Lots of typical holiday fare in the multiplexes this season—sequels and profitable IP investments like Wicked and Avatar, and the new Knives Out mystery. But if you squint hard enough at the local listings, you can find a few theaters still telling new stories.
The indie afterlife comedy Eternity looks like fun and poses some interesting metaphysical questions. Elizabeth Olsen stars as a very recently deceased woman who must decide whether to spend her afterlife with her first husband (Callum Turner) or her second husband (Miles Teller). Heaven also comes with afterlife coordinators (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) and a wide selection of theme-park style forever destinations, like Studio 54 World: “Where the party never ends, and the AIDS crisis didn’t ruin everything.”
Eternity is backed by the reliable indie distributor A24 and has earned adoring early reviews. The movie promises a new spin on an old story template and should be a pretty safe PG-13 family outing for holiday gatherings. This can be important in December.
Historical fiction enthusiasts looking for a weepier time at the movies will want to flag Hamnet, which tells the story of Agnes and William Shakespeare, their young son, and the tragedy that inspired Shakespeare’s greatest play. Filmed on location in London and Wales, the movie promises to be one of those truly transporting experiences—the kind that big-budget productions can really do well—with artful historical recreations of a distant time and place.
Advance word is that the story is emotionally devastating, in a good way, and that leads Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal give astonishing performances. Hamnet is based on the 2020 novel of the same name, which is unbelievably good and won a shelf full of awards. But here’s the best part: The film is directed by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Chloé Zhao (Nomadland), who co-wrote the script with novelist Maggie O’Farrell. That kind of direct collaboration bodes well.
If you’re in the market for something completely different, seek out the delightfully wrong “family horror film” Dust Bunny, in which a desperate eight-year-old girl hires her hitman neighbor to kill the monster under her bed.
Find the trailer online to get a sense of this one, which clearly regards genre fidelity as dubious advice, best ignored. Writer-director Bryan Fuller (TV’s Pushing Daisies) mashes up elements of family drama, crime fiction, urban fantasy, black comedy, and supernatural horror into a pulpy and ambitious storytelling experiment. The professionally menacing Danish actor Mads Mikkelson plays the hitman, and the great Sigourney Weaver drops in as another oddball heavy. Important note: This one is not for little kids!
Quick Picks
Will Arnett and Laura Dern headline the comedy-drama Is This Thing On? concerning marriage, divorce, and the healing powers of open-mic nights in the NYC comedy scene.
When You’re Strange, the 2009 music documentary on The Doors, is getting a 4K digital restoration and theatrical re-release in honor of the band’s 60th anniversary. It’s playing at the Alamo in Raleigh, and it’s worth checking out if all you’ve seen is Oliver Stone’s batshit 1991 biopic.
The fabulous story-in-a-story Kiss of the Spider Woman—previously a novel, stage musical, and brilliant 1985 film—has been reinvented once again by director Bill Condon, starring Diego Luna and Jennifer Lopez. The movie opened in October (and disappeared quickly), but is getting a welcome second run over at the Cary Theater.
Fans of Quentin Tarantino’s martial arts operas will be happy to hear about Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair—a repackaging of the two original films into one four-hour presentation with a 15-minute intermission. Rumor is there are some extra scenes, too.
You Got Gold: A Celebration of John Prine is an intriguing documentary/concert film built around a 2022 Nashville tribute show for the late and beloved songwriter. In the mix: Bonnie Raitt, Dwight Yoakam, Brandi Carlile, Tyler Childers, Lucinda Williams, Bob Weir, and Jason Isbell.
The Chelsea Theatre in Chapel Hill has a nice slate of festival favorites and holiday counterprogramming in December, including the 1970s Brazilian political thriller The Secret Agent; director Josh Safdie’s oddball ping-pong sports drama Marty Supreme (with Timothée Chalamet); and the entirely bananas DIY slapstick comedy Hundreds of Beavers. You’ll want to Google that.
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