NEW THIS WEEK JUNE 7, 2024 (IN THEATERS AND ON HOME VIDEO)
NEW THIS WEEK IN THEATERS, HOME VIDEO AND/OR VOD:
BAD BOYS: RIDE OR DIE--Was there really a crying need for a fourth "Bad Boys" movie? Probably not, but at least Sony had the good sense to re-hire Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, co-directors of 2020's "Bad Boys For Life," the 29-year-old franchise's standout iteration. Will Smith and Martin Lawrence (naturally) reprise their roles as Miami cops Mike and Marcus, this time tasked with clearing their late boss (Joe Pantoliano's Captain Howard) of corruption charges. It's all pretty boilerplate, but El Arbi and Fallah once again manage to make the whole thing go down smoothly enough. And unlike most derriere-numbing studio tentpoles these days, the movie clocks in at a relatively breezy 110 minutes. Another wise choice the directors made was bringing back the threequel's scene-stealing bad guys, Alexander Ludwig and Jacob Scipio. (B.) https://youtu.be/hRFY_Fesa9Q?si=B8BveM-DtLWpNAYV
BAD LIEUTENANT--In a career performance that he still hasn't bettered in 32 years, Harvey Keitel plays the eponymous New York City cop whose flagrant amorality is fueled by his addiction to booze and drugs (crack cocaine and heroin). How "bad" is Keitel's lieutenant? He gets high with dealers instead of busting them, routinely parties with hookers (two at a time, no less), and, in the scariest scene, sexually assaults two teenage girls he pulls over for a minor traffic violation. The case that finally cracks this (terminally) lapsed Catholic cop is the brutal rape of a young nun (Frankie Thorn). He can't wrap his addled brain around the fact that she refuses to identify her assailants, describing them as "sad, raging boys." When he finally steps into a church, he hallucinates that Jesus Christ is talking to him. But does this seemingly irredeemable bastard deserve absolution, or is he too far gone for any sort of spiritual epiphany? The one undisputed masterpiece of director Abel ("King of New York," "Fear City") Ferrara's checkered career--he hasn't made a legitimately good movie since 1996's "The Funeral"--"Bad Lieutenant" was one of the last mainstream(ish) films to receive an "NC-17" rating (David Cronenberg's "Crash" would follow it four years later), and it wears that scarlet appellation like a badge of scuzzy honor. The KL Studio Classics' Blu Ray includes an audio commentary with Ferrara and director of photography Ken Kelsch; making-of documentary, "It All Happens Here;" a standalone interview with Kelsch; the "Bad Neighborhoods" featurette about the grimy, pock-marked N.Y.C. locations used in the movie; and the 1992 theatrical trailer. (A.)
BANEL AND ADAMA--Director Ramata Toulaye Sy's promising debut effort concerns a young married couple (the titular Banel and Adama winningly played by Khadya Mane and Mgmadou Diallo) whose future is imperiled when a drought plagues their remote Senegalese village. Although Adama is tasked with assuming the role of village chief, he initially refuses the title. But as the drought rages on (cattle are dying en masse, young men begin deserting to find jobs elsewhere, etc.), Adama feels increasingly pressured into accepting his late brother's role as community leader. The conflict arises because Banel, a free spirit singularly uninterested in doing laundry or tilling the fields like other village women, has different, bigger plans for them. The movie's fable-like qualities feel very much indebted to the oeuvre of Senegalese auteur Ousmane ("Moolade," "Emitai") Sembene, but Sy emerges as a distinctive new voice in contemporary African cinema. Even though it's occasionally a little too remote emotionally, Sy's film is visually resplendent from start to finish. (B.) https://youtu.be/0BZYsTvV9VE?si=WOYtZFVzG6gMvfam
