Movies to See Right Now

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Olivia Colman in THE LOST DAUGHTER. Courtesy of Netflix.

This week on The Movie Gourmet: new reviews of The Lost Daughter and The Pact – and my first thoughts on the Oscars.

CURRENT FILMS

  • Drive My Car: director and co-writer Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s engrossing masterpiece about dealing with loss – and it’s the best movie of 2021. Layered with character-driven stories that could each justify their own movie, this is a mesmerizing film that builds into an exhilarating catharsis. In theaters.
  • Nightmare Alley: enough burning ambition for a thousand carnies. In theaters.
  • Belfast: a child’s point of view is universal. If you have heartstrings, they are gonna get pulled. In theaters.
  • The Power of the Dog: One man’s meanness, another man’s growth. Netflix.
  • Don’t Look Up: Wickedly funny. Filmmaker Adam McKay (The Big Short) and a host of movie stars hit the bullseye as they target a corrupt political establishment, a soulless media and a gullible, lazy-minded public. Netflix.
  • The Tragedy of Macbeth: No surprise here: Joel Coen, Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand deliver a crisp and imaginative version of the Bard’s Scottish Play. AppleTV.
  • Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn: completely different than any movie you’ve seen. AppleTV, Drafthouse On Demand.
  • Parallel Mothers: Pedro Almodovar gives us a lush melodrama, sandwiched between bookend dives into today’s unhealed wounds from the Spanish Civil War. In theaters.
  • Jagged: Insightful biodoc of Alanis Morissette, who is really not that angry, after all. HBO.
  • The Lost Daughter : Great, Oscar-nominated performances by Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley in this dark, unsettling exploration of the obligation of parenting. Netflix.
  • House of Gucci: Lady Gaga and Adam Driver shine in this modern tale of Shakespearean family treachery. In theaters.
  • Licorice Pizza: When nine years is a big age difference. In theaters.
  • The Hand of God: Filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino’s own coming of age story – and a time capsule of 1986 Naples. Netflix.
  • Being the Ricardos: a tepid slice of a really good story. Amazon (included with Prime).

Remember to check out all of my Best Movies of 2021.

MORE RECOMMENDATIONS ON VIDEO

ON TV

OSCAR MICHEAUX: THE SUPERHERO OF BLACK FILMMAKING. Courtesy of TCM.

On February 13, Turner Classic Movies airs the documentary Oscar Micheaux: The Superhero of Black Filmmaking. I haven’t seen it, but I have seen some Oscar Micheaux films, and, if you don’t know who he is, you should. As writer/director/producer, the African-American Michaeux created so-called “race films” – movies made for black audiences from a black perspective during the most shameful years of American racial segregation. Michaeux himself directed 42 feature films DURING Jim Crow. It’s an important story, and Michaeux’s films, freed of the White Hollywood lens, are eyeopening. I am presuming that University of Chicago cinema professor Jacqueline Stewart, TCM’s silent film expert, will introduce the screening.

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