Off-Broadway Play Review—“The Blood Quilt” by Katori Hall

The Blood Quilt

Written by Katori Hall

Directed by Lileana Blaine-Cruz

Performances through December 29, 2024

Mitzi Newhouse Theatre, 150 West 65th Street, New York, NY

lct.org

The cast of The Blood Quilt (photo: Julieta Cervantes)

Family get-togethers have a way of reopening old wounds and spurring surprising revelations in plays like Long Day’s Journey Into Night and August: Osage County. Although it has a few loose stitches, Katori Hall’s The Blood Quilt is a welcome addition to this storied canon.

On Kwemera Island, off the coast of Georgia, the four Jernigan half-sisters—each has a different father—with their physical and emotional baggage in tow get together in the house where they all lived on the anniversary of the death of Mama, the matriarch, to create the latest of the family’s memory quilts. Clementine, the oldest sister, still lives there, having taken care of Mama until her final breath. Second oldest is Gio, a police officer, who’s in the middle of a nasty divorce. The third daughter, Cassan, an army nurse, brings along her teenage daughter Zambia, who’s an advertisement for TMI. The youngest—and Mama’s favorite, the others sneeringly intone—is Amber, attorney to Hollywood stars, who arrives from Southern California. 

Over a long weekend, the Jernigan women face down their own demons, confronting each other’s jaundiced memories and knocking the chips off the others’ shoulders. If their revelations sometimes have a contrived quality—Amber admitting that she has HIV at the close of the first act puts the play’s title in a very different light—Hall admirably never shies away from showing the resulting emotional fallout. 

The quilts are central to Hall’s play both as metaphor and as a living part of this family’s history. On Adam Rigg’s astonishing two-tiered set of the family home on the water, gorgeous multicolored quilts hang from every conceivable surface, visualizing the very complex fabric of the sisters’ relationships. The quilts also trigger the most dramatic subplot: after Mama’s will is read, Cassan and especially Gio are upset that Amber—the least deserving sister, in their eyes—has inherited the priceless set of these painstakingly handwoven quilts. 

But Clementine—who stayed next to their dying Mama while the others stayed away—has had enough, and she cuts to the chase about what being present or absent in others’ lives means; it’s Hall’s best monologue in a play filled with pregnant dialogue among this distaff quintet: 

Amber didn’t need to see mama like that. Nobody needed to see mama like that. I didn’t need to see mama like that. So don’t sit up there on that bull riding high and mighty thanking that just cause yo ass showed up at the funeral and cried and did yo little performance that you was a good daughter. No, unh, unh, nosiree. When folks living that’s when you need to see ‘em. Not when they DEAD. Not when they beginning to turn and whither in they graves. Y’all all left mama to die alone in this house.

If Hall provides one too many endings as more secrets are revealed (including a disturbing but essential scene describing statutory rape), through the mixture of tears and laughs, the real warmth of her generous portrait becomes clear. Director Lileana Blaine-Cruz, who understands the many textures of Hall’s poignant canvas, guides her marvelous cast to get to the nakedly honest emotional truth. Crystal Dickinson (Clementine), Adrienne C. Moore (Gio), Susan Kelechi Watson (Cassan), Lauren E. Banks (Amber) and Mirirai (Zambia) do extraordinarily affecting work separately and together—the most important stitches in this intricately woven Blood Quilt.

December '24 Digital Week II

4K/UHD Releases of the Week 

Joker— Folie à Deux 

(Warner Bros)

Apparently, one self-important Joker movie wasn’t enough for Todd Phillips, who returns with a farrago that brings back Joaquin Phoenix as the most sullen Joker ever—and adds, pointlessly, Lady Gaga as an equally lunatic character who meets Joker cutely in prison (don’t ask) then becomes his biggest supporter when he’s on trial for the crimes of the previous movie. Phillips’ oppressively dark, often risible film bursts into song interludes of mostly old pop and showtunes warbled by Phoenix and Gaga that rarely further the narrative or comment on the duo’s psyches—Woody Allen’s 1996 musical Everyone Says I Love You did this sort of thing far more shrewdly. The film looks impressive in UHD; extras comprise the making-of documentary Everything Must Go and several featurettes. 

Rolling Stones—Welcome to Shepherd’s Bush 

(Mercury Studios)

On their 1999 world tour, the Stones played mainly arenas and stadiums—with a notable exception for this 90-minute sprint through 35 years of hits at the relatively intimate Shepherd’s Bush in London. Everyone is in peak form, with Mick Jagger prancing around the stage and Keith Richards and Ron Wood playing those indelible guitar licks, except, weirdly, the opener “Shattered,” whose famous guitar riff never seems to be correctly duplicated live. Sheryl Crow joins for an energetic “Honky Tonk Women.” There’s superior UHD video and audio.

Stir of Echoes 

(Lionsgate)

In David Koepp’s 1999 horror entry—based on a novel by Richard Matheson—a working-class dad’s life is turned upside down after being hypnotized by his sister-in-law; he’s soon seeing visions of a local teenage girl who recently disappeared. The story is quite sturdy, thanks to Matheson’s original, but Koepp teases out the most unpleasant details, and after awhile it becomes rather dumbing to watch, despite good work from Kevin Bacon (dad), Kathryn Erbe (wife), Ileana Douglas (sister-in-law) and Zachary David Cope (young son). There’s an excellent 4K transfer; the special edition steelbook contains the film on Blu-ray and extras including new and vintage featurettes and interviews.

