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The official blog of Laemmle Theatres

The History of Sound, Oliver Hermanus’s latest queer period romance.

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Rarely does a film carry the quiet anticipation that surrounds The History of Sound, Oliver Hermanus’s latest queer period romance. Hermanus—already celebrated for works like Beauty (2011), Moffie (2019), and Living (2022)—has built a reputation for telling intimate stories with hefty moral weight, exploring identity, repression, and the varied textures of longing. In The History of Sound, he turns his gaze from South Africa to early 20th-century America to examine how love and music intertwine when both must be framed in shadow.

Catch The History of Sound in theaters beginning September 19th at the Laemmle NoHo, Glendale, Claremont, Town Center, and the Monica Film Center.

The film begins in 1917, with America on the brink of entering the First World War. In Boston, the New England Conservatory of Music buzzes with disciplined energy, its classrooms and practice halls filled with young musicians devoted to mastering their craft. It is here that Lionel Worthing (Paul Mescal), a shy, musically gifted farm boy from Kentucky, first encounters David White (Josh O’Connor), a more worldly and charismatic student whose flair for piano and song draws immediate attention, thus marking the beginning of their deep, unconventional bond.

Leaving behind the conservatory’s structured walls, the story advances to the rolling backwoods of Maine, where the two men embark on a summer expedition to record local folk music on wax cylinders. Camping under the stars, both Lionel and David relax into a profound intimacy born as much from their shared sensibilities and musical devotion as from romantic desire. In this transitional era, where the old world’s simplicity meets the looming pressures of a global conflict, it is ironically such intangibles as love, art, and music that the film holds up as unlikely exemplars of consistency and groundedness.

Ultimately, The History of Sound is an intimate character study of two men brought together by music, intellect, and the rare alignment of sensibilities. Some critics have drawn comparisons to Brokeback Mountain, noting the restrained, repressed tone and the early 20th-century setting, but the resemblance stops at this superficial level. For where Ang Lee’s film dramatized social pressure and the peril of being discovered, Hermanus’ work is far more concerned with the private, almost sacred interiority of desire than with overt drama or societal conflict. The war looms, but the heart of the film lies in what’s preserved: love, song, memory, and the myriad fruits of their timeless intermingling.

“[A] meditative tale about longing and the connection that music, as well as other art forms, can create between people.” – Ben Rolph, Discussing Film

The History of Sound is a work willing to live and die by its emotional heft.” – Will Bjarnar, In Session Film

“A slow-burn kind of picture.” – Mike McGranaghan, The Aisle Seat

With Chain Reactions, director Alexandre O. Philippe takes audiences back through Hooper’s beloved masterpiece frame by gruesome frame

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Tune into Inside the Arthouse to hear director Alexandre O. Philippe discuss Chain Reactions (releasing at the Laemmle NoHo 7 on September 19th) with co-hosts Greg Laemmle and Raphael Sbarge

Few horror films have left as deep an imprint as Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Half a century after its 1974 debut, the film remains a touchstone for fans and filmmakers alike, continuing to disturb, arouse, and alienate in equal measure. With Chain Reactions, director Alexandre O. Philippe—long known for his thoughtful explorations of iconic cinematic moments—takes audiences back through Hooper’s beloved masterpiece frame by gruesome frame in an extensive deep dive into how the film continues to rattle and inspire.

Philippe has carved a niche for himself with documentaries that magnify individual films from unusual angles. 78/52 explored not all of Psycho, but specifically its infamous shower scene. Memory: The Origins of Alien looked not only at Ridley Scott’s classic, but at the deep cultural and artistic roots of its terror. Chain Reactions continues in this vein by giving the floor to five prominent cinephiles, each with their own unique relationship to Hooper’s landmark horror.

The lineup befits the stature of its subject: writer and comedian Patton Oswalt, Japanese filmmaker Takashi Miike, critic Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, legendary novelist Stephen King, and director Karyn Kusama. Each interview is presented in full, creating a kind of oral history told in parallel lines.

While the documentary refrains from attempting to weave these voices into a single argument or narrative, that separation becomes part of its design. Instead, viewers are invited to treat each reflection as its own isolated story, bound together not by commentary from Philippe, but by the footage itself: battered 16mm prints, drive-in reels, VHS transfers, pristine restorations, and beyond.

