Review: "Being the Ricardos"

By Ben Miller

Writer/director Aaron Sorkin is no stranger to historical drama and Being the Ricardos adds to the list.  With a deft ensemble and a dynamite lead performance from Nicole Kidman, the film will be an enjoyable time for fans of I Love Lucy and Sorkin fans alike.  Fair warning though: If Sorkin isn't your cup of tea, this film can be hard to swallow.

Lucille Ball (Kidman) is at the height of her powers. Alongside her husband and co-star Desi Arnaz (Javier Bardem), their sitcom I Love Lucy is the most popular show on television.  But in 1953, Senator Joseph McCarthy was on the hunt for Communists within the United States.  Word gets out among the CBS executives that Ball was interviewed by his committee. Ball and Arnaz begin to question the viability of the show if this information became public...

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Quickies to Catch Up: West Side Story, Don't Look Up, Nightmare Alley, House of Gucci

by Nathaniel R

It's that time of year when it is literally impossible to keep up. Most weeks have one maybe two if we're lucky films of interest opening. But in December it's like 10 high profile movies per week or something outrageous. So much can get lost in the shuffle which is always sad.

Here are some quick thoughts on four recent high profile screenings though we'll do full reviews when they open...

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A "Wolf" in Men's Clothing

by Jason Adams

There is an unfinished quality to the actor George Mackay's face, as if he's a first-draft in putty, not quite defined into full features yet. That quality makes him a perfect fit for Wolf, writer-director Nathalie Biancheri's new film about a young man who believes himself to actually be, under all that pretty pink skin, a you-guessed-it wolf. Mackay naturally seems permanently half fixed, like he's trapped in the middle part in a werewolf  transformation montage -- his impermanence putting this character's indeterminate selfhood right there written over his taut cheekbones.

I wish the rest of Wolf, which sees Mackay's character of Jacob shuffled off to a mad doctor's experimental psychological retreat/prison for, you know, "his own good," worked as well as Mackay does...

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Gotham Nominees: "Faya Dayi"

by Nick Taylor

First thing’s first: Faya Dayi easily ranks as one of the most beautiful 2021 films I have seen. I don’t mean to equate its beauty with an automatic FYC for best cinematography, nor a backhanded comment on style over substance. In cahoots with the editing and sound design, the heavy, monochromatic images cloak Ethiopia in a hazy, dreamlike aura that’s foundational to the film’s tone and point of view, and unspeakably gorgeous to boot. I could've pulled a gallery's worth of screengrabs from the first five minutes alone. Producer/director Jessica Beshir also acts as her own cinematographer, and her ability to endow her images with such clarity and attention to movement, texture, and composition is a stunning achievement.

But is it fashion? Does the gorgeousness of the imagery actually serve the film, or is it too loaded down to carry its own weight? How much movie truly lies underneath all this black and silver? Well...

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Doc Corner: Denmark's Oscar Submission 'Flee' + 'We Are Russia' at DOC NYC

By Glenn Dunks

DOC NYC continues. The festival runs for in-person screenings from November 10–18 and then will carry over online until November 28. I have a Twitter thread covering what I am watching, but today we're looking at a big Oscar contender alongside a smaller, but no less worthy doc from the same part of the world.

I find it can often take a minute to get used to animated documentaries. I find the hand-crafted nature of the medium to be a bit of a barrier to the telling of these true-to-life stories. A barrier that my brain initially can’t quite comprehend when I am so used to the traditional elements—not too unlike adjusting to 3D or VR, maybe.

It’s true that animation has become more and more common in documentary, particularly as a means of representing moments of history that couldn’t have been captured on film. I sometimes wish they wouldn’t bother as the quality can often vary wildly. But like other documentaries made from a majority of animation (Keith Maitland’s Tower and Ari Folman’s Waltz with Bashir come to mind), the much buzzed Flee quickly surpasses those up-front mental blocks. Here, the vivid, colourful animation brings out an even deeper well of emotion from émigré Amin Nawabi’s story in the same way blue eyes can bring out the colour of an item of clothing.

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