From Greg Laemmle:
The movies are back! Or at least, Hollywood blockbusters are back. But if you pay attention to the pundits (always with a grain of salt), you’ll see story after story about how the arthouse audience still hasn’t returned. And to a large degree, this is true. But why? Is the older audience still staying away because of Covid fears? Did they discover streaming during the 13-month shutdown of moviegoing, and they are slow (or never) to come back. Or is there something else contributing to the situation?
Our theatres have been open for over a year since the 13-month shutdown, and every week we present an array of smaller foreign-language films, documentaries, and indie features. Distributors aren’t advertising in print like they did pre-pandemic. But if you look in the LA Times every day, you’ll see our Laemmle Theatres directory ad listing all these titles. But beyond the ads, there is something missing in the paper. Something of vital importance to creating awareness of smaller films. That thing …REVIEWS.
I’m prompted to write this because last week, on Friday, June 10, there was not a single film review in the print edition of the L.A. Times Calendar section. Among other films, the paper completely ignored the French literary adaptation LOST ILLUSIONS, a huge, award-winning hit in France and a critical success here. (The New York Times, which did review it, called the film “sensational.”). Some weeks, the Times has run reviews, but published them days after a film’s opening. And for films that might only end up playing for a week in LA, running a review after the weekend is not particularly helpful, either for the film or for an interested viewer.
Compare this to the pre-pandemic period when a reader could expect to find multiple reviews in the Friday paper, and then plan their weekend (or weekly) moviegoing accordingly.
We know that the newspaper industry has its challenges. We at Laemmle Theatres are pushing our partners in distribution to return as advertisers because we understand that we work in an ecosystem made up of press, advertising, and programming. But having the programming without the press badly depresses turnout. And without ticket sales, distributors are loath to advertise.
It is a sad state of affairs when the paper of record in the movie capital of the world has a film section that is a shadow of its former self, reviewing one or two films per week. The L.A. Times once employed two lead film critics at a time, notably such heavyweights as Charles Champlin, Sheila Benson, Kevin Thomas, Kenneth Turan, and Manohla Dargis. Those writers were backed up by a stable of talented freelancers to cover the plethora of cinema Angelenos are fortunate enough to have access to. Current lead film critic Justin Chang is just as gifted a writer but he’s only one person and can’t cover all the big studio releases in addition to foreign and American indie films too.
We’re going to continue doing what we do, working with filmmakers and distributors to bring the world of cinema to Los Angeles.
What can you do? If you aren’t already a subscriber, subscribe to the Times. Supporting local journalism, even a big city paper like the Times, is important. But as a subscriber, contact the paper and ask for the return of Friday reviews, ideally in the print edition.
They can also look to other local outlets for film coverage. KPCC’s FilmWeek is one excellent resource, with a panel of critics reviewing many of the week’s new attractions. But there are others.
I know I’m preaching to the choir here, but you can pay more attention to our eNewsletter, website, and social channels, where we keep you informed of the hundreds of different films we screen annually, for long and short engagements. And when you see something you like, don’t keep it to yourself. Please share your enthusiasm so that others will be encouraged to find the film in question.
But ultimately, these alternatives cannot fill the void left by a newspaper that has abandoned its leading role. To the publisher and editors of the L.A. Times: to be the paper of record for a megalopolis like Los Angeles means covering the arts, especially film. And we hope that you will return to your pre-pandemic policy of reviewing films that are opening theatrically in Los Angeles on (or before) the date of their theatrical opening. Together, we can rebuild the audience for the world of film in the movie capital of the world.
In the acerbic teen comedy TAHARA, which we’re opening June 17 at our Glendale, Santa Monica and Encino theaters, a funeral becomes a battleground between best friends Carrie Lowstein (Madeline Grey DeFreece) and Hannah Rosen (Rachel Sennott, breakout star of Shiva Baby). When their former Hebrew school classmate commits suicide, the two girls attend her funeral as well as the “Teen Talk-back” session hosted by their synagogue, designed to be an opportunity for them to understand grief through Judaism. Hannah, more interested in impressing her crush Tristan (Daniel Taveras), convinces Carrie to practice kissing with her, unlocking feelings that turn Carrie’s world upside down. Emotions heightened, the scene develops into a biting depiction of unrequited crushes, toxic friendships, and wavering faith, which ComingSoon.net calls “one of the most original films in the coming-of-age subgenre in a long time.”