Ultimately, Chain Reactions doesn’t try to be more than it is: five passionate people talking about a film they love. As it makes its way into theaters, the documentary stands as both a tribute and a reminder that some shocks never fade.

“An investigation into how one horror movie made for, as King puts it, “chump change,” went on to become one of the most influential films of all time.” – Emma Kiely, Collider

“Exploration of our inexplicable attraction to horror is the true theme of the brilliantly titled Chain Reactions.” – Christian Zilko, Indiewire

“Not only solidifies how a film as iconic as Texas Chain Saw Massacre remains that way, but how, even decades later, we’re still finding unique burrows within it to explore.” – Spencer Perry, ComicBook.com

Roman Polanski’s An Officer and a Spy is about the infamous Dreyfus Affair, in which Captain Alfred Dreyfus—a Jewish officer in the French army—was unduly convicted of treason and condemned to life on Devil’s Island

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Roman Polanski’s An Officer and a Spy (arriving 09/19 at the Laemmle Royal and Town Center) is about the infamous Dreyfus Affair, in which Captain Alfred Dreyfus—a Jewish officer in the French army—was unduly convicted of treason and condemned to life on Devil’s Island, creating a scandal that shook 19th-century France.

The film begins with a powerful recreation of Dreyfus’s public humiliation in the courtyard of the École Militaire, wherein Dreyfus (played with quiet intensity by Louis Garrel) becomes the unwitting symbol of a nation’s prejudice. Yet the story quickly shifts its focus to Colonel Georges Picquart (Jean Dujardin), the intelligence officer who’s been appointed to oversee the very department that built the case against Dreyfus. Initially a loyal soldier and casual anti-Semite, Picquart gradually comes to doubt the evidence against Dreyfus. When he discovers that crucial documents actually point to another officer, he faces an impossible choice: protect his career by remaining silent, or risk everything in the pursuit of justice.

From that point forward, An Officer and a Spy unfolds as a gripping political thriller. Dujardin delivers a commanding performance as Picquart, navigating the character’s transformation from opportunist to reluctant truth-teller, while behind the camera, Polanski and longtime cinematographer Pawel Edelman
bring 19th-century Paris vividly to life, from the smoky interiors of its cafés to the solemn grandeur of its military tribunals.

Based on Robert Harris’s bestselling novel, the screenplay—co-written by Harris and Polanski—mostly focuses on Picquart’s personal journey, transforming a complex political crisis into a more human tale of conscience and resistance. This approach renders the film highly accessible, though it does sideline other
dimensions of the affair, such as the mobilization of France’s Jewish community, the pivotal role of Dreyfus’s family, and the broader wave of anti-Semitism that swept the country in its wake. What remains is an intimate portrait of one man’s struggle against an entrenched system determined to protect
itself at any cost.

As the film returns to screens, new viewers have the chance to revisit not only a pivotal moment in French history, but their own notions about the allocation of such concepts as justice and forgiveness. More than a century later, the Dreyfus Affair continues to resonate as a cautionary tale, reminding us of the dangers of prejudice, the costs of institutional corruption, and the courage it takes for one individual to confront them.

“One of Polanski’s finest pictures” – Roger Ebert

“[The film] largely couches the Dreyfus Affair into a character-driven story of heroes and villains.” – Manohla Dargis, The New York Times

Andres Veiel’s documentary Riefenstahl (2024) offers a penetrating exploration of one of cinema’s most controversial figures: Leni Riefenstah

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Andres Veiel’s documentary Riefenstahl (2024) offers a penetrating exploration of one of cinema’s most controversial figures: Leni Riefenstahl, the filmmaker whose aesthetic brilliance was inseparable from her work for the Nazi regime. Veiel’s film, which screened in Germany last year and will be opening at the Laemmle Royal and Town Center on 09/12, combines archival footage, interviews, and Riefenstahl’s own recordings to trace her extraordinary career—from her early days as a dancer and actress to her eventual status as Hitler’s personal filmmaker and beyond.

Riefenstahl’s life’s story is inescapably complex. As a young director in the early 1930s, she created alpine adventure films before collaborating closely with Adolf Hitler on propaganda masterpieces such as Triumph of the Will (1935) and Olympia (1938), documenting mass rallies and the 1936 Berlin Olympics with unprecedented technical innovation. Yet her acclaim was always shadowed by the moral compromises implicit in her work, a reality that Veiel confronts head-on.

