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Title Screen Film Genre(s), Title, Year, (Country), Length, Director, Description
All We Imagine as Light (2024, India), 118 minutes, D: Payal Kapadia
Introduced at the Cannes Film Festival in mid-2024, this internationally-co-produced Indian film (by female writer/director Payal Kapadia, her second feature film and first feature-length fiction film about friendship and sisterhood) won the Grand Prix award. She has also won other major film accolades including the Best International Feature Film (and Foreign Language Film) of the year. The contemporary romantic drama was set amongst working class individuals who had migrated to the modern city of Mumbai (Bombay), India - the "city of dreams." It focused mostly on two co-workers in one of the city's local hospitals: serious, respected middle-aged head nurse Prabha (Kani Kusruti) and younger, recently-hired flighty nurse Anu (Divya Prabha), who also were roommates. A third major character who had also moved to Mumbai for better opportunities was the elderly and headstrong, struggling widowed hospital cook Parvaty (Chhaya Kadam), but she faced sudden displacement and eviction from her slum residence (to be demolished for construction of luxury apartments). Prabha was in an arranged marriage with a husband who soon departed for Germany to find work, and she had lost contact for over a year. The conservative-minded Prabha was conflicted when receiving romantic attentions from an interested poetry-writing Dr. Manoj (Azees Nedumangad). The rebellious Anu - from a strict Hindu family, engaged in a forbidden romance with Shiaz (Hridhu Haroon), a Muslim man, with whom she shared text messages and wished for further secretive passion. Gossip was rampant about their relationship. The film's final third and turning point involved a lyrically-filmed, dreamlike seaside coastal-port village visit by all three women to Parvaty's hometown and birth-place, where she had decided to move back and relocate. The open-air, tranquility was a sharp contrast to the concrete claustrophobia of the city. There, Prabha performed CPR to save a drowning fisherman (Anand Sami) and established an emotional bond with him during his recovery, while Anu secretly met up with her boyfriend for sex. The film ended with a reconciliation between Prabha and Anu who had earlier become tensely estranged from each other, but now felt a sense of camaraderie and solidarity.
Anora (2024), 139 minutes, D: Sean Baker
Writer/director Sean Baker's romantic comedy-drama (a Cinderella story), with the tagline: "Love is a Hustle," won the prestigious Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in mid-2024, boosting its status as a front-runner in various film competitions. The title character Anora "Ani" Mikheeva (Mikey Madison) was a 23 year-old, Russian-speaking, high-class stripper/sex-worker at an upscale mid-town Manhattan strip club known as the HQ Gentlemen's Club. The streetwise female's residence was in the Russian-American neighborhood of Brighton Beach, a section of Brooklyn, in a dingy duplex that she shared with her older WASP-ish, passive-aggressive sister Vera (Ella Rubin). At her place of work, due to her background as a 3rd generation Russian immigrant, she was introduced to 21 year-old Ivan "Vanya" Zakharov (Mark Eydelshteyn), the spoiled, reckless, dissolute, and lazy son of wealthy Russian oligarch Nikolai Zakharov (Aleksei Serebryakov) and his domineering mother Galina Zakharova (Darya Ekamasova). She entertained him with a lap-dance and conversation. The charming, entitled and immature "Vanya" spent most of his time taking drugs and playing video-games in his modern NYC-area Zakharov mansion (in Mill Basin). An entourage of individuals was paid by his rich family to watch over the irresponsible "Vanya," including his Brooklyn-based Armenian godfather-fixer Toros (Karren Karagulian) and Toros' two rough henchmen: Russian Igor (Yura Borisov) and Armenian Garnick (Vache Tovmasyan) - Toros' brother. After a few more encounters with Ani, the young and infatuated Vanya paid for her to be his exclusive sex-slave/girlfriend for a week for $15,000 dollars. During an impromptu, boozy, hedonistic drug-filled visit to Las Vegas, NV while staying in a penthouse suite, Vanya and Ani visited the Little White Chapel, one of Vegas' ubiquitous wedding chapels, where he impulsively proposed and the two were married. Vanya's ulterior motive was to establish US