Tara fifteen, and Katherine eight (her age is not published anywhere but I'd guess she's about high school age now). De Leon's dozens of credits include Jackpot! but I didn't recognize her.
 
Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences are all lit up, averaging 99 and 92%, respectively. On February 4 we took advantage of our Independent Feature Project streaming privileges (this had two Spirit Award nominations), but it's now available for rent and on Hulu and Disney+ with a subscription.

The Fabulous Four (2024)

Though it's not very good, I downloaded this fluffy chick flick about female boomers gathering for one of their weddings, and enjoyed it on a long airplane ride last month. It has some laughs, lots of star power with Bette Midler, Susan Sarandon, Megan Mullally, and Sheryl Lee Ralph, and great production values and wardrobe. Bruce Greenwood makes an appearance in the second act. I see in the credits that Midler's daughter Sophie von Haselberg plays Amanda but I don't remember her character and I don't plan to watch it again to check who she was. In her smiling headshot, though, she looks just like her mama.

Jocelyn Moorhouse directs, from a script by Ann Marie Allison and Jenna Milly, and cast Midler as her usual brash narcissistic character, but Mullally's character is way more unhinged and, surprisingly, she is the singer in the group, not Midler, though Midler sings for a minute in one number. Singer Michael Bolton has a cameo as himself in act three.

I'm streaming the lighthearted score by David Hirschfelder with my subscription to Apple Music (his son Sam is credited on the musics apps but not on imdb). With 45 producers, this movie is in second place in my Producers Plethora Prize. And since I mentioned production values, shout out to production designer Catherine Smith and costume designer Marie Schley.

Midler was last blogged for Coastal Elites, Sarandon for 3 Generations, Mullally for Smashed, Greenwood for The Post, and Moorhouse and David Hirschfelder for The Dressmaker. Ralph is best known to me for 65 episodes of Abbott Elementary (with an Emmy) but she has been working steadily since the mid 1970s, including on Sister Act 2 (1993). She can sing too, but she didn't in this movie. This is Smith's first time heading her department on a feature, though she has some TV on her resume, including 41 episodes of Transparent and all eight of Lessons in Chemistry. Schley worked on four other features and has plenty of TV costume experience, including 42 of Transparent.

The far-from-fabulous 25% average from critics on Rotten Tomatoes kept me from watching this when it first came out, but now I'll go along with its audiences' 71%. I downloaded it for that plane ride on February 11 from Paramount+ with our subscription, but it's also now available for rent.

Wednesday, March 5, 2025

Hard Truths (2024)

Marianne Jean-Baptiste's character Pansy, a relentlessly argumentative Englishwoman of Jamaican heritage, may send some viewers screaming from the room, but Jack and I liked the latest from notable director/writer Mike Leigh and actually laughed at some of her antics. Jean-Baptiste is ably supported by Michele Austin as Pansy's sister, David Webber and Tuwaine Barrett as Pansy's long-suffering husband and son, and more.

The movie has 26 wins and 56 other nominations (none from Oscar) as of this writing. Nineteen of the wins are for Jean-Baptiste's performance and the rest are for Leigh's screenplay and Austin's performance.

I am streaming Gary Yershon's lovely (albeit brief) score on Spotify since it isn't available with our subscription to Apple Music. Oh, and after the movie I craved chicken, rice, and plantains. 

Leigh and Yershon were last blogged for Mr. Turner. Early in her career, Jean-Baptiste made a splash in Leigh's Secrets & Lies (1996) and I have seen and enjoyed her in a number of other projects. Austin was in Secrets & Lies and Leigh's Another Year, among others. I didn't recognize Webber, but his credits include a role in Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont. Barrett is new to me.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics did not run screaming from the room (a line I once heard attributed to Frank Zappa's music, of which I'm a big fan) with their 95% average, and its audiences stayed in their seats as well, averaging 81. We streamed it on January 29 with our Independent Feature Project privileges but it's now available to rent on the major platforms.

