Movies

Here are a few of the best events happening Wednesday and how to tune in (all times are Eastern Daylight).A Virtual Play From Richard Nelson7:30 p.m. on YouTubeThe Apple clan may be a fictional middle-class American family, but on Wednesday, they’ll again reflect reality. The playwright Richard Nelson first introduced the family, set around a dinner table the night of the 2010 midterm elections, at the Public Theater. (The timing was real.) The Public staged sequels in 2011, 2012 and 2013, with each play set around the same dinner table. Now — for the play titled “What Do We Need to Talk About?: Conversations on Zoom” — the family members will catch up remotely, with the eldest Apple sister, Barbara (played by Maryann Plunkett), recovering from severe Covid-19 symptoms. “It’s a way to embrace the moment,” Jay O. Sanders, who plays Barbara’s brother, Richard, said in a recent interview with The Times.When: 7:30 p.m.Where: The Public Theater’s YouTube channel and website.Quarantined with Michael Shannon4 p.m. on ZoomCan’t get enough of Michael Shannon? A few hours before he presents a Drama Critics’ Circle Award, he’ll kick off a new series, “Social Distance in 60 Minutes,” from the McCarter Theater Center in Princeton, N.J. Debbie Bisno, the theater’s resident producer, will host a live conversation with Shannon, an Oscar, Golden Globe and Tony nominee. Last year, he starred in Terrence McNally’s “Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune,” a New York Times critic’s pick, with Audra McDonald.When: 4 p.m.Where: Register on Zoom here, and the conversation will also stream on the McCarter Theater’s Facebook page.Offset and Friends7 p.m. on FacebookThe Atlanta rapper Offset, a member of the trio Migos, one of the biggest rap groups in the world, is headlining an event, “Offset and Friends,” on Wednesday to raise money for the Atlanta Community Food Bank. Joining him on the bill are Young Thug, Rich the Kid and Saint Jhn. A surprise guest has also been teased (hard to say if it’ll be Offset’s superstar wife, the rapper Cardi B, but fans can hope).When: 7 p.m.Where: Facebook and the Oculus Venues app.The New York Drama Critics’ Circle Awards Go Virtual8 p.m. on YouTubeSome of Broadway’s biggest names — Jeremy O. Harris, Brian Stokes Mitchell, John Mulaney, Heidi Schreck and Michael Shannon — will present awards live at the 85th annual New York Drama Critics’ Circle, which will be held virtually on Wednesday evening. This year’s winners, which were determined earlier this month, include “Heroes of the Fourth Turning” by Will Arbery as best play, and “A Strange Loop” by Michael R. Jackson as best musical — both New York Times critic’s picks.When: 8 p.m.Where: The Stars in the House YouTube channel and The Actors Fund YouTube channel.Tones and I Performs10 p.m. on YouTubeThe Australian singer-songwriter Toni Watson, who performs as the solo act Tones and I, wants you to stay at home and hang with her on Wednesday night (or Thursday, if you’re on her half of the globe). She’ll be performing live tracks during the session, where you can be sure to hear her hit “Dance Monkey,” which reached No. 1 in more than 20 countries and has nearly 1.5 billion plays on Spotify.When: 10 p.m.Where: The Tones and I YouTube channelPeter Libbey and Gabe Cohn contributed research More

NEW DELHI — Irrfan Khan, the celebrated Indian actor who became a crossover star in Hollywood, died on Wednesday in a Mumbai hospital. He was 53. Mr. Khan’s death was confirmed by a spokesman for the actor. He had been battling cancer and was admitted to the hospital for a colon infection last week.Mr. Khan started his career playing small roles on Indian television in the 1980s. He found critical and commercial success later in life, with roles in movies like “Slumdog Millionaire,” “Life of Pi” and “The Namesake.” In India, he is best known for his performances in “Maqbool,” “Haasil,” “Paan Singh Tomar,” “Piku,” “The Lunchbox” and “Hindi Medium.”He was at home in commercial and art-house projects, and stood out in Bollywood for his versatile roles and nuanced performances. He first gained the notice of international audiences in the BAFTA-winning film “The Warrior” released in 2001. In the film, he played the lead role of a renegade warrior in feudal India.He also appeared in blockbusters like “Jurassic World” (2015), and the screen adaptation of Dan Brown’s “Inferno” (2016).Mr. Khan’s performance as an investigator of a double homicide in the 2015 Hindi movie “Talvar” prompted a Times critic, Rachel Saltz, to write: “Mr. Khan is this movie’s best weapon. Playing a familiar character type, the world-weary detective, he gives a performance, full of small, sly details, that doesn’t seem familiar at all.”Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote on Twitter: “Irrfan Khan’s demise is a loss to the world of cinema and theatre. He will be remembered for his versatile performances across different mediums.”Irrfran Khan was born Sahabzade Irfan Ali Khan on Jan. 7 1967, to Saeeda Begum and Yaseen Khan, a middle-class couple in Rajasthan, India. He was one of four children, and described his childhood as a happy one of kite flying, cricket playing and hunting trips with his father.His father died when Mr. Khan was 18, and he said his mother hoped that he would carry on with the family business and stay close to home. But Mr. Khan had other plans.He won a coveted spot in the acting program of the prestigious National School of Drama in New Delhi and never looked back.In March 2018, he was told he had a rare neuroendocrine tumor and spent several months in London undergoing treatment. He disclosed the news of his illness via a statement on Twitter shortly after his diagnosis.Mr. Khan appeared to have recovered from the cancer and started shooting his last film, “Angrezi Medium,” in 2019, a sequel to his 2017 hit “Hindi Medium. The film was released last month, shortly before the coronavirus lockdown started in India, but Mr. Khan was not part of the promotions for the film.His wife, Sutapa Sikdar, and their two sons survive him.In a message released with the film’s trailer, the actor said, “I truly wanted to promote this film as passionately as we made it, but there are some ‘unwanted guests’ in my body and they’re keeping me busy. I’ll keep you informed on that front.” More

