FILMS from AFAR

If you’ve read anything about Past Lives, you’ve likely heard about the love story at the film’s core or the Korean fate-oriented concept of In-Yun that is woven throughout the tale. The film, which premiered at Sundance and competed in Berlin in 2023, is indeed a quietly powerful story of friendship, love and the winding paths our lives can take. But it is also a story about immigration, of straddling two cultures, and a meditation on the rewards and losses of making more than one country home. Read the full review at AWFJ.org Image courtesy of A24.

Barbie, the movie, may be many things to many people. When this viewer attended – in Madrid, Spain, on vacation and traipsing out to the suburbs to find a subtitled (rather than dubbed) version that wasn’t sold out on a Wednesday night – moms and daughters, couples, and groups of all ages packed the cinema, many donning pink. Less than a week into its release, Barbie was already well on its way to becoming a social phenomenon. That seems fitting for the source material. Director Greta Gerwig is extremely faithful to Barbie’s style, history and various incarnations, and her team has done a dazzling job of creating a life-size world of Dreamhouses, pink convertibles and candy-colored props. Also like its namesake doll, the movie’s global appeal is reinforced by the simplicity of its messages. There’s nothing subtle about Barbie. We like playing with her without having to think too hard. Read the full review on AWFJ.org Image courtesy of Warner Bros.

If you're fine with far-fetched fight sequences and clunky dialogues, and so long as you don't dig too deep into the proverbial sands of this film's messages, the desert-set buddy thriller may entertain. Hidden Strike features rousing choreography carefully tailored to its lead duo's talents, namely Chan's martial arts skills and Cena's brute strength. The action is paired with buddy humor and a dash of cross-cultural commentary. In between fight sequences, and sometimes during, Chan and Cena engage in goofy verbal spars and mutual jabbing (the Americans come off worse). The storyline taps into fatigue with the so-called forever wars in the Middle East and a plague of mercenaries and corporations looking to profit off the devastated region. But don't expect much commentary on either. Read the full review at Common Sense Media. Images courtesy of Netflix.

This low-key ensemble hiking tale matches its forest setting -- attractive but never stunning, pleasant but not extraordinary. Happiness for Beginners is such an enticing title, and indeed its characters are mostly young (or young-ish) adults trying to overcome life's obstacles. Some of those obstacles are weightier than others, and the film's handling of darker issues -- like death, disease, divorce, and relationships -- could come across as slightly superficial. Topics feel managed to keep the overall tone upbeat. In that sense, the film is neither pure comedy nor pure drama, and it never quite hits any real comedic or dramatic highs (Nico Santos' humorous turn gets the most laughs). Still, it's a well-acted and agreeable watch. Read the full review at Common Sense Media. Images courtesy of Netflix.

You don't have to have watched Sandra Bullock-led Bird Box to be interested in this intense spin-off; coming in new might actually heighten the suspense. Bird Box Barcelona relocates the action to Spain, depleting the titular city of all color to create a brownish-grey post-apocalyptic setting. The new location, international cast (led by popular Spanish actor Casas and other locally recognizable actors), story and character alterations, and amplification of Catholic iconography (including a villainous priest played by Argentine veteran Leonardo Sbaraglia) could all provide new points of interest for viewers. But they'll quickly discover that the main ideas and graphic, aim-to-shock violence are still here. How can people kill themselves? Let this film count the ways. Read the full review at Common Sense Media. Images courtesy of Netflix.

This Happy Madison production has Adam Sandler written all over it -- not a compliment in this case, as the cast of talents and funny premise are undermined by some of the Sandler-style antics. The Out-Laws lets the genuinely funny Devine and icons Brosnan and Barkin get overwhelmed by a mish-mash of gags and gross-outs. The film lands some laughs, mostly exploiting Devine's physical comedy and Brosnan's physical attractiveness (watch for the Bond reference). But the gratuitous violence and crass humor muddy the tone. Comic Kind is in especially good form as the nerdy dad, but Jagannathan, so sophisticated as the mom in Netflix's Never Have I Ever, is miscast as a heartless mobster. Read the full review at Common Sense Media. Images courtesy of Netflix.

Spain's version of tortured Gen Z love (think After or The Kissing Booth), this film series is proving popular on Netflix despite flimsy characters and predictable plots. What Through My Window: Across the Sea has, like those other film series, is beautiful people enjoying their youth, having sex, and partying. Nothing wrong with that, but it would be much more interesting to watch if the characters had more personality. We're meant to believe Raquel is a talented writer, for instance, but there's nothing in her dialogues or actions that suggests a thinker's interior world. Meanwhile, young women seem to relate to their male counterparts in this group mostly through the power of their sexuality. One character, Claudia, keeps returning to a relationship with Ares' big brother Artemis despite shockingly humiliating treatment. Here's hoping the writers give these characters more redeeming qualities in the promised next sequel. What saves the proceedings is the stunning Catalan setting. Though nighttime scenes, like in the original, are filmed with such limited lighting that they're difficult to watch on a small screen, the daytime locations on the Costa Brava memorably show off the region's natural beauty. Cinematographer Marc Miró sends his camera high above ground to capture coastal panoramas and under the clear blue waters of the sparkling Mediterranean. Read the full review at Common Sense Media. Images courtesy of Netflix.