In-Theater Releases of the Week

Endless Summer Syndrome 

(Altered Innocence)

Attorney Delphine gets an anonymous phone call from a colleague of her husband Antoine who says he’s having an affair with one of their adopted children, Adia and Aslan—taken aback, Delphine tries to discover if it’s true. It is, of course, but writer-director Kaveh Daneshmand has nowhere to go once it’s discovered, and what began as a compelling study structured as a whodunit ends up trivializing a serious subject. Still, strong performances, led by Sophie Colon (Delphine) and Frédérika Milano (Adia), give this more gravitas than Daneshmand’s writing and direction deserve.

The Man in the White Van 

(Relativity Media)

Based on a true story, Warren Skeels’ unsettling drama homes in on Annie, a Florida teenager who keeps seeing a suspicious van parked near school and home, but others scoff at her—even though other young women have been abducted and murdered in the past few years. After a tense and compelling first half, Skeels’ film turns into a rote slasher flick, with fake scares and people in movies doing dumb things. But Madison Wolfe, a winning young actress, makes this underbaked study steadily watchable.

Theater of Thought 

(Argot Pictures)

For my taste, omnivorous director Werner Herzog’s off-kilter documentaries are far more fascinating than his off-kilter features, and his latest doc is another intriguingly obsessive exploration—this time of neuroscience, a field laden with ethical and moral roadblocks that are ripe to be skirted. Herzog and Rafael Yuste (a professor at Columbia and the film’s advisor) travel around the U.S. for a typically refreshing look at another complex subject—complete with alternately bemusing and amusing interviews—made even more enjoyable by Herzog’s inimitable onscreen persona, endlessly curious and seeming unserious and ultra-serious simultaneously.

Streaming Release of the Week 

Her Body 

(Omnibus Entertainment)

The excruciatingly sad story of Andrea Absolonová—a talented Czech diver whose career was cut short when she was injured training for the Olympics, so she began a successful career making porn films until dying of a brain tumor at age 27—has been made into a frustratingly inert biopic by Natálie Císařovská. The director seems to be content with checking off events in Andrea’s life instead of diving more deeply—that Andrea starts her X-rated career as Lea De Mae after seeing porn tapes and magazines in her photographer lover’s apartment might be true, but in this context it’s presented as a dramatic shortcut. But there is a towering performance by Natalia Germani, intensely physical but also brittle and natural, making up for blurry storytelling.

Blu-ray Releases of the Week

Conclave 

(Focus/Universal)

Based on Robert Harris’ page-turning thriller about the political and moral machinations among a group of cardinals electing a new pope, Edward Berger’s adaptation is hampered by its structure—lots of voting in the Sistine Chapel and arguing in the cardinals’ private rooms for much of its two-hour length—but Harris’ wit and ability to enliven routine situations is much in evidence. Of course, there’s also a starry cast: Ralph Fiennes, John Lithgow, Sergio Castellitto, and Stanley Tucci have enormous fun playing various liberal or conservative, pious or impious cardinals—it’s too bad Isabella Rossellini can’t do much with the lone female speaking role. Berger directs a little too close to the vest; a less literal director might have made this cracklingly good, not merely diverting. The Blu-ray transfer is fine; extras are Berger’s commentary and a making-of featurette.

Hard Wood 

(Severin)

Ed Wood was the inept filmmaker who made Plan 9 From Outer Space and Glen or Glenda?, two of the worst pictures ever—but at the end of his career, in the 1970s, he made a few X-rated sex flicks that this three-disc set collects. Straightforward and explicit, Necromania, The Only House in Town and The Young Marrieds show that maybe Wood missed out on his calling; he’s a competent pornographer, at least. The transfers are OK but nothing special; extras include softcore versions of the features, several porn loops, a non-sex feature, Shotgun Wedding, audio commentaries and interviews. 

Piece by Piece 

(Focus/Universal)

The eclectic career of music entrepreneur Pharrell Williams is recounted through animated Lego bricks by director Morgan Neville, who brings style and humor to this unique way of showcasing Williams’ own artistic path, of what Williams calls creating something new out of preexisting forms. There are beguiling sequences with cheeky voice actors playing themselves (among them Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, Gwen Stefani, Williams himself and even Neville) and if it never strays from the surface, the movie works as a fresh hybrid of biopic and documentary. The hi-def transfer is colorfully eye-popping; lone extra is a featurette of Williams and Neville interviews.

Scala! 

(Severin)

Scala, a beloved London repertory cinema from 1978 to 1993, showed films others didn’t—like an unauthorized screening of A Clockwork Orange, banned in England at the time—and Jane Giles and Ali Catterall’s loving documentary portrait is a wistful but lively reminiscence for so many of the place’s employees and guests, people like directors John Waters and Mary Harron as well as artist Isaac Julien and Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore. Giles, who worked at the Scala, has access to a lot of memorabilia and other vintage footage that helps tell its long, winding and absorbing story. Two extra Blu-ray discs house several short films that were shown at Scala along with the documentary Splatterfest Exhumed as well as interviews and audio commentaries. 

