in her name movie review

In Her Name

By Bradley Gibson | August 8, 2024

Canadian actress turned filmmaker Sarah Carter presents her debut feature, In Her Name , a black-and-white art drama/comedy. She wrote, directed, and produced the story of two estranged sisters forced to confront the past and each other as they come together to manage the affairs of their dying father. Sisters Freya (Erin Hammond) and Fiona (Ciera Danielle) live in the shadow of their eccentric, famous artist father, Marv (Phillipe Caland). They are all haunted by the memory of their mother and wife, played in flashbacks by Carter herself. 

Marv lives in a luxurious estate populated with consorts, artists, writers, poets, and other bizarre hangers-on. The house functions like Warhol’s New York factory, where the usual constraints of polite society don’t apply, with Marv overlooking his menagerie like a rapidly declining Dr. Moreau. 

Freya followed her father’s pattern in life, becoming an artist. Fiona is more buttoned up, having turned away from the art life swirl. She’s married but unhappy. Returning to the home where she grew up is jarring and brings up the many issues from her childhood that she thought she had successfully repressed. A writer named Peter (James Aaron Oliver) sets his sights on Fiona and tries to seduce her, adding to her confusion and discomfort. Marv responds violently to any discussion of what to do with the house and his estate in terms of end-of-life planning, with Fiona as the target of his rage. 

There are hints of Serge Gainsbourg in the music and vibe of the film. As the drug-addled ambiance of the continuous party progresses, Fiona is seemingly re-initiated into the shared solipsism of this bizarre congregation. The visions and chaos swirl around her as she and Freya try to find some path forward for how to deal with their father now, and after he’s gone. Was his life truly art, or was it narcissistic self-indulgence? Will they take his legacy and make something meaningful of their own lives or follow him into nihilistic madness? Will they have a choice?

“… estranged sisters forced to confront the past and each other… “

With the availability of inexpensive digital color cameras, a filmmaker choosing black and white owes the audience a solid explanation of why that needs to be clear in the film itself. If the black-and-white aspect of the film isn’t a critical element for that particular story, then it comes off as faux-arty and pretentious. Whether Carter pulls this off is a question left to the viewer. She’s clearly calling back the best non-color films of the French New Wave, which is a bold comparison to make for a debut filmmaker. The composition of the shots and the movement does present a beautiful image, and the flow of the shots is elegant.  

The performances are a delight to watch. Hammond, Danielle, and Calland provide three anchor points of the experience, and the real meaning of the film can be found in their dynamic. Danielle does the heavy lifting as Fiona, portraying the discomfort of someone coming back to a place and people she’d left behind. 

This film is meant to make you feel before you think, and it achieves that goal. This requires a viewer to allow themselves to be lulled into the tone of the piece rather than trying to intellectualize what’s happening. The soundtrack of swinging jazz contributes to the overall texture and sets the stage for the wild party backdrop of the story. In Her Name has delightful moments of pure gold that rise above a scattered base layer of homage to an older film style.

In Her Name (2024)

Directed and Written: Sarah Carter

Starring: Erin Hammond, Ciera Danielle, Philippe Caland, etc.

Movie score: 7/10

"…delightful moments of pure gold"

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• Film Festivals , Films , Tribeca Film Festival

In Her Name (2022) Film Review

• Edgar Ortega
• June 13, 2022

On the surface, In Her Name is a by-the-numbers black & white family drama, but its colorful characters elevate it to awkward highs that make it a worthy watch.

Film festivals usually love to treat us to feature debuts from first time directors, and Tribeca is no exception. Sarah Carter ( Pearl ) is somebody who has found tremendous success in the industry, having the honor to work with icons such as Spike Lee, Judd Apatow and Steven Spielberg. These legendary directors inspired her to become a filmmaker in her own right and she’s kicking down the door with her debut film In Her Name . Freya (Erin Hammond, Shangri-LA ), an aspiring artist, has sacrificed her career to take care of her father, who used to be an artist himself. Eventually, Freya’s sister Fiona (Ciera Danielle, Banking on Christmas ) shows up to help. Both sisters have to grapple with the fact that their famous dad will pass away while reliving old memories in the house they were raised in. As they do this, the sisters are forced to work around their sibling rivalry as they navigate their eccentric father as well as the new-agey hippies and groupies that flock around him.

The story of two siblings being separated by their parents’ divorce is nothing groundbreaking or new, if anything it is something we’re all very familiar with. Going into In Her Name , I expected exactly this, a predictable tale of two sisters forced to learn how to love one another after years of resenting each other. Yeah, these themes and ideas are still very much present in Carter’s feature debut, but they are executed in such an odd and awkward manner that it makes the film stand up on its own. This works both in the movie’s favor and against it, as its main characters are relatable, charming, oozing with so much personality, yet the movie at times focuses on subplots that either are underdeveloped or don’t go anywhere.

Erin Hammond and Ciera Danielle ‘s performances are the main highlight here. Hammond portrays Freya, the “daddy’s girl” who lives in her father’s shadow hoping to gain his approval regarding her own artwork. She is sort of spoiled, yet grounded in reality. Cold and not able to express her feelings, yet outgoing and funny. Super protective of her father, yet there’s a sense of resentment as he treats strangers with more respect than he has for her. Danielle, on the other hand, is bringing Fiona to life in her committed mission to maintaining her happy-go-lucky housewife persona, even if underneath that mask she is falling apart as she’s going through her own family and marriage issues back home. She, too, has to deal with the challenge of not really having a healthy relationship with her father or sister as she was taken away by her mother after the divorce. Once Freya and Fiona come together, very early on it, makes for an odd pairing that quickly proves to be a fascinating sisterly relationship .

Philippe Caland ( The Guru & the Gipsy ), who plays Marv, Freya and Fiona’s father, is quite excellent. From spending a few moments with him, you automatically get why Freya is the way she is, because she’s the mirror image of Marv. His characterization, though, is somehow colder and warmer than Freya’s. What do I mean with this? He treats the hippies and groupies that flock around him with much more warmth than he does with his own daughters. Clearly these people are fascinated by him since he’s such an inspiring, famous artist, but they are also just there to give him the attention he seeks in his final days in an attempt to squeeze something out of him at the last minute. Younger women flirt with him because they want something in exchange, and men like Peter (James Aaron Oliver, Alone Wolf ) praise him to no end for their own benefit as well. Despite all of this, Caland brings such a likability to Marv that makes us invested in his journey when he isn’t being a douchebag to his daughters.

