Movies

Nikita Pearl Waligwa, the young Ugandan newcomer who starred in “Queen of Katwe,” the 2016 Disney film about a chess champion’s coming of age, has died of a brain tumor. She was 15.Her death was announced on Sunday by Gayaza High School, an all-girls boarding school outside the Ugandan capital of Kampala where Ms. Waligwa had been a student.“You were a darling to many and we have lost you to a brain tumor at such a tender age,” the high school said on Twitter.The announcement prompted an outpouring of tributes from some of Ms. Waligwa’s co-stars in “Queen of Katwe,” which was based on a 2011 essay in ESPN The Magazine about a chess prodigy in Uganda who grows up in a slum and wins international competitions. The film starred Lupita Nyong’o and David Oyelowo. It was listed as Ms. Waligwa’s only film credit.In the movie, Ms. Waligwa played Gloria, a friend of the protagonist, Phiona Mutesi, who was played by Madina Nalwanga.Phiona becomes a chess whiz with help from Gloria and under the tutelage of Robert Katende, played by Mr. Oyewolo. The film was directed by Mira Nair and starred Ms. Nyong’o, an Oscar winner for “12 Years a Slave,” as Phiona’s mother.“She played Gloria with such vibrancy,” Ms. Nyong’o said on Instagram. “In her real life she had the enormous challenge of battling brain cancer. My thoughts and prayers are with her family and community as they come to terms with having to say goodbye so soon.”“Queen of Katwe” was the film debut of both Ms. Waligwa and Ms. Nalwanga.“We mourn the loss of our beautiful Nikita Pearl Waligwa,” Mr. Oyewolo wrote on Instagram. “She was a ball of light in @queenofkatwemovie and in life. Her battle with a brain tumor was humbling to witness. Her light will live on.” More

Harriet Tubman was to be commemorated by appearing on the $20 bill in a design that would have been unveiled this year, but the treasury secretary said in May that plans for the bill would be delayed until after President Trump left office.Enter OneUnited Bank, which this month revealed it was honoring the abolitionist in its own way — by featuring her on a debit card.The backlash was almost instant, and it was difficult to pinpoint what offended people more: Was it her crossed arms that resembled the “Wakanda Forever” salute from the movie “Black Panther”? Was it the combination of a gold chip above her right shoulder and the Visa logo on the left? Maybe it was the whole thing.Regardless, OneUnited, the nation’s largest black-owned bank, soon found itself the target of jokes and jabs after announcing the card design on Thursday.Social media users accused the bank of pandering, while others pointed out the disconnect of featuring a former slave on a monetary device like a debit card.“‘Bury me in the ocean, with my ancestors that jumped from the ships, because they knew death was better than Harriet Tubman hitting the Wakanda salute on debit cards,’” one Twitter user posted.Another wrote, “It’s amazing how differently the idea of Harriet Tubman on U.S. legal tender feels than putting her face on a debit card.”Teri Williams, the bank’s president and chief operating officer, said in a statement that it put Tubman on the card in celebration of Black History Month. “This symbol of Black empowerment in 2020 will pave the way for the Harriet Tubman design on the $20 bill,” she said.The card’s image comes from the painting “The Conqueror” by the artist Addonis Parker, the bank said. On Twitter, it explained Tubman’s crossed-arms gesture was the sign language symbol for love.“Harriet Tubman is the ultimate symbol of love — love that causes you to sacrifice everything, including your own life,” the bank said.Those who saw echoes of “Black Panther” in Tubman’s gesture were not far-off.In 2018, the film’s director, Ryan Coogler, revealed that the “Wakanda Forever” salute comes from Egyptian pharaohs and West African sculptures, as well as the words “love” and “hug” in American Sign Language.On Sunday, Mr. Parker said he moved the gesture higher in the card’s image to keep it visible.Ms. Williams said in an interview on Sunday that she understood and respected the reactions the card has drawn, but that OneUnited had the power to push for Tubman to appear on the $20 bill. She said the bank had also received messages of support.“Even though it’s symbolic, it matters,” she said, adding that it boiled down to: “Why is it that only white people are on money? Why is that?”The Tubman card is the one bank customers had selected the most since Thursday, she said, declining to give specific figures.The card was the ninth in a series that began in 2016, featuring what Ms. Williams said were “unapologetically Black” figures. The bank said using the images was a way to “make a statement that #BlackMoneyMatters with every dollar” spent.The goal of OneUnited, which has its headquarters in Boston, is to use banking for the benefit of black people, Ms. Williams said.Tubman was against the dehumanizing capitalism that was practiced in America, but “she recognized the value of economic empowerment for security,” Ms. Williams said. More

