Decision to Leave

In this masterful composition of a neo-noir romantic thriller, accented with humor, Park Chan-wook (Oldboy, The Handmaiden) continues with his signature plot twists but is devoid of the violent scenes of his previous films.

While investigating the death of an experienced rock climber who fell from his favorite mountain peak, Korean insomniac detective Hae-jun (Park Hae-il) meets the widow, Chinese Seo-rae (Tang Wei), and quickly becomes infatuated with her, losing his objectivity. Hae-jun works in Busan, Korea but goes home on weekends to Ipo where his wife Jung-an (Lee Jung-hyun) lives.

The structurally bold and intricate narrative integrates flashbacks and scenes within scenes with multiple diversions. The film cleverly blends Award-winning cinematographer Ji-yong Kim's electrifying visuals, Jo Yeong-wook's beautiful soundtracks, along with Adagio from Mahler’s Fifth Symphony.

Decision to Leave is South Korea's entry into the 95th Academy Award's Best International Feature category.

Tár

Writer-director-producer Todd Field's third feature, the first in 16 years (Little Children, 2006 and In the Bedroom, 2001), showcases this impressively successful cinematic master's unique style as well as his quite but confident and powerful direction.

Field's impressive verisimilitude is achieved by grounding the fictional character with real events while gradually unfolding clues for the viewer to piece together the unsettling psychological drama.

Successful composer-conductor Lydia Tár (Cate Blanchett) of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra has brilliant career accomplishments. However, her life suddenly unravels as rumors about her apparent former love interest and protégé, Krista Taylor (Sylvia Flote), her involvement with the new cellist, Olga Metkina (Sophie Kauer), her infidelity to wife Concert Master Sharon Goodnow (Nina Hoss), and the bypassing of her devoted assistant, Francesca (Noémie Merlant), for the position of Assistant Conductor, gives start to a social media trial.

Besides her magnificent acting performance, 53 years-old Blanchett conducts the orchestra and plays the piano herself without the aid of a stunt fill-in.

Complementing the film's enjoyment, are the across the board, top-notch actors, Florian Hoffmeister's cinematography, Monika Willi's editing, Oscar-winning composer Hildur Guðnadóttir's score, and the classical music.

Women Talking

In this compelling and deeply touching script Canadian writer-director Sarah Polley adapts Miriam Toews' 2018 novel, inspired by real life events.

In the secluded Bolivian Mennonite agrarian colony in Bolivia, a group of religious fundamentalist women who were drugged, sexually abused and raped by members of their community conclude that they have three, faith based options on how to react: forgive, fight or flee.

In a style reminiscent of 12 Angry Men (1957), they deliberate for two days. While trying to determine the correct path to take, find their voice and the necessary strength, they engage in wrenching, immersive discourse, change opinions, express their anger, anguish, and fears of being declared a heretic, exiled, and losing the Kingdom of Heaven.

The remarkable cast includes Janz (Frances McDormand, also the producer) as a defeatist with a facial scar, Mariche (Jessie Buckley) wants to forgive her husband because it is the right thing to do, Ona (Rooney Mara) is pregnant and apprehensive, and Salome (Claire Foy) is the mother of an abused child and a proponent of violence.

Breathtaking visuals of muted tones and the use of an exceptionally wide Superscope frame by Canadian Luc Montpellier's cinematography, a frequent collaborator, highlights the tension of the unfolding drama. Hildur Guðnadóttir score is grandiose.

Women Talking is an elegantly crafted and thought provoking film.

Top Gun: Maverick

Thrilling and with technically unmatched action sequences is this sequel to Tony Scott's 1986 Top Gun blockbuster.

In his role as the courageous, speed loving, danger zone defying Navy's jet fighter test pilot, Captain Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise) bluntly disobeys USN Admiral “Hammer” Cain's (Ed Harris) and Vice-Admiral Beau “Cyclone” Simpson's (Jon Hamm) direct orders by flying an experimental hypersonic jet over the Mach 10 limit causing it to crash. 

He is permanently grounded however, with the intervention of former rival, now friend Admiral Tom “Iceman” Kazanski (Val Kilmer), Maverick is tasked with training a select group of Top Guns for a dangerous, possibly deadly mission.

Immersive, breathtaking action flight cinematography is created by the stellar, long time collaborator Claudio Miranda, who uses IMAX cameras to capture the cast while sky-high in the flying fighter jets, performing jaw-dropping stunts; instead of filming them in a studio cockpit with added background aerial footage. The addition of reverberating IMAX sound effects, provides the full experience of action, speed and sound.

Ensuring the continuously maintained momentum and suspense are Joseph Kosinski's impeccable direction, returning Jerry Bruckheimer's production, as well as Eddie Hamilton's tight editing.

