We're sunsetting PodQuest on 2025-07-28. Thank you for your support!
Export Podcast Subscriptions
cover of episode Pick 3: Justin Chang’s Downer Movies for the Holiday Season

Pick 3: Justin Chang’s Downer Movies for the Holiday Season

2024/12/3
logo of podcast The New Yorker Radio Hour

The New Yorker Radio Hour

AI Deep Dive AI Insights AI Chapters Transcript
People
J
Justin Chang
Topics
贾斯汀·张认为,好的电影不会令人沮丧,而所有烂电影都会令人沮丧。他推荐的三部电影——《少年尼克尔》、《野蛮人》和《残酷真相》——虽然主题沉重,但却非常精彩刺激,值得在影院观看。 《少年尼克尔》改编自普利策奖获奖小说,以第一人称视角讲述了20世纪60年代佛罗里达州一所改革学校里两名年轻黑人的故事。影片以其独特的拍摄手法和演员精湛的演技打动人心,展现了这段痛苦的历史。导演罗梅尔·罗斯和摄影师乔·马弗雷采用第一人称视角,让观众身临其境地感受主人公的经历。安贾努·埃利斯-泰勒的表演也十分出色,为影片增色不少。 《野蛮人》是布雷迪·科贝特的第三部长片,由艾德里安·布劳迪主演。影片探讨了资本主义、移民、犹太人同化以及战后美国对犹太人天才和劳动的剥削等重大主题。影片时长3.5小时,但情节引人入胜,不会让人感到冗长。 《残酷真相》是迈克·李的最新作品,玛丽安·尚-巴蒂斯特的表演精彩绝伦。影片探讨了幸福分配不均以及人们为何快乐或不快乐的复杂性。虽然影片主题沉重,但同时也具有娱乐性,玛丽安·尚-巴蒂斯特的表演更是让人印象深刻。 大卫·雷姆尼克与贾斯汀·张就年末电影进行了探讨,肯定了贾斯汀·张推荐的三部电影,并表达了对这些电影的期待。

Deep Dive

Key Insights

Why does Justin Chang recommend 'Nickel Boys' as one of his top picks for the holiday season?

Justin Chang recommends 'Nickel Boys' because it is an adaptation of Colson Whitehead's 2019 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, directed by RaMell Ross. The film uses a first-person point-of-view approach, which creates a powerful and unique viewing experience. It also features a standout performance by Anjanue Ellis-Taylor, who plays the grandmother of one of the boys sent to a reform school.

Why is 'The Brutalist' considered a significant film by Justin Chang?

Justin Chang considers 'The Brutalist' significant because it is a deeply ambitious film directed by Brady Corbet, starring Adrian Brody in a powerful performance. The film explores themes of capitalism, immigration, Jewish assimilation, and the exploitation of Jewish genius and labor in post-war America. Despite its length of three and a half hours, it is incredibly absorbing and well worth seeing on the big screen.

Why does Justin Chang recommend 'Hard Truths' despite its heavy subject matter?

Justin Chang recommends 'Hard Truths' because it is directed by Mike Leigh, known for his unique workshop process with actors, resulting in tightly structured scripts and exceptional performances. The film features a standout performance by Marianne Jean-Baptiste, who plays a profoundly unhappy character. Despite the challenging subject, the film is both entertaining and devastating, offering deep insights into the uneven distribution of happiness.

Chapters
Justin Chang, film critic for The New Yorker, shares his unconventional holiday movie picks, emphasizing quality over feel-good themes. He counters the typical holiday movie expectation with a focus on thrilling and thought-provoking films.
  • Justin Chang's movie recommendations are not typical holiday fare.
  • He prioritizes quality over feel-good themes.
  • His picks are described as 'downers' but 'thrilling'

Shownotes Transcript

Translations:
中文

This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Fiscally responsible, financial geniuses, monetary magicians. These are things people say about drivers who switch their car insurance to Progressive and save hundreds. Visit Progressive.com to see if you could save. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states or situations.

