December Movies: Emilia Perez, A Complete Unknown, The Piano Lesson, Nosferatu, Babygirl

New movies have been pouring into the theaters, and onto Netflix, so I’ve been desperately catching up, since many of them are also slated to get some love during awards season. As the year winds down, dive into these films as a last hurrah to 2024!

Emilia Perez: Written and directed by Jacques Audiard, based on his own opera libretto that was loosely based on the novel Ecoute by Boris Razon, this is a very bizarre but compelling movie about a trans Mexican cartel leader named Juan "Manitas" Del Monte (played by Karla Sofia Gascon), who needs to ensure her wife (played by Selena Gomez) and children are taken care of after she receives gender-affirming surgery and starts a new life. She hires/kidnaps Rita Mora Castro (Zoe Saldana), a lawyer who is brilliant but has never gotten the chance to exercise her brilliance in court. Rita is initially skeptical but then agrees to take on the work of helping Manitas find the right doctor and set all the wheels into motion so that she can live as her authentic self while ensuring her family is safe. Post-transition, Manitas is now Emilia, and while she thought she could just be happy on her own as a woman, she realizes she needs something more and asks Rita to help her once again. Oh also, this entire movie is a musical, with characters constantly breaking into song, in various languages. Tonally, it’s a wild ride, but the three main actresses are delivering outstanding performances, and the plot is so twisty and engaging that I was riveted throughout. It’s a movie that’s well worth streaming because it’s going to be unlike anything you’ve seen before. It’s weird, but it’s quite good, and isn’t that what we all aspire to be?

A Complete Unknown: Directed by James Mangold, off a script he wrote with Jay Cocks, based on the book Dylan Goes Electric! by Elijah Wald, this is a perfectly serviceable biopic that follows Bob Dylan (Timothee Chalamet) from the time he arrived in New York City in 1961 to the infamous Newport Folk Festival in 1965, when he shocked the world by playing with electric instruments. Along the way, we see the evolution of his relationship with his mentor Pete Seeger (played with a Mr. Rogers-esque kindness by Edward Norton), his romance with steadfast girlfriend Sylvie Russo (Elle Fanning, playing Dylan's actual girlfriend Suze Rotolo, but Dylan requested the film not use her real name) and the tempestuous musical/romantic relationship with Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro, singing her beautiful heart out). It’s all very typical for a biopic, a genius man and his music, who has no time to be treating the women in his life well when he has all these songs to write. Blah blah. Chalamet’s performance is the truly extraordinary piece of this film, as he sings and plays guitar and harmonica, and does the world’s best Dylan impression. Give him the Oscar already. The film is 50% music, and not just Dylan’s, but a lot of Baez’s work too, which Monica Barbaro brilliantly performs and deserves her own Supporting Actor Oscar for. This movie is definitely worth it for the music and performances, but don’t go into it expecting any great revelations beyond the standard biopic fare.

The Piano Lesson: Directed by Malcolm Washington, who wrote the screenplay with Virgil Williams, adapting it from August Wilson’s play, this is the story of a piano that is sitting in the living room of a woman named Berniece (Danielle Deadwyler), and what happens when her brother, Boy Willie (John David Washington) travels up to her house to get this piano with the aim of selling it so he can buy the Mississippi farmland where their ancestors were previously enslaved. This piano has a lot of history, some of which is literally carved into its woodwork, and as the movie progresses, we slowly get the story of what this piano has been through, and also, what the members of this family have been through. Set in 1936, this is a classic tale of the African American experience on either side of the Mason-Dixon Line, and the poverty, racism, and fear, that keep impacting future generations of Black folk as they try to go about their lives. It’s also a ghost story, so be prepared for some fantastical elements you may not have necessarily expected. While Deadwyler delivers a great performance, I found it hard to really get into this film - given its play origins, it was ultimately too talky and not very cinematically compelling. I have yet to see John David Washington convince me that he’s a leading man, so again, I’d say this is a competent film, that continues Denzel Washington’s valiant plan to bring all of August Wilson’s Pittsburgh Cycle plays to the screen for a wider audience. But this particular story did not grip me as much as Fences or Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, so maybe you're better off re-watching those films.

Nosferatu: Directed by Robert Eggers, who wrote the screenplay with inspiration from the 1922 silent film of the same name and Bram Stoker's Dracula, this is your standard vampire movie about a maniacal vampire who desires a woman (in this case, Ellen, played by Lily-Rose Depp), and must therefore wreak absolute havoc on a bunch of people is his diabolical quest to get laid. Can you tell I was not the target demographic? As always, Eggers is brilliant with his artistic vision, with breathtaking production design from Craig Lathrop, costumes by Linda Muir, and cinematography from Jarin Blaschke. And I legitimately had no idea Bill Skarsgard was the one playing Nosferatu, he is so creepy and vile throughout. Nicholas Hoult is great as Thomas, Ellen’s husband who is lured to do the vampire's bidding and then must fight him to try and save his wife. But ugh, I simply did not care. It all felt like a very elaborate plot that amounted to the same old, patriarchal nonsense where a woman must suffer so the rest of us can live, and everyone is being punished for being lusty, and yada yada yada. It’s all very well done, and if you love horror movies and vampires please run to the theater. But if you suspect this is not the kind of genre film that is your jam, then I am here to tell you, you are right, there is nothing novel here that will make it your jam.

Babygirl: Written and directed by Halina Reijn, this is a deeply weird but oddly compelling film, thanks to the central performance by Nicole Kidman. She plays Romy Mathis, a brilliant and successful CEO, who is married to a dashing theater director named Jacob (Antonio Banderas) and has two nice children. Her life is all perfect on the outside, but of course, all is not well on the inside. Because in 19 years of marriage, Romy has never had an orgasm with her husband and instead has to rely on porn to get off when he’s asleep. Well now, her company has hired a young intern named Samuel (Harris Dickinson), and Romy is irresistibly pulled into an erotic liaison with him, exploring the submissive power dynamic she has never been able to share with her husband. The theater I was in was filled with people who kept laughing at the sex scenes and outlandish bits of dialogue, so I suppose you could treat this as a comedy. But really, it’s just an erotic thriller, and Kidman delivers a knockout performance. The way she portrays Romy's vulnerability and constant need to hide herself and deny her urges is wondrous, and it’s equally wondrous to see her suffering behind the icy facade she has to put on for her family and colleagues outside of the bedroom. Harris Dickinson also continues to be eminently watchable on screen, being thoroughly creepy and hot and indecipherable all at once. And special shout-out to the score by Cristobal Tapia de Veer, which was truly one of the most engaging parts of the film. This movie is well worth a watch, even if it's hard to find it compelling these days to watch another rich white woman having a breakdown. In this case though, the breakdown is masterfully portrayed.

November Movies Part 4: Gladiator II, Wicked: Part I, Red One

Thanksgiving is nearly upon us, so bring on the blockbusters! I watched two movies that have been hotly anticipated all year long, and one Christmas movie that was probably only hotly anticipated by me. Did they all measure up to expectations? Sure!

Gladiator II: The original Gladiator is one of my all-time favorite movies, one of the rare films I have rewatched multiple times. 24 years later, director Ridley Scott is back with a sequel written by David Scarpa that essentially rehashes the original film but asks "what if we made it even more over-the-top and had a battle with literal SHARKS in the Colosseum?!" 

Paul Mescal stars as Hanno, a soldier in the city of Numidia, who is forced into slavery and becomes a gladiator after his city is captured by the Roman army, under the leadership of General Acacius (Pedro Pascal). Like Maximus in the original movie, Hanno moves up through the ranks, catching the eye of Macrinus (Denzel Washington, playing this character with an unparalleled squirrelly glee), a man who wants to use gladiators to impress the evil twin emperors who currently rule Rome with an iron fist (the emperors are played by Joseph Quinn and Fred Hechinger, who at this point is becoming one of the most typecast actors in Hollywood and I would like to see him not playing a crazy psychopath please). There are a lot of questions about who exactly Hanno is, and when he makes it to Rome and fights his first bout at the Colosseum, Lucilla (Connie Nielsen, reprising her role from the original movie) is startled to see him. You can watch the movie to unravel the rest about this man and how exactly he might be related to all your favorite characters from the first film. 

