It’s suddenly, if not embarrassing, certainly a wonderful influx of riches in the independent film industry as high-profile festivals and well-reviewed fare continue into awards season. This week we have a returning guest with a large-scale re-release of Godzilla minus one.
Emilia Perez Up to 125 theaters, which is quite a few for Netflix. This weekend, Apple opens Steve McQueen’s World War II-themed collection The Raidstarring Saoirse Ronan on three screens in London, two in New York City and one in Los Angeles. Warner Bros. is launching an academic program for Clint Eastwood. is launching an academic program for Clint Eastwood Juror #2 Starring Nicholas Hoult and Zoey Deutch. Disney is doing the same for the documentary directed by Laurent Bouzereau Music by John Williams at El Capitan in Hollywood and Regal Union Square in Manhattan.
Cuisine, Snail diary And the document Black Box Diary Expansion in Week 2.
Join us with the comedy written and directed by Jesse Eisenberg from Searchlight Pictures Real Pain Arrives in 4 theaters in New York today (Angelika, AMC Lincoln Square) and Los Angeles (AMC Century City, AMC Grove). The Sundance Award winner stars Eisenberg alongside Succession Kieran Culkin stars as mismatched cousins David and Benji touring Poland to honor their grandmother. The adventure becomes complicated as old tensions resurface as they explore their family history. With Will Sharp, Jennifer Grey, Kurt Ejiawan, Lisa Sadovi and Daniel Oreskes.
Poland will be the first international region to launch on Nov. 8, kicking off the Warsaw Jewish Film Festival this week. It expands to the U.S. next week and then moves to about 600 screens on Nov. 15.
Eisenberg won the Best Screenplay Award at Sundance, and the film has screened at Telluride, the New York Film Festival, Beyond Fest, Hamptons Film Festival, Busan, Rio, Zurich, Bergen International Film Festival, Woodstock, BFI London Film Festival, and AFI.
Jumping into the global phenomenon Godzilla minus one and the reworked black-and-white presentation Godzilla minus one color/minus – They’re returning to 1365 locations in North America this weekend to celebrate King of the Monsters 70y Anniversary and World Godzilla Day, celebrated annually on November 3, the day the original 1954 film opened in theaters in Japan. To commemorate this date, Toho International also announced earlier today plans for a new Godzilla movie by writer, director, and visual effects supervisor Takashi Yamazaki.
In the Medium version, Blue Fox Entertainment opens Lost on a Mountain in Maine on 630 screens. Produced by Sylvester Stallone and his company Balboa Productions, Paul Sparks (Netflix’s House of Cards/ HBO Boardwalk Empire), Caitlin Fitzgerald (Showtime Masters of Sex), Ethan Slater (villain), with a standout performance from young leader Luke Damon Bloom (King of Staten Island).
Directed by Andrew Budhoe Kightlinger, based on the best-selling book of the same name by Don Wendler that was required reading in fourth grade in Maine for decades, it tells the inspiring true story of 12-year-old Don Wendler, who is separated from his father. The family is separated by a fast-moving storm over a treacherous mountain. For nine days, Don struggles to stay alive as he tries to survive in the unforgiving wilderness of northern Maine without food, proper clothing, or knowledge of how bad his situation really is. His disappearance sparked a massive search effort that made national headlines and attracted hundreds of volunteers.
The moderate and faith-based Purdie Entertainment also offers a heavy metal MMA version of Jesus in The Carpenter On about 500 screens, It is called “A mixed martial arts story of biblical proportions.
The story of Oren, a young man whose journey as a hired gun takes him to the Galilean city of Nazareth, where he befriends Joshua, a carpenter, who shares his craft and wisdom. Produced by the Hawaii-based Krebs family, the film was shot in Cape Town, South Africa with over 200 extras required for the extensive MMA and parkour action scenes. The movie is directed by Garrett Batty and stars brothers Cameron Cripps and Kaolin Cripps.
Back to the Netflix award contender Emilia Perez by Jacques Audiard. It is playing in 125 theaters in about 50 markets in the first somewhat expanded theatrical run of the musical crime drama. The largely Spanish-language film about a Mexican drug lord who changes sex premiered to rapturous applause at Cannes, where the quartet of stars, Carla Sofia Gascon, Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez and Adriana Paz, took home the Best Actress prize. Audiard took home the Jury Prize. The review says: “Of course it’s crazy, but Audiard has created his own impossible magic trick and pulled it off.” Streaming on Netflix on November 13.