citizenship via the marriage, so he could obtain his green card and permanent residence in the US, and avoid deportation. In an effort to be Vanya's dutiful wife, Ani quit her stripping job and attempted to be devoted to him in his NY mansion. News of their marriage reached Vanya's enraged family in Russia, who ordered Toros to locate the couple, while the Zakharov family flew to the US to arrange an annulment of the marriage. Pressures came to bear on the reticent Ani to accept a $10,000 dollar bribe from Toros in exchange for an annulment, although it would mean a messy and extensive breakup. Meanwhile, runaway groom Vanya had fled and was found by Ani and Toros (and his two henchmen) drunkenly nightclub-hopping with one of Ani's rival strippers at her former strip-club. Once all of the principal characters met up in Las Vegas - the only place where an annulment was legally possible, the resilient Ani attempted to salvage her short-term marriage, but was finally persuaded to give up a divorce-annulment fight against the powerful family. The disgraced heroine dramatically gave in to the annulment, although she had harsh parting words for the dysfunctional Russian family. In the film's perfectly-acted conclusion, after Ani's gallant compatriot admirer Igor had helped her to pack up her belongings at the Zakharov mansion back in New York, there was a moment of intimacy and hope that she found in Igor's comforting arms in his car.
Blitz (2024), 120 minutes, D: Steve McQueen
Writer/director Steve McQueen's historically-based action-adventure film and war-time drama (from Apple Original Films) was a grim and harrowing tale of survival and racism during the Nazi's Blitzkrieg by its Luftwaffe - an 8-month period (September 1940 - May 1941) during which time the UK suffered massive nightly bombing raids on its industrial centers, port cities, and towns. The results were devastating for the people and property of the country, with the destruction of millions of homes, and tens of thousands of British civilians. The Nazi German goal was to strip the country of its food supplies, industrial production, munitions stockpiles, and dampen the morale of the people. In the film's plot, hard-working, doting single white British mother Rita (Saoirse Ronan), a weapons factory employee, lived in the East London (Stepney Green) home of her piano-playing father Gerald (Paul Weller), with her only child - biracial 9 year-old son George (Elliott Heffernan). Seen in a flashback, her husband Marcus (CJ Beckford) from Grenada had been arrested and deported years earlier for defending himself in a racist incident against thugs. At her place of work, with friends Tilda (Hayley Squires) and Doris (Erin Kellyman), Rita was selected to sing a song ("Winter Coat") on a visiting BBC radio show. With the help of a government-sponsored evacuation and foster-parent program, Rita reluctantly decided to have George evacuated via a train journey out of London to live with strangers in the country. The heartbroken Rita tearfully put George on a train - who coldly and angrily told her: "I hate you." During his train journey, George made the brave but risky decision to jump off, and return home on his own - back to reunite with his mother. He then jumped onto another freight train car and had a nasty altercation with three other stowaway brothers before they were all evicted. The journey of self-discovery, seen through his young POV, was difficult as he was now solely on his own. He attempted to navigate through the British countryside and the outer boroughs of London, and was forced to evade bombs, explosions, and flooding (in an underground train station). He also had to confront and experience several instances of racial prejudice. He was kidnapped by a group of heartless opportunistic looters, scavengers, and evil thieves (similar in parts to Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist), including Albert (Stephen Graham) and Beryl (Kathy Burke), who took particular advantage of the mass casualties after the bombing of a fancy nightclub full of rich patrons. George was also pressured into crawling into bombed-out jewelry stores to steal merchandise. Along the way, he was aided by dark-skinned, kindly Nigerian Air Raid Precautions (ARP) warden Ife (Benjamin Clementine). Meanwhile, Rita was notified that George went missing, and she became frantic. George was forced to grow up, learn about his own identity, and muster up courage and the will to persevere.