December '24 Digital Week I

In-Theater Release of the Week 

Nightbitch 

(Searchlight)

Marielle Heller’s adaptation of Rachel Yoder’s magical-realist novel about a mother whose post-partum depression manifests itself by transforming her into a raging canine at night literalizes this metaphorical conceit in such a way to make it risible rather than indelible. The movie often plays like the female version of the Mike Nichols-Jack Nicholson domesticated werewolf saga, Wolf, which is definitely not the intention. Amy Adams—who looks uncannily like Amy Schumer in several scenes—gives it her all, which isn’t enough; Scoot McNairy, as her husband, is barely tolerable, while the twins playing the terrible two-year-old, Arleigh and Emmett Snowden, are effective enough. Too bad Jessica Harper’s mysterious librarian isn’t given more screen time.

4K/UHD Release of the Week

Chicago and Friends—Live at 55 

(Mercury Studios)

Once upon a time, there was a band named Chicago Transit Authority, and its first album, released in 1968, was a breath of fresh air in rock music, with a jazzy, bluesy, horn-oriented progressive sound. After a few more albums, the band morphed into the Chicago we know today, tuneful and musically elaborate hits giving way to sappy, MOR balladry thanks to singer Peter Cetera. This 2023 concert in Atlantic City celebrates that first album alongside all phases of the band’s career with a 2-1/2 hour set that features guest singers Robin Thicke, Chris Daughtry, Judith Hill and Voiceplay as well as slide guitarist-singer Robert Randolph and guitar slinger Steve Vai. The band—which still has a few original members left—is tight and well-oiled, and if some mawkishness is touched on (“Hard Habit to Break,” “You’re the Inspiration”), there are also sparkling versions of “Beginnings,” “Questions 67 and 68,” “25 or 6 to 4” and “Poem 58.” The hi-def video and audio are first-rate; extras include interviews with band members and guests.

Paris, Texas 

(Criterion)

Wim Wenders’ stylized 1984 road movie about a recluse who reconnects with his brother and son, then looks for his estranged wife in the bleak, wide landscapes of the American southwest, is a moody, one-of-a-kind masterpiece that’s alternatively introspective and expansive as well as intimate and detached. It’s also the summation of Wenders’ predilection for static longueurs, reaching its apogee in the final showdown between the hero (Harry Dean Stanton) and his wife (Nastassja Kinski)—this masterly sequence is perfectly written, directed, shot (by master cinematographer Robby Muller) and acted. Criterion’s UHD transfer, while flawed, gives Muller’s wondrous photography even further elevation; extras include Wenders’ commentary, deleted scenes, and interviews with Wenders, Muller, Stanton, composer Ry Cooder, novelist Patricia Highsmith and actors Peter Falk, Dennis Hopper and Hanns Zischler.

2020 Texas Gladiators 

(Severin)

Italian schlockmeister Joe D’Amato may have outdone himself with this elaborate 1983 futuristic farrago set in a postapocalyptic southwest U.S. populated by marauding gangs, with only small bands of brave rangers who can put up a fight against them. The action set pieces are competently handled, and it’s lively if exceedingly choppy throughout; there’s even a charming actress named Geretta Geretta, who unfortunately doesn’t get much screen time. The UHD transfer looks impressive; there’s also a Blu-ray of the film that includes interviews with Geretta and D’Aamto as well as a soundtrack CD.

The Wild Robot 

(Dreamworks/Universal)

Based on Peter Brown’s bestselling 2016 kids’ novel. writer-director Chris Sanders has fashioned a crowd-pleasing if sentimental sci-fi journey of discovery and tolerance as a robot is discovered on a distant island by wild animals of all kinds—it soon learns enough to survive and even live harmoniously with other creatures. The beautifully rendered animation looks simply spectacular in 4K; there’s a Blu-ray of the film included, and both discs have many extras, including a commentary, an alternate opening with Sanders commentary and several featurettes.

Blu-ray Releases of the Week

All the Haunts Be Ours—A Compendium of Folk Horror, Volume 2 

(Severin)

This second volume of Severin’s boxed set series encompassing international folk-horror filmmaking is yet another tantalizing mixed bag: for every intriguing or disturbing entry, there are several that don’t reach their potential. The standouts are Slovak master Juraj Herz’s brilliant and unsettling double feature: Beauty and the Beast (1978), starring the exquisite Zdena Studenková as the naïve beauty, and The Ninth Heart (1979), set in a sinister world of marionettes. Also worthwhile are Polish director Marcin Wrona’s Demon (2015) and British director John Llewellyn Moxey’s The City of the Dead (1960), the latter starring Christopher Lee. There are 24 feature films on 13 discs, all lovingly restored, for the most part; voluminous extras include audio commentaries, interviews, short films, contextual intros and video essays.

Dario Argento’s Deep Cuts 

(Severin)

Giallo master Dario Argento—still around at age 84—made several horror classics, but this four-disc set contains works for Italian TV: discs one and two showcase Door Into Darkness, the 1973 anthology series for which he was producer and host, and whose episodes are of the hit-or-miss variety; disc three features segments from the mystery series Night Shift; and disc four comprises the TV movie Dario Argento’s Nightmares. Argento cultists and completists will love this, but others might rather stick with Suspiria or Opera. The quality of the transfers is variable, considering the video sources; the many extras include audio commentaries, interviews, and the feature documentaries Dario Argento: My Cinema I and II and Dario Argento: Master of Horror.

