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      ‘Luckiest Girl Alive’ Review: Lean In, to Outrage

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      Mila Kunis plays a successful career woman who faces a horrific incident from her past in this drama based on the novel by Jessica Knoll.To become the “Luckiest Girl Alive,” a title this dramedy shellacs with sarcasm, a self-loathing magazine writer named Ani (Mila Kunis) has achieved a trifecta of status symbols: a prestigious education (acquired via scholarships), a slim body (acquired via an eating disorder), and a posh fiancé (acquired via emotional suppression). Marriage to blue-blooded Luke Harrison IV (Finn Wittrock) will cement her transformation from teenage pushover TifAni FaNelli (played in flashbacks by Chiara Aurelia) to her intimidating new identity as Ani Harrison — that is, if she can restrain herself from fantasizing about stabbing her husband-to-be in the neck.“Snap out of it, psycho,” Ani growls in the first of many harsh monologues that run the length of the film. Her fanged narration sets us up for a makeover movie in reverse where a carb-fearing perfectionist allows herself to enjoy pizza. In part, it is that movie. But readers of Jessica Knoll’s novel of the same name, which she here adapts for the screen, know that Ani is reeling from a high school gang rape compounded by a mass shooting. These intertwined tragedies rebranded one of Ani’s abusers, played as a student by Carson MacCormac and in adulthood by Alex Barone, into a grandstanding public moralist. At the same time, her own labels make her itch: survivor, victim, villain, hero, slut. Ani wears success like a bulletproof vest, until run-ins with her mother (Connie Britton), her former teacher (Scoot McNairy) and a documentarian (Dalmar Abuzeid) force her to re-examine her facade.Kunis’s alpha female appears at once ferocious and like a conspicuous sham. (Imagine Sheryl Sandberg as a “Scooby-Doo” villain.) Her performance carries the film — a fortunate break for the director Mike Barker, who has the near-impossible challenge of shepherding the tone from snark to painful sincerity. Too often, Barker resorts to shooting pat scenes of Kunis staring at herself in a mirror. Yet, he and the cinematographer Colin Watkinson also capture Ani’s callous gaze in glimpses, say when a crumb on the corner of Abuzeid’s lip symbolizes her suspicion that she can’t trust this klutz as her mouthpiece.It’s initially baffling that Knoll pointedly sets the film in 2015, the year her book was published. (What for? A one-liner about Hillary Clinton winning the presidency?) Still, Knoll took another year to speak openly about how Ani’s trauma overlaps with her own, and today, her script serves as a reminder of that recent history right before #MeToo, when strength passed for healing and misogyny hid behind a smile that sneered, Can’t you take a joke?“Yes,” Ani might counter — and she’s absorbed so many punch lines that, like the culture at large, she’s poised to explode.Luckiest Girl AliveRated R for sexual violence and language. Running time: 1 hour 53 minutes. Watch on Netflix. More

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      ‘Significant Other’ Review: Backpacking Is a Trip

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      Jake Lacy and Maika Monroe play a camping couple in this slick thriller that uses its modest facade as a smoke screen.Backpacking as a couple is already a trust exercise, but in the slick thriller “Significant Other,” that exercise escalates into a triathlon of psychic fitness. The film’s modest facade proves a smoke screen for a rich and eventful ride; one plot development in particular hits with such surprise that it catches the audience far more unawares than the characters.Harry (Jake Lacy) and Ruth (Maika Monroe) have been together for six years when they embark on a backcountry camping trip. Ruth struggles with panic attacks, and the excursion, as well as the romantic obligation it implies, are triggers for her anxiety. We accompany the twosome through dense thickets, and some clunky dialogue, ornamented with ominous portents. Then a startling twist zags the film into unknown territory.Lacy often plays a teddy bear; filmmakers have only recently begun to cash in on his potential to act against type. Here, he commits to an erratic role laced with humor, and the writer-directors Dan Berk and Robert Olsen milk Lacy’s grinning veneer for every comic drop. No stranger to chills and thrills, Monroe has a heavier assignment: For audiences to buy into the movie’s phenomena, her performance must contain several contradictory layers of meaning.Monroe’s solution is to act with subtlety, and Berk and Olsen balance this muted central character with some visual flair, such as a trembling close-up shot that mirrors Ruth’s shakiness during moments of panic. “Significant Other” does not reinvent the genre, but its narrative flourishes make for an exciting outing.Significant OtherRated R for gore and gorpcore. Running time: 1 hour 24 minutes. Watch on Paramount+. More

