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      How to Watch the Golden Globes 2021: Date, Time and Streaming

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }Awards SeasonHow to Watch the GlobesWhat to ExpectOur Movie PredictionsGolden Globe NomineesGolden Globes SuitAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyHow to Watch the Golden Globes 2021: Date, Time and StreamingHere’s a quick guide with everything you need to know for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association film and television awards. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are the hosts of this year’s ceremony.Credit…Frazer Harrison/Getty ImagesFeb. 27, 2021, 9:27 a.m. ET More

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      Amazon Moves From Film Industry’s Margins to the Mainstream

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }At HomeWatch: ‘WandaVision’Travel: More SustainablyFreeze: Homemade TreatsCheck Out: Podcasters’ Favorite PodcastsAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyAmazon Moves From Film Industry’s Margins to the MainstreamWith several films competing for Golden Globes on Sunday and a number of high-priced movies coming this year, the streaming service has altered its reputation in Hollywood.“Borat Subsequent Moviefilm,” nominated for three Golden Globes, is one of several Amazon films competing on Sunday night. Credit…Amazon StudiosFeb. 26, 2021Updated 3:02 p.m. ETSacha Baron Cohen may have been going a little mad. It was August, the pandemic was raging, and his secret production had shut down. He was determined to reprise his role as Borat in a feature film designed to satirize the Trump administration ahead of the November election.But how?First he persuaded Universal Studios to allow him to shop his incomplete movie. Then he cobbled together an hour of footage. (The infamous scene with Rudolph W. Giuliani had yet to be filmed.) Hulu was interested. So was Netflix. But Amazon Studios was the one most committed to getting the movie out in time, no matter the cost.Amazon spent $80 million to acquire “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm,” a decision that incurred extra expenses because of Covid-19 protocols, test screenings in New Zealand — one of the few places in the world at the time where the company could gather a group of people in a dark movie theater — and a last-minute dash to incorporate all the gonzo footage before the film’s release on Oct. 23. (Mr. Cohen was cutting it close, still shooting three weeks before he had to deliver the movie.)“They broke every rule for us,” Mr. Cohen said in a phone interview. “There was a certain delivery schedule that they felt was necessary, and they halved that time. They realized the imperative of getting this out before the election. And they changed their procedures completely to help us do this. I’m really, really grateful.”Jennifer Salke, the head of Amazon Studios, is committed to spending upward of $100 million on a production if necessary.Credit…Rozette Rago for The New York TimesJennifer Salke, the head of Amazon Studios, is also grateful. When the Golden Globes air on Sunday, “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” will be competing for three awards: best comedy or musical, best actor and best supporting actress (Maria Bakalova). Other Amazon acquisitions, including Regina King’s directorial debut, “One Night in Miami,” and “Sound of Metal,” starring Riz Ahmed, are also contending for prizes.Those accolades, coupled with the cultural impact “Borat” has enjoyed across the globe, have significantly altered the perception of Amazon Studios’ film division in Hollywood and among Amazon’s more than 150 million Prime subscribers. (The studio, which does not disclose viewer numbers, will say only that tens of millions of subscribers watched “Borat.”)Once a home for indie darlings such as “Manchester by the Sea” and “The Big Sick,” Amazon Prime Video is transforming itself into a place for commercial films with broad appeal that can travel internationally. It’s all part of Ms. Salke’s plan to turn Prime into a service people subscribe to for more than free shipping for their paper towels.“We had seen firsthand, when Amazon gets behind a piece of content, just how big the muscle is that they are capable of flexing,” said David Ellison, chief executive of Skydance Media and the producer of Amazon’s “Jack Ryan” series. He recently sold the films “Without Remorse” and “The Tomorrow War” to Amazon. “With ‘Borat,’ they showed they could do that with films, too.”Amazon has thrived in the last year, with profits increasing some 200 percent since the pandemic began. That success has extended to its film business. Like other streaming services, it has been able to snatch up big-budget, star-driven films that studios have been forced to shelve in response to the closing of movie theaters.Netflix, Apple, Disney+ and Hulu have all benefited from the studios’ woes, but Amazon has been one of the most aggressive in acquiring new movies.Michael B. Jordan has an overall content deal with Amazon that will allow him to explore areas like fashion, music and podcasts. Credit…Nadja Klier/Paramount PicturesIn September, Ms. Salke acquired “Without Remorse” — starring Michael B. Jordan and based on a Tom Clancy series — for $105 million. It will debut at the end of April. The next month, it paid $125 million for the rights to “Coming 2 America,” which will premiere next Friday. Eddie Murphy was initially hesitant about taking the sequel to his much-beloved film to Amazon, but Ms. Salke and others say he was reassured by the performance of “Borat.”In January, the company made its biggest bet yet, paying $200 million to acquire the Chris Pratt-led action film “The Tomorrow War,” which Paramount was set to release. It stands as Amazon’s largest financial commitment in acquiring a feature film. The company hopes to debut it on Prime Video this summer.