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MATERIALISTS – Review

*Dakota Johnson and Pedro Pascal in Celine Song’s MATERIALISTS. Photo credit: Atsushi Nishijima. Courtesy of A24*

Does money matter in matters of love? Well, historically it has but if that is all that matters, then there is a problem. Dakota Johnson plays a modern matchmaker in New York City, working for a company that caters to affluent clients, in director/writer Celine Song’s in the romantic comedy MATERIALISTS. But MATERIALISTS is no typical rom-com but a smart, thought-provoking social commentary on love and materialism. Celine Song’s previous film, PAST LIVES, was a drama that thoughtfully and realistically explored how cultural differences and time impact romance, and the director turns that same insightful, honest style to a look at love and money through a more humorous but still thinking lens.

MATERIALISTS actually opens with a Stone Age man bringing flowers and useful tools to woo the cave woman of his dreams, an early materialist, but quickly flashes forward to present-day New York City, where matchmaker Lucy (Dakota Johnson) is strolling down the street when she spots a nice-looking, prosperous looking young man. She asks if he is single, and then gives him her business card, just in case he’s looking for the services of a high-end matchmaker.

He takes the card. This direct approach tactic works in part because Lucy is herself young and beautiful, but Lucy in not looking for love herself. In fact, she tells a co-worker that she is planning to stay single and “die alone” (a phrase we hear frequently throughout this film, and only an extremely rich man might tempt her to change her mind, revealing a hard-eyed materialist bent.

There is a lot of this materialist bent among her clients, who turn to this service to find candidates who match their criteria before taking a chance on falling in love. Lucy is successful at her job in part because she understands this and gently guides them to potential matches. Her job involves recruiting new clients like in that first scene, matching client’s backgrounds and interests, but also serving as a kind of therapist guiding them towards marriage. When a matchmaker at her firm, Adore, makes a match that results in marriage, the whole office celebrates the win.

Lucy has just made such as match, and of course she’s invited to the wedding. While she is pleased with the success and takes care of all her clients, some clients touch her more than others. Her current favorite client is Sophie (Zoe Winters), a sweet woman in her late 30s who has not yet found her perfect match. One thing Lucy likes about Sophie that she is realistic about potential matches, something not true for all her clients, some of whom have extensive wish-lists like they are ordering a custom-designed car instead of hoping to meet a romantic match.

Sophie has just come off a date the night before, and all sounds good from her end, but when Lucy calls the man she went out with declines a second date based on superficial things. Lucy has to both gently break this disappointing news to Sophie and find another date for her, which Lucy does with both skill and compassion, letting us see her warm heart and why she is so good at this job.

At the wedding of her successfully matched client, Lucy meets a man, Harry (Pedro Pascal), the brother of the groom, who is impressed with her success. Lucy offers her card and matchmaking services, but the brother already has a date already in mind – the matchmaker herself. Lucy tells her she ‘s not in the market, but agrees to see him, hoping to gain him as a client by convincing him she is not the match her needs.

While Lucy and Harry chat at the wedding, a server with the catering company walks up – her ex-boyfriend John (Chris Evans). She warmly embraces him and they agree to meet after the wedding to catch-up, before John goes back to work. Harry is taken aback a bit by the exchange but he doesn’t leave, and sets up a meeting with Lucy at a restaurant. A meeting to her, a date to Harry.

A flashback scene gives us the story of Lucy and John’s break-up, in which we learn he is a struggling actor, taking catering jobs between acting ones, and that his perpetually broke-ness is a big reason for their break-up.

Having set up this uneven romantic triangle, MATERIALISTS follows that romantic tale, as well as Lucy’s work with her clients and particularly that favorite client Sophie, and plot line that illustrates some of the downside and risks in this kind of arranged dating.

One of the strengths of MATERIALISTS is excellent dialog, which is remarkably insightful and realistic, as it was in Song’s previous film PAST LIVES. The well-written dialog helps lifts this film far above the usual romantic comedy, making it intelligent, honest and thought-provoking in a way you don’t expect in this genre. Not that MATERIALIST isn’t funny – it definitely is – but the humor is more sly, more satiric, and filled with social commentary on a society obsessed with the surface of things and people more that what is underneath.

A lot of the humor comes out how transactional everyone, or nearly everyone, is in their pursuit of the perfect love match. Some of this is both laugh-out-loud funny, and a bit chilling underneath, or even sad. Some clients try to game the system, with plastic surgery and other interventions, fudging facts, or comically ridiculous assessments of one’s own value in the dating “marketplace.” These things range from the silly to the sad, as the clients compete, as if love is a game where keeping score matters.

Dakota Johnson turns in what may be her best performance so far, as a woman who seems coolly in control of her own romantic life – mostly – yet is warm, human and soothing with her clients. She maintains this smooth, comforting surface most of the time, but dies eventually becoming exasperated with a few of clients with unrealistic expectations, reminding them they are looking for a human being, not ordering a custom car. Likewise, Pedro Pascal does well as the wealthy man who strews material temptations in the matchmaker’s path, while we remain unsure of the depth of his feelings, even if marriage is his stated goal. As John, Chris Evans continues to prove his skill as an actor, following up his amazing performance in A DIFFERENT MAN, with this thoughtful one, a man whose feelings aren’t in doubt but whose life seems a mess that he may not be able to fix.

The film does not directly mention traditional matchmaking, which many cultures have followed for generation, versus falling in love with someone unaided, and hopefully sharing values and dreams with them. But MATERIALISTS does explore some pitfalls of this modern form of matchmaking, where only a certain amount of information can be known about the character and background of potential matches, unlike the traditional form where, ideally, both parties are part of a community of which the matchmaker is also a part, and the depth of knowledge of each individual is much greater.

MATERIALISTS is a smart, pointedly-funny romantic comedy, with terrific dialog and a non-traditional plot, that offers a frank yet fascinating look at the ways of love, from a perspective where the practical and the magical need to be a certain balance to find true love and then true happiness.

MATERIALISTS opens in theaters on Friday, June 13, 2025.

