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      ‘One Life’ Review: One Man’s Rescue of Children in Wartime

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      A British stockbroker quietly saved hundreds of lives by arranging for children in Prague to escape the Nazis by leaving for foster homes in England.When Nicholas Winton died in 2015 at 106, his obituary in The New York Times noted that, for decades, he had been startlingly reserved about what he achieved at the outbreak of World War II in Europe. Between the Munich Agreement in 1938 and Hitler’s invasion of Poland in 1939, Winton organized a rapidly moving operation that saved 669 children, most of them Jewish, by transporting them from Prague to Britain, where they were placed with foster families.The rescue didn’t receive wide public attention for 50 years, partly because, as the biographical feature “One Life” depicts, Winton (played by Johnny Flynn as a young man and Anthony Hopkins in scenes set later) was reluctant to acknowledge his heroism. In trying to capture this almost stoic modesty, the film, directed by James Hawes, falls into a dramaturgical trap.“One Life” is really two movies. It looks back on the wartime actions from 1987, when Winton considers what to do about a scrapbook of photos and documents he has kept. Flashbacks to the 1930s open a window on his plan to locate Jewish children in Prague, secure visas for each of them and find them temporary families in Britain. Time, financing and bureaucracy loomed as stubborn obstacles.The procedural complexities, and Winton’s efforts to gain the trust of the children’s parents, are compelling enough. They throw down a moral gauntlet to viewers, who must put themselves in his shoes. The motives of Winton, a British stockbroker and socialist with German-Jewish roots, are portrayed as pure altruism.By contrast, the 1980s thread — which builds to Winton’s appearances on the BBC program “That’s Life!” in 1988 — might have played discretely as a portrait of mental compartmentalization. But intercut with the weightier wartime scenes, this strand comes across as slight and, unlike Winton, self-congratulatory.One LifeRated PG. Running time 1 hour 50 minutes. In theaters. More

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      ‘The Animal Kingdom’ Review: A Beastly Disease

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      This French sci-fi tale plunges us into a world where a mysterious sickness turns humans into strange, sometimes terrifying part-animal creatures.By the time “The Animal Kingdom” opens, the enigmatic disease troubling the world has been circulating for years. It’s unclear where and how it started, much less why or just how far it has spread. Is a virus or bacteria to blame, or is it something in the air, the water, our genes? If we’ve learned anything from our recent pandemic it is that sometimes the most urgent questions aren’t immediately answerable. The big freaky unknown here is why people have begun mutating into beguiling, sometimes terrifying part-human, part-animal creatures.The furred and the hoofed, the feathered and the chaotically tentacled roam, slither and sometimes howl in “The Animal Kingdom,” an amusing what-if French fantasy with a touch of comedy and some glints of horror. It’s all pretty confusing for the 16-year-old Émile (a poignant, delicate, open-faced Paul Kircher), who’s struggling to deal with his mother, Lana (Florence Deretz). Adolescence is tough on its own without a mother who now seems post-verbal and whose face is covered in fur. Her breathing is strangely labored, too, although she also sounds as if she’s warming up a growl. Living alongside other species has its joys; its perils, too.An off-kilter mystery that teasingly flirts with a larger metaphoric resonance, the movie follows Émile as he and his father, François (a jittery, sympathetic Romain Duris), navigate their wild new normal. Lana has been institutionalized in a government-run facility since she attacked Émile — the deep scratches on the walls of her room resemble the scars on his face — and is receiving some kind of care. She’s about to be transferred to another facility in the south, where Émile and François are going to move. “We’ve made real progress in deciphering this disease,” a doctor reassures them. Controlling it is another matter.The director Thomas Cailley takes a direct, unfussy approach to the story, smoothly plunging you into it without ceremony or much background. (He shares script credit with Pauline Munier.) Within minutes, various meticulously rendered creatures have entered and exited, and Émile and François’s loving, testy relationship has been established. What’s also evident is the matter-of-fact attitude that the characters express. Everyone has adjusted to this disordered reality and has taken for-or-against positions, which is eerily familiar. At the same time, because the characters know far more than you do, at least at first, this creates a sense of unease that nicely fuels the movie’s smoldering dread.A sense of low-key unquiet continues even as the story shifts into a coming-of-age groove. Émile enters a new school where he hangs with other kids, develops a crush and changes, as all living things must. (Adèle Exarchopoulos shows up in a subplot, presumably because she’s a recognizable name.) It’s banal yet unordinary, as evidenced by the teens’ opposing views of the creatures; the intolerant call them “critters” while others argue for their rights. Then, while in the woods, Émile meets the birdman, a quasi-raptor, Fix (an impressively avian Tom Mercier), with majestic wings and a bandage where a beak should be. After chatting and cawing — Fix is losing his ability to speak — they become friendly.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      With Humor, Kobi Libii Gives His Characters a Different Superpower

