Art+ Selects

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

The New York Sun
NY Sun
NEW YORK SUN CONTRIBUTOR

Wondering what else is in theaters this weekend? Here are five films recommended by The New York Sun’s critics that you can still catch around town.

THE PAINTED VEIL
PG-13, 125 minutes

“The Painted Veil” is a story of betrayal, vengeance, and cholera in 1920s China, but it is most eloquent in its portrayal of a marriage in distress. The film, which has been a pet project of Edward Norton’s for almost six years, opens less than a week after Steven Soderbergh’s retropic “The Good German,” and achieves what that film strove so desperately to attain — the lost romance of Hollywood’s golden era.

— Meghan Keane (December 20)

VENUS
R, 95 minutes

Peter O’Toole is all essence in “Venus,” a romantic comedy from the writer-director team of Hanif Kureishi and Roger Michell. He plays Maurice, who is basically a less-famous version of himself. Shuffling around Kentish Town, Maurice spends his fading days bantering with Ian (the splendid Leslie Phillips). They relive past glories, mourn the passing of friends noted in the Guardian, and swap medications at the corner diner, popping random handfuls of uppers, downers, whizzers, and bangers for their entertainment value. Inevitably, they nap a lot.

Maurice is entirely shameless and shines so brightly in his own self-regard that he can’t resist any temptation to swan about. When a bout of prostate cancer saps his manhood and underscores his mortality, the wobbly ladies’ man yearns for one final hurrah. The inspiration is the sudden arrival of Ian’s grandniece Jessie (Jodie Whittaker).

— Steve Dollar (December 21)

AUTOMATONS
Unrated, 83 minutes

“Automatons,” the unexpectedly mesmerizing, low-budget spectacle playing at the Pioneer Theater, is sure to be dismissed by some as just another campy robot fantasy. A story about a futuristic world, filmed on grainy black-and-white stock, composed almost entirely on one set, and featuring audio imperfectly dubbed over the action, the only thing more peculiar than the aesthetic is the physical movement of the movie’s stars — the robots. Seemingly constructed out of cardboard, they shuffle along at a snail’s pace, lumbering about as if trapped underwater.

Here’s a movie with ideas as big as any to be found in “War of the Worlds,” but with a budget that must have been a fraction of what Steven Spielberg spent on catering. It’s not a film of compromise but of sheer determination, refusing to be defined by its budget and liberated by a decision to overcome its bank account with sheer imagination.

— S. James Snyder (December 13)

BLOOD DIAMOND
R, 138 minutes

Many people, when they see misery around them, want to know why. But Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio), a smuggler who spends most of “Blood Diamond” racing through Sierra Leone’s civil war in pursuit of profit, has already got an explanation: “T.I.A.” It stands for “This Is Africa.” He abandoned all hope for this benighted part of the world long ago.

Many moviegoers these days reserve a similar, if markedly less tragic, cynicism for Hollywood: It will never make big, bighearted pictures like it used to. “Blood Diamond,” however, offers reason to believe. Directed by Edward Zwick and written by Charles Leavitt, it very nearly achieves that perfect balance of humanity and big-screen spectacle that many believe left American movies decades ago.

— Darrell Hartman (December 8)

DANCE PARTY, USA
Unrated, 65 minutes

If purity of intent counts for anything, then “Dance Party, USA” may be one of the best American films of the year. Shot for what looks like almost no budget, with a young cast of unknowns in Portland, Ore., the movie is a mere 65 minutes long and is filled with as much open, elliptical space between its characters as the thoughts they struggle to articulate.

Directed by Aaron Katz, a 25-year-old filmmaker based in Brooklyn, “Dance Party” trails a pair of high school kids through the groggy mornings and beer-sodden late nights of a Fourth of July weekend. Since Mr. Katz is very nearly a peer of his characters, his feel for their language and his choice in casting actors who can naturally embrace it gives the film a documentary feel.

— S.D. (November 15)

NY Sun
NEW YORK SUN CONTRIBUTOR

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.


The New York Sun

© 2025 The New York Sun Company, LLC. All rights reserved.

Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. The material on this site is protected by copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used.

The New York Sun

Sign in or  Create a free account

or
By continuing you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use