“TAHARA perfectly captures the mood of the place and the juxtaposition of its efforts to spread wisdom and awareness with the chaotic lives of its young attendees.” ~ Jennie Kermode, Eye for Film
“Offers a blistering, authentic view of the teen experience in America, with a refreshingly different setting in the Jewish community.” ~ Louisa Moore, Screen Zealots
“Tahara has a personal vision behind it, commanding writing and terrifically layered performances from Madeline Grey DeFreece and Rachel Sennott” ~ Robert Kojder, Flickering Myth
Jess Zeidman, writer and executive producer: “I started this script when I was 19 and terrified of not being a teenager anymore. I had lived my entire life, it seemed, longing to be a teen and the idea that I could no longer claim that identity forced me to reconsider what my identity was. I knew I was Jewish. I knew I was queer. I knew I wanted to make movies. So I immortalized this feeling in a script and convinced person after person to believe in it.
“Once I had convinced a team of people, we did something I really didn’t think we could do: convince the staff at my childhood synagogue, Temple Beth El in Rochester, New York to let us make the movie there. And generously they agreed.
“We filmed around daily services and religious school classes. We put up sound blankets as the temple was under construction the entirety of our shoot and the walls were excavated to remove the decades worth of asbestos. We had $100,000, 15 days, and three lights: two real and one made out of a sheet pan. And despite this (or maybe because of it), we – and an incredible team of determined, young, and endlessly innovative filmmakers – made the movie we wanted to make. We made TAHARA.”
Director’s statement by Olivia Peace: “Working on this film has given me space to begin to unpack some of the bizarre and hilarious, and unique traumas that came with navigating high school. I was lucky enough to make it to the other side, but I see that as no small miracle, especially coming from a time and place that lacked knowledge of queer representation both in real life and in media. This is a film overwhelmingly inspired by the real teens I see on Instagram — those who are not influencers. Its development involved taking a hard look at the occasionally toxic ways that young women are taught to be in community with one another. Bending genres and exploring mediums and style is a big part of what queerness means to me. And this is a very queer film. TAHARA excites me for many reasons, but a big reason I love this film is because it aims to acknowledge the important ties between the communities we exist in and the insidious closets that they force people to operate out of. And then, over the course of one chaotic day, it shows us that it’s possible to speak your truth and break out.”
An official selection at Cannes’ Directors Fortnight, the Toronto International Film Festival, the New York Film Festival, BFI London, and the Sundance Film Festival, sci-fi punk musical NEPTUNE FROST opens June 10 at the Monica Film Center and NoHo 7. Multi-hyphenate, multidisciplinary artist Saul Williams brings his unique dynamism to this Afrofuturist vision, a visually wondrous amalgamation of themes, ideas, and songs that Williams has explored in his work, notably his 2016 album MartyrLoserKing. Co-directed with the Rwandan-born artist and cinematographer Anisia Uzeyman, the film takes place in the hilltops of Burundi, where a group of escaped coltan miners form an anti-colonialist computer hacker collective.
From their camp in an otherworldly e-waste dump, they attempt a takeover of the authoritarian regime exploiting the region’s natural resources – and its people. When an intersex runaway and an escaped coltan miner find each other through cosmic forces, their connection sparks glitches within the greater divine circuitry. Set between states of being – past and present, dream and waking life, colonized and free, male and female, memory and prescience – NEPTUNE FROST is an invigorating and empowering direct download to the cerebral cortex and a call to reclaim technology for progressive political ends.
