Review: Nia DaCosta reinvents Ibsen with "Hedda"

by Cláudio Alves

You might be excused for believing Nia DaCosta has decided to reinvent Hedda Gabler as some sort of retro-styled procedural when her newfangled Ibsen adaptation opens with the familiar noirish scenario of detectives inquiring about a night of revelry, mystery, and violence. Tessa Thompson certainly looks the part of a midcentury femme fatale, all performative insouciance and bedecked in the glamour of a 1950s dressing gown, demure enough to look appropriate yet belying an informality that could read as indecent. It's all a show with Hedda as the director, playwright, and star. Indeed, she's so luminous it's like staring straight at the sun and flirting with blindness. She's the dawn of a new day, and those around her are night, perishing by her light…

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Review: Nia DaCosta's "Candyman"

by Matt St. Clair

When the 1992 horror classic Candyman made its way to theaters, audiences were introduced to a figure who serves as a representation of America’s original sin and a tragic monster akin to those from the classic era. The original Candyman (Tony Todd) pursuing grad student Helen Lyle (Virginia Madsen) has invited comparisons to The Phantom of the Opera, another lovelorn monster.  But the latest direct sequel of the same name by director Nia DaCosta is less of a Universal Monster-esque tragedy.

Though it continues the original storyline, the new Candyman (2021) expands its racial commentary to tackle generational pain, police brutality, and gentrification...

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Review: "Little Woods"

by Tony Ruggio

Little Woods, North Dakota: not far from our border to the north, and a poster child for the death of the American Dream. Tessa Thompson is Ollie, a woman hardened by a life selling oxy and a an allergy to hope. Her adopted mother has passed and she and her younger sister Debbie (Lily James) are left to pick up the pieces, namely a pittance of a house and what’s left of Ollie’s former life. She’s nearing the end of her probation and you know what that means. Life’s about to throw her a curveball, sending her back to the wheelin’ and dealin’ trenches, where seedy characters and searing guilt are part of the job. Debbie needs help and Ollie’s good at doing, so she’s back at it to pay the mortgage and get her sister the medical care she needs. It’s all very predictable, but it hardly matters...

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