The New Yorker Radio Hour is supported by Justin Wines. Since 1981, Justin has been producing their signature Bordeaux-style wines from Paso Robles on California's Central Coast. With a rich history of accolades, Justin produces exceptional wines and is proud to be America's number one luxury cabernet. Whether you're a first-time wine drinker or a wine aficionado, Justin has a wine for every celebration and occasion. Visit justinwine.com and enter Radio 20 for 20% off your order. ♪

Listener supported. WNYC Studios. This is the New Yorker Radio Hour, a co-production of WNYC Studios and The New Yorker. This is the New Yorker Radio Hour. I'm David Remnick. The two movies facing off for the big holiday weekend at the box office are Wicked Part One and Gladiator Two.

The New Yorker's critic Justin Chang reviewed both of them the other day, and his review is a terrific read. But I wanted to hear from Justin what else I should be excited about in the crop of movies that comes out toward the end of the year. During this time of year, people want a kind of prototypical holiday movie, something that will make them feel good. And I'm always sorry to disappoint people every year, but my favorites are probably best described as downers. These are not upbeat movies. No elf? The one...

Santa here? I know him. Oh, I love Elf. I love Elf. It's a staple. I am taking my eight-year-old to Moana, too. So I am hopeful about that one. Well, since my kids are now too old for that, and I'm waiting impatiently, impatiently for grandchildren, I'm going to sit that one out. But meanwhile, you've got three picks for us this season that you think will, in some way or another, make us happy.

Yeah, it's funny. I return to the words of Roger Ebert, who once said, no good movie is depressing. All bad movies are depressing. And so, these are not happy movies, but they are among the most thrilling that I've seen this year. And I recommend them in a theater wholeheartedly. The first movie is Nickel Boys, which is an adaptation of the 2019 Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Colson Whitehead.

This is the story of two young Black men, played by Ethan Harisi and Brandon Wilson, in 1960s Florida, who are sent to a reform school, which is putting it very charitably. And I can't say this better, of course, than Colson Whitehead himself, who has this to say about the place and its real-life inspiration.

Immediately, you know, three years into its being opened, there were kids as young as six being shackled, put in solitary confinement. Every 15 years, there'd be an expose and talk of reform, and nothing happened until it finally closed in 2011. And I was shocked when it hit the national media. They found unmarked graves. They dug up the bodies and found kids with

shotgun pellets in their skeletons, blunt force trauma to their skulls. I felt that if there's one place like this, how many other stories are we not hearing about? So this is obviously incredibly fraught, painfully difficult material that was inspired by a real place and by real stories.

I want to say, too, that what makes the movie extraordinary is the way that the director, Rommel Ross, uses the camera. And he and his cinematographer, Joe Maffrei, they basically adopt a first-person point-of-view approach.

meaning that at any given point in the story, you're seeing the story through the eyes of one of the two lead characters. And it's a risky choice, and there's a reason why most narrative films are not shot this way. And it comes off. Although it's not unprecedented. Yeah, but it comes off. It touches chords of feeling that I think a more conventional telling wouldn't have achieved. And I should also mention that

This movie features a really, really great performance from Anjanue Ellis-Taylor, who has, I think, been doing really terrific work all her career, but especially recently and especially in film. Like, she was in Origin last year. She has another movie in which she's very strong in this season called Exhibiting Forgiveness.

And in Nickel Boys, she plays the grandmother of one of the boys who is sent to this reform school. And it's a beautiful performance. And it lifts you even as you are watching this performance.

extremely, extremely painful story. I'm glad to hear, I'm really glad to hear that. I'm on team Colson Whitehead. You know, as much as I admired Underground Railroad as a novel, I wasn't completely sold on the film version. And to hear that Nickel Boys works and more, that's really, that's really uplifting. What's your second choice?

My second choice is The Brutalist. And this is the third feature directed by the actor-turned-filmmaker Brady Corbet. It stars Adrian Brody in probably the greatest role and performance he's had since he won an Oscar for The Pianist. That was a long time ago. And in this film, he is again playing a Holocaust survivor, this time a man of Hungarian Jewish descent,

who before the war was a very accomplished brutalist architect. And the movie is all about how he comes to America and encounters in Pennsylvania a wealthy benefactor played by an absolutely terrific Guy Pearce. It's this hugely ambitious character

big swing of a movie from a 36-year-old director who is like aiming for the rafters like a young Orson Welles or Paul Thomas Anderson making this really big movie about capitalism, about immigration, about Jewish assimilation, and eventually the exploitation of Jewish genius and labor in post-war America. And so there are a lot of really big themes swirling around this movie. It handles them very assuredly.