Where the film falls short for me is when we take away focus from the dynamic between sisters and the family drama with their father to focus on the sisters individually . Not to say their own personal struggles aren’t interesting, because they are, but they end up going nowhere. Fiona, for example, develops a weird sexual relationship with Peter. As you would expect with her marriage issues, this leads Fiona to feel seen and desired by another man. This would have been engaging had the man in question not been completely dislikable from the second he appears on screen, making Fiona feel used by the time the film comes to its conclusion . Even then, her marriage problems are resolved by the end, but it doesn’t feel earned. Last time Fiona had a discussion with her husband she completely blew up on him, and the next scene they share together they act like nothing happened. We don’t see any confrontation, it just happens off-screen. As for Freya, we suddenly focus on her relationship with her lover Judah (Nyambi Nyambi, The Good Fight ), which adds nothing to the story. I guess it’s here to show she has genuine emotions for other people, but this could have been explored better if we just spent more time with Fiona and Freya together.

In Her Name works best when it delivers on its premise . I understand wanting to separate these two characters, challenge them in their own right, then have them reunite and come together by the end. But when the best scenes are those that have them reflecting on the past, how much they used to love each other when younger, the trauma of their mother leaving and having their eccentric father deal with the family drama, I can’t help but wonder what it could have been like if that was the film we got from start to finish. That being said, Sarah Carter delivers a competent feature debut . Through her sense of humor in her writing and the way she uses music and visuals around her characters’ surroundings, you can tell Carter poured her heart into this story and she has even more to offer to the industry with her creativity. Yes, In Her Name takes us through a bumpy ride, but its ending delivers a cathartic resolution for both Freya and Fiona where they make peace with their family’s past and look forward to moving forward with a much promising future. It takes a special kind of talent like Carter to pull off such an emotionally rewarding finale despite issues one might have with the film. If In Her Name demonstrates anything, it is that we should keep an eye on Sarah Carter, because she’s here to stay.

In Her Name premiered at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival on June 12, 2022 .

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In her name.

Directed by Sarah Carter

Against the backdrop of LA’s contemporary art scene, aspiring artist Freya and her estranged, more conventional sister Fiona navigate their tumultuous relationship as they grapple with the impending demise of their eccentric, famous artist father.

Erin Hammond Ciera Danielle Philippe Caland Nyambi Nyambi James Aaron Oliver

Director Director

Sarah Carter

Producer Producer

Writer writer, sound sound.

Jeffery Alan Jones

Comedy Drama

Releases by Date

15 jun 2022, releases by country.

102 mins   More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by ZacharyBinx ★½

Tribeca@Home 2022

If you ever meet women like this, run! Not much I enjoyed here. The performances were ok but the rest is an arty mess that is either a total misfire or made for a very very niche audience. The black and white was cool but probably just another gimmick. Oh, and all of these people are annoying and really hard to care about. This won second place for "Best Online Premiere," which I think just mean there was some sort of campaign or Tribeca is filled with the most basic of bitches.

Review by Anna ★

Do you ever watch a movie and sit there and think the entire time I am not the target audience ? That was my takeaway from this movie. I’m just not the person it was made for, and that’s okay. I personally couldn’t relate to the characters and the directing wasn’t my cup of tea. It felt altogether too sparse.

Review by Optical Noise 🇺🇦 🇵🇸

In Her Name is a film where its drama and deadpan satire are one in the same. The direction, characters, and story interactions are meticulously controlled self-ironic camp. I'd say it's successful in what it does, but probably likely to come off smug, annoying, or slight to a lot of viewers. Even though the details are complete different, it's kind of like a less user-friendly Anna Biller film in spirit. There's a surprisingly Lynchian owl too. I thought the film should have ended in a family triple suicide or perhaps a totally unhinged murderous spree.

Review by Pilar ★ 2

This movie was so incredibly white that the use of poc characters just made it even more white? Cool you have a black boyfriend…. Also the black and white made it so pretentious, you can’t hide bad acting in a the lame gimmick. It was trying to hard to be basic, cliche characters and weak story line.

Review by nico ng

tribeca at home 2022 #11

to the distribution company that gets the rights to this film, know that your target demographic is basic film twitter girls, they are gonna love this and they are going to be annoying about it, like this film.

Review by senlorandir ★★

Tribeca At Home #7

Somehow got this movie while trying to watch Butterfly in the Sky and figured I'd roll with it.

Felt like the choice to put this in black and white was to hide how aggressively bland the rest of the film is. The film starts with an estranged sister, Fiona, making a visit to her father and sister Freya, who are living in the family home that was left to Fiona by her mother (who took Fiona with her and left the home at a young age) and who haven't been paying property tax on the home for a year (which Fiona can't afford). What follows is a film about two sisters learning to reconcile after their…

Review by Daniel Hoag ★

We asked an AI to create a pretentious indie dramedy…

Review by deveiouss

you’re kidding right?…

Review by missflacko

Review by T ★★

Liked how this was shot but didn’t buy the story

Review by TheMovieWaffler.com ★★★

Review by Eric Hillis

Stories of estranged family members renewing their bonds have been a cliché in American indie cinema for the last couple of decades, stretching back to Kenneth Lonergan's debut You Can Count on Me. You'll find a few of these narratives padding practically every film festival, and they can often tend to blur together. What generally distinguishes such films are the performances, and you can see why actors are attracted to such stories that allow them to run the gamut of emotions.

Aside from its unique backdrop of the Los Angeles arts scene, what makes actress Sarah Carter's directorial debut In Her Name stand out is the central performance from Ciera Danielle, an actress whose CV consists…

Review by j_a_x_ ★★

Tribeca Virtual Festival: Film #2

I liked the black and white and Erin Hammond’s performance. The end.

The synopsis of this and the cool promo still had me stoked. I really wanted to like it, but this did absolutely nothing for me.

Just extremely tedious and frankly annoying and pretentious. I really could not connect with any of these characters, nor did I want to. 

I rarely ever take long breaks in the middle of movies, but I literally paused for a good half hour to talk to a friend on the phone. That, as well as the hangnail that I was picking on my finger, was more entertaining than this.