RATING: 3.5 out of 4 stars

BLINK TWICE – Review

Naomi Ackie stars as Frida in director Zoë Kravitz’s BLINK TWICE, an Amazon MGM Studios film.
Photo credit: Carlos Somonte. Courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios. © 2024 Amazon Content Services LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Zoë Kravitz’s directorial debut BLINK TWICE starts out with a great deal of promise but ultimately fails to live up to its promise. The target Kravitz appears to be aiming for is a GET OUT-style smart horror thriller, with a set-up the recalls both KNIVES OUT and THE MENU, where a select group of beautiful people on a private island with wealthy types, an island where things go very wrong. In this case, the island is owned by tech billionaire Slater King (Channing Tatum), who invites a pair of waitresses who have dressed up to crash his posh cocktail party, Frida (Naomie Ackie) and Jess (Alia Shawkat), to join him and his friends for a couple of days on his private island. It’s a dream come true for Frida, the reason she had dressed up to crash the party to catch the billionaire’s eye.

What starts out like a Disney-ish meet-cute romantic fantasy, with Frida and Jess whisked away on a private jet, plied with champagne, and then ensconced in little bungalows filled with clothes and luxurious supplies, has some creepy foreshadowing. There is some scandal around Slater King, dealing with something that happened at parties with a #MeToo vibe followed by a unconvincing public apology. Nonetheless Frida is enamored with the handsome billionaire, although when Frida is introduced at the cocktail party to King’s therapist, played by Kyle MacLachlan, she jokingly says “blink twice if I’m in danger” and the therapist pauses before he smiles. On the island, they are expected to give up their phones, and Jess jokes about whether the human sacrifice is before or after dinner.

Despite all that, the women quickly settle into a pattern of lounging around the pool, night spent dinning on fine cuisine and never-ending champagne, as host Slater King asks “Are you having a good time?” to which they invariably reply “I’m having a great time.”

And that’s where the film bogs down, going through iterations of that party scene a few too many times without any thing much happening. It works less to build suspense than to dissipate the little threat that had been created. When the horror/thriller finally gets underway, the events that unfurl are far-fetched and it really doesn’t make sense, or even hold one’s interest. Yes, horrible things happen but we see them coming from far off, which dispels any suspense, and the explanations really don’t hold up, sometimes in eye-rolling inducing fashion.

Naomie Ackie plays the central character, Frida, and on screen most of the time but the character is surprisingly underwritten, with little if any backstory and a romantic innocence that seems more fitting for a teenager. Ackie works hard to make the most of this thin material, while Alia Shawkat as Jess provides comic commentary, as well as an every-present yellow lighter whose true purpose is eventually revealed, to balance Frida’s romantic view, a view that circumstances upend. Channing Tatum is charmingly oily as the tech billionaire hosting this sinister party.

The film features a good supporting cast that includes standout Geena Davis as Slater King’s sister and assistant Stacy, his high-strung assistant, who combines a hyper-competency with a tendency to drop things as she runs around handling all the practical matters of having an island full of guests and more. Christian Slater plays Slater King’s right-hand man Vic, while Haley Joel Osment plays Tom, a bitter, washed-up star and gourmet meals are prepared by chef-guest Cody (Simon Rex). On the female side of the guests, another standout is Adria Arjona as Sarah, a “Survivor” winner who is a beauty with a special set of skills, while Trew Mullen plays stoner-girl Heather, always up for smoking fat blunts. Liz Caribel plays Heather’s pal and Levon Hawke plays handsome Lucas.

Adam Newport-Berra provides stylish cinematography heavy on quick cuts, visuals supplemented by heavy-handed sound design.

Zoe Kravitz deserves credit for aiming high, for a stylish, high-concept thriller with a have and have-not commentary, blended with a feminist one. The film is certainly stylish to look at, with great costumes and sets. While the cast is good, the script, co-written by Kravitz and E.T. Feigenbaum, just doesn’t achieve its ambitions.

BLINK TWICE opens Friday, Aug. 23, in theaters.

RATING: 2 out of 4 stars

THE TEACHERS LOUNGE – Review

*Leonie Benesch as teacher Carla Nowak, in THE TEACHERS LOUNGE. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics*

There is something going on in the teachers’ lounge, which goes way beyond school walls, in the thriller-like German drama THE TEACHERS LOUNGE. With high tensions and a dark comedy undercurrent, THE TEACHERS LOUNGE is about more than the classroom, as the best of intentions gone horribly wrong. The powerful, jarring drama is also an Oscar nominee for Best International Film.

The story takes place in a middle school, where a series of thefts has the staff on edge but the drama is really a parable about modern society at large. THE TEACHERS also flips the expectations of movies about teachers, where the idealistic teacher breaks through the strictures of the school to triumph and change students’ lives.

In the teachers’ lounge of this nice but ordinary German middle school, the gossip is flying, particularly about the series of thefts taking place at the school. Idealistic young math and gym teacher Carla Nowak (Leonie Benesch) tries to avoid the gossip, and focus on her work with her beloved students. The chatter reveals that the teacher’s suspicions now are falling on students for the thefts.

In early classroom scenes, we learn Carla is a good teacher, caring and in control of her classroom. When students who did well on a test ask her to post the ranking of test scores on the chalkboard, she cleverly asks them questions to show them the downside of such public comparisons. Her warmth with the students and her idealism make her admirable, but set the stage for what is to come.

While Carla tries to steer clear of the other teachers’ speculations about the thefts, she is unwillingly drawn into the situation when she is called into a room by another teacher. There she finds the school’s principal (Anne-Kathrin Gummich) and some teachers pressuring two students to report on their classmates about who they think might be the thief. Alarm bells go off for us, and for Carla too, but despite her interjections letting students know their cooperation is voluntary, the principal and other teachers undermine that, first giving lip-service to those rights, and then pressing the students again. Uncomfortable, the kids assure the adults they don’t know anything but eventually, they point to a boy – who is the son of Turkish immigrants. Since the student said they don’t know, they likely just picked a student who is not well-liked. That it is an immigrant student is unsettling. Carla, as uncomfortable as she is with this situation, is now a part of it.

As an immigrant from Poland herself, Carla is aware of an undercurrent of discrimination and being labeled “other” herself, and sympathizes with the Turkish student. Hoping to prove Ali is innocent, Carla then makes her first mistake. She sets a trap for the real theft in the teachers lounge, counting the cash in her wallet and then leaving it in her jacket pocket, but with her computer camera on and pointed at the pocket. Then she leaves it unattended in the teachers lounge. When she returns to check the wallet, some money is missing. When she checks the camera footage, it does indeed clear Ali but what it reveals creates a whole new problem.

Carla is indeed idealistic and well-meaning, but she is also naive. She makes assumptions and mistakes With the best intentions, she did something she shouldn’t have, secretly filming the people in the teachers lounge,. Hoping to set things right, she keeps making mistakes which make the situation worse, and everything she does to correct that, makes it even worse. We’ve all had that day, that week, that month, where best intentions blow up and no matter what we do, things get worse. Everything Carla does just digs the hole deeper.