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      ‘Battleground’ Review: A Look at the Anti-Abortion Movement

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      Months after Roe v. Wade was overturned, this documentary provides, if nothing else, a glimpse into the minds of the mobilized minority leading the anti-abortion charge.Cynthia Lowen’s straightforward documentary “Battleground” follows three prominent anti-abortion campaigners in the few years leading up to 2022, when the Supreme Court ruled to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision protecting a woman’s right to an abortion.The documentary is a cookie-cutter presentation intent on showing viewers how leaders of the anti-abortion movement have managed to advance their goals and consolidate power by mobilizing an evangelical minority.Appearing as talking heads, abortion rights voices — namely current and former representatives of Planned Parenthood — are featured as well, but those women primarily retread familiar talking points: banning abortion threatens a woman’s bodily autonomy, her health and her economic future. These segments do, however, provide some minimal context that cuts through the rhetoric of the anti-abortion activists who are at the center of the film.Lowen spotlights the strategies employed by those anti-abortion groups, who are composed not just of evangelical Christians, but also young people and people who profess to be neither religious nor conservative. The teenagers’ cheery dedication comes off as cultlike, with Lowen doing her best to keep the camera’s gaze strictly observant.Of the three anti-abortion leaders Lowen trails, Terrisa Bukovinac, the founder of Pro-Life San Francisco, is perhaps the most baffling. A self-proclaimed feminist and atheist who claims that women who support anti-abortion legislation can be promiscuous, too, she is the face of a modern anti-abortion campaign that understands that optics are everything. For her, the movement would benefit from distancing itself from its moralistic image, appearing instead more like an approachable lifestyle brand.A recorded conversation between evangelical leaders and President Donald Trump is played in bits and pieces throughout the film. It suggests a kind of devil’s pact between those religious honchos and the former president’s administration, one depicted as more concerned with amassing the support of single-issue voters and willing to assume their ideological position as a result. It’s a haunting reality, and “Battleground” provides a glimpse into the minds of a minority leading the anti-abortion charge — if nothing else.BattlegroundNot rated. Running time: 1 hour 45 minutes. In theaters. More

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      Netflix’s ‘Knives Out’ Sequel Headed to Theaters Before Streaming

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      “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” will receive a weeklong release in about 600 theaters in the United States a month before it becomes available on Netflix.Netflix is giving theater owners a Thanksgiving present.The streaming giant announced on Thursday that “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” will be released in around 600 theaters across the United States for one week beginning on Nov. 23 before becoming available to stream around the world on Dec. 23.The largest theater chains — AMC Theaters, Regal Cinemas and Cinemark — have all agreed to the deal, a first for the top exhibitors. Cinemark screened Netflix films in the past. But Regal and AMC previously refused to work with the company because it would not agree to the exclusive theatrical release periods and financial terms that are usually offered by traditional studios. Terms of the deal for “Glass Onion” were not disclosed.Yet the news now comes as a welcome relief to the industry after the past month, in which theaters generated just $328 million in ticket sales. That was the lowest number in September since 1996, with the exception of the pandemic year of 2020. The original “Knives Out,” starring Daniel Craig as the quirky detective Benoit Blanc, was a sleeper hit in 2019. It cost $40 million to make and grossed $165 million in North American theaters and $311 million worldwide. It was considered a prime example of how studios could successfully release films based on original ideas in theaters.But the chances of replicating that theatrical success seemed to be squashed last year when Netflix plunked down $465 million for the writer-director Rian Johnson to move his star-studded franchise to the streaming service for its next two iterations.“I’m over the moon that Netflix has worked with AMC, Regal and Cinemark to get ‘Glass Onion’ in theaters for this one-of-a-kind sneak preview,” Mr. Johnson said in a statement. “These movies are made to thrill audiences, and I can’t wait to feel the energy of the crowd as they experience ‘Glass Onion.’”The raucous reception for the film at its debut at the Toronto Film Festival last month inspired Netflix to pursue a more expansive theatrical strategy than it had for other films.Whether this development means that Netflix is willing to take a more traditional approach to theatrical distribution remains to be seen. The streaming service said it also did not plan to publicly report how the film did at the box office during its weeklong run. More

