THE WEEKEND WARRIOR FEB. 23, 2024
DRAGON SLAYER - TO THE HASHIRA TRAINING, ORDINARY ANGELS, DRIVE-AWAY DOLLS, THEY SHOT THE PIANO PLAYER, IO CAPITANO
I feel like this column that I once was able to deliver weekly without fail has become like just about any episode of “Moonlighting,” which often left viewers wondering will they or won’t they? Will Ed take time off from his “paying” gigs to write a weekly column full of reviews or will he focus on work that’s (mostly) been paying?
If you hadn’t heard, I’m cutting back my work over at Above the Line quite considerably, and I’ve already bailed on Below the Line, so probably will have more time on my hands. The question is how much of that I’m going to use to write a column that I know from experience makes me ZERO money and takes a ton of time, as much as I enjoy putting more of a focus on smaller independent, foreign films, documentaries, and the repertory scene around town. I guess like everything in my life, this column is kind of in a “wait and see” phase where if I have time to write something, I will, and I hope enough people read and enjoy it to make it worth my time.
I will include some box office stuff (like the chart below) but for the most part, my analysis is running over at Gold Derby these days.
Before I get to this week’s new releases, I want to mention that Kimi Takasue’s brilliant ONLOOKERS will be available to watch on Metrograph’s At Home digital platform, starting on Friday, along with Ms. Takasue’s previous two features 95 and 6 to Go and Where are You Taking Me? If you didn’t get to see it in-person at the Metrograph over the past week, well, then SHAME! Because it’s a great film to see on the big screen, but you can read my interview with the filmmaker over at Above the Line to learn more about it.
DEMON SLAYER: KIMETSU NO YAIBA - TO THE HASHIRA TRAINING (Crunchyroll)
Not the widest release of the weekend but getting a release into 1,962 theaters with the push that Anime often gets from the avid fanbase is this collection of two episodes from the popular anime series on Crunchyroll, essentially a recap of the last two episodes of the third season as well as the first episode of Season 3, which covers the “Hashira Training” arc from the comics. I haven’t actually watched any of these, but I know they’re hugely popular and at least the “Mugen Train” movie did particularly well, opening with $22 million against the Mortal Kombat reboot, as both of them tried to have an impact as movie theaters reopened in April 2021 post-covid. The previous theatrical release, “Demon Slayer - To the Swordsmith Village” came out last March and opened with about half the amount of “Mugen Train,” but I believe that was also a compilation of episodes to act as a bridge between the second and third seasons. “To the Hashira Training” is the same but to bridge the third and fourth seasons, so it will be the first chance for fans to see the first episode of the “Hashira Training” arc… and therefore, will basically just be for the fans with few others caring much. That might keep this one from opening very big, though there’s such a dearth of movies for animation fans in theaters, it could end up doing okay this weekend, while being quite frontloaded.
ORDINARY ANGELS (Lionsgate)
Hilary Swank and Alan Ritchson (Reacher) star in this true-life drama directed by Jon Gunn (writer of I Still Believe and Jesus Revolution) in which Swank plays Sharon Stevens, a Louisville, Tennessee beautician who learns about the financial and logistic troubles Ed Schmitt (Ritchson’s character) has been having in getting a liver transplant for his five-year-old daughter.
Of the wide release out this weekend, this is probably my favorite one, and it’s quite surprising, because I have not been fan, of some of the faith-based films that Gunn has written. I did like the doc he co-directed twenty years ago, called My Date With Drew, but that was a very different kind of movie. I was actually surprised to learn that this screenplay was written by Meg Tilly and recent WGA nominee Kelly Fremon Craig (Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret), but maybe they heard about the story of Sharon and Ed and decided to turn it into the movie. I mean, this story took place in the early ‘90s, so who knows how long this screenplay has been floating around before the filmmakers brought Gunn on board to direct it?
There is no question that the big reason the movie works at all is due to what Swank puts into the role of Stevens, who is quite a character in her own right, but Ritchson is also quite good, even though they’re both constantly in danger of having their scenes stolen by the adorable young actress playing Ed’s precocious daughter.
