No Time To Die... until Thanksgiving

In relatively unexpected Coronavirus news, the new James Bond film, No Time to Die, which was a month away from its release, is opting to move to Thanksgiving. Globetrotting is a big part of Bond's appeal and apparently one of its plotpoints involves a biological virus so... yeah.

Are you disappointed or can you wait? No Time To Die had been the earliest blockbuster aiming for the first major slice of the summer box office pie  piece of the summer box office (April 10th) but now that pressure will fall to Black Widow. 

Riley Keough is our queen!

by Cláudio Alves

Nepotism is alive and thriving in modern Hollywood. Just look at the enviable careers of Margaret Qualley, Maya Hawke, Emma Roberts, Dakota Johnson, and more. Another name to add to that list would be Riley Keough, daughter of Lisa Marie Presley and Dany Keough. Naturally, she's also the granddaughter of none other than "The King of Rock 'n' Roll" himself, Elvis Presley. 

Keough, like many current rising stars, was already born with a foot in the door and the benefit of her celebrity lineage in an otherwise tough business to break into. However, she has more than proven herself once inside. We'd go so far as to say that she's one of her generation's brightest rising stars, having shown excellence in a variety of tones, genres and acting styles across an already enviable young filmography...

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Not the Dark Ages!

Exclusive Clip: Swallow

by Murtada Elfadl

Out this Friday is Swallow, a psychological thriller about a woman unraveling ie The Film Experience’s favorite genre. Haley Bennett stars as Hunter, a newly pregnant housewife leading a seemingly perfect life who cracks under pressure to meet her controlling in-laws and husband’s rigid expectations. Austin Stowell co-stars as the husband. Bennett won best actress in the US Narrative competition at last year’s Tribeca Film Festival and this could mark a major breakout for her after roles in The Girl on the Train (2016) and The Red Sea Diving Resort (2019).

We are debuting an exclusive clip from Swallow and to set it up here’s writer and director Carlo Mirabella-Davis:

One of the core visual themes of SWALLOW is the image of a cracking façade; a veneer of normalcy with a fracture slowly forming on its surface. We used this image as a central motif in the camera direction and the production design. Thematically, this façade represents the world of white, patriarchal power and “success” that we are all taught to idealize as the apex of the American Dream. SWALLOW is a quasi-satirical critique of the top one percent and its malignant, patriarchal norms that are propagated throughout our government, corporations, society, and media. Hunter, our main character, has married into this masculine world of power and success, but because of her gender and working-class background, there’s something about this gilded cage that doesn’t sit right with her. She represses this disquiet under a plaintive smile until it threatens to undo her.

Swallow will be in select theaters and on demand this Friday March 6th.

Three Reasons to "Bacurau"

by Jason Adams

Bacurau, the fierce new Brazilian film from the folks behind Aquarius in 2016 (and the accompanying Sônia-Braga-ssaince), is finally hitting U.S. theaters this week. It tells the story of a small rural community in the middle-of-nowhere Brazil that politicians are attempting to wipe off the map, literally, by hiring a bunch of heavily armed militia-types (including pointedly several Americans) to come down and burn the place to the dirt.

The movie has been out in its home country, where it was a huge hit, for several months already, and on its way here to the States it's already played several fests to mucho raves -- I reviewed it right here at NYFF in the fall, calling it "an ass-blistering revenge fable." And you should indeed cover your ass. It's an intense ride, throwing populism and politics and capitalism and little silver spaceships into its grindhouse meat-grinder, spitting a pulpy, invigorating scream out its other side.

Here, five months after last watching it, are three thoughts that still stand out about Bacurau to me...

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