RIFF, planning stages
Nov. 7 — Happy Friday, everyone! This morning, we’ve got a lot of news (including that of the Miss Piggy persuasion), so get ready! I also find myself gearing up to head to the Rome Film Festival tomorrow, where I’ve got a few exciting interviews lined up and plan on seeing as many movies as I can in between. That’ll be the start to a busy week for me, so let’s get right down to it.
Without further ado … Action!
🧑⚖️ In light of Warner Bros. Discovery’s recent decision to put itself up for sale, the California Department of Justice is cracking down against the idea of further consolidation in Hollywood, calling the idea “unlawful.”
🏆 Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein” and Park Chan-wook’s “No Other Choice” took home the Audience Awards at this year’s SCAD Savannah Film Festival. See the full list of winners here.
🌸 Jim Farmer recently interviewed the director of the new documentary “Natchez,” which opens in Atlanta this weekend. Check that out here.
🥫 Tyler Perry has donated $1.4 million to organizations supporting those who have lost SNAP benefits during the government shutdown.
🚀 The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra has announced that its film score program, “Star Wars and More: Including the Music of John Williams,” will return to Ameris Bank Amphitheatre in May of next year.
👭 The film nonprofit RE:IMAGINE ATL is hosting an event to celebrate women in film, media, and other creative industries on Nov. 18.
💔 Diane Ladd, a three-time Oscar nominee known for her roles in films like “Wild at Heart” and “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore,” passed away earlier this week at the age of 89.
🎶 Grammy nominations are out today, with artists like Kendrick Lamar, Lady Gaga, and Sabrina Carpenter leading the charge. See the full list of nominations here.
🐷 And finally, in the best news I’ve heard all week, Cole Escola is penning the script for a movie about the queen herself, Miss Piggy. Jennifer Lawrence and Emma Stone are set to produce. We are so back!
This week’s newsletter includes an interview with “Hadestown” tour choreographer T. Oliver Reid, as well as a rundown of the American Black Film Festival Pop Up coming through Atlanta this weekend. We’ve also got three movie reviews (they truly never stop): Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Bugonia,” the sports biopic “Christy,” and Nia DaCosta’s Ibsen adaptation, “Hedda.” Plus, what’s at the movie theaters this weekend, a new edition of Spotlight, and some reading and listening recommendations for your lunch break.
Thanks for reading!
Sammie
🟢 Green tokens, used at farmers markets to double the value of SNAP/EBT, can be redeemed anytime at any WWG partner market, no matter when or where the tokens were purchased. For a map of WWG partners, click here. SPONSOR MESSAGE
American Black Film Festival Pop Up Tour comes to Atlanta
📽️ The American Black Film Festival is making a stop in Atlanta this weekend.
The ABFF Pop Up Tour will be at AMC Madison Yards 8 Nov. 8-9, according to a press release. This new initiative from the American Black Film Festival, which is based in Miami Beach, is meant to expand the festival’s reach beyond its flagship event. Other pop ups have taken and will take place in New York, Dallas, and Los Angeles.
Throughout the weekend, the ABFF Pop Up Tour will feature screenings and conversations with industry figures about everything from screenwriting to working behind the camera.
🎬 Learn more about the event here.
Chamblee has it all this holiday season
SPONSORED BY DISCOVER DEKALB
✨ Sports fans, foodies, and fun seekers – Chamblee has something for you.
The 3rd Spot Watch Party Series transforms game days into citywide celebrations. From sizzling street bites to clinking glasses under string lights, the scene is alive with passion and flavor. After the match, stroll through Chamblee’s arts district or pop into one of its indie coffee spots. This is where global culture meets local charm, where every event becomes an invitation to belong.
❤️ The heartbeat of Chamblee? Connection, celebration, and community spirit.
Choreographer T. Oliver Reid talks bringing ‘Hadestown’ to Atlanta
🥀 T. Oliver Reid knows “Hadestown” better than most.
