Movies

Like a potted fern held aloft by a forest of well-positioned stakes, Dakota Johnson claims the center of “The High Note” on the strength and general excellence of the actors around her. Every one of them is a blessing, even those (condolences, Ice Cube) enduring trite roles and formulaic setups in a movie that can’t decide if it’s a musical reworking of “The Devil Wears Prada,” an underdog romantic comedy or a feminist arrow to the heart of the entertainment industry.Not that it matters in a script (by Flora Greeson, a former music-industry assistant) that sometimes requires not just the suspension of disbelief, but its assassination. It’s something of a miracle, then, that this hokey tale of an aspiring young record producer and a prematurely written-off diva unfurls almost as smoothly as the vintage soul and R&B that greases the soundtrack: Clearly, the director, Nisha Ganatra, knows that no one can resist a dash of Donny Hathaway.[embedded content]Certainly not Maggie (Johnson), a harried personal assistant to an imperious superstar named Grace Davis (a magnificently intimidating Tracee Ellis Ross, working a cackling laugh and a killer wardrobe). Fearful of becoming irrelevant, Grace is unsure of her next move: Her longtime manager (Ice Cube) would like her to slide gracefully into a lucrative residency at Caesar’s Palace, while Maggie is tentatively urging her to release an album of new material. Weary of giving her boss enemas and cleaning out her closets, Maggie has her own ambitions.Enter David (Kelvin Harrison Jr.), a velvet-voiced singer-songwriter and all-around sweetie who, wouldn’t you know it, needs only a talented producer to kick his career into orbit. With neither referral nor résumé, Maggie persuades him to hire her, magically conjuring a fully equipped recording studio and session musicians, then even agreeing to sing backup — a move that astonishingly fails to derail their romantic attraction.Pulsing with beats by the likes of Sam Cooke and Corinne Bailey Rae, “The High Note” is pleasant enough but disappointingly timid and thoroughly implausible. As wary of taking chances as its three lead characters, the film relies on corny contrivances, music-industry clichés — here we go again with the multicity tour montage — and a soapy plot reveal that would mortify daytime television.Counteracting Johnson’s regrettable blandness, a clutch of agile actors in minor roles inject color and life into otherwise small moments. June Diane Raphael is an airheaded delight as Grace’s acquisitive hired companion, and Bill Pullman is cozily credible as Maggie’s music-obsessed father. But it’s Eddie Izzard, as a jaded musical legend, who adds a welcome shot of acid: His perfectly delivered monologue feels imported from a harsher, braver movie.Such a film could have sharpened its claws on any one of the music-industry prejudices that this one pretends to care about, especially those faced by female recording artists. Instead, we get flyby comments about age and race and fame that don’t stick in any meaningful way, as well as an ongoing impression of talented women having their voices suppressed. But if all you do is whisper, you can hardly complain about not being heard.The High NoteRated PG-13 for cheeky words and sexy bangs. Running time: 1 hour 53 minutes. Rent or buy on Amazon, Apple TV, FandangoNOW and other streaming platforms and pay TV operators. More

Fashion and female friendship become tools of resistance in “Papicha,” Mounia Meddour’s partly autobiographical feature whose extreme tonal flips — from gaiety to trauma, tenderness to tragedy — only make it all the more touching.Set in the late 1990s during the Algerian Civil War and the rise of Islamic fundamentalism, the movie hovers protectively around Nedjma (Lyna Khoudri), 18, a university student and a talented designer. In a vibrantly shot opening sequence, she and a friend (Shirine Boutella) sneak out of their dorm to go to a nightclub, changing clothes and applying makeup in an illegal taxi.