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In Her Name Reviews

Auteuil and Koch are perfect rivals and much of the film's success is due to their anti-chemistry, even though they share very little screen time.

Full Review | Apr 30, 2020

A painful and raw film with excellent performances by Daniel Auteuil and Sebastian Koch. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 22, 2017

What could have been a sobering telefilm becomes a disturbing and more than worthy film based on real events. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jan 26, 2017

The film benefits from Auteuil's moving lead performance, though the narrative is less exciting than it is resolute.

Full Review | Dec 22, 2016

With fleet features and darting eyes, Auteuil always excels at indicating fear, at capturing the quicksilver of thought. He applies those skills to wide-ranging use as events, and years, flicker past.

Full Review | Dec 19, 2016

An interesting and intense film that lets the viewer make its own conclusions through a very agile ending. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Sep 9, 2016

A very well made drama inspired in true events. [Full review in Spanish]

In Her Name (2022)

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In Her Name — Sarah Carter

It may be a hasty judgment, but as soon as we see a young woman painting on a canvas, smoking a cigarette positioned in the corner of her mouth in a series of close-ups — and this just as the opening credits begin to roll in yellow-colored letters across the film’s black-and-white images — it’s quite obvious that the Toronto-born, actress-turned-filmmaker Sarah Carter’s directorial feature, In Her Name , is one boasting a sharp, curious eye for visual flair. The film follows the story of two estranged, fiercely incompatible siblings: Fiona (Ciera Danielle) is a dark-haired, timid housewife and mother who, after roughly a decade of radio silence, travels from Minneapolis to Los Angeles to visit her sister Freya (Erin Hammond), a blonde, free-spirited hipster who paints and lives with their terminally-ill artist father, Marv (Philippe Caland) in a family house that Fiona intends to sell before the bank reclaims it. It’s an unexpected visit, one that over the course of a few days hits all the expected beats for a film of this ilk, with surprising events and revelations forecasting a story that leads to the mutual realization of sisterly love and a strengthening of bonds between Fiona and Freya. But it’s in the way that Sarah Carter refashions this familiar narrative into a heartfelt, quirky (but on the right side of) comedy of bittersweet wit and charm that distinguishes it from the indie crowd, riding its summery vibes and small delights to captivating ends.

In relying less on common plot dramas and instead lending the film’s circumstances and emotional content a leisurely authenticity, Carter is able to more meaningfully mine ideas of femininity — rather than opting for any clichéd sociopolitical handling — imbuing her film (semi-inspired by the uncompromising character and art of Lebanese artist Huguette Caland)  with tenderness and considerable dimension. Although predominantly composed of slick, beautiful black-and-white visuals, which could easily manifest as overly mannered and academic, Carter and DP Iain Trimble infuse a certain dynamism into the overall aesthetic, realizing a looseness that keeps this from too-studied territory. In Her Name ’s expressive lighting, frequent unusual camera angles, and occasional superimpositions are reminiscent of Hollywood films of the ‘40s, but the film is also noticeably influenced by the early works of independent filmmakers like Shirley Clarke and John Cassavetes. And elsewhere, during a picnic scene where Peter (James Aaron Oliver), one of Marv’s close confidantes, seduces Fiona, it’s tough not to see the sequence as a direct nod to Jean Renoir’s A Day in the Country . All these underlying cinephilic touchstones are cut through with something of the counterculture spirit of 1970s New Hollywood, rendering Carter’s portrayal of this hip, new-age subculture of L.A. and its art scene — both appreciated and sent up a bit here — as a West Coast half-sister Frances Ha , an amusing and curious film that offers plenty of exploratory potential for its viewers.

In tackling a veritable smorgasbord of modern-day issues, including womanhood, familial bonds and dysfunctions, (in)fidelity, freedom of individual and artistic expression — best glimpsed in a hilarious, drunken heart-to-heart between the sisters — as well as embracing more the existential concerns of death, identity, and spirituality, Carter’s In Her Name proves to be a peculiar but affectionate cringe-dramedy, simultaneously light-hearted and thoughtful, gentle and provocative. It’s a fine line to walk, but the director manages the balance, and its unique magnetism makes a good deal of sense: after all, the film is conceived of as a portrait of antipodal energies. Beyond the explicit contrasts between Fiona and Freya — the natural, delightful performances from Danielle and Hammond are no small factor in the film’s success — it’s not hard to find other polarized forces made study of here: women and men, peace and tension, the old and the new. Indeed, this last one is essential to the film’s aesthetic , a marriage of vintage and the voguish style, situated somewhere between the serene calm of its fixed compositions and the relatively more complex camera movements at play elsewhere; see too the interplay between environmental (picnic) and architectural spaces (family home, art galleries), the images rich and ambiance minimalist. It’s on the strength of these elements that Carter’s In Her Name proves such a confident, successful debut, a film that both preaches and practices the freedom of artistic expression.

Published as part of Tribeca Film Festival 2022 — Dispatch 5 .

• by Ayeen Forootan

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‘In Her Name’ Exclusive Trailer: Siblings Are Complicated In Sarah Carter’s Vibrant Directorial Debut [Tribeca]

A sibling is usually your first friend and your first enemy, someone who cares about you like your parents but will get into shenanigans with you. These relationships are complicated, especially when you go in different directions in life and potentially feel estranged from the complex trappings of family. These difficult, love/hate universal feelings are at the root of Sarah Carter’s feature film directorial debut, “ In Her Name ,” making its debut at the Tribeca Film Festival this month.

READ MORE: Tribeca 2022 Festival Preview: 24 Films & TV Series To Watch

The story follows two sisters, Freya and Fiona. Freya is an artist and daddy’s girl who hasn’t been able to step out from under her father’s artistic shadow. Fiona is a cheerful traditional housewife and direct product of her mother, a pill-popping, born-again Christian. After decades apart and not speaking, they are reunited when Fiona unexpectedly arrives at Freya and her father’s house. Shot in crisp black and white photography, “In Her Name” is a quirky family story about sibling rivalry and family revelations that seem to be told with tenderness, relatability, and humor. 

Carter, who wrote, produced, and directed the film, is probably most known for her roles in popular television shows such as “ Smallville ,” “ The Flash ,” and “ Hawaii Five – 0 ” or as Shaina in “ Final Destination 2 .” However, that won’t be the case for long, as the Canadian-born actor is a creative and fresh new voice in indie filmmaking that will be one to watch. 