This empowering biopic is driven by a brisk pace and a charismatic performance from star García. That said, the film's insistence on idealizing its subject could leave some viewers unsatisfied. Flamin' Hot is predictable but entertaining in its rags-to-riches tale featuring a Latino lead with a big heart, big ideas, and little cultural or financial capital. There's some creative visual storytelling, like putting dates on packages and chips on the factory floor to show time passing, or having García amusingly narrate executives' C-suite meetings using street slang as he imagines them bullying one another. Music, editing, and Garcia's spirited performance infuse the film with energy. García is the beating heart of this movie, narrating the tale and splashing his monologues and dialogues with Spanish expressions and terms. He's charismatic in the role, mirroring real Montañez, by all accounts. That resourcefulness and relentless charm are part of his legend, although the facts around Montañez's version of his role in Frito-Lay history have been publicly scrutinized. The film opts to gloss over this, with brief scenes mentioning the invention and use of a lab-manufactured spicy powder, and end credits continuing the celebration of the real Montañez's family, life, and career. That glossing over may or may not bother you. It doesn't make the film less entertaining in and of itself, and underestimating viewers' ability to grapple with grey areas hasn't seemed to pose a problem for much of contemporary Hollywood cinema. Read the full review at Common Sense Media. Images courtesy of Searchlight Pictures.

The Danes do melodrama well, and this romance -- set to melodic tunes by the blue-eyed pop star Christopher -- will tug at your heartstrings. A Beautiful Life is a small cut above many of the romances Netflix has churned out in recent years. Its dramatic points are a little edgier and a little less predictable, and the romance is more mature. Christopher makes a fine acting debut here and the film succeeds where it needs to, even if the singer's rise to fame and romantic relationship feel rushed, and some of the characters -- notably the mother and the producer -- rest heavily on clichés. The music is a nice addition. Read the full review at Common Sense Media. Images courtesy of Netflix.

Dalíland is a vibe. It’s never easy to capture the spirit of an individual on screen, particularly one as unusual and provocative as Salvador Dalí. The biographical details tend to be easier, depending on how a script is structured. Director Mary Harron’s effort, working from a script by her husband, John Walsh, is a mixed bag. Some aspects are wild, funny, and colorful, as the Catalan artist by all accounts was himself. Other parts of this movie, including some forced exposition through flashbacks and an ultimately cynical view of the surrealist painter and his wife, are questionable. Read the full review at AWFJ.org Image courtesy of Magnolia Pictures

Reminiscent of a body of 1990s and early 2000s international films, this romanticized drama may feel a little manipulative in its storytelling and style, but it's an effective and worthwhile movie. As in Where the Tracks End, a child protagonist whose life is changed for the better thanks to a teacher or mentor is a common theme in films like Butterfly's Tongue from Spain, The Chorus from France, or Cinema Paradiso from Italy. They all brandished innocent kids, predictable heartbreak, and a similar aesthetic vibe with musical scores and cinematography designed to elicit maximum emotion. Where the Tracks End is ultimately about the inspirational power of a caring teacher, played wonderfully by Barraza, and the deep bonds of childhood friendships, with four young actors embodying the roles with relatively unforced authenticity. The film seems to suggest these bonds may be especially strong among children from disadvantaged backgrounds, like the kids of day and migrant railroad laborers in rural Mexico seen here. The story touches on the feelings of first love, the exploitation and occasional resentment of laborers, the privilege of a good education, the pain of loss, and the lessons learned from friendship. Leave your cynicism at the door, have the Kleenex handy, and lean into this heartwarming tale. Read the full review at CommonSenseMedia Images courtesy of Netflix

The way director Davis Guggenheim has seamlessly overlapped reenactments with archive footage and new film and interviews to tell Fox's remarkable story adds up to a uniquely engrossing documentary. The opening sequence of Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie reenacts a story, set to Fox's own voiceover, of the first time the actor noticed a vibration in his pinky, waking up hungover in a Florida hotel in 1990. Shot and narrated to elicit maximum suspense, the attention-grabbing scene quickly transitions to Fox in bed at his home today, struggling against the constant tremors of Parkinson's to get out of bed and brush his teeth. Cut to a noticeably aged but irrepressibly roguish Fox in a bright white room being interviewed on camera by Guggenheim. The montage technique is woven throughout the rest of the film, with actors (never seen in full) portraying Fox, wife Tracy Pollan, and others, acting out past experiences Fox narrates, then meshing flawlessly into actual behind-the-scenes footage from the period. The film also uses scenes from Fox's own films and TV shows to illustrate points Fox makes about his life. It might inject unintended meaning into some of the footage, but it makes for compelling visual storytelling. Fox comes across as much gristlier than his squeaky-clean '80s on-screen image, when he was the "boy prince of Hollywood." The man has a mouth on him too. "I'm a tough son of a bitch. I'm a cockroach," he says, describing past bouts of rage and alcoholism and insisting he doesn't want pity -- even as he falls in front of passers-by or struggles through physical therapy sessions. The cruel irony of a comedic actor losing the ability to move his face or spout off rapid-fire cracks is not lost. Time is short to tell his tale, and Fox -- with Guggenheim's help -- has told it well. Read the full review at CommonSenseMedia Image courtesy of Apple TV+