“We don’t have a huge bench of big blockbuster movies in the works,” Ms. Salke said with a laugh. “So for us it was opportunistic to be able to lean into that.”With more players than ever joining the streaming fray (Paramount+, anyone?), the pace of delivering new content is an issue that every service worries about. Netflix threw down the gauntlet in January when it announced its 2021 strategy of delivering one new movie per week, which followed WarnerMedia’s announcement that all of Warner Bros.’s 2021 theatrical films will debut in theaters and on its HBO Max streaming service at the same time.With so much volume being offered by those two companies, along with Disney’s recent announcement that at least 80 percent of its 100 new projects will be earmarked for Disney+, the only way to compete is to go big.“It’s going to be really interesting over the next three years,” said Roeg Sutherland, one of the heads of media finance for Creative Artists Agency. “With platforms programming one new movie a week, this is fueling a competitive marketplace for high-end, independently financed films.”At the Sundance Film Festival last month, Apple paid a record $25 million for rights to the independent film “Coda.”Ms. Salke pushes back on the idea that her plans to broaden her offerings are a reaction to her competitors. Rather, she said, it’s the culmination of a strategy that began at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, when as a newcomer to the film world she spent $46 million to acquire four films, including “Late Night” with Emma Thompson and Mindy Kaling, and the feel-good movie “Brittany Runs a Marathon.”Before joining Amazon, Ms. Salke spent her career in television, shepherding hits like “Modern Family” and “Glee” at 20th Century Fox and “This Is Us” at NBCUniversal. After her Sundance shopping spree, she was mocked by some film insiders as an out-of-touch television executive overspending to acquire niche movies.She was criticized for paying $13 million for “Late Night,” when it grossed $15.4 million at the box office. “Brittany Runs a Marathon” earned just $7 million. That commentary still seems to sting Ms. Salke, though she argues that she released the films theatrically only to appease the filmmakers. The movies’ real metric of success, she said, was how they played on the streaming service.Regina King on the set of “One Night in Miami” with Kingsley Ben-Adir. The actress turned director says she was amazed at how often she saw ads for her film while shopping on Amazon.Credit…Patti Perret/Amazon Studios, via Associated Press“Those movies all kept coming out as No. 1,” said Ms. Salke, referring to the films’ performances on Amazon Prime. “Every time we launched one, the next one would eclipse the next one. We were training our audience to know that we would have big original films that were more commercial on Prime Video. It’s a little bit of an ‘If you build it, they will come’ strategy.”But what happens to that plan once the pandemic is over and studios are no longer willing to sell their movies to streaming platforms?Amazon has some 34 films in various stages of production around the world, and Ms. Salke said the company was committed to spending upward of $100 million on a production if merited. (Amazon’s founder, Jeff Bezos, is stepping down as the company’s chief executive this year, but the studio isn’t expecting any big changes when Andy Jassy takes the reins.)The Culver City, Calif., complex is still being built, and, if anything, investment has increased. Ms. Salke points to Aaron Sorkin’s upcoming film about Lucy and Desi Arnaz, starring Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem, as a potential hit. There’s also George Clooney’s film “The Tender Bar,” starring Ben Affleck, and an L.G.B.T.Q. romantic drama, “My Policeman,” featuring Harry Styles and Emma Corrin (“The Crown”).“The new news is that you will see us embrace some bigger projects going forward that are self-generated,” she said.In Ms. Salke’s mind, this was always the place where Amazon Film was going to land. And there is a newfound confidence to her outlook as she celebrates her third anniversary as the head of the studio. In addition to her recent acquisition spree, she has made overall content deals with Mr. Jordan and the actor and musician Donald Glover, which she says will reinforce her mission to burnish Amazon’s reputation as a talent-friendly place.With its healthy subscription base, Amazon is attracting those in Hollywood who are interested in the company’s global reach but also curious about the company’s other businesses that have the potential to expand a star’s brand beyond film and television.Mr. Jordan, for one, said his overall content deal would allow him to explore areas other studios couldn’t offer: specifically fashion, music and podcasts. His portrayal of the physical incarnation of Amazon’s Alexa during a Super Bowl ad was an example.And Ms. King got a kick out of just how pervasive Amazon’s marketing of her film was whenever she logged into the company’s e-commerce site.