The cast seems to be fairly fresh faces. Starring alongside Carter is Erin Hammond, Ciera Danielle, Philippe Caland, James Aaron Oliver, as well as “The Good Fight” star Nyambi Nyambi . “In Her Name” debuted at Tribeca this past weekend. Watch the exclusive first trailer below. 

Follow along with all our coverage of the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival.

In Her Name

From the distrib films collection.

Directed by Vincent Garenq

87 minutes / Color French / English subtitles Release: 2015

A gripping and emotional legal drama based on a true story that moved France for three decades. Starring Daniel Auteuil ( Jean De Florette ) and Sebastian Koch ( Homeland, The Life of Others ).

In 1982, André Bamberski (Daniel Auteuil) learns about the death of his 14 year-old daughter, Kalinka, while she was on vacation with her mother and stepfather (Sebastian Koch) in Germany. Convinced that Kalinka's death was not an accident, Bamberski begins to investigate. A botched autopsy report raises his suspicions and leads him to accuse Kalinka's stepfather, Dr. Dieter Krombach, as the murderer.  Unable to indict Krombach in Germany, Bamberski attempts to take the trial to France, where he will dedicate his life to Kalinka's justice and the imprisonment of Krombach.

Based on the true Kalinka Bamberski case, IN HER NAME follows the three decade battle faced by a father to bring his daughter's murderer to justice. Faced with challenges from the French and German legal systems, Bamberski's story is one of perseverance and obsessive determination.

"Sublime! Sheer triumph, investing us in every moment of Bamberski's quest for justice. Well-paced scripting and a multitude of game-changing narrative twists, as well as an outstanding performance from Auteuil.  A masterful piece of French cinema!"   —ThePeoplesMovies.com

"Recommended... Auteuil always excels!" —New City Film

"A painful and raw film with excellent performances by Daniel Auteuil and Sebastian Koch." —Cine Premiere

"The film benefits from Auteuil's moving lead performance ... Writer-director Vincent Garenq, whose previous two films were also crime thrillers, demonstrates a knack for the genre." —Chicago Reader

"Recommended! Feature[s] strong performances and serves up an intriguing real-life story of one man's all-devouring pursuit of justice." —Video Librarian

Ways to Watch

Individuals.

Home use DVD for $26.98

A film by Vincent Garenq Starring Daniel Auteuil and Sebastian Koch

Select Accolades

• 2015 Colcoa, Los Angeles
• 2015 Scottsdale Film Festival Wave Film Festival
• 2015 Santa Barbara International Film Festival

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Film Review: In Her Name , Largely Quiet and Mostly Satisfying

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• December 23, 2016
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Steve Prokopy is chief film critic for the Chicago-based arts outlet Third Coast Review. For nearly 20 years, he was the Chicago editor for Ain’t It Cool News, where he contributed film reviews and filmmaker/actor interviews under the name “Capone.” Currently, he’s a frequent contributor at /Film (SlashFilm.com) and Backstory Magazine. He is also the public relations director for Chicago's independently owned Music Box Theatre, and holds the position of Vice President for the Chicago Film Critics Association. In addition, he is a programmer for the Chicago Critics Film Festival, which has been one of the city's most anticipated festivals since 2013.

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The new YA sci-fi film, Uglies, is now streaming, but should you watch it?

Picture: Netflix

Based on the young adult novel by author Scott Westerfeld, Uglies is adapted from the first novel of the original trilogy and focuses on the exploits of 15 year old Tally Youngblood in her post-apocalyptic future society.

In a world where war over our remaining natural resources took out a large portion of the population (and, of course, more resources), Tally is stuck in a lower station in life: a young girl awaiting “The Transformation,” a medical procedure conducted upon the 16th birthday that creates your perfect, most beautiful self and allows you to join the rest of the post-op “Pretties” in the heart of the city. This surgery was created by the best-remaining scientists to make the population so happy as not to start another war. Tally, along with her best friend Peris aka “Nose”, are so close to having everything, but currently live in the “Uglies” dorm until they are of age.

After Peris (yes, it still sounds like Paris, much like the always annoying Peeta from The Hunger Games who just COULDN’T be named Peter because it’s the future) turns 16 and has the surgery, Tally tries desperately to reconnect with him to no avail as he seems distant and different in his new life. In his absence, Tally connects with a new friend, Shay, who introduces her to many new and exciting things (reading “Walden”, futuristic skateboarding, etc.); chief among them, the existence of the rumored alternative society “The Smoke,” a group of individuals who opted out of the Transformation and started a new life outside of the city’s reach.

While Tally may have been intrigued by “The Smoke,” she was still looking forward to having the surgery and joining back with Peris once more. On the day she and Shay (yes, they have the same birthday) were set to have their surgeries, Shay did not show. Convinced by city leader Dr. Cable that Shay and the whole city could be in grave danger, Tally sets out to find “The Smoke” and bring her friend back home. However, once she finds “The Smoke” and lives among them, Tally may find out more about her home than she ever thought possible.

Directed by the enigma that is McG ( Terminator: Salvation , The Babysitter ) on a script by Jacob Forman, Vanessa Taylor, & Whit Anderson, Uglies was brought out of past development stalls by lead actress Joey King, who fell in love with the books as a child and desperately wanted to play Tally on screen. If the film succeeds and the trilogy is made, it would mark the 2nd Netflix trilogy for King after her role as Elle in The Kissing Booth gave her the first trilogy ending in 2021 .

The creators of Uglies sure think they have multiple movies to make as this one ends on a cliffhanger of sorts, but if quality is what matters in moving forward on Part 2, then I’m not sure if that will happen.

Honestly, I don’t know what success looks like for this film and its potential as a series. I’m a 42-year-old man who is desperately trying to see this film as a product for my young daughter and not as a film for me to enjoy … but that is really hard right now.

The story is a simple allegory for our current tech-controlled, social media-driven, phone-obsessed culture that is always striving to make itself perfect and blocking out the world around them that could use a little attention itself. While I think that is an admirable message to send to all of us, let alone our current crop of tweens & teens, this film does NOT make it easy to ingest without scoffing or the occasional eye roll. Pretties? Uglies? “Nose” & “Squint”? Was this written by an 8-year-old? Whenever they called the older generations “Rusties,” my occasionally balky knee would cry out in disgust.