I should also note, David, for everyone, this movie is three and a half hours long, including a 15-minute intermission. But I hasten to add it flies by. It's incredibly absorbing. Don't be put off by the running time. Go and see it on the big screen, in 70mm if you can, because it's going to be showing in that format. I have no problem with those lights. I really don't when they're good. I just spent a Saturday...

So watching straight through Patrick Radden Keefe's "Say Nothing," I think it was nine episodes. So there must have been seven hours of film and I was one happy boy.

And what's your third and final choice? Because you've got me twice into the theaters already. My third movie is called Hard Truths. And this is the latest picture from the English filmmaker Mike Lee of movies like Topsy Turvy and Vera Drake. And Mike Lee, it's worth noting, he has a very particular style. He works very closely with his actors in a very rigorous and somewhat mysterious workshop process that

And from this process emerges a very tightly structured script and some of the best performances you'll ever see in the English language, frankly. And Hard Truths features, I think, the performance of the year from Marianne Jean-Baptiste, who worked with Lee before in Secrets and Lies, received an Oscar nomination for that movie. And here, almost 30 years later, she's back and playing a completely different character,

a profoundly, profoundly unhappy person who just spends the movie sort of lashing out at everyone's sight, which doesn't sound like a fun way to spend your movie. I think that's Mike Lee's wheelhouse. It is Mike Lee's wheelhouse. I mean, this is his great subject. He really taps into anger, and I think his great theme, or one of them, is...

The uneven distribution of happiness. And why are some people happy and why are some people just not? And it sounds like a very simple thing. And from this, though, he gets so much complexity. And this is a character played by Maren Jean-Baptiste who you would not want to be in the same room with her, but you absolutely want to see her on the big screen. ♪

And her over there with that fat baby, parading it around in the little outfit, not dressed for the weather, nah, with pockets. What's a baby got pockets for? What's it going to keep in its pocket? I was riveted, and it's a very funny, a painfully funny performance at times, and I think people are almost scared to admit that this is actually a very entertaining, but also very...

and devastating and angry movie. And I know, not an orthodox recommendation. Not at all, but if you want to break in between some of these tougher movies, there's always Elf. There is always Elf. So your three picks, Nickel Boys, Hard Truths, The Brutalist. Yes. Justin, thanks so much. Thank you so much, David. You can read Justin Chang on the movies at newyorker.com. I'm David Remnick, and that's our program for today. Hope you had a great holiday. See you next time.

The New Yorker Radio Hour is a co-production of WNYC Studios and The New Yorker. Our theme music was composed and performed by Meryl Garbus of Tune Yards, with additional music by Louis Mitchell and Jared Paul.

This episode was produced by Max Balton, Adam Howard, David Krasnow, Jeffrey Masters, Louis Mitchell, Jared Paul, and Ursula Sommer. And we had additional help this week from Mike Kutchman. With guidance from Emily Botin and assistance from Michael May, David Gable, Alex Barish, Victor Guan, and Alejandra Decat. The New Yorker Radio Hour is supported in part by the Cherena Endowment Fund.

Hey, podcast listeners. I'm Chris Morocco, Food Director of Bon Appetit and Epicurious, and host of the Dinner SOS podcast.

Every week on Dinner SOS, we help listeners tackle cooking challenges. I cannot manage pork in like any fashion. And with all the big cooking holidays coming up, there's a lot of home cooks who need our help. We're doing a Thanksgiving with 15 friends. And the friend with the biggest house is hosting. But unfortunately, that house also has the teeny-tiniest kitchen. Yeah.

Christmas morning. I flipped them over, walked away, and one loaf collapsed onto the floor. Luckily, I come prepared with over 50,000 recipes in the Bon Appetit and Epicurious archives, plus my incredible co-hosts from the Test Kitchen and beyond. I was almost overexcited about the options that we had. There were so many. I have so many options, too. Okay, great. Now, Sonia,

Nelson, you're in a great place. I love it. Listen to and follow Dinner SOS wherever you get your podcasts. Happy cooking.