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      The writer and director of “The American Society of Magical Negroes” has made a satire that may feel primed to be provocative. He responds to some of the discourse.In “The American Society of Magical Negroes,” the writer-director Kobi Libii’s debut feature film opening March 15, a mysterious group of Black people possess superpowers. But unlike Black Panther or Miles Morales’s Spider-Man, this group doesn’t fight criminals or take on villains.Instead, the members of this society wield their powers only for a very specific purpose: soothing the anxieties of white people.Endowed with the ability to perceive white people’s frustrations — represented by a floating dial that measures “white tears” — the members spend their days making lost purses reappear, transforming bland outfits into hip ones and doing whatever else white people require to be happy.This conceit satirizes the cultural trope of the Magical Negro, in which Black characters in a plot exist solely to aid the white protagonists. By incarnating this trope in the form of a secret society set in present-day America, the film critiques the ways in which Black people continue to be forced into deference toward white people.“I was sat down quite explicitly by older Black people in my life and told how to act around the police, that I needed to be polite there and that’s what I needed to do to stay alive,” Libii said in an interview.“And I personally believe I overlearned that lesson,” he added.Justice Smith, left, and David Alan Grier in “The American Society of Magical Negroes.”Focus FeaturesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      The Designer Who Makes Movie Posters Worthy of Museums

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      You’ve seen Dawn Baillie’s posters for thrillers, comedies and dramas outside cineplexes. Now her work is being exhibited at Poster House in Manhattan.The killer’s knife, a woman cowering before it.This was typical horror movie box cover stuff before 1991, when Dawn Baillie was asked to design a poster for a cerebral new thriller called “Silence of the Lambs.” She learned it was about a young F.B.I. agent-in-training, Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster), who enlists the help of an imprisoned serial killer, Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), to solve a case.“It came to me that I could illustrate ‘Silence’ if Clarice was the ‘lamb’ and the moth — or the bad guys — is what has left her without the right words,” Baillie explained in an email. “I think the poster works in showing vulnerability, strangeness and eeriness.”In other words, the poster said: This isn’t your typical scary movie.Starting March 14, Baillie gets marquee billing in a new exhibition, “The Anatomy of a Movie Poster: The Work of Dawn Baillie,” at Poster House in Manhattan. The show, through Sept. 8, takes us from her first poster, “Dirty Dancing” (1987) to “The Tragedy of Macbeth” (2021), for which she was the creative director. Along the way are posters for films as varied as “Zoolander,” “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” and “The Truman Show.”Baillie’s career as a movie poster designer and creative director spans over four decades. Born in 1964, Baillie entered advertising in the 1980s when the industry was dominated by men and posters were mostly made by hand, not computer. After working at the agencies Seiniger Advertising and Dazu, in 1992 she co-founded BLT, the agency behind memorable posters for recent films (“Barbie”), TV shows (“The Last of Us”) and Broadway (“The Music Man”).Angelina Lippert, the chief curator and director of content at Poster House, called Baillie a “design genius” with a style defined by “effortless simplicity.” Take the poster for “The Silence of the Lambs.”“It’s visual anxiety that you get when you look at this, which is what makes it indelible,” Lippert said.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      How ‘I’m Just Ken’ Won the Oscars Without Winning an Actual Oscar

