September 16, 2018

‘Museo’ Leads Crowded Field of Specialty Box Office Openers as ‘The Wife’ Continues to Soar

“Museo” (Vitagraph) led a slew of new specialized releases this week. The Mexican heist film starring Gael Garcia Bernal topped all other fresh titles. The fall season is already taking off with an astonishing 40 films opening theatrically this weekend, including at least six Sundance 2018 titles, two of which just played the Toronto International Film Festival.

And to confuse audiences even more, even more movies were available on home-viewing platforms as well as theaters, from the Nicolas Cage cult film “Mandy” to three films directed by established female directors. Netflix opened Nicole Holofcener’s suburban drama “The Land of Steady Habits” and Ricki Sundberg and Anne Sundberg’s timely documentary “Reversing Roe” on Friday after their TIFF premieres; and Amma Asante  followed two Fox Searchlight releases (“Belle,” “A United Kingdom”) with controversial Nazi Germany romance thriller “Where Hands Touch” (Vertical), which played in over 100 theaters with an estimated gross of under $70,000 while also streaming.

Dwarfing any release in recent weeks is “The Wife” (Sony Pictures Classics). The Glenn Close-starring film is doing very well with its targeted adult audience. The strategy of getting out ahead of this year’s festival hits is working very well, aided by strong word of mouth.

Courtesy of Sundance Institute

Opening

Museo (Vitagraph) – Metacritic: 87; Festivals include: Berlin, Toronto 2018

$17,500 in 1 theater; PTA (per theater allowance): $17,500

Gael Garcia Bernal heads the cast of this Mexico City museum heist thriller, which scored rave reviews to boost its initial exclusive opening at New York’s Angelika Theater, marking a considerably above average gross for a specialized subtitled film. This is a YouTube Original film with a simultanenous theatrical release.

What comes next: South Florida, Washington, and Los Angeles open over the next two weeks.

Lizzie (Roadside Attractions) – Metacritic: 61; Festivals include: Sundance 2018

$49,895 in 4 theaters; PTA: $12,473

Developed by Chloe Sevigne as a starring vehicle for herself, this indie also lured Kristen Stewart in a gender fluid co-starring role in this retelling of the Lizzie Borden legend. The low-budget movie found some interest in four initial New York/Los Angeles theaters with mixed reviews.

What comes next: This has a quick national expansion to around 250 theaters this Friday.

Nat Geo/Screenshot

Science Fair (National Geographic) – Metacritic: 71; Festivals include: Sundance, South by Southwest 2018

$12,250 in 1 theater; PTA: $12,250

This Sundance documentary about students from around the world showing their discoveries won the Audience Award. It debuted exclusively in Manhattan with a decent initial result.

What comes next: Los Angeles opens this Friday ahead of further nationwide dates ahead.

The Dawn Wall (The Orchard) – Metacritic: 81; Festivals include: South by Southwest 2018

$21,658 in 2 theaters; PTA: $10,829

In advance of its one night Fathom Event showing on Tuesday, this documentary about an attempt to scale a 3,000 foot sheer wall at Yosemite opened in New York and Los Angeles for reviews and awards qualification. As often happens, the rock climbing audience responded initially with decent results for these week-long dates.

What comes next: The Tuesday shows are the main event.

Mandy (RLJ) – Metacritic: 81; Festivals include: Sundance, Cannes 2018; also available on home platforms

$(est.) 175,000 in 89 theaters; PTA: $(est.) 1,966

Parallel to its home venue release, this critically hailed revenge thriller features perhaps the ultimate Nicolas Cage over-the-top performance. Considering its limited release and streaming availability, these numbers are not bad.

What comes next: Mostly home viewing.

Screen Media

Bel Canto (Screen Media) – Metacritic: 52

$14,036 in 2 theaters; PTA: $7,018

Given star Julianne Moore and name-brand director Paul Weisz (“About a Boy,” “Little Fockers”) this adaptation of Ann Patchett’s bestseller would seem to be a higher profile movie, but met negative reviews. Recreating a South American embassy hostage crisis (Moore plays a singer hired for a private concert), this eschewed festival showings and opened at two New York and Los Angeles theaters. Its distributor usually handles day and date video on demand releases, which suggests this is headed for a limited theatrical life.

