SYNOPSIS: Set in 1962 Florida, “Nickel Boys,” a new drama from visionary director RaMell Ross now playing in theatres, sees Elwood, a young African American man sentenced to the brutal Nickel Academy reform school after being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Inside he survives with a guidance and friendship with the cynical Turner.
CAST: Ethan Herisse, Brandon Wilson, Hamish Linklater, Fred Hechinger, Daveed Diggs and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor. Directed by RaMell Ross.
REVIEW: Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Colson Whitehead, “Nickel Boys” uses a unique style to tell the story of oppression, trauma and resilience.
Director RaMell Ross shoots the film in the first person, from the perspective of his characters. In other words, we see what Elwood is seeing, but only catch a glimpse of him in the odd mirror or reflective surface he may encounter. The perspective changes from time to time, depending on who is the focus of the action.
It takes a moment to get used to, but once acclimatized the POV camera immerses the viewer in the story, allowing them to take note of the details that create the character’s situational awareness. It is a beautiful and audacious method that generates understanding and empathy through observation.
A sensory experience as well as a narrative one, “Nickel Boys” captures and even heightens the themes of its Pulitzer Prize winning source material. Racism hangs like a shroud over the reformatory scenes, and there are some vicious examples of inhumanity on display, but Ross makes sure to highlight Elwood and Turner’s humanity in the face of adversity.
“Nickel Boys” is an emotional work of art that bends the form to create an audacious and powerful film.
SYNOPSIS: “The Room Next Door,” the first English-language feature film from Spanish maestro Pedro Almodóvar, now playing in theatres, sees Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton play old friends brought together in a life-or-death situation.
CAST: Tilda Swinton, Julianne Moore, John Turturro, Alessandro Nivola. Directed by Pedro Almodóvar.
REVIEW: Adapted from the novel “What Are You Going Through” by Sigrid Nunez, “The Room Next Door” is the story of two friends who lost track of one another when they became successful. Now a bestselling author, Ingrid (Julianne Moore) first met war correspondent Martha (Tilda Swinton) when they worked at the same magazine in the 1980s. As they found acclaim their paths diverged, with Martha always off on assignment and Ingrid making her home in Paris.
Decades later Ingrid is in New York when she hears that her old friend is undergoing an experimental treatment for cervical cancer. They meet and it’s like no time has passed.
They talk about old times; secrets are shared and then the bombshell. (MILD SPOILER AHEAD) Martha is ready to die but would like Ingrid to be there when it happens. Ingrid, whose latest book is about the fear of death is trepidatious and heartbroken but agrees. “It feels unnatural to me,” she says. “I can’t accept that something alive has to die.”
Essentially a two hander, there are several other characters, but it is the complicated, loving relationship between Ingrid and Martha that will linger in the memory. As they rekindle their relationship the sense that the clock is ticking hangs heavy over their scenes, and they make the most of every second.
Their reminiscences take on a certain weight, as Martha grapples with her legacy, as a writer and a mother, and Ingrid contemplates the legality of her involvement with her friend’s plan to take her own life. Their scenes are a masterfully performed emotional jumble of guilt, humor and regret.
“The Room Next Door” acknowledges the morality of the situation with compassion. The story, while bleak, manages to find a life affirming vibe, based on the interaction of the leads, as the movie winds through to the inevitable end.
SYNOPSIS: A modern riff on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s 18th-century novella “The Sorrows of Young Werther,” “Young Werther,” now playing in theatres, isn’t exactly a love story. Instead, it’s a lovesick story and a study of complicated friendships.
CAST: Douglas Booth, Alison Pill, Iris Apatow, Amrit Kaur, Jaouhar Ben Ayed, Patrick J. Adams. Directed by José Avelino Gilles Corbett Lourenço.
REVIEW: “Young Werther” takes a love-at-first-sight premise, the stuff of rom coms, and uses that as a springboard to examine self-absorbed youth, unrequited love, rejection and the true nature of love.
Douglas Booth plays the narcissistic Werther as an upper-class twit, a guy who slides through life on a runway greased with money, privilege and his personal so-called charm. He is used to getting what he wants, and he wants Charlotte (Alison Pill). Trouble is, she’s the soon-to-be wife of likeable lawyer Albert (Patrick J. Adams).