[embedded content]“Aren’t you scared?” a guard asks at a checkpoint, suspiciously eyeing their hastily donned head scarves. But “Papicha” (Algerian slang for a cool girl), like Nedjma, has no time for fear; and as groups of women wearing black hijabs patrol the streets and invade the campus, Nedjma persuades her friends to help her stage a fashion show in defiance of the unwanted moral policing.Marked by a fierce vitality and vivid emotional authenticity, “Papicha” thrives on the heat of Nedjma’s anger and the glorious bond among the mostly young female performers. (Male characters are unfortunately drawn far more thinly.) Terrible things happen; but by celebrating the women’s intimacy and naïve exuberance, Meddour eases the suffocating noose of religious extremism. And by making powerful visual choices — like Nedjma clawing frantically at the earth for beets to dye bloodstained fabric — the director and her cinematographer, Léo Lefèvre, forge a language of rebellion that’s as beautiful as it is bitter.PapichaNot rated. In French and Arabic, with subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 48 minutes. Watch on Film at Lincoln Center’s virtual cinema. More

Movies probably lack adequate sensory capacity to capture the cooking at Mugaritz, a celebrated restaurant in Errenteria, Spain, started by the chef Andoni Luis Aduriz. In “Stage: The Culinary Internship,” the menu is described as “a sequence of provocations.” Aduriz’s inventions have included “live cannelloni” (which looks like it could grow at the base of a tree) and “mallow with sake perfume.” A protégé says he was challenged to concoct a dish that “looks like it needs a condom.” The movie ends with a server bringing penicillium-rotted apples to a table.To this milieu of edible Surrealism, the film, directed by Abby Ainsworth, applies the standard format of the competition documentary, following unpaid trainees over a nine-month internship (or “stage,” pronounced the French way) at Mugaritz. Some will quit under pressure; an elite subset will stay and devise dishes during the restaurant’s research-and-development season.[embedded content]Who will make the cut? Pawel, from Poland, already has a tattoo of a Michelin star. Sara, from Spain, harbors inklings of impostor syndrome. Near the end, Kim, from South Korea, worries that the apprenticeship has turned him into a Mugaritz clone, diminishing his originality.Considering the imagination underlying Mugaritz’s cuisine, “Stage” takes a disappointingly conventional approach. The time-limited nature of the internship gives the documentary a clear exit point; the contrast of personalities has grown familiar from TV. Cooking that makes diners uncomfortable hasn’t inspired comparable creativity of cinematic form. “Stage” makes you want to eat, not watch.Stage: The Culinary InternshipNot rated. In English and Spanish, with subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 18 minutes. Watch on virtual cinemas. More

This documentary portrait of the formidable sculptor Ursula von Rydingsvard is, by dint of its brevity, more tantalizing than satiating. But it’s still a welcome cinematic account of her work.Her sculptures, carved or molded from cedar, are towering, surprising mammoths that seem like organic growths bursting from the ground. They intertwine the abstract with the figurative.[embedded content]Unlike the giant steel statements of Richard Serra, they don’t intimidate; rather, they invite close examination and even physical touch. In “Ursula von Rydingsvard: Into Her Own,” this artist, now in her mid-’70s, lean and filled with a youthful energy and concentration, says she wants the people around her art — which is mostly exhibited in public spaces — to put their mark on it. “There’s acid on the tips of your fingers that can eventually eat away at the patina, and I like that look. It’s like the look of the Buddha’s belly that gets rubbed, and that part shines from all the rubbing,” von Rydingsvard says.The work requires the help of many assistants, the expertise of many subcontractors. The director, Daniel Traub, intersperses a biography of the New York-based artist — whose childhood in war-torn Germany informs her work — with a chronicle of her process, following her through the creation of several large works and showing her interactions with her assistants. “I like them all so much. We have lunch together every day,” she says.Like many documentaries about the art world, this one is disinclined to talk money — except when mentioning the ’70s real estate steals on SoHo studio/living space. A further exploration of that aspect of her process, and maybe fewer banal pronouncements from art critics (von Rydingsvard “makes things that unsettle us a little bit,” one of them chin-strokes) might have made a more illuminating picture.Ursula von Rydingsvard: Into Her OwnNot rated. Running time: 57 minutes. Watch on Film Forum’s virtual cinema. More

