Image © Dreamworks Animation
Kung Fu Panda 4
Kung Fu Panda 4
Cabrini
(In Theaters March 8)
The “Sound of Freedom” team delivers a nuanced, faith-based drama, distributed by Angel Studios. The film focuses on America’s first saint, the Roman Catholic nun Frances Xavier Cabrini, played by Italian actress Christiana Dell’Anna. In 1887, believing she is meant to do good in a big way, Cabrini persuades Pope Leo XIII (Giancarlo Giannini) that she must go to New York City to help Italian immigrants. Once there, Cabrini surmises the need for an orphanage, and sets about getting approval and donations to establish one. She is opposed by the local archbishop, Michael Corrigan (David Morse), and by New York’s mayor, a self-aggrandizing, fictional political animal played by John Lithgow. Equipped with tireless determination and a stream of clever one-liners, Cabrini’s story exposes anti-immigrant proponents, along with the battle waged between Irish Catholics and Italian Catholics. Director Alejandro Monteverde recreates, with a relatively low budget, New York City during the late 1800s. Dell’Anna’s understated, affecting performance, brings speculation that she could receive an Oscar nod. (Lisa Miller)
Kung Fu Panda 4
(In Theaters March 8)
Now ready to retire, Kung Fu Panda Po (voice of Jack Black) looks forward to opening a noodle shop. Instead, led by a fox named Zhen, (Awkwafina), Po faces off against The Chameleon (Viola Davis), a villain determined to steal Po’s staff of wisdom, thus enabling her to resurrect the evildoers Po vanquished in films 1-3. The Chameleon can shape-shift, giving this animation an opportunity to return fan favorites such as fierce snow leopard Tai Lung, in the elegant baritone of Ian McShane. Although receiving a positive rating from most critics, this fourth installment is more of the same. That isn’t necessarily bad, though the film does little to keep the franchise fresh. Those seeking more comic stylings from Jack Black’s slacker Kung Fu master, can check out spin-off projects, including a television series and video games. (Lisa Miller)
Under the Fig Trees
(Film Movement DVD/Digital)
The film begins on a country road in Tunisia where a group of village women and girls—and a couple of men—wait for “the boss.” He pulls up in his Isuzu pickup truck and drives them to his orchard, where they work all day picking ripe figs from the branches.
The Tunisian Oscar submission by director Erige Sehiri is largely a series of conversations among the workers or between the workers and the boss. Their meaning is plain: the boss is a hard man, but the workers have known worse. Their task isn’t back breaking and can almost be fun at moments, yet the hours drag on and the pay is small. They gossip, scold and discuss their futures: Marriage? Farm work elsewhere? Trade school?
Under the Fig Trees is an undramatic presentation of a set of little dramas, played without the artificial emphasis of syrupy or melodramatic Hollywood music. One of the girls has a cellphone and they pass around Instagram videos, showing a world that may or may not be better than the one they inhabit. (David Luhrssen)