Never Let Go 

(Lionsgate)

This disappointingly schlocky horror film stars a game Halle Berry, who does what she can with the impossible role of Mother, a woman trying to protect her two young sons from something called the Evil while living in a remote shack in the woods—but are they really the lone survivors of an apocalypse or is she mad? Director Alexandre Aja and writers KC Coughlin and Ryan Grassby try and have it both ways as visits by malevolent spirits pile up, but the ending reveal is less purposeful than mechanical. Alongside Berry, both Percy Daggs IV and Anthony B. Jenkins are irreproachable as the boys, which helps a bit. There’s an excellent Blu-ray transfer; extras include featurettes, interviews and deleted scenes.

Ryuichi Sakamoto | Opus 

(Janus Contemporaries)

Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto—best known for his Oscar-winning score for The Last Emperor (1987) as well as music for films like Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983) and Monster (2023), his final score—died in 2023 at age 71, and this intimate portrait by his son Neo Sora is a rewarding record of Sakamoto’s final performance, just him at the playing several of his meditative keyboard pieces. I personally find much of this music repetitive and anything but transfixing, but the context of a sick man playing one last time is undeniably moving, and, shot in exquisite B&W by cinematographer Bill Kirstein, this plays as the ultimate tribute to a beloved artist. The film looks superb on Blu; the lone extra is an interview with Sora and Kirstein.

Streaming Release of the Week

Mudbrick 

(Gravitas Ventures)

Nikola Petrović’s stark melodrama set in rural Serbia follows a prodigal son returning to his home village and finding that the ghosts of his family’s past are still present as an unbearable cycle of malevolence and tragedy continues, with fatal consequences. Although this irredeemably gloomy film is exceptionally well-made and acted, there’s only so much Slavic pain and treachery that can be endured—even 90 minutes is too much.

DVD Release of the Week 

Much Ado About Dying 

(First Run)

Simon Chambers’ moving and intensely personal documentary follows his eccentric Uncle David, whom Chambers chronicles for several years after he gets an email from David asking him to come over because he is “dying.” Chambers shows David as a lively, performative character who quotes Shakespeare speeches (King Lear is a special favorite) but remains riveting throughout. It’s an often difficult watch, but it’s filled with humor and empathy that makes this positively life-affirming, despite the fact that we are watching an elderly man suffering greatly, at least physically, before dying. 

Off-Broadway Review—Jessica Goldberg’s “Babe” with Marisa Tomei

Babe

Written by Jessica Goldberg; directed by Scott Elliott

Performances through December 22, 2024

The New Group @ Pershing Square Signature Center, 480 West 42nd Street, New York, NY

thenewgroup.org

Marisa Tomei in Babe (photo: Monique Carboni)

Jessica Goldberg’s Babe records the interaction among a trio of characters in an independent record label’s office. Gus is the infamously abrasive founder who pines for the good old days and shrugs off being #MeToo’ed; Abigail is his loyal right hand for decades who might be the power behind the throne; and Katharine is a young new hire who immediately becomes a thorn in their sides.

Goldberg touches on pertinent—and, sadly, prevalent—themes that still dog the music business, notably the good old boys’ network that someone like Abigail has had to delicately navigate. But, although Goldberg gives her a familiar backstory—Abigail signed and had an intimate relationship with a singer named Kat Wonder, who became a huge star in the ‘90s before succumbing to her demons and dying far too young—it remains on the surface, even with a few flashbacks shoehorned in that bring Kat back. 

That’s Babe’s biggest problem—all its characters are merely sketched in, underdeveloped. Their interactions and verbal showdowns are entertaining (Goldberg has an ear for clever dialogue) but dramatically insufficient; there’s never a feeling that something weighty is at stake. Katharine is simply a catalyst for Abigail to grapple with her professional relationship with Gus after he’s finally canned for blatant and unapologetic sexism. Abigail takes over but now must deal with the fallout, or even take the blame, for years of such policies. Yet even this potentially interesting twist is given short shrift. 

Scott Elliott’s adroit direction, on Derek McLane’s nicely appointed set, smooths out some of the rough edges yet can’t erase the sense that Babe is merely an 85-minute demo for a more in-depth, dare I say longer, study. As Gus, Arliss Howard is properly grotesque and frequently hilarious, while Gracie McGraw plays Katharine bluntly and without much distinction, which also describes her few scenes as Kat Wonder.

As for Marisa Tomei, this resourceful actress does much right, like subtly showing the effects of being Gus’ second in command for so long. Abigail also has cancer (of course she does!), and the short scenes of her post-chemo are the play’s most effective, thanks to Tomei’s ability to look genuinely sick and vulnerable. But only at the end, when Abigail exhilaratingly lets loose as another of Kat’s tunes (by the guitar-driven trio BETTY) plays, do character and performer finally transcend the material.

2024 New York Film Festival Roundup

62nd New York Film Festival 

September 27-October 14, 2024

filmlinc.org

At the 62nd annual New York Film Festival, both the opening night selection, RaMell Ross’ Nickel Boys, and centerpiece entry, Pedro Almodovar’s The Room Next Door, will open in theaters soon. I caught the closing night film (Steve McQueen’s Blitz) along with a selection of features and documentaries from the Main Slate and Spotlight sections. 

