THE WEEKEND WARRIOR June 7, 2024
2024 TRIBECA FESTIVAL, BAD BOYS: RIDE OR DIE, THE WATCHERS, I USED TO BE FUNNY, LONGING
Although there aren’t as many wide releases as there were last week, at least this week’s two offerings are being released into over 3,000 theaters, and hopefully one of them will break out and save us from the biggest bummer of a summer in recent memory.
But before we get to those and the other reviews, I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve attended and covered the Tribeca (Formerly Film) Festival, but it probably goes back to 2003 when I first started writing for ComingSoon.net, and I attended not with a press pass but by just buying tickets to a bunch of movies. Some of the movies I watched that first year included Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later and the Hong Kong horror film, The Eye, as well as Eddie Murphy in Daddy Day Care.
The festival has evolved a lot since it had “Film” in its title, but I hope you understand that I’m not really that interested in the other stuff because I am a FILM critic, though over the years, it’s become harder to get too excited about the festival, especially since my press pass was demoted from the Hudson Pass I used to get.
Either way, the thing to know about Tribeca is that they really are good at a few very specific things, firstly documentaries, which is why the Opening Night film has very often been a documentary, this year kicking off with the doc Diane von Furstenberg: Woman in Charge, directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and Trish Dalton, about the fashionista, which will stream on Hulu starting on June 25. Other docs that might of interest include Linda Perry: Let It Die Here about the legendary songwriter and producer; Bruce David Klein’s LIZA: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story about Liza Minelli; Mastermind: To Think Like A Killer, produced by Dakota and Elle Fanning; Neil Berkeley’s doc Group Therapy, stars Neil Patrick Harris, Mike Birbiglia, and other comedians; plus there’s more.
Another thing that Tribeca is good for is to preview movies that will be coming out over the next few weeks, a few examples being Julia von Heinz’s Treasure, starring Lena Dunham and Stephen Fry as a reporter and her Holocaust survivor father, who travel together to Poland to visit his childhood home. Another movie hitting theaters shortly after its Tribeca premiere is the Shudder horror film, The Devil’s Bath, from Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz, best known for Goodnight Mommy and The Lodge. That hits theaters on June 21 and Shudder on June 28. I’ll also be seeing Karim Aïnouz’s Firebrand, starring Jude Law as King Henry VIII and Alicia Vikander as one of his six wives, Katherine Parr. That will be released on June 14 by Vertical, just a few days after its Tribeca premiere, so hopefully I’ll have a review in next week’s Weekend Warrior column (if there is indeed one).
Tribeca Festival also tends to world premiere many smaller indie films with big name stars that don’t have distribution yet, and a few of those on my radar include Michael Angarano’s Sacramento, co-starring Michael Cera, Kristen Stewart, and Maya Erskine. Following their Indie Spirit-nominated collaboration on The Undivided Country, Oscar nominee Lily Gladstone reunites with filmmaker Morrisa Maltz for Jazzy. Mike Ott’s McVeigh stars Alfie Allen from Game of Thrones as terrorist Timothy McVeigh, co-starring Brett Gelman; and last (for now) is Tolga Karacelik’s Shallow Tale of a Writer Who Decided to Write about a Serial Killer, starring John Magaro from last year’s Past Lives as the writer and the great Steven Buscemi as the serial killer.
This year, Tribeca is also launching the very first DeNiro Con from June 14 through 16 to celebrate Robert De Niro’s 80th birthday, which is promising “all things De Niro,” including the immersive film “De Niro Is An Icon: An Exhibit and Immersive Film,” which begins this week and runs through the 16th. You can learn more about that here.