CRY BABY--The first--and only--film John ("Pink Flamingos") Waters ever made for a major Hollywood studio, this 1990 rock 'n' roll musical comedy was largely dismissed by critics at the time and ignored by audiences. The major gripe was that it was a pale imitation of "Hairspray," Waters' mainstream breakthrough released two years earlier. While "Hairspray" was admittedly a tough act to follow--it's pretty much a perfect movie--I've always thought "Cry Baby" was much better than its rep. In fact, it's the last Waters-directed movie that I truly, madly, deeply loved. Set in 1954 Baltimore (where else?), the film stars a post-"21 Jump Street"/pre-Tim Burton Johnny Depp as Cry Baby Walker, a dreamboat hoodlum with a heart of gold. No wonder he attracts the romantic attention of rich square Allison (an ethereally beautiful Amy Locane). But their star-crossed love story is really just narrative ballast for a series of side-splittingly funny comic non sequiturs and finger-snapping musical production numbers. "Cry Baby" also features maybe the weirdest, wildest assemblage of actors in Waters' storied career. NY Times critic Janet Maslin said it best when she described the cast as "less a dramatic ensemble than a collection of found art." There's Joey Heatherton, Troy Donahue, Willem Dafoe, Polly Bergen, Susan Tyrrell, Iggy Pop, Joe Dallesandro, Patty Hearst, David ("Ozzie and Hariet") Nelson, "Hairspray" ingenue Ricki Lake and former porn starlet Traci Lords. Whew. And I haven't even mentioned newcomer Kim McGuire (as the aptly-monickered Hatchet-Face), an eminently worthy successor to unforgettable Waters discoveries like Divine and Edith Massey. The new KL Studio Classics' Blu Ray includes both a 4K Ultra HD copy of the theatrical version as well as an HD master of the Director's Cut; Waters' delicious audio commentary track; a making-of featurette ("Bringing Up Baby") with Waters, casting director Pat Moran, Mink Stole and director of photography David Insley; on-set interviews with, among others, Locane, Hearst, Lords and Baltimore barber Howard "Hep" Preston; the 15th anniversary 2005 documentary, "It Came from...Baltimore," featuring cast and crew members; five deleted scenes; and the original trailer. (A.)
IO CAPITANO--Documenting the perilous, frequently surreal journey from Dakar to Italy by two teenaged African boys (Seydou Sarr and Moustapha Fall), Italian director Mateo ("Gomorrah") Garrone's Oscar-nominated humanist masterpiece rightly takes its place alongside James Gray's "The Immigrant" (2013) and Emanuele Crialese's "Golden Door" (2006) as one of the finest immigration dramas of the 21st century. Shot on location in multiple countries, the film never loses sight of its dual teen protagonists' innate dignity, even when they're forced to endure the blistering conditions of the Sahara desert or imprisoned by human traffickers in Libya. At times, they almost seem like flesh-and-blood variants of the hand-carved marionette from Garrone's last film, 2020's wonderful, if under-appreciated "Pinocchio." With immigration--and the escalating problems at the border--remaining key political talking points as we enter the 2024 election, the movie couldn't be more timely or essential. What distinguishes "Io Capitano" from op-ep editorials and cable news bromides, though, is its delicacy of touch and profound tenderness for the lives in transit who somehow manage to hold onto the dream of a better world despite the harrowing abjectness of their present circumstances. The Kino Lorber/Cohen Media Blu Ray includes Q&As with Garrone, Sarr and Fall as well as the theatrical trailer. (A.) https://youtu.be/Z6fLvLN2EqM?si=NR9WwC1skUjQ1CBM