Blitz

Blitz (Apple +, now streaming)

Steve McQueen’s latest is a surprisingly conventional war movie about the travails of George (Elliott Heffernan), a young boy who hops off the train after his mother Rita (Saiorse Ronan) sends him away to keep him safe from the nightly Nazi bombing raids. What begins as an intimate look at a family separated by war soon morphs into a risible journey through the underbelly of a shattered London—the implausibilities begin when George escapes much too easily, and he witnesses far more extreme behavior than any young boy would be able to handle. At least Heffernan and Ronan (an actress incapable of a false note in her performances) give this disjointed and hysterical film a solid center, for what it’s worth.

Anora

Anora (Neon, in theaters)

Sean Baker’s film won the Palme d’or at Cannes, which says more about the Cannes jury than it does about the film, an overlong and cartoonish rom-com about Brighton Beach stripper Anora, who falls for the supposed charms of Vanya, a Russian mobster’s immature son, who—after throwing money at her and giving her satisfying sex—flies her to Vegas for a quickie wedding. Back in his dad’s Brooklyn mansion, their ignorantly blissful life together comes crashing down. Baker plays much of this as a ridiculously vulgar and childish farce, especially when the bumbling gangsters and foul-mouthed Anora fight, then try and track down Vanya after he runs away. An excruciating 135 minutes, Baker’s film thinks it’s smarter than it is—and, even though Mikey Madison makes a lively Anora, even she can’t get this to the finish line, especially after Anora has sex with the only mobster who treats her halfway decently. There are some funny and even touching moments, but these are unfortunately hemmed in by so many less felicitous ones.

Transamazonia

Transamazonia 

The lone survivor of a plane crash in the Amazon rainforest years earlier, teenage Rebecca is a faith healer there under the aegis of her preacher dad Lawrence in Pia Marais’ often startling drama about morality, faith, environmentalism and exploitation. Things come to a head when loggers encroach on Indigenous lands and Rebecca is asked by the logging company manager to use her healing powers on his wife, who is in a coma. Helena Zengel’s mesmerizing portrayal of Rebecca is the complex center of this thought-provoking film, shot with moody chiaroscuro by Mathieu de Montgrand.

Emilia Pérez

Emilia Pérez (Netflix, now streaming)

Director Jacques Audiard has never shied away from overbaked premises: his latest follows a trans woman who was the leader of a Mexican crime cartel and wants to reenter her children’s lives after leaving them behind to explore her new life. It’s filled with typical Audiard flourishes, many of which are borderline risible, like the musical numbers that put a further strain on an already overstuffed film. It’s up to the cast to make something credible out of this, and Zoe Saldana (as Rita, the lawyer who helps Emilia) gives the best performance of her career, showing off a lithe expressiveness during her song and dance routines. Karla Sofía Gascón as Emilia is also quite a powerhouse, and even Selena Gomez—as Juan turned Emilia’s wife Jessi—gives a sympathetic portrayal. Audiard bites off more than he can chew, but despite the transgressions, his film remains a watchable mess.

A Traveler’s Needs 

A Traveler’s Needs (Cinema Guild, in theaters)

Korean director Hong Sangsoo is taste I’ve yet to acquire: his latest meandering, deadpan feature tells a wisp of a story about a middle-aged language tutor (the redoubtable Isabelle Huppert) who lives in a Seoul suburb and crosses paths with a variety of bemused locals. For 90 minutes, that’s pretty much all that happens, all so Sangsoo can make belabored, minor comic points and move on. The final sequence is lovely in its quiet way, but mostly the film wears out its welcome, even with Huppert at her most engaging.

TWST/Things We Said Today

TWST/Things We Said Today 

Romanian director Andrei Ujică transforms documentary footage into this quasi-fictional feature that takes as its starting point the Beatles’ record-breaking concert at Shea Stadium on a hot summer night in 1965. The footage includes the Fab Four giving as good as they get during an airport news conference along with the Watts riots in L.A., which also happened that week. Too bad Ujică can’t leave well enough alone; into this time capsule he inserts a silly story of two young people who fall for each other that fateful weekend. Superimposing these characters on the film frames has a ghost-like charm, yet it also detracts from the archival chronicle by allowing nonentities to elbow their way in.

Suburban Fury 

Suburban Fury 

Director Robinson Devor’s compelling portrait of Sara Jane Moore—who tried to assassinate President Gerald Ford in 1975—is an audacious pseudo-documentary centered by an interview with Moore (still vital and outspoken in her 90s), who discusses how her extremist actions led to that horrible moment, for which she spent 32 years in prison. Devor might be too clever for his own good: his film is sometimes nearly as enervating as it is unnerving (especially its reenactments), but the off-kilter, hyper-realistic feel adroitly underscores Moore’s bizarre, uniquely American life. 

Dahomey

Dahomey (MUBI, in theaters)

Mati Diop’s extraordinarily original film follows the artistic treasures from the former West African kingdom of Dahomey (now Benin) being repatriated from the French museum that held them for more than a century. In 67 packed minutes, Diop’s themes of colonization and racism are married to her conceit to have a statue of Dahomey’s King Ghezo narrate with a deep, eerie, electronically enhanced voice, which allows the artifacts to be more than simply objects. Her closely observed study climaxes with a conservation among mostly young Benin natives, who argue whether this is mere tokenism (only 26 objects returned out of thousands?) or whether it’s a real opening to return more cultural treasures. 

