Films this week 2/3- to-2/5/2023
by Gary Palmucci | 2nd February 2023 | Gary's Corner
Along with our still-thriving long runs of Oscar nominee Bill Nighy in Living and Turn Every Page: The Adventures of Robert Caro and Robert Gottlieb (now including a third show time), we’re adding two new titles, each with some real-life drama of their own.
Many of you may have read about the film To Leslie and its mercurial actress Andrea Riseborough, whose ultra-low-budget, under-the-radar Oscar campaign last week resulted in a surprise Best Actress nomination. What to most industry observers (and lovers of the underdog) seemed like a refreshing triumph, aided by many glowing online endorsements from her fellow actors and a few impromptu screenings, has somehow come to be viewed elsewhere with suspicion. Actress’s Path to Surprise Oscar Nomination Is Scrutinized
My New Plaza colleagues Shawn Moore and Abbe Harris have been following To Leslie with admiration since its early fall theatrical release. Shawn is convinced that Riseborough’s performance as a hard-luck alcoholic grasping for her last shot at redemption, is easily the most powerful of the five Oscar nominees. This weekend you have a chance to see for yourself, in all its widescreen glory and gritty Texas drama.
On the other side of the world, Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi remains in prison, serving a six year sentence for questioning the arrests of two of his fellow filmmakers. Panahi’s Three Faces and his son Panah’s Hit the Road were both previously screened in our theatres. His last completed film No Bears opened here recently and deserves to be more widely seen. In it, Panahi plays – as he often does – himself directing a film in a remote location and struggling with both artistic and real-life moral crises. In his NY Times Critic’s Pick review A.O. Scott notes, “….there may be no living filmmaker who has considered the practical and philosophical implications of the art form – the work of shooting and cutting; the pleasure and anxiety of watching – as rigorously or as significantly…”
And looking forward to next week, we’ll be joining in the US premiere of an acclaimed Israeli drama (its own Oscar submission this year), Cinema Subaya. Here’s the spirited trailer.
Gary Palmucci, Film Curator
New Plaza Cinema