Pk24jobs

" Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore " occupies a curious spot in Martin Scorsese's legendary filmmaking career. Sandwiched right between " Mean Streets " (1973) and " Taxi Driver " (1976), this intimate female drama, one that tenderly and sensitively follows its plain heroine's growth and self-discovery, is quite different from either of those two gritty urban masterpieces. "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore" should be cherished in Scorsese's filmography as something rare, besides being an excellent character study that still works well after many years. The story mainly revolves around Alice Hyatt ( Ellen Burstyn ), a suburban housewife living in New Mexico. As reflected by the striking prologue scene tinged with fantasy and nostalgia, there was a time when she pursued her little aspiration of becoming a successful professional singer, but now she's stuck with her unloving trucker husband and their willful young son. Despit...

“Your depression is mounting, the ashtray is filling because of it. Bedside bottles half-empty, the rest of it’s filling with your regret.  Just how sad can you get when nothing is ever really worth it.” These are the melancholic lyrics consistently running through the mind of Lea (Lily McInerny), the teenage protagonist of Jamie Dack’s shattering debut feature, “Palm Trees and Power Lines.” Like the titular trees awkwardly transplanted to the west coast, Lea sees herself as a misfit in her environment and is eager to escape it as soon as possible. When she catches the eye of Tom ( Jonathan Tucker ), a man twice her age, Lea develops a deep infatuation with him, sparking her hope that they will one day build a life together somewhere far beyond the horizon, where the power lines seemingly stretch toward infinity.  Power, and the abuse of it, is what Tom’s character embodies so insidiously. The script, co-authored by Dack and Audrey Findlay, provides a meticulous stud...

The English language title of the oneiric Indian drama “Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam” is “Like an Afternoon Dream,” a poetic substitution for the more literal translation of the original Malayalam, “A Mid-Day Slumber.” Writer/director Lijo Jose Pellissery injects a ghost story into a captivating series of slice-of-life vignettes, presented in static long takes with vivid mise en scène and detailed sound design. Pellissery (“Jallikattu,” “Angamaly Diaries”) is not, however, overly preoccupied with the sort of dramatic stakes or narrative logic that might neatly explain the identity crisis that sends the Malayalam-speaking James (star/producer Mammootty) into a Tamil Nadu village, speaking Tamil and acting like he’s lived there for years. Instead, “Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam” entices viewers with sunny exurban tableaux vivant, brimming with pastoral splendor and lightly worn melancholy. With this surreal and enchanting love letter to Tamil Nadu’s residents and cinema, Pellissery celebrate...

There’s no time like the present in Daniel Antebi ’s fast-paced feature debut, “God’s Time.” From the moment Regina (Liz Caribel) sits down to share her grievances to an Addicts Anonymous group, the movie’s main character Dev ( Ben Groh ), cuts in and talks directly to the audience, filling us in on what we don’t yet know. This isn’t Regina’s first time spilling her emotions to the group—it’s part of a months-long series of complainants about the dirtbag boyfriend who moved in, took over her apartment and her dog, and how she prays that “he’ll die on God’s Time,” among other angry wishes. Dev, who’s in the group with his aspiring actor friend Luca ( Dion Costelloe ), says he’s madly in love with Regina, so much so that he’s practically the only one to realize when her typical one-woman showcase varies from the script. Afraid Regina will make a rash decision and seek revenge on the bad ex-boyfriend, Dev convinces Luca to help him track down Regina and prevent her from making a deadly m...

“My Happy Ending” can’t even do a tearjerker right. The film is set in a chemotherapy clinic just outside of London, where the eccentric characters double over in pain between warm witticisms and fret about what will happen to their loved ones when they’re gone. The presumed intent is to combine the heartwarming, quirky school of British comedy (think “ The Full Monty ”) with the life-and-death drama of a cancer ward—a tissue-soaking slam dunk if there ever was one. And yet ... The first of many head-scratching choices in “My Happy Ending” is the casting of Andie MacDowell as Julia Hart , an American movie star who does not belong in this film at all. (That’s true of both the character and the actor.) “My Happy Ending” is adapted from a semi-autobiographical play by the late Israeli playwright Anat Gov , who processed her own terminal cancer diagnosis on the stage. The play takes place in Israel with Israeli characters, a more coherent choice than what we get in the film version: A ...