In 2017, a series of tweets by Rihanna and Kim Kardashian West turned the campaign to commute one young woman’s life imprisonment into the global hashtag #FreeCyntoiaBrown. The new Netflix documentary “Murder to Mercy: The Cyntoia Brown Story” is the long-form version of that narrative, and a moving reflection of what criminal justice reform means in personal terms.In 2004 at the age of 16, Brown was arrested on charges of shooting and killing Johnny M. Allen at his home in Nashville. Brown (who has since married and goes by the name Cyntoia Brown-Long), under pressure from her then boyfriend and pimp, met the 43-year old real estate agent outside a fast-food restaurant, where he was soliciting sex. Brown testified that she acted in self-defense when she thought Allen was reaching for a gun. She was tried and convicted as an adult and eventually sentenced to life in prison. In November of 2017, in the midst of the #MeToo movement, a Nashville local TV news story about the case went viral, drawing the attention of celebrity activists and the governor of Tennessee, Bill Haslam. In one of his last acts in office, the Republican leader granted Brown clemency and commuted her sentence.[embedded content]The film, directed by Daniel H. Birman, is a continuation of his 2011 PBS documentary, which first drew attention to the case. The movie isn’t a sensational true-crime excavation in the mold of what has become its own streaming genre. Instead, it thoughtfully examines how advances in the medical and cultural understanding of mental health, including inherited trauma, are critical considerations rarely extended to earlier convictions. In Brown’s case, a merciful re-examination allowed for a second chance.In the spirit of Richard Linklater’s narrative feature “Boyhood,” the visual power of “Murder to Mercy” lies in witnessing Brown’s evolution from the confused 16-year old girl facing a life sentence to the self-aware 31-year-old woman who emerged into freedom last year. The minimalist direction and subtle scoring serve to center Cyntoia’s own words and those of both her adoptive mother and biological mother in interviews. This is a quiet, elegant memoir that humanizes a systemic American challenge — and offers a narrative catharsis only possible with real-life mercy.Murder to Mercy: The Cyntoia Brown StoryNot rated. Running time: 1 hour 36 minutes. Watch on Netflix. More

The affecting documentary “A Secret Love” offers a window into the lives of Terry Donahue and Pat Henschel, a lesbian couple who lived for six decades, in public and to kin, as dear friends. Streaming on Netflix, the documentary opens on the women in old age, when Terry’s close niece, Diana, is urging them to enter a nursing home. Pat, gruff but affectionate, is reluctant to make the move.[embedded content]The documentary is directed by Diana’s son, Chris Bolan, who chronicles this tension from an intimate, fly-on-the-wall perspective. But as Bolan digs deeper into the couple’s past, we learn that its more engaging dimension is their tie not to blood relatives — who learned of their love only recently — but to the queer chosen family who supported their otherwise secret partnership. In the ’50s and ’60s, Terry and Pat surrounded themselves with gay friends, several of whom they still socialize with and many others who appear in festive home videos. This insight into the women’s community, which the movie situates in a deeply homophobic era, elucidates Pat’s resistance to uprooting the two from their Chicago home. After years of strain, why leave a place they felt safe?It is a compliment that “A Secret Love,” which runs under an hour and a half, could stand to be longer, with an expanded portrait of Terry and Pat’s early life as a couple. Delightful asides are devoted to Terry’s career as a professional baseball player — a real-life version of “A League of Their Own” — as well as the Chicago they once knew, where they avoided the raids at gay bars by hosting lively parties. The film blossoms during these sequences, when it explores how, in a troubling time, Terry and Pat carved their own space for freedom and bliss.A Secret LoveNot rated. Running time: 1 hour 23 minutes. Watch on Netflix. More