Blacklight (Theatrical release Feb. 11)
In-demand action star Liam Neeson, portrays Travis Block, a troubled off-the-books FBI fixer. Tasked with “pulling undercover agents out of dangerous situations,” Block learns of a plot targeting innocent U.S. citizens that serves a government agenda. After placing himself in the crosshairs of the FBI director (Aidan Quinn), Block’s mission gets personal (and begins to sound like the movie Taken) after Block’s daughter and granddaughter are suddenly kidnapped. To shoot this film during the pandemic, the actors underwent quarantine in Australia, then were allowed to use the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre as a studio. Observers noticed a stunt-car driver wearing a prosthetic Liam Neeson face mask. (Lisa Miller)
Death on the Nile (Theatrical release Feb. 11)
Kenneth Branagh takes his second turn directing an Agatha Christie adaptation while portraying Belgian private detective Hercule Poirot. The sleuth is cruising the Nile aboard a glamorous river steamer when a wealthy socialite is found murdered in her cabin. From a plentiful assortment of the murdered woman’s friends and enemies found aboard, Poirot seeks to identify her killer. Each seemingly has motive to commit the deed, being a jealous bunch of the monied and money-chasers. The film’s generous $90 million budget was used to create the steamer ship, decor and characters’ period clothing, and to secure a cast that includes Gal Gadot, Arnie Hammer, Tom Bateman, Annette Bening, Russell Brand and Emma Mackey. (Lisa Miller)
The Lover (Capelight Blu-ray)
Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) was still a museum of its colonial past when French director Jacques Annaud arrived to film The Lover (1992). The story, based on Marguerite Duras’ autobiographical novel (she didn’t like the film version), is set in the 1930s and concerns a 15-year-old French girl’s affair with a 32-year-old Chinese business heir.
Fifteen is a transitional, rocky year for most adolescents, but the girl (Jane March) is especially challenged, coming from a fatherless home dominated by a cruel older brother and a weak-willed mother struggling to support them on a schoolteacher’s salary. The Chinese man (Tony Leung-Kai fai) glimpses her on a ferry and begins a slow-moving seduction which she pretends, for the longest time, not to notice. The often-languorous erotica that follows was slapped at first with an NC-17 rating in the U.S.
The Lover is a profound exploration of passion and the wavering boundaries between love and lust, compassion and obsession. Both protagonists are aware of violating taboos and face opprobrium on all sides, not so much for their age difference but—of great importance in 1930s Vietnam—their ethnicity with all attendant social expectations. The Lover was the first Western feature made in Vietnam for decades. The beautiful cinematography alone is worth a look. (David Luhrssen)
Marry Me (Theatrical release Feb. 11)
This year’s Valentine date-movie is adapted from a graphic web-comic by Bobby Crosby. In the set-up, Charlie (Owen Wilson) allows his female best friend (Sarah Silverman) to drag him to pop singer Kat Valdez’s (Jennifer Lopez’s) concert. The singer means to marry her pop-star partner Bastian onstage, until she learns, moments before their impending nuptials, he’s cheating on her. Staring out teary-eyed into the audience, Valdez spots affable-looking Charlie holding his friend’s “Marry Me” sign, and she announces, “I accept.” With that, Charlie is swept onstage to marry Valdez in a plot reminiscent of Notting Hill. While this film lacks that one’s cast of winsome, quirky characters, it does spawn Lopez’s latest album. (Lisa Miller)
Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy (Film Movement Blu-ray)
Japanese director Ryusuke Hammaguchi’s award winning Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy (2021) is a collection of three stories unrelated except by their method of lives closely examined through long conversations. Secrets are revealed like onion skins slowly peeled as discussions turn to sex, literature, emotions, fidelity, jealousy, revenge and the multiple possible outcomes presented by fate. (David Luhrssen)