Babygirl (2024)

Jack and I liked this explicit movie about a successful woman executive with a sex addiction. Nicole Kidman can choose any role she wants and she goes all out in this one. Conan O'Brien called it his favorite of the year at the Oscars the other night (it had no nominations there but plenty elsewhere) and made a funny joke about Antonio Banderas playing the husband. Harris Dickinson plays the sexy intern at her company.

Director/writer Halina Reijn keeps the pace up and the moody music by Cristobal Tapia de Veer, supplemented by plenty of songs, uses heavy breathing as percussion from time to time and is streamable on Apple Music.

Kidman was last blogged for Being the Ricardos and Banderas for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Dickinson, a former model, has experience as an actor. His malleable face––the contrast between serious and smiling is remarkable––is evident in a short TikTok video with other models (I don't have a TikTok account but was able to watch it from this link).

This is Reijn's third feature after dozens of credits as an actress, with wins and nominations for both. De Veer scored fourteen episodes of The White Lotus and more.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics are smiling weakly with a 76% average but its critics are not at 48. We rented it on January 31 and you can, too.

Millers in Marriage (2024)

I loved director/writer/star Edward Burns' latest, about three 50-something siblings dealing with relationships and careers. Jack enjoyed it but not as much as I––he said, "Are we supposed to like any of these people?" Burns assembled a star-studded cast: Morena Baccarin, Benjamin Bratt, Brian d’Arcy James, Minnie Driver, Julianna Margulies (who plays one sister of Burns' character), Gretchen Mol (the other sister), Campbell Scott, and Patrick Wilson.

The words "champagne problems" are uttered in the movie, and the characters are certainly well-off, which may repel some viewers, but I enjoyed the sumptuous sets by production designer Jason Singleton and the locations in New Jersey.

This is where I would write about the music, but there's nothing online––no composer, no list of songs, only two crew members who worked on music clearance. And because we streamed it over three months ago with membership in the Independent Feature Project, I can't remember the music.

Burns was last blogged for The Fitzgerald Family Christmas, Baccarin for Deadpool 2, Bratt for Coco, d'Arcy James for Sisters, Driver for Beyond the Lights, Margulies for City Island, and Wilson for The Founder.

Mol had some buzz in Manchester by the Sea (2016) and was terrific in 53 episodes of Boardwalk Empire (2010-14) and eight of Mozart in the Jungle (2015). Her long resume also includes Sweet and Lowdown (1999) and the title role in The Notorious Bettie Page (2005). Scott is best known for Big Night (1996), Roger Dodger (2002), and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) and I recall liking him in Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994) and The Spanish Prisoner (1997). He's currently more active than that list would imply. Singleton is new to me.

November 22, 2024 is when we watched it. I jotted a few notes at the time but waited to finish until the rest of you could see it, and it can now be purchased ($9.99 on Apple, 19.99 on the others). Maybe after a while it'll be rentable. Rotten Tomatoes' critics are heading for a separation with a 58% average, but its audiences want to renew their vows at 98.

Monday, February 10, 2025

Nickel Boys (2024)

Jack and I both really appreciated (it's difficult to say we "liked" it) this nominated movie about a young Black man in 1960s Florida whose promising future comes to a halt when he's sent to a brutal, racist reform school. The main cast is Ethan Herisse as Elwood, Brandon Wilson as his friend Turner, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor as Elwood's grandmother (in real life she is 31 years older than he), Hamish Linklater as a nasty "teacher" at the Nickel Academy, and Luke Tennie as another inmate, Griff. Daveed Diggs makes a cameo as the adult Elwood.

RaMell Ross directs and co-wrote the script with Joslyn Barnes, based on the 2019 book by Colson Whitehead. Whitehead based his book on a true, cruel and abusive reform school, The Florida School for Boys, also known as the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys, in the Florida panhandle from 1900-2011. The book won a Pulitzer the following year. The Oscar nominations are for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay, among its 38 wins and 170 other nominations so far. 