There are a lot of fights with great stunt choreography, plenty of CGI that can sometimes be laughable, and somewhat shaky cinematography by John Mathieson. But if you want all the grandeur and spectacle of Ancient Rome, you'll get that in spades, thanks to production designer, Arthur Max. This movie certainly doesn't pack the emotional heft of its predecessor, even though it valiantly tries, particularly in the final scene that features that iconic music that reliably makes me weep every time I watch the original. I did not shed a tear for this film, but it was still a satisfying nostalgia watch that guaranteed a Gladiator rewatch is very much in my not-too-distant future. 

Wicked: Part I: After the marketing blitz we have endured for several months, this movie is finally here! And it's great! Directed by Jon M. Chu, with a screenplay by Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox, this is the movie about Galinda (Ariana Grande) and Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), two classmates at Shiz University who want to study sorcery and will ultimately go on to become the Good Witch and the Wicked Witch of the West that we all know from The Wizard of Oz. This is an adaptation of the Broadway musical, so do not expect it to be as dark and ponderous as the original novel by Richard Maguire. Instead, prepare yourself for a spellbinding tale about friendship, deceit, and how people can be oh-so-misunderstood when they are not the ones in power. Also, if you need a handsome man to look at, you've got Jonathan Bailey as Prince Fiyero, but really, all the focus is on Erivo and Grande who fully understood the brief and are perfectly cast as this iconic duo.

This is only Part I, so you will still have to endure the onslaught of more marketing for Part II next year. But this part is iconic and incredible all on its own. My ears perked up when I heard the opening strains of the few songs I knew, and oh man, when we get that final "Defying Gravity" number in the end, it is absolutely what you wanted and more. The production design by Nathan Crowley is unbelievable, and the lavish costumes by Paul Tazewell are sure to garner him an Oscar nomination. The actors are phenomenal, the music is perfect, and my eyes were glued to the screen from start to finish. It's exactly what fans expected from this movie, and even I, an extremely casual fan, cannot wait for the next installment.

Red One: Written by Chris Morgan and directed by Jake Kasdan, this is a supremely goofy and delightful holiday action movie about what happens when Santa Claus (played by a surprisingly ripped J.K. Simmons) gets kidnapped. The head of his security detail, Callum Drift (Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson), has to team up with the world's best hacker, Jack O'Malley (Chris "Captain America" Evans), who also happens to be a man who is on the "naughty list" and doesn't believe Santa is real. Well, he's in for a shock.

This movie is exactly what it says on the tin. It is silly and fun, there are lots of great action sequences where The Rock and Captain America are whaling on snowmen, North Pole security apparently has portals through toy stores worldwide, Lucy Liu is in charge of an organization called the Mythological Oversight and Restoration Authority, and there's an extended cameo from freakin' Krampus (Kristofer Hivju). What more could you want?! This movie is like a perfect little snow globe that shakes up Christmas lore, chase sequences, and spy thrillers into one thoroughly entertaining little diversion that is a perfect way to kick off your holiday movie watch. Merry Christmas everyone!

July Movies Part 4: Theater Camp, Nimona, The Beanie Bubble

To round out July, I have three final film recommendations. Whether you're into theater, animation, or beanie babies, you're gonna enjoy these films.

Theater Camp: Directed by Molly Gordon and Nick Lieberman, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Ben Platt and Noah Galvin, this is a mockumentary about theater kids, written by former theater kids. It's the story of a summer camp in the Adirondack Mountains where a bunch of kids who love theater gather to learn their craft from a bunch of wacky teachers and put on some spectacular productions at the end of their stay. This year is a little different, however, because the beloved camp founder, Joan (Amy Sedaris), is in a coma, and her son, Troy (Jimmy Tatro), a finance bro who knows nothing about Broadway, has taken over running the camp. Or rather, running it into the ground.

Platt and Gordon also star as Amos and Rebecca-Diane, a pair of very co-dependent teachers who went to this camp when they were kids and have now returned as high-strung teachers, who write and direct an original production every year. This year, they are writing a play about Joan's life, but as the summer progresses, there are all manner of hiccups, and it's clear that these best friends have some long-buried issues they need to work through. The rest of the cast are equally compelling, hilarious, and great, serving as a motley crew of haggard experts and complete nitwits (Ayo Edebiri is particularly fun as a new hire who lied on her resume and has no idea what her class on Stage Combat is meant to entail). But the true stars are the kids, these child actors who absolutely nail it as precocious little theater nerds who are brimming with talent and bursting with enthusiasm. This is a breezy gem of a film and you will not stop laughing for 90 minutes straight. Get thee to the theater!

Nimona: Written by Robert L. Baird and Lloyd Taylor (based on the graphic novel by ND Stevenson) and directed by Nick Bruno and Troy Quane, this animated movie was a surprising little Netflix discovery that brightened up my afternoon. Riz Ahmed voices Ballister Boldheart, a soldier in a medieval-futuristic kingdom who rose up the ranks and is now eligible for knighthood into the Institute for Elite Knights. He wasn't born to this position, and his knighting would serve as progress for the city, an indication that even those from humble backgrounds can achieve such heights. Unfortunately, as the Queen knights him with his sword, something goes terribly wrong and she is killed. In the ensuing melee, Ballister escapes, but he is now on the run with the entire city and the Institute convinced he is a Queen killer. 

This is when he runs into Nimona (voiced by Chloe Grace Moretz). She is a teenage shapeshifter, who lives on the outskirts of society because she is viewed as a monster. She desperately wants to team up with Ballister so they can be villains together, which is a plan he is not keen on. However, he could use her help to clear his name, so they reluctantly embark on an adventure that is filled with many great plot twists that I will not spoil. Suffice to say, Nimona is a compelling film, chockful of gorgeous animation, a wonderful story, and a lot of meta commentary on unconscious bias, misinformation, and prejudice. This might also be the first animated film I've seen with such a matter-of-factly gay main character (Ballister's boyfriend is the deliciously named Ambrosius Goldenloin). Overall, it is a sweet and surprising movie and is well worth a watch.

The Beanie Bubble: Written by Kristin Gore, who also co-directed with Damian Kulash, this is the story of the rise and fall of Beanie Babies in the late 80s and 90s. If you're a millenial, you will enjoy this nostalgia trip - Lord knows I enjoyed collecting Beanie Babies with my Happy Meals when I lived in Toronto in the 90s, but hoo boy, I had no idea about the craze for these toys and how they were like the NFTs of their day (except, you know, more fungible). This is the story of the man who created the company, Ty Warner (Zach Galifinakis), but more importantly, it's the story of the three women who supported him through three distinct phases of this company: Robbie (Elizabeth Banks), his co-founder, Maya (Geraldine Viswanathan), an intuitive marketing whiz who helped spark the craze and fuel it with the newly burgeoning power of the Internet and eBay, and Sheila (Sarah Snook), his girlfriend, whose two daughters from a previous marriage helped him come up with Beanie baby designs.

This movie can be a bit tricky to follow given that it keeps jumping back and forth in time, trying to draw parallels between the experiences of these three women through three different time periods, some of which overlap. It was a bit distracting at first, but as the movie went on, I grew to appreciate why the story was being told in this fashion. Because of course, this is a story of how all three women were ultimately screwed over by this ambitious and petulant man. I have no idea how much of this story is embellished and how much is strictly true, but Banks, Snook, and Viswanathan are three incredible actors that I would happily watch for hours, so I was along for the ride. It's a fun streaming movie, especially for someone like me who was too young to appreciate the absolute madness of adults who were investing fortunes into Beanie Babies. So watch it for some nostalgia and some righteous feminist indignation - what a potent combo!

February Round-up: Missing, Magic Mike's Last Dance, Knock at the Cabin

Hold on to your seats, we've got an eclectic set of movie reviews coming up!

Missing: Written and directed by Will Merrick and Nick Johnson, this is a follow-up to the excellent Searching that I raved about a few years ago. It's not a follow-up in terms of the characters, but in terms of the narrative structure. Yet again, we have a story of a missing person, and a family member who is searching for this person using all the ubiquitous technology available at their fingertips. And the entire film is told from the perspective of the technology, so we only see the characters on FaceTime or their laptop camera, and we watch our protagonist type her searches and scroll through maps trying to figure out what could have happened to her mother. Is it gimmicky? Of course. But is it a wonderfully effective gimmick that helps to heighten the thrills and action? Of course. 

