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      ‘Union’ Review: Amazon Workers Unionize

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      As this documentary by Brett Story and Stephen Maing chronicles, the efforts to unionize a warehouse in New York were successful — but also a grind.When employees at an Amazon warehouse on Staten Island voted to unionize in 2022, the result was seen as a major victory for organized labor. A year earlier, the documentarians Brett Story (“The Hottest August”) and Stephen Maing (“Crime + Punishment”) got on the ground with the workers and the organizers; in their engrossing new film, “Union,” they show how the vote’s outcome was hardly assured.The filmmakers introduce Christian Smalls — a founder of the Amazon Labor Union, the group striving to represent the workers at the JFK8 fulfillment center — as he grills food at a tent outside the warehouse. Even then, in 2021, Smalls is already, as a woman meeting him puts it, “low-key famous,” having been fired in 2020 after planning and attending a walkout over pandemic safety conditions.“Union” is partly about the grind of organizing: of chatting with workers over burgers, of attending video meetings, of resolving petty disputes. Smalls’s leadership does not always command the group’s full confidence. Natalie Monarrez, an early ally, grows disillusioned as “Union” proceeds. “I can’t leave one boys’ club at Amazon and work for another boys’ club in the union,” she tells Madeline Wesley, an organizer and recent college graduate who becomes another compelling voice in the story.Like Barbara Kopple’s organized labor documentary “American Dream,” “Union” is as interested in intra-union disputes as it is in the fight writ large. But the external obstacles are clear as well, as Smalls and company face daunting math and an anti-union campaign from inside, where the sometimes-tense footage, the filmmakers have said, was shot by the workers themselves.UnionNot rated. Running time: 1 hour 40 minutes. In theaters. More

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      ‘Nocturnes’ Review: They Come at Night

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      In the forests of northeast India, an ecologist tracking moths creates a tiny oasis of light in the darkness.Early in the enlightened nature documentary “Nocturnes,” a simple cut captures the mix of micro and macro that its directors, Anirban Dutta and Anupama Srinivasan, explore.Mansi Mungee, a quantitative ecologist, is counting moths in the forests of northeast India by hanging a lamp-lit sheet of fabric for the insects to land on. One such setup becomes a tiny oasis of light in the woods, and then, suddenly, we see the moon. Through this visual play with scale, moths and humans are placed in perspective as fellow creatures on the same level in the cosmos.“Nocturnes” is about Mungee’s hard work as a scientist, scouting and watching, and it’s also about the land itself. This lush and gorgeous stretch of Arunachal Pradesh, its misty landscapes drizzled with rain, has its own life apart from the scientific observers who come to the area. Mungee is measuring the sizes of hawk moths at different elevations and the effects of changing temperatures, but the filmmakers allow our gaze to dwell on the arabesques of wings on the hanging sheets, or, by day, the ethereal tree cover.This isn’t nature as an orderly picture book. Mungee and her team at one point must smash fallen rocks to clear a road, and they patiently endure cold and damp weather. In the award-winning film’s sound design, the din of animals — rustling and fluttering, plus calls of all sorts — becomes a raucous narration of its own.The moths remain a puzzle of data that awaits analysis. Dutta and Srinivasan’s understated approach shows research and nature in action without pretending to make a forest give up its secrets.NocturnesNot rated. Running time: 1 hour 22 minutes. In theaters. More

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      ‘High Tide’ Review: Between Two Worlds

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      Written and directed by Marco Calvani, this film follows a gay Brazilian man working under the table one summer in Provincetown, Mass.Finding and securing a sense of belonging is at the heart of “High Tide.” This poignant film, written and directed by Marco Calvani, highlights the life that Lourenço (Marco Pigossi) strives to protect as a gay Brazilian in the United States.Newly dumped by his boyfriend, Lourenço is suddenly alone for the summer, working under the table in Provincetown, Mass., on a tourist visa. In this gay haven, he is far away from his religious mother, whom he isn’t out to. (On a video call, she questions whether he has a photo of Jesus in his bedroom.)The cinematographer, Oscar Ignacio Jimeñez, shoots Provincetown — a “beautiful bubble,” as Lourenço calls it — as if it is wrapping its cleansing shores and cozy cottages around Lourenço, who makes ends meet by cleaning houses.Kindness and community flourish through compassionate figures, including Lourenço’s protective landlord (Bill Irwin) and a free-spirited artist (Marisa Tomei, also an executive producer) whom he befriends while working on a painting job at her house. At the beach, he hits it off with a nurse from New York named Maurice (James Bland), one of the few Black tourists in the mostly white town.Even though it’s unclear whether Lourenço will return to rural Brazil, the thought haunts him throughout his visit. With his exceptionally lived-in performance, Pigossi brings Lourenço’s heartbreaking emotions to life, making even the script’s contrivances feel natural.His eyes alone are evocative, like flickering bulbs fighting to stay lit.High TideRated R for language, club drugs, nudity and steamy sex. Running time: 1 hour 41 minutes. In theaters. More

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      ‘Goodrich’ Review: Daddy Lessons