“Dizzyingly inventive… [Displays] fierce originality and punk iconoclasm.” —Wendy Ide, Screen Daily
“Groundbreaking… utterly unprecedented.” —Michael Sicinski, Mubi Notebook
“Brimming with ideas… [Williams’] ambition is palpable.” —Tambay Obenson, Indiewire
“Visionary.” —Valerie Complex, Deadline
“A future cult classic in the making.” —Dustin Chang, Screen Anarchy
“A sensory delight… makes the looks on “Euphoria” seem conventional.” —Jude Dry, Indiewire
“A work of cinema that makes all other contemporary films seem quaint. Groundbreaking… utterly unprecedented.” – MUBI Notebook
“An exciting musical. Its ideas are playful as well as passionate. A polyrhythmic experience, aligned to Black film storytelling traditions.” – The Playlist
“A gorgeous, unclassifiable hacker love story set against the backdrop of a dreamlike Rwanda, it conjures a mythical sense of postmodern identity in poetic sci-fi terms that would make Octavia Butler proud.” – IndieWire
Things being what they are, it’s a relief to look away from hard news to cinema news, and there’s a lot of it as the world’s most prestigious film festival wraps up this weekend having screened some reportedly wonderful movies. A selection of press about films most likely coming soon or soonish from Cannes to a Laemmle theater near you before year’s end or in early 2023:
L.A. Times: Justin Chang compiled a promising list of 12 films he’s looking forward to seeing at Cannes, including David Cronenberg’s “Crimes of the Future,” which we’re opening June 3, Hirokazu Kore-eda’s “Broker,” and Claire Denis’ “Stars at Noon,” about which he wrote, “Claire Denis (“Beau Travail,” “35 Shots of Rum”) has been one of the world’s great filmmakers for decades, which is why it’s bewildering that she hasn’t competed at Cannes since her great 1988 debut, “Chocolat.” But she finally cracked the competition a second time with this romantic thriller adapted from a Denis Johnson novel; it stars Joe Alwyn and Margaret Qualley and unfolds against the tumultuous backdrop of the 1984 Nicaraguan revolution. It’s Denis’ second new movie of 2022 after “Both Sides of the Blade,” which won the directing prize at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival. (Coincidentally, that movie stars Vincent Lindon, who happens to be the president of this year’s Cannes competition jury. Hmm … )”
Variety‘s Matt Donnelly and Elsa Keslassy: “Neon has bought Ruben Östlund’s satire “Triangle of Sadness” in one of the biggest deals to close on a Cannes Film Festival official selection title.
“30West and WME handled domestic rights to the comedy, which stars Woody Harrelson as a rabid Marxist who is the captain of a cruise for the super rich. According to insiders, the asking price was close to $8 million. Several top-tier buyers, including A24, were circling the movie.
“Sweden’s leading contemporary filmmaker and producer, Östlund was previously at the festival with “Force Majeure” in 2014 and “The Square,” which won the Palme d’Or in 2017. “Triangle of Sadness” marks his English-language debut.
““Triangle of Sadness” earned a rowdy eight-minute standing ovation following a lively screening punctuated by hysterical laughter, which Östlund later described as being like a “football game.”
“Variety’s Peter Debruge called the film “wickedly funny,” writing: “There’s a meticulous precision to the way [Östlund] constructs, blocks and executes scenes — a kind of agonizing unease, amplified by awkward silences or an unwelcome fly buzzing between characters struggling to communicate.””
The New York Times‘s Manohla Dargis: “In “Scarlet,” the director Pietro Marcello bridges time through the story of a World War I veteran and his daughter. The dead still litter the fields when Raphaël (Raphaël Thiéry, an astonishment) hobbles back home, returning to a small village with few friendly faces. His wife is dead and his baby girl, Juliette, is being cared for by a local woman, Adeline (the marvelous Noémie Lvovsky), who lives in a small enclave outside the village. There, Raphaël — a talented craftsman who works with wood — nestles into a tiny homey community and painfully tries to resume something like normal life, despite his harrowing losses.
““Scarlet” is a fascinating, slippery movie filled with lyrical beauty, acts of barbarism, moments of magic and unexpected hope. The first half focuses on Raphaël, a huge, lumbering man with a jutting brow and hands the size of hams. As Juliette grows (and is eventually played by Juliette Jouan), the narrative center of gravity shifts from father (a product of the 19th century) to daughter (a woman of the 20th). As he did in “Martin Eden,” Marcello takes an expansive, visually adventurous approach to a story about people and the historical forces that define, imprison and sometimes liberate them. I’m still grappling with the movie, and am eager to see it again.”
IndieWire‘s Ryan Lattanzio: “A24 is staying in the Paul Mescal business.
“The studio that also shepherded the “Normal People” actor’s Directors’ Fortnight entry “God’s Creatures” has acquired North American rights for Charlotte Wells’ well-liked Critics’ Week entry “Aftersun,” IndieWire has learned. A source close to the film’s production confirmed that the studio bought rights to release the drama in the U.S. and Canada in a deal in Cannes on Monday. The buy is said to be in the mid-seven-figure range. (The news was later confirmed by A24.)
