The latest film releases are Challengers, Uncropped, Egoist, and Alien (re-release). Weighing in are Alonso Duralde and Dave White, film critics and co-hosts of movie podcast Linoleum Knife.
Challengers
This sports drama from Luca Guadagnino treats tennis as a metaphor for competition in a love triangle. Zendaya stars as coach Tashi Duncan, who turns her husband into a global tennis star. Then, he faces off against his former best friend who is also Tashi’s ex-boyfriend.
Duralde: “You have these three people who first meet in 2006 when they are in the finals of the junior U.S. Open, and how their relationships evolve over the next 13 years. The movie is framed by this one tennis match that's happening in 2019. And we keep getting a series of flashbacks that show us how we got there, and who these people are, and who they are to each other, and how they manipulate or play off of or control or are controlled by each other in a way that very much mirrors their tactics on the court.
But this is a thrilling piece of filmmaking, from the way that Guadagnino and his longtime cinematographer capture bodies in motion, to Justin Kuritzkes’ thrilling screenplay, which in its use of flashback is constantly giving you just enough information, but then surprising, it was something you didn't know that had been withheld until just the right moment. And all of this is balanced by three incredible live performances by Zendaya, by Mike Faist, and Josh O'Connor.”
White: “The characters are what really drives this movie. They make grave judgment errors and selfish moves. They're complex, they're not always good. It often destabilizes who you think you might be rooting for. And mostly what I love is that these are the kinds of films that tend to wind up at the arthouse now — movies that reflect people being people. So it's exciting to watch this get a big release treatment, and it deserves it. And of course, because it is a film from Luca Guadagnino, we're being given the full physicality of these relationships as well.”
Uncropped
This documentary follows the five-decade career of Village Voice photojournalist James Hamilton, who tells the stories behind his iconic images. He captured New York City in its modern heyday.
White: “He's been working in New York since the 1960s. And he has taken everyone's picture. He's photographed bands, actors, the fashion world, film sets, warzones, people on the street, everybody who crossed his path in life or just on assignment. But this story of his career is important because it intersects with the world of print journalism, magazines, newspapers, and most importantly, the world of the alternative weekly newspaper.
… This is a really wonderful documentary. And it's a retrieval of recent history that's changing very quickly. It's inspiring to watch people who decided that they had no choice but to make their lives out of their creative impulses. And it's also … disheartening to watch how corporate medallers have gone in and scooped up publications, and then killed them.”
Duralde: “This is a guy who's covering everything from fancy society parties to rock stars who are at the Chelsea Hotel. … He's also one of the first photographers to get images out of the Tiananmen Square massacre. He's also somebody who … spent months in Ethiopia covering the war there. So he can mix in this world of glamour and do the set photographs for The Royal Tenenbaums. But he contains multitudes, and his camera unflinchingly captures child soldiers and massacres as it does the bright and beautiful.”
Egoist
This focuses on a romance between a Tokyo magazine editor and a personal trainer with a secret life. It shows how class and homophobia can complicate love. The film is based on the semi-autobiographical novel from Makoto Takayama.
White: “It's about a successful gay fashion magazine editor in Tokyo named Kôsuke, played by the actor real Ryohei Suzuki. He has a very cool job and a solid team of fellow gay friends. And he meets a somewhat younger personal trainer named Ryûta, played by Hio Miyazawa. And they fall in love. But soon after that, the younger man explains that he is a sex worker in order to help take care of his aging mother. And he says this in order to tell Kôsuke that he cannot be in this relationship, it would just complicate it too much. And Kôsuke in turn offers to pay his way so that he can quit that line of work.
Now, from that premise and the title, you might think you're about to get something a little more dangerous. … But there is a midpoint twist that flips the title and the premise upside down. And the story becomes something very quiet. And it becomes a narrative of caretaking and love that offers Kôsuke a way to retrieve something that he lost even earlier in life. And it's about trading in one idea about your life in favor of another. And it's pretty sentimental, but it doesn't overdo it. And I found it very moving.”
Duralde: “All queer love stories are very much about the context of where they're made and when they're made. … I'm not an expert in queer life in contemporary Japan, but it is not identical to queer life in contemporary America. And so, even in a city as cosmopolitan as Tokyo, you have these men who … go to meet the parents and it's all like, ‘Oh, I haven't met the right woman yet. We're really close friends.’ But yeah, the film goes to places that are very moving and very powerful.”
Alien (re-release)
Forty-five years after its debut, this sci-fi classic from Ridley Scott is being re-released. Alien came out two years after the first Star Wars installment, and follows the crew of the Nostromo as it investigates a distress signal in space. Upon its release in 1979, the flick received mixed reviews for its darker approach to sci-fi.
Duralde: “I think it's an unquestioned classic now. … It's exciting to see Alien back on the big screen, not just because it's Alien and it is one of the great horror movies of all time. But also because I think we're seeing studios more and more going back into the habit of reissuing films, which in ye olden times before cable and VHS, it was not uncommon for every few years, a studio to rerelease a beloved film. … I think it's a win-win. The studios own these movies, they don't have to make them again, and audiences are hungry to see films that they love on the big screen. And theaters could certainly use the traffic of the people who want to see those movies on the big screen.”
White: “The first time I saw this movie was the opening weekend in 1979. My mom took me to see it because I was still too young to get into R-rated movies alone. And I have physical memories of the freakout — to this day. … It's not a jolting jumpscare film. It's such a slowly and steadily encroaching experience of dread and fear. You don't realize at first what's happening and how the details are being laid out, and how its atmosphere is taking over and becoming overwhelming. So I have parenting tips: Be a good parent and shock your children with this one, and they will thank you for it later, especially if they don't know anything about it.
… The theatrical experience here for … this old timer classic horror movie is what really matters. It will overwhelm you on the big screen if you've never seen it before. If you have seen it before, this 4K is going to allow you to get even deeper into the gloomy set and shadows of this industrial-looking spaceship. It is a very powerful experience on the big screen because you cannot escape to the kitchen or your phone. I'm all in favor of this getting a rerelease.”