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      An art gallery owner (Michael Keaton) gets a shock when his second wife (Laura Benanti) goes to rehab and he has to take care of their twins.“Goodrich,” by Hallie Meyers-Shyer, is a crowd-pleasing family comedy so frankly observed that you can imagine the first draft being scribbled on the back of a therapy bill.An art gallery owner named Andy Goodrich (Michael Keaton) gets shocked out of his self-absorption when his second wife, Naomi (Laura Benanti), phones to announce that she’s checked herself into 90 days of Malibu rehab. Andy hadn’t noticed she was strung out on prescription pills, much to the disdain of everyone else who had, including the couple’s 9-year-old twins, Billie and Mose (Vivien Lyra Blair and Jacob Kopera), and his 30-something daughter, Grace (Mila Kunis), from his first marriage, who rightly refuses to pick up his slack.Today’s modern father is expected to be more engaged than when Keaton first faced elementary school drop-off in the 1983 movie “Mr. Mom.” Yet, Meyers-Shyer makes clear that women are still shouldering the burden — and blame. Upon realizing he has no clue where his family stores the spices, Andy sputters in frustration, “Why would somebody keep the salt there?”That joke, plus dozens of others, hits its target like a pie to the face. Keaton’s an old pro at getting audiences to love a well-intentioned jerk, and the script gets good chuckles out of his inconsiderate attempts at generosity — offering to take Grace, who is pregnant, out for sushi, or treating the tykes to a movie night where he insists on watching “Casablanca.”Meyers-Shyer is a realist, so don’t expect Andy to turn his life around after delivering a big, wet-eyed speech. But Kunis’s Grace gets a great one about loving him despite his shortcomings that’s so honest and raw she made me giggle, tear up and giggle again.GoodrichRated R for language. Running time: 1 hour 51 minutes. In theaters. More

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      ‘Exhibiting Forgiveness’ Review: A Fraught Reunion

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      For his first film, the artist Titus Kaphar delivers an unsentimental and autobiographical gem.For the cover of Time magazine’s issue about the 2020 death of George Floyd, Titus Kaphar painted a pained Black mother hugging an infant to her chest. Where the child should have been, there was a white space. The artist titled a similar painting — a Black mother carries the vacant silhouette of a toddler on her hips — “Contour of Loss.” Those blanks mark a terrible absence, making emptiness feel present. In “Exhibiting Forgiveness,” Kaphar’s autobiographical film debut, the artist again focuses on rending absence — and seeks to fill it fully.André Holland gives a deeply attuned performance as Tarrell, an ascendant artist whose childhood traumas torment him, and make his most cherished relationships difficult. Bedeviled by nightmares, he awakes in a panic to his concerned wife, Aisha (Andra Day), lying beside him in their midcentury home, in their tree-lined neighborhood, with their vintage black-and-chrome Mercedes parked outside.This isn’t a catalog of materialism so much as evidence of a household constructed to withstand emotional chaos. Tarrell may be haunted, but the house is a haven, infused with familial affection — especially Tarrell’s love for his young son. Still, those panic attacks demand redress.During a visit to help move his mother, Joyce (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor), Tarrell comes face-to-face with the cause of those roiling dreams: his father, La’Ron (John Earl Jelks).Kaphar smartly introduces this troubled character. Before he re-enters Tarrell’s life, we see him hustling work outside a liquor store. He appears derelict and haggard, but when a violent robbery occurs inside, La’Ron, despite his shaky physical state, comes to the rescue. We might be inclined to have sympathy for him.But when La’Ron arrives battered to his brother’s home, we get our first inkling of the hurt he’s caused so many people. Regardless, Joyce engineers a fractious father-son reunion. She has her reasons. But Tarrell’s not having it. And no — it doesn’t matter that La’Ron has now found God.Kaphar begins “Exhibiting Forgiveness” with a quote by James Baldwin about the biological bond between fathers and sons, but Tarrell’s half brother, Quentin (Matthew Elam), also provides a telling key to the family’s varied truths of absolution and absolving: “This ain’t about him — it’s about Mama.”Forgiveness may not be about making nice. Filling in a painful gap may not lead to tidy reconciliation. Still, something true will appear. Kaphar may be new to feature filmmaking, but that’s some grown wisdom.Exhibiting ForgivenessRated R for language and brief drug material. Running time: 1 hour 57 minutes. In theaters. More

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      ‘Allswell in New York’ Review: Siblings and Their Struggles

