The Nightingale (2019; Jennifer Kent) GRADE: B- By Daniel Barnes *Opens Friday, August 9, at the Landmark Embarcadero in San Francisco, Piedmont in Oakland and the Smith Rafael Film Center in San Rafael. Jennifer Kent follows up the psychological horror of her 2014 breakthrough The Babadook with a […]
Pasolini (2019; Abel Ferrara) GRADE: C+ By Daniel Barnes *Opens Friday, May 10, in New York City, and expands to other select theaters in the following weeks. “Obsessed with Banality” After playing Vincent van Gogh in At Eternity’s Gate, Willem Dafoe continues his biopic tour of tragic artists with […]
Long Day’s Journey Into Night (2019; Bi Gan) GRADE: B- By Daniel Barnes *Opens Friday, May 3, at the Landmark Embarcadero in San Francisco and the Landmark California in Berkeley. “Tedious Wonderland” “A watch is a symbol of eternity. And it’s broken.” Dreams, memories and hallucinations get stacked […]
Sunset (2019; László Nemes) GRADE: C+ By Daniel Barnes *Opens Friday, April 26, at the Tower Theatre in Sacramento. Or: The Grand Budapest Hell. Nemes follows up his much-lauded debut film Son of Saul with this disturbing mystery set in pre-World War I Budapest. Of course, instead of the melancholy comedy […]
3 Faces (2019; Jafar Panahi) GRADE: B- By Daniel Barnes *Opens Friday, March 29, at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco. 3 Faces is the fourth feature film from Iranian writer-director Jafar Panahi since 2010, the year that the Islamic Revolutionary Court sentenced him to house arrest and imposed […]
Screwball (2019; Billy Corben) GRADE: C+ By Daniel Barnes *Opens Friday, March 29, at the 4 Star Theater in San Francisco. Less a documentary than a feature-length piece of click-bait, the true-crime sports movie Screwball offers the most superficial look imaginable at the steroids scandal surrounding Alex Rodriguez […]
