'Shoplifters' Director is Back With His Next Dysfunctional Family Film, 'The Truth'
After receiving critical acclaim for his Palme d'Or-winning feature Shoplifters at Cannes in 2018, director Hirokazu Kore-eda is back with another mesmerizing tale of emotionally turbulent familial dysfunction, in The Truth (La Vérité).
This time, we're transported to Paris and into the mansion of the famed Parisian actress Fabienne Dangeville (Catherine Deneuve), a self-absorbed, aging icon who is unwilling to accept responsibility for questionable choices she has made throughout her life. These choices are purposefully omitted from her new memoir, which frustrates her daughter Lumir (Juliette Binoche), who flew with her husband (Ethan Hawke) and daughter from New York to celebrate the book's release. Although resistant to engage with Lumir's questioning, Fabienne is eventually forced to confront the white lies she's told herself throughout her life in order to deal with certain unbearable truths
Aware that her career is beginning to wind down, Fabienne's first line of defense is to belittle others to feel superior. Her entitlement is apparent on the set of her latest film, which also acts as a vehicle that allows her to work through her past. Her obvious jealousy towards her much younger co-star is petty, and also terribly sad. Fabienne is terrified of being considered "washed up," and while she acts tough on the exterior, she's really just overcompensating for a bruised ego and shrinking confidence. Lumir's presence brings out Fabienne's moody side, but it's ultimately the catalyst that was needed for true self-reflection.
Expertly crafted by Hirokazu Kore-eda, The Truth is a sensitively told story that never villainizes Fabienne, even when a case can be made against her terribly selfish ways. There is a warmth that radiates from the actors, all of whom offer sensational performances. Legendary Catherine Deneuve and Juliette Binoche play against each other perfectly, and Ethan Hawke is a fantastic supporting character. Once again, Hirokazu Kore-eda shows that family dysfunction is normal and can be sorted out if the bonds that tie them together come from a loving place.
IFC Films is releasing The Truth (La Vérité) on VOD this Friday, July 3rd.
'Suzi Q' Review: All Hail Suzi Quatro, the Overlooked Queen of Rock & Roll
"Drawn to the Light" is for Fans of Sigur Rós and We've Got The Exclusive
These days, it seems as if we're paddling upstream a river of uncertainty, doing our best doggy-paddle to stay afloat (or maybe that's just me). The relentlessness can feel overwhelming, but it's in these moments when a song can become more than just a few chords strung together; a simple song has the power to transform into an emotionally charged life raft that gets us through tough times. LA-based composer Jeff Cardoni (The Kominsky Method, Silicon Valley) has just released one such life raft with "Drawn to the Light," the first track off of his upcoming EP Nuovo Futuro, which will be available for purchase and streaming on July 24th.
Stream “Drawn to the Light” here: https://distrokid.com/
“I wanted to write a piece of music that would guide the listener away from the cacophony and chaos of our current world,” says Cardoni, describing his inspiration behind the new single. “I believe music can unite the human condition in the darkest times and lift the spirit towards better times ahead.”
"Drawn to the Light" is a minimalist's dream, comprised of only electric guitars and a string quintet – two violas, two celli, and upright bass – playing in a lower tonality. The slow build throughout the 3-minute song is as delicate as it is beautiful. If you're drawn to the mysticism of Sigur Rós (my Icelandic dream band), Explosions In The Sky, or Max Richter, you'll find warmth in Cardoni's similar sound.
If "Drawn to the Light" is any indication, then Nuovo Futuro will have a "less is more" purity to it. Sometimes the most beautiful things are the simplest.
'Disclosure' Review: Discussing Harmful Trans Depictions in Media
According to a GLAAD survey, about 80% of Americans don't know a trans person. Even more unfortunate, most of their knowledge about the trans community comes from the media (aka not the best for unbiased portrayals). Mrs. Doubtfire, The Silence of the Lambs, Yentel, Dallas Buyers Club, and Boys Don't Cry are just a handful of the divisive films discussed in the Netflix documentary Disclosure, an urgent showing of the problematic representation of trans people on-screen.