Youth (Homecoming) 

Youth (Hard Times) 

Youth (Homecoming) (Icarus Films, in theaters)

Chinese director Wang Bing concludes his monumental documentary trilogy about life among young textile workers with the second and third parts of Youth—the first part, Spring, premiered last year. These perceptive chronicles show these people hard at work in the city of Zhili, far from their hometowns. Like Spring, Hard Times records the backbreaking repetition of their jobs and the casual exploitation by the shop owners. Homecoming records return visits to see family and friends (and even get married and have a baby) during the holidays. The cumulative power of these three vérité films—nearly nine hours in all—immerses viewers in this very specific world.

November '24 Digital Week III

4K/UHD Releases of the Week 

North by Northwest 

(Warner Bros)

One of Hitchcock’s most memorable—if also one of his most nonsensical—films, this 1959 classic contains some of his greatest set pieces and silliest plot twists, holding itself together as a grandly entertaining yarn. Cary Grant is his usual suave self as the innocent man mistaken for an FBI agent, James Mason makes a dastardly villain and Eva Marie Saint is the perfect femme fatale. But the real star is Hitch: the wit, the thrills, the pacing of three masterly sequences (the corn field, the auction room, and Mount Rushmore) epitomize the film’s all-time status. The film’s UHD transfer looks perfect; extras comprise screenwriter Ernest Lehman’s commentary and several behind-the-scenes featurettes.

The Terminator 

(Warner Bros)

James Cameron’s 1984 sci-fi actioner made Arnold Schwarzenegger a superstar and Cameron an A-list director, although this feature about a murderous time-traveling cyborg who is assigned to kill an innocent woman for the future crime of giving birth to a savior is crudely, often laughably silly. Linda Hamilton makes a sympathetic victim—she would become a femme fatale in the much more entertaining 1991 sequel—but Schwarzenegger is too robotic (even for him) and Cameron’s directing has cleverness without being particularly distinguished. The film looks splendid in 4K; extras are seven deleted scenes and three featurettes.

Streaming Release of the Week 

The Shade 

(Level 33)

Writer-director Tyler Chipman’s overlong psychological melodrama about a family dealing with mental illness and suicide takes an interesting germ of an idea but does little more with it than skim the surface, instead crassly visualizing the malevolence and repeating dream jump-scares, more desperately each time. Not helping is the one-note acting by most of the cast—only Laura Benanti, as the troubled brothers’ single mom, gives an expressive, humane performance. Otherwise, this can be considered a nice try but ultimately a failed exploration of a serious subject.

Blu-ray Releases of the Week

Manon 

(Opus Arte)

French composer Jules Massenet’s Romantic-era opera about a young woman about to become a nun who elopes with her love became, in choreographer Kenneth MacMillan’s hands, equally lively and dramatic. In this return to London’s Royal Ballet stage earlier this year, MacMillan’s brilliantly precise movements for the couple—embodied beautifully by Natalia Osipova and Reece Clarke—fit like a glove. Koen Kessels conducts the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House in a fine reading of Massenet’s marvelous music. Hi-def video and audio are topnotch; extras are interviews with the creative team, Osipova and Clarke.

Merchant Ivory 

(Cohen Media)

A longtime award-winning producer/director team, Ismail Merchant and James Ivory made films—often written by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala and scored by composer Richard Robbins—that included stories about India (Shakespeare Wallah, Heat and Dust) and historical biopics (Jefferson in Paris, Surviving Picasso). But their greatest successes were lush literary adaptations like A Room with a View, Howards End and The Remains of the Day. Director Stephen Soucy interviews Ivory, who speaks candidly about his and Merchant’s professional and personal relationship—they were lovers for decades—and also talks with stars like Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant, Helena Bonham Carter and Vanessa Redgrave. The result is a loving if tad too reverent portrait of these not quite first-rate artists. The film looks excellent on Blu; extras are extended interviews, Ivory and Soucy discussions and Soucy’s short, Rich Atmosphere—The Music of Merchant Ivory Films.

Night of the Blood Beast/Attack of the Giant Leeches 

(Film Masters)

This nearly forgotten pair of B movies from the Roger Corman producing stable, low-budget sci-fi thrillers 1958’s Night of the Blood Beast and 1959’s Attack of the Giant Leeches, are about as simplistic as their descriptive titles. Both films, which were directed by someone named Bernard L. Kowalski, are largely risible but are also effective timewasters if one is in the right mood. The films look decent on Blu; extras include Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes for both films, commentaries on both films, the academy-ratio version of Blood Beast; and featurettes. 

DVD Release of the Week 

A Real Job 

(Distrib Films US)

Writer-director Thomas Lilti made this amusing and often illuminating drama about a group of teachers at a typical French high school who deal with the messy everyday situations that come up involving their students, the parents and even one another, as told through the eyes of Benjamin, a young substitute teacher. A superlative ensemble comprising Vincent Lacoste (Benjamin), Louise Bourgoin, François Cluzet and the always extraordinary Adèle Exarchopoulos, among others, makes this a sharp and penetrating look at classroom complexities in the vein of other French films like Laurent Cantet’s The Class and Nicolas Philibert’s documentary To Be and to Have.