Gripping action drama and heartfelt moments, especially between Maverick and Lt. “Rooster” Bradshaw (Miles Teller) the son of his former late partner Lt. Nick “Goose” Bradshaw, provide screen depth and are infused into the screenplay by the trio Ehren Kruger (Scream 3), Eric Warren Singer (American Hustle), and frequent Cruise collaborator Christopher McQuarrie (Mission: Impossible – Fallout).

Further augmenting the enjoyable moviegoing experience is the well fitting Lady Gaga's theme score Hold My Hand.

Top Gun: Maverick exceeds expectations, setting new, highly elevated, reboot standards.

The Fabelmans

After a 60 year career in the movie industry, 75-year-old legendary director Steven Spielberg based The Fabelmans on the people and experiences that shaped his personal family life and early filmmaking beginnings. It is a tribute to his late parents who inspired and cultivated in him technical skills, by his father, and artistic skills by his mother.

In his first writing credit since Artificial Intelligence (2001), shared with frequent collaborator Tony Kushner, Spielberg perfectly balances the drama with moments of levity and laughter. Weaving both the technical and emotional, Spielberg interconnects complex combinations of cinematic genre, styles and technology producing a non-nostalgic, original, adventurous content with the unique vision he is so well known for.

Mirroring Spielberg's life are 7-year-old stand-in (Mateo Zoryon Francis-DeFord), teenager stand-in Sammy Fabelman (Gabriel LaBelle) in a lead breakout role, his three sisters, mother Mitzi (Michelle Williams) an aspiring concert pianist, father Burt (Paul Dano) a mainframe computer prototype designer for General Electric, and father's best friend and co-worker “Uncle Benny” (Seth Rogen).

Sammy is a self taught amateur filmmaker of short home movies such as the WWII drama Escape to Nowhere, and western Gunsmog. During the casual filming of his day to day life, he unknowingly captured on tape the fractures of his parent's marriage.

The feature is well cast, with commanding performances by Michelle Williams and Paul Dano, as well as powerful cameo appearances by actor Judd Hirsch, filmmaker David Lynch, as well as Steven Spielberg. Immaculate set designs by Rick Carter, and costumes by Mark Bridges further elevate this timeless classic's enjoyment.

Alcarràs (En Persikolund i Katalonien)

Immersive charm and simplicity permeates director-screenwriter Carla Simón's semi-autobiographical drama.

Like her popular debuting feature Summer 1993 (2017), Simón demonstrates her skill in infusing the plot, scenery and protagonists with grounded reality, captivating the viewer with an on-site feel. Alcarràs, her second feature, is the 2022 Golden Berlin Bear winner for Best Film.

In Alcarràs, a small village in Catalonia, the tranquil lifestyle of the multigenerational Solé family of peach farmers is suddenly disrupted by their landlord Joaquim Pinyol's (Jacob Diarte)
decision that the orchard they tended to since the Spanish Civil War will be eradicated in favor of solar panels. The decision threatens the Solé's livelihood, disconnecting them from the roots and identity they hold.

Delivering a genuine, yet tender, personal narrative of a family facing multifaceted complexities and splintered relationships, are the local non-professional cast. Capturing the immense natural beauty of the textured landscapes, are the crisp shots by Daniela Cajías' cinematography.

The Space Between: The Modern in Korean Art

Bringing to light a period of profound change in Korean art, is the groundbreaking exhibition The Space Between: The Modern in Korean Art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).

Weaving the roots of identity, nationalism, postcolonialism and modernity, the exhibit explores how international exchanges set Korean modern art on a novel path as new media such as oils, ink, photography, and sculpture, as well as artistic movements such as Abstraction, Art Informal (European Expressionism), and Cubism permeated Korean painting and sculpture.

Spanning from the European influenced art in the Korean Empire (1897-1910), The Space Between focuses on the period between the Traditional and Contemporary, encompassing the 35 years of Japanese Colonial period (1910-1945) through the American influences during the Korean War (1950-1953), and with a glimpse into the beginning of the Contemporary (1957-1970).

Available for viewing for the first time outside of Korea are the 130 displayed artworks, by 88 artists. Departing from most presentations of modern art in Korea, The Space Between: The Modern in Korean Art includes photographs and sculptures. First time on display, are also over 24 works from the collection of the late Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-Hee.

Curated by Dr. Virginia Moon, associate curator of Korean Art, The Space Between is the second in a series of exhibitions as part of the Hyunday Project: Korean Art Scholarship Initiative, a key element of LACMA's ongoing 10 year partnership with Hyunday Motor Coompany since 2015. The exhibition is co-organized with the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA).

The exhibit runs from September 11, 2022 to February 19, 2023, at Resnick Pavilion, 5905 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90036.  For more information call (323) 857-6000 or visit http://www.lacma.org/.