Here we get the wonderful Storm Reid playing June, a teenage girl whose mother, Grace (Nia Long), went off to Colombia for a week with her new boyfriend, Kevin (Ken Leung), but then never returned. What follows is a twisty tale where June is trying to dive into Grace's whereabouts, figure out if Kevin was a con artist, uncovers some startling information about her own mother, and falls deep into a mystery that has a very satisfying conclusion. If you think too long and hard about it, there are aspects of this film that certainly seem too far-fetched. But for the two hours you're in the theater, you'll be along for the ride. And at the end of it all, you might decide to talk to Siri a bit more often.

Magic Mike's Last Dance: Listen, you've either already seen this movie or know that you never will. All I can do is tell you that I saw it, it was a bit weird, but the dancing was incredible and I will watch Channing Tatum make about twenty more of these movies if he is so inclined.

Written by Reid Carolin and directed by Steven Soderbergh, in this installment, Mike (Tatum) ends up in London with a wealthy woman, Max (the glorious Salma Hayek), and agrees to help her put on a one-night-only extravaganza of a male stripper show. There's a lot of plot about Max and Mike and their will-they-won't-they status. There are class dynamics at play given that Max has a ton of money and a butler and all manner of privilege while Mike is a working-class man from Miami who is still economically reeling from the pandemic. But at the end of the day, there are men dancing to "Pony," Tatum takes his clothes off, and a dull woman named Edna gets treated to a lap dance and is so deliriously happy. 

All the women are pleased and the men are eager to please them. That's all I want from these movies, and it delivers. The dialogue is odd and Hayek's character is all over the place. But I love the way that Tatum has almost no lines but conveys so much information simply with a small smile and the oodles of charisma radiating off his body. Frankly, if we made a silent movie with this man, we wouldn't even need dialogue cards. Just play some music and watch him dance his heart out on the screen. It's truly magic.

Knock at the Cabin: Well, M. Night Shyamalan is back, writing and directing an adaptation of the novel, The Cabin at the End of the Woods, by Paul G. Tremblay. As always, there's a supernatural element to the proceedings, and a twist ending. And as always, your mileage may vary as to whether or not the twist was worth it. I was decidedly on the side of No, it wasn't.

The film tells the story of a family of three who are vacationing in a remote cabin in the woods (people really need to stop doing that, they're just asking for trouble). There's seven-year-old Wen (played by the exceedingly adorable Kristen Cui) and her fathers Eric and Andrew (Jonathan Groff and Ben Aldridge) and they're all having a wonderful time until four visitors arrive at their house with weapons. Led by Leonard (the marvelous Dave Bautista, who really gets to showcase his dramatic chops), these four strangers have come to deliver an ultimatum to this family. The world is on the brink of an apocalypse, and for some reason, this family is the key to saving the world. 

I won't tell you anything more - it's a perfectly well-told story, but it starts to get a bit repetitive and loses steam by the end. However, it does feature some fine actors and if all you want is a diverting horror-thriller to while away an afternoon, this isn't terribly objectionable. It's not Shyamalan's best work, but it's certainly not his worst, and that's a relief. 

Murderous Mayhem: The Tragedy of Macbeth & Scream

Today's reviews may inspire some whiplash so be forewarned. What connects these movies is that some people are stabbed. But depending on whether you like your stabbings to be high-brow and Shakespearean or low-brow horror comedy, I have two VERY different recommendations for you.

The Tragedy of Macbeth: Written and directed by Joel Coen (solo, without his brother Ethan), this movie is exactly what it says on the tin. A straightforward adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth, shot in black-and-white, starring Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand. Nothing has been updated in terms of setting or language, so don't expect any surprises from that quarter. But do expect an eerie mood, particularly any time Kathryn Hunter shows up on screen as the Witches. Boy is she creeptastic.

In terms of the lead performances, Washington is...fine. But I have never found the character of Macbeth to be very compelling; I'm more intrigued by Lady Macbeth, and here, Frances McDormand delivers the goods. It also helps that her husband is directing the movie - I've never seen more loving cinematography than all her close-ups as she declaims those famous lines. 

The movie looks beautiful, with great thought given to sets that cast unsettling shadows and amplify the oddness of everything that is going on. But it is also abundantly clear that this movie is shot entirely on sound stages, especially any time a scene is purportedly taking place outdoors. The fake-looking skies and clouds reminded me of classic Hollywood movies from the 1940s, where we just took such settings for granted, but in this film it feels a bit jarring. It was a deliberate choice to make the film appear "untethered from reality" but it simply annoyed me. If you're going to make a black-and-white film in the 21st century, you need to take advantage of all the things you can now shoot and do with cameras that people couldn't do in the 40s. 

Overall, this movie is a solid and taut piece of filmmaking (it's only 105 minutes long, which is blessedly short for a Shakespearean tragedy), but it doesn't feel necessary. Everything about it is perfectly fine, but nothing about it feels novel or revelatory. Watch it if you want to appreciate some clever cinematography and set design, but don't watch it if you're expecting some fascinating new take on the Bard.

Scream: I was a little worried about going to see a slasher movie all by myself, wondering if I would spend the whole time anxiously curled up into a ball in my seat as people on screen kept getting stabbed. But nope, I spent the whole time with a big goofy grin on my face, thoroughly enjoying this loving and absurd ode to the Scream movie franchise.

Directed by Matt Bellinetti-Olpin and Tyler Gillett and written by James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick (all of whom were involved in the making of Ready or Not, the last horror comedy that thoroughly delighted me in theaters), this is your classic Scream movie where a bunch of people, mostly teenagers, in the town of Woodsboro are being killed by Ghostface, the iconic masked killer that we all know well from the past four Scream movies. We will spend this film watching various people get tormented and killed until Ghostface is finally unmasked at the end. But what makes this movie so hysterical is the amount of meta commentary throughout. This is a movie that is about the Scream franchise - the characters keep referencing a "Stab" movie franchise that is about the events of the Scream movies, and it is all so twisty and self-referential and amazing. We also get the return of the original Scream cast, with Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, and David Arquette all getting a chance to help this new group of terrorized teens track down their killer. And we get some insights into the Rules of a Scream movie, some of which may or may not come true as the film progresses.

Special shout-out to composer Brian Tyler's score throughout this film. It is so cheeky, constantly hyping up an impending stabbing and then leaving you hanging as the music crescendos to nothing. And just when you've been psyched out for the fourth time in a row, Ghostface shows up and stabs someone in the throat and you shriek with both horror and delight. This movie is so spectacularly silly and fun, and as long as you can tolerate some thrills and jump scares, you are guaranteed to have a good time. So give it a shot...or should I say, give it a stab?!

Company & Six: Broadway's Back Baby!

The last thing I saw on Broadway was Hangmen in February 2020, right before everything shut down. Well, this past weekend, I made my triumphant return to a Broadway theater to see not one, but two brilliant shows. If you're a New Yorker, or happen to be visiting, head to the box office and pick up some tickets, because boy oh boy is live theater still a magical thrill.

Company: You may love this Sondheim musical, but get ready to love this revival even more. Directed by Marianne Elliott, this production originally debuted on the West End where it won an Olivier award for Best Musical Revival, but now it has transferred over to Broadway where I am certain it is due to win a Tony. 

Company originally centers on a man named Bobby on his 35th birthday where he is surrounded by his coupled-up friends who are all pushing him to get married. What follows is a series of vignettes where he visits these various couples and witnesses their shenanigans, and we also follow his relationships with three different women, none of whom seem to be quite right for him. However, in this revival, we get a gender swap, where our lead is a 35-year old woman named Bobbie, played brilliantly by Katrina Lenk. And of course, we've got Patti LuPone reprising her role as Joanne, Bobbie's older, cynical, oft-divorced friend, who will belt the hell out of "Ladies Who Lunch" in the second act.

