Merrily We Roll Along (c) Sony Pictures Classics
Film: Merrily We Roll Along
In Cinemas
As we wait for Richard Linklater’s film version of the Stephen Sondheim musical, Merrily We Roll Along, with the estimated release date of 2039 (!), we get a fine alternative with the live capture of the hit Broadway revival from 2024. Why is the film adaptation going to take so long to be released? It’s because the action of the film, about the trials and tribulations of a trio of friends, takes place between 1976 to 1957 (oh, right, the story is told backwards in time), and Linklater will be filming the scenes in real time, as he did with his film, Boyhood, so stars Paul Mescal, Ben Platt, and Beanie Feldstein will age before our eyes on screen. Thankfully, the Tony Award-winning revival, has been directed for the screen by the Broadway revival director Maria Friedman, and she has captured what made this production such a success: the actors. Jonathan Groff, Daniel Radcliffe (both Tony winners) and Lindsey Mendez (Tony nominated) star as friends with most of the action centering on Frank (Groff), a successful composer turned film director, whose success (and many personal dramas) takes a toll on his former musical collaborator Charley (Radcliffe) and Mary (Medez), a writer who has always been in love with Frank. The funny thing about the musical is that it’s advertised as a story about these three, but a character who has more stage time is Gussie (Krystal Joy Brown), a fame hungry actress who marries Frank for his talent…I mean love. This version really solidifies Gussie’s status as the villain of the piece, getting more motivation than Charley (sullen and rejected) and Mary (drunk and rejected) in George Furth’s script. But Charley does get the showstopping number, “Franklin Shepard, Inc.” which Radcliffe performs with relish, and Medez’s acid line reading in the first scene is her highlight. But it’s all Groff’s show, and he doesn’t shy away from Frank’s selfish tendencies. The songs are all well-sung and will be ear worms for days after you see it. I saw the production off-Broadway but decided to pay my rent instead of seeing it again with Broadway prices. If you missed it as well, this presentation is a perfect (and affordable) way to enjoy this Sondheim show.
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (c) Netflix
Film: Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery
In Cinemas and on Netflix on December 15
The third Benoit Blanc film in six years, writer and director Rian Johnson has already settled into his murder mystery formula. First, each whodunit (just in case you didn’t know) is titled after a rock song: Knives Out by Radiohead, Glass Onion by The Beatles and now, Wake Up Dead Man by U2. Second, like in his TV show, “Poker Face,” he sets up the characters and situation leading up to the crime before Blanc (the delicious Daniel Craig) sweeps in, sniffs around with his Southern charm and solves the unsolvable. (It’s especially impossible here as it’s one of those “locked-room” mysteries in which the murder victim is killed in a place where no killer could enter.) And third, while Blanc is certainly the center of all these films, the main focus is usually the hapless suspect No. 1 whom Blanc teams up with. In Knives Out, it was Ana de Armas as Marta, the nurse; in Glass Onion, it was Janelle Monáe as Andi Brand, the disgruntled ex-business partner; and in the latest film, it’s Josh O'Connor as Rev. Jud a young priest entering a failing parish. O’Connor, who is having a banner year with four films (including The History of Sound, The Mastermind and Rebuilding), is the best here as a priest who was an ex-boxer with anger issues. Arriving at Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude, he meets Monsignor Wicks (Josh Brolin), who resents his presence, and thus so do most of his parishioners. They include a rich but sick cellist (Cailee Spaeny), a past-his-prime novelist (Andrew Scott), a lawyer (Kerry Washington) and her son (Daryl McCormack), an alcoholic doctor (Jeremy Renner) who just lost his wife, but most of all is the caretaker of the church (Glenn Close) and Wick’s biggest fan. When one of these people ends up murdered and poor Jud has blood on his hands, Blanc enters to hopefully save the day. I will not say more, except the title is not used lightly when talking about devout followers of Jesus Christ, and although I was satisfied with the ending, Johnson brushes past an obvious piece of murder mystery evidence that would poke a hole in Blanc’s solution. So, this is not a spoiler, but I will give three tropes — two that have nothing to do with the film’s plot and one that does but makes no sense: Fingerprints, autopsy and blood type. Only after seeing Wake Up Dead Man, will you know what I had a problem with. Ooh, a puzzle. Benoit Blanc would be proud.
A Private Life (c) Sony Pictures Classics
Film: A Private Life
In Cinemas
Jodie Foster is a serious, two-time Oscar-winner. The Silence of the Lambs and The Accused actress rarely acts in action movies or silly comedies where she can let her (admittingly short) hair down and have fun. Her last such film would be 2008’s family feature Nim’s Island in which she plays a writer of adventure books who never leaves her apartment. And now, with great surprise, comes A Private Life, a seemingly serious film in which Foster plays American therapist Lilian Steiner, currently living in and seeing patients in Paris. After she is told that one of her patients, Paula (Virginie Efira), has committed suicide, she reviews Paula’s tapes (Lilian records all her patients) and soon suspects Paula might have been murdered, with the main suspects being Paula’s husband (Mathieu Amalric) and her daughter (Luàna Bajrami). But the mystery plot is sometimes eclipsed by Lilian’s personal life, including her flirtation with her ex-husband (Daniel Auteuil), a distant relationship with her son (Vincent Lacoste) and newborn grandson, and a recurring medical anomaly in which her eyes tear up spontaneously. Director and co-writer Rebecca Zlotowski treats the story very seriously, but when Lilian goes to a hypnotist to cure her tear problem and finds out she may have known Paula in a past life, the film’s true tone presents itself. It’s essentially Seulement des meurtres dans le bâtiment (or Only Murders in the Building if you will) with Lilian finding a new joy in her life as she tries to solve the puzzle. The most unique part of the film is that Foster gets to speak most of her dialogue in fluent, impeccable French, and this seems to free her up to dive into Lilian’s own psychological roadblocks. The veteran French cast is perfectly happy to support Foster, with Auteuil having the most fun. When Foster as Lilian gleefully steals evidence or breaks into people’s home, the fun is infectious. While it does a minute for the action to get going, once it does, hold onto your fesses.
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