The story is told from her point-of-view, which means we don’t always know what goes on out of her sight. While early scenes showed us Carla is a good teacher, but as things outside the classroom spin out of control, so does her control of her classroom. Carla has a moral certainty but everything in the story is ambiguous. Carla identifies the real thief not because she see a face but by a distinctive patterned blouse. It is never established that she is the only one wearing that blouse that day, nor is it clearly established that Ali or another student is innocent. Instead, accusations and suspicions fly, with little proof of anything. Everything is ambiguous, but what is clear is that someone who was not a fault, Carla’s most promising student, Oskar (Leo Stettnisch), ends up paying the highest price,

The direction by İlker Çatak, who co-wrote the screenplay with Johannes Duncker, is as taut as the drama is tense. The acting, the tightly-controlled choice to shots, and the precision editing, gives us a sense of fear and dread that builds as things spin out of control.

The school says all the right things about diversity and treating students with respect but in practice it asserts control, making it clear that no matter what they say, the administration and the school structure that are in charge. What starts out as a private matter spreads throughout the school, and truly explodes with the student newspaper gets involved.

Director Ilker Çatak builds suspense and tension skillfully as the the situation’s complications grow and Carla starts to buckle under the pressure. Leonie Benesch is outstanding as the young, idealistic math and gym teacher Carla Nowak. Carla holds herself apart from the other teachers with her ethics but those same ideals make her inflexible and unable to see the fuller picture. Her idealism leads her to actions that are well-intentioned but not well-thought out, which do not accomplish what she hopes.

Director Çatak often focuses on Benesch’s expressive face, with her large, innocent eyes, as Carla’s confidence in her ability to put things right crumbles. As someone who has also been labeled “other,” she projects feelings into situations without truly understanding the facts. As things do not go as she hopes, her frustrations heighten and her confidence erodes.

Another acting stand out is Leo Stettnisch as her student Oskar, a shy but bright student. Oskar is torn between his fondness for the teacher who seems to recognize his potential, and his loyal devotion to his mother. Anne-Kathrin Gummich, as the principal, is a skilled player at school politics, turning everything to put herself and the school in the best light, and deflecting blame away from the administration, even if that means throwing Carla under the bus. Carla never seems to blame anyone for their self-serving behavior, even the person seemingly caught on camera, who responds to the accusation with over-the-top rage and a vengeful attitude that does not consider her son’s best interests.

Eventually, Carla becomes the object of accusations, not of the thefts but of being a bad teacher. Her control of her classroom degrades as the scandal spreads. We see early on that she truly cares for her students, that she is a good teacher, but her ethics and her idealism make her rigid in a way, and she wraps herself in a prim superiority to the compromising, more cynical staff around her. That inflexibility, that inability to engage with the realpolitik of the situation, contributes to disaster in the end. The ending is ambiguous too, except in one respect, that it is the innocent who will pay the price for this mess they did not make.

If you are looking for an inspiring teacher story who triumphs over the system, THE TEACHERS LOUNGE is not that. But it is a brilliantly-acted, beautifully-constructed, drama that is less about teaching or German schools, and more a symbolic commentary on a larger modern social system, one that is broken and cynical, that the wraps its prejudices in a cloak of tolerance and sensitivity, a cloak that often only really serves to cover one’s own posterior.

THE TEACHERS LOUNGE, in German, Polish, and Turkish with English subtitles, opens Friday, Feb. 9, in theaters.

RATING: 3.5 out of 4 stars

THE BOOK OF CLARENCE – Review

Director/writer Jeymes Samuel seems to have been inspired by those Hollywood’s long tradition of epic Biblical movies, like BEN HUR and THE ROBE to try his own version of those big-screen extravaganzas mixing Bible stories with adventure and action for THE BOOK OF CLARENCE – but with a big comic twist. With a plenty of humor, some social commentary and with a mostly Black cast playing the Jewish population of “Lower Jerusalem” in 33 A.D., Jeymes Samuel aimed to create a new, entertaining version of this venerable movie genre. The result is a movie with one foot in something like BEN HUR crossed with Monty Python’s LIFE OF BRIAN, with a touch of Mel Brooks’ HISTORY OF THE WORLD PART 1. THE BOOK OF CLARENCE is a cinematic creation that teeters precariously and unevenly between the wisecracking and the reverent, sometimes making head-spinning switches from one to the other.

Often, THE BOOK OF CLARENCE does hit the mark on comedy, and even on social commentary. It also often hits the mark on the touching and gentle faith-inspired moments. It is in putting those two together in one movie where this movie hits rough patches.

THE BOOK OF CLARENCE both honors the classic Hollywood Biblical epic and sometimes mocks it, a film with both faith and low comedy. It opens with wonderfully-ornate classic Hollywood titles to introduce its chapters, and the film has high-quality production values, with fine sets and costumes, so that it evokes the epics that inspired it. Further, it has an excellent cast, led by the gifted LaKeith Stanfield as Clarence, and including Benedict Cumberbatch and James McAvoy.

Clearly, Jeymes Samuel comes at this production from a place of sincere faith but just as clearly he wants the audience to have fun, laugh, and be entertained. But the humor, which tends to low-brow, and the serious, which leans to sentimental or touching, don’t often mesh in this movie. Low comedy in the style of Mel Brooks is hilarious and fine on its own, but it doesn’t work in every movie story, especially one that strays into the sentimental or touching. The two just clash here.

It is an ambitious project and a tough balancing act to pull off, and Samuel deserves credit to the attempt, even if the mix of humor and faith doesn’t always work, sometimes whip-lashing from a serious scene to a joke with head-spinning speed. with a movie that seems often off-balance. Still, for the right audience, one willing to ignore that uneven tone and whiplash shifts, THE BOOK OF CLARENCE’s underlying sincerity might come through.

Like in LIFE OF BRIAN, this story is set in Jerusalem in the time of Jesus, and the central character, Clarence (LaKeith Stanfield), is someone who is continually mistaken for Jesus. But in this case, it is not an accidental case of mistaken identity. No, Clarence is a con-man, a non-believer who deliberately creates that confusion, with faked miracles and the aim of gathering donations from a crowd of followers.