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      ‘The Swimmer’ Review: Tough Competition, In and Out of the Pool

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      The writer-director Adam Kalderon renders his film with style and rich psychology.“Competitive sports are a tragedy for the body and soul,” Paloma (Nadia Kucher), the house mother at a dumpy training camp for swimmers, sagely tells Erez (Omer Perelman Striks). He’s sitting in an ice bath after working out too hard, the literal chains on his back during push-ups causing him to collapse in pain. An indelicate visual metaphor, perhaps, but the writer-director Adam Kalderon nonetheless renders his film “The Swimmer” with style and rich psychology. Sweat pools around the athlete’s body and the thin line between ambition and obsession is entrancingly legible on Striks’s face.For Erez, the possibility of an astronomical rise in the world of competitive swimming is on the horizon, just within reach. So is the Olympic dream of his increasingly aggressive and passively homophobic coach, Dima (Igal Reznik). But when Erez finds himself in a somewhat ambiguous tête-à-tête with another swimmer, the almost as good Nevo (Asaf Jonas), he’s torn between what he wants more: sex or success. Dima, ravenous for his own chance at winning, puts the two in psychological warfare with one another.“The Swimmer” distinguishes itself from other L.G.B.T.Q. sports dramas less in what the story is and more in how it’s told. Kalderon and the cinematographer Ofer Inov make Adonises out of the film’s athletes, but the film goes beyond mere marble-body ogling in its equal attention to the physical, psychological and emotional toll that training takes on Erez and Nevo. Kalderon finds the intensity of desire and competition in the cracks of the statue.The SwimmerNot rated. In Hebrew, English and Russian, with subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 24 minutes. In theaters. More

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      ‘Onoda: 10,000 Nights in the Jungle’ Review: Following Orders, for Decades

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      Arthur Harari’s film dramatizes the true story of a Japanese officer who continued the fight for 29 years after the Imperial Army’s surrender in World War II.On Aug. 15, 1945, Japan’s wartime emperor, Hirohito, announced the Imperial Japanese Army’s surrender to the Allied Forces in World War II. But for 29 years after this announcement, an officer, Hiroo Onoda, continued to wage war on Lubang Island in the Philippines. The striking film “Onoda” dramatizes the true story of this holdout who persisted for decades after there ceased to be an enemy.Appropriately, “Onoda” moves slowly through its central character’s life story. Onoda (played as a young man by Yuya Endo, with Kanji Tsuda as his older iteration) begins the film as a failed kamikaze pilot, whose life is given purpose by the highhanded Major Taniguchi (Issey Ogata). Taniguchi recruits Onoda to undertake a secret mission, one that Onoda must never surrender. In return, Taniguchi promises that wherever his men go, they will not be abandoned.It’s this promise that fuels Onoda’s faith in the jungles. After the American army decimates the forces on Lubang Island, Onoda becomes the leader of a group of four remaining soldiers. Based on his belief, the group waits for the major’s return, facing rain, starvation and the increasingly bewildered defenses of local Filipino farmers.Despite the film’s wartime setting, there is little talk of politics — in fact, there is little talking at all. Instead, the director, Arthur Harari, chooses to create a psychological portrait of his central character, using images rather than explanations of ideology to tap into Onoda’s mind-set. In training, Taniguchi’s shirt glows titanium white. Sunlight seems to strike faces like a spotlight. The unnatural, painterly quality of the film’s training sequences makes their impression indelible. The light provides wordless, and conveniently apolitical, explanation for why a person might endure nearly three decades (or in cinematic terms, nearly three hours) without action.Onoda: 10,000 Nights in the JungleNot rated. In Japanese and Filipino, with subtitles. Running time: 2 hours 53 minutes. In theaters. More