““Aftersun,” a standout from the Critics’ Week sidebar that annually promotes first- and second-time directors, stars Mescal as a father on a melancholy holiday with his 11-year-old daughter Sophie, played by Francesca Corio, in Turkey in the late 1990s. Sophie, in the present day, is reflecting on the holiday they shared two decades prior. Memories real and imaginary collide, filling the gaps between mini-DV footage as Sophie tries to reconcile the father she knew with the man she didn’t. The film stars filmmaker, actress, and choreographer Celia Rowlson-Hall (“Ma”) as the adult version of Sophie.
“Mescal’s performances in both “Aftersun” and fishing-village drama “God’s Creatures” have been widely praised by Cannes press. No release date has been set for either.”
Dan Mirvish Guest Blog for Laemmle Theaters:
I’m thrilled and honored to be bringing my newest film, 18½ back to my filmmaking home in LA, Laemmle Theaters! 18½ is about a White House transcriber who tries to leak Nixon’s 18½-minute gap to the press, but runs afoul of hippies, swingers and nefarious forces. It stars Willa Fitzgerald (Reacher), John Magaro (Kelly Reichardt’s First Cow and Cannes competition Showing Up), Vondie Curtis Hall (Harriet), Richard Kind, Catherine Curtin and the voices of Ted Raimi as Gen. Al Haig, Jon Cryer as HR Haldeman and Bruce Campbell as Richard Nixon.
The film is having its L.A. Premiere at the Laemmle Monica, on May 27th and screening for a week there, with bonus screenings at the Glendale on May 31 and NoHo7 on June 1, with guest Q&As for most of the screenings. After winning audience and jury awards and screening at some 21 film festivals on four continents over the last few months, it’s very exciting to finally bring the film to the greater Los Angeles community.
My history with Laemmle theaters goes back to 1995 when my first film, Omaha (the movie) screened for 11 straight weeks. Whether I was showing up at the old Sunset 5 wearing a sandwich board, or throwing raw steaks at the audience, I was buoyed in my efforts by Bob and Greg Laemmle, who not only tolerated but encouraged my indie film shenanigans. The Laemmle family support of independent film in the heart of Los Angeles has proved time and time again that Hollywood is more than just big budget studio superhero films and streaming “content.” Laemmle Theaters are truly one of the last bastions of support for independent filmmaking in the belly of the beast. We are all indebted to their decades-long support of all our films, and our ability to share them with audiences and engage in a uniquely live cinematic conversation.
As a filmmaker who lives a block south of the biggest studios in the world (so, technically they’re in my shadow), 18½ was largely produced during the pandemic with the incredible support and help of my Culver City neighbors, family and friends – for whom I baked sourdough bread as barter for music cues, VFX shots, cameras, posters and sound mixing. I’m looking forward to seeing many of them at our screenings, and I know you’ll love meeting such amazing collaborators as composer Luis Guerra, featured vocalist Caro Pierotto, and so many other talented artists who will be joining me for our Q&As. If it takes a village to make a film, it takes a village idiot like me to make one in the middle of a pandemic!
But don’t take my word on why you should see the film. I’m thrilled and humbled by all the fantastic reviews we’ve been getting…
“18½ is a rare find in the current landscape of filmmaking, an original story that draws you in from the opening frame…18½ is weird, engrossing, and thoroughly enjoyable.” – Susan Leighton, ScreenAnarchy
“18½ is a mind-bending, hammed-up, highly paced, farcical, funny, and suspenseful dark fairy tale. This makes it a timeless curveball aimed to hit the strike zone of our minds.” – Lloyd Sederer, M.D., Psychology Today
“Mirvish’s film is a fun and eccentric outing, relishing in the “what ifs” of alternate political history; a much-needed breath of fresh air when taking on politics in today’s charged climate.” – Sammy Levine, Hammer to Nail
“18½ is so riveting and immersive that I forgot I was making a cup of tea and found a cup of cold, over-steeped leaf water after the final credits rolled.” – Jamie Toth, The Somewhat Cyclops
Looking forward to seeing you at Laemmles and talking about 18½!
French filmmaker Céline Sciamma’s follow up to the powerful Portrait of a Lady on Fire is the much different but equally beautiful and uniquely emotional Petite Maman. The protagonist is eight-year-old Nelly, who accompanies her parents to her mother’s childhood home after the death of the grandmother. As Nelly explores the house and nearby woods, she meets a neighbor her own age building a treehouse. What follows is a tender tale of childhood grief, memory and connection.