Over the years, Goethe’s 18th-century novella of unrequited love and the wacky lengths Werther goes to win over Charlotte has inspired many a rom com, and that familiarity blunts some of the effectiveness of this retelling. It feels a bit “been there, done that” because of the origin’s pervasive influence on the genre.
This story of a charming pest (or is he a love-sick stalker and homewrecker?) and his antics doesn’t bring much in the way of reinvention until the film’s final moments. Goethe’s novella is a tragedy, but the film, adapted by Lourenço, is rom commy up until its rushed ending, during which things take a sober turn as Werther lets go of the self-absorption of youth and discovers a modicum of self-awareness. Until then Werther’s alleged charm is more boyish arrogance than actual charisma.
Booth and Pill, however, have good chemistry and bask in the reflected glow of the sparkling rom com sheen José Avelino Gilles Corbett Lourenço liberally applies to every frame. Ditto for Toronto, which, in the lens of cinematographer Nick Haight, looks fantastic.
“Young Werther” is a light and frothy ride, but without the philosophical underpinnings of the source material.
I appear on “CTV News at 11:30” with anchor Andria Case to talk about the best movies and television to watch this weekend, including the stop-motion animated “Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl,” the rerelease of “Se7en” and the spy thriller “Harbin.”
On the Saturday January 4, 2025 edition of The Richard Crouse Show we’ll meet Anna Lambe, an actress and television host from Nunavut. You’ve seen her in the feature film “The Grizzlies,” which earned her a Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Most recently she appeared in HBO’s highly anticipated fourth season of “True Detective,” starring opposite Jodie Foster.
Today we talk about her new project, “North of North.” In the CBC, Netflix and APTN series she plays a young woman who wants to build a new future for herself after a spontaneous — and extremely public — exit from her marriage. But it won’t be easy in her small Arctic town where everybody knows everyone’s business.
Then we’ll meet RaMell Ross, artist, writer, documentarian and director of “Nickle Boys,” an intriguing movie that was named one of the top 10 films of 2024 by the American Film Institute. It has also received several accolades, including a nomination for Best Motion Picture – Drama at the 82nd Golden Globe Awards, and five nominations at the 30th Critics’ Choice Awards, including Best Picture.
Based on the Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Colson Whitehead, Nickel Boys chronicles the powerful friendship between two young Black teenagers navigating the harrowing trials of reform school together in Florida and it opens in theatres in Canada on January 10.
Finally, we’ll meet director Tim Fehlbaum. He’s an award-winning Swiss filmmaker whose previous films, like “Tides” and “Hell,” focused on post-apocalyptic and science fiction stories. He returns to the real world with “September 5,” a new thriller starring Peter Sarsgaard and Ben Chaplin, and now playing in select theatres, an American sports broadcasting crew finds itself thrust into covering the hostage crisis involving Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
Each week on the nationally syndicated Richard Crouse Show, Canada’s most recognized movie critic brings together some of the most interesting and opinionated people from the movies, television and music to put a fresh spin on news from the world of lifestyle and pop-culture. Tune into this show to hear in-depth interviews with actors and directors, to find out what’s going on behind the scenes of your favourite shows and movies and get a new take on current trends. Recent guests include Chris Pratt, Elvis Costello, Baz Luhrmann, Martin Freeman, David Cronenberg, Mayim Bialik, The Kids in the Hall and many more!
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I join CTV Atlantic anchor Todd Battis to talk about the stop-motion animated “Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl,” the sports drama “The Fire Inside” and the rerelease of “Seven.”
I join “CTV News Toronto at Five” with guest anchor Pauline Chan, to talk about the animated “Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl,” the spy thriller “Harbin” and the rerelease of “Seven.”
I sit in with hosts Jim Richards and Deb Hutton on NewsTalk 1010 to play the game “Did Richard Crouse Like This?” This week we talk about the Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown,” the stop-motion animated “Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl” and the spy thriller “Harbin.”
SYNOPSIS: Set in 1962 Florida, “Nickel Boys,” a new drama from visionary director RaMell Ross now playing in theatres, sees Elwood, a young African American man sentenced to the brutal Nickel Academy reform school after being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Inside he survives with a guidance and friendship with the cynical Turner.
