Everett photos
Autumn brings Rushing to the cinema with excitement. Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim’s insanely hilarious “You Can See Everything” impresses our critics Richard Brody and Naomi Frye There’s a lot to consider. Ahead of that, Justin Chang takes a deep dive “Digger” Discourse and commented on Prime Time, also directed by Oppenheim, which he called “A disturbing spectacle”. But new movies are coming out all the time, and it’s hard to know which ones are worth the price of the popcorn. Brody and Chang have (mostly) seen them all and have some guiding thoughts to share below. It’s been a season of wild swings, some of which have also proven to be huge risks.
“wicker”
Lovely medieval dirt. In an English seaside village where the men are named after their jobs and the women are considered to be the men’s daughters or wives, a foul-smelling but kind-hearted fisherman (Olivia Colman) longs to find a husband, but she commissions a wicker stick from the town’s basketweaver (Peter Dinklage). This tall, handsome, talented portrait (incarnated by Alexander Skarsgård) is more than just a decoration – he is alive and well, and the fisherman married to him. His polite manners and romantic devotion make her the envy of the town’s women, who try to get him. The script’s rhythms of joy and sadness are balanced by deadpan humor. Its only spark, the metaphysical spark, remains unexplored. ——Richard Brody
“Reason and Sensibility”
More than three decades on, a huge shadow still hangs over Ang Lee’s 1995 Oscar-winning adaptation of the Jane Austen classic, while director Georgia Oakley’s new version has far from crawled out of the ground, seemingly content to linger in the shadows. The colors are sombre and subdued, and the longings of Dashwood’s two sisters—self-denying Elinor (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and passionate Marianne (Esme Creed-Miles, a piercing-eyed standout)—are often played out in dreary, candlelit rooms. The film itself, then, is more Eleanor than Marianne. The earthy, quasi-Bronte realism that worked so well in Joe Wright’s Pride and Prejudice feels more like a conscientious aesthetic gesture here. Even so, Austen’s precise construction of misunderstandings and epiphanies does much of her storytelling magic, and Frank Dillane’s performance as the reckless Mr. Willoughby makes him a scoundrel worth savoring.Justin Zhang
“Clara and the Sun”
The film’s director and co-writer, Taika Waititi, who used carnage for laughs and tears in “Jojo Rabbit,” has now put a crying mat on Kazuo Ishiguro’s melancholy 2021 sci-fi novel. In this supremely silly adaptation, Jenna Ortega stars as Klara, a solar-powered robot that stands on one leg, worships the sun, and uses light to see its surroundings. Furry, wide-eyed innocence. Purchased as an artificial companion for a sick teenager (Mia Talia), Clara becomes our incomprehensible guide into a post-World War III rural dystopia, a utopia whose class divides are exacerbated by elite genetic enhancements and high-tech toys. Kazuo Ishiguro’s delicately visceral prose asks what makes us human? Waititi’s goofy pseudo-comedy makes everyone, whether human or humanoid, sound like they’re pre-programmed. This is “JOJO robot”——JC
“Making Marie Antoinette”
Movies are the business of the Coppola family. In 2005, Sofia directed “Marie AntoinetteHer mother Eleanor documented the behind-the-scenes work during filming at the Palace of Versailles. Following Eleanor’s death in 2024, Sophia edited 80 hours of footage into this candid and insightful compendium, documenting the film’s painstakingly detailed efforts and warm and complex relationships. The soft-spoken Sofia makes it a point to maintain a calm tone on set while insisting that her intentions come true. Navigating the rigorous physical and logistical demands of the shoot and making big decisions on the fly – she was often uncomfortably aware of Eleanor’s camera right in front of her during the shoot. ——RB
“New York’s only living pickpocket”
Harry Lehman (John Turturro) is a living misfit. He’s an old-school thief, always wearing a long coat and doing his business on the subways, streets and parking lots with five fingers, but without a cell phone, a computer and no tech savvy. When he steals a valuable piece of high-tech equipment that he doesn’t recognize, he gets into big trouble and endangers friends and family, and he must take desperate action to spare them. Writer-director Noah Segan has assembled a captivating cast, including Steve Buscemi, Tatiana Maslany, Giancarlo Esposito and Jamie Lee Curtis, for Tiancarlo Esposito and Jamie Lee Curtis, for Tturtur, to experience the pain, fashion and embarrassment of Tturtur, to experience Tturtur. Unfortunately, most of the action is live sketches. The twists and turns of the streets, the sentimental warmth and outer-city grittiness are all set in the abstract emptiness of a puzzle script.RB