While watching I made a note it has "weird music" by Alex Somers and Scott Alario, which I'm now streaming on Apple Music. Some of the tracks are intentionally staticky.

Director of Photography Jomo Fray is nominated by his peers in the American Society of Cinematographers for a Spotlight Award, as well as eight wins and 33 other nominations, all for this movie. I had read in advance that the movie was shot from Elwood's point of view (so audiences see his face only in reflections), but after about an hour of the 2:20 running time, the POV changes to more typical views.

Ellis-Taylor was last blogged (as Aunjanue Ellis) for King Richard, Linklater for Magic in the Moonlight, and Somers for Causeway. Herisse has been in three other movies and a handful of shorts and TV episodes. Wilson was in The Way Back as one of the basketball players, among his credits, and Tennie's resume includes 22 episodes of the series Shrinking in the role of Sean. This is Ross's second feature and the first was a documentary. Barnes has written or co-written two other features (scripted), and Alario scored Ross's documentary. This is Fray's seventh feature.

Rotten Tomatoes' audiences are happy to pay dollars with an average of 90% while its audiences are keeping their change at 75. We watched it on a streamer from the Independent Feature Project on January 8. It is currently still in live theatres and is supposed to stream in the spring on MGM+ and Prime. 

Sunday, February 9, 2025

Sing Sing (2023)

Jack and I loved this movie, based on a true story, about inmates at the titular New York prison who find joy in a theatre group. The reliable Colman Domingo shines as John "Divine G" Whitfield as does Clarence "Divine Eye" Maclin playing himself. Paul Raci plays Brent Buell, the kind director of the Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA) program, and most of the other cast are literally ex-convicts playing versions of themselves, except for Sean San Jose (he plays Mike Mike), who is Domingo's real life friend. In an early scene, the actor asking for Divine G's autograph is the real John "Divine G" Whitfield.

Greg Kwedar and Clint Bentley, filmmaking partners, wrote the script for Kwedar to direct (apparently the partners alternate who gets directing credit), based on John H. Richardson 2005 Esquire article The Sing Sing Follies (you can read the article here, but wait until after you watch the movie) and Buell's prison play Breakin' the Mummy's Code. Story credit goes to Bentley, Kwedar, Maclin, and Whitfield.

Bryce Dessner's score can be streamed on Apple Music, as can the Oscar-nominated song Like a Bird. Oscar has also nominated Domingo and the screenplay story writers. As of today, the movie has 57 wins and 178 other nominations.

Domingo was last blogged for Drive-Away Dolls, Raci for his Oscar-nominated role of the kindly therapist in The Sound of Metal, and Dessner for A Good Person. Maclin and Whitfield make their feature debuts and San Jose has been in a handful of other projects. Kwedar and Bentley have written and directed two other features with another scheduled to open this year.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences are averaging a liberated 97%. We watched it on a streamer from the Independent Feature Project Spirit Awards (anyone can join and I am a member) on January 18 but now it's available to rent. Everyone who worked on the movie received the same pay and was offered ownership depending on which phases they participated in: development, pre-production, production, post-production, and promotion. So when you rent it, you will be helping to pay the actual independent filmmakers.

A Real Pain (2024)

Jack and I liked a lot this story of adult American cousins of very different personalities traveling to Poland to research their family history, including a trip to a Lublin concentration camp. Jesse Eisenberg directs, wrote the screenplay, and stars as the organized, anxious Benji, a role he fills beautifully. Kieran Culkin was born to play spontaneous, pushy, relentless cousin Benji, who embodies one interpretation of the movie's title. It's not for everyone. In fact our friend Cathy cringed so much she had to turn it off and told me "maybe" she'll get back to it. There are plenty of laughs, though, between the cringes and tears.