The story is also incredibly basic with on-the-nose (no pun intended, Peris) terms, motivations, & characters that deliver the thinly veiled crusade against screens, socials, & obsession with beauty. If you want the whole thing spelled out for you, you can probably skip to almost an hour in when “The Smoke” leader David gives this speech:

“We must achieve our objective. Where we believe in preserving what’s natural, they believe in manipulation. Before you came here, how many times a day did you think about how you looked? What’s wrong with you? They make us feel so alone and so insecure that we don’t have time for things that actually matter. Thinking, reading, learning, dreaming. Choosing who you become. And I’m not ok with that. And you’re not ok with that.”

Those words cover about 95% of what you need to know with 3% being what the surgery does to people and how to cure it and 2% who Tally is in love with at any given time. Again, a message worth receiving, but goodness do they love being as plain as the nose on Peris’ face. A little subtext and a little mystery could go a long way for us Rusties and even the target demo.

The good news is that the cast is mostly solid and filled with actors who are well-versed in the game of YA drama. Besides Netflix YA royalty in King, the cast rounds out with Outer Banks star Chase Stokes as Peris, I Know What You Did Last Summer co-star Brianne Tju as Shay, & The Tomorrow War’s Keith Powers as David. Though not given much to do, Orange is the New Black  standout Laverne Cox always seems perfect in a futuristic setting with her perfectly presented look and almost AI-quality voice.

I wish that quality extended into the VFX and production design of the film, but sadly, it doesn’t. With heavy CGI use that doesn’t rise above bad sci-fi TV and a mostly bland color palette, the film won’t impress anyone stylistically (though I do empathize with the team that had multiple delays and hangups in the grueling two-year edit process due to various strike-related stoppages).

Overall, Uglies does not match its more appealing message with a style, subtlety, and tone that would better suit it. King, Cox, & its cast of young stars cannot rise above the middle school level world-building and poor sci-fi production. Only if its target demo of 10-15-year-olds who haven’t read “Walden” yet for themselves watch and relate to its simplicity will this survive to the next film in the trilogy; however, this much older parent/critic won’t be anticipating those creations in the future.

Watch Uglies If You Liked:

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• The Hunger Games

MVP of Uglies

Keith Powers as “The Smoke” leader David

As one of the rare characters with a sense of purpose & mild depth, David gets to stand out among his peers and Keith Powers took full advantage.

With his strong presence and sense of command, Powers made it plausible for such a young man to have a hold on the community of “The Smoke.” As noted earlier, he took the one meaty speech of the film and delivered it well enough to change the perspective of the film and focus the narrative into its final act.

While we all can rally behind a “fear of tech’s hold on our lives and manipulation of our reality” message, this isn’t the story that I’d hope delivers that message. Even for YA, this seems subpar.

Andrew Morgan is a film critic & podcaster with 20 years of experience on the sets & offices of film & television. Current podcast host of the entertainment review show, Recent Activity. He lives in the Northeast of the United States.

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A teen meets her middle-aged self in 'My Old Ass' and finds hindsight isn't 20/20

Aisha Harris

Maisy Stella and Aubrey Plaza in My Old Ass . Marni Grossman/Amazon MGM Studios hide caption

Eighteen-year-old Elliott (Maisy Stella) might be instantly recognizable to anyone who’s ever been a teenager from a small town. She’s just weeks away from leaving behind her quiet and all-too-familiar childhood surroundings for the excitement and promise of college in “the city” – Toronto, in this case – and already has one foot out the door. Spending time with her parents and little brothers takes a back seat, of course, to hanging out with her best friends around the Muskoka Lakes in her dingy old motorboat and finally hooking up with her longtime crush.

What differentiates Megan Park’s sneakily affecting and quirkily-titled My Old Ass from other last-summer-before-adulthood movies is its high-concept premise of a hallucinogenic trip which proves literally existential. For her birthday, Elliott and friends Ro (Kerrice Brooks) and Ruthie (Maddie Ziegler) camp out in the woods and take mushrooms. Elliott’s experience conjures up her 39-year-old self, played by the always fascinating Aubrey Plaza.

Younger Elliott has a lot of questions – plus a couple of harsh critiques – for Older Elliott. Older Elliott is happy to impart some sage wisdom and advice, to a point. Don’t take time spent with your family for granted. Wear your retainer. Oh, and also: Avoid anyone named Chad.

Almost immediately Elliott meets a gangly guy around her age named – what else? – Chad (Percy Hynes White); he’s taken a summer job on her parents’ cranberry farm. Up to this point, she’s only ever been romantically interested in women. But she’s drawn to him anyway, partially because any headstrong teenager would be compelled to rebel against Older Elliott’s frustratingly vague warning, and also because Chad is effortlessly charming and almost-too-perfect in every way. She tries pushing him away, but the two collide, the experience throwing everything Elliott thought she knew about herself and her sexuality into whack.

Kerrice Brooks as Ro, Maisy Stella as Elliott, and Maddie Ziegler as Ruthie in My Old Ass. Courtesy of Prime/Amazon MGM Studios hide caption

There’s an array of directions a filmmaker could go in with such a prompt, and Park and her well-assembled cast ultimately craft a coming-of-age story that’s uniquely satisfying and resonant, not unlike Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird , with a dash of The Twilight Zone thrown in. It’s not a psychedelic, woo-woo kind of film, nor does it dabble in CGI-produced special effects conveying magical or otherworldly happenings.

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The closest it gets to fantasy is a brief, playful musical number harkening back to Elliott’s childhood obsession with a certain Canadian pop star. Otherwise, My Old Ass is grounded firmly in a kind of ordinary alternative reality where, for reasons mercifully never explained, a young adult might have a chance to speak directly to their “middle-aged” self. (Note: Calling a 39-year-old “middle-aged,” as younger Elliott does, may seem like a dig – and it is – but technically, she’s not wrong. ) Hollywood’s bludgeoned the multiverse theme to a pulp, yet here’s proof a clever and refreshing spin can still be had.