Like BEN HUR, there is a chariot race, in this case the opening scene where Clarence and his buddy Elijah (RJ Cyler) attempt to win a chariot race to win a big cash prize, bankrolled by a local tough guy called Jedediah the Terrible (Eric Kofi-Abrefa), They lose, leaving Clarence in debt to this loan shark.

But this 33 A.D. Jerusalem is full of Messiahs, something that makes the Romans rulers nervous, fearing it is a lead-up to rebellion. Clarence is an ambitious young man, hoping to be “somebody” and struggling under the ruling Romans’ thumb like everyone else and a host of personal problems. Ironically, he loses that opening-scene chariot race to the fiercely independent woman (Anna Diop) he is secretly in love with, who also happens to be the sister of that loan shark to whom he now owes money. Clarence is also the twin brother of Jesus’ apostle Thomas (also Stanfield), who looks down on his never-do-well twin, while Clarence resents his brother for abandoning their sick mother (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) when he left to follow Jesus, leaving Clarence to nurse her back to health.

Director Jeymes Samuel clearly knows the Gospels well but has no problem playing around with the Jesus story to suit his film. Clarence lives in economically depressed “lower Jerusalem” and the residents of Jerusalem are played by a mostly Black cast, while the Romans are played by white actors. Although we see what appears to be Hebrew writing on the signs and walls, there is no mention of Jews or Judaism.

The humor tends to be low-brow and sometimes even slapstick, like when Clarence meets Jesus’ mother Mary (Alfre Woodward) and pointedly quizzes her about being a virgin, resulting in a slapstick scene. That style of comedy is hard to integrate with more serious or reverent scenes. Some serious scenes are touching but others are melodramatic or too pat, which also does not help matters.

The film is filled with familiar Biblical figures. Nicholas Pinnock plays Jesus, while David Oyelowo plays a hyper-critical John the Baptist and Omar Sy plays a superhero type Barabbas, who becomes Clarence’s pal. James McAvoy plays a chilling Pontius Pilate, rounding up all those roving Messiahs, while Benedict Cumberbatch plays a beggar covered in dirt and rags, who gets a makeover and a bath, transforming him into the Renaissance image of Jesus, with the expected adoration results.

BOOK OF CLARENCE has plenty of problems, including not quite being able to decide if it wants to be a comedy or a more serious film about faith and belief. But in a movie world of re-makes, re-boots, sequels and prequels, one has to give Samuel credit for doing something fresh.

In a movie world of re-makes, re-boots, sequels and prequels, I want to give Samuels credit for doing something fresh. But if you come to THE BOOK OF CLARENCE looking for a revival of the classic Hollywood Biblical epic, you may be disappointed. If you come for comedy and action only, you also may be disappointed. However, for some audiences, more willing to just go with the movie’s shifts of tone and style and embrace it for the quirky, faith-based thing it is, THE BOOK OF CLARENCE may be just the funny, inspiring, quietly reverent film they are looking for. It isn’t everyone but there may be an audience for this sincere cinematic if offbeat effort.

THE BOOK OF CLARENCE opens Friday, Jan. 12, in theaters.

RATING: 2 out of 4 stars

AMERICAN FICTION – Review

Jeffrey Wright stars as Thelonious “Monk” Ellison in writer/director Cord Jefferson’s AMERICAN FICTION. An Orion Pictures Release. Photo credit: Claire Folger. © 2023 Orion Releasing LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Everyone wants to feel seen as who they are, not who others think they should be. In the smart, hilarious comedy/drama AMERICAN FICTION, college professor/author Thelonious Ellison (Jeffrey Wright), called “Monk” by family and friends, is frustrated when a publisher turns down his latest novel for not being a “Black novel.” “I’m Black, and I wrote it, it’s a Black novel,” the author complains to his agent Arthur (John Ortiz). “Your books are good,” the agent tells him, “they’re just not popular.” It seems his books just don’t fit audiences’ preconceived notions of what a Black novel should be – gritty, urban, struggling, violent perhaps. At a literary conference, Ellison hears author Sintara Golden (Issa Rae), a Black academic like himself, read from her own latest hit novel, a novel that fits those expectations. The frustrated Ellison decides, sarcastically, to write a novel that hits all those expected stereotypic beats – as a joke. Except the joke finds a publisher.

Smart, clever AMERICAN FICTION is simply laugh-out-loud funny, perhaps the year’s funniest film, and also has an unpredictable story that you never know where it will go next. Director/writer Cord Jefferson based his excellent film on Percival Everett’s novel “Erasure,” but much of the success of the film goes to the film’s cast, which also includes Sterling K Brown, Tracee Ellis Ross, John Ortiz and Leslie Uggams, and to Jefferson’s script. Besides being a biting, clever satire – of publishing, of the reading public, of contemporary American culture overall, and the meaning of “authentic” – that builds to breathlessly funny absurdity as this joke spins out of control, the film is also an insightful, even warm family drama, as the lead character, no flawless hero himself, is forced to deal with his not-too-functional family and his own shortcomings.

A curmudgeonly grumbler, Monk has been, informally, put on leave for the semester from his teaching job, for offending the sensibilities of a student. His dean suggests that he go to the literary conference he has planned to attend (where he hears that other author), and then stay on to visit with his Massachusetts-based family to “relax.” “You think spending time with my family is relaxing?” Monk snorts. Turns out, college professor/author Monk is a bit of a “black sheep” in his affluent Black family, where both his sister Lisa (Tracee Ellis Ross) and brother Clifford (Sterling K. Brown) are doctors, and his widowed mother Agnes (a wonderful Leslie Uggams) is vaguely disappointed in her youngest child.

Monk’s sister Lisa (a wonderful Tracee Ellis Ross) teases her sourpuss brother Monk relentlessly but there is an affection between them underneath it. Since Monk lives on the other side of the country, he has not seen the decline in their mother that Lisa is dealing with. She tells Monk that things are not going well with their mother, who seems to be in the early stages of dementia, and asks her brother for help getting her into assisted living.

It is a topic nearly all families deal with at some point as parents age, and having one sibling avoiding the topic while another is shouldering the larger burden is a familiar theme too. Early cognitive decline means his mother’s filter is sometimes off, and Leslie Uggams’ Agnes Ellison veers between fondly fussing over her younger son, and painful criticism and even some embarrassing non-PC remarks, in a fine performance.

Monk gets along much better with his sister than his brother Cliff, and Sterling K Brown gives a striking performance as Cliff, an out-spoken cosmetic surgeon, recently out of the closet and going through a messy divorce. There are verbal sparks between the brothers and personalities clash big time.