I’d usually save this next bit for the Repertory section below, but I don’t often cover stuff out of the DCTV Firehouse, which is in my neighborhood, just maybe a ten-minute walk from where I live. Anyone who has read any incarnation of this column going back to 2001 probably knows how much I generally love the documentary genre, which the Firehouse specializes in. On Friday, they’re kicking off a new retrospective series called “Lynne Sachs: From the Outside In,” with probably the most comprehensive screening of the filmmaker’s work, running from Friday, June 7, through Tuesday, June 11. I haven’t had much of a chance to watch her films, though I have seen her 2020 film Film About a Father Who, which will screen with one of her more recent shorts, The Jitters, and she’ll be there for a QnA with some of her family. It’s a little tough breaking away to get over there this weekend, being that it’s also the opening weekend of Tribeca Festival, but I want to make sure that any doc enthusiasts reading this column are aware of the series and of the DCTV Firehouse. You can watch a trailer for the series below:
Let’s get to some or most of the theatrical releases…
BAD BOYS: RIDE OR DIE (Sony)
I ended up reviewing this for Cinema Daily US, which you can read here, so no need to review again.
THE WATCHERS (Warner Bros.)
Ishana Night Shyamalan, daughter of M. Night, wrote and directed this fantasy-thriller starring Dakota Fanning as 28-year-old artist Mina, whose car breaks down in an Irish forest where she encounters a trio of strangers in a bunker dubbed “The Coop,” where they’re being observed by a group of supernatural creatures known as “Watchers.” The film co-stars Georgina Campbell from Barbarian, Olwen Fouéré, and Oliver Finnigan.
Reviews are embargoed until noon on Thursday, but I’ll be out at press screening for the Tribeca Festival, so I’ll have to add my review when I get a break in the afternoon. In the meantime, you can watch my interview with Ms. Shyamalan over at Cinema Daily US.
Mini-Review: Having been a fan of Ishana Shyamalan’s work on her father’s Apple series, Servant, I’ve been really interested in what she might do with her first feature, and she chose to adapt a novel by A.M. Shine, of which I wasn’t familiar.
After a prologue where we watch some guy being chased by something through a dark forest, we’re barely introduced to Fanning’s Mina, before her car breaks down in the woods, and we’re straight into her meeting the people she’ll be sacking up with for some prolonged amount of time. The Watchers of the title are some mysterious supernatural beings who are keeping the people trapped in this bunker called “The Coop,” apparently to provide entertainment, but they also won’t let them leave. Of course, Mina isn’t having any of that, and she immediately starts breaking all the rules laid down by the elderly Madeline (Olwen Fouéré).
While I had some problems with The Watchers, mainly about the pace and how the different elements are laid out and introduced in a way that doesn’t always gel, I loved seeing Dakota Fanning leading a movie, now in her 30s after making so many big studio movies in the early ‘00s, acting opposite Tom Cruise, Denzel Washington, Robert De Niro, Sean Penn and other big actors. She’s still a solid actress, and she has some fine dramatic partners in Fouéré and Campbell in particular. (I really didn’t care for Finnigan’s Daniel at all, as I just found him to be annoying.)
Maybe it’s somewhat ironic that The Watchers is probably more fantasy than actual horror – there’s nothing particularly scary involved, maybe because you know that the PG-13 will keep things from ever getting too gory. Aspects of the creatures remind me of her father’s film, Lady in the Water, a movie that I have loved for its originality in storytelling. It also reminded me quite a bit of the series, “Lost,” in that there are a lot of things that happen that don’t necessarily make sense, but that keep things more interesting when you get sick of watching four people in a room.
Although Ishana Shyamalan doesn’t go into the full-blown twist territory of her father, there’s a lot of stuff that happens that’s best not to reveal in a review, since trying to figure out what is going on at the same time as the characters is one of the film’s strengths. In some ways, it does take a little too long for things to start picking up, and some may already be checked out by then, but there are things that happen in the last act (sure, you can call them twists) that somewhat make up for how long it takes to get there.
As eerie and enigmatic as it is at times, The Watchers doesn’t always quite work, yet Shyamalan’s skills as a filmmaker are clearly on display, making one wonder what she might choose to do next, with high hopes she’ll find stronger source material next time.