The absence of mystical lore leaves ample space for rich character- and world-building in a tidy 90-minute package. Elliott as portrayed by Stella moves, thinks, and expresses herself like a real Gen-Z teenager might: horny, kind of bratty (prescient, given the present era ), and a little self-absorbed, while also being confident, outspoken, and curious about a wider world she has yet to experience. Older Elliott gets less screen time and has the arguably trickier task of emanating wisdom hard-earned from actually experiencing that wider world, while still seeming deeply connected to the optimistic 18-year-old she once was. Plaza pulls it off by tapping into her natural talent for conveying malaise without being boring, and approaching her side of the character with wit and compassion.

Ultimately, the two parts add up to a whole that wonderfully captures dual essences: youth and inexperience, and age and wariness. Park engages with perennial questions of identity and, most profoundly, ponders whether hindsight is truly 20/20, or something less clearly defined. There are facets to be appreciated in each stage of life; the challenge is in recognizing them in real time.

My Old Ass is distributed by Amazon MGM Studios. Amazon supports NPR and pays to distribute some of our content.

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‘Nightbitch’ Review: Amy Adams Gets in Touch with Her Canine Side in Marielle Heller’s Surprisingly Grounded Monster Movie

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Ten years ago, Jennifer Kent’s “The Babadook” opened a vein by exposing the dark side of motherhood from the mother’s perspective. In its wake, films expressing ambivalence — or even outright hostility — about childbearing have gone from taboo to a subgenre unto themselves. “ Nightbitch ,” based on the novel of the same name by Rachel Yoder, is very much part of this nascent tradition. 

But Marielle Heller’s version of the story — Yoder is listed as a co-writer — could have taken the magical realist element out entirely, and the film would have played exactly the same. The body horror is downplayed to the point of being functionally nonexistent: Adams changes into a dog offscreen, and she declines to feast on raw meat like her character does in the book. Instead, the emphasis here is on the literal blood and guts of biological motherhood, no movie monsters required. 

This doesn’t hurt “Nightbitch,” which has many of the common pitfalls seen in films that adapt novels for the screen but isn’t the disaster it could have been if the horror was mishandled rather than minimized. Adams narrates much of the film in voiceover, but there’s only so much internal monologuing that can be translated from page to screen without grinding the movie to a halt. As a result, there are characters and plot threads — “Mother’s” relationship with librarian Norma (Jessica Harper), for example  — whose significance was probably clearer in the book. In the film, they feel scattershot, gesturing at a richness that’s been sacrificed in the name of narrative efficiency.

One aspect of “Nighbitch” the film that translates successfully is “Mother’s” frustration with her clueless, also-unnamed “Husband” (Scoot McNairy), who’s away traveling on business so often that “Mother” is practically a single parent. In this case, underdevelopment suits the character, who’s bewildered when he’s asked to “babysit” and needs some mothering of his own in order to pull off simple tasks like giving his son a bath. This movie needs a safe target for its anger, and while he’s not a complete caricature — no one in this movie is — “Husband” fills that role just fine. 

The most interesting aspect of Adams’ performance, however, is the clear joy she takes in spending time with her two-year-old “Son,” played here by twins Arleigh Patrick and Emmett James Snowden. They walk around together, play “dogs” together, read books and go to the park together. And while he makes basic tasks annoyingly difficult, “Mother” loves her child and does not regret having him. The problem is society’s undervaluing of women, not motherhood itself. 

This adds welcome emotional complexity to the film, and tees it up for a closing monologue about the animalistic violence of childbirth that transcends the sometimes-trite mom humor of the first half and lands on something profound. Your bones are made of your mother’s bones. You came into this world through blood and pain, and every good and bad thing you’ve experienced since then is a consequence of that primal act. It’s the moment where Heller’s talent for emotionally walloping her audience finally emerges, uncut and glorious — a little late, perhaps, but a skillful backflip nonetheless. 

“Nightbitch” premiered at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. Searchlight Pictures will release it in theaters on Friday, December 6.

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‘I’m Still Here’ Review: Fernanda Torres Is Utterly Fantastic in Walter Salles’ Drama

TIFF 2024: The Brazilian film is as much an unflinching look at injustice as it is a compassionate portrait of one woman fighting it

Sometimes, the greatest horrors of history can come from how easily violence and cruelty is enacted by faces you never see. This is what not only allows them to continue carrying out grave injustices, but makes holding them accountable next to impossible.

In Walter Salles’ drama “I’m Still Here,” which is based on the memoir of the same name, this lack of justice instills the film with an agonizing sense of despair. However, Salles also injects it with rich humanity by ensuring the faces of those trying to survive are the ones that we never forget. Just as there is pain from all we don’t see, there is a sense of tragic poetry from following a person who dedicates their life to the pursuit of justice even as it remains in short supply for them. 

From the moment we first see Fernanda Torres as Eunice out swimming in the waters off the beach in 1971 Brazil, we feel that the world is getting smaller around her despite her best attempts to build a happy life for herself and her family in it. Without ever putting her up on a pedestal or papering over the harsh realities that she shouldn’t have ever had to face, the film creates a delicate portrait of a life led fighting for justice after her husband is taken from her. 

The film, which had its North American Premiere on Monday at the Toronto International Film Festival, grounds itself in the life of one family just as it takes us through a dark chapter of Brazilian history when the military dictatorship ruled with an iron fist, imprisoning and killing dissidents throughout the 1970s. As we get to know Eunice and her family, Salles carves out plenty of space for joy as we observe them being in community with their neighbors and each other.

But there is still a growing sense that things are getting bad as the presence of the military goes from being on the edges of the frame to right in their home where they abduct Eunice’s husband, Rubens (Selton Mello), a former congressman now being targeted for his left-wing views. The scene where he is taken is simple yet shattering as he goes calmly, bidding his family farewell for what they know deep down could be the last time. Eunice is then taken, too, and put through interrogation and intimidation for 12 days before they let her go. 

Now left with no answers and still having to raise five children alone while remaining under surveillance, she’ll make it her life’s work to reveal the truth of what happened to those like her husband.”I’m Still Here” then becomes a film about the little details of living under repression and knowing what is hiding underneath it. In Torres, we feel every setback, brief sliver of joy and ultimate loss that she is having to navigate without any support. As misinformation spreads all around Eunice, the facts she needs are almost always out of reach, leaving her life in a near-perpetual state of mourning for a man that the government won’t even acknowledge. In every move she makes, Torres captures this internal emotional tumult with grace, making the way Eunice puts on a smile for a family portrait that’s meant to be sad all the more devastating. 