THE MATTACHINE FAMILY--After their foster son is returned to his birth mother, L.A. married couple Thomas (Nico Tortorella) and Oscar (Juan Pablo Di Pace) begin drifting apart. While Thomas wants to immediately foster or adopt a new kid, Oscar--who's recently been tapped to star in a Vancouver-shot TV series--is considerably less enthusiastic. First-time director Andy Vallentine's sympathies are clearly on Thomas' side: apparently queer Millennial lives aren't complete without children. But since Thomas--whose peripatetic photography career seems more like a hobby than a real job--isn't a particularly sympathetic character (he's actually a bit of a whiner), Vallentine and screenwriter Danny Vallentine don't make an especially persuasive case for gay parenting. Clumsily juxtaposed with Thomas and Oscar's marital/parenting travails are lesbian pals Leah and Sonia (Emily Hampshire and Claire Wyatt Taylor) who are trying to conceive via IVF. Shallow, superficially drawn characters and an overall lack of subtlety further undermine the filmmakers' noble intentions. Last year's "Our Son" did a better, more nuanced, job of portraying 21st century gay parenthood. (C MINUS.) https://youtu.be/XHhEfosLCig?si=f73cLfGfxNnCO0NF
THE WATCHERS--Stranded in the middle of an Irish forest after her rental car breaks down, visiting American artist Mina (Dakota Fanning) finds shelter with a visibly spooked group led by the enigmatic Madeline (Olwen Fouere). Sequestered in a concrete bunker ("The Coop"), Mina, Madeline, Ciara (Georgina Campbell) and Daniel (Oliver Finnegan) are observed each night by fearsome creatures who treat them like human pets. Although based on A.M. Shine's best-selling novel, it also has a lot in common with the recent dystopian nail-biter, "Arcadian." Like the characters in that April sleeper, daytime hours for humans are relatively tranquil. But when the sun comes down, they're easy prey for otherworldly monsters. Can Mina help her new friends escape? Or are they trapped to remain in their limbo-land forever? The first film by Ishana Shyamalan (yes, she's "The Sixth Sense" director M. Night's daughter), this is a reasonably diverting debut effort with some decent performances and nice atmospherics. But like some of Shyamalan pere's recent outings, Ishana doesn't quite nail the ending. (B MINUS.)
NOW AVAILABLE IN THEATERS, ON HOME VIDEO AND/OR STREAMING CHANNELS:
BABES--After being impregnated by a one-night stand (Stephan James) who inconveniently dies before she has the chance to break it to him, Eden (Ilana Glazer) begins leaning on her married-with-children BBF Dawn (Michelle Buteau) to an increasingly discomfiting, potentially friendship-ending degree. The first film directed by Pamela (FX's late, great "Better Things") Adlon looks and sounds like the chick flick that John ("A Woman Under the Influence," "Faces") Cassavetes never got around to making. The edges are deliberately gnarly and the performances, not to mention the (frequently profane) dialogue, seem more improvised than rehearsed. Buteau and especially "Broad City" breakout Glazer are both letter-perfect in their characters' eminently relatable, albeit frequently maddening imperfection. Bravo. (A MINUS.)
THE DEAD DON'T HURT--When Danish immigrant Holger (Viggo Mortensen who also directed and composed the elegiac score) meets French-Canadian Vivienne ("Phantom Thread" breakout Vicky Krieps) in 1860's San Francisco, it's love at first sight for the two immigrants. After moving to Elk Flats Nevada, the (now married) couple live an idyllic existence on their new farm until the Civil War intervenes and Holger joins the Union army. While he's away, the bad seed son (Solly McLeoud) of the town's resident land baron rapes and impregnates Vivienne. Upon his return, Holger is shocked to discover a young boy (Atlas Green) living with Vivienne in their cabin. Instead of bolting, he instead chooses to raise him as his own son. Holger eventually becomes Elk Flat's sheriff which requires forging an uneasy alliance with the town's corrupt mayor (Danny Huston, deliciously venal). Yes, there's a lot of plot to navigate in this revisionist-feminist western--maybe too much--and the non-linear storytelling takes some getting used to. But Mortensen has made an unstintingly handsome film and does fine work with his actors (Krieps is a particular standout). It's also a marked improvement on Mortensen's first directorial outing, 2020's uneven "Falling." (B.)