David Byrne ended the remarkably successful Broadway run of his “American Utopia” on Sunday with a surprise announcement: He will reprise the show for another 17 weeks next fall and winter.“American Utopia,” an energetic and tightly choreographed theatrical concert, has won acclaim from critics and audiences, and has proved to be a financial hit, consistently selling out the 961-seat Hudson Theater with tickets priced at as much as $649.Spike Lee has announced that he would direct a filmed version of the show, to be released this year. Byrne is also scheduled to perform with the “American Utopia” musicians on “Saturday Night Live” on Feb. 29.The return engagement, also at the Hudson Theater, is scheduled to run from Sept. 18 through Jan. 17. The theater will be occupied this spring and summer by a revival of “Plaza Suite,” a Neil Simon comedy starring Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick.“American Utopia,” initially the title of a Byrne album and performed in concert venues around the world, arrived on Broadway last October, and recouped its $4 million capitalization just 10 weeks after opening. Byrne, a 67-year-old pop star who became famous as the lead singer of the Talking Heads, generally performed 6 shows a week, for a total of 121 performances; the show includes songs from the recent album, as well as classic hits.Writing in The New York Times, Ben Brantley called the show a “cloud-sweeping upper.” It is choreographed by Annie-B Parson. The Broadway run features the stage director Alex Timbers as a production consultant, and is produced by Kristin Caskey, Mike Isaacson, Patrick Catullo and Todomundo, which is Byrne’s record label.The Broadway run grossed a total of $18.8 million, and had been seen by 107,575 people, as of Feb. 9, according to the Broadway League. During the week that ended Feb. 9, the show’s average ticket price was $211, second only to “Hamilton.” More

This is a confusing time to be alive. Take this film, for instance. It’s a horror reboot and slight sendup of a television series that is best remembered by the parents of its target audience. “Fantasy Island” ran on ABC from 1977 to 1984; it was an anthology series in which guests at the title resort learned life lessons in down-market O. Henry scenarios demonstrating how careful one ought to be when wishing for things.[embedded content]The new “Fantasy Island,” directed by Jeff Wadlow from a script he wrote with Jillian Jacobs and Christopher Roach, begins with the cry “The plane, the plane,” made popular by the actor Hervé Villechaize on the show. But this island’s overseer, called Mr. Roarke as he was on television, is played by Michael Peña in a mild misterioso vibe, in contrast with the kitsch suavity of his original portrayer, Ricardo Montalbán. The fantasists have won a contest. Two bros want the beer-commercial party/orgy of their collegiate dreams; a single woman wants the mate she regretfully turned down; another single woman wants payback for school bullying; a dog-tagged dude wants to be a war hero. As they embark on their adventures, one anticipates multiple variants on the 1972 horror film “Tales From the Crypt.”The film seems to pull imagery (like bleeding-eyed undead killers) from Euro-horror maestros like Jean Rollin and also cribs story elements from not one, but two different Tarkovsky classics (really). The sex and violence components, which are best served hot and lurid in exercises such as these, are here puréed into PG-13 pulp.This is all interesting from a pro-am cinema semiotics perspective, but none of it is in the least bit scary. This, really, is what happens when you take all the wrong lessons out of film school.Blumhouse’s Fantasy IslandRated PG-13 for bland sex and violence stuff. Running time: 1 hour 50 minutes. More