As she goes about her days of trying to maintain some sense of stability for her children, even refusing to speak about her missing husband in front of them, the unfolding tragedy is handled with care by co-writers Murilo Hauser and Heitor Lorega, never once falling into exploitative cliché. The life Eunice lived was not one of neat emotions and narrative progression that could fit into a nice little box. Instead, it’s about the things we don’t think about, the everyday things we must do to carry on. That “I’m Still Here” can capture this sense of uncertainty while also serving as a compassionate character study of a family, with each of her children having distinct moments and challenges alongside her, is a real achievement. When then given life by the constant light that is Torres as we follow Eunice forward in time, it’s that much more quietly devastating. 

There are a couple rather significant jumps ahead in time that teeter on the edge of losing narrative focus, but they also provide fitting closure to a story that didn’t just end with one year, two or even a single lifetime. Instead, as Salles shows us, such a seismic loss spans many generations just as it does entire histories that are still being written. We must then always remember the people, their individual stories, and what it was that they endured so that others may never have to do so again.

As the pictures and videos taken by the family echo each other one final time, it shows us the faces that matter most: those of Eunice and all who she loved.

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Before 'Your Name,' Makoto Shinkai Made This Bittersweet Coming-of-Age Movie

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Now truly a name among the legends, Makoto Shinkai has established himself as one of the premier anime filmmakers of all time. His three most recent films — Your Name , Weathering With You , Suzume — are among the top-grossing Japanese films of all time , both domestically and internationally. From being an earnest fan of Studio Ghibli , to directing a movie that surpassed even Spirited Away in box office returns, Shinkai's filmography is full of emotionally charged and deeply intimate stories that immerse audiences in waves of hope, heartbreak, and human connection. But before his trio of blockbuster successes, Shinkai directed a film that is arguably the most relatable of them all.

Released in 2007, 5 Centimeters per Second is a bittersweet coming-of-age romantic drama that follows the life of a young boy as he experiences a blossoming young love, his gut-wrenching first heartbreak, and the somber melancholy of searching for real connection. Though 5 Centimeters per Second lacks the fantastical elements that define some of his later works, the film is nonetheless a strong contender for Shinkai's best project to date. It's a beautiful illustration of what it means to grow up, grow close, and grow apart — inevitable human experiences that not only define Shinkai's work, but reflect the very core of what it means to grow up.

'5 Centimeters per Second' Is a Bittersweet Coming-of-Age Romance

5 Centimeters per Second follows the life of a young boy named Takaki Tōno, through three different vignettes about his life, spanning the early 1990s up through 2008. In the first section, titled "Cherry Blossom," Takaki befriends a new transfer student at his school named Akari. The two become fast friends thanks to their interest in books, quickly developing a close protective bond . However, the two are pulled apart when Akari's family moves to another prefecture. Despite their attempts to keep in touch, the two slowly begin to drift apart — until Takaki learns that his family will be moving to the other side of the country. The two friends promise to meet each other one last time, but are nearly stopped by a blustering snowstorm. Ultimately, Takaki is able to reach Akari and the two share a kiss, spending one last night in each other's company before they are forced to say farewell.

The second vignette, "Cosmonaut," takes place a few years later and sees an older Takaki nearing the end of his high school career. Despite promising to keep in touch, he and Akari eventually stopped speaking, though Takaki continuously writes emails to his old friend — e-mails that he never sends. One of his friends, Kanae, has harbored an unrequited crush on him for years, but Takaki remained emotionally distant due to his lingering listlessness over the past . Kanae ultimately realizes that Takaki is in search of something beyond her, in the distance, perhaps forever out of reach.

Moving forward to 2008, the final section, "5 Centimeters per Second," with Takaki now working in Tokyo, but thoroughly unfulfilled with his life. In an aching slump of depression, Takaki quits his job and breaks up with his girlfriend, reminiscing about his and Akari's age-old hope of watching cherry blossoms together once more. Though this section is far more somber and melancholic than the previous ones, it does incite the most important character development in the entire film , as Takaki struggles to accept the connections he lost over the years, learning how to live in the present rather than the past.

Makoto Shinkai Explores Young Love and Distant Connections

Though Shinkai's most famous works contain fantastical elements and allegories about natural disasters , 5 Centimeters per Second is a far more realistic and small-scale story. By grounding the story in the real world, Shinkai explores ideas about human connection through the most relatable lens. It's not a supernatural force that drives Takaki and Akari apart, simply time and distance. Every viewer has moved from their home, or has known someone that moved from their home, which makes Takaki's desperate desire to remain connected feel all the more poignant. 5 Centimeters per Second also works as a strikingly accurate time capsule of young love in the '90s and early aughts. In the time frame just before digital communication became as ubiquitous as breathing, there is a glimmer of hope that Takaki and Akari are able to keep in touch through e-mail, but it's not quite the guarantee that it has become.

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Makoto Shinkai has made a name for himself in animated films.

While the film doesn't have any major allegorical references, it's title and overarching visual cues represent the overarching theme of the story with beautiful symbolism. The phrase "5 centimeters per second" is the speed of a falling cherry blossom petal , a recurring motif throughout Takaki's story first planted when Akari tells him that fact as they walk underneath the beautiful pink trees. However, though cherry blossoms represent love with their vibrant pink hues, they also serve as a metaphor for the fleetingness of human connection. Cherry blossom petals grow close to one another on the branches of the tree, until they fall, further and further from each other. Shinkai's film explores how humans, like cherry blossoms, form connections that are doomed to become distant as life pushes forward. It's a theme that comes up often in the romance genre , even appearing in Celine Song's Past Lives , as a bittersweet reminder that it's often the "what if's" in love that haunt people the most.

'5 Centimeters per Second' Conveys Deep Emotion Through Stunning Visuals and a Beautiful Soundtrack

Even though it was released in 2007, 5 Centimeters per Second is still a stunning piece of art in every aspect of production and a premier example of the beautiful artistry that is achievable through animation. The linework is crisply defined yet carries a softness around it, while the colors are likewise vibrant but not abrasive. From the countryside to the bustling city, the settings in the film all cary an atmosphere of familiarity and comfort, despite most viewers never even stepping foot in the country.