CD Releases of the Week

Camille Erlanger—La Sorcière 

(B. Records)

French composer Camille Erlanger (1863-1919), a student of Leo Delibes, wrote several operas that never gained a foothold in the repertoire, possibly because their grand style seems out of step with the subject matter, like this 1912 music drama set during the Spanish Inquisition. It does have a still-relevant religious tolerance message, and Erlanger’s music has its memorable moments, yet when the storytelling gets more intimate, the music gets less interesting. However, this performance, recorded at Victoria Hall in Geneva, is splendidly realized: there’s magnificent singing by the soloists and choir along with the estimable Orchestra of the Haute Ecole de Musique de Geneve led by conductor Guillaume Tourniaire. 

York Bowen/William Walton—Viola Concertos 

(SWR)

This wonderful-sounding disc features one of the best from the small repertoire of viola concertos—the lyrical yet technically thorny concerto by William Walton (1902-83), which he wrote in 1929 for soloist Lionel Tertis, who infamously called it too modern and did not premiere it—Paul Hindemith did instead. This significant work is paired with the concerto by York Bowen (1884-1961), also written for Tertis (and he did premiere it, in 1908)—a much less familiar work, it has its own lilting beauty. Diyang Mei is the formidable soloist in both works, accompanied by the exceptional German Radio Philharmonic under conductor Brett Dean.  

November '24 Digital Week II

4K/UHD Releases of the Week 

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice 

(Warner Bros)

It only took 36 years for the sequel to Tim Burton’s winsomely offbeat supernatural black comedy to finally arrive, and if it doesn’t reach the giddy heights of the original, it still has the potent satirical presence of Michael Keaton in the title role as well as the welcome return of both Winona Ryder and Catherine O’Hara as daughter and mother. Additionally, the disarming and winning Jenna Ortega plays Ryder’s daughter, and she, Keaton and Burton are enough to make this watchable. There’s an excellent UHD transfer; extras include Burton’s commentary and several behind the scenes featurettes. 

Blazing Saddles 

(Warner Bros)

The ultimate western parody is definitely not Mel Brooks’ best film—it has more dry patches and juvenile jokes than many of his other films—but the fact that this came out the same year (1974) as what is his best film, Young Frankenstein, is a miracle in itself. And, of course, it’s stuffed with legendary comic moments courtesy of Cleavon Little, Gene Wilder, Harvey Korman, Slim Pickens and Madeline Kahn. The film looks sparkling in 4K; extras include Brooks’ scene-specific commentary and several featurettes and additional scenes.

Blu-ray Releases of the Week 

Der Freischütz 

(Dynamic)

German composer Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826) created this masterpiece of German romantic opera in 1821; even its rickety fairy-tale plot including the supernatural and a magic bullet doesn’t put a pall on it. This colorful production, on the lake at Austria’s Bregenz Festival this past summer, pulls together great musicmaking, singing and staging for a memorable viewing. The ace performances are led by sopranos Nikola Hillebrand and Katharina Ruckgaber, while Philipp Stölzl’s direction and set design are unimpeachable. The exemplary Vienna Philharmonic and Bregenz Festival Choir are led by conductor Enrique 

The Red Light Bandit 

(Severin)

Brazilian maverick director Rogério Sganzerla was part of the late 1960s’ Cinema Marginal movement, and this often dazzling 1968 entry about a celebrated Sao Paolo thief (based on a real-life incident) who steals from the rich, makes fools of the police and charms the public is a real hoot, despite the crudeness expected of a 21-year-old filmmaker. But it’s so energetic and confident—and the acting of Paulo Villaça and Helena Ignez is so winningly persuasive—that falling in with its rhythms is easy. Too bad there’s not a great print available, but even in this merely OK transfer, the startling B&W imagery comes through. Extras include an Ignez interview, several Sganzerla shorts and an interview with film conservationist Paulo Sacramento. 

Roseland 

(Cohen Film Collection)

One of director James Ivory, producer Ismael Merchant and writer Ruth Prawer Jhabvala’s lesser collaborations was this slight, almost amateurish 1977 omnibus film about several people, mainly older women and younger men, who meet and dance at the famed dance hall in midtown Manhattan. There are nicely observed scenes (notably in the first section with a wonderful Teresa Wright), but even though actors like Geraldine Chaplin and a young Christopher Walken try their hardest, there’s not much to this character study that works now as a time capsule of late ’70s NYC. The film looks decent on Blu; lone extra is a recent Ivory interview.

Speak No Evil 

(Universal)

The latest Blumhouse scarefest pillages Danish director Christian Tafdrup’s 2022 film to tell the story of a naïve family—mom, dad, teenage daughter—befriended by a strange couple and their mute son who are unable to leave when they visit and discover murder is in the offing. Director-writer James Watkins has softened the original’s nihilistic worldview (similar to the U.S. remake of that seminal psychological horror film The Vanishing) by dutifully putting these people through their paces until a bloody but obvious climax. James McAvoy, Mackenzie Davis, Aisling Franciosi and Scoot McNairy as the adults and Alix West Lefler and Dan Hough as the kids are fine but can’t transcend the material. There’s a first-rate hi-def transfer; extras include behind the scenes featurettes and interviews.

Film Festival Roundup—DOCNYC 2024

DOCNYC 2024

In theaters through November 21, 2024

Online streaming through December 1, 2024

docnyc.net

DOC NYC, now in its 15th year, is the largest documentary festival in America: more than 200 films unspool during the festival, including more than 50 premieres. Of course, with so many entries, it’s impossible to do anything but get a sampling; here’s a handful I was able to see.