The Brutalist (2024, US/UK), 215 minutes, D: Brady Corbet
Actor-turned-director Brady Corbet's lengthy, audacious, monumental and historical epic-drama about the 'American Dream' and anti-Semitism, at 3 hours and 35 minutes (with a prologue, two major chapters interrupted by a 15 minute intermission, and an epilogue), told a lavish, biopic-like story that spanned three decades. It was presented in the 1950s widescreen format known as VistaVision, and shot on 70mm film stock. The film's visually-stunning cinematography by Laurie "Lol" Crawley, emphasized shadows and darkness, and production designer by Judy Becker was exceptional. The 'rags-to-riches' plot was actually a fictionalized account of emigrant Laszlo Toth (Adrien Brody), a Hungarian Jewish architect and Holocaust survivor, whose 1947 arrival in the US was ironically signaled by an upside-down view of the Statue of Liberty. Laszlo's wife Erzsebet Toth (Felicity Jones) had remained behind in Budapest, Hungary, communicating with her husband by letters (heard in voice-over), to protect her orphaned teenaged niece Zsofia (Raffey Cassidy as child). The newly-arrived immigrant Laszlo proceeded by Greyhound bus to Philadelphia to live and work with his immigrant-cousin Attila (Alessandro Nivola), a furniture shop owner in Doylestown, PA, who was married to semi-xenophobic American wife Audrey (Emma Laird). (Attila had changed his name, and converted to Catholicism to fit in and assimilate.) Although living frugally and eating at soup kitchens, Laszlo was able to resurrect his architectural career when he and Attila began work on converting a study into a library for entitled, slimy son Harry Lee Van Buren (Joe Alwyn) who wished to surprise his wealthy, billionaire industrialist father Harrison Lee Van Buren Sr. (Guy Pearce). Although Laszlo thought he could rebuild his life via the project, his design (known as Brutalist) was vehemently rejected, and the enraged Van Buren refused to pay up. In the fall-out, Attila fired his cousin and threw him out of the house, forcing him into an impoverished state that meant living in a homeless shelter. Some time later, the library was showcased in a magazine, and the well-connected, wealthy elitist white Catholic Harrison attempted to repair his broken relationship with Laszlo. Harrison became Laszlo's benefactor, by letting him live in his home, inviting him to associate with various ruling-class members at gatherings, supporting him financially, and commissioning him to work on an extravagant and expensive project - to design a multi-purpose, prestigious community recreation center in Doylestown, PA, to honor his deceased mother. It was a promising and triumphant fulfillment of the "American Dream," and Laszlo made plans to have his wife Erzsebet join him for a family reunion, with a promise of work at a newspaper office. Upon the arrival of Laszlo's wife Erzsebet and Zsofia at a train station in 1953, Laszlo realized his wife was wheelchair-bound with osteoporosis, and Zsofia had temporarily become mute. The building project was ultimately undermined by Harrison's capitalist associates, increased costs, and disagreements over design changes. It was a major downfall for the Jewish working-class immigrant Laszlo after such an amazing comeback. Years later, Laszlo had domestically settled in NYC with his wife, and Zsofia had married a devout Jew and was expecting a child. She was unfulfilled and also proposing to move to Jerusalem in Israel. Laszlo was reassigned to Harrison's Recreation Center project, that would ultimately take 10 years to complete. A traumatic incident of male rape brutally inflicted upon Laszlo by the domineering and sinister Harrison resulted in Laszlo's mental deterioration and unraveling. Meanwhile, Erzsebet (addicted to heroin as a pain medication) and extremely unhappy with life in America, took it upon herself to denounce the pompous Harrison in his home in front of his family as a rapist: ("Your father is an evil rapist"). Harry defended his father by violently attacking Erzsebet. In the film's concluding epilogue in the 1980s decade, Laszlo's work received a fitting tribute at La Biennale in Venice, where Zsofia (Ariane Labed as adult) spoke about her praise for her uncle's inspired visions, with the last line about his advice to her: "No matter what the others try and sell you, it is the destination, not the journey."