In addition to the gorgeous visuals, the music in 5 Centimeters per Second is a haunting combination of hopeful and melancholic, with even the simplest notes on the piano enhancing the deep emotions experienced by the characters. Even among the best movie soundtracks, the music in 5 Centimeters per Second masterfully moves the viewer through a wide range of emotions, pulling them up with hopefulness as easily as it weighs them down in solemnity. The film's ending theme, "One More Time, One More Chance" by Masayoshi Yamazaki, is the single most memorable piece in the entire film, capturing the ideas of hope and heartbreak with its beautiful melody.

Makoto Shinkai's Later Works were Influenced by '5 Centimeters per Second'

Despite not being his most famous work, it's evident that 5 Centimeters per Second deeply impacted Shinkai's later projects , seen through recurring themes and visual cues. Most of his films explore similar ideas of human connection over impossible distances , a concept he first explored in Voices of a Distant Star , a short film released a few years before 5 Centimeters per Second . But it's in this film that Shinkai first gets greater freedom to explore this idea, adding depth and nuance to the overarching story. 5 Centimeters per Second also features the distinct creative vision that would define Shinkai's later work. The detailed images of Japan feel like a labor of love, highlighting the beauty in the little details of the setting, in order to make the story feel more lived in, to make the characters feel more alive.

With no exaggeration, 5 Centimeters per Second is arguably Shinkai's greatest film . It's exploration of human connection is told through such a realistic and personal lens that any viewer is sure to find an emotional tether to one of the characters because everyone has loved, lost, and lamented; everyone knows it's hard to move on, but it's a gift to know that those connections remain important, even if the petals have fallen distant from one another.

5 Centimeters per Second is currently streaming on Netflix in the U.S.

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Within a Shadow illuminates big questions

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Within a Shadow , now in its world premiere from Lex the Movie in association with Red Theater, is an ambitious two-act dramedy that digs into the complexities of estrangement, cultural identity, and the ever-elusive quest for self-love. Written, produced, directed by, and starring LaRose Washington as Alexis (“Lex”)—a Black woman grappling with loneliness in her senior year at a predominantly white university—the play tackles life’s biggest questions, from race to the often messy evolution of friendships.

Within a Shadow Through 10/13: Thu-Sat 8 PM, Sun 3 PM; Den Theatre, 1331 N. Milwaukee, 773-697-3830, thedentheatre.com , $23.50

As Lex, Washington delivers a commanding performance; her portrayal of an introverted and misunderstood student dealing with microaggressions, existential crises, and the emotional debris of friendship feels both universal and personal. Through the occasional poetry interlude, we catch glimpses of a young woman grasping to hold onto her voice in a world that seems to misunderstand her. Without giving too much away, Within a Shadow ends when Lex confronts her sense of self-worth, a revelation that will resonate with anyone who’s ever doubted themselves. 

Lex’s path, however, is far from linear and sometimes feels disjointed. Along the way, she deals with everything from crushes to hangovers and makeovers. The narrative occasionally buckles under the weight of its many subplots, but its exploration of multigenerational trauma pulses with urgency. At times, the production feels meant for the screen rather than the stage, but the moments that land feel like gut punches—particularly as she juggles job rejections, frenemy rivalries, and doom-scrolling-induced anxiety. 

The ensemble cast remains the highlight. Sania Faith as Rasheeda, Lex’s razor-sharp roommate, is a scene-stealer, offering levity and heart in the heaviest scenes. Meanwhile, Lydia Moss as Jasmine, Lex’s childhood friend turned nemesis, also commands the stage, though their story is one I wish could’ve been focused on more. 

Overall, Within a Shadow succeeds in creating an intimate portrayal of what it means to be lost in your own life. It’s an ambitious work that, despite its digressions, beams with potential and passion.

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Start the week with a film: In ‘The Others’, a mother confronts her worst fears

Alejandro amenabar’s acclaimed movie, starring nicole kidman, is out on prime video..

Alejandro Amenabar’s The Others has a surprise in store, much like The Sixth Sense , which preceded it by two years. Amenabar’s supernatural thriller from 2001 also shares with The Sixth Sense a quality that makes it more than a ghost story: the ability to tug at the heartstrings even as it sends shivers down the spine.

The Others , which is available on Prime Video, is led by one of the few actresses who can effortlessly portray a sense of the uncanny. Nicole Kidman brilliantly uses her face and body to portray an emotionally fraught woman trying to shield her children – and herself – from malevolent forces. (On Sunday, Kidman won the Best Actress award for Babygirl at the Venice Film Festival, but could not attend the closing ceremony since her mother died on the same day.)

Although set in the mid-1940s, the movie’s themes, characters and overall stylistic treatment are classically nineteenth-century Gothic. The plot unfolds almost entirely in a sinister-looking mansion on the fog-encircled Jersey island.

Grace lives here with her daughter Anne (Alakina Mann) and son Nicholas (James Bentley). Grace’s husband Charles (Christopher Eccleston) hasn’t returned yet from World War II. The children suffer from extreme photosensitivity, which means that the curtains in the house must be drawn at all times.

Into this enforced darkness enter the enigmatic housekeeper Bertha, her husband, and a mute young woman. Bertha (Fionnula Flanagan) humours her mistress’s peculiar demands, raising only the slightest eyebrow at Grace’s strict upbringing and obsession with not letting a speck of light into the house. When Anne claims that there are other people in the house, the deeply religious Grace is sceptical – but Bertha isn’t.

Astute viewers might soon guess who the “others” are, but that doesn’t spoil the viewing experience. Style and substance fuse completely in The Others .

The film’s treatment of the haunting that afflicts Anne and later Grace is matched by Javier Aguirresarobe’s richly atmospheric camerawork. Aguirresarobe creates magic out of low light conditions. Faces emerge out of pools of darkness. The thick curtains create a suffocating feeling that is enhanced by Grace’s constant fretting over her children’s behaviour and Bertha’s gnomic pronouncements.

When Grace learns the truth of who has been terrorising her family, The Others goes from a specific spooky ghost story to a horror that is universal in nature. Like M Night Shyamalan’s The Sixth Sense , Amenebar invites you into a supernatural world that opens out to reveal human fears.

Also start the week with these films:

‘Gharat Ganpati’ gets into the festive spirit

‘Kinds of Kindness’ is weirdly compelling

In ‘Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry’, a woman’s desire takes flight

• The Others review
• Nicole Kidman
• Alejandro Amenabar