Saltburn is a 2023 highly original indie psychological thriller written, directed, and co-produced by Emerald Fennell (creator of “A Promising Young Woman”, see my March 25,2021 review). A brilliant middle-class Oxford student with few friends (except for one rather sadistic roommate), Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan from “Banshees of Inisherin”) has little appeal with women, but outsized ambitions to be popular with his fellow aristocratic students. A coming-of-age film this is not!
Supernaturally handsome Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi), befriends Oliver after Oliver...
Mr. and Mrs. Smith–Trust Issues
The mini-series, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, which premiered in February of this year on Amazon Prime, is much more than a remake of the popular 2005 movie starring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. While still anchored in a main plot of espionage hijinks, now the drama has been embedded within a rom-com infused by the chemistry between its charming leads, Donald Glover (John Smith) and Maya Erskine (Jane Smith).
As two lonely, unemployed millennials, they independently agree to become secret agents for a mysterious organization requiring them to go undercover as a married...
You Hurt My Feelings–Something to Think About
You Hurt My Feelings, a psychological family saga with humorous overtones, was released in May 2023. Directed and produced by Nicole Holofcener (Last Duel, Can You Ever Forgive Me, Enough Said), the opening scene is of the mildly successful memoirist, Beth (Julia Louis-Dreyfus of “Seinfeld” and “Veep“) who is working on a second book, a novel, without much interest from her agent or prospective publishers. In her daytime job as a creative writing professor, Beth encourages her students not to be afraid of writing what truly inspires them, without fear or...
Echo–Maya Lopez is Back
Guest reviewer: Lora Chilton, author of 1666 : A Novel
The character of Maya Lopez was introduced in the Marvel television series, Hawkeye (2021). Now she is back in the spin-off series, Echo. Played by the captivating Alaqua Cox, Maya tells her story in a series of flashbacks involving her childhood and trauma. Maya, of course, has the superpowers of a Marvel hero, but this time, passed down through her matrilineal Choctaw heritage from Chafa, a Choctaw leader. Focusing on the Choctaw nation, Echo is a Marvel series with a fresh and highly original cultural perspective. ...
Anna–A Woman Warrior a la “La Femme Nikita”?
This unexpectedly stylish action movie from French filmmaker Luc Besson opens in 1990 at a local Moscow market. Anna, a beautiful young Russian (Sasha Luss), is selling Matryoshka nesting dolls. A talent scout offers her work in a Paris modeling agency, a chance for her to leave a future of poverty in a relationship with an abusive, violent thief.
As Anna progresses, Anna’s life improves: as a popular model in Paris–particularly with Russian oligarchs. A KGB agent (Luke Evans from The Alienist) recognizes her utility as a covert spy and she...
Past Lives (2023)–You Only Remember One
In Celine Song’s directorial debut, the Academy-Award nominated Past Lives, we see an exploration of a long-distance friendship between two childhood playmates from South Korea. Nora (Greta Lee) moves with her family to Canada when she is twelve years old. Her friend Hae-sung (Teo Yoo), still yearning for her years afterwards, remains in South Korea pursuing his professional career as a lawyer. While both have a shared past as the closest of friends, as adults that is insufficient for a long-sought reunion by Hae-sung. Anything but bittersweet and frustrating, nonetheless the...