He was an original cast member, and also served as the understudy for both Hermes and Hades before taking over as Hermes when André De Shields left in May of 2022. He later came on as associate choreographer for the Broadway production, and currently serves as the choreographer for the touring production coming to the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, Nov. 14-16.
“Hadestown” features music, lyrics, and a book by Anaïs Mitchell, and tells the story of the ancient Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. In 2019, “Hadestown” won eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical.
🎼 I spoke with Reid ahead of the show’s run in Atlanta. You can check out that conversation here.
In ‘Bugonia,’ humans can destroy themselves all on their own
WEEKLY FILM REVIEW
👽 Over the past few years, a shorthand has emerged for Yorgos Lanthimos films – is this a “nasty Yorgos?” Or a “nice Yorgos?” “Bugonia” is an interesting mix of the two.
Lanthimos’ new film “Bugonia,” based on the South Korean film “Save the Green Planet!,” stars Jesse Plemons as Teddy, a beekeeper/conspiracy theorist who believes that Michelle Fuller (Emma Stone), the CEO of the pharmaceutical company he works for, is actually part of an alien species called the Andromedans who have invaded Earth and forced human beings into subservience. He convinces his neurodivergent cousin Don (Aidan Delbis) to help him kidnap Michelle so they can force her to make her overlords go back where they came from.
While “Bugonia” is funny, caustic, and violent in all the typical Lanthimos ways, it also might be one of his most somber films to date. For as silly as “Bugonia” can be, it is also a deeply sad exploration of one man’s conspiracy-filled journey to right a great wrong. But Teddy is looking for the villain to his story in all the wrong places. Insisting that aliens are the reason for all the world’s ills is far easier than reckoning with the fact that humans – including Teddy himself – don’t need outside help when it comes to total destruction.
🐝 Check out my full review here.
‘Christy’ lacks the depth the story deserves
WEEKLY FILM REVIEW
🥊 Christy Salters’ life feels like it should be a movie.
Her status as one of the most important figures in the early years of women’s boxing might have been enough. But Christy’s life outside of the ring has all the earmarks of the type of story that biopics love to tell; it’s a narrative focused on a woman who finally came to terms with her sexuality, and who overcame a terrible relationship with her coach-turned-husband. At over 20 years her senior, he was emotionally, financially, and physically abusive throughout their marriage before he eventually attempted to murder her in 2010.
“Christy,” the new film directed by David Michôd and co-written by Michôd and Mirrah Foulkes, rests on the inherent high drama of Christy’s story, refusing to engage with her beyond the expected, which leads to fairly surface-level performances. Boxing is a performative sport to an extent, and the moments that play off that performativity in the ring can be enthralling. But it’s in the film’s quieter moments that it loses any sense of depth.
💪 Read my full review here.
‘Hedda’ is a delicious power trip
WEEKLY FILM REVIEW
📖 Toward the beginning of “Hedda,” we find our titular heroine (Tessa Thompson) standing alone atop her vast estate, wielding a pistol. Down below, Judge Roland Brack (Nicholas Pinnock) makes his way across the grass. He’s arrived early for Hedda’s party, thrown in celebration of her marriage to George Tesman (Tom Bateman).
Hedda admonishes Brack for his earliness. “Shall I punish you?” she drawls, pointing the gun at Brack. She suddenly aims wide and fires, chuckling at Brack’s horrified reaction. She wins this round.
“Hedda,” written and directed by Nia DaCosta and adapted from Henrik Ibsen’s play “Hedda Gabler,” is all about punishment and power, centering around the woman on top of the parapet who’s as likely to turn her gun on herself as anyone else. “Hedda” is a whirling dervish of power struggles, featuring a powerhouse performance from Thompson at the eye of the hurricane. Setting the story in the 1950s, DaCosta beautifully updates Ibsen’s play to explore questions of sexuality and race within one woman’s quest to find even an ounce of control.
🥂 Read my full review here.
At the Movies!