It's amazing what a little gender flip can do. In the original version, Bobby's relationship with an airhead flight attendant, April, can feel a bit played out, but now watching Bobbie struggling to make it work with the airhead flight attendant, Andy, made me chuckle. The engaged couple of Paul and Amy are now a same-sex couple of Paul and Jamie, and hearing "Getting Married Today" sung by a panicked groom instead of an anxious bride is so much fun. The staging of this show is also impeccable, with every piece of the set containing surprises (during "Getting Married Today" characters will pop out of the most unlikely places and you will be delighted). The costumes are vivd and memorable, with Lenk's red jumpsuit tying the whole show together, but then LuPone swanning out in her glasses and fur coat for "Ladies Who Lunch" is a showstopper. We also had technical difficulties during the second act that took about fifteen minutes to fix - in that time, some of the cast, including LuPone, came out to entertain the audience, with Patti declaring "theater is an accident waiting to happen." I swear to God, Broadway is the only place where a mistake can make things even more exciting than a perfect show. 

Given Stephen Sondheim's recent passing, it feels even more poignant to watch this show and see how his work has been adapted and re-vitalized for the 21st century. The show's themes are of course as relevant as ever, but this fresh take on the casting is an exciting update and made these familiar and popular songs feel brand new again. So get some tickets (there's a daily lottery, or there are rush tickets at the box office to cater to every budget!) and treat yourself to the best that Broadway has to offer.

Six: I have been entering the Six lottery for months and finally got tickets to see it on Sunday. Originally put on at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival by a bunch of Cambridge University students (isn't this the origin story of all great British comedies?) the show then went on to the West End and has now arrived stateside. It's the story of the six wives of Henry VIII, as sung by those six queens in the style of iconic pop stars, and it is a raucous, feminist celebration.

The show kicks off with the familiar rhyme, "Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived." But there's nothing familiar after that, as we get six women claiming the stage with their microphones and iconic outfits and competing to be recognized as the most well-known of Henry's wives. They each get a solo performance to make their case - though you can expect most of them to be interrupted by Anne Boleyn who claims that if they didn't get beheaded, they can't possibly win this contest of who has the most tragic tale. Each woman has such a singular story of what particular nightmare she had to face as a wife of Henry VIII and then more generally as a woman in this particular time period. And of course, they are all only remembered because they were his wives, but no one knows anything about them beyond that. 

This musical is a spectacularly entertaining history (*cough* herstory *cough*) lesson, and in a short 90 minutes, you will learn more than you probably did in watching four seasons of The Tudors. And you'll be dancing in your seat as you do so. The music and lyrics by Lucy Moss and Toby Marlow are hysterically toe-tapping and whether it's a soaring ballad by Jane Seymour or some German techno and rap delivered by Anna of Cleves, you are bound to find some song that you will get obsessed with for the next year. Six is such a clever, and inventive, and innovative idea for a musical, and it is also short, sweet, and so damn catchy. So head on over to the theater and get down with the Queens - you'll have a royally good time. 

West Side Story, Wolf, & Licorice Pizza: Nip Down to the Theater

Last weekend was another busy time at the cinema. Strap in, I’ve got a musical, a weird psychological thriller, and a languid 70s nostalgia piece to tell you about. There’s something in this schizophrenic selection for everyone.

West Side Story: Directed by Steven Spielberg, an adaptation of the iconic musical that is inspired by Romeo & Juliet with music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. It's a slam dunk! This thing has prestige brimming through its veins and the final product is a thing of beauty. The casting is particularly spot on, with Ansel Elgort and Rachel Zegler acquitting themselves admirably as the star-crossed lovers (she is a better singer, but he emotes well enough to keep up), but I was far more compelled by the secondary characters of Riff (Mike Faist) and Anita (Ariana DeBose) who almost seemed to command more screen time than the leads and got the best choreography to showcase both their singing and dancing chops. And lest we forget, the magical Rita Moreno, who played Anita in the original 1961 movie, is back in this version as Doc’s wife, a neat little subversion of the original character of Doc since she is playing a Puerto Rican who married a “gringo” and therefore straddles both lines of this insane rivalry between the Jets and the Sharks.

The smartest thing Spielberg did in this adaptation was ensure the Puerto Ricans were all played by Latinx actors (what a concept). What this also means is that parts of the film are bilingual with no subtitles, forcing audiences to steep themselves in this world and truly understand there are two distinct cultures at play here. While the cops and the Irish act as expected when confronted with a Spanish speaker and demand that they “speak English,” along with other racist taunts, it’s interesting to note that even the Puerto Ricans will often stop family members from speaking in Spanish and demand they practice their English in order to assimilate. This movie is set in 1957, but it might as well be set today to reflect the attitudes that some Americas continue to have about English being the national language and that Puerto Ricans aren’t real Americans.

The look and feel of this film is predictably spectacular. Spielberg plays a lot with darkness and shadows, but the love scenes then brim with light and color. The costumes by Paul Tazewell are a riotous joy (give me all of Anita’s dresses), and the balletic choreography by Justin Peck is stunning. I am always intrigued by the juxtaposition of the violence of these alpha male gang members and the graceful and delicate twirls in their dances. If only everyone kept singing and dancing and stopped stabbing each other, this movie could be a splendid romcom instead of a dark tragedy. But ah well, I enjoyed it nonetheless. And hummed "America" for about four days straight after I was done. 

Wolf: George Mackay stars as Jacob, a young man who has species dysmorphia, a mental disorder in which a human firmly believes they are an animal. In Jacob’s case, he is convinced he is a wolf, and his desperate parents check him into a mental institution that specializes in treating this disorder. Jacob truly wants to get better, and when he first enters the facility, he does his best to contain his lupine nature. But then he meets "Wildcat" (Lily Rose-Depp), a young woman who lives in the institution but has some sort of hybrid patient-staff status, and things quickly start to unravel.

Written and directed by Nathalie Bianchine, this is a weird, visceral, and fascinating movie. I wouldn’t ever rewatch it but I was certainly compelled from start to finish during my one viewing. Whoever trained these actors on animal choreography deserves some kind of special category of Oscar because it was amazing to see how Mackay moved when he was on all fours, with his haunches jutting out in a way that made me almost believe he had morphed into a wolf. There’s a boy who thinks he’s the most adorable German Sherpherd, another who is a terrified squirrel, a woman who is a horse with the most amazing whinny, and a host of others. And in the midst of all of this is cinema’s most horrific villain, Dr. Mann (Paddy Considine). He’s the psychologist who runs this place with a brutal method of shame and cruelty that is reminiscent of the horrors of conversion therapy and the film quickly devolves into torture porn as we see what Jacob and his fellow patients will be subjected to in the name of being cured. 

The score by Stefan Wesolowski is appropriately unsettling and certain scenes will make you squirm. But overall, it is inventive and well-acted. It is an unusual look at what it means to be human, and offers up a compelling vision of what it would be like if we all just went feral and chucked it all away. Which, frankly, given how humans act these days, is becoming an increasingly tantalizing proposition.

Licorice Pizza: Oh Paul Thomas Anderson. Here is a straight white man who has been writing and directing movies for ages, and at this point, it is clear that you know what you’re going to get. This man is mostly consumed by his own worldview and nostalgia, and since most movie critics are straight white men, they eat his stuff up with a spoon. But I went into this film warily, expecting I would probably be bored stiff by its preoccupations with maleness. I was cautiously optimistic as the film is his first to actually feature a female protagonist, Alana (a role specifically written for Alana Haim), and the only other PTA movie I enjoyed was Phantom Thread because it featured two incredible performances from Vicky Krieps and Lesley Manville, to balance out the tortured male genius motif from Daniel Day-Lewis. However, while I didn’t actively dislike this movie, once I left the theater, I realized that mostly all I got here was a story about a teenage boy (the very likable Cooper Hoffman, looking unsettlingly like his father, the great Philip Seymour Hoffman), and his much-older manic pixie dream girl friend (a dynamic that just seems icky given the age difference and potential illegality of a romance between the two.)

The entire thing is set in California in 1973 and it is resplendent with “vibes” of that era, including ample bralessness. Listen, I haven’t worn a bra for most of the pandemic, but it’s a definite choice to ensure your lead female actress will have her nips out for the majority of the movie, including on all promotional materials in theaters. Frankly, despite all my hopes that PTA might deliver something fresh and nuanced, the minute I saw Alana Haim in a white T-shirt on the movie poster, I knew my hopes would be dashed. There isn’t much plot but a string of vignettes as this boy goes through his life as a child actor and Alana serves as chaperone and then business partner, and is basically a woman who is aimless and needs to be rescued by the love of a good man. Because to auteurs like PTA, isn’t that the lot of all women? 

