adamgehrke.com

A creative woman and Gallery Director (Amy Adams) gives up her career to start a family with her husband (Scoot McNairy) who’s often away on business. Before long, life as a stay at home mom begins to lose its shine, now with a two year old who refuses to sleep in his own bed (Emmett and Arleigh Snowden), a strange calling from within seems to have a message that refuses to be ignored. Could this be a call of the wild to liberate the domesticated and suburbanized mother, only one way to find out. Written by Marielle Heller and Rachel Yoder and Directed by Heller this Kafkaesque horror of a woman losing herself in her prime and making the ultimate sacrifice of self for her children is familiar theme to many couples, and, while layered with metaphor and humor, the truths revealed are also somewhat blatant in their delivery just the same. To that end, kudos to Heller and team for taking on this project, but repetition, and lack of clarity between folklore, what’s real, and what’s imagined becomes hard to discern and ultimately leaves us questioning all of the parallel concepts and narratives. A slower pulse to the film’s overall pace makes its already brief hour and thirty eight minute runtime also feel longer than necessary. End result, a deep sigh, a maxed out volume of empathy capable, and frustration. Nightbitch is rated R.

While shooting a documentary in India, Simon Chambers is contacted by his uncle David in London with the message, “come back to London, I think I may be dying.” Concerned and being next of kin, Simon puts his film on hold to assist David, a long since retired Shakespearian actor and drama teacher. But, as it turns out, David happens to have a panache for exaggeration and dramatics, and, he’s very much not dying. David is however suffering from some dementia and a strong desire to stay in his own apartment, which is a wreck, this is where Simon’s next documentary takes form. How to assist a real life King Lear in his later years? Documenting his uncle’s final years and the struggles that family must work through, navigating healthcare, finances, assisted living, and final choices, all the while maintaining a sense of humor and good nature. Much Ado About Dying endears itself with viewers through the lens of compassion for what might otherwise be considered madness, shedding light on the British Health care system, but more so looking to the pitfalls and struggles that all surround David, who by all means is exactly as eccentric as some of his stage characters, and the varying degrees of cretins that have found their way to his doorstep, for good and for bad. For Director Chambers, maintaining some sense of objectivity and perspective from his subject, the lines are blurred, but, the end result is still sound as the chaos and frenzy whip to a heartfelt conclusion, Much Ado About Dying delivers perhaps David’s best and final performances without truly overstaying its welcome. Running one hour and twenty four minutes, Much Ado About Dying has been making the festival circuits and can now be streamed on Amazon, worth the watch, especially for those who’ve ever had to tend to an aging parent or relative.

When Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), the Wicked Witch of the West, dies and the munchkins of Munchkin land are rejoicing, Glinda The Good Witch, AKA Galinda (Ariana Grande) descends in a bubble to confirm the news; it’s then revealed that Galinda and Elphaba were once good friends. Recounting how the two met, grew close, and broke apart while a great disturbance in the land of Oz was on the rise, the untold story of Elphaba and what she truly stood for is set to unfold. Based on the wildly successful Broadway Hit and Directed by Jon M. Chu this fantastical and magical trip to Oz has finally peaked after what feels like a metric ton of marketing and advertising, and, to be blunt, the hype is real. Packed with now iconic hits including Popular, What is This Feeling, and Defying Gravity, leads Erivo and Grande turn on the power and crank their vocals to eleven to illicit sing along action from the audience and actual applause at the end of each number, meanwhile, further cast support from Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Marissa Bode, Jonathan Bailey, and Ethan Slater fill out the front line and deliver fitting performances. With solid production design, costuming, well thought out choreography, and further digital support the land of Oz feels strangely palpable and still full of whimsy. On a critical note, the film is a beast in terms of runtime, at two hours and forty minutes, and this is just part 1, the whole experience does drag in a few points and could have been assisted from a heavier editor’s knife, regardless, the fun abounds and the magic continues. Wicked: Part 1 is rated PG.