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      Second City to Open Its First New York Outpost

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      Long a staple of Chicago, the improv and sketch company plans to open a theater and training center in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn next year.The founders of Second City, the storied comedy theater, took its name from essays by The New Yorker writer A.J. Liebling, who skewered Chicago as inferior to his hometown. Now, more than 60 years later, Second City has found a home in New York.The improv stage and training center, based in Chicago since 1959, announced on Thursday that it would open a location in New York City for the first time. Over the decades, Second City has opened outposts in Toronto and Hollywood, which are still in operation, as well as in Detroit and Las Vegas, which have closed.Starting next summer, the institution that was an early home for performers such as Tina Fey, Stephen Colbert and Keegan-Michael Key will also have a physical location in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, the company said.“As we came out of the pandemic and saw the resurgence of our stages and our consumer demand and the fact that we’re selling out every night, it became more immediate for us to start thinking about expansion,” said Ed Wells, Second City’s chief executive, who recently joined the company from the nonprofit organization that produces “Sesame Street.”“New York just feels obvious,” he said.The expansion will include a main stage for performances, a stage for students, a restaurant and classrooms, the company said. It said that New York, after Chicago and Hollywood, was its third-largest market for virtual classes.Comedy institutions have struggled during the coronavirus pandemic because of lengthy closures and the slow return of audiences. About a year into the pandemic, Second City was sold to a private equity group based in New York — the first time the company had changed ownership since the 1980s.Upright Citizens Brigade, the storied improv and sketch comedy hub, cited “financial strain” when it closed its two Manhattan locations in 2020, leaving a segment of New York’s up-and-coming talent wanting a brick-and-mortar training center.The last couple of years have been a period of transformation for Second City. In addition to the financial challenges of the pandemic, there were complaints in 2020 from performers of color who told stories of being marginalized and tokenized. The company’s chief executive and executive producer, Andrew Alexander, resigned as a result, and the leadership pledged to “tear it all down and begin again.”Second City’s new leadership included Parisa Jalili, the chief operating officer, and Jon Carr, an improv veteran and the company’s second Black executive producer, who has since left the company. They said last year that they were working to become a more equitable institution with more diverse performers, as well as to expand the company’s reach. More

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      ‘Piggy’ Review: A Bullied Teenager Gets an Unexpected Assist

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      As violent as it is thoughtful, this Spanish movie dissects the webs of shame and secrecy that bullying breeds.The teenager Sara (Laura Galán) is comfortable with sharp knives and death: She helps out in her father’s butcher shop, after all, and they often hunt together. As we watch a trio of mean girls mercilessly mock Sara because she’s overweight, it’s natural to expect a brutal payback — that the poster for this Spanish movie depicts the lead drenched in blood might be another clue. But while “Piggy” does take a gory turn, it’s also a left one: The director Carlota Pereda carefully sets up our expectations only to subvert them.Right after her tormentors steal her clothes while she’s enjoying a solo swim at the local outdoor pool, Sara watches them being abducted by a mysterious stranger (Richard Holmes). That man, hulking and grunting, is an agent of chaos, his motives unknown and his actions seemingly arbitrary. He is simultaneously terrifying and fascinating to Sara, who has plenty of reasons to at least fantasize about violent retribution. But she is not the victim-turned-avenging angel so often found in horror movies or thrillers, and instead emerges as a complicated protagonist who makes mistakes and is not always easy to like. So is her well-intentioned mother (Carmen Machi), who thinks Sara must diet to avoid taunts.Pereda, who also wrote the script, is not afraid of psychological and moral ambiguity: It’s obvious that she is on Sara’s side — the bullying scenes are much harder to watch than the bloody ones — but she also knows that shame, guilt and secrecy fester into messy situations and messy people.PiggyNot rated. In Spanish, with subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 30 minutes. In theaters. More