The small ensemble includes Jennifer Grey as one of the tour guests, Will Sharpe as the tour guide, and eight year old Banner Eisenberg making his debut playing his real life father's son. 

So far the movie has 52 wins and 90 other nominations, including Oscar prospects for Eisenberg's script and Culkin's Benji. Jack wonders how much acting Culkin had to do to portray that character. He heard an interview in which Eisenberg said that Culkin did not even read the script before showing up for shooting, but obviously it paid off, because Culkin alone has so far, by my count, 34 wins and 26 other nominations for the role.

The story has many themes mashed up: the odd couple's relationship, the caretaking required, the foreign tour, the history, the holocaust, and grief in general.

No composer is named and most of the music is piano solos composed by Frederic Chopin, who was Polish (I had assumed he was French – the Warsaw airport is named for him), and performed by Tzvi Erez.

Eisenberg was last blogged for acting in Zombieland: Double Tap after which I liked his annoying title character in all eight episodes of Fleishman Is in Trouble. He has directed one other feature which I haven't seen. Culkin was most recently in these pages for the COVID lockdown short Father of the Bride 3 which was shot on hiatus from his 39 Succession episodes. Grey is best known for starring in Dirty Dancing (1987) but she took no time off and has dozens of other credits, including all 26 episodes of It's Like, You Know... in which she played a version of herself named Jennifer Grey. Sharpe's credits include seven episodes of The White Lotus season two as Aubrey Plaza's character's husband.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics are quite comfortable, averaging 96%, while its critics may have a little ache at 81. We watched it on a streamer from the Independent Feature Project on January 14 but it's now available to stream on Hulu or Disney+ with a subscription and to rent everywhere else.

Friday, February 7, 2025

Wicked (2024)

Loved it! Nominated for ten Oscars, dozens of wins and hundreds of other nominations, this extravaganza delivers. I don't think I have to tell you the story is about the early years of Elphaba (the Wicked Witch of the West) becoming besties with Glinda (the Good Witch of the North) in school--okay, I just did. Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande are delightful in those roles with their amazing vocals, supported by Jeff Goldblum as the wry Wizard, Michelle Yeoh as stern Madame Morrible, Jonathan Bailey as dancing Fiyero, and cameos by Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth (original to the roles on Broadway). Listen for the voice of Peter Dinklage as the voice of the professor-goat, Dr. Dillamond.

My only quibble is it's overlong at 2:40. That's not a big problem for home viewers like us. The other reason I didn't want to see it in the theatre (in addition to my usual reasons) is that I heard many stories of audience members singing along or causing other disruptions.

Director Jon M. Chu keeps all the balls in the air--wait 'til you see the Dancing Through Life scene––from the script by Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox. Holzman also wrote the book for the Broadway musical, which as based on Gregory Maguire's 1995 novel and premiered in 2003. Amy, Emily, Marilyn, and I saw it in New York in 2006.

Stephen Schwartz's Broadway songs are available on on Apple Music and are supplemented by John Powell's instrumentals, also on Apple Music. Speaking of Dancing Through Life, watch this YouTube video about the making of the scene.

Also recognized by Oscar are production designer Nathan Crowley and costume designer Paul Tazewell.

Erivo was last blogged for Respect, Goldblum for Le Week-End, Yeoh for Everything Everywhere All at Once, Menzel for You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah, Dinklage for Cyrano, Chu for In the Heights, Fox for Cruella, Powell for Don't Worry Darling, and Tazewell for West Side Story.

Grande (birth name Grande-Butera) has done some acting, notably Penny Pingleton in the TV movie Hairspray Live! and a small part in Don't Look Up, but is best known as a pop music singer with a four octave range. Bailey has dozens of credits, but, to me, he's the sexy Lord Anthony Bridgerton in nineteen episodes of Bridgerton. Chenoweth, also with a remarkable vocal range, has nominations (including for Wicked) and wins from the Tonys and Emmys (including for Pushing Daisies and Glee).