The death and ostensible resurrection of the great American city of Detroit has been the subject of so many feature pieces of journalism over the last 10 years (at least) that an outsider might be inclined to believe those events are recurring in a sort of temporal loop. The actual experience of living there day in and day out is credibly conveyed in the director Andrew James’s documentary “Street Fighting Men.”Eschewing interviews and even identifying titles, James interweaves portraits of three men. James “Jack Rabbit” Jackson is a retired cop who keeps neighborhood watch in an area blighted by break-ins and vandalism. Luke Williams is working on restoring a vacant home, but is short on money and resources. Deris Solomon, a new father, wants to get off the street and stick to the straight and narrow for the sake of his child. The religious leader Malik Shabazz, who was the central figure in James’s short film “Community Patrol,” is also seen here.[embedded content]
From the beginning there’s an undercurrent of weariness, of the wear and tear of living in a place to which the rest of the world — or rather, the movie strongly implies, the white world, the money world — has grown indifferent. “Tired of being a superhero?” a friend asks Jackson over coffee. A harsh winter and an instance of sabotage — or is it just paranoia? — provide a major setback for Luke. The death of the founder of the Young Detroit Builders program devastates Deris.It’s not a dismissal of this movie to say that its narratives are familiar. That’s more an indictment of the society that produces such scenarios. What makes the movie compelling, then, are not so much the stories that ebb and rise from despair to hope, like the tides, but the portraits of the people living them.Street Fighting MenNot rated. Running time: 1 hour 43 minutes. Watch on OVID.tv and Vimeo On Demand. More

Here are a few of the best events happening Thursday through Tuesday and how to tune in (all times are Eastern).Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone Teach Script WritingThursday at 9 p.m. on ZoomIs now the time for finally finish that screenplay? If so, the actors and comedians (and Hollywood power couple) Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone, along with the screenwriter Steve Mallory, want to help. The trio will host a special live-streamed class, “Writing for TV/Film,” to help raise money for the Groundlings, a Los Angeles-based improvisation and sketch comedy theater and school. (The class costs $50, and all proceeds go to the Groundlings.) Attendees will get tips on storytelling, structure and creating memorable characters. The discussion will be followed by a Q. and A., and the class will be limited to 250 attendees.When: 9 p.m.Where: Zoom. Enroll here.Finneas and Phoebe Bridgers Get NoiseyThursday at 8 p.m. on YouTubeIf you’ve had one too many quiet nights in, Vice’s second installment of its livestreamed concert series, Noisey Night In, might be just the thing. Finneas, Phoebe Bridgers, Claud, Alex Lahey, Beach Bunny and Faye Webster will perform, and the show will benefit the Sweet Relief Musicians Fund.When: 8 p.m.Where: The Noisey YouTube channelPepe Romero Live From SpainThursday at 7:30 p.m. on 92Y OnlinePepe Romero, a classical guitar virtuoso and member of the Romero Guitar Quartet, will perform live from his house in Spain. The show will open with a Bach transcription by Romero himself. Also on the program: pieces by Barrios, Tárrega, Torrobo and Rodrigo. Stay tuned after the concert for a chat with Romero and Performance Today’s Fred Child. Tickets are $10.When: 7:30 p.m.Where: 92Y Online. Register here.‘Unstoppable: Sean Scully and the Art of Everything’Thursday at 3 p.m. on Cinema OrangeIf you ever wondered what a year was like in the life of Sean Scully, one of the world’s most successful living painters — he once identified himself to a MoMA desk attendant by saying, “Sean Scully’s my name, painting stripes is my game” — tune in to this documentary. In it, the Irish-American painter, who has had works in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art and London’s Tate, flies around the world to open 15 major exhibitions. This event is hosted by Cinema Orange, a screening series from the Orange County Museum of Art.When: Thursday at 3 p.m. through 3 a.m. SundayWhere: R.S.V.P. here to receive the access link on the day of the screening.A 