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      Working off ideas from Ryan Gosling and Greta Gerwig, the choreographer Mandy Moore created the crowd-pleasing number in days.Sixty-two dancers. One week of cast rehearsals. Ncuti Gatwa, didn’t arrive until Friday. Slash showed up on Saturday.“I’m Just Ken” was the showstopping number of Sunday’s Oscar telecast, and it probably wouldn’t have come together in as seamless a fashion if not for choreographer Mandy Moore, who has designed dance sequences for a Taylor Swift world tour and a film musical.“Um, it was definitely up there with ‘La La Land’ and the Eras Tour,” she said when asked about how “I’m Just Ken” ranked in terms of career challenges.Expectations were high before the ceremony. There were reports that the backup Kens would be shirtless, and in an interview on the red carpet, Mark Ronson, who was up for an Oscar for the song along with Andrew Wyatt, promised an “absolutely bananas spectacle.”While the dancers were fully clothed (and a different “Barbie” song would win the Academy Award), Moore’s troupe did deliver on Ronson’s promise. It helped that her partner in crime through the whole endeavor was Ryan Gosling, Oscar-nominated for his role as Ken in “Barbie,” who not only eagerly donned the pink sequin suit but also sang live and had clear ideas about how the number should go.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Cillian Murphy, Oscar Winner and ‘Oppenheimer’ Star: Get to Know His Work

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      “Oppenheimer” wasn’t the first time he’s played a physicist. In “Sunshine,” “28 Days Later” and more, you can get a sense of just how wide his range is.The first thing you notice about Cillian Murphy is his eyes. As a young filmgoer, I clocked them in the historical drama “Girl With a Pearl Earring” (2003), when he was romancing Scarlett Johansson. But over the years I came to find myself more and more taken by the rarity of Murphy’s transmutable talent as he tackled everything from horror movies to comic-book fare to war pictures.Even as he gained popularity as one of Christopher Nolan’s favorite actors and as the star of the television drama “Peaky Blinders,” somehow Murphy still felt underrated. Well, that was until last year, when “Oppenheimer” came out. In recent months more and more people have found themselves captivated by Murphy thanks to his now Oscar-winning performance as J. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb and the central force of Nolan’s best picture-winning film.“Oppenheimer” serves as an excellent overview of what Murphy is capable of onscreen — his take on the scientist is alternately seductive, cerebral and tortured. Still, it’s just his most recent triumph. If you’re now looking to expand your knowledge of Murphy’s work, here are some excellent options.2003‘28 Days Later’Stream on SlingIt’s frustrating for many cinephiles that Danny Boyle’s zombie masterpiece “28 Days Later” isn’t more easily available to stream. (Currently, it’s only on Sling.) Not only is this film one of the most haunting depictions of the way society quickly crumbles when faced with an apocalyptic scenario, it also offers a look at Murphy’s breakout moment, wandering through London’s ravaged streets in nothing but ill-fitting scrubs, a large scar across his head. Nolan uses the natural sunken quality of Murphy’s cheeks to great effect in “Oppenheimer,” where his gauntness also conveys a mind that cannot stop racing as he considers all the terrifying outcomes of his deeds. But Boyle employed Murphy’s physicality much earlier, casting him as Jim, a man who wakes up naked in a hospital bed 28 days after the onset of a monstrous virus known as the Rage. Jim is no one special, someone who survived by mere luck, but he wears that like a burden. Early on, you watch his newly revived brain process the horrors he is witnessing. Later, you see him fully embrace the fury this world requires. This is the film that demonstrated why Murphy is the actor to cast when you want someone to play haunted. There’s no one who does it like him.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Oscars, Torn Between Past and Present, Still Had Some Fun

