Georgina Campbell in 'Barbarian'
Georgina Campbell in 'Barbarian'
About Fate
(In Theaters & Streaming, on Sept. 9)
This film adapts the 1976 made-for-TV Russian rom-com “The Irony of Fate,” which continues to play each New Year’s Eve to millions of viewers. In this version, Margot Hayes (Emma Roberts) believes herself happily engaged until fiancée Kip (Lewis Tan) dumps her the day before a family wedding where everyone expects to finally meet him. Meanwhile, Griffin (Thomas Mann) agrees to his girlfriend’s (Madelaine Petsch) request he propose marriage publicly at another wedding being held that same day. Through a series of faux pas, the night before these nuptials, Margot finds Griffin asleep in her bed. Since Griffin feels terrible about his accidental home invasion, Margot asks him to atone by briefly posing as Kip during the wedding. Griffin agrees. Everything possible goes wrong, though these two oddballs are falling for one another. Marius Vaysberg directs this R-Rated romp. (Lisa Miller)
Barbarian
(In Theaters Sept. 9)
When Tess (Georgina Campbell) rents a small house online for her Detroit job interview, she arrives to find Keith (Bill Skarsgard) already in residence. Against her better judgement, Tess agrees to share the rental for one night. Shortly after bedding down, strange sounds beckon, leading Tess to discover an underground catacomb, for which the term “strange goings-on” hardly begins to cover what she observes. Detroit, also the setting for the terrifying Don’t Breathe, adds an air of neglect and desperation to the fright fest that ensues. Justin Long, Matthew Patrick Davis and Jaymes Butler play roles in this R-Rated flick, written and directed by Zach Cregger. (Lisa Miller)
Cool World: Collector’s Edition
(Shout! Factory Blu-ray)
Ralph Bakshi (Fritz the Cat) was the edgiest animator of the ‘70s, a feature film comix artist. Arriving in the aftermath of Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), Bakshi’s final theatrical release, Cool World (1992), was an animation-live action combo with a twist. The “Cool World” is an animated parallel universe whose denizens can occasionally “crossover” into our reality. A young Brad Pitt plays a detective trying to keep order in the garish, neo-noir “Cool World” mayhem; Gabriel Byrne plays a cartoonist who may have imagined pages from this interdimensional realm and is threatened by its iterations—one of them played by Kim Basinger. The Collector’s Edition bonus documentary includes interviews with Bakshi and Basinger. (David Luhrssen)
Donbass
(Film Movement DVD)
Years before Putin’s 2022 invasion, a war was sputtering in Ukraine’s east where Russian-controlled separatists had seized power. Ukraine’s 2019 Foreign Language Oscar nominee, Donbass, is a series of sharply satirical, loosely linked vignettes of life in and near the “Occupied Territories of Eastern Ukraine.” The thunder-rumble of artillery is heard at checkpoints along the dangerous frontier, shells fall on cities triggering car alarms, double-talking politicians preside over fiefdoms of larceny and window glass is hard to find for all the broken glass. Most startling is the Russian narrative, already in place before this year’s invasion, that Ukraine has somehow fallen into the clutches of neo-Nazis, a frightening vision for Russians raised on true stories of Nazi atrocities during World War II. (David Luhrssen)
Fanny: The Right to Rock
(Film Movement DVD)
Before Heart, before The Runaways, Fanny broke barriers as an all-female rock band. But they never quite broke into stardom. Bobbi Jo Hart’s documentary shifts between the regrouped band making their first album in 45 years to a telling of their past. Their stories fascinate.
Fanny began as The Svelts, a cover band inspired by the British Invasion and kept busy through the mid-‘60s by the novelty of girls in mini-skirts playing guitars and rums. By the time they reached LA in 1969, catching the ear of producer Richard Perry, they found themselves at the forefront of “women’s lib” and other cultural upheavals. Their LA band house, Fanny Hill, was the site of an ongoing jam session with visitors such as The Band, Little Feat and Bonnie Raitt.
Fanny was signed to Reprise, received good reviews, appeared on Dick Cavett, sold records (but never enough), shared bills with Slade and Humble Pie and garnered greater respect in the U.K. than the U.S. Their single for Casablanca, “Butter Boy” (1975), was a minor hit, but too late. Exhausted by incessant touring and splintered by differing goals, Fanny disbanded.
Fanny: The Right to Rock is filled with interviews with people who knew or worked with them, including Todd Rundgren and Earl Slick, and is a reminder that male chauvinism was a hard rock to crack as recently as the ‘70s, when rock music was still deemed a man’s world. (David Luhrssen)
Medieval
(In Theaters Sept. 9)
Demonstrating that the nasty business of politics is nothing new. Kings Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia (Karel Roden) and Sigismund of Hungary (Matthew Goode) battle for the throne. Young mercenary Jan Zizka (Ben Foster) is hired by Lord Boresh (Michael Caine) to kidnap Lady Katherine (Sophie Lowe), fiancée of Lord Rosenberg (Til Schweiger), the corrupt Sigismund’s right-hand man. After kidnapping Katherine, Zizka abandons his own mission to join her attempt to free her people. A prequel to Jan Zizka’s storied military career as a revered Czech general (although the film is set in the late 1400s and Zizka died in 1424), the film’s fictional narrative incorporates actual historical figures along with those it makes up. Rated R and aimed squarely at English-speaking adults, this two-hour epic was shot in 2018 by Czech director Petr Jakl. (Lisa Miller)