What comes next: ITunes lists this as available next Friday.

Hale County, This Morning, This Evening (Cinema Guild) – Metacritic: 81; Festivals include: Sundance, New Directors/New Films 2018

$9,914 in 2 theaters; PTA: $4,457

This documentary, shot in the same part of black Alabama covered by Walker Evans’ photos and James Agee’s later writing, opened in two New York theaters to strong reviews and some modest initial interest.

What comes next: Los Angeles opens this Friday.

courtesy of TiFF

The Children Act (A24) – Metacritic: 62; Festivals include: Toronto 2017, Seattle 2018; also available on Video on Demand

$20,362 in 3 theaters; PTA: $6,787

A year after its Toronto premiere, this British drama comes with significant pedigree. Based on an Ian McEwan novel and directed by Richard Eyre (“Notes on a Scandal”), the story centers on Emma Thompson as a complacent English judge who is surprised by complications in her marriage to Stanley Tucci. This opened in four U.S. theaters plus additional screens in Canada (estimated $80,000). The U.S. gross comes parallel to domestic Video on Demand availability.

What comes next: This could have some niche theatrical interest ahead, but home viewing will be its main venue.

The Public Image Is Rotten (Abramorama) – Metacritic: 66; Festivals include: Tribeca 2017

$8,485 in 1 theater; PTA: $8,485

John Lydon (better know from his Sex Pistols name John Rotten) has had a major presence after his best known band. This documentary about him opened to decent initial results in New York.

What comes next:  This will open in big cities, including some calendar and similar event dates this week.

American Chaos (Sony Pictures Classics) – Metacritic: 53; Festivals include: Montclair 2018

$7,963 in 26 theaters; PTA: $306

A documentary filmed in the states won by Donald Trump in the weeks leading up to the election opened nationally to an average of only around ten customers per theater.

What comes next: Not likely to go much further.

Week Two

Kusama – Infinity (Magnolia)   2-49

$(est.) 45,000 in 10 theaters (+8); PTA: $(est.) 4,500; Cumulative: $(est.) 94,000

The second-week expansion for this documentary on a legendary Japanese artist showed continued interest in her work after its strong initial week.

Bisbee ’17 (Fourth Row)

$25,150 in 8 theaters (+7); PTA: $3,144; Cumulative: $35,718

This documentary about labor strife a century ago in Arizona mining country added theaters across that state this week after its New York opening to respectable results for this unusual early release. Other top cities start opening this week.

Hal (Oscilloscope)   1-8

$12,150 in 1 (no change) theater; PTA: $12,150; Cumulative: $20,369

A Los Angeles exclusive at Landmark’s Nuart had a strong result after its one week initial Manhattan date. Director Hal Ashby’s legacy clearly resonates among cinephiles. This will expand to other top markets in upcoming weeks.

Ongoing/expanding (grosses over $50,000)

The Wife (Sony Pictures Classics) Week 5

$1,228,000 in 541 theaters (+388); Cumulative: $3,536,000

This marital drama starring Oscar contender Glenn Close and Jonathan Pryce as her Nobel Prize-winner husband continues its expansion. So far the movie is pulling ahead of nearly all of SPC’s recent films. This looks to have significant further business ahead.

Courtesy of Sundance Institute, photo by Alex Bailey.

Juliet, Naked (Roadside Attractions) Week 5

$288,483 in 265 theaters (-202); Cumulative: $3,020,000

This adaptation of Nick Hornsby’s music world romantic triangle is winding down after a wide national break that achieved modest results.

The Bookshop (Greenwich) Week 4

$185,361 in 131 theaters (+7); Cumulative: $1,121,000

Isabel Coixet’s English seacoast-set period piece, the fifth release from new distributor Greenwich Entertainment, has become their first to pass the $1 million mark.

Three Identical Strangers (Neon) Week 12

$106,886 in 95 theaters (-37); Cumulative: $12,090,000

There’s continued interest for this breakout documentary about separated triplets nearly three months after its release.