What I greatly appreciated about Ordinary Angels is that you fully expect to hit the viewer over the head with its faith and spirituality, and other than a few mentions of prayer, it really doesn’t.
Ordinary Angels is quite a pleasant surprise. Maybe this kind of movie won’t be for anyone under 40, but the way things are going in this world, it’s nice to have something a little more inspirational and less cynical, and this is certainly a story that’s worthy of being told and seen.
Rating: 7.5/10
DRIVE-AWAY DOLLS (Focus Features)
Filmmaker Ethan Coen breaks away from his brother Joel to direct this movie, co-written and edited by his wife, Tricia Cooke. It’s a road comedy starring Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan as lesbian best friends Jamie and Marian, who decide to travel down to Tallahassee, Florida, not realizing that the car they rented actually has a suitcase in its trunk that’s valuable to the hoods trying to get their hands on it. Beanie Feldstein plays Jamie ex, Sukie, a police officer who gets pulled into their exploit, and the movie also stars Colman Domingo, Bill Camp, Pedro Pascal (basically just in the prologue), Joey Slotnick, C.J. Wilson, and… Matt Damon!
Like most, I’m a long-time fan of the Coens, although they’ve hit a few rough patches over the years, and I was quite mystified by the decision by Joel to direct Shakespeare with The Tragedy of Macbeth a few years back. This one definitely has more of the dark humor that we’ve learned to expect from the Coens, but it’s an odd decision to make a period piece set in 1999 that focuses on a queer duo, although it does gives the movie a uniqueness to it that’s appreciated. (The actual title for the movie is Drive-Away Dykes, but Focus Features, maybe wisely, has changed it for release to avoid offending the LGBTQ+ community, maybe? Or have lesbians accepted that word which was once considered a pejorative?)
Probably my favorite part of the movie was the duo of Joey Slotnick and C.J. Wilson as the squabbling thugs chasing after Jamie and Marian, and was even more pleasantly surprised to learn that Slotnick was the guy married to Ming-Na Wen in the underrated sitcom “The Single Guy.” His red hair is gone but he’s just as funny, and sure, this duo is essentially bringing a similar thing as Steve Buscemi and Michael Stormare in the Coens’ Fargo. It’s also impossible not to think of Pulp Fiction with the mysterious suitcase, but let’s just say that the contents are far more racy and raunchy. The film is clearly set in 1999 to take advantage of the political climate of the time leading up to the famed Florida recount in the Presidential election, but that aspect of the movie seems slight compared to the rest of it.
Drive-Away Dolls has a lot of fun ideas and funny moments, but none of them really ever come together, so it leaves the viewer quite wanting. I would rarely complain about a movie being under 90 minutes, especially after that previous statement, but it makes the film so trivial and abridged that it ultimately hurts what would have been a decent entry into the Coen filmography.
Rating: 7/10
THE BOX OFFICE CHART 2/23/24
1. Bob Marley: One Love (Paramount) - $16m -44%
2. Demon Slayer - To The Hashira Training (Crunchyroll) - $9.3m N/A
3. Ordinary Angels (Lionsgate) - $8.5m N/A
4. Madame Web (Sony) - $6.5m -58%
5. Drive-Away Dolls (Focus Features) - $3.5m N/A
6. Argylle (Apple/Universal) - $2.5m -49%
7. Wonka (Warner Bros) - $2.1m -40%
9. The Beekeeper (MGM) - $1.9m -41%
10. The Chosen Season 4 Ep. 4-5 (Angel Studios) - $1.6m -55%
It was tough to pick just one “Chosen One” this week, because there are two very good movies in limited release…
THEY SHOT THE PIANO PLAYER (Sony Pictures Classics)
I saw this just before TIFF last year, and it’s the new film from Chico and Rita filmmakers Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal, which has similar elements in terms of being an animated movie and involving music, but this is a pseudo-documentary in a way, because it involves a Brazilian jazz and samba pianist named Tenorio Jr., who disappeared in Buenos, Argentina in the mid-70s while down there for a gig. Through interviews and historical context, Trueba and Mariscal introduce Tenorio and some of the others in the bossa nova scene at the time. Jeff Goldblum portrays fictional New York music journalist Jeff Harris, who begins to write a book on the origins of bossa nova but then gets sidetracked into learning more about Tenorio’s disappearance while talking to those who knew him.