The year is 1962. In the newly independent Republic of Mali, a civilian army—including women in matching blue dresses—train to use their new weapons as two civic leaders watch on the sidelines. One leader remarks how it reminds him of the French Revolution. Another rebuffs him, saying, “Shouldn’t we abandon French references?” “They’re international—international and universal,” the first retorts.  This is one of many moments in “Dancing the Twist in Bamako,” the latest film from French director Robert Guédiguian and co-writer Gilles Taurand , that feels as though the two are arguing for why they should be allowed to tell a tale of postcolonial Mali, when they both come from the colonizing country. This paternalism masked in white guilt hangs over the otherwise stylish and passionate film like a thick fog. Inspired by the photography of Malian photographer Malick Sidibé, whose work captured the vibrancy of Malian youth during the early years of the nation’s independence under t...

Christoph Waltz entered into a type of Faustian agreement a few years ago when he won two Oscars from two Quentin Tarantino movies, playing the kind of character who turns the trait “inquisitive” into a threat. Hans Landa of “Inglorious Basterds” was a great role for him in particular, and he has shown different shades of gentility and villainy since, but it's the type of golden part intrinsic to his dramatic and physical presence. Seeing Waltz as a manipulative leader who can fashion a warm sentiment into a trap has since lost its full oopmh like any cliche does after so much use. His latest performance, for Prime Video’s “The Consultant,” is his yet another expression of precise tyranny, and it’s placed at the center of this thin, drawn-out saga that’s like insidious “The Office.”   It’s fitting to this show’s on-the-nose nature that Waltz plays a type of shady, unusual figure who comes into a mobile game business named CompWare and makes some strange changes. Here,...

After the surrealist Luis Buñuel left for Mexico and before Pedro Almodóvar's knowing and gorgeously kitschy post-classicism, Carlos Saura was the man whose work stood in for Spain on the world stage, who had to wrench Spanish art from the blighted identity it had developed under fascism. He was not alone, of course, with directors like Eloy De La Iglesia, Victor Erice , Luis García Berlanga, and Juan Antonio Bardem standing shoulder to shoulder with Saura through the post-Spanish Civil War years until the death of Generalisimo Francisco Franco and heavy censorship with him. He was, however, a much more popular and heavily scrutinized figure. Saura's movies reshaped Spanish identity through images of singing and dancing, yes, but also through the difficult business of living in a place hostile to empathy. He won the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival and the Jury Prize at Cannes twice each, he was nominated four times for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film,...

The nameless narrator of Claire Keegan's award-winning 2015 short story Foster  is a little girl, living in rural Ireland, sent to stay with relatives she's never met while her mother has yet another baby. Too many mouths to feed already. One might expect the story to unfold in a horror of abuse, the child thrown to the wolves. But it doesn't turn out that way. The childless couple shows her the first kindness and care she has ever experienced. She says, "I keep waiting for something to happen, for the ease I feel to end, but each day follows on much like the one before." Keegan's writing is rooted in details absorbed by the observant child. The child pieces together the world through fragments, things overheard or glanced. Foster  is masterful in evoking a child's point of view. "The Quiet Girl," adapted for the screen and directed by Colm Bairéad , maintains this point of view admirably, for the most part, keeping the frame of reference narro...

Eugene Levy , the brilliant star and co-creator of “Schitt’s Creek,” has taken the money and power from that massive show and hit the road with Apple TV’s comedy/travel program “The Reluctant Traveler.” Over eight half-hour episodes, Levy journeys around the world, basing himself in extremely extravagant, unique, four-figures-a-night hotels that are fascinating in their own right but then using those locations to explore new experiences, people, and cultures. The “Reluctant” part of the title can be a bit overplayed—every episode opens with Levy talking about his fears of basically everything outside of his house—because what comes across most in this show is how much Levy is a social creature, someone interested in how other people tick. He comes to life most in personal encounters, whether it’s the gondolier passing down his work experience to his son or living alongside active wildlife in South Africa. The reluctancy feels increasingly forced as the season goes along. I’m not sayin...

We are pleased to offer an excerpt from a recent issue of the online magazine Bright Wall/Dark Room . The theme for their January issue was "The Best of 2022," and in addition to Nicholas Russell's piece below on James Gray 's " Armageddon Time ," the issue also features new words on " TÁR ," " The Fabelmans ," " Aftersun ," " Top Gun: Maverick ," " Elvis ," "Glass Onion," " Bones and All ," " Memoria ," " Benediction ," "Stranger Things," " Mad God ," and more. Their most recent issue has the theme of 'Sports' and features new essays and art on " Skate Kitchen ," " California Split ," " Downhill Racer ," " Billy Elliot ," "Offside," " Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off ," " The Phenom ," Bobby Jones' Warner Bros. Golf Instructional Films, a podcast on " Moneyb...