AMERICAN FICTION unfurls along two narrative tracks in brilliant parallel, one a farcical path about what happens with that “joke” novel and the other a sharp family comedy/drama. The very talented Jeffrey Wright giving a outstanding performance that is by turns bitingly funny and the other touchingly human, creating a character with real depth. The other narrative track has humor too but also a dash of realism, as Monk grapples with his family issues and his own flaws.

The bulk of the laugh-out-loud humor comes from the thread about the “joke” novel. At the literary conference, Issa Rae hits the right notes as the scholarly, erudite academic Sintara Golden, who jars us when she reads in street slang from her inner-city set novel, and then is praised for the novel’s “authenticity,” despite the mismatch between who she is and the characters in the novel (a subject that comes up in a later scene between the two writers). Irritated by the response to her novel, Monk writes his sarcastic “joke” book, a memoir titled “My Pafology” under a pseudonym that should have been a tip-off: Stagg R. Leigh. Shocked when a publisher expresses interest, Monk tries to wave it off but his agent presses him to go ahead and sell it – because he needs the money. That requires that the buttoned-down Monk pose as fugitive ex-con author Stagg R. Leigh in dealing with the publishers, who are far too thrilled to be dealing with the “dangerous” but cool Stagg R. Leigh, in some hilarious scenes.

Monk finds himself living two lives, and trying to keep them separate, a situation rich in humor potential that both Cord Jefferson and Jeffrey Wright use hilariously. The film also has a love interest, with a neighbor, Coraline (Erika Alexander), at the family’s beach house, which adds another layer of complexity to Monk’s already complicated life.

Few movies are as smart and funny as AMERICAN FICTION, and few actors who could carry the lead role in it as perfectly as Jeffrey Wright. This is a must-see film, and a film on my and many critics’ Top Ten lists for 2023’s best films, and it is a sure thing to continue to garner nominations and win awards as the movie awards season makes its way to the Oscars.

AMERICAN FICTION opens Friday, Jan. 5, in theaters.

RATING: 4 out of 4 stars

FALLEN LEAVES – Review

FALLEN LEAVES is a romantic comedy from Finland, with the driest of humor. Bone-dry does not cover it; this is a Sahara Desert of dry humor. No one cracks a smile and no one winks at the audience as they deadpan their satiric comedy lines. This is also the bad-luck couple of the year, who can’t seem to catch a break, except through the most absurd of coincidence. FALLEN LEAVES is undeniably funny, in it deadpan Nordic way but you have to meet the humor on its own terms. It is not there to help you.

If all that sounds good to you, dive in. Personally I like Nordic humor and I appreciate the film’s touches of social commentary in its absurdist humor, but it is not for everyone.

In Helsinki, two lonely people meet by chance. Ansa (Alma Pöysti) lives alone and works in a supermarket, where her job is to pull expired items off the shelf and throw them in the trash. Holappa (Jussi Vatanen) is a metal worker who has a drinking problem and thinks he’s just fine living alone. Holappa’s co-worker Huotari (Janne Hyytiainen), a middle-aged guy still hoping to find love, talks the taciturn industrial worker into going to a karaoke bar. There Holappa spots blonde pretty Ansa, who is there with some of her co-workers, and changes his mind about being OK with a lonely life. Ansa and Holappa exchange looks but not words, and certainly not names, even when Holappa’s pal tries to strike up a conversation with one of her co-workers after his karaoke song.

Holappa is a man of few words and Ansa is a woman of few words, but their co-workers pepper the air with satiric remarks and dry-humor social commentary. After Holappa’s co-worker sings his romantic karaoke ballad, he starts talking about being “discovered,” waiting for a record contract, and how amazing his singing was – all with such determined deadpan that we’re not even sure he’s joking.

It’s typical of the humor in FALLEN LEAVES, whose title translates literally as “dead leaves.” Another bit of absurdist humor happens at Ansa’s job, when she is fired for “theft” after the store manager discovers an expired-product cookie in her purse. Ansa objects, rationally, that the item is being thrown away anyway but the store manager counters that if it doesn’t go in the trash, it’s stealing. Two of Ansa’s co-workers, who have been watching this exchange, then pull out expired items from their purses, and quit in protest over her firing, even though the manager, absurdly, tells them they can stay because they surrender the items voluntarily.

Of course, this creates a problem for the budding romance, when Holappa goes to the grocery store to look for Ansa – the only think he learned about her at the bar the night before – only to discover she doesn’t work there any more. It’s the first of the comedy’s many missed-connections routines. Of course, chance then intervenes to put them back together again, before it tears them apart again. And again and again. This road never did run smooth, you know.

This Finnish-German comedy-drama is the fourth in a series from writer/director Aki Kaurismäki. The previous films in his “Proletariat” series on ordinary working people are SHADOWS IN PARADISE (1986), ARIEL (1988), and THE MATCH FACTORY GIRL (1990).

The time period of this romantic comedy-drama is deliberately unclear – there are items from earlier decades, like a vintage radio, retro furniture and dated clothing, but the radio broadcasts are from 2022 or 2019 (with Russia invading Ukraine). The couple go to a movie theater and see a 2019 horror-comedy (Jim Jarmusch’s THE DEAD DON’T DIE) – but all the movie poster outside are for films from a range of eras. A calendar in another scene says that it is 2024, so who knows. Obviously, we’re not supposed to.

FALLEN LEAVES is full of satiric and absurdist humor, often delivered by passers-by or minor characters, and in off-hand manner. The two leads, Alma Pöysti and Jussi Vatanen, actually do a good job in their challenging roles, touchingly conveying damped-down feelings between two people who seem incapable of expressing feelings, which is kind of sweet. However, while this dry-humor film certainly has its comic moments, this romance between two nearly-silent people may not be one that lingers in memory.

FALLEN LEAVES, in Finnish with English subtitles, opens in theaters on Friday, Dec. 1.

RATING: 3 out of 4 stars

EMILY THE CRIMINAL – Review

*Aubrey Plaza in EMILY THE CRIMINAL. Courtesy of Roadside Attractions and Vertical Entertainment*

With Aubrey Plaza as the star and the odd title EMILY THE CRIMINAL, one might be reasonably expect some dark comedy but, no, this film is anything but funny. Instead, director John Patton Ford serves up what seems at first to be pointed social commentary on modern economic unfairness. until it morphs into a dark thriller with a feminist slant. In EMILY THE CRIMINAL, Aubrey Plaza plays a young woman with artistic talent and a pile of student loan debt who is struggling to make a living and dreaming about breaking through to white-color work. Emily (Plaza) is hard-working but is held back by a low-level criminal record that haunts her and leaves her with only low paid jobs and gig work. Offered a chance to make some quick cash, she takes what she thinks is a one-time opportunity, although it is illegal. Yet doing so opens a door to a new side of Emily, as she finds a surprising sense of power, in this mix of thriller and dark social commentary.