Rating: 6.5/10
THE BOX OFFICE CHART
1. Bad Boys: Ride or Die (Sony) - $55.6 million N/A
2. The Watchers (New Line/WB) - $10.3 million N/A
3. The Garfield Movie (Sony) - $8.7 million -38%
4. IF (Paramount) - $7.2 million -31%
5. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (Warner Bros) - $5.7 million -47%
6. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (20th Century) - $5 million -44%
7. The Fall Guy (Universal) - $2.3 million -45%
8. The Strangers Part 1 (Lionsgate) - $1.9 million -49%
9. Haikyuu! The Dumpster Battle (Crunchyroll) - $1.3 million -65%
10. In a Violent Nature (IFC Films) - $1 million -53%
I’m not quite sure if I have a “Chosen One” this week (I mean, Robot Dreams opens in L.A, so you should definitely see that) but the closest we get to one is…
I USED TO BE FUNNY (Utopia)
The fantastic Rachel Sennott stars in Ally Pankiw’s dramedy that has one of the most appropriate titles ever, as Sennott plays Canadian stand-up Sarah, who takes a job as the au pair for a troubled teen named Brooke (Olga Petsa), whose mother is in the hospital. After an incident, Brooke disappears, and Sarah – still suffering from this incident – decides to try to find her.
One thing I love about writing this column is to discover new films and talent that I might not otherwise, if I was just reviewing the big studio releases. I believe this one premiered at the SXSW Film Festival last year, and if there’s any doubt that Sennett is one of the better younger actors (comedic or otherwise) out there, that will be dashed thoroughly by anyone who watches Pankiw’s new film.
Sennott is just so fantastic in this, giving such a well-rounded performance that blends humor with pathos, but more than anything else, this isn’t another movie/series about a stand-up comedian is so bummed out about stuff going on in their life that they choose to bring their audiences down ala “Baby Reindeer” and Bobby Cannavale in last week’s Ezra. Sennott’s character is certainly suffering throughout the film, for reasons we won’t learn about until much later, but at least, she takes time off from stand-up to try to get better and figure out what happened with Brooke.
The Canadian Pankiw – whose background as a writer/director includes shows like Schitt’s Creek and The Great – uses a non-linear format for telling this story, in which we’re constantly flashing back to happier times between Sarah and Brooke, but if you don’t realize that’s what’s happening, it tends to be confusing. Even so, that actually makes the film more interesting, since we’re seeing Sarah in moments where she’s just fine and dandy, contrasted with the PTSD she suffers after the incident that changes things for her.
I Used To Be Funny works well in terms of its drama, since Sennott and Pankiw do approach things with a light hand that always keeps you invested in Sarah and Brooke’s journey, particularly when things get quite dark. Even so, it’s never quite a comedy in the sense of there being big laughs, but you’re always invested in Sarah’s journey.
Rating: 7.5/10
I Used to Be Funny opens at the Quad Cinema this weekend with Ally Pankiw doing a number of QnAs, then it will expand to L.A. on June 14 and be available on digital on June 18.
LONGING (Outsider Pictures)
Richard Gere stars in this film from Savi Gabizon, remaking his own Israeli drama (which I have not seen) about a businessman named Daniel, who discovers he has a 19-year-old son named Allen, but only after the boy has died in a car crash. Daniel travels to Canada where he starts to meet others who knew Allen, including his teacher Alice (Diane Kruger), who the boy had a huge obsessive crush on that got him suspended from university.
For whatever reason, the distributor has been trying to sell this movie as a thriller, the trailer focusing around Allen’s obsession with Alice and her response, but it’s pretty misleading since after Daniel meets Kruger’s Alice and they spend some time together, she practically vanishes for the rest of the movie. Instead, the movie begins to follow Daniel as he continues to interact with others who knew his son, while at the same time trying to set up a posthumous wedding with an 18-year-old girl who committed suicide and is buried in the same graveyard.