Go see this movie if you want an indulgent mood piece. And the soundtrack is stellar (plus the score is by Jonny Greenwood, who seems to be doing the score for everything these days). It’s definitely light-hearted and funny, and not as much of a slog as other PTA movies. In fact, I was deceived into thinking I liked it during the act of watching it, but the minute I left the theater I was like wait, that movie has some problems. There’s also a weird subplot involving a Japanese restaurant that is overtly racist but played for laughs, and there’s no point to it except I think PTA is still stuck in the 70s and thinks this is amusing stuff? I don’t know man. My patience has worn thin for movies like this. Can we just let women take the reins and get some fresh narratives in the cinema? I'd like to see some manic pixie dream boys for a change.

November Netflix Round-Up: The Harder They Fall, Meenakshi Sundareshwar, Tick, Tick... Boom!

It has been another busy month on Netflix and there are a slew of movies awaiting your perusal. Perhaps you are happily making your way through the glut of whimsical holiday movies. But if you need a break from the mistletoe, here are some quickfire reviews of a rock musical, a Western, and a Bollywood romcom to diversify your December viewing.

Tick, Tick... Boom! Directed by Lin-Manual Miranda and written by Steven Levenson, this is an adaptation of the semi-autobiographical musical by Broadway composer Jonathan Larson. Starring Andrew Garfield as Jonathan, this is a beautiful but heart-rending story of a man who is struggling to live out his ambitions and stay true to his dreams in the harsh environs of New York City. 

The movie takes place in the week leading up to Jonathan’s thirtieth birthday and the angst is palpable. He is so close to success but in such danger of burning too many bridges before he achieves it. He has a loving girlfriend (played by Alexandra Shipp, the woman with the greatest smile on the planet), who is starting to get tired of her daily grind in this unforgiving city. He also has a best friend, Michael (Robin de Jesus), who "sold out" by giving up on acting and moving to advertising, a fact that will become increasingly problematic as the story goes on. And we will see these relationships evolve, blossom, and sour over the course of two hours. Every song in this musical is either witty or devastating and Garfield turns in an immaculate performance, capturing all the energy, passion, and devastation that Jonathan must face on his quest to greatness. 

This could be a very affirming and joyous movie, but given Larson’s early death before he ever knew how much fame he would achieve via Rent and this musical, this is a movie tinged with so much sadness. It’s a celebration of a man who would have given us so many great things, but instead we must make do with the few things we did get. Which, thankfully, are excellent. So watch Tick, Tick… Boom! and let your inner Broadway geek nerd out for a while while you experience the thrilling highs and lows of the bohemian quest to create great art. You may also notice some very familiar Broadway cameos along the way. 

The Harder They Fall: Directed by Jeymes Samuel, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Boaz Yakin, this movie is a Black Western that boasts one of the most incredible casts going around. You’ve got Idris Elba, Regina King, Jonathan Majors, Lakeith Stanfield, Zazie Beetz…the list goes on. And they’re all riding around the Wild West seeking vengeance, robbing banks, and shooting each other up. What’s not to love?

Well, apparently if you’re me, that is not enough to keep you compelled for two hours. This movie is aesthetically pleasing, with great production design (there’s a “white town” that made me laugh with the literal interpretation of its aesthetic) and excellent costumes, but plot-wise, it was a bit of a meandering mess. The trouble with having so many fantastic actors is that you want to ensure they all get time to shine. But I found my attention constantly wavering with the multitude of plots and sub-plots that ultimately didn't tie in together. In the tradition of most Westerns, it’s violent, there are a LOT of gun battles, and frankly, there’s only so much shooting a girl can take. Also, this is Samuel's feature film directorial debut and he really telegraphs a lot of moments; there are several pregnant pauses in scenes where I could immediately foretell what was going to happen next. Which can be fun, but ultimately starts to wear on you.

Watch this movie if you need some escapism and need to watch a great cast of actors whale on each other. But this is more style than substance. If you’re looking for a tight script and compelling storytelling, I would look elsewhere. 

Meenakshi Sundareshwar: It has been ages since I’ve watched a new Bollywood movie. So watching this one served as a reminder of everything that can be alternately cute and cringey about them. Directed by Vivek Soni (a Karan Johar acolyte) and starring the delightful Sanya Malhotra and Abhimanyu Dassani, this is a tale about what happens when two people named Meenakshi and Sundareshwar get hitched (via an arranged marriage,  natch) and then have to deal with the ensuing complications of being married to someone you don’t know that well.

The highlight of this movie for me is that the characters are South Indian. So while this is a Hindi movie, there are lots of random Tamil interjections throughout the film. Now of course, most of these actors are NOT South Indian, so without subtitles, I wouldn’t have understood what on earth they were saying as their pronunciation was fairly awful, but it was still a nice change from the usual North Indian fare. Apart from that detail, however, there is nothing particularly fresh or new about this plot. Sundar has to move to Bangalore right after he and Meenakshi get married, and the two of them spend a year apart, without even having consummated the marriage because of…random reasons that only make sense in Bollywood. It’s a spectacularly silly plot but the charm of the actors involved is almost enough to sell you on it.

Of course, there is a lot of regressive bullshit to wade through, and this movie does feel like it could be from a previous era, except we all know that some people in India still very much live like this. While it was painful to see a woman get married to a relative stranger and then have to move in with his family, who have very traditional ideas about a woman’s place in the household, Meenakshi does prove to be a mildly feminist upstart who could serve as a decent starting role model to any Indian girls watching this film. She is fiery and ambitious, and at one point, when told she needs to respect her elders, she declares that they need to treat her with respect too and dashes off, a sentiment that should be echoed a hell of a lot more in Indian society where old people are often treated with a deference they absolutely have not earned. So watch this movie if you want to spend a very silly but very charming two hours in the company of some multilingual lovers and their family shenanigans. Your mind won’t be blown, but it will certainly be tickled.

Summer TV: Schmigadoon! & The White Lotus

Last week, both Schmigadoon! and The White Lotus wrapped up their six-episode seasons. I watched both shows week-to-week, but if you missed out, you can now binge them to your heart's content. Though, they are very different, so if you aren't as schizophrenic as I am in your viewing habits, you might just pick one to be your latest obsession. Either way, you're in for a treat!

Schmigadoon! is a musical satire/homage, if the title didn't give it away already. Cecily Strong and Keegan Michael-Key play Melissa and Josh, a New York couple that are going through a rough patch. When they embark on a couple's retreat and are hiking through the woods, they accidentally stumble into an old-timey town where the locals keep breaking into song and everything is as old-fashioned as can be, from the outfits to the gender roles. At first they think this is some sort of quaint Colonial Willamsburg-esque tourist trap, but then they discover that it's an actual trap, and the only way they will be able to leave is if they "find true love." Let the chaos begin.

Each episode is a half hour of abject silliness that lovingly mocks musical tropes. Created by Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio (Paul wrote all the original songs as well), this show is fun if you only have a passing familiarity with Golden Age musicals from the 1940s and 50s, but is an absolute must-see if you're a musical theater nerd, because it goes in deep. I definitely did not get all the references, but my particular fondness for the show stems from the fact that it is directed by Barry Sonnenfeld. If you watched Pushing Daisies, you might have some idea of what a gorgeous confection of a scene the man can create at any given moment, and this show is no exception. Part of the gag is how everything in this town looks extra bright and fake, just like a stage musical, but it's still all very engaging for your eyeballs.

The actors are all having a grand ol' time, and it's especially fun to see how Melissa (who loves musicals) and Josh (who hates them) deal with the tribulations of being in this very weird town surrounded by a supporting cast consisting of folk like Fred Armisen, Kristin Chenoweth, and Alan Cumming amongst many others. Everyone is hamming it up and having a blast, and the whole show is an easy, breezy, candy-coated treat that goes down easy. Try out Schmigadoon! if you are in the mood for laughs and light romance. Which, let's be honest, is the mood you should be in all day, any day. 

