“The Wonder”
Forgotten and overlooked during the November rush, perhaps too oblique and enigmatic for the average Netflix viewer, Sebastian Lelio’s “The Wonder” is really one of the most evocative and haunting films of the year, and jam-packed with texture and things to say about its various subjects. In a mysterious and enigmatic psychological drama, Florence Pugh stars as an English nurse sent to a rural Irish village to observe a young “fasting girl,” who is seemingly able to miraculously survive without eating. Is it a miracle, an act of God? Or is there some darker secret afoot? A meditation on storytelling, among other things—the stories we tell each other, the stories we believe, and maybe the dogma that communities sometimes hold on to—“The Wonder” is also a mesmerizing tale of empathy, love, and escape featuring one of the most ghostly and eerie scores of the year (Matthew Herbert) and one of the best-shot films of the year too (Ari Wegner). A breathtaking work that deserves more than a second look – RP [Our Review]
“One Fine Morning”
We simply love Mia Hansen-Løve’s work, and, in her first collaboration with the ever radiant Léa Seydoux, the underrated auteur strips the actor’s typically refined eminence away, casting her as Sandra, an everyday translator you might bump into in a cafe, as opposed to a Bond Girl or Super Assasin trying to kill Tom Cruise. Reminiscent of her earlier works such as “Goodbye First Love” or “Father of my Children,” “One Fine Morning” is less of an artistic big swing than “Eden” or “Bergman Island,” the French writer/director naturalistically conceiving a simple slice of life story about a single mother who is swept into an initially unintended romance with a close friend named Clément (Melvil Poupaud), one who happens to be married. Constantly one to put feelings ahead of plot, the movie also grapples with the mental degradation of Sanda’s father (Pascal Greggory). Recently becoming a mother herself, Mia Hansen-Løve’s ever-alluring eye always has a tangible sense of honesty behind it; every frame of her films is emotionally and physically palpable, and her latest is no exception. – AB [Our Review]
“Nanny”
One of our favorites out of Sundance last year (and winner of the Grand Jury Prize), Nikyatu Jusu’s debut is far from your typical Blumhouse picture. It can almost be described as a Douglas Sirk-light domestic drama meshed with the ever-popular “elevated horror movie.” Aisha (Anna Diop) is a Senegalese immigrant living as a nanny in New York City, working to bring her son into the U.S. “Jobs like this; they don’t fall from the sky,” a friend tells her after securing a position caring for a young girl with seemingly wealthy parents (Michelle Monahan and Morgan Spector). However, when it comes time to be paid for her services, the couple detracts and diverts, giving opposing answers as to who is responsible for settling the bill. The class divide and cultural disparity comes to a head when Monahan (possibly her most inspired casting in close to a decade) flips out on Aisha after allowing her daughter to taste a dish from her home country as opposed to a ready-made, vacuum-sealed lunch, left pre-packed in the refrigerator (Aisha is also given a color-coded binder as a “loose guide” to caring for their toddler.) The typical genre components are sparse, more implicit than explicit, outside nightmare-esque sequences that connect to the classic children’s story, “Anansi the Spider.” Jusu’s film finds a frightening space where opportunity and oppression clash, and it’s one of 2022’s strongest debuts. – AB [Our Review]
“Stars At Noon”
Claire Denis’ second film of 2022 is by no means perfect and perhaps a thin wisp of an idea. The film stars the always-captivating Margaret Qualley, who plays a young American journalist stranded in present-day Nicaragua. She falls for an enigmatic Englishman (Joe Alwyn) who seems like her best chance of escape, but the political thriller intrigue of it all—and all the secrets involved—ensure there’s no way out for anyone. One could argue that “Star At Noon” doesn’t add up to all that much, and it might be a fair take. However, Claire Denis being Claire Denis, she cannot help but create an evocative enthralling, sweaty, and kind of mesmerizing look at young lovers, their intoxicating but doomed romance, the fate and chance they’re swept up in, and the balmy danger that seems to be thick in the air. If the plot is unremarkable, Qualley and Alwyn create dreamy tension, the dependable Tindersticks provide an air of mystery, and Denis always creates a tactile, enthralling sense of intimate, emotional immediacy in everything she makes. Far from perfect, but deeply memorable. – RP [Our Review]
“Master”
Perhaps the most directly indebted to “Get Out” of the racially-minded, post-Peele horror-wave films, Regina Hall stars in “Master,” Mariama Diallo’s haunting takedown of East Coast college elitism. Becoming the newest – and the first Black – headmaster of Ancaster University, Gail Bishop (Hall) finds herself in a tricky situation when freshman student Jasmine (Zoe Renee) files a dispute against a professor, Liv Beckman (Amber Gray), for purposefully giving her bad grades. Both women are Black, and Jasmine finds it asinine that she is expected to examine race theory in white texts such as “The Scarlet Letter.” In addition, Jasmine is staying in a supposedly cursed dorm room – once housed by the school’s first Black undergraduate, who was accused of witchcraft and subsequently committed suicide by hanging. Jasmine is soon tormented by nooses and a burning cross; Bishop deduces the actions as pranks of a racist student. “Master” is a slow burn and much more aesthetically restrained compared to A24 horror indies in the vein of “Bodies, Bodies, Bodies.” Still, it also features a genuinely batshit twist, like something out of a Brian De Palma flick that will make you think about concepts such as diversity, inclusion, and racial gaslighting. – AB [Our Review]
