Easing into things on opening night.
Usually I’ve tried to see two films on opening (at least since Black Dog and September 5) but unfortunately this year, the schedule didn’t quite work out for Never After Dark, which I’ve been quite curious about and should be coming to Shudder eventually. I would’ve seen You Can See Everything if they had a showing today before 4; expect that to come at least some time next week if I find an opening, because otherwise I’m gonna get spoiled. For this one, you’ll get something I saw weeks earlier but is technically still an opening night:
The Only Living Pickpocket In New York (dir. Noah Segan): B
A film I’d heard about from some festival or another but hadn’t much looked into beyond buzz for John Tuturro (who is quite good). The beginning scenes – with their “day in the life” qualities – were quite compelling, so I was a little disappointed when it stopped being so episodic and instead became much more plot based revolving around a typical MacGuffin stolen from the Mafia. Props should be given to Segan – in his second directorial effort after Blood Ties, which I also saw – for not turning this into Uncut Gems, but it never feels substantial enough in either story or theme to really generate ardor (it’s well shot with a nice score, and at least a couple neat editing choices, one near the end). Tuturro is fantastic as you’d expect, and one late breaking scene with him and Tatiana Maslany basically justified the whole affair. Nice enough time, but not really anything revelatory.
Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother: A-
Saw this way before the fest but since it’s included in the official lineup – albeit as a pre-screening – I’m throwing it in here along with my director interview for Joysauce. One of the year’s best: stylish, with action scenes that really make you feel the impacts and Mahershala Ali absolutely owning the screen in ways Kevin Feige should be ashamed of. But it’s also one of the few American films that really takes Islam seriously in terms of the belief, and I loved the contrast between Latif’s strict adherenece and Pastor Hwan’s (a wonderful John Cho) anti-porn crusades. Not to mention the fact that the story is basically just a guy trying to find milk for his infant daughter and forced to deal with a bunch of bullshit that doesn’t concern him, that’s always fun. I have a feeling Amazon’s bungled this release yet again, so I highly recommend getting to it in theaters now, and again when it inevitably comes to Prime streaming. I would totally watch it again without five watermarks on my laptop.
