Our Movie Critic's Weekend Selections
The Past Asghar Farhadi's follow-up to his Oscar-winning A Separation is set in a working-class quarter of Paris, where a woman (The Artist's Bérénice Bejo, amazing) has summoned her estranged husband back from Iran to finalize their divorce, inviting him to stay in the apartment she shares with her new beau and three children. A thickly knotted and compelling tale. PG-13
The Past Asghar Farhadi's follow-up to his Oscar-winning A Separation is set in a working-class quarter of Paris, where a woman (The Artist's Bérénice Bejo, amazing) has summoned her estranged husband back from Iran to finalize their divorce, inviting him to stay in the apartment she shares with her new beau and three children. A thickly knotted and compelling tale. PG-13
Her Surprise of the Oscar nominations (five, including best picture), with Joaquin Phoenix as a lonely Los Angeleno who may have found true love - in the disembodied voice, and consciousness, of his computer's new operating system. A near-future meditation on intimacy and isolation, connection and the disconnect of new technology, from writer/director Spike Jonze. With Scarlett Johansson's voice, and Amy Adams, Olivia Wilde, and Chris Pratt. R
The Invisible Woman Ralph Fiennes stars as Charles Dickens and directs this storm-tossed true story about the decadelong love affair between the famous Victorian scribe and a young actress, Nelly Ternan. Felicity Jones has the title role. R