The White Lotus, on the other hand, is a show to watch when you want to see a bunch of truly awful people obliviously continue to be awful people while the world around them fulfills their every desire. I know that doesn't sound too enticing, but holy hell, this show was addictive and I eagerly looked forward to every episode. 

The show is set in a resort in Hawaii, where we follow the stories of some of the guests who are staying there for a week and the resort staff who have to cater to their whims. There is a rich family on vacation, a pair of honeymooners, and Tanya, a grieving woman who has arrived to scatter her dead mother's ashes. Tanya is played by Jennifer Coolidge, who delivers this insane performance where she sort of resembles the weird spacey character she plays in a lot of comedies, but with all these extra layers because she has a lot of psychological drama to deal with and is also filthy rich, which leads to some interesting power dynamics. I never had any idea what Coolidge would be doing in any given scene; it is a trippy and magnificent performance that is bound to snag her an Emmy. My second favorite character is, of course, the other slightly unhinged and unpredictable one, Armond, the hotel manager, played by Murray Bartlett. That man's story arc is epic in scope and comes to a shitty end...I'll leave it at that. 

Without spoiling all the storylines, this is a show about wealth and privilege, and how ultimately the world is set up to let these people get away with ridiculous things and everyone else must orbit around their gravitational pull. Terrible things happen on this show, but ultimately, the people who are disappointed are the "poor" ones. The rich characters do have a very dramatic trip with lots of emotional upheaval, but at the end of the day, the show's theme is that these people lack any self-awareness and will carry on as they were, unaware of all the ripples they've caused as they've splashed around this resort. But I want to be clear, this show is also a black comedy, and you will laugh a lot while you're also uncomfortably squirming. It's also beautifully shot if you need to feel like you've escaped to Hawaii for six sun-soaked hours. 

Written and directed by Mike White, the show is compellingly written, has a brilliant cast, and grasps with a lot of themes around wealth and white privilege that have always been a problem but especially came to the forefront in 2020. But my absolute favorite thing about this show? The theme tune. My God. The moment I heard it playing over the opening credits, I immediately had a sense of what I was getting into - it is this odd, unsettling, but somehow still boppy number that promises you that you will be entertained, but deeply disturbed in the process. The entire score by Cristobal Tapia de Veer is a thing of weird beauty and should be winning any awards they give out for soundtracks these days.

This is a show I could talk about for hours, and I will be reading absolutely anything anyone has to say about it, because there are so many compelling characters who either get screwed or screw over someone else. My favorite line was when one Black character went, "I'm all out" and stormed out of a room. It was a small victory in the grand scheme of all the shit that went down in this show, but at this point, we've all learned to celebrate whatever we can get. Watch The White Lotus - the surface is pretty but the underbelly is a festering indictment of American society. Enjoy!

In the Heights: NYC Is Back Baby!

It can come as no surprise to anyone that I seized the chance to watch In the Heights on opening weekend. After all, this movie is the reason I chose to reactivate my AMC membership a month early and head back to the cinema. A movie based off a musical with lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda, directed by Jon Chu, and all taking place in my beloved Manhattan in the height of summer? Yes please. 

Our protagonist is Usnavi (Anthony Ramos), a Dominican-American bodega owner who inherited the store from his father but harbors his suenito (i.e. "little dream") to return to the DR where he can run a bar on the beach. However, in the opening song that kicks off this glorious film, you will get introduced to the entire barrio of Washington Heights and the cast of characters that are so integral to his life. There's his wonderful Abuela Claudia (Olga Merediz), who isn't actually anyone's abuela but is the local matriarch who ensures everyone is taken care of. There's his cousin, Sonny (Gregory Dias IV), who helps him out in the bodega. Then there's Kevin Rosario (Jimmy Smits, getting to belt out some tunes!), who runs a local cab company and is excited to see his daughter Nina (Leslie Grace), who is back home after her first year at Stanford. Everyone is very proud of Nina for making it out of the Heights, but she has some complicated feelings about her new life in university. She also has a love interest in Benny (Corey Hawkins) who works for her father, while Usnavi's own love interest is the lovely Vanessa (Melissa Barera) who works at the local hair salon but has her own suenito of being a fashion designer.

It's a sprawling cast, and I haven't even gotten into all the salon ladies or the piraguero (played by Lin-Manual Miranda) who is in constant conflict with the Mister Softee truck (owned by an actor you may also recognize from Hamilton - that's a fun cameo for you to watch out for!). But don't worry, you are in extremely capable hands, because with the brilliant script by Quiara Alegria Hudes (who wrote the book for the musical), the absolutely luscious songs by Lin-Manual Miranda, Alex Lacamoire, and Bill Sherman, and the whipsmart direction from Jon Chu, you're not going to get lost for even a second. Instead you are going to be immersed in a riotous, colorful, cacophonous, joyous celebration of this neighborhood and its people. 

The timeline is driven by an impending blackout, which is one of the most ominous events a New Yorker can experience in the summer. In the lead up, we get to know these people and start to witness some of the familial tensions and burgeoning romances. Things comes to a head as the lights go out and we have our big climax. And following that, we slowly resolve all these storylines and see if everyone can make their dreams come true, even just a little. You'll have to see it for yourself, but I can guarantee you won't be disappointed. 

Now let's talk about the songs. They are so impeccable. Filled with impossible rhymes, peppered with Spanglish, evoking every human emotion under the sun, telling tales of hope, loss, and love. And my favorite would have to be "96,000" which takes place in a public pool and involves choreography, costumes, sets, and production design that would be worthy of an old-school MGM musical. In this song, everyone talks about what they would do if they had a winning lottery ticket and it singlehandedly tells you everything you need to know about all of these characters and their motivations. It's such clever exposition and executed to perfection. 

This movie is also a celebration of Hispanic heritage. Hollywood movies about Latinx people are so fond of treating them like a monolith but here we have a collection of folk from a bunch of different countries, all talking about their different experiences. Everyone came over here in search of a better life, but they came from Cuba, Puerto Rico, DR, Mexico, etc. and while they speak a common language, they don't all have a common heritage. There's a constant refrain of characters wondering what their lives might have been like if they had never come to New York. But this movie proceeds to showcase all the reasons they stayed and the unity they have come to feel now that they are all citizens of the Heights. 

Jon Chu's last movie was Crazy Rich Asians and I couldn't help grinning as I found parallels between that movie and In the Heights. That film also had the task of portraying characters who are historically viewed as a monolith in Hollywood (i.e. Asians) and tapping into their humanity and individuality. It also used food as a way to convey culture and made me very hungry, which is a theme that is repeated to great effect in this film. Oh man, every time they showed the steaming bowls of food lovingly prepared by Abuela Claudia or the delicious ice-cold piraguas being sold on the streets, I was sorely tempted. This movie is a visual, auditory, and gustatory treat. Watch it during a heatwave for maximum effect, but mostly, just watch it. It will charm and delight you and is absolutely the blockbuster we needed to formally kick off the summer.

Call My Agent: Farcical French Fabulousness

Over the past month, I binged all four seasons of the French TV show Call My Agent. Are you one of those people who think you have nothing left to watch on Netflix? Think again buddy, your mind is about to be blown.

The show is about the fictional ASK (Samuel Kerr Agency) and the four agents who are the senior partners of the firm. There is Andrea (Camille Cottin) who is fierce and fabulous and will move mountains for her clients in the name of great French cinema. In contrast there is Mathias (Thibault de Montalembert) who is the sleazy, corporate one, and cares more about generating revenue and having the biggest stars on his roster. Gabriel (Gregory Montel) is the "nicest agent in Paris," a sweet man who genuinely cares about all of his clients and gets into a lot of scrapes as he tries to please everyone. And finally, there's the grande dame, Arlette (Liliane Rovere) who was there when Samuel Kerr originally founded the agency and calmly watches on while everyone loses their minds around her.

Below the four lions of the agency, we also have their assistants, Noemi (Laure Calemy) and Herve (Nicolas Maury), the receptionist, Sofia (Stefi Celma), and the newest member of the agency, Camille (Fanny Sidney), who is a big mystery when she arrives and spends a lot of the first season getting into hilarious trouble and hiding away her secrets until everything gets far too shambolic. These four characters may not be the official stars of the show, but by the end of the four seasons, they are the ones who have definitely seen the most growth, becoming more confident, self-assured people who finally know what they want from their careers and have the support of the folks at the top to reach for their dreams.