“When I’m on Amazon, buying doggy bags, and my film pops up at the top, that’s pretty amazing,” she said. “That’s like, wow! Every single day I am getting a text from someone who saw the movie that probably wouldn’t have seen it if it didn’t pop up in their shopping queue.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Julie Delpy, Science-Fiction Filmmaker? It’s True

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyJulie Delpy, Science-Fiction Filmmaker? It’s TrueBest known for romantic comedies, the creator of the cloning drama “My Zoe” refuses to be pigeonholed: “I love to mess up and not go in the direction that is expected.”Julie Delpy in Los Angeles. She wrote, directed and stars in the new film. Credit…Jake Michaels for The New York TimesFeb. 26, 2021, 11:49 a.m. ET“Sorry, sorry, sorry,” said a flustered Julie Delpy, who was a few minutes late for a video interview. “My son is doing online school, and there is always something complicated to sort out.” She paused and took a breath. “But it’s nice too, having this time together.”Motherhood, its deep pulls of love and its concomitant potential for terror, is the central subject of Delpy’s new film, “My Zoe.” It’s a tough depiction of an antagonistic divorcing couple who are struck by tragedy, but then (spoiler alert!) moves into futuristic terrain as Delpy’s character, Isabelle, a geneticist, searches for a radical solution: cloning the child she has lost with the help of a controversial fertility doctor, played by Daniel Brühl.Brühl, who has worked with Delpy previously and was also one of the film’s producers, said in a telephone interview that the questions the film raised about ethics and morality, “about what might be possible, or what is perhaps already possible,” were deeply interesting to him. His character was “driven by his scientific ambitions to hold these questionable moral positions, but also driven by a growing empathy for the despair of this one mother,” Brühl said.“My Zoe,” Glenn Kenny wrote in The New York Times, “is an unusually compelling domestic drama with sharp ears, a sharp eye, and up to a point, sharp teeth.”It’s probably not the kind of film that mainstream audiences associate with Delpy, 51, who may be best known for the Richard Linklater romantic-comedy trio “Before Sunrise,” “Before Sunset” and “Before Midnight.” In those movies, spaced nine years apart, she played Celine, a strong, flawed heroine at the center of a compelling and equally flawed romance with Jesse, played by Ethan Hawke. (She also co-wrote the films, earning two Oscar adapted-screenplay nominations alongside Linklater and Hawke.)The French-born Delpy has been acting since the age of 14, when Jean-Luc Godard cast her in “Detective,” and she has worked in European art house cinema as well as mainstream Hollywood movies. But Delpy, whose parents were actors, has always wanted to write and direct, and she has done so since the mid-1990s: “My Zoe” is her seventh film and she has a number of writing and directing projects in the works, including a television series, “On the Verge,” in production for Canal Plus and Netflix.In an hourlong interview from her Los Angeles home last week, she talked about the genesis of “My Zoe,” the ethical questions around cloning, and whether conditions for female movie directors have improved. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.Delpy with Sophia Ally as Zoe in a scene from the film.Credit…Blue Fox EntertainmentWhat made you take on a subject and a genre so different from your previous films?When I worked with Godard, he published a book of letters he had written to actors and never sent. To me, he wrote, be careful in your life because people will put you in a box. He knew I wanted to direct, not just be a pretty actress. For me it’s essential not to stay in one place, it’s just not interesting. I love to mess up and not go in the direction that is expected.The story of “My Zoe” comes from a few different places. I was witness to a terrible accident with a child who died at my school and to the grief of the parents. And then being a parent yourself, you always think about this and fear it. But I think I had the idea even before that. I remember talking to [Krzysztof] Kieslowski when we were making “Three Colors: White” and discussing the idea of fate, and whether you could change things.I have seen so many movies in which people deal with death, and the main idea is acceptance. When you think about it, loss is an ancestral burden, particularly for women, who for centuries routinely lost babies at birth or young children. Isabelle refuses that condition of loss; she rebels and tries to recreate a child who is only hers. That’s the No. 1 fear of men, and I think that’s partly why this idea upsets many people.You divide