10-Day Global Film Festival Kicks OffFriday at 7 a.m. on YouTubeAs stressful as months of social distancing have been, events like this one offer a silver lining. How many of us would be able to attend a free 10-day film festival otherwise? This program from YouTube and Tribeca Enterprises, called “We Are One: A Global Film Festival,” will include more than 100 films — curated by more than 20 festivals like Tribeca, Cannes, New York and Sundance — as well as music, comedy and panel discussions. Talks will feature Francis Ford Coppola with Steven Soderbergh, Song Kang-ho and Bong Joon Ho, Guillermo del Toro, Jane Campion and Claire Denis. Each program will have a first screening at a scheduled time, but many will be available on demand over the course of the festival. Viewers can donate to Covid-19 relief efforts throughout.When: Friday at 7 a.m. through June 7.Where: The We Are One YouTube channel.Dropkick Murphys and Bruce Springsteen Team UpFriday at 6 p.m. on YouTubeThe lights will be on in Fenway Park on Friday. And while the stands will be empty, the field won’t be. The Dropkick Murphys, an American Celtic punk band, will livestream a full concert from the infield diamond of the Boston ballpark. Bruce Springsteen will join them remotely for what the band is calling a “Fenway Double Play”: playing one song of Springsteen’s and one of theirs.When: 6 p.m.Where: The Dropkick Murphy’s Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Twitch channels.Ariana Grande and Martin Short in ‘Hairspray Live!’Friday at 2 p.m. on YouTubeIf you missed “Hairspray Live!,” a television special originally broadcast by NBC in 2016, now is your chance. The show — based on the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical, which is based on the 1988 John Waters film — stars Maddie Baillio, Harvey Fierstein, Jennifer Hudson, Martin Short, Derek Hough, Ariana Grande, Andrea Martin and Kristin Chenoweth. Rosie O’Donnell and Sean Hayes also make special appearances.When: 2 p.m., and it will be available for 48 hours.Where: The Show Must Go On YouTube channel.A Legendary Led Zeppelin PerformanceSaturday at 3 p.m. on YouTubeLed Zeppelin and YouTube have teamed up to stream the renowned concert film “Celebration Day,” which chronicles the rock band’s 2007 tribute concert at London’s O2 Arena for the Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun. It was the band’s first headlining show in 27 years and was highly anticipated, with 20 million people applying for tickets through a worldwide lottery. Founding members John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant were joined onstage by Jason Bonham, the son of the late Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham. Video and audio of the concert were released in 2012, winning a Grammy for best rock album.When: 3 p.m., and it will be available for three days.Where: The official Led Zeppelin YouTube channel.David Guetta SpinsSaturday at 7 p.m. on FacebookDavid Guetta, one of the world’s most famous D.J.s, will livestream a performance in New York on Saturday to benefit the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City, Feeding America, the World Health Organization and Fondation Hôpitaux de Paris-Hôpitaux de France. The event, called “United at Home,” will begin after the evening clap for the city’s front-line workers.When: 7 p.m.Where: Guetta’s Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Twitch, TikTok, Instagram and VK channels.Banding Together for ColoradoSaturday at 8 p.m. on iHeartThe Avett Brothers, Brandi Carlile, The Lumineers, Dave Matthews and many more musical artists are banding together for the Colorado Music Relief Fund, to help all those in the Colorado music industry affected by Covid-19. The three-hour event will include performances and storytelling by musicians, road and stage crew members, music industry veterans and Colorado personalities.When: 8 p.m.Where: The KBCO iHeart channel and the CBSN Denver website. For those in the Denver area, the first hour will be broadcast on CBS Denver.