Joey Magidson
Welcome back to my Home Movies! This week, we have the most recent Best Adapted Screenplay winner hitting shelves. Yes, American Fiction comes home today. What else is hitting shelves, besides some new Criterion Collection titles? Read on to find out…
Joey’s Top Pick
The Academy was just as fond as the film festival circuit was of American Fiction, bestowing it the Oscar for Adapted Screenplay. The movie lives up the hype, too, in my humble opinion. Funny, smart, and a conversation starter, it’s entertainment with something to say. I spoke about the flick with filmmaker Cord Jefferson (here), co-star Tracee Ellis Ross (here), and star Jeffrey Wright (here), so be sure to check those discussions out. My review here had the following to add:
There are a lot of reasons why American Fiction has been amassing fans since it surprisingly blew the roof off of the Toronto International Film Festival this year. For me, I think the reason, above all else, is that we never get this sort of work anymore. Beyond that, even, it’s an incredibly specific yet ultimately universal story. Anyone will get something out of this movie. It’s hardly just inside baseball, even if some knowledge of the industry will lead to more chuckles. It’s just an impeccably made film. Believe the hype, folks. This flick is certainly among the cinematic highlights of 2023.
American Fiction is not just a scathing satire. It’s not just a showcase for brilliant character actor Jeffrey Wright. It’s also an emotional, funny, and downright moving character study/family drama. The laughs are big, especially during the satirical moments. However, it’s the deep well of emotions, as well as its beating heart, that sets this one apart.
Also Available This Week
Chinatown 4K / The Two Jakes (Blu-ray)
RoboCop (4K)
Shotgun Stories (Blu-ray)
Warehouse 13: The Complete Series (TV)
Criterion Corner
Bound
From The Criterion Collection: “Before they blew the world’s mind with The Matrix, Lana and Lilly Wachowski delivered a jolt of pure pulp pleasure with their hyperstylish debut, which puts a deliciously sapphic spin on a crackerjack caper premise. When butch plumber Corky (Gina Gershon) catches the eye of alluring femme (fatale) Violet (Jennifer Tilly), little does she know she’s about to be drawn into both a torrid affair and a high-stakes heist that will pit the pair against the mob. With crackling dialogue, luscious neonoir cinematography, and live-wire performances by Gershon, Tilly, and Joe Pantoliano, Bound is a genre-reimagining joyride that keeps both the tension and the erotic heat rising through each crazily careening twist.”
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Victims of Sin
From The Criterion Collection: “A treasure of Mexico’s cinematic golden age, this deliriously plotted blend of gritty crime film, heart-tugging maternal melodrama, and mambo musical is a dazzling showcase for iconic star Ninón Sevilla. She brings fierce charisma and fiery strength to her role as a rumbera—a female nightclub dancer—who gives up everything to raise an abandoned boy, whom she must protect from his ruthless gangster father. Directed at a dizzying pace by filmmaking titan Emilio Fernández, and shot in stylish chiaroscuro by renowned cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa amid smoky dance halls and atmospherically seedy underworld haunts, Victims of Sin is a ferociously entertaining female-powered noir pulsing with the intoxicating rhythms of some of Latin America’s most legendary musical stars.”
Stay tuned for more next week…
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