It's 'Armageddon Time' (...and other new releases)
Friday, November 4, 2022 at 10:37AM by Nathaniel R
Jaylin Webb and Banks Repata in ARMAGEDDON TIME
Though Hollywood blockbuster lovers are waiting until a week from today for their holiday movie season to kick off with Black Panther: Wakanda Forever the rest of us have plenty to enjoy in theaters right now since "Prestige Movie Season" began a few weeks back. If you haven't caught up with The Banshees of Inisherin, TÁR, Till, Triangle of Sadness, and The Woman King yet, this is the weekend to do it since everything (well, maybe not Banshees) will lose screens to the Wakandans on November 11th. Tick tock tick tock. Get to the movies!
There's other even newer stuff this weekend, too...
Armageddon Time
After just one week in limited release, James Gray's memoirish film about his time as a 12 year old Jewish kid in Queens is in wide release. Here he is called Paul and played by Banks Repeta (The Black Phone, Devil All The Time). This one has proved a bit more divisive, and the sticking point seems to be its depiction of 1980s era racial politics. As Elisa wrote in her review...
The exploration of racism and the peripheral presence of the Trump family (Jessica Chastain plays Maryanne Trump) both feel too calculated and an easy way out for Gray, only half-willing to embrace the real contradictions inside his family and his upbringing.
The narrative-driver (if not the full story, really, since it's a family portrait) is about Paul's friendship with Johnny (Jaylin Webb, film debut) at school and how strongly his parents (Anne Hathaway and Jeremy Strong) react once the two boys get in trouble at school. Personally speaking, and of course I'm speaking as someone who is neither Black nor Jewish, I think it's much more about the intergenerational Jewish experience, and being a daydreaming confused 12 year old in a world of inequality, racism, and complicity, than it is really about interracial politics. I agree that it's two main threads don't always work perfectly together, but it's interestingly thorny nonetheless, especially in its more explosive moments between Paul and his parents. Anthony Hopkins is great (he's on such a roll of late) as the mediating grandfather and Jessica Chastain even pops up for a one scene role as T***p's mother, Maryanne, who gives a grotesque speech at Paul's school.
The Estate
In this new comedy, Toni Collette and Anna Faris are out for the money of their dying aunt (none other than Kathleen Turner!). Rosemarie DeWitt, Ron Livingston, and David Duchovny costar.
Salvatore: Shoemaker of Dreams
Booked and busy Luca Guadagnino found time to squeeze in a documentary feature inbetween his many feature, commercial, and television projects. (His personal assistant must be exhausted!) This is a portrait of Salvatore Ferragamo who became Hollywood's favourite shoemaker in the silent era before returning to Italy to launch his luxury brand.
Soft & Quiet
An alt-right themed continuous shot thriller. Review in a bit.
Something in the Dirt
Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson (writer/director/actors) have another indie sci-fi film for those of you who were fans of their previous outings like The Endless (2017) or Synchronic (2020). In this one they play two guys attempting to document supernatural activities in their apartment building.
Utama
Bolivia's Oscar submission is now in theaters from Kino Lorber. [OUR REVIEW]
You Resemble Me
This coproduction from Egypt, France, and the US is a feature debut from reporter turned director Dina Amer. It's a fact-based story about two Egyptian sisters in Paris and the "roots of radicalization". After doing the festival circuit in 2021 to strong reviews, it's finally come round to theaters.
ALSO OPENING FOR BRIEF THEATRICAL RUNS
Mexico's Best International Feature Film hopeful Bardo (Netflix December 16th) from Oscar-favourite Alejandro González Iñárritu, the family friendly space exploration documentary Good Night Oppy (Amazon, November 23rd), and Cartoon Saloon's latest My Father's Dragon (Netflix, November 11th) all hit theaters before heading to their streaming homes.
Reader Comments (8)
Have you watched Till? Do you think Deadwyler will get nominated by Oscar this year?
Where's Anne Hathaway's campaign? She deserves a comeback!
I want to see Armageddon Time but I'm going to stay home watching whatever as I have a lot of options. Queen Anne doesn't need a comeback. She just went through a slump by being in some bad movies. She's going to show everyone why she's Queen.
Count me among the Armageddon Time lovers. It was such an interesting entry in the incredibly naval gazing subgenre of "directors looking back at their childhood." While something like Belfast is content to say "look at my hot parents and the adorable townsfolk who had to deal with this fucked up political climate," "Armageddon Time" is much more critical of the director's recollection. James Gray manages to have some sweetness for his parents, while also holding space that they were often wrong and turned to corporal punishment in a way that's hard to square with now. Plus, the entire film finds his surrogate character confronted with how he can be there for his black friend, who is going through a much worse time than he is. It's a really interesting film wrestling with privilege. Plus, it understands that people are not all-good or all-bad, but products of their time/place/social standing.
Great review though by Elisa, who feels a lot less positive than I do on the film. Really enjoy reading people's feelings on it.
I'm having a great weekend so far catching up with all the "prestige" movies that I missed or that finally expanded to my city.
Went to Banshees last night (will likely end up one of my favourites of the year!) and just got back from a double feature of Decision to Leave (so twisty and beautiful) and Triangle of Sadness (shallow and simplistic, but fun with a crowd)
I want to prioritize Armageddon Time, Till and a second viewing of TAR next - probably dependent on what keeps screens next week with Marvel stomping over everything.
If 'The Estate' is not a hit, I demand that one and another film was made with the same quartet of actresses until the film will be successful ... and if is not too.
I'm really happy to be to this weekend, because I've been laid up with COVID for the past three weeks - and I've spent practically every day of the past three weeks cursing the fact that I had to get sick during the best new release period of the year. I saw Armageddon Time yesterday and will be seeing Tar and Triangle of Sadness yet this weekend.
I thought Armageddon Time was outstanding, a really deep and nuance interrogation of white privilege (one that I could definitely identify with) that we rarely get from any form of art in this day and age, and also a terrific recreation of the early 1980s. It's the type of film that should win awards, but it won't, because right now, we're in a period where we want easy, black-and-white (no pun intended) discussions of race with villains and heroes, and they don't exist in the context of this film. I always liked James Gray movies but I never loved one before, and I felt like I was missing out, his fans are so passionate - I am excited there's a Gray movie I can love now.
By saturating the story of growing up with political proclamations (a little artificial in places), Gray has made a multi-layered but very uneven film that leaves a contradictory viewing experience. On the one hand, I could not shake the feeling that instead of real people I was seeing cardboard characters and that the pathos of the political statements overshadowed the film's merits. On the other hand, from the first minutes we are immersed in the atmosphere of New York in the 80s, full of signs of the time, vivid and a little sentimental.
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