The documentary draws on an extraordinary archive left behind by Riefenstahl herself, including correspondence, taped answering machine messages, and photographs from her post-war life. These materials illuminate not only her enduring claims to aesthetic purity, but also the moments when she could (or perhaps would) not acknowledge the atrocities occurring off-camera. While the evidence is often circumstantial, the film succeeds at examining the troubling intersection between her genius and the ideology her art served.

Veiel’s documentary does not shy away from the discomfort of its subject. What emerges is a portrait of a singularly gifted yet morally ambivalent artist, one whose aesthetic vision was inseparable from an ideology that caused unimaginable suffering. By examining both her celebrated technical innovations and her troubling ethical legacy, Riefenstahl challenges audiences to reckon with the complicated relationship between art and politics, genius and responsibility.

The film is as much about Riefenstahl herself as it is about the broader cultural and historical context of Germany in the twentieth century. Through meticulous research and a wealth of archival materials, Veiel presents a story that is as compelling as it is disturbing, offering viewers an unflinching look at the artist behind some of history’s most infamous films and the legacy she left behind.

“[The film is] a portrait that’s really a meditation on Riefenstahl — her life, her art, the question of her guilt.” – Owen Gleiberman, Variety

“[A] welcome addition to the historically grounded rebukes to Riefenstahl and her apologists.” –Manohla Dargis, The New York Times

“Riefenstahl does not come to praise or reclaim the late director, but nor does it mean to bury her.” – Xan Brooks, The Guardian

Elie Wiesel: Soul on Fire tells the story of one of the most important moral voices of the twentieth century.

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Elie Wiesel: Soul on Fire tells the story of one of the most important moral voices of the twentieth century. Directed by Oren Rudavsky, the film offers a deeply personal look at Elie Wiesel—Holocaust survivor, Nobel laureate, writer, and teacher—whose life was shaped by both unimaginable tragedy and an unshakable belief in humanity’s capacity for good.

Tune into Inside the Arthouse to hear Rudavsky discuss his latest project with co-hosts Greg Laemmle and Raphael Sbarge ahead of its release in NYC on September 5th and Los Angeles on October 3rd.

Oren Rudavsky is an award-winning documentary filmmaker known for exploring Jewish identity, history, and culture, often in collaboration with fellow documentarian Menachem Daum. His films blend personal narrative with historical inquiry, illuminating the intersection of faith, memory, and social conscience.

Soul on Fire moves from Wiesel’s childhood in the Romanian town of Sighet to his deportation at age sixteen to Auschwitz, where he would ultimately lose most of his family. Through a mixture of animated sequences, rare archival footage, and Wiesel’s own words, the film brings these early years into focus while tracing the beginnings of a lifelong struggle to put memory into language.

Alongside his story of survival, the film also follows Wiesel’s rise as an author and speaker whose message reached far beyond the Jewish community. Viewers hear from family members, friends, and scholars who illuminate both the man and his mission: to point out injustice, and not let the world look away.

Wiesel’s moral reach extended to many corners of the globe. He called attention to the plight of Soviet and Ethiopian Jews. He condemned apartheid in South Africa. He spoke out for Bosnian Muslims under siege, the victims of genocide in Rwanda, the Kurds, the Sudanese, and Argentina’s “Disappeared.” His Nobel Prize acceptance speech also included the recognition of Palestinian suffering, a reflection of his lifelong effort to encourage dialogue and understanding, eschewing static classifications of ‘oppressor’ and ‘oppressed’ for a more nuanced, constantly evolving understanding of what we owe to those around us.

What emerges is a portrait of a man who never stopped asking difficult questions. How can memory shape the future? What does it mean to bear witness? Where do we draw the line between silence and action?

Elie Wiesel: Soul on Fire does not present easy answers, but it does offer viewers an intimate encounter with Wiesel’s humanity and all that it encompasses: his faith, his doubts, and his determination to remind the world of its responsibility to those who suffer.