However, the key gimmick of the show is its guest cast. This is where it reminded me of the BBC show, Extras, that featured a famous actor in each episode. Given my appallingly poor knowledge of French cinema, it took me about three episodes before I realized that the people playing the famous actors represented by these agents, were the actual famous actors themselves. These actors are remarkably well-known in France (and as the seasons go on, you can tell the show must have gotten popular, because the guest stars started to be internationally famous folk like Jean Dujardin and Monica Belluci, people that even my feeble brain could recognize). Like in Extras, the actors get to play insanely heightened versions of themselves, people who take their craft too seriously or are fed up with the grind and just want to retire and have to be coaxed back into their careers. It's clear they are all having a blast, and while I won't spoil the surprise, if you stick with this show through Season 4, you'll find a guest appearance from a Hollywood A-lister. 

Each season only consists of six episodes, which means that they are tightly scripted and nutty as can be. Most of the plots escalate into a raucous French farce, but there are also resonant emotional beats that make you deeply invested in these characters and their futures. This is such a witty and barbed but loving satire of the French film industry, and in later seasons, it also takes on issues like #MeToo and the things that women in the industry have had to put up with for far too long. You get a delicate balance of a new story with new guest actors each episode, but then the overarching shenanigans with the series regulars who are going in and out of relationships, having personal and professional revelations, and a neverending series of tangled complications that must be resolved. The only reason it took me so long to binge this show is because each episode is so dense. They often ended on a cliffhanger that left me wanting to press Play Next Episode, but I also needed my brain to recover from the wild ride. 

Call My Agent is sublime storytelling and impeccable TV. Also, it's all set in France, mostly Paris, which means that as soon as the pandemic is over, I'm booking a trip to go eat some croissants while I aimlessly wander along the Seine. This show is both intellectually and aesthetically stimulating, and you should be watching it immediately. Think of it as the perfect dose of entertainment to inoculate yourself against the pandemic doldrums while you're waiting to inoculate yourself against actual Covid! 

(Was that a labored metaphor? Yes. Have I been bingeing things in lockdown for a year now? Also yes. FORGIVE ME.)

December Movie Roundup Part 2: The Prom & Let Them All Talk

Today's post is for anyone who needs more Meryl Streep in their lives, i.e. everyone. So settle in for two very different but equally compelling movies that should brighten up your weekend.

The Prom: Directed by Ryan Murphy and based on the Broadway play by Chad Beguelin, Bob Martin, and Matthew Sklar, this movie tells the story of Emma, a teenage girl in Indiana who wants to take her girlfriend to her high school prom, but is banned from doing so. When a group of washed-up Broadway stars hear about this, they decide to swoop in and save the day, hoping for some good PR that will boost their own careers. What follows is a sweet and heartwarming story that reaffirms the importance of love and inclusivity and tolerance. With some extremely catchy songs accompanied by wonderful choreography and costumes.

The washed-up Broadway stars are played by Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, James Corden, and Andrew Rannells. Yeah, the casting director for this movie was NOT messing around. If that weren't enough, you also have Kerry Washington as the intolerant head of the high school PTA, and Keegan-Michael Key as the admirable high school principal who wants to fight for Emma and ensure she can have her prom. Jo Ellen Pellman, who plays Emma, is an instant star, while Ariana DeBose, who plays her still-closeted girlfriend, Alyssa, will break your heart as she sings about why she can't come out and all her fears about what her mother will say. 

This is a compelling and beautiful story that takes a really ugly scenario and turns it into something life-affirming. And while it was a particularly emotional watch for my queer friends, for me, it served as an emotional reminder of how much I miss Broadway. The songs are quintessential Broadway magic, incredibly funny and sassy, and managing to capture a world of emotion in a few pithy sentences. I burst out laughing when Andrew Rannells delivered a song picking apart the Bible and all its inconsistencies, and when Keegan-Michael Key sang about how Broadway is not a distraction but an escape, I wanted to cheer. Also, I loved the romance that Meryl Streep's character embarks upon in this film, proving that May-December romances work just as well (if not better) when you've got an older lady and a younger man. This is a glorious musical that will keep you entertained from start to finish. And while we can't all go to Broadway right now, at least we can experience a little bit of it in our homes. 

Let Them All Talk: Directed by Steven Soderbergh, and starring Meryl Streep, Candice Bergen, and Dianne Wiest, this movie is a bit like watching a fictionalized American version of Tea With the Dames. Streep play Alice, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author who is now struggling to write her next masterpiece. When her agent (played by the lovely Gemma Chan) persuades her to go to the UK for a prize ceremony, Alice agrees with a few conditions: she won't fly, but will make the journey aboard the Queen Mary 2 instead. And she wants to be accompanied by her nephew (the equally lovely Lucas Hodges) and old college friends Roberta (Bergen) and Susan (Wiest). She has lost touch with these friends over the years, but for some reason now wants to bring them all together. 

What follows is a wildly fun mystery as you try to piece together what Alice's motives are, what happened to drive these friends apart, and enjoy the intergenerational conflict amongst all the characters and their bizarre lives. These days, it is hard to watch any movie that was filmed pre-pandemic where people are hugging and standing too close together, but it's especially unnerving to see strangers crammed together on a ship crossing the Atlantic Ocean. But putting all that aside, this is a freewheeling, deligthful, incredibly naturalistic movie about some very sassy women and all their personal drama. Deborah Eisenberg wrote the story outline, but the cast mostly improvised their dialogue, and it's apparent when you watch this movie that these ladies were having a ton of fun. Reportedly Streep was only paid 25 cents for the film, and frankly, I'd probably be OK with that too for a job where I got to spend a few weeks on a ship with these talented actors. 

Much is bemoaned about the lack of meaty roles for women over a certain age in Hollywood, but Let Them All Talk offers a delicious insight into what we could get if we gathered those actors up and let them loose. It is such a gratifying and fun experience, and a very cozy weekend watch for the holidays.

October Movie Roundup: The Forty-Year-Old Version, Mulan, The Boys in the Band

Another month, another batch of movies to while away the hours! Again, there's something for everyone here, whether you're in the mood for incisive New York comedy, live-action Disney war games, or gay men having a birthday party. Surely one of those tickles your fancy?

Mulan: I had pre-ordered tickets to see this in the theater before the pandemic hit, so let's be clear, I 100% wanted to watch this movie. But having seen it, I can now tell you that I have plans to watch the 1998 animated version over Zoom with my friend Peggy instead. This movie is...fine. As always, I did appreciate the feminism that Disney has been striving to imbue into all their live-action remakes, but Mulan (played here by the wonderful (Yifei Liu) was already a kick-ass feminist Disney "princess" anyway. The movie does away with any comedy or music, and is a straightforward story of a woman masquerading as a man so that she can go to war instead of her aging father, who will almost certainly be killed. Along the way, she learns to embrace her "chi," and the warrior spirit that she was always told to suppress because it wasn't ladylike. And she saves the day and wins the respect (and in one case, the love) of her fellow male soldiers and wider community. It's a great rah-rah story of how girls can be destined for greatness too, not just a life of tea ceremonies and marriage, but that's a story that young children are better off getting through the 1998 animated feature, rather than this much more violent film that is more focused on battle scenes. Older kids (aka the YA set) might find more to love here, and of course, if you're a young Asian girl, you can never discount the importance of seeing yourself represented onscreen in such a meaningful way. I did love the costumes and set pieces, and the action sequences were beautifully choreographed (though come on, there's no way Mulan wouldn't tie her hair back first before wading into war). I may have had a very different reaction if I was watching this in a theater on the big screen; but at home on the couch? I was underwhelmed.