Challengers (2024), 131 minutes, D: Luca Guadagnino
The non-linear script (with flashbacks and flash-forwards) of director Luca Guadagnino's sports drama and romance film was written by Justin Kuritzkes. Delays due to the mid-2023 strike of the actors' union SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) led to the film's postponed release a year later. The film's major love triangle, a manipulative game of one-upmanship over a prolonged period of 13 years, existed between pretty ex-tennis prodigy and current coach Tashi Duncan (Zendaya), her accomplished Grand Slam ex-champion tennis-playing husband Art Donaldson (Mike Faist), and Tashi's amateur tennis-playing ex-boyfriend Patrick Zweig (Josh O'Connor). In the film's opening, set in the year 2006, 18 year-old high-school friends and doubles-partners Art and Patrick won the Junior Doubles title at the US Open. Newly-minted as Junior Doubles champs, the two males would go on to separate careers as pro tennis players. They met another rising tennis star Tashi Duncan at the event who won the women's singles contest, and their attraction to Tashi initiated a lengthy ongoing love-triangle, on and off the court. The two were both smitten and infatuated with the tennis-obsessed Tashi, transforming them from buddies to jealous adversaries with tense animosity growing between them. Beginning in 2007, both Tashi and Art attended prestigious Stanford University where they played on the college tennis team, although Tashi experienced a severe knee injury (ACL) during a match - a serious injury that curtailed her pro career. Meanwhile, Patrick was dating Tashi and was on track to also become a professional player. Within a few years after Tashi's injury, she had become Art's coach and serious girlfriend. Patrick happened to meet up with Tashi at the Atlanta Open in 2011, and the two had sex during a one-night stand. Within the next decade, Tashi and Art married, had a daughter, and she became Art's coach (as she vicariously lived her own curtailed career through his play). Tashi described how she viewed tennis as an intense and transcendent relationship or love connection: ("We understood each other completely. So did everyone watching. It's like we were in love. Or like we didn't exist. We went somewhere really beautiful together"). Art won 6 Grand Slam titles, and only needed to win the US Open to complete his career slam, but he was faltering and unsure of himself. The captivating film culminated with a lower-level match-up at an ATP Challenger tennis event in New Rochelle, NY. Tashi was interested in promoting Art's tennis career and personal confidence by entering him as a wild card in the Challenger tennis tournament - not knowing that lower-level, unknown player Patrick (broke and on the edge of poverty) had also entered the contest. The two ex-partners ended up as players on opposite sides of the net to compete in the finals. The night before the metaphorical matchup (for Tashi's affection), Tashi (who was clearly unhappy in her marriage, and her husband's decision to soon retire) secretly met up with Patrick. She bargained for him to play poorly and thus let Art win - she felt it would help boost Art's recent disillusionment and help strengthen her tennis-related bond to her husband. Patrick reluctantly agreed and had sex with Tashi in his car. In the film's concluding, crowd-pleasing sequence, the match between Patrick and Art was mostly evenly-matched. Late in the match, Patrick taunted Art about having had sex with Tashi (using a well-known bro code), and both had reasons to play as vigorously and furiously as possible. The match ended with a fair and well-fought seeming victory for Art - celebrated by both Patrick and Art (who embraced each other as newfound friends in a bromance while tangled in the court's net), with the elated Tashi also cheering and yelling "Come on" at courtside. The outcome of the match substantiated Tashi's belief that an intense connection had been formed between the two opposing players and herself.