It is not comedy but it is a rare chance for Aubrey Plaza to show off her serious acting chops. Along the way, there is plenty of biting, sarcastic dialog for serious Plaza fans.

EMILY THE CRIMINAL opens with a telling scene of the income inequality and economic unfairness of modern American capitalism. The film opens with Emily (Plaza) interviewing for a job. The interview asks about her “criminal record” and Emily sheepishly owns up to a DUI, with an explanation that she was the least drunk of her friends and chalks it up to youthful poor judgment. But it isn’t what the interviewer has in mind, as he already did an background check on her and uncovered a felony conviction for assault. It shocks us, and her, and she starts to explain, then stops short and rages against him for laying a trap for her, when he already knew, and railing against the invasion of privacy and the pointlessness of the interview.

It does leave us wondering why she was there, if it was nothing but a mean prank. As she rails against her mistreatment, she reveals that she is desperately trying to pay off a large student loan for art school before storming out. She returns to the only job she can get with this “criminal record” hanging over her, that of a gig worker for a catering company. That the assault involved an abusive ex-boyfriend is something we learn later, as well as the lack of money and a family emergency that caused her to leave college before finishing the degree.

Emily’s criminal record is a kind of modern scarlet letter, and an economic trap she can’t escape, no matter how talented and hard-working she is. Her best friend from art school Liz (Megalyn Echikunwoke) is working at a prestigious ad agency but reluctant to recommend Emily for fear of endangering her own employment. In this pre-pandemic world, the employers hold all the power but even now, the ability that employers have to do background checks on any potential hires still leaves people like Emily out in the cold. It is a betrayal of the old ideal of America as a land of second chances.

Back at her restaurant gig job, a co-worker tips Emily off to a side job, as a “dummy shopper,” saying she can make $200 in one day. With the student loan weighing on her, she calls and shows up a nearly-abandoned office space, along with a roomful of others. When the trainer, a handsome, soft-spoken man named Youcef (Theo Rossi) starts to describe what they will be doing, she learns that the job is an illegal one, buying big-ticket items with stolen credit card numbers and turning over the merchandise. At the mention that it is illegal, Youcef pauses and invites anyone who is uncomfortable with that to simply leave now, no problem. Emily gets up to do that, but then reconsiders. She and the rest of the roomful of people are told this is a one-time thing, just quick money. Emily signs on.

This dabbling in the criminal world goes on for a while, with Emily signing up a second time for the easy money and finding a mutual attraction with Youcef. But then the film takes a sharp turn, away from social commentary and a woman ground down by economic circumstances, to something darker, more edgy and more a crime thriller. Emily finds herself drawn to the power she feels in this world, and what follows are several harrowing scenes, where the tables are suddenly turned and an unexpected outcome emerges.

Aubrey Plaza is fabulous in this role, making her troubled character both sympathetic no matter what she does, and a femme powerhouse by turns. Using a Jersey accent that gives her character a little edge, we suspect there was always a darkness and steel within her, something her friend from art-school lacks. When Emily talks about the assault charge involving the ex-boyfriend, she says the problem was not that she went too far, but that she did not go far enough to make him afraid of her. It is not what we expect from the character we first met, yet we kind of know it was there all along too.

There is a feminist empowerment side to this film but it is a dark version of that. At one point, Emily goes to meet Youcef’s Lebanese mother, who asks her what she does for a living. “Emily the teacher?” she asks sweetly, and when Emily replies she is not yet sure what her career will be, the woman assures her she will discover her true life path. But is Emily already a “criminal” at the beginning of the film, marked as such by a harsh system, or is it something she chooses? It could go either way in this smart, unsettling crime thriller.

EMILY THE CRIMINAL opens Friday, August 12, in theaters.

RATING: 3 out of 4 stars

PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN – Review

*Carey Mulligan stars as “Cassandra” in director Emerald Fennell’s PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN, a Focus Features release. Credit: Courtesy of Focus Features*

Carey Mulligan gives a fearless, powerhouse performance as a once-promising young woman who now spends her nights prowling bars, posing as a drunken woman to exact revenge on would-be rapists, in PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN. Director Emerald Fennel’s smart, clever, darkly-funny film is an equally fearless take down of rape culture and its enablers, a film that straddles the lines between thriller, dark comedy and drama genres. The surprising, and surprisingly entertaining, PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN is at once a highly entertaining experience, a hard-hitting attack on rape culture, and an impressive showcase for Mulligan. The film calls itself a comedy, but while there is dark humor, it is more complicated than that. A bracing but unexpected mix of dark humor, thriller tension veering into horror, pointed but indirect social commentary and powerful drama, PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN is hard to categorize, but the whole thing is propelled by Carey Mulligan’s remarkable performance.

We first meet Cassandra (Carey Mulligan) – Cassie for short – as a predator hunting predators. She hangs out in bars and clubs, acting as if she is so drunk she can’t stand. The drunken act draws in a certain kind predator, a man who appears to be a nice guy at first, compared to his openly sexist friends, who seems kind in offering her a ride home. But once they are out of the bar, there is a detour to his place and more liquor for the already-soused woman. But once he gets her on the bed and starts removing her clothes, Cassie suddenly reveals she is not drunk at all – and the would-be predator is now her prey.

By night, Cassie prowls the bars, dressed in low-cut tight dresses and sporting bright red lipstick, on her mission of revenge. By day, Cassie is all little girl innocence, dressing in pink and wears braids, living in a pink and frilly bedroom in her parents’ house. After her nightly outings, she writes in a pink diary, but it is filled with red and black Xs, the meaning of which is left to our imagination.

Her name is a tip-off, a reference to the Greek myth of the oracle whose prophetic warnings are always ignored. But this revenge thriller is tricky, turning tables on us in scenes where we expect graphic sex or violence, cutting away from a presumed bloody revenge to jump forward to Cassie sauntering home in the morning light, with a stripe of red dripping down her arm as she dines on hot dog bun filled with….something. The scene is horrifying and darkly funny at the same time, with a comic book twist.