the film into three parts, and the first shows the grim, petty realities of divorce; why was it important to you to set up the story in that way?I was writing the film in the middle of a separation, and sorting out custody of our kid, and it was important to me to have the first act be all about that horrible stuff, because I wanted to show how people forget the big thing: the well-being of the child. Sometimes in films, you get the bigger picture of separation; they don’t do the minutiae of breaking up with a child [involved]. I wanted to build a story from something rooted in reality, so that when you move into the next act, it doesn’t feel like science fiction.The second part, after Zoe’s accident, is luckily less familiar to most of us but still grounded in reality, and then we move into the third part, to events that are a possibility in the near future if not now. I didn’t want to be judgmental about Isabelle’s actions, just show her point of view. I am not saying that cloning is a good thing, but I’m saying, let’s not blind ourselves: When I.V.F. was first done, people called it evil and now they don’t think twice. For me, it’s an allegory of what people are capable of doing.Daniel Brühl said that you can be “very nerdy, very precise, a real perfectionist” as a director. How did you manage that role alongside this emotionally draining part in “My Zoe”?Often I would really rather have another actress play my role, but I always do these low-budget films and it helps to have a bit of a name. It irritates people that I do everything, they think it’s megalomania. But it really isn’t, just necessity!Yes, I am a perfectionist, and this film was really hard. The actors and I talked a lot before takes, but it’s very hard to judge the quality of a scene if you are also acting in it. The main tool is the playback; you need time to look at your own performance and make sure you are giving very different colors to scenes. In this case, I was very conscious of not turning it into a melodrama. We had a low budget and limited time — not a good combination. But I am not scared of difficulty, struggling, even chaos. Perhaps that’s the one thing I have in common with Isabelle.You’ve been outspoken about the difficulties facing female filmmakers — do you think things have improved in the last few years?I am happy to say things have improved. Now I feel I’m at the same level as male directors, and probably have almost the same opportunities. I see this particularly clearly in France; America isn’t quite there yet for all the talk about feminism and racism and equality. But there has been change. When I made “Two Days in Paris,” at 36, I had to battle for a half a million dollar budget; talking to younger female filmmakers now, that’s not the case.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      ‘Tom & Jerry’ Review: Chasing the Mouse of Nostalgia

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main story‘Tom & Jerry’ Review: Chasing the Mouse of NostalgiaThis feature-length expansion of the popular cartoon is too brainless for adults, but its kid-friendly title characters are barely supporting players.The animated characters Tom, right, and Jerry navigate New York City streets in “Tom & Jerry.”Credit…Warner Bros.Feb. 26, 2021, 11:00 a.m. ETTom & Jerry: The MovieDirected by Tim StoryAnimation, Adventure, Comedy, FamilyPG1h 41mFind TicketsWhen you purchase a ticket for an independently reviewed film through our site, we earn an affiliate commission.Affectionate nostalgia can attach itself to the most inexplicable and undeserving of recipients, which is about the only explanation for the existence of “Tom & Jerry,” a new feature-length expansion of the cartoon shorts of the 1940s and 1950s (and endless television rebroadcasts thereafter). Those were simple, slapstick cat-and-mouse chase comedies; here, the characters are uneasily blended, “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”-style, into a live-action New York City, where a quick-thinking hustler (Chloë Grace Moretz) bluffs her way into a job at a swank hotel in the midst of preparations for a high-society wedding. Tom and Jerry are also guests at the property, albeit uninvited ones. Shenanigans ensue.The director Tim Story (of “Barbershop” and the execrable 2019 “Shaft” reboot) and the screenwriter Kevin Costello, reimagine Tom as a shades-wearing street musician, throw in jokes referencing Drake, T.I. and TikTok, and fill the soundtrack with classic hip-hop. It’s all flop sweat, a sad, desperate attempt to make Tom and Jerry the one thing they never were: cool.[embedded content]They also weren’t crass, which creates some tension with the demands of a contemporary “family” comedy; the picture’s low point finds an animated bulldog squatting and defecating in the middle of a crosswalk, prompting the co-star Michael Peña (poor, poor Michael Peña) to shriek, “How many burritos did you eat?” The de rigueur slapstick scenes for the title characters don’t even play, as the integration of animation and live action is so clunky that it feels like we’re watching special effects demonstrations rather than gags.Some of the performances are enjoyable. Moretz is charmingly game, Peña is funny because Peña is always funny and Rob Delaney has fun with his role as the hotel’s fussy manager. But the laughs they generate have little to do with Tom or Jerry; they’re borne of the personas and charisma of the cast.There is some value to “Tom & Jerry,” though, in that it lays bare the unacknowledged truth at the center of the entertainment industry’s undying fealty to existing intellectual property. Put simply: Just because it was on television when you were a kid, doesn’t mean it was good.Tom & Jerry: The MovieRated PG. Running time: 1 hour 41 minutes. In theaters and on HBO Max. Please consult the guidelines outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before watching movies inside theaters.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Netflix Productions Are More Diverse Than Studio Films, Study Shows