DOGFIGHT--Nancy Savoca made three wonderful movies with producer/co-writer husband Richard Guay between 1989-'93 then essentially disappeared. In the process, the American cinema lost one of its most singular and distinctive voices. The fact that Savoca is largely unknown today, despite this being an era which purportedly champions female directors, makes her relative obscurity both depressing and infuriating. Fortunately, Criterion is doing their part to help auto-correct that grievous injustice by releasing "Dogfight," Savoca's greatest film, on Blu Ray for the first time. (In a happy coincidence, Kino Lorber just released Savoca's two other masterworks, "True Love" and "Household Saints," on home video as well.) Savoca's only major studio production, "Dogfight" was badly marketed and barely released by Warner Brothers in the fall of 1991. I remember driving three hours round trip to see it when a single Pittsburgh theater finally opened it months after the New York premiere. Part of a sub-genre I like to refer to as the "Doomed Love Love Story"--other exemplars include Elia Kazan's "Splendor in the Grass," Alan J. Pakula's "The Sterile Cuckoo" and John Sayles' "Baby, It's You"--"Dogfight" tells the heart-wrenching story of an impactful San Francisco night shared by an 18-year-old marine (River Phoenix's Eddie Birdlace) ready to be shipped off to Vietnam and waitress/folk singer aspirant Rose (Lili Taylor) in November 1963. After impulsively inviting Rose to be his plus-one at a party (the titular "dogfight") in which the grunt with the ugliest date wins a cash prize, Eddie tries to make amends by taking her on a real date. During the course of their enchanted evening, the two find themselves connecting in ways neither could have ever anticipated. Phoenix, who was on the cusp of officially becoming "The Actor of His Generation" before his untimely death two years later, gives a performance of such aching, lacerating vulnerability that he literally takes your breath away. (Amazingly, Gus Van Sant's "My Own Private Idaho," with an equally remarkable Phoenix performance, opened the same month.) And the mercurial Taylor, in an exquisitely modulated turn, matches her co-star's brilliance every step of the way. Extras include Savoca/Guay's audio commentary recycled from a no-frills 2003 DVD release; "American Psycho"/"I Shot Andy Warhol" director Mary Harron's 32-minute interview with Savoca and Guay; a 2024 featurette in which Guay interviews the film's cinematographer, production designer, script superviser and editors; and an insightful essay, "Love and War," by critic Christina Newland. (A PLUS.)
EZRA--Struggling New Jersey stand up comic Max (Bobby Cannavale) takes a road trip to Los Angeles with his autistic 11-year-old son (newcomer William A. Fitzgerald's titular Ezra) for an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! The fact that he didn't clear the cross-country drive with his exasperated ex (Cannavale's real-life wife, Rose Byrne) causes no end of problems for all concerned, including Max's blustery dad (Robert De Niro channelling his Oscar-nominated performance as another long-suffering dad in David O. Russell's "Silver Linings Playbook"). Directed by Tony Goldwyn--who previously helmed the wonderful 1999 film, "A Walk on the Moon"--and inspired by screenwriter Tony Spiridakis' relationship with his own neurodivergent son, the movie is clearly a labor of love for all concerned. I just wish that it was better: less sitcommy, less contrived and more grounded in reality instead of merely recycling beats from older, better family dramedies. (At times it almost plays like an unofficial sequel to "Little Miss Sunshine.") Not helping matters is the fact that what we see of Max's stand-up act is really pretty terrible. It's a huge leap to think he could have ever landed a guest spot on a late night network talkshow. The performances are all perfectly fine--Byrne is especially affecting--but the film wore out my patience long before Max and Ezra finally hit L.A. (C.)
THE FALL GUY--After a work-related injury that nearly cost him his life, stunt man Colt Seavers (Ryan Gosling) reluctantly goes back to work as the stunt double for Tom Cruise-y superstar Tom Ryder's new action blockbuster, "Metal Storm." The fact that "Storm" is also the directing debut of the ex (Emily Blunt's Jody Moreno) Colt still pines for also factors into his decision to accept the gig. But when Tom (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) mysteriously disappears in the middle of the shoot (some shady mobsters are involved), Jody tasks Colt with helping locate her MIA lead actor. A glossy, big-screen spin-off of the long-running 1980's Lee Major tube series, director/former stunt man David ("Bullet Train," "Deadpool 2") Leitch's film has pacing problems, especially in the first half, and is maybe a half hour too long. But Gosling and Blunt evince beaucoup chemistry and their rom-com screwball banter helps you get over some rough patches. As Jody's conniving producer, Hannah ("Ted Lasso") Waddingham steals every scene she's in. (B.)
