Note: Below are films available for streaming and some that have been released to select theaters. Due to recent changes in Bay Area COVID-19 safety precautions, filmgoers are urged to check ahead before attending any indoor theater screenings.
What’s happening in Movie Land? Former San Jose resident Aneesh Chaganty is cementing his Hitchcock cred, Steve McQueen is taking a “Small Axe” to racism, and Sean Durkin’s latest will keep you glued to your seat.
Here’s our roundup of new releases.
“Run”: Former San Jose resident Aneesh Chaganty tricked out his feature debut “Searching” by having it told via electronic devices. In his follow-up, the wunderkind sticks to traditional filmmaking and retains the same tension. While his twisted story about a mother (Sarah Paulson, chilling as ever) and her clingy and deluded devotion to her isolated wheelchair-bound daughter (Kiera Allen, in a killer debut) is predictable, it delivers one of the most satisfying endings I’ve seen in some time. Chaganty and co-writer/co-producer Sev Ohanian wink a lot at Alfred Hitchcock but never allow the tension to ease for a nanosecond. It’s great fun, and not overly violent. Details: 3 stars; available Nov. 20 on Hulu.
“Mangrove”: Oscar-winning director Steve McQueen’s first of five stand-alone films reflecting the rancid racism experienced by London’s West Indian community during the ‘70s and ‘80s, is excellent. Featuring “Black Panther’s” Letitia Wright, “Mangrove” rings with such authenticity it feels like a documentary. McQueen tells the true story of Frank Crichlow (Shaun Parkes) and how his cafe became a target of relentless and unprovoked police raids. It culminates in a 1970 trial presided by a ludicrous judge. As with McQueen’s other films, it’s flawlessly made with outstanding performances. It also conveys another time and place that sadly echoes our own. Can’t wait to watch other films in Amazon Prime’s “Small Axe” series. Details: 3½; available Nov. 20 on Amazon Prime.
“Hillbilly Elegy”: J.D. Vance’s best-seller about growing up in Ohio and reconciling with his past became a rallying call on how liberals ignore the realities of the working class. That might be evident in the book, but this film says nuthin’ about that. The praised memoir receives a namby-pamby treatment from director Ron Howard and the result is a tepid, detached and uncertain family drama. Newcomer Gabriel Basso gets stuck with an idealized version of Vance, an ambitious man who comes back home when his erratic mother (Amy Adams) catapults into another drug-induced tailspin. Raised by both his mom and his grandmother Mamaw (Glenn Close), Vance worked hard to get to Yale, and that clash between his new life and his old makes for a dramatic scenario that never comes alive here. Adams and Close give it their all, but Howard’s meek, sanitized drama avoids harsh truths and is counter to what the book was all about. Details: 1½ stars; available to stream Nov. 24 on Netflix.
“Coded Bias”: Shalini Kantayya’s eye-opening documentary sounds the alarm on manipulative algorithms, AI “advances” and facial recognition technology — all of which create problems for people of color. The film centers mostly on MIT Media Lab researcher Joy Buolamwini and her efforts to circumvent plans to use more faulty face ID technology for companies such as Amazon. Katnayya’s documentary and its unsettling findings should be mandatory viewing for Silicon Valley innovators. Details: 3½ stars; available beginning Nov. 18 as part of the Virtual Cinema series at the Smith Rafael Center, rafaelfilm.cafilm.org and the Roxie Theater, www.roxie.com.
“Team Marco”: Julio Vincent Gambuto’s charmer is a rare live-action family film winner, one that’s funny, sweet and certain to make you tear up a little. A bocce-loving Italian grandfather (Anthony Patellis) offers pointers to his video-game-playing grandson (Owen Vaccaro) about how not to just play bocce but to disconnect from this plugged-in world. Details: 3 stars; streaming Nov. 20 on various platforms.
“The Nest”: Few contemporary filmmakers can unsettle us with the restrained moodiness of Sean Durkin. The “Martha Marcy May Marlene” director gradually tightens the dramatic screws as a marriage and family self-destruct due to greed and restlessness. As the hot and then cold couple, Jude Law and Carrie Coon make the bitter words written by Durkin slap and sting. Durkin gives this tale set in the 1980s an ominous thriller vibe and a perfect time-period soundtrack. The film never overstates itself as it reaches a memorable conclusion. Details: 3½ stars; streaming on various platforms.
“Leap of Faith — William Friedkin on ‘The Exorcist’”: Director Alexandre O. Philippe builds his entire documentary around renegade director Friedkin’s thoughts and recollections. Smart move. Friedkin is a natural-born storyteller, spinning Hollywood tales with candor and exuberance. Friedkin’s adventures in making the classic 1973 horror film about demon possession fascinating trivia excursion as he reveals scenes and actors that satisfied him as well as an ending that he still doesn’t think works. Details: 3 stars; available Nov. 19 on Shudder.
“Ammonite”: Although Francis Lee’s follow-up to “God’s Own Country” — one of 2017’s best features — isn’t as impressive as its predecessor, it gorgeously showcases Lee’s ability to create earthy, rugged landscapes and earthy, rugged characters. In one of her most patient and natural performances yet, Kate Winslet plays an emotionally stunted paleontologist who finds her passions stirred by an unhappily married younger woman (Saoirse Ronan). Sensual, but reserved, Lee’s slow drama might frustrate some. So what? It captures the essence of a forbidden attraction at a time when same-sex love was stifled and considered deviant. Details: 3 stars; in select theaters. Available to stream Dec. 4.
“Vanguard”: Action-adventure films don’t get much more terrible than this dog. Director Stanley Tong junks up his globe-trotting spy thriller with low-rent CGI and awkward action pieces that are rote, boring and laughable. Jackie Chan plays the head of a law-and-order Vanguard security team on a mission to rescue a plucky “let’s-save-the-wildlife” daughter of an accountant. Everything about it is annoying, including a swipe at Captain America. Avoid this travesty at all costs. Details: ½ star, in selected theaters Nov. 20, including the Solano West-Wind Drive-In theater in Concord.
“Collective”: Echoing the tragic elements of the fatal Ghost Ship warehouse fire in Oakland, this riveting investigative documentary from Alexander Nanau covers the aftermath of a fire that killed 27 at a Bucharest nightclub. Rather than offer survivors specialized treatment, officials shuffle them off to care facilities ill-equipped to care for them. That move sparks a dogged journalistic investigation who expose expose how officials put politics over people’s lives. But Nanau’s damning film — applicable to political failures around the world — goes beyond that, exposing the very roots of corruption and exploring the harm it does. Details: 4 stars; in select theaters and available to stream Nov. 20.