As of Friday we’ll be playing Petite Maman at seven of our eight locations, but unfortunately the engagements may have to be brief. Please read some of the effusive praise of this lovely film and consider enjoying and supporting it as intended, theatrically:
“There isn’t a false note or superfluous image in Petite Maman, which runs a just-right 72 minutes. It’s perfect.” ~ Manohla Dargis, New York Times
“It’s a perfect creation in miniature, one that doesn’t have a wasted frame but that also never feels like it’s in a rush.” ~ Alison Willmore, New York Magazine/Vulture
“We forget a lot of things when we grow up. This film is a wonderful reminder.” ~ Odie Henderson, RogerEbert.com
“Poetry on screen can’t be constructed, or willed into existence. Under the right circumstances, though, it can be allowed. Ms. Sciamma, whose previous feature was the passionate and extravagant Portrait of a Lady on Fire, has created those circumstances.” ~ Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal
“No less than the condition of childhood itself, the movie opens up a world of possibilities, all of them beautiful and beguiling — and over all too soon.” ~ Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times
Opening just as the expected but still shocking news broke that the Republican appointees to the Supreme Court are ready to begin clawing back women’s rights within a few weeks, Happening could not be more timely or galvanizing. As Mark Olsen wrote recently in the L.A. Times, “Happening is set in 1963 and yet it suddenly feels like a possible window into the future. Directed by Audrey Diwan, who co-wrote the adaptation of Annie Ernaux’s autobiographical novel of the same name, the film follows a young French college student Anne (Anamaria Vartolomei) as she attempts to get an abortion after discovering she is pregnant. Though abortion became legal in France in 1975, in 1963 it very much was not, with potential prison time for the woman, whoever performed the procedure and anyone who helped. Isolated from her friends and family, Anne becomes increasingly driven as the weeks pass by to find a solution to her problem — anything that will allow her to continue on with her life as she planned and fulfill her goal to become a writer…In an emailed statement, Diwan responded to the recent news [from SCOTUS], writing, “The purpose of art is also to bring to light some hidden truths. We all know, time has proven it, that when abortion becomes illegal, women who feel the need for it find other solutions. And not safe ones. I think that those who want to intervene in the abortion debate, whether for or against, should at least know clearly what a clandestine abortion is. We cannot talk about what we don’t know. And I include myself here: before reading Happening, I participated in this conversation for a long time without knowing … I was wrong. We should all know, this must not stay silent.'”
Happening was a critical, commercial and cultural phenomenon in its native France, where it opened in the autumn. The New York Times recently published a piece headlined “In France, a Film Has Women Sharing Their Stories of Abortion: Following the release of Happening, about an illegal abortion in 1963, the country’s contemporary stigma around the procedure is facing scrutiny.” The lede: “Happening, Audrey Diwan’s film about a 1960s back-street abortion in France, isn’t for the fainthearted. In fact, audience members have fainted at several screenings, including at the Venice Film Festival last September, where it won the Golden Lion. ‘It’s often men who say the experience took them to the limit of what they could bear,” Diwan said in a recent interview, “because they had never imagined what it might be like.’…Happening, which aims for a sense of immediacy onscreen, has led artists and activists to speak up about the taboo they feel still surrounds the procedure. ‘There is this constructed social shame that women are meant to feel, Diwan said, ‘and the sense that if we talk about it, we take the risk of calling into question this right, which in the end is never assured.’ In response to Happening, last December, the French feminist magazine Causette devoted a cover story to testimonies from 13 celebrities, under the title: “Yes, I Had An Abortion.” The author Pauline Harmange, who rose to international prominence last year with her debut book “I Hate Men,” also published an essay in March about her own experience, “Avortée” (“Aborted”).”
Some of the abundant praise for Happening:
“Magnificently written, directed, shot and performed, it reminds you that cinema can be such a powerful medium of empathy.” – Zhuo-Ning Su, Awards Daily
“It’s hard to think of a film more necessary in the current moment.” – David Jenkins, Little White Lies
“Deftly adapted by director Audrey Diwan from a novella, Happening is a period piece, but it’s acted and shot with a shivery immediacy.” – Robbie Collin, Daily Telegraph UK
We open Happening at the Claremont, Newhall, Playhouse and Town Center this Friday, May 13 and at the Monica Film Center, Glendale and NoHo on May 20.