Holzman wrote ten episodes of Thirtysomething, 19 of My So-Called Life, and 13 of Once and Again, as well as Executive Producing the latter two. Schwartz, Oscar-nominated with Powell for this score, shared two Oscar wins with Alan Menken for the score and Colors of the Wind in Pocahontas (1995), and was nominated for three songs in Enchanted, which is one of the five movies I wrote about on my very first day of blogging, September 3, 2008. This is Crowley's seventh Oscar nomination and we've seen them all, The Prestige (2006), The Dark Knight, Interstellar, Dunkirk, First Man, and Tenet.

Rotten Tomatoes' audiences and critics are kind, averaging 88 and 95%.

We intended to rent it days after it dropped for streaming, but paid more to buy it on January 5 because of the extras (including a sing-along version to share with my chorus buddies), and today it's available to buy on the major streamers for what was then the rental price of $19.99. 55 trivia items give even more depth to my enjoyment. Read them if you like!

Thursday, January 16, 2025

Emilia Pérez (2024)

Amy called this movie "fearlessly weird" and we both loved it, a crazy Spanish language musical about a lawyer who is hired to facilitate the disappearance and gender reassignment of a Mexican cartel leader; and then more stuff happens. It has 69 wins and 187 nominations as of this writing, including many for Zoe Saldana as the lawyer Rita, Karla Sofía Gascón as the crime boss/Emilia, Selena Gomez as the boss's wife Jessi, and director/writer Jacques Audiard. Other notable cast members are Adriana Paz as Epifania, Mark Ivanir as Wasserman, and Edgar Ramirez as Gustavo. Amy, who is fluent in Spanish, noticed that Gomez's accent and delivery are not great. Gomez admitted this and that's why it was decided to make Jessi's character American instead of Mexican.

Audiard, who is French, speaks no Spanish, and had apparently spent no time in Mexico, had originally loosely adapted Boris Razon's 2018 novel Ã‰coute (it's French for the word listen) into an opera. For this movie he shares writing credits with Thomas Bidegain for scenario collaboration and Léa Mysius and Nicolas Livecchi for [plain] collaboration.

Not everyone loved this by any means.. I'll quote one item of the plentiful imdb trivia: "The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) called the film a 'profoundly retrograde portrayal of a trans woman' that 'recycles the trans stereotypes, tropes, and clichés of the not-so-distant past.' The Latino community, especially Mexicans, also expressed their discontent over the film's stereotypical portrayal of Mexico and its people and for romanticizing the cartel and disrespecting its victims." However, see above for the awards and nominations. 

The songs, including the catchy tune La Vaginoplastia, are written by Camille and/or Clément Ducol and/or Audiard.

Saldana was last blogged for Amsterdam, Gomez for A Rainy Day in New York, Audiard for Rust and Bone, and Ivanir for A Late Quartet. Before her real life transition, Gascón had an acting career from 1995-2016 under the names of Juan Carlos Gascón and Carlos Gascón. Since then she has acted in two TV series and this is her first feature as a woman. Paz has acted in many projects––I haven't seen any––but Ramirez is quite familiar because of his work on Joy and the season of American Crime Story in which he played Gianni Versace.

Bidegain has dozens of credits, including Rust and Bone, others directed by Audiard, and the movie on which CODA was based. Mysius is new to me and Livecchi collaborated with Audiard on another feature. This is Camille's sixth time scoring a feature and Ducol's ninth.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics are somewhat neutral, averaging 76%, while its audiences are downright opposed at 38. We watched it on Netflix on December 29.

Friday, January 3, 2025

Anora (2024)

Amy, Jack, and I really liked this frenetic story of a New York stripper/sex worker who impulsively marries the immature son of a Russian crime family. X rated with lots of nudity, sex, drugs, and rock and roll, this Palme d'Or winner is no Pretty Woman. Mikey Madison and her luminous smile shine as the street smart title character nicknamed Ani and Mark Eydelshteyn is her hapless prince who looks younger than his age of 22. Lindsey Normington, who plays Ani's strip club nemesis Diamond, has worked as an exotic dancer and was a big help in the production.

