Ty's Annual Movie Turkey Trot
Suggestions for what to watch on demand once the bird has been reduced to a carcass; plus, reviews of "Flow" and "Maria"
I sat down for a chat with Robin Young of NPR/WBUR's "Here and Now" yesterday on the subject of suitable movies to dial up over the Thanksgiving holiday – all but one of them 2024 releases and all guaranteed (more or less; this isn't legally binding) to please a fairly wide swath of the assembled family. Or you could sit around and talk politics instead of avoiding your gloating MAGA uncle – the political writer and social media personality who calls himself "Eric Blair" (after George Orwell's real name) has some good advice if you want to take the battle straight to the cranberry sauce.
My "Here and Now" picks won't be terribly surprising to regular readers of The Watch List, but they're all crowd pleasers – I tabled the challenging stuff for after the tryptophane wears off. You can learn more and listen to the conversation at Here and Now's website or below:
One film I didn't mention on air is "Conclave" (⭐ ⭐ ⭐, for rent or purchase on Amazon and Apple TV), the enjoyably stormy pick-a-Pope melodrama starring Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, and a rogue's gallery of hams. It's just come to VOD at the premium price of $19.95, but this is one you may feel is worth the ducats, especially if you can gather up the clan for a group watch – it's a fun movie to kibitz over and try to predict who's going to shiv whom on the way to the papal throne, and the 11th hour twist is sure to throw the room into an uproar.
Over on Netflix, the Washington family production of August Wilson's "The Piano Lesson" (⭐ ⭐) has come to roost, with Denzel producing, his son Malcolm directing and his other son John David starring. It's a crucial work of American theater given a sturdy if diffuse translation to film, and John David Washington's shameless over-acting as Boy Willie is more than compensated by Danielle Deadwyler's heartbreakingly complex Berniece.
If you must go to a movie theater this weekend, try to find one showing "Flow" (⭐ ⭐⭐ ⭐), the transporting new animated film from Latvian director Gints Zilbalodis. If you have a child laying around the house, feel free to bring him or her along, but it's not really necessary, as this gently post-apocalyptic fable plays like a revelation to all ages. Also: How refreshing to see an animated film where the animals act like animals! There's no dialogue in this tale of five creatures – a cat, a dog, a capybara, a ring-tailed lemur and a secretary bird – who find themselves adrift in a boat during a flood, but there is a great deal of mystery and wisdom. There are no people, either – they seem to have disappeared with no explanation. You can try mining this utterly magical film for meaning, but I'd recommend you simply go with the, uh, flow.
If you want further suggestions for the holiday weekend, see my posting from 2021, where I get back at my cousin Bill for noodging me every year about "Pieces of April" and wonder why Thanksgiving movies are so damn dark.
Also, following for paid subscribers is today's Washington Post review of Pablo Larraín's "Maria" (⭐ ⭐⭐), starring Angelina Jolie as Maria Callas.
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