“Though Rudavsky eloquently includes archival footage and judiciously applies the now overused device of animated reenactments, it is that face, those eyes, that voice, and those words that make this such a stunning film.” – Peter Keough, Doc Talk

“[This] devastating, necessary documentary concerns being a witness to history and then disseminating the horrors that the world means to forget or maybe worse . . . distort and make light of.” – Brandon Judell, Bouncin’ and Behavin’ Blogs

“[Wiesel] wanted to create a world of witnesses, and he did so by bringing the story of the tragedy of the Holocaust to millions.” –  Hannah Brown, The Jerusalem Post

In her latest documentary Democracy Noir (2024), Oscar-nominated director Connie Field turns her lens on various resistance movements against Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his ruling Fidesz party.

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In her latest documentary Democracy Noir (2024), Oscar-nominated director Connie Field turns her lens on various resistance movements against Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his ruling Fidesz party.

Tune into Inside the Arthouse to hear Field discuss her latest project with co-hosts Greg Laemmle and Raphael Sbarge ahead of its release in NYC on September 5th and Los Angeles on September 19th.

Field—who rose to prominence following the release of her acclaimed 1980 documentary, The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter—returns to guide viewers from Orbán’s initial rise to power in 2010 to the grassroots protests of 2023, exploring how autocrats secure power within democratic systems while demonstrating in real time the crucial role of resistance.

In her efforts to ground this story in the here and now, Field skillfully intertwines the stories of three Hungarian women activists: Tímea Szabó, a prominent opposition leader; Nikoletta Antal, a passionate young protest organizer and nurse; and Babett Oroszi, an award-winning journalist who’s been silenced by Orbán’s totalitarian control over the media. While the documentary never shows these women interacting, it transitions seamlessly from one to the next, highlighting the overlapping nature of their struggles.

Ultimately, the film manages to avoid reducing Orbán’s regime to a simple good vs. evil narrative, offering a sharp critique of Orbán and his party while refraining from demonizing his supporters en masse. This nuanced approach is reflected in the personal stories of the activists, whose political lives are more complicated than one might expect. Antal, for instance, is fiercely anti-Orbán, yet her mother sees Orbán’s policies as a source of security. Similarly, Oroszi, who initially voted for Orbán in 2010, interviews rural Fidesz supporters, trying to understand their motivations while also confronting homophobic attacks on herself and her wife. These personal narratives enrich the film, offering poignant depictions of the political divisions that can run through families—not just in Hungary, but all the world over.

Through these diverse perspectives, Democracy Noir paints a grim yet resonant picture of how Orbán’s government undermines Hungary’s democratic institutions. Rather than focusing on overt acts of violence or authoritarian crackdown, the film shows how the government gradually erodes democratic structures: rewriting the constitution, stacking the Constitutional Court with loyalists, and consolidating control over the media—subtle, systemic manipulations that often go unnoticed by Orbán’s most devout supporters. For many (if not most) Hungarians, life goes on as usual.

This film is not a how-to manual for resisting autocracy, particularly in the context of the U.S. Nevertheless, Democracy Noir offers an essential, firsthand look at how democracy can backfire, making it a crucial watch for anyone invested in the future of democratic societies.

“This documentary immerses you in a profoundly moving struggle against the tide of authoritarianism led by a trio of extraordinary women.” – Chris Jones, Overly Honest Reviews

“I want to show the soft parts of the people who look like me. I want to show the sensitive bits that show up, not when we are in danger or inferior but when we are in love.” Rachael Abigail Holder on representing Blackness in her new film, LOVE, BROOKLYN.

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In Rachael Abigail Holder’s new romantic drama, Love, Brooklyn, three longtime Brooklynites navigate careers, love, loss, and friendship against the rapidly changing landscape of their beloved city. We are proud to open the film September 5 at the Laemmle Royal and Glendale.

Ms. Holder wrote the following about Love, Brooklyn:

“On a bike ride, when the sun shines and the breeze hits my face, I can easily cry at the beauty in the ordinary. I am a highly sensitive person. I also happen to be Black. When I first read the script, I saw a timeless story about the wrestle that is love, and I also saw myself. The screenplay was written by Paul Zimmerman about the relationships he had while he was young. But I pictured Black people and the present day. As a filmmaker, I want to tell stories about sensitive Black people who cry and feel, in life not tragic or saccharine. What I read felt like the perfect story.

