“Moonlight”
Barry Jenkins’ “Moonlight” has been gaining steam ever since it was screened for select few press nationwide this past month. No reviews have emerged, but a thunderous word of mouth has. Based on the play “In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue” by Tarell Alvin McCraney, the film looks to be a sprawling and ambitious take on a closeted African American male’s struggle to stay relevant in a society that seems to shun him at every turn. Taking place in three distinctive periods of his life, Jenkins’ film looks to be one of the few this season that has the relevance and artistry to make a deep, lasting impact on American cinema. The largely African-American cast includes the likes Trevante Rhodes, Andrè Holland, Janelle Monaé and Naomi Harris. Also selected for TIFF and the New York Film Festival, “Moonlight” has the potential to start a movement through art. What more could you want in a movie?
“Into The Inferno”
Unflappable German auteur and eccentric Werner Herzog has traveled all over the planet for his documentaries and films. His wanderlust has taken him to the Australia desert (“Where The Green Ants Dream”), the burning Iraqi oilfields (the doc “Lessons of Darkness”), Antarctica (“Encounters at the End of the World”), North Africa (“Fata Morgana”) and of course he seems to have a strange predilection for the call of the wild in the Amazon Jungle, an exotic locale that enticed him several times against his better judgment. The indefatigable Herzog hasn’t slowed down at all in his 73 years of age and his latest documentary; “Into The Inferno” is staring into the abyss of volcanoes. Co-created by volcanologist Clive Oppenheimer, ‘Inferno’ is a globetrotting affair wherein Herzog and his partner travel the world in search of active and dangerous volcanoes. In many respects, Werner Herzog has been a kind of eccentric nature show host, documenting the wonders of the world from his own idiosyncratic point of view; of course much more interested in the mystical and strange than the scientific. Presumably this approach is in hopes of understanding this mad, mad natural world. Whatever it is, ‘Inferno’ looks like another travelogue into the madness of the planet that we’re happy to take.
“Bleed For This”
If you’re sick of boxing dramas you’ve come to the wrong place. 2016 has been full of pugilist melodramas and the fall film festival circuit even has two boxing films competing for a familiar title (Venice’s “The Bleeder” vs. Telluride’s “Bleed For This”). Starring unlikely lightweight Miles Teller as the film’s lead, the film of course features a comeback narrative: former world champion boxer Vinny Paz struggles to return to the ring after an accident leaves him severely injured. Co-starring Aaron Eckhart as his trainer, “Bleed For This” is the third film by Ben Younger, best known for the 2000 drama, “Boiler Room.” Boxing punch-outs are no short supply this year and while some have failed (“Hands Of Stone”), lets hope Younger’s film can deliver the knockout audiences are in need of from this declining genre.
“Arrival”
By the time you’re reading this Oscar-nominated French Canadian director Denis Villeneuve’s “Arrival” may have already screened in Venice, but it is still one of our most anticipated titles of 2016, period. Villeneuve’s the director behind the excellent psychodramas, “Enemy” and “Prisoners,” and the haunting crime drama, “Sicario”— films that have made out best of lists every year of their release. He’s so sought after he’s also directing the “Blade Runner” sequel. His latest film, “Arrival” stars Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner and Forest Whitaker and centers on a linguist (Adams) who is recruited by the government when mysterious aliens appear on earth, their intentions completely unclear. Villeneuve previously said he wanted to try something a little bit more “light” with “Arrival,” but the stark looking picture feels heavy and something ominous out of “2001.” We shall ultimately see, but this psychological sci-fi film looks only relatively less harrowing than his previous works.
“Manchester by the Sea”
It’s a terrific premise: an uncle is forced to take care of his teenage nephew after the boy’s father dies. But this not your ordinary relative, the uncle is a bitter, solitary man who doesn’t know the first thing about children and worse, has to come back to a town full of painful memories to raise the boy. Director Kenneth Lonergan, championed by film critics for his uneven, but audacious post-9/11 drama “Margaret” has been threatening to make a masterpiece for quite some time and he may have done it with “Manchester By The Sea.” Starring Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams and a star turn by 20-year-old Lucas Hedges. It’s been touted as a surefire Oscar contender and our A-grade review out of Sundance earlier this year described it as “magnificently messy and painfully real.” We’re all in.