Movie critic Seven Rea's weekend selections
Mustang Deniz Gamze Ergüven's debut feature, nominated for a foreign-language Academy Award, follows five sisters in northern Turkey whose innocent games at the end of a school year scandalize a community, forcing them to be virtual prisoners in their home.
Mustang Deniz Gamze Ergüven's debut feature, nominated for a foreign-language Academy Award, follows five sisters in northern Turkey whose innocent games at the end of a school year scandalize a community, forcing them to be virtual prisoners in their home. Beautifully shot and beautifully performed, there is nothing beautiful in the depiction of a culture where women are at once oppressed and sexualized, where strict religious tenets and an entrenched patriarchy combine to keep them in subservient roles. PG-13
Anomalisa From the mind of Charlie Kaufman, co-directing with Duke Johnson, a stop-motion animation tale - and Academy Award feature animation nominee - about a sad, unsatisfied man who meets a woman on a business trip, takes her to his hotel room, and, well, yes, there is puppet sex. A portrait of midlife morass, regret, and mundanity, cut with comic and surreal moments. Eerie in its lifelike, and dreamlike, vision. R
Creed From Fruitvale Station director Ryan Coogler, in collaboration with screenwriter Aaron Covington and with the generous, genuinely inspiring participation of Sylvester Stallone - nominated for a supporting actor Oscar. The Rocky mantle gets handed off to a new underdog determined to fight his way to glory. It's Adonis Creed, son of Rocky's rival-turned-pal Apollo Creed - and Michael B. Jordan takes the title role, body and soul. PG-13