Where the Crawdads Sing
BASED on the best-selling novel by Delia Owens, this mystery is the story of Kya, an abandoned girl who raised herself to adulthood in the dangerous marshlands of North Carolina. Directed by Olivia Newman, the film stars Daisy Edgar-Jones, Taylor John Smith, Harris Dickinson, Michael Hyatt, Sterling Macer, Jr., and David Strathairn. Empire’s Sophie Butcher writes, “The trouble with this version of Where The Crawdads Sing is that you never quite buy the young, thin, beautiful, white Kya as a true outsider. The girl from the novel, covered in dirt and consumed by gnawing loneliness, is sanded down and smoothed out, her every thought over-explained by incessant voiceover. That treatment seems to have been applied to every other element of the film, too — so much so, it feels like it would be more at home in the BBC’s 8 p.m. Sunday night slot than here on the big screen. The direction and cinematography are thoroughly conventional, lacking in much flavor or wonder, save for some beautiful sunset shots of the marshes, and the score is often saccharine and overbearing.” Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer gives this film a score of 34%, and an audience score of 96%.
MTRCB Rating: PG
Three Thousand Years of Longing
DR. ALITHEA Binnie is an academic, a creature of reason, who is content with life. While in Istanbul attending a conference, she happens to encounter a Djinn who offers her three wishes in exchange for his freedom. This presents two problems: first, she doubts that he is real, and second, because she is a scholar of story and mythology, she knows all the cautionary tales of wishes gone wrong. The Djinn pleads his case by telling her fantastical stories of his past. Eventually she is beguiled and makes a wish that surprises them both. Directed by George Miller, the film stars Idris Elba, Tilda Swinton, Aamito Lagum, Burcu Gölgedar, Matteo Bocelli, and Kaan Guldur. Glenn Kennyof www.rogerebert.com writes: “As the tales unfold, Alithea, while never entirely letting down her guard, comes to understand that the lack of love in her life is more upsetting than she’s been willing to admit to herself. That sounds dry. The movie is not. The tales told by the djinn are packed with hair-raising violence and extremely variegated landscapes of lust.” Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer gives the film a score of 71%, and an audience score of 73%.
MTRCB Rating: PG
Expensive Candy
HIGH school teacher Renato “Toto” Camaya (Carlo Aquino) and sex worker Candy (Julia Barretto) spend a night together. Toto is determined to win her love and spend as much time with her as he can, even if it means exerting effort or buying her time. Candy, however, has other ideas and doesn’t want to be in a committed relationship with Toto. Fred Said’s Fred Hawson writes: “There’s plenty of skin exposure and scenes of intimacy, but [director Jason Paul Laxamana] never went all-out Vivamax-level graphic in the depiction of Candy’s salacious occupation… With Mr. Laxamana judiciously deciding the limits of what his camera showed, the mystique that is Julia Barretto still remains intact.”
MTRCB Rating: R-13
Enchanted Sisters (a.k.a. Four Enchanted Sisters)
BASED on Sheridan Winn’s book series Sprite Sisters, Enchanted Sisters starts when the youngest, Sky, receives her power to control air on her 9th birthday, joining her sisters Flame, Marina, and Flora to complete their sisterhood of young witches. This attracts the attention of Aunt Glenda as she attempts to steal away the source of their magical powers, the pixiedust fountain. Directed by Sven Unterwaldt Jr., the film stars Laila Padotzke, Hedda Erlebach, Lilith Julie Johna, Leonore von Berg, Katja Riemann, and Justus von Dohnányi.
MTRCB Rating: PG
Deinfluencer
A CHEERLEADER is imprisoned and made to jump through social media challenges by her kidnapper. Directed by Jamie Bailey, the film stars Simon Phillips, Anne-Carolyne Binette, Caylin Turner, Marie Luciani-Grimaldi, Jason Sedlar, and Iyore Edegbe.
MTRCB Rating: R-13