FURIOSA: A MAD MAX SAGA--The first "Mad Max" movie without a Max, Australian visionary George Miller's follow-up to 2015's Oscar-winning "Fury Road" is an origin story for Imperator Furiosa, the one-armed rig driver introduced in that film and memorably incarnated by Charlize Theon. Spanning 15 formative years in the eventful life of Furiosa--played alternately by Ayla Browne and "Queen's Gambit" breakout Anya Taylor-Joy--and divided into five chapters, it's more interested in (occasionally labored) world-building than mind-blowing action setpieces. Evolving from a gender-bending orphan into a hellion of Max-ian proportions, Furiosa ultmately finds her loyalty split between dueling post-apocalyptic underworld leaders Dr. Dementus (Chris Hemsworth) and Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme). At two-and-a-half hours, it's the longest entry in the 45-year-old franchise, as well as the first to incorporate more VFX than practical effects. Not surprisingly, it feels more like a Marvel movie at times than any of Miller's previous (and better) MM actioners. (B.)
THE GARFIELD MOVIE--This cookie-cutter CGI 'toon based on Jim Davis' long-running comic strip seems to exist solely to give the already overexposed Chris Pratt another potential movie franchise. After reuniting with his wastrel alley cat dad Vic (Samuel L. Jackson), lasagna-loving Garfield (Pratt) and beagle BFF Odie (Harvey Gillen) are suckered into joining Vic in the heist of 1,000 gallons of milk from a dairy farm. Naturally things end badly--but not as humorously as intended--for all involved. While Garfield survived two middling live-action/animation hybrids in the early aughts (Bill Murray provided sardonic vocal duties for the titular kitty), the latest incarnation just might close the chapter on any future big-screen outings. With Nicholas Hoult as Jon, Garfield's long-suffering human, and Snoop Dogg as "Snoop Cat" (that casting marks the quintessence of wit here), it's a movie only the youngest, least sophisticated viewers will embrace. (C MINUS.)
IF--Venturing beyond his hugely successful "Quiet Place" sci-fi-ers--a third entry is due this summer--director John Krasinski gives family fare a try with this only fitfully charming fantasy flick. After developing a superpower that allows her to see imaginary friends abandoned by their human pals after growing up, Tweener Bea (Cailey Fleming, best known as Judith from AMC's "The Walking Dead') makes it her mission to reunite everyone. While the movie's piece de resistance is the A-list cast tasked with providing the friends' voices (including Steve Carell, Matt Damon, Bradley Cooper, Emily Blunt, Sam Rockwell, Amy Schumer and George Clooney), all that star wattage ultimately overwhelms the movie's precious conceit. I was reminded of the sort of all-ages-friendly films churned out by Steven Spielberg's Amblin Productions back in the '80s. Unfortunately, it's closer to the deservedly forgotten "Harry and the Hendersons" and "Batteries Not Included" than classics like "Gremlins" or "Back to the Future." (C.)
IN A VIOLENT NATURE--Chris Nash's Canadian indie certainly lives up to its foreboding title: the frequent onscreen killings achieve a near-"Terrifier" level of graphic carnage. Yet the skill level evinced here separates it from Damien Leone's rather slapdash horror franchise. Think of it as the 1980's arthouse slasher flick that time forgot. When a group of (predictably annoying, barely differentiated) twentysomething campers abscond with a necklace found in an abandoned forest fire tower, they unwittingly revive the corpse of "White Pine Massacre" slayer Johnny (Ry Barrett). And because Johnny still has an axe to grind (literally), he naturally begins offing them one at a time. Nash's choice to depict the grisly action entirely from the killer's POV is both ingenious and deeply unsettling: it actually makes the audience feel complicit in Johnny's slaughter-fest. As "Final Girl" Kris, Andrea Pavlovic impresses, as does Lauren Taylor as the loquacious Good Samaritan who comes to her rescue. The rest of the performances are functional at best, but this is still the best horror film since John Hyams' "Sick" from early 2023. (B PLUS.)
KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES--The fourth entry in the rebooted franchise that launched with 2011's "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" ("Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" and "War of the Planet Apes" followed in 2014 and '17) picks up 300 years after the last movie. With apes now the dominant species--and humans regressing to near-primitive levels--the "Kingdom" is ruled by Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand) who repurposes ancient human weapons to enslave his fellow simians. Deeply alarmed by this perversion of the original Caesar's teachings, sensitive chimp Noa (Owen Teague) teams up with human Mae (Freya Allan) to take down Proximus' tyrannic regime. Directed by Wes Bell who cut his teeth on the "Maze Runner" trilogy, it's the first of the new breed of "Apes" films where you almost take for granted Weta FX's ground-breaking motion-capture CGI. Like 2022's "Avatar: The Way of Water," it's an indisputably dazzling technical achievement that ultimately feels a tad undernourished dramatically. (B.)
SIGHT--Ming Wang, whose journey from rural China to Harvard and MIT led to his spearheading of revolutionary laser eye surgery, is the focus of Andrew ("Paul, Apostle of Christ," "The Blind") Hyatt's boilerplate, Christian-proselytizing biopic. Played as an adult by Terry Chen (Ben Wang and Jayden Zhang assume the role in flashbacks which comprise more than half of the 100-minute run time), it's a movie you want to like because it was clearly made with the noblest intentions. But the filmmaking/performances are so rote--and the preachiness so off-putting for anyone who doesn't identify as an Evangelical Christian--that it feels like a missed opportunity. Dr. Wang's remarkable life and career deserved better. (C MINUS.)
THE STRANGERS: CHAPTER 1---After their car breaks down, Gregory (Gabriel Basso) and Maya ("Riverdale" alumnus Madelaine Petsch) take shelter in a remote cabin. Before the photogenic young lovebirds even have time to settle in for the night, three masked psychos break in to launch an all-out terror assault. The first installment in a proposed trilogy inspired by the queasily effective 2008 and 2018 "Strangers" home invasion flicks ("Chapter 2," also starring Petsch, is already in the can), Renny ("The Long Kiss Goodnight," "Die Hard 2") Harlin's creepy suspenser marks an auspicious start to a brand new horror franchise. (B MINUS.)
SUMMER CAMP--Poor Diane Keaton keeps making one witless, pandering-to-AARP-members rom-com after another. Keaton's latest misfire casts the "Annie Hall" Oscar winner as workaholic C.E.O. Nora who reverts to nerdy adolescence while attending a 50 year reunion at her old summer camp. The bait was the potential of reconnecting with former BFFs Ginny (Kathy Bates) and Mary (Alfre Woodard), but she spends more time catching up with work emails than renewing old friendships. Bates (as a Tony Robbins-style self-help guru) and Woodard (an E.R. nurse who put her dreams of becoming a doctor on hold to pacify her controlling husband) are reliably good in one-note roles, and it's amusing-weird that director Castille (forever infamous for helming three of the ghastly "After" movies) Landon casts Eugene Levy as the camp's resident hearthrob. While Keaton's "Book Club" movies were nobody's idea of Restoration Comedy, they seem positively Lubitsch-ian in comparison with this drivel. Only 2022's woebegone "Mack & Rita" ranks lower on Keaton's 21st century IMBD resume. (D PLUS.)