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      Even as the telecast indulged in the usual jokes, references to the 2023 strikes and current wars had their place, in our critics’ view.Last year may have been the year of “Barbenheimer,” but this year’s Academy Awards will henceforth be known as the “Oppenbarbie” Oscars. There was plenty of bubble-gum pink to go around, but the 96th Academy Awards effectively belonged to Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer,” his magisterial biographical portrait of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the so-called father of the atomic bomb. The Times’s chief film critic, Manohla Dargis, and its movie critic, Alissa Wilkinson, discuss the show, the awards, the snubs, the jeers and, yes, even movies.MANOHLA DARGIS The movies are back … again! The survival of the medium often feels like a worrying message at the Oscars, but last night’s show felt particularly — and genuinely — ebullient. Attendees are always jazzed to be there, but you could feel the happiness radiating off people, even on TV. Or maybe it was relief. The industry is still struggling in the wake of last year’s strikes by the Writers Guild and SAG-AFTRA, which effectively shut it down for about a half a year even as it was still trying to recover from the pandemic.It’s no wonder attendees couldn’t stop jumping up to give themselves standing ovations. And while there were memorable moments — the shout-out to Yoko Ono, the close-ups of Messi the dog — I was especially pleased when the host Jimmy Kimmel asked the room to join him in giving a hosanna to the industry’s below-the-line workers, or as he said: “The Teamsters, the truck drivers, the lighting crew, sound, camera, gaffers, grips — that’s right, all the people who refused to cross the picket line.” The very same folks who may soon be on strike if their negotiations go badly. Solidarity, but also fingers crossed! How did it play on your TV?The Oscar host Jimmy Kimmel onstage with movie industry workers and crew, honoring them for their support during the 2023 Writers Guild and SAG-AFTRA strikes.Amir Hamja/The New York TimesALISSA WILKINSON I laughed. A lot! Usually my Oscar night is full of groans and eye rolls — remember the “cheer-worthy moment” poll of 2022? Or exhausting monologue vamps on how nobody saw any of the nominees? — but I was genuinely tickled by the bits and the jokes, by John Cena’s perfectly hammy reluctant streaker bit and John Mulaney’s breathless recap of the entire plot of “Field of Dreams.” I loved all the backup Kens, dressed up to pay tribute to “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” in a number full of Busby Berkeley references, and I found the introduction of acting nominees by past winners genuinely moving.Ryan Gosling performing “I’m Just Ken” on Sunday.Amir Hamja/The New York TimesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Where to Stream 2024 Oscar Winners, From ‘Oppenheimer’ to ‘Poor Things’

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      Most of the night’s winners can be watched at home. Here’s a guide to help you find the honorees.For the second year in a row, following “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” a single film dominated the Oscars with seven awards as “Oppenheimer,” Christopher Nolan’s imposing portrait of the architect of the atomic bomb, took picture and director, and picked up nods for two of its stars, Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr. Subscribers to Peacock can currently stream the film, but it’s an affordable rent on all the major platforms. With the exception of the visual effects wonder “Godzilla Minus One” and the two animated films, Hayao Miyazaki’s feature “The Boy and the Heron” and the short “War Is Over! Inspired by the Work of John and Yoko,” all of the other Oscar winners are accessible through either streaming services or the usual outlets. With war as a major theme throughout the ceremony, it’s worth noting that “20 Years in Mariupol,” the documentary winner about the Russian siege on the Ukrainian city, is currently available for free on Frontline PBS’s YouTube page.‘Oppenheimer’The writer and director Christopher Nolan narrates the opening sequence from the film, starring Cillian Murphy.Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal Pictures, via Associated PressWon for: Best picture, director, actor, supporting actor, cinematography, editing, score.How to watch: Stream it on Peacock. Rent it on Amazon, Apple TV, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube.Conjuring the dark wizardry of the Manhattan Project, the director Christopher Nolan turned the Trinity test into a seat-rumbling summer spectacle, placing it at the center of “Oppenheimer” like the nuclear core of 20th-century history. But there’s a disturbing intimacy to the film as well, with Cillian Murphy’s tremulous J. Robert Oppenheimer leading an unstable band of scientists while nearly drowning in uncharted political and ethical waters. In exploring the origins of a technological boogeyman that continues to haunt humankind, Nolan embraces the contradictions of the flawed, brilliant man whose spirit seems to embody it.‘Poor Things’The director Yorgos Lanthimos narrates a sequence from the film in which the characters played by Emma Stone and Mark Ruffalo share a dance.Atsushi Nishijima/Searchlight PicturesWon for: Best actress, production design, costume design, makeup and hairstyling.How to watch: Stream it on Hulu. Buy it on Amazon, Apple TV, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube. More