I have quite a few personal connections to this material, having family in Rio and my mother having lived in Buenos Aires growing up (long before I was born), plus I also love music, if not necessarily the samba and bossa nova music at the enter of Tenorio’s story.
I found the animation to be somewhat primitive compared to Chico and Rita, but I liked how the filmmakers took Trueba’s interviews and used them to follow Harris, although the first time I saw the movie, I was quite confused about whether Harris was a real person and whether he actually wrote a book called “They Shot the Piano Player.” That’s the one thing that threw me off the first time I saw the movie, since it seems to be a documentary but it has just enough fictionalized moments to really throw some confusion into the mind of the viewer.
If you enjoy Latin music or are just interested in the mystery around Tenorio’s disappearance (or just love unconventional animated docs) then this is an intriguing offering that will hit select theaters this weekend, though I’m not quite sure how wide Sony Pictures Classics plans on going with this. It’s definitely going to have a highly specialized audience, and fortunately, I’m one of them.
Interview with Fernando Trueba
IO CAPITANO (Cohen Media Group)
Matteo Garrone’s Oscar-nominated film follows two Senegalese cousins, Seydou (Sarr) and Moussa (Moustapha Fall), who leave their small village to go on a trek to try to reach Europe in order to get work and hopefully a better life. The journey is long and difficult, but the two cousins stick together through thick and thin.
While I can’t say that I’m a huge fan of Garrone’s previous work - I thought Gomorrah was kind of overrated, and I can’t even remember if I saw his Pinocchio movie, since that was the second one starring Robert Benigni… and Benigni’s Pinocchio definitely wasn’t good. But this is pleasantly different from Garrone’s Italy-centric films, because it does explore another culture and the immigrant experience that has become such a large part of every conversation these days. In this case, he’s found two terrific young actors to create the heart of the story, and they’re both likeable enough that you’re completely invested in following their journey and where it will go. I won’t say much more, but this is a gorgeous film from Garrone that shows him to be one of Italy’s finest filmmakers and one that can change gears and stretch his muscles into very different directions.
VESELKA: The Rainbow on the Corner at the Center of the World (Fiore Media Group)
This doc from Michael Fiore takes a look at the venerable East Village Ukrainian eatery, world-famous for its pierogies, and how it pivoted after the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, as they got more involved in raising funds and getting supplies to their country mates. I’ve eaten at Veselka quite a few times, and I’m definitely a fan of the Ukraine communities of the East Village, though I tend to eat at Little Poland and was a long-time attendant at Kiev before it closed. Something about Fiore’s movie just didn’t connect with me since I’ve seen so many of these movies about NYC restaurants and institutions that tries to make the owners and workers there relatable to the viewer… and I just didn’t care. It’s not that I’m not sympathetic about the situation in Ukraine and Veselka’s part in trying to help the country, but more than other docs like this, it very much felt like a commercial for the restaurant… or maybe I was just annoyed that the publicist didn’t provide some free Veselka pierogies with the screener?
ABOUT DRY GRASSES (Sideshow/Janus Films)
I never had a chance to catch the latest film from Turkish filmmaker Nuri Bilge Ceylan, but I’ve also never been a huge fan of his work, even though I’ve generally heard good things about this one. It involves a young teacher hoping to be transferred to Istanbul after spending four years doing mandatory teaching in a remote village where he’s accused of inappropriate contact by two students. In other words, it deals with a number of very timely topics, as well as dealing with the relationship between teachers and students ala the Oscar-nominated The Teacher’s Lounge and Kore-eda’s most recent film, Monster. Unfortunately, Turkey hasn’t had much luck at the Oscars, and this one wasn’t even shortlisted.