For the most part, Gere gives a solid performance and holds things up well, as we watch him go from meeting one character to another, but it leads to a movie that’s very talkie and full of exposition with not a lot actually happening. The fact that Kruger’s Alice seems to be set-up merely as a red herring is also quite confounding, although Gabizon seems to be creating more mystery while never really building to something satisfactory.
As much as I appreciate Gabizon trying to do something different and original with this sort of drama, once you realize where things are going, it just starts to get so confounding and muddled. The more we learn about Allen, the less we care about him, and this whole foray into marrying these two dead young people seems so misguided it just leaves you scratching your head, as many of those around Daniel (including the boy’s mother, Rachel) don’t understand what he’s trying to do either.
Longing has some intriguing ideas, some better than others, but it’s dragged down by its glacially slow dialogue-driven pace with a story that never really goes anywhere and leaves you scratching your head about what the filmmaker intended… and why he felt the need to make the same movie twice.
Rating: 5.5/10
Longing will open at the Cinema Village in New York City, which usually means it will be on VOD shortly.
TUESDAY (A24)
Opening limited on Friday and then wider on June 14 is this fantasy film from Daina Oniunas-Pusic, which sadly, I wasn’t able to see with enough time to review this week. It stars Julia Louis-Dreyfuss as the mother of an ailing teen daughter, the two of them having to confront Death in the form of a talking bird.
A few other films opening this weekend, include:
SOMEDAY WE’LL TELL EACH OTHER EVERYTHING (Strand Releasing)
THIS CLOSENESS (Factory 25)
NYC REPERTORY
Besides the below, Thomas Tykwer’s Run Lola Run will be getting a 25th Anniversary rerelease across the country.
It’s a new month, so there will be a few new series launched, one being “As Seen by Dieudo Hamadi” about the Congolese filmmaker, of whom I’m unfamiliar. Japanese filmmaker Nobuhiko Obayashi is also getting a mini-retrospective with screenings of Beijing Watermelon (1989), as well his silly horror classic House (1977) and his more recent, final film, Labyrinth of Cinema (2019).
This weekend’s offerings as part of “Visionary Auteurs: Five Decades of MK2,” include Gus Van Sant’s Paranoid Park (which I don’t remember liking when it was released in 2007), Alain Resnais’ Meló (1986), and Anatomy of a Fall filmmaker Justine Triet’s earlier film, Sybil (2019).
“Euro-Heists” will screen Jules Dassin’ Topkapi from 1964, which was recommended quite favorably by my pal Jason Simos.
“‘90s Noir” will screen Spike Lee’s Clockers (1995), as well as Wayne Wang and Spencer Nakasako’s Life is Cheap… but Toilet Paper is Expensive from… um… 1989 (i.e. not the ‘90s!!)
This weekend’s “Animal Farm: Moles” offering is Errol Morris’ 1997 film, Fast, Cheap, & Out of Control while “Small Town, Big Dreams” will screen Qiu Sheng’s Suburban Birds (2019), which I’ve been wanting to see.
“Modern Families” screens So Pretty (2019) with filmmaker Jessica Dunn Rovinelli doing an introduction and QnA on Saturday, and once again showing Gregg Araki’s Totally Effed Up, while “Dream With Your Eyes Open” will once again show David Lynch’s Lost Highway, Jodorosky’s The Holy Mountain, and 3 Women, though all three won’t be until Monday, as opposed to the weekend.
Somehow I missed that FilmLinc are doing a Sophia Loren retrospective called “Sophia Loren: La Signora di Napoli,” with so many classic films, I can’t even begin to go through them. I count about 13 films running from this Friday through next Thursday, June 13.