‘Holiday Inn, The New Irving Berlin Musical’ Watch PartySaturday at 8 p.m. on BroadwayHD.comGather the whole family for this one. Concord Theatricals — on behalf of The Irving Berlin Music Company and in coordination with BroadwayHD, the Roundabout Theater Company and Playbill — is hosting a live viewing party of “Holiday Inn, The New Irving Berlin.” The 2016 musical stars the Tony Award nominees Bryce Pinkham and Megan Lawrence, as well as Lora Lee Gayer, Danny Rutigliano, Megan Sikora and Corbin Bleu. The production, by BroadwayHD, was captured on 14 high-definition cameras at Roundabout’s Studio 54. Follow along with the Irving Berlin Twitter and Instagram, and the Playbill Twitter and Instagram, for trivia, fun facts and giveaways throughout the event.When: 8 p.m., and it will be available to stream for free for 48 hours.Where: The BroadwayHD website.Smithsonian Kicks Off Pride MonthSunday at 8 p.m. on YouTubeA panda eating a rainbow cake? Where do I sign up? On the eve of Pride Month, the Smithsonian is introducing Project Pride, a virtual concert and digital time-capsule celebration of L.G.B.T.Q. heritage, culture and history — with gems from the National Zoo and other Smithsonian museums spanning the Smithsonian Pride Alliance. Indigo Girls, Rufus Wainwright, Pet Shop Boys, Jake Shears, Tig Notaro, Roxane Gay and others will participate.When: 8 p.m.Where: The Cooper Hewitt YouTube channel and the Smithsonian’s Project Pride website.Andrew Barth Feldman’s ‘Virtual Celebration!’Sunday at 7 p.m.The young Broadway star Andrew Barth Feldman, who recently concluded his yearlong turn as Evan in the Tony Award-winning musical “Dear Evan Hansen,” is hosting a one-night-only virtual event to raise money for the soon-to-be renovated Barbra Barth Feldman Performing Arts Center, (renamed after Feldman’s late mother) at his alma mater, the Lawrence Woodmere Academy in New York. Originally scheduled to be an in-person concert, the event has been restructured to be virtual. The evening will feature prerecorded and live musical performances, skits, original music and many surprises. Skylar Astin, Gaten Matarazzo, Erika Henningsen, Taylor Trensch, Antonio Cipriano, Alex Boniello, Gabrielle Carrubba and more will participate. Tickets go for a suggested donation of $10 to $30.When: 7 p.m.Where: Those who purchase tickets will receive a private link to stream the event.A Star-Studded Evening From the Public TheaterMonday at 8 p.m. on FacebookThe Public Theater is holding a one-night-only virtual fund-raiser on Monday to support itself during the pandemic. The evening — hosted by Jesse Tyler Ferguson (“Modern Family”) — will be packed with performances from and conversations with stars of stage and screen, including Meryl Streep, Sandra Oh, Antonio Banderas, Anne Hathaway, Sting, Daniel Craig, Jane Fonda, Alicia Keys, John Lithgow, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Elvis Costello, Claire Danes, Glenn Close, Oscar Isaac, Audra McDonald, Danielle Brooks, John Leguizamo and Phylicia Rashad. The event is directed by the Tony winner Kenny Leon.When: 8 p.m.Where: The Public Theater’s Facebook and YouTube channels, and its website.National Premiere of ‘Parkland Rising’Tuesday at 8 p.m. on FacebookThe feature-length documentary “Parkland Rising,” a look at the students — including David Hogg, Jaclyn Corin and Emma Gonzalez — who energized a movement for gun safety after the Parkland school shooting, will premiere in the United States on Tuesday, to coincide with National Gun Violence Awareness Day. The film will be introduced by Katie Couric and will.i.am, executive producers on it, and a conversation will follow with its director, the Emmy winner Cheryl Horner McDonough, Manuel Oliver, Greg Kahn, Manju Bangalore and will.i.am, moderated by Couric. Music was provided by the Black Eyed Peas, Bob Dylan, Pearl Jam and others. An encore screening will be broadcast on June 5 at 7 p.m.When: 8 p.m.Where: The “Parkland Rising” Facebook page, and Pearl Jam’s YouTube channel.‘Let’s Stay (In) Together’: A Benefit for the ApolloTuesday at 7:30 p.m. on the Apollo Theater website“Captain” Kirk Douglas of The Roots, Kool & the Gang, Gary Clark Jr., Robert Randolph, Lil Buck, Dionne Warwick, Doug E. Fresh and more will participate in “Let’s Stay (In) Together: A Benefit to Support the Apollo Theater.” The evening will highlight the theater’s 86-year contribution to arts and culture, with guests performing the music of Apollo legends like B.B. King, Patti LaBelle and Stevie Wonder. It will also include special tributes, and a series of poems and performances dedicated to the memory of those who have lost their lives because of Covid-19. The benefit is part of the theater’s campaign to raise $4 million to safeguard its future. When: 7:30 p.m.Where: The Apollo Theater website.Peter Libbey contributed research. More