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyNetflix Productions Are More Diverse Than Studio Films, Study ShowsThe study, which the streaming giant commissioned, looked at films and TV series from 2018 and 2019.Ali Wong and Randall Park star in “Always Be My Maybe” on Netflix.Credit…NetflixFeb. 26, 2021, 9:30 a.m. ETFifty-two percent of Netflix films and series in 2018 and 2019 had girls or women in starring roles. And 35.7 percent of all Netflix leads during that span came from underrepresented groups, compared with 28 percent in the top 100 grossing theatrical films.Those findings were released on Friday by the University of Southern California’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, which Netflix commissioned to look at its own U.S.-based scripted original films and series. The study analyzed 126 movies and 180 series released during 2018 and 2019.“Notably, across 19 of 22 indicators we included in this study, Netflix demonstrated improvement across films and series from 2018 to 2019,” said Stacy L. Smith, who is the head of the initiative and has been studying representation in film and television since 2005, during an online symposium the company held to discuss the survey. She said Netflix had also increased the percentage of women onscreen and working as directors, screenwriters and producers; for Black cast and crew; and for women of color in leading roles.Of the 130 directors of Netflix films in those two years, 25 percent were women in 2018 and 20.7 percent in 2019 — outpacing the feature films released theatrically by other studios over the same period.While Netflix reflects gender equality in its leading roles in television series and films, when every speaking character is evaluated, those roles did not match what the country looks like from a gender and race perspective. Only 19.9 percent of all stories met that mark. For instance, 96 percent of stories did not have any women onscreen who identify as American Indian/Native Alaskan, and 68.3 percent of the content evaluated did not include a speaking role for a Latina. That number rose to 85 percent when it came to speaking roles for Middle Eastern/North African women.Scott Stuber, Netflix’s film chief, acknowledged how crucial those kinds of small parts were to working actors.“The SAG card is everything,” he said, referring to the Screen Actors Guild membership that performers earn by having roles in various projects. “That is the beginning of the dream. We have to be very active with our filmmakers and our casting directors to fix that. That’s the next great artist. That’s the next Viola Davis.”According to the report, L.G.B.T.Q. characters at every level of film and television were marginalized, particularly transgender characters. And just 11.8 percent of L.G.B.T.Q. characters in leading roles were shown as parents.“I was shocked that we are not doing great there,” said Bela Bajaria, the head of global TV for Netflix. “I feel like we are so active in our story lines. But the lack of gay parents in our shows, that’s a clear takeaway.”According to Netflix’s chief executive Ted Sarandos, the company is committed to releasing a new report every two years through 2026.“Our hope is to create a benchmark for ourselves, and more broadly across the industry,” he wrote in a blog post that accompanied the report.The director and screenwriter Alan Yang said during the symposium that he was bullish on the future of inclusion in entertainment, especially at Netflix, which produced a series he created with Aziz Ansari, “Master of None,” and his feature film “Tigertail.”“It’s going to improve a lot if Bela and Scott buy all the shows and films I pitch them,” Mr. Yang said with a laugh.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      With 'The Father,' Florian Zeller Pivots From Stage to Screen

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }Awards SeasonNetflix’s First Winner?Our Best Movie PicksStream Top Oscar ContendersOscar-Winning DocumentariesAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyWith ‘The Father,’ a Playwright Pivots to the ScreenFlorian Zeller has found success in the theater and as a novelist. Now, his first movie as a director is nominated for four Golden Globe Awards.Anthony Hopkins, left, and Florian Zeller, on the set of “The Father,” Zeller’s debut as a film director.Credit…Sean Gleason/Sony Pictures ClassicsFeb. 25, 2021, 10:55 a.m. ET More

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      ‘Crisis’ Review: Finding a Fix

