Stories of the African Diaspora Light up the Silver Screen
If you crave good films, compelling stories, and a challenge, Reinaldo Barroso-Spech, the co-founder of the African Diaspora International Film Festival, promises there’s something for you at the 17th annual event taking place Aug. 2 to 4. “We don’t want to feel that you’re being insulted or disrespected, but we want to challenge you,” says…
It’s the Jack, Man
Two dozen years and five presidential administrations ago, Hugh Jackman, in his first appearance as the feral, fast-healin’ Wolverine, cracked wise about the black leather togs he and his fellow X-Men wore into battle. “What would you prefer,” James Marsden’s Cyclops clapped back. “Yellow spandex?” I’m not as ancient as the two centuries claimed by…
Made in England: An Insightful Love Letter to (Arguably) Britain’s Greatest Filmmakers
In a flourish of brilliant counterprogramming, Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger opens at AFI Silver on the same day as Deadpool & Wolverine, the latest Marvel movie, hits theaters. The director of this documentary may be David Hinton, but it clearly belongs to Martin Scorsese, whose indifference to the superhero genre…
Kate Versus the Tornadoes
Twisters feels like the accretion of several alarming trends: the acceleration of the climate emergency; the rapidity with which indie auteurs get sucked up into franchise world (Minari writer-director Lee Isaac Chung, in this instance); and the coronation of Glen Powell. Okay, that last one isn’t so bad. Powell has a more cocksure vibe than…
Retro Review: Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice Considered Free Love Before the Age of Ethical Non-Monogamy
The first time I encountered Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice was at the video store. I noticed the cover of the VHS tape right away: four adults laying next to each other in bed. How racy! How tantalizing! How adult! Of course, I wasn’t permitted to rent a film about swinging couples when…
Longlegs Gives the Uncanny Feeling You’re Bearing Witness to Actual Evil
The new serial killer film Longlegs is a brilliant exercise in misdirection. Sometimes it’s formal, like when certain camera compositions obscure a character so haunting they’re beyond basic human understanding. Sometimes the misdirection is in the script itself—a riff on ’90s thrillers such as The Silence of the Lambs and Seven—because writer and director Osgood…
The Creative Partnership Behind Team Rayceen Productions
The story of Team Rayceen Productions, a local advocacy and events organization that was honored earlier this year when the city declared March 18 Team Rayceen Day, begins with a couch. The year was 2014, and the couch was in the since-shuttered Liv Nightclub, where queer activist and noted socialite Rayceen Pendarvis was setting up…
Retro Review: Brian De Palma’s Blow Out Watches You Watch
Blow Out is here to trick you. It pretends it has something deep and profound to say about America. Set on the weekend of the fictional Liberty Day Parade in Philadelphia, Blow Out revolves around a political assassination and cover-up, and concludes with a murder committed under fireworks and in front of an enormous American…
Julianne Nicholson Gives a Towering Performance in the Quietly Powerful Janet Planet
It is only natural that Annie Baker would eventually write and direct a feature film. The accomplished playwright, whose work has been performed in D.C. theaters including Studio and Signature, has always had an interest in the movies. You may recall The Flick, the play that earned Baker a Pulitzer, is set in a movie…
The Bikeriders: From Books to the Two-Lane Blacktop
Credit writer-director Jeff Nichols, a half-dozen features into his career, with staying out of the Franchise Wars. At least two films on his resume, the sublime 2011 eco-psychological thriller Take Shelter and 2016’s Midnight Special, fall squarely within the sci-fi/paranormal adventure space. In the years since, he was attached to follow-ups to A Quiet Place…
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