Blue Road—The Edna O’Brien Story

Of the festival’s opening night, centerpiece and closing night films, I caught the Opening Night selection. Blue Road—The Edna O’Brien Story, a compelling study of the great Irish author. Alongside Jessie Buckley beautifully narrating in O’Brien’s own words, director Sinéad O’Shea interviews admirers like actor Gabriel Byrne, other authors, disciples and O’Brien herself (before her death this summer at age 93) to present a full-bodied portrait of an artist who made many people deeply uneasy through her grit and honesty but who eventually gained the respect of and lionization by the literary world.

Beyond the Gaze: Jule Campbell’s Swimsuit Issue

Other films explored the lives of remarkable women. In Beyond the Gaze: Jule Campbell’s Swimsuit Issue, the incredible career of the woman editor who crashed what was an exclusive men’s club to turn the annual Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue into a cash cow is recounted by Jule’s daughter, director Jill Campbell. Jule unsurprisingly comes across as feisty and no-nonsense; it’s not surprising she shepherded the lucrative swimsuit issue for more than three decades as well as introducing the world’s first supermodels. As intimate as this story is—Jule died after being extensively interviewed, in 2022 at age 96—the most touching moments come from reunions with several models including Carol Alt, Roshumba Williams, Stacey Williams and especially Elle Macpherson.

A Photographic Memory

A Photographic Memory (opens in NYC Nov. 22) is Rachel Elizabeth Seed’s fascinating film about her mother—photographer and journalist Sheila Turner Seed, who died when Rachel was only 18 months old. The intrepid daughter burrows into her mother’s personal and professional history to piece together a cinematic memoir. And she does: accessing interviews her mom did with luminaries Henri Cartier-Bresson, Gordon Parks and Cecil Beaton, along with talking with her father, British photographer Brian Seed, and tracking down friends and colleagues who can fill in the blanks, Rachel has indelibly depicted this fierce and formidable woman for posterity.

Spacewoman

The eponymous heroine of Spacewoman, astronaut Eileen Collins, was the first American woman to command a space shuttle flight, Columbia in 1997. Hannah Berryman’s first-rate doc explores Collins’ career in the space program and how her dedication led to strained family relations, especially with her daughter Bridget, who gives an honest account of their difficult past relationship. (Interestingly, Eileen and husband Pat’s son Luke is rarely mentioned or shown, but he appears briefly with his sister.) It’s a straightforward bio with a riveting protagonist at its center.

Anxiety Club

In Anxiety Club, several comedians open themselves up to director Wendy Lobel’s camera about their personal angst even more than they do onstage. Mark Maron is the only performer whose standup I was familiar with, so his cutting self-absorption is familiar (yet still funny). But of the rest—including Eva Victor, who seems more grounded than the others (I hope she is!)—getting the most camera time is Tiffany Jenkins, who’s so petrified of losing her children that she can barely stand to be away from them for even a short time. Her therapy sessions to break this mental stranglehold are memorable if uneasy to watch, but they’re of a piece with the anxiety she documents in a series of very popular and humorous YouTube videos.

Art Spiegelman: Disaster Is My Muse

In Art Spiegelman: Disaster Is My Muse, the veteran comic illustrator—best known for the graphic novel Maus, his incisive and deeply personal allegory about his father, a Holocaust survivor, with the Jews shown as mice, the Poles as pigs and the Nazis as cats—gets his due in this illuminating look at a career full of lacerating observation. Directors Molly Bernstein and Philip Dolin record Spiegelman’s thoughts about how his childhood in Rego Park, Queens, informed his worldview and artistry as well as his wife, French editor Françoise Mouly. 

Ernest Cole—Lost and Found

Raoul Peck’s Ernest Cole—Lost and Found (opens in NYC Nov. 22) vividly resurrects the career and legacy of the South African photographer, more than three decades after his premature death. Cole lived the daily horrors of Black South Africa under the racist Apartheid regime, documenting them with his camera. Moving to the U.S. in 1966, he published the book House of Bondage that chronicled what he experienced, becoming an international sensation—and it was unsurprisingly banned in his home country. Cole expected America to be different, but when he started taking pictures here, he was shocked to see racism ingrained through Jim Crow laws, similar to South Africa. LaKeith Stanfield narrates as Cole’s own voice, but Peck rightly concentrates on Cole’s powerful photographs throughout the film. Cole asks “Am I a traitor to my country?” in response to the apartheid state news’ description of him, and Peck denounces that vicious smear in the strongest possible terms, giving this pioneering artist a deserved posthumous tribute.

Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat

Last but definitely not least is Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat (now playing), Belgian director Johan Grimonprez’s insightful cinematic essay that revolves around the 1961 assassination of Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba, which happened with the complicity of Belgium, England, and the U.S. But that’s only one piece of a complex feature encompassing how Western countries reacted to the rapid decolonization of Africa. It’s not easy to elucidate the convoluted political situation in the Congo, but Grimonprez’s ambitious mosaic provides fascinating context for these historical events as it tells equally riveting dual stories: the fraught atmosphere of colonialism and Communism alongside the recruitment of Black musicians as unwitting cover for backdoor machinations to prevent supposed Communist takeovers. These artists included Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington and Nina Simone—none aware that they were being used as decoys for their U.S. State Department handlers’ nefarious ends.