Eighth Grade (A24) Week 10

$88,000 in 101 theaters (-75); Cumulative: $13,428,000

Late in its run, Bo Burnham’s acclaimed middle school drama is still finding additional viewers.

Pick of the Litter (IFC) Week 3; also available on Video on Demand

$85,473 in 33 theaters (+23); Cumulative: $172,823

The training of service dogs is clearly an appealing topic. This documentary, while also on home viewing platforms, is doing decent business as it expands in theaters.

Blaze (IFC) Week 5

$73,381 in 34 theaters (-2); Cumulative: $349,508

Ethan Hawke’s biopic of a cult Austin-based performer added Los Angeles to its circuitous release pattern (initially mostly in Texas) with continued positive reviews.

Also noted:

Puzzle (Sony Pictures Classics)  – $39,205 in 60 theaters; Cumulative: $1,889,000

Leave No Trace (Bleecker Street)  – $34,467 in 76 theaters; Cumulative: $6,046,000

We the Animals (The Orchard)  – $28,805 in 48 theaters; Cumulative: $339,012

The Miseducation of Cameron Post (FilmRise) – $16,750 in 20 theaters; Cumulative: $881,849

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Source: IndieWire film

September 16, 2018

The 12 Best Movies of the Fall Festivals, From ‘Roma’ to ‘High Life’

The fall movie season is far from over, but its first chapter has come to a dramatic conclusion. The Telluride, Venice, and Toronto film festivals unleashed dozens of highly anticipated new movies into the conversation, and many of them did not disappoint. There are still a few high-profile titles around the corner, from “Bohemian Rhapsody” to the still-untitled Dick Cheney movie starring Christian Bale — but with no major world premieres at the New York Film Festival, the premieres of the past month have provided us with the bulk of 2018 fall movies worthy of discussion. Here are the highlights from those festivals.

“At Eternity’s Gate”

Julian Schnabel’s radical, you-are-there approach to his Vincent van Gogh biopic, though sure to alienate some, is in keeping with its subject. “Maybe God made me a painter for people who aren’t here yet,” the penniless artist played by an inspired Willem Dafoe says during one of several stints in a sanitarium; Schnabel seems intent on honoring Van Gogh by eschewing convention even if it means his film is similarly misunderstood. He’s hardly the first to make a movie about the one-eared painter, but none of his predecessors were this daring. The “Diving Bell and the Butterfly” director fuses form and content in a way that’s rarely attempted and even more rarely achieved; in risking the same derision with which Van Gogh was sometimes met, he transcends the limitations of the conventional biopic and creates something that feels genuinely new. —MN

“The Favourite”

Fox Searchlight

A cross between a court jester and a mad king, Yorgos Lanthimos has been on his way toward reigning over world cinema since “Dogtooth” introduced new meaning to words like “sea” and “excursion.” Apropos of its subject, “The Favourite” feels like a crowning achievement: a royal period piece led by the majestic triumvirate of Olivia Colman, Emma Stone, and Rachel Weisz. Unlike the three women’s self-interested schemes, this 18th century drama isn’t a zero-sum game. Its palace intrigue is at once seductive and repellant, and there’s a kind of catharsis in seeing it reach its natural conclusion; as is often the case with Lanthimos, there’s a deep well of sadness beneath the humorous surface. —MN

“Green Book”

Universal Pictures

This crowdpleaser (November 21) was the surprise TIFF hit, bringing multiple theaters to their feet. Comedy director Peter Farrelly (“Something About Mary”) jumped on the true story of erudite jazz musician Don Shirley and the beefy New Yawk bouncer who drove and protected him on a 60s concert tour of the Deep South and co-wrote a terrific screenplay brought to vivid life by two great actors with chemistry, Mahershala Ali and Viggo Mortensen. It’s like jazz. This funny and serious charmer about two very different men learning to appreciate each other is hard to capture in a trailer, so Universal plans to screen the hell out of it. —AT

“The Hate U Give”