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main story‘Crisis’ Review: Finding a FixNicholas Jarecki’s new crime drama, which examines the opioid epidemic from different angles, is well-paced but often strains credulity.Michelle Rodriguez and Armie Hammer in “Crisis.”Credit…Jan Thijs/Quiver DistributionFeb. 25, 2021, 7:00 a.m. ETCrisisDirected by Nicholas JareckiDrama, ThrillerR1h 58mFind TicketsWhen you purchase a ticket for an independently reviewed film through our site, we earn an affiliate commission.Applying the panoramic approach of Steven Soderbergh’s “Traffic” to the subject matter of, well, “Traffic,” “Crisis” examines the intractability of the opioid epidemic through a three-pronged narrative. The writer-director, Nicholas Jarecki, who made the engrossing, “Bonfire of the Vanities”-ish thriller “Arbitrage” (2012), awkwardly pretzels a checklist of social problems into the form of a drama.The issues — from addiction itself to the flawed incentives at institutions that might prevent it — demand a more expansive treatment. Compared with the HBO series “The Wire,” which covered similar material, almost any pretzel would seem too small.[embedded content]The most suspenseful thread in “Crisis” involves Jake Kelly (Armie Hammer, who has recently been accused of sending bizarre messages on social media and other troubling behavior; he has denied wrongdoing). Jake is introduced as a drug importer but quickly revealed to be an undercover D.E.A. agent planning a bust that straddles both sides of the United States-Canada border. His sister (Lily-Rose Depp) is an addict herself.In almost the flip side of that story, Claire Reimann (Evangeline Lilly), a hockey mom and recovering opioid addict, turns sleuth and potential vigilante after a tragedy related to her son.Finally, Gary Oldman plays Dr. Tyrone Brower, a professor who challenges a longtime corporate patron, a pharmaceutical company, on a claim that a new painkiller is not addictive. Turning whistle-blower means competing with Big Pharma’s immense resources.Hopping between Detroit and Montreal, the film is well-paced but often strains credulity. Jarecki brings Claire out of character to juice the plot, and Dr. Brower’s fate is resolved in an unconvincing coda at odds with the preceding cynicism.CrisisRated R. Violence and drug use. Running time: 1 hour 58 minutes. In theaters. Please consult the guidelines outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before watching movies inside theaters.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      ‘The Vigil’ Review: What Could Go Wrong Watching Over the Dead?

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main story‘The Vigil’ Review: What Could Go Wrong Watching Over the Dead?Money pulls in a night watcher, but a malicious spirit gets into his head in this feature debut from Keith Thomas.Dave Davis as Yakov in “The Vigil.”Credit…IFC MidnightFeb. 25, 2021, 7:00 a.m. ETThe VigilDirected by Keith ThomasHorror, Mystery, ThrillerPG-131h 29mFind TicketsWhen you purchase a ticket for an independently reviewed film through our site, we earn an affiliate commission.It is Jewish tradition to have someone watch over the dead until they are buried. That person is called a shomer. Yakov (Dave Davis), a young Jewish man who has left behind a strictly Jewish-observant life, is pulled into last-minute night-watch shomer duty. He’s reluctant but could desperately use the $400 that he is promised. What could go wrong with just a few hours spent next to a dead body, anyway?So much. Keith Thomas’s slim but effective “The Vigil” milks terror from a minimalistic setup, relying on the shapes we make out with squinted eyes in the shadows. Yakov’s shift comes with ample warning: The shomer before him dropped out for mysterious reasons. Then there’s the widow, Mrs. Litvak (the late Lynn Cohen, in one of her final roles), who pleads with Yakov, upon his arrival, “to leave now.” Thomas is clever to leave Yakov just vulnerable enough to stay.[embedded content]Also feeding on Yakov’s vulnerability is a Mazzik, a malicious spirit of Jewish folklore, looking for a new host. It manipulates a painful memory from Yakov’s past. He wonders whether he’s imagining things because of a side effect of medication he most likely takes to cope with trauma from his past.Thomas’s missteps occur when he strays from his simple formula. The minuscule flinch of the dead body is far more spine-tingling than the cacophonous chaos that later ensues. The unique premise marries Old World traditions and Holocaust history with present-day Hasidic Brooklyn, but the addition of technological elements is hit or miss. The Mazzik overriding Yakov’s smartphone communication is clever, but the film could have done without Yakov killing time during the vigil by Googling, “How to talk to women.” (period included).The VigilRated PG-13 for the things that go bump in the night. Running time: 1 hour 29 minutes. In theaters and available to rent or buy on Apple TV, Google Play and other streaming platforms and pay TV operators. Please consult the guidelines outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before watching movies inside theaters.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More