A Complete Unknown (2024), 141 minutes, D: James Mangold
Director and co-scripter James Mangold's vibrant biographical musical-drama was co-written by Jay Cocks, based upon Elijah Wald's 2015 book Dylan Goes Electric! Newport, Seeger, Dylan, and the Night That Split the Sixties. This competently-told, well-crafted, reverential, and straight-forward ensemble docu-drama (in comparison to Todd Haynes' I'm Not There (2007)) followed the early career of elusive folk singer Bob Dylan (Timothée Chalamet). The production design perfectly captured and immersed the viewer into the look and feel of an important time period in musical history. The entertaining film opened in January of 1961 when the 19 year-old guitar-playing musician relocated from Minnesota to NYC, always managing to keep his youthful past an enigmatic secret ("a complete unknown" - part of the lyrics in his song "Like a Rolling Stone"). During his quick rise to popularity and musical fame (in the film's four year time frame), the iconic, chain-smoking star crossed paths with revolutionary folk hero Woody Guthrie (Scoot McNairy) - who was battling Huntington's disease in a Jersey hospital, and folk performer and left-wing rebel-activist Pete Seeger (Edward Norton), Guthrie's banjo player. Young Dylan serenaded both of them at Guthrie's bedside. Impressed by the singer and his creativity, Seeger helped to guide Dylan to perform in various gigs about town. The film highlighted many of Dylan's chart-topping songs, viewed in sequences of live performances in West Greenwich Village and other venues - aptly true to life with nasally, slurring lyrics. Two of his on-and-off again female partners included up-and-coming, emotive folk singer Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro), and a more long-term relationship with painter-artist Sylvie Russo (Elle Fanning). In the turbulent 1960s - a time of political unrest, upheaval and division, the tremendously-talented and defiant Dylan developed a mystique of his own, and became the voice of a free-spirited generation with his straight-forward and meaningful lyrics (i.e. "Blowin' in the Wind"). He transformed himself from an awkward, self-conscious prodigy into a real-life, chopper-riding, sunglasses-wearing musical star projecting cool apathy and non-chalance. At the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, he was involved in an infamous controversy over his transformative decision to shift away from the traditionalist folk style of music to the use of electrically amplified music - exemplified in his hit album Highway 61 Revisited. The sudden switch was met with divisiveness - both praises and derision.
Conclave (2024), 120 minutes, D: Edward Berger
In this dramatic mystery thriller by director Edward Berger, Peter Straughan's adapted script - based on Robert Harris' 2016 UK pulpy novel of the same name - consisted of a juicy potboiler and 'detective'-like procedural. It opened with the death of the current liberal Pope Gregory XVII and the subsequent election of his successor through a papal conclave. After the unexpected demise of the present Pope due to a heart attack, the powerful College of Cardinals (composed of 118 Cardinals from the worldwide Catholic Church) was commissioned to meet together in seclusion in a papal conclave at the Vatican to covertly select (by the casting of votes) the church's new leader. Low-key liberal Cardinal Thomas Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) (UK), the Dean of the Cardinals, was dutifully responsible for the formidable task of leading the sequestered group and overseeing the process, even though he faced a personal crisis of faith. Following the Pope's funeral, four cardinals emerged as leading candidates, with a wide spectrum of opposing theologies: (1) Aldo Cardinal Bellini (US) (Stanley Tucci) - an extreme liberal, (2) Joshua Cardinal Adeyemi (Nigeria) (Lucian Msamati) - a social conservative, (3) Joseph Cardinal Tremblay (Canada) (John Lithgow) - a moderate conservative, and (4) Goffredo Cardinal Tedesco (Italy) (Sergio Castellitto) - a far-right bigoted reactionary. A surprise additional arrival to the Cardinal's conclave was Mexican missionary Vincent Cardinal Benitez (Carlos Diehz) who had been ministering as the Archbishop of Kabul in Afghanistan. The most crucial scene in the film was Lawrence's