Interviews with Laverne Cox (Orange Is the New Black), Lilly Wachowski (dir. The Matrix), Yance Ford (dir. Strong Island), Mj Rodriguez (Pose, Rent), Jamie Clayton (Sense8), and Chaz Bono (writer, musician, actor) all shed light on how they navigated their specific journey through Hollywood. Growing up, many expressed their feelings of being torn between hopefulness when seeing a trans character on-screen and fear when said trans character is met with disgust, visceral reactions, and abuse. Recalling painful moments in the industry, they express that the sensitivity of laughing "with" these characters vs laughing "at" them is a very thin line. It's telling that despite the film industry existing for well over 100 years, one of the only positive reinforcements of a trans depiction onscreen is in the 1957 Bugs Bunny episode "What's Opera, Doc." A cartoon got it right in the '50s.
When "being invisible" is considered "a privilege," as many expressed in the documentary, that's a sign that things need to change. Since D.W. Griffith's Judith of Bethulia (1914), Hollywood has been guilty of perpetuating the transgender victim narrative for too long – and we haven't even talked about the self-gratifying shoo-in Oscar or Golden Globe nominations cis men receive for playing trans roles (ahem Jared Leto, Eddie Redmayne, Jeffrey Tambor). In order for social change, we need a fair representation of trans people on screen so we can make a difference off-screen, and with social justice and equality at the forefront of everyone's minds, Disclosure should be considered essential viewing.
Disclosure is available on Netflix this Friday.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysbX6JUlaEc
'Babyteeth' Shows When Your Life is Ending, You're Free to Fall in Love With Your Local Drug Dealer
Eliza Scanlen plays a terminally sick teenager who, after accepting that her future has an unfair expiration date, decides to live out one of her last days with her family at the beach.
No, this isn't Greta Gerwig's Little Women (where Scanlen has found herself in this exact scenario before). This is a tender moment from director Shannon Murphy's quirky dramedy, Babyteeth.
This Australian-set, coming-of-age story centers around Milla (Scanlen), a single child to her self-medicating mother (Essie Davis) and therapist father (Ben Mendelsohn). After discovering that her cancer has returned, Milla embraces the You Only Live Once lifestyle by opening up and letting herself fall in love with the town's local drug dealer, Moses (Toby Wallace). His tough-guy exterior doesn't deter Milla from finding the softy inside, and together, Milla and Moses bring out the bold and beautiful in each other.
Babyteeth has an interesting editing cadence to it, reminiscent of a Greek Weird Wave dark comedy. It took me almost forty-five minutes to finally settle into the story, but once I did, I was hooked. The film is an exciting feature-length directorial debut from Shannon Murphy, assisted by strong performances from Ben Mendelsohn and Scanlen, who I hope is able to play a healthy leading lady soon!
The independent arthouse theatre, Arena Cinelounge, will be the first physical movie theater to open in Los Angeles and screen Babyteeth this Friday, June 19th. The film will also stream on VOD.
'Aviva' Breaks–No, Smashes–All Conventions Through the Beauty of Dance
Aviva is a surreal, dance-driven fever dream set against a Jewish-Israeli NYC backdrop of love, loneliness, and the yearning for growth. Breaking the fourth wall immediately and casually addressing this loose and transparent structure with confidence and ease, Aviva shouldn't work. But it does, and wonderfully.
What starts out as a promising long-distance relationship becomes much more complex when French-living Aviva – played by both Zina Zinchenko (and at times by Or Schraiber) – moves to New York City to be with the man she loves, Eden (played by Tyler Phillips, and at times Bobbie Jene Smith). The protagonists, at times, are played by both a man and a woman, interchangeably swapping genders in the middle of scenes. The masculine and feminine qualities within every person are given a physical body here, showing how we all are gender-fluid when it comes to expressing emotions and navigating through life. The rest of the film is just as poignant, including entire scene-long monologues, naked interpretive dance, and beautiful cinematography.