Bowling Comedy from Magnolia Pictures Gutter, Acquired from SXSW, opening on 44 screens by day and date. Starring Susan Sarandon, Shameik Moore, Darcy Cardin, directed by Yasir Lester (Carmichael Show) and Isaiah Lester (draft).
Repeatedly fired Walt (Moore) gets a job tending bar and removing cockroaches at his local bowling alley, AlleyCatz, and feels like he’s finally found a home. When financial issues threaten AlleyCatz, Walt is pressured by former bowler and current champion Skir Skunk (Carden) to accept his role as the greatest bowler ever to grace this earth. While Walt’s love of big checks and straightforward style of play dominates the professional tour, his detractors, including ratings-obsessed news anchor Angelo Powers (Paul Reiser) and newly graduated bowling legend Linda “The Crusher” Corson (Sarandon) furiously tries to extinguish Walt’s flame before it burns out.
Los Angeles theaters: Laemmle Glendale & Alamo Drafthouse DTLA; New York theaters looking at movie theaters on West 57th and Alamo Drafthouse in Lower Manhattan.
Graduatesthe directorial debut of writer/director Hannah Peterson, marks the first distribution partnership for founder Karen Coleman’s distributor. The upcoming drama stars Meena Sandoval, Alex Hibbert, Yasmin Fletcher, Ewan Manley, John Cho, Maria Dizia, and Kelly O’Sullivan. The movie revolves around a young woman named Genevieve (Sundwall), who is preparing to graduate from high school after a tragic accident. As she navigates an uncertain future alongside a community searching for ways to heal, they turn to each other to find hope and a way forward.
Executive produced by Oscar-winning director Chloe Chow alongside John Cho.
Opens at Metrograph for one week. It will screen in Los Angeles at Vidiots on 11/11 under the direction of Sean Baker and then Los Feliz on 11/15 and other one-off screenings. It premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. At 95% on Rotten Tomatoes with 20 reviews.
Documentaries: Icarus Movie Showcase Youth (Hard Times) and Youth (Homecoming) – The second and third parts of Wang Ping’s acclaimed truth trilogy – at Metrograph in New York City on November 1 and 8, respectively.
Filmed between 2015 and 2019 in textile factories in Chile, a district of Huzhou City in northern Zhejiang Province that relies on the hard labor of hundreds of thousands of young migrant workers from the province’s countryside, Wang’s saga explores the individual losses of contemporary workers. China’s relentless economic expansion depicts the growing tensions and disparities between ordinary workers and their management, and the poignant endurance of solidarity and ambition in the face of a system that sows the seeds of division. It premiered in Venice, see our Deadline review. It received 92% and 93% respectively with RT’s critics.
Kino Lorber The soundtrack to the coup by Johan Grimonprez opens at the New York Film Forum. AddsLA next week (Chicago, Nov. 22). The documentary won the Special Jury Prize for Cinematic Innovation at Sundance, was recently nominated for four Critics Choice Doc Awards and the European Film Award for Best Documentary, and was shortlisted for Best Feature Film by the International Documentary Association. The exhilarating fusion of jazz and geopolitics tells the story of the CIA-backed Cold War coup in Congo and the use of black American jazz musicians as a weapon in his cause.
Tribeca’s Level 33 Premiere Document Chasing Amy’s Chase Opens in limited release. Directed by Sav Rodgers and starring Kevin Smith, Joey Lauren Adams, Jason Lee, Jennifer Turner, Scott Mosier, Andrew Ahn, Robert Hook, Princess Weekes, Oscar winner Kevin Wilmot and more, the film explores the complex legacy of Kevin Smith’s 1997 cult. A classic, Chasing Amyits polarizing reputation among LGBTQ+ people. It follows a poignant journey of self-discovery as a young filmmaker seeks to make sense of the 90s LGBTQ+ romantic drama that saved his life.
Smith’s film chronicles the impact of a long-term friendship between two comic book artists in New Jersey when they are joined by a third artist, who turns out to be a lesbian. The fallout includes heartbreak and jealousy. Starring Ben Affleck, Jason Lee and Joey Lauren Adams.