Posted on 9.2.19: “Without the emotional and stylistic imprints upon Trey Edward Shults‘s Waves, it could have been just another tragic teen drama. A father errs, bad stuff happens, we have to heal and forgive, etc. But there’s a certain honed-down clarity and skillful applications of emotional frankness that elevate this family drama, and the acting is right there on the plate and pulsing in every scene.

“Is Waves an Oscar player? It is as far as Sterling K. Brown (as a tough, headstrong dad with a tragic impact upon his son) and costar Taylor Russell (the younger sister who comes into her own during the second half) are concerned, yeah. Both are solid Best Supporting Actor and Actress contenders. Otherwise Waves might be a Spirit Awards thing — too early to tell. But it has the necessary chops and conviction. Either way Waves (A24, 11.1) is an essential watch.”

Following this evening’s Waves screening we ran into top-tier screenwriter Anthony McCarten (second photo from top), who’s being tributed in Middleburg on Sunday morning. McCarten’s credits include The Two Popes (’19), Bohemian Rhapsody (’18), Darkest Hour (’17) and The Theory of Everything (’14). He’s currently developing a John Lennon-Yoko Ono biopic.

Earlier this afternoon I caught Mati Diop‘s Atlantics, a surreal and impressionistic tale of all-consuming love, rich vs. poor social convulsions and ghosts out for revenge. Diop is an exciting filmmaker with a fine compositional eye and a mesmerizing visual focus. On an atmospheric basis alone, Atlantics is a seemingly brilliant capturing of the dusty city of Dakar.

Following the screening Diop (third photo from top) sat for a q & a with John Horn.

Top photo caption: (l. to r.) Washington Post arts and film editor Janice Page, Waves director-writer Trey Edward Shults, costars Sterling K. Brown, Kelvin Harrison, Jr., Taylor Russell.

We caught Noah Baumbach‘s Marriage Story last night at…well, the Middleburg Film Festival schedule said 7:30 but it started at 8 pm. Par for the course. The second viewing played just as strongly for me as it did in Telluride six weeks ago, and Tatyana was deeply impressed. She prefers it to Kramer vs. Kramer, she said this morning.

The Best Actor competish is definitely between Adam Driver, who plays the diligent if stressed-out theatre director Charlie, and Joaquin Phoenix‘s Arthur Fleck. The latter is certainly the flashier, envelope-tearing contender while Driver’s performance is obviously more grounded in the recognizable day-to-day, and then there’s that scene where he sings Stephen Sondheim‘s “Being Alive.”

Baumbach showed up for a pre-screening bow and then returned for a q & a with John Horn.

When the death of midtown Manhattan’s Paris theatre was announced in mid June, an HE commenter suggested that Netflix could step in and turn the Paris into a prime exhibition opportunity for original Netflix features.

Lo and behold, this is precisely what has happened as Netflix has announced that Noah Baumbach‘s Marriage Story, a major Oscar pony along with Martin Scorsese‘s The Irishman, will begin showing at the Paris on Wednesday, 11.6. Netflix will begin streaming the Adam Driver-vs.-Scarjo divorce drama on 12.6.

Even though The Irishman will begin streaming on 11.27, it would nonetheless make sense to move the 209-minute gangster saga into the Paris after Marriage Story departs. New Yorkers should make every effort to see Scorsese’s film in a theatrical setting. It should not be experienced with bathroom, kitchen-snack, pet-feeding and take-out-the-garbage breaks — trust me. The Irishman will also play at the Belasco (111 W. 44th Street) from 11.1 through 12.1.

Concurrent with the Paris booking Marriage Story will also play at Manhattan’s Landmark 57th West, the IFC Center, and Brooklyn’s Nitehawk Prospect Park. Los Angeles will host two exhibition venues, at West L.A.’s Landmark and Silver Lake’s Vista.