Dear friends,
The Venice Film Festival had such a good edition this year, my coverage is in the newsflash section below.
THE TOP MOVIE OF THE WEEK
The Social Dilemma
📺 New on Netflix everywhere this week; 🍅 rating: 90%
This new documentary is about the exact scale to which social media is harming us, as testified to by people from the industry: ex-executives at Google, Instagram, Facebook, and even the ex-President of Pinterest. All have left their companies for (incredibly valid) ethical concerns that they share here.
THE TOP TV SHOW OF THE WEEK
Greenleaf
📺 Season five is new on Netflix today; 🍅 rating: 81%
Oprah Winfrey produces AND plays a recurring character in Greenleaf, a drama about a megachurch-leading family in Memphis. The show starts with the return of an estranged daughter to the family after her sister mysteriously passes away.
Readers’ top picks
There Are No Fakes on Amazon Prime is our readers’ favorite film this week. It’s a Tiger King-type story that starts with a forged painting by famous Canadian indigenous artist Norval Morrisseau, although it carries much more substance.
River also on Amazon Prime is our readers’ favorite show. It’s a miniseries starring Stellan Skarsgård as an erratic police detective.
New titles worth your time
My Octopus Teacher is an excellent new Netflix documentary about a filmmaker who tracks the movement of a single octopus for many months, and develops an unlikely relationship with it.
No new titles on Amazon Prime this week.
Great titles that will soon expire
The great South-Korean horror-thriller Train to Busan leaves Netflix this Thursday, September 17th.
A reminder: The U.S. vs. John Lennon leaves Amazon Prime this Sunday, September 13th.
The Newsflash: summary of the Venice Biennale
All virus nervousness washed away quickly at the first scene of my incredible first viewing: The Man Who Sold His Skin.
My second viewing, The World to Come had these crazy storm scenes, where it sounded like someone was playing the violin with another violin as a bow. The quality audio, the big screen, maybe even the presence of other people - it was such a good feeling to be back in the cinema.
Four hours in and I had already seen two of the best movies I’ve seen this year. Then on the third day, One Night in Miami happened.
Here are those movies and other festival highlights in five made-up categories.
The one headed to the Oscars: One Night in Miami
One Night in Miami is about a meeting between Malcolm X, Jim Brown, Sam Cooke, and Muhammad Ali, the night Ali became world champion and announced his new faith to the world. It’s so well-acted. Leslie Odom Jr. from Hamilton plays singer Sam Cooke to breathtaking perfection. And you’d think you’re watching the actual Muhammad Ali in Eli Goree’s performance.
I have so much more to say about this movie, especially in how humanizing and attentive it is to the characters it portrays. But for now, hear this: (in 2020!), this is the first movie directed by an African American woman, Regina King, to be selected for the festival in its 77-year history. And sadly, it isn’t even in the main competition.
The critic favorite: The World to Come
A lot of ink will surely flow for The World to Come with Vanessa Kirby, Katherine Waterston, and Casey Affleck.
It’s about two married women who fall for each other in the year 1856 while one of them is grieving the loss of her daughter. And beyond, it’s about many of the challenges that women faced back then and continue to face.
“How do you think our mothers did it?” one of them asks the other at some point, almost to say to the audience that every generation of women think their condition is better than the previous, but objectively speaking, the same struggles endure.
The one with Shia: Pieces of a Woman
OK, now to the real stuff. Not having seen a Shia movie since Honey Boy last year, I was so excited.
Fast forward 24 minutes, I’m on the verge of a panic attack. That’s how long the opening sequence of Pieces of a Woman lasts, a single take of a home birth that goes wrong.
The rest of the film was great but no amount of aisle access to air could help me come down from that heightened state. Once this is out, a second viewing will be in order, starting from the 24th-minute mark.
The Iranian event-maker: Khorshid
I absolutely loved esteemed Iranian director Majid Majidi’s new movie Khorshid, which was recommended to me by a newsletter reader (thank you, Tushar!). Ali, a 12-year-old, and his three friends con their way into school after being instructed to dig for a treasure in its basement. The story might feel predictable at first (hint: knowledge is a treasure), but Majidi is more interested in exploring dynamics than he is stories: the center of the film is not the digging or the studying, but the relationship between the kids and the outside world.
Khorshid's gorgeous cinematography also marks what feels like a new wave of Iranian cinema, one that explores aesthetics as much as it explores societal dynamics.
The Arab’s favorite Arab movie: The Man Who Sold His Skin
I fell head over heels for The Man Who Sold His Skin, Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania’s new movie. It’s about an arrogant artist who, to allow a Syrian man to travel, tattoos his back to make it artwork.
The man, as a commodity, is able to travel, something as a simple human he couldn’t do. Seems unlikely? It’s based on a true story.
That’s it for today, I hope there is something in there for you.
If you can, please support the newsletter by subscribing or giving it as a gift:
The next edition will be in your inbox on Friday, September 18th.
Until then,
Bilal Zou, founder [bilal@agoodmovietowatch.com]
Carried with the support of the Creative Europe Program – MEDIA.
Really great newsletter edition!! Found so many gems that I can’t wait to come out 🙌
Just Read the newsletter today and i think this is the best newsflash section curated at GMTW ever because it is filled with so many great titles.
I look forward to watching them all. But I loved the premise of The world to come. It looks interesting to me. By the way, today's newsletter was filled with so much love.