The Forty-Year-Old Version: I love a punny title, so I was in the tank for this movie from the outset. But damn, what a revelation it turned out to be. Directed by and starring Radha Blank as a fictionalized version of herself, this is the story of a Black playwright in New York City who is having a mid-life crisis and trying to get her life together ahead of her fortieth birthday. With her playwriting ambitions constantly thwarted, she suddenly hits upon a long-dormant ambition to become a rapper, and that's when the film comes alive. This is an exceedingly funny movie, brimming with jokes about the very white New York theatre scene (while workshopping a play about gentrification, Radha is forced to add a white character to the play because that's what would speak to the majority of the audience), the expectations heaped upon an older Black woman, and how to define success as you get older. Radha works as a high school teacher to make ends meets, and it's refreshing to see how supportive her students are of her efforts to make it, rather than being snot-nosed teenagers who are too cool for school. Interestingly, her best friend Archie (Peter Kim) is a gay Korean man who is also her agent, which is a nice nod to the diversity in the NYC public school system and how minorities often have to stick together to overcome the odds. The standout moment in this film for me, however, is when we see an all-female rap battle, where, for the very first time, I got to see a female rapper in a hijab. This movie is fresh and original, telling a story you've never seen before. Shot in black-and-white, it's a bit disconcerting to get into, but give it a few minutes and you'll be swept away by the sheer force of Radha's personality. Give The Forty-Year-Old Version a chance - her rap about Poverty Porn alone is worth it. 

The Boys in the Band: This play came out in 1968, had a Broadway revival in 2018, and now you can watch the Netflix movie adaptation starring the cast from that 2018 production. It's a veritable who's who of openly gay Hollywood actors, including Jim Parsons, Zachary Quinto, Matt Bomer, Andrew Rannells, Michael Benjamin Washington, Tuc Watkins, Robin de Jesus, Charlie Carver, and Brian Hutchinson. It can still be difficult for gay men to come out in Hollywood, as they get stereotypical roles and rarely get to play the leading man in a cis hetero romcom, but in this movie, we get to see this incredible cast play off each other and reveal the many multitudes contained within the world of homosexuality. Is it somewhat dated and of its time? Sure. But is it still a fascinating insight into what it was like to be gay in 1968 in New York City and what it sometimes is like to be gay in 2020 today? You bet. The story consists of a birthday party that goes horribly wrong when the host's old college roommate, who is straight, shows up and stirs up some shit. None of the people are perfect, but that's kind of the point - they are allowed to be messy and have all of their foibles, and their gayness isn't immediately some sort of value judgement of the content of their character. This movie does often feel very much like a play - the dialogue and confined apartment setting instantly transports you to a stage - but all told, this is a solid movie that is well worth your time. 

P-Valley and I May Destroy You: A Binge Bonanza

I had the last two weeks off so I put them to good use by bingeing my heart out on two shows that received a great deal of critical acclaim but hadn't made their way to my watchlist yet. I'm grateful I didn't have to watch these shows week to week and could instead mainline the majority of episodes and then impatiently wait for the finales to air. And now, all episodes are available to you for your viewing pleasure: lucky you!

I May Destroy You: Written by and starring the brilliant Michaela Coel, this show follows Arabella (Coel), a British-Ghanaian woman in London who got famous on Twitter and is now a novelist and Millenial icon. She is furiously trying to finish a draft of her new novel but decided to meet up with some friends in a bar for a break. The next morning, Arabella wakes up in her flat, and can't remember anything from the night before. She assumes it was just a really wild night. However, she has a cut on her forehead and feels awful, and as the day progresses, it's clear that something's not quite right. That's when she starts having flashbacks to the night before. And has the dawning realization that at some point in the evening, her drink was spiked and she was raped. 

This is a dark show, but Coel somehow manages this insane tone throughout where there is actual comedy as Arabella tries to process her trauma and solve the mystery of what happened that night. By her side are her best friends Terry (Weruche Opia) and Kwame (Paapa Esiedu), and as the series progresses we also get to see the sexual traumas those two have gone through in the past or present. Kwame is gay, so there's a whole other mess of sexual politics and "discreet" hookups he is trying to manage, and there's an interesting juxtaposition later on in the show between how the police treat Kwame versus how they treat Arabella. 

The most fascinating aspect of I May Destroy You is that Coel doesn't especially try to make any character "likable." Arabella can sometimes be her own worst enemy, and there are moments when she lashes out against her friends, or potentially exploits her experience in selfish and strange ways. This is also a show about consent - we all know rape is wrong, but this show isn't interested in black and white; it wants to explore all the grey areas in between and the many ways in which a consensual sexual encounter can quickly turn into a nightmare scenario. It sparks uncomfortable trains of thought, and is deliciously smart and philosophical. And the series finale was a thing of beauty, an epic conclusion that felt apt but open to interpretation and offered up a satisfying ending while still ensuring nothing was tidy. 

This is the perfect show for the #MeToo era and given the mostly Black cast, it is also a perfect #BlackLivesMatter watch (I would laugh when Stephen Wight would occasionally pop in as Arabella's white roommate who really has nothing to do in this show except be the supportive friend, a neat twist on the supportive Black friend trope). Do you want to know what's it like to be a Black woman in London, the child of Ghanaian immigrants, trying to make a life for yourself on social media whilst dealing with creepy men who think they have the right to your body? Well then watch this show and prepare to be horrified and saddened, but bizarrely compelled and entertained at the same time. Michaela Coel is a fantastic actress (her face, alone, is an expressive masterpiece), but the true star of this show is the writing and she must be heralded as an absolute master for her ability to take one of the world's most difficult subjects and somehow make it both funny and human. I still can't understand how she did it, but I'm glad I got to see it.

P-Valley: Created by Katori Hall, this show is based on her play, Pussy Valley. And it is easy to tell that this show is the work of a playwright the minute you start listening to the dialogue. The story of the Pynk, a strip club in the fictional city of Chucalissa, Mississippi, this show is an absolute feast for the senses but my personal highlight is to let the dialogue wash over me and delight in the absolutely stunning writing. It wouldn't be hyperbolic to say that it often feels Shakespearean - I may not always understand what the characters are saying as there can be a lot of Southern Black slang being flung about, but much like watching Shakespeare, you don't need to understand the words to understand the sentiment. That comes pouring through simply from the cadence of the line delivery and the impeccable work of the actors who make up the motley crew at the Pynk.

This show scratches the itch left by Hustlers, a movie that left me wanting to see more strippers being badasses. Is this show incredibly graphic and not for the faint of heart? Sure. But I can honestly say the first word that comes to mind when watching these women dance isn't "erotic;" it's "athletic." My heart was in my mouth every time a woman would slide down a pole head-first, convinced that I was about to witness a traumatic brain injury. These ladies are absolute gymnastic legends, and I found myself cheering and wishing I had a couple of dollar bills to throw at my screen whenever the drama slowed down and we were treated to an expertly-choreographed dance scene where you got to revel in these women and their expertise. 

However, off the stage, there is plenty of drama to go around. There is an elaborate cast of characters, with the new girl, Autumn (Elarica Johnson), who harbors a dangerous secret, the reigning queen, Mercedes (Brandee Evans), who is planning her retirement, and the club's manager, Uncle Clifford (Nicco Annan), who is simply the most wondrous character I have gotten to see on TV in a while (Annan's line delivery would certainly make Olivier weep), and serves as a constant reminder to me to be more mindful of using the right pronouns. Apart from being a colorful and visual feast, the show also features the most incredible soundtrack. J. Alphonse Nicholson plays a rapper called Lil Murda, and the first time I watched the character of Keyshawn (Shannon Thornton) dance to his song "Fallin'," I couldn't get that song out of my head for days. And the theme song, "Down in the Valley" by Jucee Froot is a fun and eerie song that always immediately sets the tone at the beginning of every episode.

Every character in this show is brimming with complexity and doesn't fit any of your preconceived notions. As the show progressed, I found myself on the edge of my seat after every episode, desperate to know what would happen next. Would the Pynk be screwed over by corporate interests? Why does Autumn know so much about money laundering? Is Mercedes going to start her gym? Will Keyshawn ever escape her abusive partner? What amazing outfit will Uncle Clifford be wearing next? The show is compelling and witty and a rollercoaster ride from start to finish. Thankfully it has been picked up for another season, and I cannot wait to see where they go from here. 

Like I May Destroy You, P-Valley also features a mostly Black cast and it is such a welcome change to see more diverse viewpoints represented on screen because Black creatives are being given control behind the cameras. This is the kind of television we get when we finally allow Black women to tell stories, and while it took way too long to get here, we certainly can't stop now. More please.