Director/writer/editor Sean Baker keeps the energy high throughout the 139 minute run time. Amy commented that the story is good but the last scene is sad. The soundtrack consists of 59 (!) songs listed on imdb. 

The movie has earned 83 wins and 172 nominations so far, up from when I checked even yesterday, and is the first American Palme d'Or winner in thirteen years.

After I wrote about Madison in Nostalgia (when I mentioned her 52 episodes in the wonderful FX series Better Things), she was in the huge cast of Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood. Baker was last blogged for Red Rocket and this is Normington's second feature.

Because I was so eager to see this acclaimed title, we went ahead and bought it to stream on Apple TV since it can't yet be rented, to fulfill our 19 year family tradition of watching a movie on Christmas day.

Moana (2016)

Every time I commented I hadn't seen (the first) Moana, Jack said, "It's really good!" He watched it again last week with Amy and me and we agreed with him. The animated musical about a headstrong independent Polynesian island princess is beautiful, funny, creative, and has great songs. Auli'i Cravalho and Dwayne Johnson lead the voice cast as the title character and the muscular tattooed demigod Maui. The hilarious Jemaine Clement has a turn as an evil crab named Tamatoa.

Many cooks didn't spoil the broth, as it was directed by Ron Clements, John Musker, Don Hall, and Chris Williams from a screenplay by Jared Bush and story by Clements, Musker, Hall, Williams, Pamela Ribon, and identical twin brothers Aaron Kandell and Jordan Kandell.

I had heard and sung along to the songs many times at the grandchildren's houses, especially How Far I'll Go and You're Welcome (both written by Lin-Manuel Miranda), the former of which was Oscar-nominated that year. The exciting score by Mark Mancina and some of those songs can be streamed on Apple Music

Writing this took an extra long time because I went down the rabbit hole of reading what seems like hundreds of trivia items, including that Christopher Jackson, a Hamilton alumnus, provided the singing voice for Moana's father and that almost every actor is of Polynesian or Australian descent.

Cravalho was last blogged for Mean Girls (also a musical) but this was her acting debut at age 15, Johnson for The Other Guys, Clement for The Breaker Upperers, Hall for Raya and the Last Dragon, Bush and Miranda for Encanto, and Jackson for In the Heights.

Clements and Musker directed The Little Mermaid (1989), and Aladdin (1992), among others, Williams is credited with the stories of Mulan (1998), Frozen, and more, and Mancina's dozens of credits include Bad Boys (1995), Training Day (2001), and August Rush (2008). Ribon and the Kandells are new to me.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences are happily at sea, averaging 95 and 89%. We streamed it on Disney+ on December 28. Stick around for the credits or fast forward to the end for a bonus scene with Tamatoa.

Thursday, January 2, 2025

Good Grief (2023)

Jack and I really liked Daniel Levy's movie (he directed, wrote, and starred) about an artist named Marc mourning his husband's death with Marc's two best friends. It sounds lugubrious (i.e. mournful–my mother liked that word) but there's plenty of comic relief, as to be expected from the Schitt's Creek creator, star, writer, producer, and showrunner. The best friends are played by Ruth Negga and Himesh Patel and the husband is Luke Evans. Celia Imrie makes an appearance as the estate lawyer and I spotted cameos by Kaitlyn Dever as the narcissistic young actress and Emma Corrin as the performance artist.

The sweet soundtrack by Rob Simonsen is available to stream on Apple Music and likely elsewhere and there are good songs, of course. I remember enjoying the production values––production designer is Alice Normington––and great location shots in London and Paris, including in the room with Monet's water lilies in the Musée de l'Orangerie. Marc's paintings are by Kris Knight, who, like Levy, is Canadian. You can see five of them them here, but it may be better to view them after watching the movie.