This is a revenge thriller for the Me Too hashtag era, an intelligent and hard-hitting satire. The darkly comic switch up seems to point us towards horror/comedy but while PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN bills itself as a comedy, albeit a very dark one, there is more going on here than just humor – far more – with a swerve towards psychological drama and damning commentary on rape culture. PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN is hard to categorize, but the whole thing is grounded by Carey Mulligan’s striking performance.

Cassie dresses like a teenager but close-ups of her face show she clearly is not. Her parents are puzzled by what their brilliant daughter, once a “promising young woman,” is doing with her life. She is working a coffee shop since suddenly dropping out of medical school, after her best friend, and fellow med student, was raped by another student, an event that devastated the friend. Cassie’s parents have no idea where she goes at night or her secret revenge missions. For her thirtieth birthday, her parents give her a suitcase – pink, of course – a not-so-subtle hint about what they want to happen.

Cassie’s one friend appears to be her boss (Laverne Cox) at the coffee shop, where they engage in rounds of sarcastic humor with little concern for customers.

The candy-colored, little-girl life Cassie lives by day and the “bad girl” disguise she adopts by night, donning black leather and red lipstick, are part of the satirical feminist commentary on this bold film, which was also written by director Fennell. It is a brave performance by Carey Mulligan, whose face is lit to emphasis that she is no longer as young as Cassie acts, yet Mulligan pulls this off brilliantly, in a perfect mix, as she sarcastic blends the little girl world of pink bows with the seething anger of a woman bent of revenge. Besides its lists of red and black marks, her pink diary also has a list of men’s names, fellow med students who were there when her friend was raped or were complicit in the cover-up.

Mulligan is perfectly cast, with her sweet face and deep well of talent, and delivers a tour-de-force performance that mines the depths of this character and squeezes out every nuance and detail. By turns, Cassie is terrifying and heart-tugging, someone so broken yet so human. It is no mean feat for any actor to pull off, yet Mulligan does so brilliantly.

Director Fennell has a lot of fun with the art direction, filling the screen with shades of pink and little-girl themes, used in ironic fashion. At one pivotal point in the story, when isolated Cassie reconnects with Ryan (Bo Burnham), a former med school classmate who seeks her out at coffee shop and a tentative romance begins, the color shifts from pink to a mix of baby blue and pink, and becoming more blue, as Cassie seems to relax her focus on vengeance. At times it feels as if the colors are struggling for dominance, the angry pink versus the peaceful blue, as Cassie struggles with her inner demons and past betrayals.

Fennell also makes good ironic use of the soundtrack, peppering it with tidbits like “It’s Raining Men,” musical choices that either sharpen the humor, the heartbreak or the horror. From time to time, the film does seem headed for familiar horror film territory, only to swerve away and take us somewhere unexpected, then veer back. It all makes the ending all the more shocking.

PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN is on the year’s best, a complex film that is both entertaining and thought-provoking, with a strange but hypnotic mix of satire, social commentary and human drama. It is in theaters and streaming on demand on Jan. 15.

RATING: 4 out of 4 stars

DOWNTON ABBEY – Review

*Elizabeth McGovern stars as Lady Grantham and Hugh Bonneville as Lord Grantham and in DOWNTON ABBEY, a Focus Features release. Credit: Jaap Buitendijk / © 2019 Focus Features, LLC*

Fans of the highly-praised British historical TV series will welcome the return of DOWNTON ABBEY but this return to the lavish, high-fashion1920s and the entertaining aristocratic Crawley family, and their equally-entertaining resourceful servants, delivers delights for those who are not familiar with the popular show as well. The movie picks up not too long after the end of the series, as the Crawley family prepares for an overnight visit by the king and queen, a treat that sends everyone, upstairs and down, scrambling to make sure everything is perfect. The royal visit creates a focus to revisit the characters, and once again experience the show’s mix of snappy dialog, colorful personalities, and social commentary in a time of momentous change.

A lot could have gone wrong in translating this beloved British historical series to the big screen but creator/co-writer Julian Fellowes gets everything right. Rather than recapping the whole series in a movie, he just builds on where the series left off, revisiting the memorable characters as they continue their journeys, but adding just enough background to bring newcomers up to speed without slowing things down for long-time Downton Abbey fans.

Julian Fellowes built on ideas he introduced in his film GOSFORD PARK in creating the original DOWNTON ABBEY television show, which aired in the U.S. on PBS. The original series combined elements from earlier BBC class-divide dramas like “Upstairs, Downstairs” with a focus on the enormous social, political and economic changes that Britain experienced in the early 20th century, as the old aristocratic system gave way to a more democratic one, women asserted their rights, Ireland clamored for freedom, and technology and fashions entered a period of dazzling change. But the series spiked these serious changes with the some sparkling, pointed dialog and memorable characters, making it an enjoyable and fascinating journey.

The show followed one aristocratic family, the Crawleys, headed by a minor earl of a country estate and the family’s servants as the household of grand Downton Abbey weathers the tumultuous social and political changes of the early 20th century following World War I. While the family faces some economic challenges as the old aristocratic economic model fades, the story ends in the economic boom of the 1920s, before the Great Depression that followed the 1929 crash.

The Crawley family – and their servants – always were an independent, even prickly, bunch, with sibling rivalries and clashing personalities keeping us amused. The TV series’ story started shortly after the sinking of the Titanic, and follow the upstairs and downstairs residents of Downton Abbey in the daily lives against the backdrop of historic changes, The Earl of Grantham, Robert Crawley (Hugh Bonneville), his American heiress wife Cora (Elizabeth McGovern) and their daughters, saw their leisurely lives of fox hunts and formal dances are transformed into a more active, participatory one demanded by new economic realities and costs of running their grand estate. At the same time, there was a family saga of conflicts and change, romance and tragedy. Of course, it is not all about the aristocratic Crawley family but the lives of their servants, anchored by butler Mr Carson (Jim Carter) and head housekeeper Mrs. Hughes (Phyllis Logan), as they all face changing times, with plenty of clashes, romances and heartbreak of their own.

Sharp, clever dialog was always part of the fun of this series,, as well as memorable characters and outstanding story arcs. The series dealt with serious matters like women’s issues, Irish independence, gay issues, and the breaking down of old class barriers, but it also offered a bunch of great characters and a fair dose of clever, often humor-twinged dialog, so it was just fun to watch. Maggie Smith became a fan favorite in particular, with her famous zingers as the family’s matriarch, the sharp tongued Dowager Countess.

