Meet the Parents

by Jason Adams

I'm can't really do a TFE-patented "Yes No Maybe So" for the just-dropped trailer for Mass -- writer-director Fran Kranz's Sundance smash that gives four great roles to the character actors Ann Dowd, Reed Birney, Jason Isaacs, and Martha f'ing Plimpton, playing the parents of two children involved in a school shooting -- because the trailer is mostly critical hosannas from Sundance, with maybe ten seconds of actual and intense footage from the intense film slammed down at the end, a bit like a punch in the gut. What am I gonna say, "Yes to that Variety quote but I'm iffy on the one from the Post?"

Anyway I already saw the movie at Sundance and it should be a yes for all of you, just trust me. All four actors have made it clear they're aiming for Supporting nominations Oscars-wise, and I wouldn't be surprised to see all of them make it. I'm rooting for all of them! The film hits NYC & LA on October 8th and rolls on out after that. Here's that trailer...

Interview: "Never Gonna Snow Again"s enigmatic Alec Utgoff. What will he do for an encore?

by Nathaniel R

from the actor's instragram

One of the most unusual and affecting movies of the past year or so in cinema is finally making the rounds. Poland’s 2020 Oscar submission, Never Gonna Snow Again is in theaters and will presumably hit VOD shortly. The mysterious  film is about a man named Zhenia, a Ukrainian massage therapist, who becomes the fixation of a small Polish town. The residents  all begin to employ him and each of them project their own feelings and fantasies onto him. Still, Zhenia's own desires and identity remain an enigma, even to the audience who are  invited to fixate and project, much like the townsfolk. But even the town is not entirely grounded in reality, but arguably an homogenous purgatory of a suburban fantasy. All in all it makes for an unusual and riveting film experience. 

At the center of it all is the 35 year-old actor Alec Utgoff of Stranger Things fame. The Ukraine born actor has been working in film and television for a decade now but this is his biggest film role to date, and a major breakthrough in terms of the ways in which filmmakers might imagine casting him. We recently talked with him about his career as well as this particular role...

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ICYMI - Best of August

We're about to enter the prime Oscar-hopeful months of the year. Excited? But before we do, here's a quick look back at August at TFE. In case you missed any of this baker's dozen... 

Some Highlights
• Interview Nine Perfect Strangers Abe interviews Michael Shannon
• Emmy Categories -we've analyzed many of the top races
• Spencer tease - will Kristen Stewart be up for gold?
• Jennifer Hudson in Respect a big new role for a fine singer 
• The Green Knight -Matt has a big crush on Dev Patel
• Phil Tippet -Elisa meets the "mad god" of vfx (RoboCop, Star Wars)
• Jeanette Goldstein in Aliens Nick gives a strong genre turn its due
• Gay Best Friend: Chuck and Buck - with White Lotus all the rage, Christopher looks back at Mike White's breakout
• A Room With a View a long-read team retrospective
• How had I never seen...Blue Velvet Ben has never been a Lynch person

Most Discussed Articles
• Smackdown 1986 -discussing Best Picture nominees Hannah and Her Sisters, A Room With a View, and Children of a Lesser God, plus Scorsese's Color of Money and the bewidering Crimes of the Heart
• Vintage '86 what people were talking about in pop culture that year
• Almost There: Linda Fiorentino The Last Seduction

Coming in September
• (1st-11th) The Venice Film Festival with both Elisa & Nathaniel on the Lido
• (19th) Emmy Awards we have the biggest categories left to discuss
• (24th-30th) Best Actress regular Deborah Kerr's centennial
• (27th) Supporting Actress Smackdown of 1937 - Queue up Dead End, Stella Dallas, Stage Door, Night Must Fall, and In Old Chicago (lotsa good flicks this time!) for maximum enjoyment.
• AND LOTS OF NEW MOVIES including Shang Chi, Everybody's Talking About Jamie, Cinderella, Cry Macho, Blue Bayou, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, and Dear Evan Hansen. 

Review: Sandra Oh in "The Chair"

by Lynn Lee

In my younger days, I wanted to be an English professor.  I was pretty serious about it, too – serious enough to major in English, get a fellowship, and enroll in a Ph.D program.  Ultimately, I realized academia wasn’t for me and left with just a master’s.  I’ve never regretted that decision.  Yet I still wonder occasionally what my life would have been like if I’d stuck with my original dream.

So it’s no wonder I immediately let myself sink into The Chair, a new Netflix (mini?)series starring Sandra Oh as the titular chair of the English department at Pembroke University. That's a fictional Ivy League school in what looks like a permanently snow-covered New England college town, although the show was actually shot in Pennsylvania.  Basically, it’s my alternate-universe existence if I were as cool and charismatic as Sandra Oh and as brilliant and committed as her character, Ji-Yoon Kim...

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Two More Other Two

by Jason Adams

I imagine we have some fans of the series The Other Two in the house? Following the sticky travails of the NYC-centric Dubek siblings -- former dancer turned manager Brooke (Heléne Yorke), the gay one Cary (Drew Tarver), and the youngest sibling aka pop sensation ChaseDreams (Case Walker), along their mama-bear Pat (Molly Shannon) -- the series started out on Comedy Central before moving to HBO Max for its second season, which just premiered last week. I got hooked late (binged it at the start of the pandemic) but love love love the show now, and recommend you catch up if you haven't.

Well the fine folks at NewFest (New York's premiere annual LGBTQ+ film festival) have a gift for those of us who are fans -- they are right now for free screening the first four episodes of the second season! And yes that's two more than have aired on HBO so far, so if you're impatient for more right now then this is your scratch for said itch. Head over to their site to RSVP -- I imagine this is just for US folks, and it's only available until 11:59pm on Wednesday, so get to scooting. 

And please do tell me your thoughts on the show in the comments...