Review Round-Up: "The Teacher," "Eat the Night," and "Sinners"
Capsule reviews of three releases either currently on VOD or in theaters.
For this post’s round-up of capsule reviews, I’ve chosen to spotlight two hidden gems that I’ve caught via screener links in addition to what is, in my opinion, the best movie of the year. A film that's surely been on the tip of everyone’s tongue. Without further ado, below are the three movies that are worth a view.
The Teacher:
Directed by Farah Nabulsi in her feature directorial debut, The Teacher follows a schoolteacher named Basem (Saleh Bakri) who’s forced to be both a mentor and a father figure to one of his students, Adam, (Muhammad Abed El Rahman) as they navigate life in occupied Palestine. Meanwhile, as Basem forms a bond with Lisa (Imogen Poots), a kindly British social worker, the negotiation of the release of a young Israeli soldier being held hostage by a Palestinian resistance group forces Basem to come to terms with his own troubled past.
As The Teacher weaves multiple plot lines including the surrogate father-son story involving Basem and Adam, and the vantage point of Simon Cohen (Stanley Townsend), the Jewish-American father of the captive soldier who’s at odds with Israel and its policies, it’s the romance between Basem and Lisa that is the weak link of the bunch. Despite an affecting performance from the underrated Imogen Poots, her character still has little to do beyond act as an audience surrogate with the romance at hand feeling rather forced.
Despite that plot quibble, The Teacher still thrives on its central performance by lead actor Saleh Bakri. Similar to his work as a closeted gay man in The Blue Caftan, Saleh Bakri conveys a whirlwind of conflict and despair with just his eyes. It’s his performance along with the eventual duality between Basem, a man trying to be a surrogate father, and Simon, a father desperate to reunite and reconnect with his own son, that give this story about loss, parenthood, and survival its heavy emotional punch.
Grade: B
The Teacher is currently out in select cities.
Théo Cholbi and Erwan Kepoa Falé star in “Eat the Night.” (Photo courtesy of Altered Innocence)
Eat the Night:
Eat the Night, the latest entry from directing duo Caroline Poggi and Jonathan Vinel, acts as a decent testament to the escapist power of gaming. Being able to act as an avatar in a world of fantasy allows one to, at least for a while, escape further from their grim reality. That being said, Eat the Night still emphasizes how as much as we used gaming to tune out of reality, by bonding with other gamers, we still can never escape human connection.
Pablo (Theó Cholbi) and his sister Apolline (Lila Gueneau) have a deep connection thanks to their shared love of the video game known as Darknoon. However, along with tensions with a rival drug-dealing gang, Pablo’s burgeoning romance with Night (Erwan Kepoa Falé) causes complications with their sibling bond. At the point where Pablo gets involved in the gang feud is when Eat the Night feels like it becomes two different films: One about the escapist power of gaming and the other being a tense drama about the cyclical nature of hatred.
As much as the second movie hammers such a necessary point home, it’s when Eat the Night emphasizes on the gaming world where it thrives more both because of the colorful, immersive game design and its resonant messaging on finding humanity within a digital realm. An ambitious directorial effort with plenty on its mind and plenty of visual flair, Eat the Night would’ve benefited more by delving further into fantasy.
Grade: B-
Eat the Night is available to rent and buy on VOD.
Sinners:
Sometimes, the best movie going experiences involve going into a movie where, despite being excited, you still keep your expectations in check only for the movie to still be every bit as good as you hoped. That is exactly what happened with Sinners, Ryan Coogler’s newest horror-musical-crime drama. Even with the hype being through the roof, I still went in with an open mind and the film absolutely took my breath away.
When twin brothers Smoke and Stack (played by Michael B. Jordan) travel back to their Southern hometown to open a juke joint, what begins as a night of music and ecstasy becomes one of blood and carnage as a group of vampires led by Irishman Remmick (Jack O’Connell) begins to wreak havoc. From the meditative first act that involves spending time with our central characters to the second and third act when things take a bloodier U-turn, Sinners is always impossible to look away from thanks in large part to the awe-inspiring cinematography by Autumn Durald Arkapaw. It may already be May but there’s a case for Arkapaw’s name to be engraved on the Oscar for Best Cinematography.
Similarly, there’s a strong case for Sinners to be up for the inaugural Best Casting prize as the ensemble is pitch-perfect. Though, if forced to pick an acting MVP, it’d be between the scene-stealing Delroy Lindo as piano man Delta Slim, Jack O’Connell as the villainous Remmick, and the movie’s secret weapon, Wunmi Mosaku who plays Smoke’s ex-wife Annie. Wunmi Mosaku is captivating as a woman of tenacity and agency who’s constantly the smartest person in the room. Between this, Lovecraft Country, and her BAFTA-nominated role in His House, Mosaku has more than earned her place in the scream queen pantheon.
Well-acted, well-lensed, and done with meticulous craftsmanship, Sinners is a transcendent genre-bending experience that demands to be seen on the biggest screen possible. The “Rocky Road to Dublin” sequence alone is an encapsulation of Ryan Coogler’s directorial skill and still hasn’t left my mind. One of the year’s best movies, Sinners is one simply not to be missed.
Grade: A
Sinners is now playing in theaters everywhere.