Movies

A busy character actor, he also appeared on several science-fiction shows, including “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” on which he played a Klingon. More

“I’m tired of getting the fuzzy end of the lollipop,” says Sugar “Kane” Kowalczyk, the ukulele player with a soft spot for saxophonists. A lot of us know how she feels. Everyone could use a little candy right now, and we can’t think of a sweeter way to spend time than with Sugar and her pals Jo and Daphne watching “Some Like It Hot.”Even if it’s your first encounter with this 1959 comedy — directed by Billy Wilder from a script that he wrote with I.A.L. Diamond — it spoils nothing to know that Jo and Daphne are really Joe and Jerry, and are played by Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon. Marilyn Monroe, at the height of her comedic powers, is Sugar, who sings “I Wanna Be Loved By You” (and she is) and whose walk Jerry likens to “Jell-O on springs.”[embedded content]On the run from Chicago gangsters after witnessing the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, Joe and Jerry transform into Jo and Daphne and join Sugar’s all-girl band, Sweet Sue and Her Society Syncopators. The complications and winks come fast and furious, and nearly every line sounds naughty. Daphne, whose instrument is, ahem, the bull fiddle, is romanced by a millionaire, Osgood Fielding III (Joe E. Brown). “Do you use a bow or do you just pluck it?” he asks. “Most of the time,” she replies, “I slap it.”As Osgood would say: Zowie! Gender-swapped comedy stretches from Shakespeare’s “As You Like It” through Monty Python and the last “Ghostbusters,” but Curtis and Lemmon bring their own brand of zaniness and sex appeal to this iteration. Do movie lovers still like it hot — do you? In his review in The New York Times, A.H. Weiler warned that “a viewer might question the taste of a few of the lines, situations and the prolonged masquerade.” That may still be true, though perhaps for different reasons than Weiler thought. Nobody’s perfect.Still, “Some Like It Hot” consistently appears in polls of the greatest movies of all time. Whether it’s your first time watching it or your 50th, and whether you’re interested in Marilyn mythology or gender theory, we are eager for your thoughts. The film can be streamed or rented; here’s a guide. Stop by in the comments section afterward — the cutoff is Monday at 6 p.m. Eastern — and please bring your ukulele. More

For her first stab at writing and directing, the actor Lynn Chen imagines resolutions for characters originally introduced in Dave Boyle’s 2011-2012 movies, “Surrogate Valentine” and “Daylight Savings.” The result is “I Will Make You Mine,” described in the press notes as a “semi-sequel” to Boyle’s films and — at least in look, tone and temperature — not dissimilar to its predecessors.Coasting on easy-listening tunes and a complete absence of all but the mildest drama, the plot has an amiable innocence and uniform generosity toward its characters (more than one of whom is playing a fictional version of themselves). Everyone is inoffensively nice, especially Goh Nakamura (himself), an ultra-mellow, almost phlegmatic singer-songwriter who strolls back into Los Angeles to attend a funeral. And unwittingly resurrect dormant desires in three women who haven’t quite gotten over his wistful rhymes and crooning guitar chords.[embedded content]Most vulnerable is Rachel (Lynn Chen), a dissatisfied wife whose wealthy husband (Mike Faiola) was unfaithful and is now making cringe-worthy attempts to reconcile. Then there’s Yea-Ming (Yea-Ming Chen), a frustrated musician inspired by Goh’s arrival to write a new song (about him, naturally). Last, we have his estranged wife, Erika (Ayako Fujitani), torn between her professorial career and the demands of caring for a young daughter (Ayami Riley Tomine).As Goh reconnects with all three in a series of gently pleasurable hangout scenes, the movie accumulates a rueful nostalgia. Soft black-and-white cinematography (by Bill Otto and Carl Nenzen Loven) and low-key humor help offset the limitations of its partly crowd-funded budget, as does the naturalism of the partly improvised performances. Slight and sometimes a little sleepy, “I Will Make You Mine” is about transitions and crossroads, its characters learning that processing disappointment is as essential as pursuing love.“I just wonder if my race has already been run,” Goh says near the end, in a line that could have been spoken by any one of the women whose lives he has so unexpectedly disturbed.I Will Make You MineNot rated. Running time: 1 hour 20 minutes. Rent or buy on Amazon, iTunes, Google Play and other streaming platforms and pay TV operators. More

Our culture writers offer suggestions for what to watch or listen to while we’re housebound. More

A new movie by Lewis Klahr, who makes striking, personal assemblages out of cultural detritus. More