delivery of a scriptural homily or sermon to the Cardinals, warning them against excessive certainty. He urged them to embrace doubt and uncertainty, or otherwise, there would be no doubt, or mystery in life, or the need for faith ("If there was only certainty and no doubt, there would be no mystery. And therefore no need for faith"). Due to some of the candidates' extremist views or unpopularity, the two most logical choices to succeed the pope were Cardinal Lawrence and Cardinal Bellini, although both were not vying for the position. The first ballot resulted in no single candidate getting a 2/3rds majority of the votes, although liberal candidate Adeyemi was leading, and there were five votes for Lawrence. During the many rounds of voting, there were behind-the-scenes political maneuverings, jockeying for votes, and the formation of alliances to support either a liberal or a conservative candidate. Lawrence began to suspect a conspiracy in the making, although it was not his responsibility and actually a violation of policy to conduct outside research into ethical violations and wrongdoing. However, he uncomfortably went ahead and began to investigate and research the backgrounds of some of the opposing candidates, including using the computer of feisty, observant head nun Sister Agnes (Isabella Rossellini). As the campaigning for the papal position resumed, it was revealed that Cardinal Tremblay may have been asked to resign by the ex-pope due to a past scandal (although Tremblay denied the charge), and that Cardinal Adeyemi was a rampant homophobic. Also, it was revealed that years earlier, Adeyemi had impregnated Nigerian nun Sister Shanumi (Balkissa Maiga), and the baby was put up for adoption. The Sister had recently been reassigned to the Vatican for duty - possibly a set-up orchestrated by Tremblay to help his chances. During Lawrence's research, he illegally broke the sealed chambers of the dead Pope to search for information. He found documents that confirmed that Tremblay had bribed other Cardinals for votes, and deduced that Bellini had also accepted bribes. The revelation of Tremblay's corrupt activities caused him to be removed from consideration. Bellini switched his allegiance from Tremblay and put his support behind Lawrence, thereby placing the Dean into direct competition with the only other viable candidate - Tedesco. During the 6th voting ballot, an attack on Rome and the Vatican by a suicide bomber left considerable damage to the Sistine Chapel and loss of life. Tedesco's virulent placement of blame for the attack on the heathen Islamists and his zealous call for war shifted the votes in favor of the mysterious underdog candidate Benitez. He was elected Pope Innocent XIV on the 7th and final ballot. In the film's sensationalist and completely unpredictable twist ending, the new Pope explained to Lawrence that although assigned at birth to be a biological male, until recently, he was unaware that he was non-binary (or intersexual), with a uterus, ovaries, and penis. The former Pope had paid for a plane ticket for Benitez to submit to a surgical procedure in Switzerland known as a laparoscopic hysterectomy as part of his gender reassignment. However, Benitez had later cancelled the appointment and kept his internal female organs, although he knew that he would be forced to step down if his medical condition was revealed to the public. He claimed to Lawrence: "I am what God made me," and the selfless, unambitious Lawrence agreed to keep the new Pope's secret intact.
Dune: Part Two (2024), 166 minutes, D: Denis Villeneuve
Co-scriptwriter and director Denis Villeneuve's epic sci-fi film shared writing honors with Jon Spaihts, basing this sequel again on Frank Herbert's 1965 novel Dune. As the second part of the adaptation following Dune (2021), it was also set in the distant future on the harsh desert planet of Arrakis (known as Dune), where exiled Duke Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) of House Atreides (symbolized by a Red Hawk) had united with the native Fremen people, a mysterious desert-dwelling contingent of survivors and fierce fighters, to wage war (known as the War of Assassins) against the tyrannical and villanous House Harkonnen. The inhospitable Arrakis was the only source of the all-important and valuable spice melange found in the desert ("Power over spice is power over all"), that was dangerously harvested with the ever-present threat of giant sandworms. Melange was used as an addictive psychedelic drug, as a substance to prolong life and vitality, and as a means to facilitate interstellar travel. As the sequel opened, a coup and conquest of the House Atreides (and its stronghold at Arrakis) had been accomplished by Baron Vladimir Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgård), with support from the treacherous Padishah Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV (Christopher Walken) and his military forces (Sardaukar troops). During the take-over, Paul's father Duke Leto Atreides (Oscar Isaac) was killed. The despotic and fascistic Baron appointed his slightly-incompetent nephew Glossu 'Beast' Rabban (Dave Bautista) to temporarily rule over the planet Arrakis. With his pregnant mother Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), Paul - the heir to the House Atreides, was forced to flee and go into exile in Dune's desert during the overthrow. He joined up with the Fremen (where he was loyally supported by one of their chieftains named Naib Shilgar (Javier Bardem) who believed in Paul as the prophesied savior) to fulfill his late father Duke Leto Atreides' goal of ultimately seeking peace on the planet of Arrakis. Meanwhile, the Machiavellian Jessica had her own political motives as a member of the all-female group of spiritual advisors known as the Bene Gesserit. At first, Paul and Jessica were suspiciously regarded as spies by many, but then gradually accepted into the indigenous Freman community at Sietch Tabr, where the disgruntled Freman were convinced to back Paul's attempt to release Arrakis from Imperial rule and take control. A resistance movement was formed to ultimately attempt to depose the Emperor (often envisioned by Paul as a frightful, devastating, apocalyptic holy war). Fulfilling ancient prophecy, the skeptical Freman began to revere Paul as a means of Messianic liberation from oppression, and not as a threatening future ruler, although Paul was self-doubting and uncertain about his own supposed destiny. His mother also became the successor of the Fremans' dying Reverend Mother Mohiam (Charlotte Rampling). Young and rebellious Fremen warrioress Chani (Zendaya), who had previously been envisioned in Paul's dreams, became his legal concubine (love interest), training him in the language, martial arts and fighting techniques. Back on Arrakis, the Baron appointed his youngest nephew - cruel, power-hungry and sadistic Feyd-Rautha (Austin Butler), Rabban's ambitious younger brother, to rule the planet and become the Baron's heir to House Harkonnen. Feyd-Rautha unleashed a vicious attack on the northern Fremen, destroying Sietch Tabr, and forcing the northern survivors to move further south. Chani was compelled to save Paul from a deadly coma (a deep spice trance) after drinking from the Water of Life, after which his psychic powers of clairvoyance were enhanced. He realized that Jessica was the secret daughter of Baron Harkonnen himself, as part of the Baron's failed plan to unite the two warring Houses and produce a super-being known as the Kwisatz Haderach. By now, Paul had been recognized as the Fremens' off-world prophet and Messiah (he declared himself to be the Lisan al Gaib). During a confrontational meeting on Arrakis between Paul, Emperor Shaddam IV (with his eldest, politically-wise heiress daughter Princess Irulan (Florence Pugh)), and Shaddam's Sardaukar troops, Paul managed to force the Sardaukar to surrender, executed the Baron, and captured Shaddam IV. A separate assault of Fremen led by Paul's friend and mentor Gurney Halleck (Josh Brolin) eliminated Rabban. The defeat of the forces of House Harkonnen, and Paul's complete control of the spice trade gave him the power to depose Shaddam IV, protest the interference of an orbiting fleet composed of the politically-unified Houses (known as the Landsraad), and ascend to the throne. Princess Irulan also acquiesed to his request for a political marriage, while Paul's lover Chani was relegated to the position of concubine. However, the very cautionary Chani viewed Paul's rise to power as a betrayal. She resisted and refused to bow down to him - reticent and ambivalent about his rapid rise to ambitious political leadership.