Aviva is a groundbreaking production from Boaz Yakin, who is probably better known as the director of the Denzel Washington football drama Remember The Titians or the Brittany Murphy/Dakota Fanning comedy Uptown Girls. Aviva is nothing – nothing – like his previous work. In fact, I had to do a double-take when I saw his name in the credits. The choreography from former Batsheva Dance Company member and co-star Bobbi Jene Smith is a visionary feat, landing the arthouse Aviva at the top of my favorite films of 2020.
If No Other Film Comes Out This Year, 'Shirley' Might Just Be The Year's Best
Director Josephine Decker returns to Sundance after her award-winning film Madeline’s Madeline with another captivating dramatic entry, Shirley.
Starring an eccentric Elisabeth Moss as famed author Shirley Jackson and the ever-wonderful Michael Stuhlbarg as her husband Stanley Hyman, Shirley tells the story of a young couple, Rose (Odessa Young) and Fred (Logan Lerman), whose life becomes forever changed by the famous horror writer and her college professor husband. After accepting room and board in exchange for household chores and companionship, Rose becomes an accidental muse for Shirley, who spends all day chain-smoking over her typewriter in the musky home office of her large Victorian house.
Decker's signature style of euphoric imagery and layered, complicated female protagonists in control is the film’s strongest calling card. Moss gives a phenomenal performance as a kooky yet brilliant artist whose inner turmoil is a constant battle. Not to be overlooked is Michael Stuhlbarg, who delivers yet another scene-stealing monologue that is almost as memorable as his Call Me By Your Name performance. Beautifully captured by cinematographer Sturla Brandth Grøvlen (Victoria, Wendy), who juxtaposes light and dark to create unforgettable moments and a moody score by composer Tamar-kali, Shirley is a hauntingly powerful film about a strong woman, made by a strong woman.
Shirley is available to rent via virtual cinemas this Friday.
How Else Would Spike Jonze and the Beastie Boys Make Their New Documentary? By Doing It Live
Admittedly, I didn't know much about the Beastie Boys–the iconic punk rock/rap trio from Brooklyn–aside from some of their biggest hits, including (You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party). Turns out, 34 years after releasing that ironic frat bro anthem, that's the song Mike "Mike D" Diamond and Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz are the most embarrassed about. In Spike Jonze's live documentary, Beastie Boys Story (now streaming on Apple TV+), the remaining two members take to the stage to share the band's journey through all of its highs and lows, heartbreaks, and made-it moments.
Beastie Boys Story plays like a TED talk, with a slideshow of visuals from the band's early years aiding Mike D and Ad-Rock's energetic and lighthearted storytelling onstage. For a Beastie Boys novice (like me), the stories about their childhood in the early 80s, running around the NY punk scene as a group of misfits, is endearing (and left me slightly envious- how were these 13-year-old boys that cool?) Their evolution from a four-piece (Kate Schellenbach was their original drummer) to collaborating with a college-aged Rick Rueben and eventually opening for Madonna on tour (and earning a whopping $500 a show!), is a trip as we live vicariously through the energetic stories of Mike D and Ad-Rock.
The Beastie Boys were Monty Python as much as they were Black Flag. They embraced the celebrity and had fun with it while it lasted. Mike D and Ad-Rock also make themselves vulnerable as they go into detail about their burnout and, heart-wrenchingly, the decision to stop performing after the death of Adam "MCA" Yauch, who died of cancer in 2012. Beastie Boys was MCA's idea, after all.
For a group whose creative process has been described as "fucking around," Mike D and Ad-Rock emphasize that being themselves, in all of it's wacky and zany glory, is what skyrocketed them to success. That's a lesson we can all live by. When in doubt just think, What Would The Beastie Boys Do?
Beastie Boys Story is now streaming on Apple +