If you’re looking for a movie to see in theaters this week, here’s what you’ve got to look forward to!
Movies releasing this weekend:
🛸 “Predator: Badlands” (pictured)
🌸 “Natchez”
🇩🇪 “Nuremberg”
🥊 “Christy”
🤰 “Die My Love”
🪵 “Train Dreams”
Special Events:
🧟 Buried Alive Horror Film Festival @ The Plaza (through Sunday)
🤓 “Annie Hall” @ The Tara (Saturday-Thursday)
🌪️ Cineprov: “Twister” @ The Tara (Saturday)
🇵🇸 “Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989” @ The Tara (Sunday-Thursday)
📧 “You’ve Got Mail” @ Springs Cinema & Taphouse (Saturday-Sunday)
🟢 Green tokens, used at farmers markets to double the value of SNAP/EBT, can be redeemed anytime at any WWG partner market, no matter when or where the tokens were purchased. For a map of WWG partners, click here. SPONSOR MESSAGE
Spotlight: Score for ‘The Mastermind’
🎺 In most Kelly Reichardt movies, less is more. Her films tend to revel in the silences between characters, and “The Mastermind,” her newest work, is no different – except for when it comes to Rob Mazurka’s score.
That’s not to say that Mazurka’s score overpowers the film. But it is the loudest thing in the film, representing a bit of a departure for Reichardt at the same time that it emphasizes the very thing she has always been great at: delicately mining the inner life of her characters. This time, with Mazurka’s help, it’s just a bit more explosive.
This is the film score debut for Mazurka, a key figure in the avant-garde jazz ensemble Chicago Underground. From the moment “The Mastermind” starts, it’s clear he was the right man for the job. The opening scenes are characterized mostly by silence, but as the credits begin to roll, his driving, percussive score plays as Reichardt sets the scene in picturesque, suburban Massachusetts.
In my review, I talked about how the dichotomy between the visuals and the music sets up the tension within the film’s protagonist, art thief J.B. Mooney (Josh O’Connor). On the surface, he’s clean, respectable, a little boring. But underneath, he’s buzzing with the energy of unrealized, unresolved dreams. As the movie goes on, Mazurka and Reichardt work to find the perfect combination of silence paired with huge bursts of sound. They may not seem like a match made in heaven on the surface, but it’s always the odd couples that work out the best.
Lights, Camera, Action!
🎭 How about a book recommendation? Earlier this week, Daniel Day-Lewis responded to Brian Cox’s previous disparaging remarks about “the method,” referring to Isaac Butler’s book of the same title. Day-Lewis went on to say that he believes these criticisms of the method inevitably come from people who don’t really understand it, and also admonished some of his colleagues for what he believes to be unprofessional behavior (I would really love to know who is playing with whoopee cushions around Daniel Freaking Day-Lewis). Anyways! All this to say, if you’re one of those people who knows nothing about the method, might I interest you in Isaac Butler’s book about its history? It’s one of the best books about the history of acting that you’ll ever read.
🐈 The podcast “Blank Check” is well into its series on the films of the Coen Brothers by now, but they just did my favorite Coens’ film, so I gotta push it again. I’ve always loved “Inside Llewyn Davis,” a movie about the pain of failure, and loss, with Oscar Isaac lookin’ like a snack. I loved the “Blank Check” episode for this film, which features guests and fellow “Inside Llewyn Davis” lover Rachel Zegler. Check it out here.
🍿 As someone who only just recently got very into Wordle (late to the party, I know), I always love getting a new game. If you’re a cinephile like me, might I suggest Vulture’s Cinematrix? If you can name a Jennifer Lawrence movie based on a book or with double letters in the title, today’s game is for you. (NOTE: Apparently, the fact that the Darren Aronofsky movie “Mother!” is a Biblical allegory does NOT count as “based on a book,” so don’t try to be sneaky and make the same mistake I did.)
🖋️ Today’s Scene was edited by Julie E. Bloemeke.