MOMI is being a retrospective of Polish filmmaker Agnieszka Holland, ahead of the release of her newest film, Green Border. I’m not hugely familiar with Ms. Holland’s oeuvre, other than Europa Europa, In Darkness, and The Secret Garden, all which will be screened in the series. Also, some fun stuff in the “See It Big at the ‘90s Multiplex” series on Friday with the Coens’ The Big Lebowski, Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting, and Jackie Chan’s Rumble in the Bronx. “Disreputable Cinema” will show the monster movie classic Mothra, which I’m not sure is that “disreputable.” I actually quite like it.
“Out of the ‘80s” continues for another week through Thursday, June 13 with so many classics from The Breakfast Club to Fast Times at Ridgemont High to Blue Velvet and two of my all-time favorite movies, Terry Gilliam’s Brazil and Martin Scorsese’s After Hours. If I was closer to the Film Forum and was a member, I’d probably attend more of these, but I’ve seen many in theaters fairly recently (and many many times as far as the latter two). This Sunday’s “Film Forum, Jr” is The Never-Ending Story, a great fantasy film for the kids!
Starting on Sunday, the Paris is co-presenting with American Cinemateque, “Bleak Week New York: Cinema of Despair” which will include a screening of Elem Klimov’s Come and See (1985) introduced by “Despair Master” Ari Aster, as well as Kelly Reichardt’s Old Joy (2006) followed by a QnA with Daniel London and Director of Photography Peter Sillen. Other movies in the series include David Fincher’s Se7en, Haneke’s The Piano Teacher, William Friedkin’s Sorcerer, and the Extended Cut of Kenneth Lonergan’s Margaret, with Lonergan doing a QnA. So yeah, if you’re feeling pretty happy and joyful, this series offers many ways to bring your mood way WAY down…
On Sunday, the Academy’s Production Design Branch will screen Bertolluci’s The Conformist as part of that series.
This weekend’s “Late Night Favorites” are Jodorowsky’s El Topo again, as well as James Cameron’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day. “Let’s Go Crazy: Cult Musicals” will finally screen Prince’s Purple Rain, but there are also repeat screenings of Tommy and Streets of Fire, all on Friday and Saturday nights LATE! Also opening on Friday is a 35th Anniversary run of Peter Greenaway’s disturbing classic, The Cook, The Thief, Her Wife, and Her Lover.
NITEHAWK CINEMA PROSPECT PARK & WILLIAMSBURG
Showing on Monday at Prospect Park as part of “Summer of ‘84” is the Zucker Brothers’ Top Secret! Starring Val Kilmer. Showing on Friday at WIlliamsburg as part of “Be Gay, Do Crime Part II” is Tony Scott’s The Hunger (1983), starring David Bowie (spoiler: you’ll be seeing a lot of him at another theater this month!), Catherine Deneuve, and Susan Sarandon, and then on Monday as part of the same series, you can see Brian De Palma’s Dressed to Kill. Friday at midnight in Williamsburg, you can also see Yorgos Lanthimos’ Alps, as part of “Late Night Lanthimos.” (I guess they’re preparing for his upcoming film, Kinds of Kindness.) Williamsburg’s “Summer of ‘84” offering on Saturday is The Muppets Take Manhattan, but that’s playing in the morning so you can take the kiddies.
My pal Janine should be excited that this month’s “Night Owl Cinema” is a David Bowie Celebration with Friday night screening Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence from 1983. Saturday’s “Cult Café” is William Friedkin’s Cruising (1980) starring Al Pacino, and then on Sunday, they’re screening the terrific The Lunchbox, starring Irrfan Khan, from 2013, and the Lindsay Lohan/Jamie Lee Curtis remake of Freaky Friday from 2003.
Some of the movies screening this weekend in 35mm include Altered States (1980), All About Lily Chou Chou (2001), and (not in 35mm) Terrence Malick’s Knight of Cups (2019).
(Something weird is going on with this website, making it difficult to figure out what’s playing when.)
Next week, we get Inside Out 2 from Pixar, and I plan to review that, but we’ll see how much time I have to write a full Weekend Warrior column with Tribeca starting on Thursday