THREE REVOLUTIONARY FILMS BY OUSMANE SEMBENE--Unlike most Third World films of the 1960-70's which were unrelievedly grim and barely disguised Marxist tracts (e.g.,"The Hour of the Furnaces" by Argentinean directors Octavio Gettino and Fernando Solanas), the works of Senegal's Ousmane Sembene were often warm, funny and satirical. Although Senegal--a former French colony which won its independence in 1960--has a population of just four million, it produced the most important movies of Black Africa, notably those of Sembene, the continent's best-known filmmaker. Three of Sembene's finest, most controversial and politically incendiary films ("Emitai," 1971; "Xala," 1975; and "Ceddo," 1977) have just been released in a Criterion Collection box set. For fans and initiates alike, it's a cause for celebration in helping boost the profile of World Cinema. Sembene, the unofficial "Godfather of African Cinema," has finally received his due. Set during World War II, "Emitai" depicts the clash between native Senegalese and French troops over forcible conscription, heavy taxation and dwindling rice supplies. Although it won prizes in the former Soviet Union (Sembene studied filmmaking in Moscow and briefly worked at Gorki film studios in the early 1960's), the movie provoked considerable resentment in France where it was deemed "politically objectionable." Spoken in French and Wolof, Senegal's native language, "Xala" (roughly translated as "the curse of impotence") uses the story of an aging businessman (Thierno Leye's El Hadji) unable to consummate his third polygamous marriage for an expose of the nation's ruling class whose members have eagerly embraced the culture of their white colonial predecessors/oppressors. Although it's easy to laugh at El Hadji's absurd Europeanization (always speaking French, drinking Evian water and driving a Mercedes), we ultimately grow to sympathize with his ultimate downfall at the hands of others who are even more corrupt. The East-West clash of cultures also figure prominently in "Ceddo" which depicts a Senegalese village sometime between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as a heady microcosm of African political and social history. Set against the backdrop of an outsider community with animist beliefs, the narrative kicks into gear after the king dictates that everyone must convert to Islam. As retaliation, the king's daughter (Tabara Ndiaye) is kidnapped, triggering a series of cataclysmic, history-altering events. The Criterion set includes 4K digital restorations of all three titles; a dialogue between African Film Festival founder/executive director Mahen Bonetti and writer Amy Sall; Paulin Soumanou Vierya's 1981 documentary, "The Making of 'Ceddo;'" and a thoughtful essay by New York-based writer and film programmer Yasmina Price. (A.)
TO DIE FOR--Released at the apotheosis of the American obsession with tabloid culture--and a year after O.J. Simpson became the most famous man in the world thanks to his Bronco freeway chase and Oliver Stone's "Natural Born Killers" topped the box office charts--Gus Van Sant's gleefully amoral 1995 black comedy immediately catapulted Nicole Kidman to the top ranks of working actors. As Suzanne Stone, a TV weather girl with oversized ambitions and zero conscience, Kidman is alternately laugh-out-loud funny and utterly terrifying. Married to a nice guy (Matt Dillon's Larry) whose presence in her life has become increasingly extraneous, Suzanne somehow manages to seduce a trio of teenage stoners into killing him. Naturally her perfectly calibrated machinations ultimately self-destruct--what do you expect from high school potheads?--and Van Sant takes inordinate delight in watching his anti-heroine stew in her own malice. Joaquin Phoenix, Casey Affleck and Alison Folland play the luckless kids Suzanne ropes into her scheme and match Kidman every step of the way. (Trivia note: Phoenix and Affleck would both go on to win Best Actor Oscars for "Joker" and "Manchester by the Sea" respectively.) Co-written by Buck ("The Graduate") Henry and Joyce Manard whose novel the film was based on, "To Die For" spun the real-life Pamela Smart case in which a New Hampshire teacher coerced four students into murdering her husband into one of the defining American movies of the decade. The newly released Criterion Collection 4-K Blu-Ray lacks the usual plethora of Criterion extras (there's an audio commentary with Van Sant, cinematographer Eric Alan Edwards and editor Curtis Clayton, a handful of deleted scenes and an essay by Berlin-based critic Jessica Kiang), but the film itself is the real star. It'll make a great future double bill with Todd Haynes' "May/December." (A.)
---Milan Paurich
