Month: January 2021

John Frey, an actor, screenwriter, director and teacher known for the 2018 film “Cabaret Maxime,” died on Jan. 23 of heart failure. He was 62. Born in the Bronx, Frey graduated from the prestigious William Esper Studio for actors and had a 25-year international career in film, theater and television. Frey’s early theater acting and

Ever since “Man on Wire,” in 2008, more and more documentaries have been using visualizations, staged scenes, and other illustrative methods that are meant to bring a true story to life but, to my mind, often end up getting in the way of it. I tend to prefer my documentaries without a speck of cereal,

Movies about the end of the world share a similar DNA: chaos, fire, looting, revelations. But in “How It Ends,” from filmmakers Zoe Lister-Jones and Daryl Wein, the apocalypse is as serene and lush as a Southern California spa day. Though spilling over with catharsis and a full manifestation of the lead character’s inner child,

Cinema loves an identical twin, or preferably, two. More specifically, cinema — and daytime TV — loves to instill in the 99.7% of the population who are not identical twins, the idea that they are untrustworthy types, prone to switcheroo deceptions and uncanny telepathy. These are not myths that Erin Vassilopoulos cares to dispel with

For most childless women of a certain age, regardless of whether parenthood is within their desired ambitions, the world is full of silent, often judgmental reminders about one’s diminishing chances at pregnancy. Perhaps the universe doesn’t throw its hands in the air and stomp its feet on the ground like Marisa Tomei does in “My

After a prize-winning short of the same name, Swedish director-writer Ninja Thyberg’s “Pleasure,” a drama unfolding within the shadowy world of the adult film industry, premieres in Sundance and moves on to Goteborg and the Dragon competition for best Nordic film. What inspired the storyline of “Pleasure?” I’ve been working on the topic for a

Radiation exposure was at the forefront of cinematographer Simon Niblett’s mind as he spent time filming Otto Bell’s “The Toxic Pigs of Fukushima.” Bell, who was trying for a baby at the time, was also concerned – they carried radiation monitors. Bell’s documentary Oscar contender, “The Toxic Pigs of Fukushima,” follows a group of local

The creative team behind “Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street,” a documentary on the origins of the eponymous beloved children’s show “Sesame Street,” discussed the challenges of bringing the series’ rich history to life. Director Marilyn Agrelo and producers Ellen Scherer Crafts and Trevor Crafts spoke to the Variety Studio presented by AT&T

It starts in sweltering heat; it ends in freezing weather. And in between, as the temperature gradually drops, Rebecca Hall’s “Passing,” based on Nella Larsen’s 1929 novel, calmly brings the diffuse racial landscape of prohibition-era New York City into crystalline, gorgeously shot focus. This radically intimate exploration of the desperately fraught concept of “passing” —

“Active Shooter at 12! Hostage negotiation at 1:30! Drug raid at 2:30,” hollers an authoritative voice in a sun-baked concrete yard. The retired police officer who announces this schedule at the start of “At the Ready,” Maisie Crow’s sobering documentary about a community of kids growing up on the Mexican border, isn’t at a professional

Would audiences pay to see a new movie on the big screen if they could watch the same title at home from the comfort of their couch? Prior to the pandemic, the response from theater operators and cinema purists would have been a resounding “no.” Yet Hollywood is finding that, at least while a plague

The filmmaker and stars of “R#J,” a modern-day adaptation of William Shakespeare’s classic romantic tragedy “Romeo and Juliet,” explored the importance of representation for young people and the unique format of the film. Director Carey Williams and stars Francesca Noel (Juliet), Camaron Engels (Romeo), Diego Tinoco (Tybalt) and Siddiq Saunderson (Mercutio) spoke to the Variety

The lengthiest interview in “Searchers” takes place toward the conclusion of director Pacho Velez’s warm and well-executed Sundance doc, which focuses on an array of New Yorkers and the dating apps they use. Earlier, when the film introduces 55-year-old Ron, he’s offering a running commentary while scrolling through profiles with little pause: “He looks like

It’s a popular conception that there’s nothing more boring than hearing about other people’s dreams, which by rights should make James Preble — the meek, cutely mustachioed hero of “Strawberry Mansion” — the unfortunate owner of the world’s dullest job: He’s a tax auditor who has to scan his clients’ recorded dreams for hidden expenses.

Filmmaker Maisie Crow was visiting a Texas high school to speak to students in a video production class about her career behind the camera when she saw something shocking. A group of teenagers were making their way through the hallways, SWAT team style, brandishing red plastic guns. “I was taken aback,” says Crow. “It was

Erica Wigg, the main character of Goro Miyazaki’s made-for-TV feature “Earwig and the Witch,” is both a brat and an orphan. Those two traits seldom go together in children’s stories, and the combination provides a modest starting point for this intermittently amusing CG entry from Studio Ghibli — back in business but a shadow of

Sony Pictures Classics has acquired all worldwide rights to the film “Jockey,” which will premiere on Sunday in the U.S. Dramatic Competition section at the Sundance Film Festival. Directed by Clint Bentley and written by Bentley and Greg Kwedar, the film stars Clifton Collins, Jr., Molly Parker, Moises Arias, Logan Cormier and Colleen Hartnett. The

At its core, the grim, gritty and blood-soaked “Eight for Silver” is a skillfully fashioned yet philosophically thin twist on the werewolf saga. And yet, in the opening moments of Sean Ellis’ dark-hued and gory gothic horror, you might briefly mistake the monster-themed film you’re about to watch for Sam Mendes’ “1917,” with Ellis’ stylish

There are instances in director Carey Williams’ boldly experimental yet wearisome “R#J” that genuinely grasp the essence of romance, identity and existence in the age of social media. Those fleeting but relatable moments feel like major triumphs in Williams’ Gen Z-centric adaptation of “Romeo and Juliet,” a movie that unfolds almost entirely on electronic screens.

In 1965, the world’s idea of a problematic nun was Maria von Trapp: a black sheep in a white wimple who was booted from her convent for taking the odd hillside hike, enjoying a bit of a sing-along and ultimately getting jiggy with a handsome navy captain. By 1968, life had got a bit more

“Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street” has the good fortune to be arriving with about a hundred more built-in advantages than most documentaries. Offering up vintage backstage footage of Jim Henson and Frank Oz operating the Muppets feels a little like Henry Houdini coming back to reveal all his secrets. For parts of

“Mass,” a drama that consists of two couples seated across a table from each other in a placidly sterile church antechamber, discussing the unthinkable (two of them are the parents of a teenage boy who was killed in a school shooting; the other two are the parents of the shooter), is a movie you could

How to introduce an entity as mercurial as Sparks, the band that forms the subject of Edgar Wright’s fantastic, fond, fizzy documentary portrait, to those who don’t know them? With over five decades and 25 albums’ worth of music, sibling frontmen Ron and Russell Mael have been virtually the only constant in a group whose