In George Tillman, Jr.’s “The Hate U Give,” adapted by Audrey Wells from Angie Thomas’ National Book Award winner of the same name, star Amandla Stenberg easily embodies both sides of her complex and engaging character, continuing to prove why she is one of the most exciting young actresses working today. Part coming-of-age story, part ripped-from-the-headlines drama, the story was initially inspired by the police shooting death of Oscar Grant. Tillman and Wells ably weave together a story with massive commercial appeal that also carries a timely message. Stenberg’s Starr is consumed by her seemingly disparate existences as a whipsmart teen in a mostly white high school and as a longtime resident of a fraught community. Those identities collide after a horrific tragedy. As Starr cycles through a “normal” teenage experience, from prepping for prom to fighting with her boyfriend, she must also grapple with emotional trauma and her growing awareness of the movements taking shape outside her door, getting hip to #BlackLivesMatter just as her own classmates are using the same revolution as a way to act hip. For all of its weighty subject matter, “The Hate U Give” is consistently entertaining and unabashedly designed for a wide audience. —KE

“Her Smell”

TIFF

Alex Ross Perry’s work has always had the courage to be profoundly unpleasant, but none of his previous stuff can prepare you for the incredible sourness of “Her Smell,” which is one of the most noxious movies ever made before it hits bottom and tunnels out through the other side. Not coincidentally, it’s also Perry’s best.

Imagine if Danny Boyle’s “Steve Jobs” was about Courtney Love in the mid-’90s, and you’ll have a pretty good sense of how this raw punk epic has been structured. Chronicling the reckless fall and tentative rise of punk rocker Becky Something — lead singer of the band Something She — “Her Smell” is told across five long scenes that stretch over 10 years, each of the vignettes unfolding in real time, and most of them set in the snaking bowels of a concert venue’s backstage area. Anchored by a bravely loathsome and unhinged Elisabeth Moss in the lead role, Perry’s film boasts one of the year’s very best supporting casts (including Eric Stoltz, Agyness Deyn, and Amber Heard), and it puts them all to great use in the service of a difficult but extremely rewarding story about the strength we get from the people in our lives. —DE

“High Life”

In many respects, the mesmerizing “High Life” is a first for writer-director Claire Denis: the first of her films to be shot in English, the first of her films to be set in space, and the first of her films to follow Juliette Binoche inside a metal chamber that’s referred to as “The Fuckbox,” where the world’s finest actress — playing a mad scientist aboard an intergalactic prison ship on a one-way trip to Earth’s nearest black hole — straddles a giant dildo chair and violently masturbates. Needless to say, “High Life” isn’t your average science-fiction movie. Co-starring Robert Pattinson as a death row inmate who’s sentenced to a lifetime of space exploration, this perseverant meditation on the end of human existence is a hypnotic voyage straight into the heart of the void, as Denis goes to the ends of the known universe to reaffirm that she’s one of the most exciting filmmakers on the planet. —DE

“If Beale Street Could Talk”

Annapurna

James Baldwin’s 1974 novel “If Beale Street Could Talk” depicts the experiences of a pregnant black teen in Harlem with a cinematic quality that practically reads like a screenplay. It’s no wonder that writer-director Barry Jenkins takes his cues from the source, transforming Baldwin’s evocative vision of young lovers grappling with race and class into a masterful poetic romance as Baldwin envisioned it. Yet Jenkins’ follow-up to “Moonlight” also maintains his own profound, expressionistic aesthetic, with its lush colors and entrancing faces that speak volumes in few words, resulting in a fascinating hybrid experience — a seminal voice of the past merging with one of the present in a mesmerizing burst of creative passion. —EK

“Roma”

