It’s a good week for new film releases, mostly opening in theaters, including a must-see from Mike Leigh. Also on the slate: a popular world-cinema series in San Rafael.
“Hard Truths”: For more than 50 years, British filmmaker Mike Leigh has been making modestly scaled but profoundly affecting movies about everyday people, their imperfect lots in life, and their need to thrive and be happy. With this new tragicomedy, one of the best films of 2024, Leigh stays on that track. reunited with brilliant Marianne Jean-Baptiste from the Oscar-nominated 1997 “Secrets and Lies.” Jean-Baptiste plays Pansy, a miserably unhappy London woman. Depressed and derailed, Pansy disparages everyone, from her well-meaning husband to a grown son she deems an uncouth do-nothing to salesclerks and a neighbor with a “fat baby.” She thinks that a fox that has wandered into her yard is out to get her. Providing sunny counterbalance to the downbeat Pansy is her sister, Chantelle (Michele Austin), a good-natured hairdresser. Pansy may be a killjoy, but Chantelle remains devoted to her. Predicament outweighs plot in this movie, which details the characters’ daily lives, reaping emotional effect, some whopping, from elements as seemingly trivial as a small bunch of flowers on Mother’s Day. While not without social content (this is a Black family, and Pansy worries police will falsely accuse her son of loitering if he ventures outside), the film is a universal story with believable characters, humor and warmth. Perhaps no filmmaker can top Leigh when it comes to drawing superb performances from actors. Jean-Baptiste’s face registers innumerable shades of feeling; she turns a character who in a lesser movie would be insufferable into a fascinating and sympathetic protagonist. (Opens Friday in theaters, rated R)
“The Room Next Door”: Longtime arthouse favorite Pedro Almodóvar (“Pain and Glory”; “Volver”) explores emotions illness and death in this late-career melodrama and English-language feature debut, adapted from a Sigrid Nunez novel. It doesn’t rank with the filmmaker’s Spanish works for depth and impact, but it this still an Almodóvar movie and worthy viewing. Julianne Moore plays Ingrid, a bestselling author. Tilda Swinton is Martha, a war reporter. Their paths having diverged over time, the women revive their friendship when Ingrid learns that Martha is dying. Martha, whose cancer treatment isn’t working, informs Ingrid that she has decided to die on her own terms, with dignity, and she has obtained a euthanasia pill (illegally) and rented a house for that purpose. She doesn’t want to die alone and asks Ingrid if she’ll live with her until the end. As the women deal with the inevitable and enjoy warm camaraderie along the way—despite the subject matter, the movie isn’t a downer—the drama lacks the emotional richness and subsurface substance of Almodovar’s previous works. But Almodóvar, who clearly supports his protagonists’ decisions, isn’t one to get simplistic or preachy. He brings restraint, skill, and humanity to this story of friendship and decency. Moore and Swinton enhance the poignancy. John Turturro costars. (Opens Friday in theaters, rated PG-13)
“September 5”: This eye-of-the-storm thriller revisits the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre in which Palestinian militants, demanding that Israel release a substantial number of Palestinian and non-Arab prisoners, invaded the Olympic Village and took Israeli Olympic team members hostage. By the end of the ordeal, 17 people, including 11 Israeli athletes, were killed. Directed and cowritten by Tim Fehlbaum (“The Colony”), it’s not the first film to dramatize the tragedy. But by presenting the event from the perspective of the ABC Sports crews covering it, most of them more accustomed to covering athletics than terrorism, it has a fresh quality. Primary players include ABC Sports president Roone Arledge (Peter Sarsgaard), producer Geoffrey Mason (John Magaro), operations executive Marvin Bader (Ben Chaplin), and German translator Marianne Gebhardt (Leonie Benesch). In a chaotic control-room setting, they scramble and strategize to broadcast the history-making story to the world. The screenplay, a bit frustratingly, doesn’t address longtime Palestinian-Israeli tensions, an issue that is relevant still. But benefiting from smart and taut directorial storytelling, informative (and sometimes amusingly 1970s-specific) period details, effective editing (including inserting archival footage) and sharp performances, this is an intelligent, suspenseful big-screen movie. (Opens Friday in theaters, rated R)
“Sabbath Queen”: Unconventional rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie makes for a terrific subject in this entertaining and enlightening documentary. Director Sandi DuBowski (“Trembling Before G-d”) covers more than two decades in the life of Lau-Lavie, an Israel-born descendent of Orthodox Jewish rabbis and a gay man in a disapproving world. Lau-Lavie broke the mold when, after relocating to New York in the 1990s, he created a drag persona and some creatively unorthodox spiritual projects, including a pop-up God-optional synagogue, to celebrate LGBTQ+ experiences, embrace open-mindedness, and address antiquated Jewish traditions. The doc also covers an unexpected turn in Lau-Lavie’s path: ordainment as a rabbi in Judaism’s Conservative branch. His new status requires him to accept attitudes that conflict with his more liberal sensibilities regarding the essence and preservation of Judaism. But more importantly for Lau-Lavie, it will allow him to change the system from within. The film ends with a passage showing Lau-Lavie condemning Israel’s treatment of Palestinians and passionately calling for peace. This is a man who is constantly examining what it means to be a Jew and a human being. “Sabbath Queen,” though a bit unfocused at times, is an immersing chronicle of his continuing evolution and a thoughtful consideration of Jewish survival and identity. (Opens Friday at Roxie in San Francisco and Rialto Elmwood in Berkeley; not rated)
“Dahomey,” a documentary by Mati Diop about the return to Benin of 26 antiquities by France, its former colonizer, opens “For Your Consideration,” a program of 15 films shortlisted for the 2025 best international film Oscar, at the Smith Rafael Film Center on Jan. 10. (Courtesy Mill Valley Film Festival via Bay City News)
For Your Consideration: A Celebration of World Cinema: This popular annual series, presented by San Rafael-based California Film Institute, includes 15 films shortlisted for the 2025 Best International Feature Film Oscar—everything from new features by arthouse notables Walter Salles (Brazil) and Jacques Audiard (France) to an omnibus of short films from Palestine—screen during the weeklong program opening Friday at the Smith Rafael Film Center. The impressive lineup includes “Armand” (Norway), “Dahomey” (Senegal), “Emilia Perez” (France), “Flow” (Latvia), “From Ground Zero” (Palestine), “The Girl With the Needle” (Denmark), “How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies” (Thailand), “I’m Still Here” (Brazil), “Kneecap” (Ireland), “Santosh” (United Kingdom), “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” (Germany), “Touch” (Iceland), “Universal Language” (Canada), “Vermiglio” (Italy) and “Waves” (Czech Republic). Tickets are $10.50 to $14 for single screenings of $75 for a pass. Visit rafaelfilmcafilm.org.
“Get Away”: This nutty folk-horror comedy centers on a family (Nick Frost, who wrote the screenplay; Aisling Bea; Sebastian Croft; Maisie Ayres) vacationing on a remote Swedish island where the natives are creepily unfriendly and local traditions include cannibalism. A serial killer further darkens the picture. Working with broad strokes, director Steffen Haars (“New Kids Turbo”) delivers enough amusing and grisly moments to give the movie some appeal as a deadly-vacation comedy. But weirdness too often comes at the expense of narrative smarts and character development. (Streams starting Friday on Shudder, rated R)
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