Levy was last blogged for acting in Happiest Season and it's his first time directing and writing a feature. Negga was most recently in these pages for Passing, Patel for Yesterday, Evans for Professor Marston and the Wonder Women, Imrie for Finding Your Feet, Dever for Ticket to Paradise, and Simonsen for The Whale.

Corrin has a slew of nominations and wins for playing young Princess Diana in season 4 of The Crown and Normington has designed over two dozen productions, including Nowhere Boy and Suffragette.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics' and audiences' handkerchiefs are dry, averaging 76 and 70%. We watched it on Netflix on December 20 after it had been on my watch list for a long time.

Wednesday, January 1, 2025

The Piano Lesson (2024)

Jack and I liked very much this latest iteration of August Wilson's 1987 Pulitzer-winning play about a 1936 Pittsburgh family's prized instrument. It's getting lots of love, especially for Danielle Deadwyler who stars as Berniece. Samuel L. Jackson gets top billing as Doaker, the uncle of Berniece and her brother Boy Willie, the lead character, played by John David Washington. Supporting strength comes from Ray Fisher as cousin Lymon, Corey Hawkins as Berniece's boyfriend Avery, Michael Potts as her uncle Wining Boy, and I'm always happy to see and hear Erykah Badu, this time playing Lucille.

Malcolm Washington (Denzel's son and John David's brother) makes his feature directing and co-writing debut with co-writer Virgil Williams. Denzel does not appear on screen but is one of the producers, and Malcolm's twin sister Olivia Washington has a small part as Young Mama Ola. I'm streaming Alexandre Desplat's score on Apple Music as I type.

The production design, led by David J. Bomba, of the 1930s and flashbacks, is in beautiful sepia.

Jackson was the first to play Boy Willie in the 1987 Yale Repertory Theater production, and he, John David Washington, Fisher, and Potts all starred in its Broadway production from 2022-2023. After and between the stage version, there was an award winning 1995 TV movie, too.

Jackson was last blogged for Death to 2020, John David Washington for Amsterdam, Hawkins for The Tragedy of Macbeth, Potts for Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Badu for House of D, Williams for Mudbound, and Desplat for Nyad

Deadwyler starred in and earned nominations and wins for Till (2022), which I forgot to see, among many credits, and Fisher is new to me. Olivia Washington co-starred in the surreal series I'm a Virgo, about a 13 foot tall Oakland teenager. Bomba has several nominations and wins, including for this, Mudbound, and the series Ozark.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics are in tune, with an 88% average, but its audiences are hitting clunkers at 68. We streamed it on Netflix on December 10. Stick around for a Badu song and two others at the end of the credits.

Janet Planet (2023)

This story of sensitive 11 year old Lacy living with her acupuncturist mother, the title character, in 1991 rural western Massachusetts is what I would call languid and, in one scene, Lacy learns the word languorous. I liked it and Jack didn't hate it. We both agree that young Zoe Ziegler, in her debut, is terrific and I always like Julianne Nicholson, who plays Janet. We also see Will Patton, Sophie Okonedo, Elias Koteas, and more.

Director/writer Annie Baker, a celebrated playwright, makes her film debut and was inspired by her own childhood with a single mom in the same geographical area. Baker won an Obie Award for her very first play in 2009, two more later, and a Pulitzer for one of them, among her accolades. There is a creative theatrical piece within the movie and lots of slow, thoughtful pauses.

No composer is credited––instead, we have a list of songs on the soundtrack.

Nicholson was last blogged for Blonde, Patton for Minari, and Okonedo for Catherine Called Birdy. Koteas looks familiar and his name rings a bell, but none of his dozens of roles rings a bell.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics are heading out of this world with an 85% average (it's on many top ten lists), while its audiences are earthbound at 49. We streamed it on Max on December 13 and it can be rented.