Netflix

Alfonso Cuarón’s “Roma” (December 14, Netflix) is the movie movie the Academy is most afraid of: an art film so extraordinary that it could vie for both the Best Foreign Language and Best Picture Oscar. More than one director who saw the film at fall festivals recognized the high-dive difficulty of Cuarón elaborately detailed long-shot sequences that pull the viewer into an immersive experience enhanced by rich, dense atmospheric sound. Participant’s David Linde helped him finance his most ambitious, personal, and autobiographical film, an upstairs/downstairs family drama which he shot himself in black-and-white with the Arri Alexa 65 camera and layered Dolby Atmos sound in the Mexico City neighborhood where he was raised. The “Gravity” Best Director Oscar-winner deploys all the tricks of digital technology to tell a deeply personal 1971 story from the point of view of his household nanny, Cleo (pre-school teacher Yalitza Aparicio). Over a series of stunning set pieces, we follow Cleo and the extended family through everyday challenges like the parents’ breakup and Cleo’s sexy romance with a man who first abandons her and then turns up unexpectedly during a violent student uprising. Before he returns to big-scale filmmaking, Cuarón joins his Best-Picture winner amigos Alejandro Gonzales Iñárritu (“Birdman”) and Guillermo del Toro (“The Shape of Water”) in showing us how to merge the personal and the political with art.

“A Star Is Born”

Warner Bros./YouTube

Believe the hype. Bradley Cooper’s long-gestating take on a Hollywood premise so classic that it’s already spawned three previous films is fresh, smart, and surprisingly emotional. It’s difficult to pinpoint its very best part, from Cooper managing to craft a screenplay and a performance that makes his male lead (in this one, country rocker Jackson Maine) to Lady Gaga utterly transforming into a believably worn-down wannabe singer-turned-major star to the songs (oh, the songs!) to Sam Elliott breaking hearts with just a glance, and that’s only the showiest stuff in a film that’s also gently wise to the demands of fame, the price of addiction, and what it means to give your very best to a world perhaps not good enough to deserve it. At its heart, it’s a big, bruising love story that seems destined to blow up the box office, but there’s deeper, darker stuff here worth the price of admission. —KE

“Sunset”

Mátyás Erdély / Laookon Filmgroup

Béla Tarr may have retired, but Hungarian cinema has found a worthy standard-bearer in László Nemes. “Sunset” confirms the Oscar-winning “Son of Saul” director as a major talent, one whose sophomore feature is both astonishingly beautiful and profoundly sorrowful: It unfolds like a cross between a memory of pre-war Budapest and a dream, the kind so vivid you’ll swear it was real as you hang on to every half-remembered detail. Nemes displays flashes of his mentor’s formal mastery even as he emerges as a unique cinematic voice in his own right, one that may only grow louder and more prominent in the years to come. There’s sadness and beauty in every frame, as though the writer/director is nostalgic for this era despite not being born until many decades after the sun had indeed set on the Austro-Hungarian Empire. —MN

“Vox Lux”

Venice Film Festival

As the coarse, moody pop singer Celeste, Natalie Portman deliver a stormy interpretation of an icon saddled with a culture that projects its sentiments onto her. Beginning with a traumatic high-school shooting and culminating in a performance that feels like a very different sensory assault, “Vox Lux” is a jarring deconstruction of the industry that “A Star is Born” explores in more familiar terms. brings a near-cartoonish intensity to her monstrous singer that elevates the movie to surreal heights. Writer-director Brady Corbet’s fascinating narrative unfolds across two time periods: In the first, set in the years leading up to 9/11, the teenage Celeste (breakout Raffey Cassidy, terrifically subdued) survives a near-death experience that leaves many of her classmates dead; when she sings a gentle ballad at a memorial service, it goes viral, instantly propelling her to national attention. Years later, she’s transformed into Portman’s angry caricature — a seething monstrosity whose entire existence embodies the national mood. Her climactic performance is a spectacular explosion of narcissism and rage that’s unique to modern times. —EK

“Widows”

Fox

A visual artist whose movies have dealt with starvation, sex addiction, and slavery, Steve McQueen has never been considered a safe commercial bet. That just makes “Widows,” his bracing, moody heist thriller about women who finish the robbery their husbands started, all the more satisfying: McQueen has made a first-rate genre exercise — led by a defiant Viola Davis in one of her very best roles — that doubles as a treatise on race and gender, juggling dramatic payoff with heavier themes. “Widows” embraces its trashy, melodramatic twists while deepening their potential. If all escapism looked like this, America would get smart again. —EK

Source: IndieWire film