STOPMOTION (Shudder/IFC FIlms)
Opening in select theaters ahead of its debut on Shudder is this horror movie from Robert Morgan, starring Aisling Franciosi (The Nightingale, The Last Voyage of the Demeter) a stop-motion animator who struggles to control her demons after the death of her overbearing mother. This sounds like a pretty cool horror concept, presumably one that involves some stop-motion animation hopefully?
SPACEMAN (Netflix)
Adam Sandler, Carey Mulligan, Kunal Nayyar, Isabella Rossellini, and Paul Dano star in this new sci-fi drama from Swedish filmmaker Johan Renck (who directed the absolutely awful Downloading Nancy), which adapts the 2017 novel, “Spaceman of Bohemia” by Jaroslav Kalfař. This just premiered at the Berlinale and will get a limited theatrical release this weekend (including at the Paris Theater) ahead of it streaming on Netflix starting next Friday, March 1. The movie involves an astronaut sent on a mission to the edge of the solar system where he encounters a creature who helps him with his “earthly problems.” It
CONSTELLATION (Apple TV+)
I’m similarly curious about this new Apple TV+ series starring the wonderful Noomi Rapace (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), Jonathan Banks, James D’Arcy and more, since it’s in a similar vein as Spaceman, though I rarely have time to watch television these days, try as I might. In the show, Rapace plays Jo, a woman who returns to earth after a disaster in space only to discover that parts of her life are missing, so she has to figure out what space travel has done to her.
Other movies out this weekend include:
GOLDEN YEARS (Music Box Films)
BRING HIM TO ME (Roadside Attractions/Samuel Goldwyn)
KISS THE FUTURE (AMC Theaters)
THE STOLEN VALLEY (Blue Fox Entertainment)
MEA CULPA (Netflix)
And now onto the portion of this column that I miss more than anything else when I don’t have time to write a column.
NYC REPERTORY
My favorite local rep theater has a lot of very cool series starting next week (March 1) but there’s still some cool stuff playing this weekend, though I’ll keep this week’s installment a bit briefer and more abridged.
“Under the Skin: The Pleasure of Discomfort” continues through the weekend with a screening of Pasolini’s Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975) on Thursday night, Bruno Dumont’s Humanity (1999) through the weekend, as well as Lars Von Trier’s Dancer in the Dark (2000), and Peter Strickland’s trippy The Duke of Burgundy (2014).
“Animal Farm: Snakes” is also still going on with screenings of Ken Russell’s The Lair of the White Worm (1988) and the martial arts film, Five Deadly Venoms (1978), through the weekend.
They also have been doing a James Baldwin series, “Baldwin: From Page to Screen”, which will screen Barry Jenkins’ If Beale Street Could Talk (2018) and Raoul Peck’s doc, I Am Not Your Negro (2016) through the weekend.
Filmmaker Antoine Bourges will be at the Metrograph through the weekend for “Minding the Gaps: Films by Antoine Bourges,” but I’m not really familiar with his work, so click on that link to see what’s screening. Maybe there’s some stuff of interest.
Paris gets a nice bump up in this section thanks to their “Milestone Movies 1974,” which has an amazing line-up of films released from 1974, including Fellini’s Amarcord, Terrence Malick’s Badlands, Mel Brooks’ Blazing Saddles, John Waters’ Female Trouble, California Split, Chinatown, The Conversation, and many more, all or mostly in 35mm. It’s a great line-up, and I wish I had the money and time to go see more of these.
Repertory stuff at the Film Forum includes a new 4k restoration of Tartakovsky’s Nostalghia (1983) and G.W. Pabst’s Pandora’s Box (1929), starring Louise Brooks. Also Carol Reed’s The Third Man (1949) will continue to play through the end of the month. This Sunday’s “Film Forum Jr” is the Fred Astaire movie, Shall We Dance (1937), which will screen on Sunday.
This weekend’s Late Night Favorites offering is a true classic: Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining from 1980! It’s also showing a more recent late night favorite, Resident Evil: Retribution 3D from 2012.
That’s it for this week and fingers crossed, I’ll be back with another installment next week, especially as my obligations to other sites start dwindling down.