Emilia Pérez (2024, Fr.), 132 minutes, D: Jacques Audiard
Audacious French director/co-scripter Jacques Audiard's unpredictable, thematically-confusing, genre-busting crime thriller-musical-melodrama (and more) - a strong contender for France's entry as the Best International Feature Film - was based on Audiard's own opera libretto. This daring and idiosyncratic film about misguided redemption and gender identity was also loosely adapted from a fictional character in Boris Razon’s 2018 novel Écoute. The Spanish-language film definitely qualified as a fragmented musical fantasy, featuring 16 original songs written by French singer Camille and with a musical score by composer Clément Ducol. The lead title character actress - transgendered Karla Sofía Gascón - was honored with the rest of the female ensemble cast with the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival. Gascon had been living as a male star of telenovelas, but then transitioned in 2018 to a female with support from wife Marisa Gutiérrez and a teenage daughter. In the plot involving a complex web of motivations and desires, underappreciated and underpaid criminal defense lawyer Rita Mora Castro (Zoe Saldana) in Mexico City took on a high-profile murder case and won a well-publicized victory by successfully maneuvering and arguing in the trial that the death was a suicide (dubbed El Alegato). Afterwards, she was contacted by a mysterious and anonymous caller, infamous drug cartel lord Juan "Manitas" Del Monte (Gascon). In a clandestine meeting with the intimidating client (after being brought to him with a bag over her head), Rita learned of the mob boss' gender dysphoria and his unusual request. She was offered a lucrative offer in exchange for legal help - to secretly facilitate his goal of gender-affirming surgery and his transitioning process into a female with a new identity, while also relinquishing his ties to the cartel. Meetings were conducted in Bangkok, Thailand and Tel Aviv, Israel with potential surgeons, followed up by Israeli Dr. Wasserman's (Mark Ivanir) agreement to perform the operation. The drug kingpin became newly-named as Emilia Perez after staging his own death. His wife Jessi Del Monte (Selena Gomez) and two young sons, after learning of his 'death,' were protectively helped to relocate to Switzerland and begin a new life for themselves. Four years later during a chance meeting in London with Rita, Emilia expressed how she wanted to become reacquainted with her family. Rita agreed to help Jessi and the children return to Mexico City to reunite with Emilia (who was falsely introduced as one of Manitas' distant cousins). Jessi didn't recognize her former husband, and instead of consenting to live with an unknown stranger, she departed and instead reunited with ex-lover Gustavo Brun (Édgar Ramírez). At this point in her life, the guilt-ridden Emila began to be remorseful about her violent and dark criminal past, and decided (with Rita) to set up a non-profit organization (in part financed by corrupt underworld donors) to aid cartel victims and help identify lost or missing relatives. Emilia struck up and entered into a romantic relationship with Epifania Flores (Adriana Paz), one of her organization's beneficiaries. Meanwhile, Jessi and Gustavo were making plans to be married, and Jessi was hoping to have more children and raise them in her new home with him. After Emilia learned of Jessi's recent domestic plans, she became threatening and demanded that the children were hers and withdrew Jessi's allowance. Fearful of Emilia's aggressiveness and presumed lying, Jessi was prompted to flee with the children. Then, in retaliation, Jessi and Gustavo kidnapped Emilia and demanded a large ransom from Rita for her return. During a tense negotiation attempt (and a shootout), Emilia strove to prove her true identity to Jessi, with intimate details about their formerly-married life. Confused by everything, Jessi (with a gun) loaded Emilia into their car's trunk, and as they drove off and she struggled with Gustavo, the car veered off the road - tragically killing Jessi, Gustavo, and Emilia. In the film's epilogue, Rita took on the responsibilities of being the orphaned children's legal guardian. In the street, Epifanía sang Emilia's eulogy as she was joined by the non-profit's supporters.
Gladiator II (2024), 148 minutes, D: Ridley Scott
I'm Still Here (2024, Braz.) (aka Ainda Estou Aqui), 136 minutes, D: Walter Salles
Inside Out 2 (2024), 96 minutes, D: Kelsey Mann
Juror #2 (2024), 114 minutes, D: Clint Eastwood
Nickel Boys (2024), 140 minutes, D: RaMell Ross
A Real Pain (2024), 90 minutes, D: Jesse Eisenberg
The Room Next Door (2024), 107 minutes, D: Pedro Almodóvar
The Seed of the Sacred Fig (2024, Germ.), 168 minutes, D: Mohammad Rasoulof
September 5 (2024), 95 minutes, D: Tim Fehlbaum
Sing Sing (2023/2024), 107 minutes, D: Greg Kwedar
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Wicked (2024), 160 minutes, D: Jon M. Chu
The Wild Robot (2024), 102 minutes, D: Chris Sanders
