The latest film releases include “Flora and Son,” “Invisible Beauty,” and “The Origin of Evil.” Plus, “Stop Making Sense” is re-released in 4K IMAX. Hear reviews from Alonso Duralde and Dave White, film critics and co-hosts of movie podcast Linoleum Knife.
“Flora and Son”
In this drama, Flora (Eve Hewson) is a Dublin-based single mom whose teenaged son Max is estranged, rebellious, and thieving. She finds a guitar from a dumpster and tries to get him to play it, with the help of a Los Angeles-based online guitar teacher (Joseph Gordon Levitt). The instrument ends up saving her. It’s directed by John Carney.
Duralde: “John Carney cannot stop making the same movie over and over again. … Mr. Carney believes in perfect sound forever — the thrill of discovering what music can mean to you and what music can do to build bonds between people even and always estranged people. This is a very sweet fantasy that finds its voice in that magical moment where everything comes together.”
White: “It's hard at first to believe [Hewson] as this struggling working-class mom. And she sells it. She sneaks up on you in this movie. And by the end of the movie, you are cheering for her. And you're cheering for this family, and you're cheering for the boring songs that they're all writing together.”
“Invisible Beauty”
This documentary is about pioneering Black model Bethann Hardison, who served as co-writer and co-director.
Duralde: “She paved that path for Iman [Mohamed Abdulmajid], for Beverly Johnson, for Veronica Webb, for all of the models that came after her. And now there is a documentary about her. So we don't have [an] excuse anymore, we absolutely will know her name. … She is part of the wheel of history that just keeps going around and around again, but she's always there, always at the forefront, there to make change.”
White: “This is a densely packed informational film, where you get the feeling that you've only heard a fifth of her amazing story by the time it's over. You see her writing a book in the doc, and I'm like, well, when's that book coming out? Because I need to read it.”
“The Origin of Evil”
In this thriller from director Sébastien Marnier, a financially struggling woman tries reconnecting with her seemingly rich and estranged dad and his new family.
White: “This one is not going to win any awards for originality. You can see the influence, the technique, the plot points, the history of this style of filmmaking … by people like Brian De Palma, Claude Chabrol, or Henri-Georges Clouzot. We're going back to France as the reference point, but it is fully absorbing and quite entertaining as an exercise in ‘Oh, what's going to happen next? And who's going to turn out to be the worst of this entire cast of rotten people?’ And I had a good time.”
Duralde: “It is absolutely the kind of thing where you just don't know where this is gonna go, but you can't wait to find out where it's going to take you, and who's gonna be the absolute worst of these despicable, despicable people?”
“Stop Making Sense”
Considered one of the greatest concert films of all time, Jonathan Demme documents Talking Heads’ three-night live performance at the Hollywood Pantages Theater in 1983.
White: “I'd seen concert films before, but I get to this movie, and I realized … that concert presentation could be something else. It didn't have to just be people on the stage. There could be an element of art to it, to the building of the story as the concert played out, and that's exactly what ‘Stop Making Sense’ is. It begins small and ends huge, and you're watching it and feeling it build along the way. And everything about it is intentional. Every moment is executed with the precision of people who know exactly what they are doing and where they want to go.”
Duralde: “It is so electrifying and so joyous that whatever your previous knowledge or affection of the band, you come away a rabid fan.”