“I was seven months pregnant during production. When my now eleven-month-old baby hears music in a minor key, or if my extended family and I, which we often do, sing in unison, she will tear up. It is easy for her to deeply soften. I am proud of our movie because it is a story about people with brown skin who soften easily. I hope to expand the representation of what it means to be Black and what’s cool about this moment of inclusion in storytelling is that I don’t have to try to represent Blackness as a whole or all Black people. I can be really specific with how I see people, how they love, hide from love and ultimately show up for it. I want to show the soft parts of the people who look like me. I want to show the sensitive bits that show up, not when we are in danger or inferior but when we are in love.”

 

“A low-key romantic odyssey that simmers with intimate heat while acting as a loving character study of the beloved, always evolving neighborhood.” ~ Murtada Elfadl, Variety

“Brooklyn has never looked lovelier than in Holder’s soulful debut.” ~ Elizabeth Weitzman, TheWrap

“Love, Brooklyn is a charming and thoughtful meditation on love and change in a city that never stays the same.” ~ Roberto Tyler Ortiz, Loud and Clear Reviews
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“This is such a beautiful discovery, and I had such a warm & wonderful experience watching this at its world premiere at Sundance.” ~ Alex Billington, FirstShowing.net
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“Love, Brooklyn is an intricate and beautifully crafted work of art that’s quietly meditative and lovingly told.” ~ Mae Abdulbaki, Screen Rant

“Although it operates on a generally low boil, Love, Brooklyn comes to resemble the pot of water on the stove that starts out feeling like a warm bath and the result ends up sizzling.” ~ Stephen Saito, Moveable Fest

An “embrace of what makes us unknowable yet worthy of forgiveness,” A LITTLE PRAYER opens Friday at the Claremont, Newhall, Royal and Town Center.

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The excellent new American indie film A Little Prayer stars David Strathairn (Good Night, and Good Luck; Matewan; Lincoln; many, many more) as a man trying to protect his daughter-in-law when he finds out that his son is cheating on her. Filmmaker Angus MacLachlan also wrote Junebug, the 2005 comedic drama that featured Amy Adams’s breakthrough role, and his new film features a similar star-making turn by the young actress Jane Levy as the daughter-in-law.

MacLachlan wrote the following about his movie:

“I began writing A Little Prayer in 2016 when my daughter was 15. She’s now 21. And I realize in retrospect that I was writing about parenting adult children. How you still want to protect them and tell them what to do, and you can’t.

“Family, and the life I observe, is a subject I find myself returning to again and again in my work. The push-pull of love, loyalties, secrets, and eternal ties. I wanted to tell a story about the people around me: their humor, pathos, and courage. It is what I find endlessly fascinating. We shot the film in my hometown of Winston-Salem, North Carolina in 2022.

“The central relationship in my film – that of Bill and his daughter-in-law Tammy – is in some ways a simulacrum of the fact that I no longer have the same responsibility to guide my own daughter through her adult life. The theme of loving someone enough to let them go is reflected back to me in this story.” — Angus MacLachlan, Director

“A Little Prayer is spare yet brisk, and it unfolds with a graceful, almost musical sense of modulation: Camp and Weston, both veterans of MacLachlan’s work, strike bracing high notes of acerbic wit.” ~ Justin Chang, The New Yorker

“Everyone is good to great, but [A Little Prayer] belongs to Strathairn and Levy, whose bond becomes the center of the film.” ~ Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com

“There is much to enjoy in watching MacLachlan’s A Little Prayer play out, and an equal amount of wisdom to be gleaned from it.” ~ Fionnuala Halligan, Screen International

“A tough, touching film.” ~ Ty Burr, Ty Burr’s Watch List (Substack)

“MacLachlan’s writing style is at once honest and slightly elevated, the kind we’re used to hearing on stage, where the structure of the entire script matters, and subtext is every bit as important as what’s spoken.” ~ Peter Debruge, Variety

“Small-scale and finely tuned.” ~ Sheri Linden, The Hollywood Reporter

“Laid out in scenes of everyday verisimilitude and quietly gathering heartache, MacLachalan weaves a tale of human frailty and strained connection rare in its avoidance of histrionics and its embrace of what makes us unknowable yet worthy of forgiveness.” ~ Robert Abele, TheWrap