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      This overstuffed movie fails to wrap up its myriad professional and domestic dramas, despite a few moments of promise.A series of unfortunate domestic events befalls three adult siblings in Ben Snyder’s “Allswell in New York,” which plays like a family sitcom that forgot the comedy.Daisy (Elizabeth Rodriguez, who co-wrote the screenplay) owns a restaurant named Allswell and longs to be a mother. Her sister, Ida (Liza Colón-Zayas of “The Bear”), is a clinical counselor searching for their elder brother, who disappeared years earlier. And their sister-in-law, Serene (Daphne Rubin-Vega), is busy trying to rein in her defiant daughter, Connie (Shyrley Rodriguez), who’s blazing a trail through her terrible 20s.When we drop into this picture of present-day New York City, Daisy and Ida are facing work strains and Serene is unable to locate Connie; on top of all that, Daisy has invited a young pregnant woman from Craigslist into her home. The expectant mother (Mackenzie Lansing) intends to have Daisy adopt her child, but hesitates to put the agreement in writing.If few of the melodramatic plot lines wrap up by the end, at least the members of the ensemble cast commit to their roles with naturalistic gusto. Moments of promise outshine the gloomy chaos, as when a nurse named Clint (J. Cameron Barnett, stealing many scenes) pantomimes words of solace for Ray (Michael Rispoli), Ida’s emotionally dense boyfriend, to recite to her while she weeps. The brief exchange achieves an admirable balance of pathos and play to which the rest of the movie can only aspire.Allswell in New YorkRated R for family feuds. Running time: 1 hour 35 minutes. In theaters. More

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      ‘Brothers’ Review: Two-Bit Criminals

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      Moke (Josh Brolin) is a reformed thief who gets roped into one last job with his twin brother, Jady (Peter Dinklage).For a road-trip buddy comedy, a greater crime than being unfunny is perhaps, amid all of the shenanigans, being dull. That is partly the feeling one is left with in the R-rated movie “Brothers,” which, even with an A-list cast, seems to move on autopilot through all of its pit stops.There’s the slapstick violence; there’s a sexually excited orangutan named Samuel; there’s Glenn Close as a two-bit criminal scaring a naked Josh Brolin off a motel balcony. But one is ultimately left with the prevailing feeling that this comedy, directed by Max Barbakow, is not particularly bad, but rather just fine.In a one-last-job setup, Moke (Brolin), a reformed thief trying to go straight, teams up with his twin brother, Jady (Peter Dinklage), to track down a stash of valuable jewels. Family issues between the brothers get in the way, and then get complicated when their long-lost mother (Close) comes into the picture.Their road-movie antics all play out with little comic imagination, making for a disappointing answer to the invigorating originality of Barbakow’s last comedy, “Palm Springs.” Brolin and Dinklage might seem like a magnetic pair of bickering twins — and they are what is keeping this ship from sinking — but mostly it’s dismaying to see such strong dramatic actors stifled in such a sedate comedy.The same can be said of the entire cast, which includes Marisa Tomei as a kooky lover and Brendan Fraser as the villain on their heels. The silver lining is seeing Fraser in a comedic role, showing flashes of that easy charisma from his blockbuster days.BrothersRated R for language, sexual content and drug use. Running time: 1 hour 28 minutes. Watch on Amazon Prime Video. More

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      Mikey Madison Finds Common Ground With Her Character in ‘Anora’

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      Mikey Madison, by her own admission, cries a lot — whether she’s happy or sad, that’s how she expresses herself.During our conversation at a Midtown Manhattan restaurant, the star of the Palme d’Or-winning “Anora” told me a number of stories that involved weeping. She cried on the way home from a horseback-riding competition when she was a teenager and realized she would have to choose between life as an equestrian or an actor. (She was too single-minded to do both.) She cried after every single acting class in the early days of her career. She cried after her first Russian language session in preparation for this latest role.But when she was living in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Brighton Beach to shoot “Anora,” Sean Baker’s film about a tough-as-nails sex worker who impulsively marries a Russian oligarch’s son, she found that the tears didn’t come easily. “I was, like, holding it in in a way that I hadn’t done before,” she recalled. “And I was like, ‘Am I numb? What’s happening here?’” She ultimately realized it was something different: the title character, known as Ani, was taking hold of her in a way that had never happened in her career. She had heard fellow actors talk about that kind of thing, but had never related to it before.Mikey Madison with Mark Eydelshteyn in “Anora,” which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes.NeonIt makes sense that Ani would exert a certain power over Madison because “Anora” is a monumental film in the 25-year-old’s career. Though she had memorable parts in the movies “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood” (2019) and “Scream” (2022) and a crucial role on “Better Things,” the critically acclaimed FX series, “Anora” raises her to a new echelon in Hollywood. Almost as soon as the film premiered at Cannes, Madison was given the “star is born” treatment and declared a potential Oscar nominee. When “Anora” hit the Telluride Film Festival a few months later, a producer told Variety, “I need to work with Mikey Madison ASAP.”The film begins one night at her strip club gig, when her boss instructs her to talk to a patron, Ivan (Mark Eydelshteyn), who asked for a Russian-speaking girl. Turns out he’s wildly rich, and their whirlwind romance leads to a quickie marriage. But when his parents learn of it and send heavies to arrange their annulment, Ani refuses to go quietly. She fights off men twice her size with piercing screams and shockingly powerful kicks. For all that ferociousness, Madison also conveys how Ani’s thick skin is a form of self-defense against a world that rewards those, like Ivan, with easy access to money and finds new ways to punish those who don’t. Over the course of the action, you watch exhaustion seep into her face, which once glowed with the possibility of a fairy-tale ending.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More