The series’ blend of history, social commentary and family drama proved a potent mix that drew in millions of viewers but it did not hurt that this story takes place in the 1910s-1920s, a period filled with some of history’s most gorgeous fashions, plus elegant cars, and opulent mansions. Period sets were posh and the series was filmed in some wonderful British locations, not the least of which is Highclere Castle, the real country estate that plays Downton Abbey in the movie and series.

All that good stuff, and the cast, are back in this movie version. While the series often dealt with serious topics, alternating with indulging in sheer period lushness, the movie keeps things on the lighter side, focusing on giving the audience all the glittering 20’s fashions, stylish roadsters, and posh settings you could want. Still, a few social topics crop up and the beloved characters return to work out those issues and their relationships, just as fans hope.

The film gives just enough background to help newbies catch on, without bogging down the story in too much detail. The preparations for the royal visit creates enough conflict and tension to bring old battles to the fore, while also giving the family and their loyal staff something to rally around, in support of the grand house. And Highclere Castle is still ready for its close-up, as are all the folks in Downton Abbey.

It is not just the amazing Maggie Smith who shines again in this movie version, but the whole returning cast. Back in high style as the Earl and Countess of Grantham are Hugh Bonneville and Elizabeth McGovern, who like her character is an American ex-pat who long has lived in England, Also back are sniping sisters Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery), sharp-tongued like her grandma, and milder Lady Edith (Laura Carmichael), now finally enjoying some personal happiness in her marriage to an influential aristocrat. As in the series, Lady Mary is often in charge upstairs but the servants run much of the real show.

Returning are Brendon Coyle as manservant Bates and Joanne Froggatt as lady’s maid Anna, whose romance electrified several seasons, and so are the wonderful butler Carson (Jim Carter), now retired, and the complicated, gay Barrow (Robert James-Collier), now butler, who butt heads over the royal visit. Feisty cook Mrs Patmore (Leslie Nicol) and her rebellious assistant Daisy (Sophie McShera) are back to heat up the kitchen, while Branson (Allen Leach), the Irish chauffeur who married a Crawley daughter, still grapples with conflicted feelings about his place in the world. Adding to this rich stew is Imelda Stanton as a Crawley cousin who is a lady-in-waiting to the queen, and who has long-running beef with Smith’s dowager countess. Meanwhile, worthy opponent Penelope Wilton, as in-law Isobel Merton, still trades barbs with the incomparable Smith. You know sparks, and zingers, will fly. All this talented cast shine, as does the film’s writing.

A DOWNTON ABBEY movie was not really needed, as the series was tied up nicely at the end, nor is this any kind of ground-breaking film, but it is a pleasant, entertaining experience, one well worth the time. The return visit is nice for fans, and the movie was perfectly crafted for that purpose, but the film was enjoyable enough that it might draw a few new fans to the old series. Filled with great characters crafted by talented actors, sparkling snappy dialog, a brisk pace and delightful period settings, DOWNTON ABBEY is pure delight for fans of the award-winning series and any audience who enjoys period films. DOWNTON ABBEY opens Friday, Sept. 20, at the Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Cinema.

RATING: 3 1/2 out of 4 stars

TONI MORRISON: THE PIECES I AM – Review

Toni Morrison in TONI MORRISON: THE PIECES I AM, a Magnolia Pictures release. ©Timothy Greenfield-Sanders / Courtesy of Magnolia Pictures

This biographical documentary has an advantage most documentaries about a literary giant lack: the living artist herself. And boy is that as a bonus. The charismatic, iconic Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison helps director Timothy Greenfield-Sanders tells her remarkable story in TONI MORRISON: THE PIECES I AM and, better yet, Morrison offers insightful commentary on her own lauded, beloved novels.

Director Timothy Greenfield-Sanders’ wonderful documentary TONI MORRISON: THE PIECES I AM is a comprehensive look at a true American treasure, Toni Morrison. This intelligent and entertaining documentary covers the life, the work and the times of this giant of literature and of American culture. Morrison is certainly a worthy documentary subject:. Morrison is the author of such works as SULA, BELOVED, and THE BLUEST EYE, and recipient of a Nobel Prize, a Pulitzer, the American Book Award, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, among other honors. Her works speak particularly to the black experience and women’s experience, while at the same time being universal.

The documentary not only spotlights Morrison’s work but puts it in the context of the social shifts of the 1960s and 1970s, and beyond. Timothy Greenfield-Sanders is actually a friend of the author, which helped the director coax the usually private Morrison to agree to this project. It also gives him special access and insights on her personal and professional life, all which gives this finely crafted, stirring film a great boost.

TONI MORRISON: THE PIECES I AM covers the author’s early life, her struggles as a divorced mother and an academic in a time when both women and blacks faced barriers and discrimination. It also follows her shift to publishing, and then her transition from editor to novelist.

Morrison speaks plainly, bluntly even, but with such personal charm and sharp humor, that the audience can’t help but fall under her spell. She offers insights on the unique neighborhood where she grew up and her family’s own history of standing up to racism, Morrison has some pointed things to say about early ’70s feminism and its relationship to black women, as well as offering praise for her colleagues at her small publishing house, and those later at the large publisher, Random House, that acquired it, the editors and others who encouraged her work as an emerging author in the way publishers once did.

Morrison was a true ground-breaker, not only in her own writing but in the way she opened the door to other black and women writers as an editor at Random House. This documentary is packed with information on her life and work, presented through archival footage and stills, interviews with notable figures such as Oprah Winfrey and Angela Davis, and commentary from numerous scholars and others, discussing the impact of her work.

Director Greenfield-Sanders crafts a strong, engrossing story but this documentary does greatly benefit from extensive interview footage of Morrison herself. This is particularly so when offering analysis of her writings, by critics or readers. How often have you read a novel that raised questions that you would like to ask the author? This documentary lets us hear the answers to some of these questions from the author directly. That is a rare treat but especially nice in this case as Morrison, a former teacher, knows exactly how to address these topics in the most thoughtful and thought-provoking manner.

Interviews with Toni Morrison are scattered throughout the film, as is archival footage of the author throughout her life. Morrison speaks about her work, her life, and her views on various topics. Hearing her commentary in her own voice gives this excellent film a singular insight into not only this author, but into a pivotal moment of American culture and history. It is a unique aspect that makes this documentary a must-see for everyone.

TONI MORRISON: THE PIECES I AM opens Friday, July 12, at Landmark’s Tivoli Theater.

RATING: 4 out of 4 stars

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