Thursday, September 18th - Sunday, September 21st, 2025 (Link to Lost Weekend’s website)

The Long Run 6 / 10

Road trip movie about two people going to Los Angelos to be actors. Started off a little rough because the female lead reminded me of someone not great from my life. Early in the movie an acting coach explains that sometimes an actor doesn’t get the part because the auditioned reminds the casting director of their ex husband’s new girlfriend. I suppose that happened a bit here. So, for everyone else in the world, perhaps round up a point or two.

Several very good scenes between characters, however most of the ones I found most powerful involved characters other than the main characters.

The Divine Sarah Bernhardt 7 / 10

Fictionalized biopic of French actress. Terrific shooting locations, wardrobe, props. Wild story. As I’m unfamiliar with the real life Sarah Bernhardt, I have no idea as to how much of what was portrayed was accurate or not.

Amira & Sam 9 / 10

Romance from differences. Starts with man coming back from yours in Afghanistan and Iraq reuniting with an Iraqi translator who had moved to New York. I have very little about this that I think I could share without further spoiling the movie. I do think that the story was terrific.

Pabrik Gula 5 / 10

Java set horror movie that feels like it took all of its tricks from Western horror, removed Christianity, inserted Javanese Islam sprinkled with pre-colonial indigenous beliefs? Comedic relief characters made this horror movie worth watching, but seeing a horror movie from a different culture was nice. As a strange aside, I found out that this is one of several movies that have been adapted from an anonymous person going by the name @SimpleMan who writes horror on a Twitter X account as lengthy threads.

The Ties That Bind Us 8 / 10

Following the death of a character, the surviving family members get tangled up in a neighbor’s life, and things get messy. It’s a good story about grief and how people fit together into to each others lives.

Lesbian Space Princess 8 / 10

Terrifically funny Australian animated movie. Was one of the more enjoyable watches of the weekend.

The Glassworker - * / 10

Pakistani studio that took a lot of pages from Studio Ghibli. Beautiful animation and story, just like Ghibili lengthy chunks that are slow and quiet. If you like Ghibli at its slowest, you’ll probably like this movie. I ultimately decided to skip actually giving this movie a score, because those Studio Ghibli movies that I’ve gestured at? I don’t like them. Just like this movie - the art is terrific, the message of the stories is great - but the movie just moves so incredibly slow for me. They’re well loved by many, so ultimately this is a me problem, not a movie problem. The Glassworker also has quite a few scenes that were just too slow for me, but that’s the point - they’re intentionally slow. Know yourself on this one.

Zurawski v Texas - 7 / 10

Documentary that covers how Texas’s poorly written anti-abortion laws have and continue to harm women who have medically dangerous pregnancies. As you may imagine, there are plenty of scenes in the movie where women, their partners, and their children recount personal pain and tragedies. Hillary Clinton (and her daughter) are producers on the documentary. Wasn’t Hillary Clinton the nominee for the American political party that has been promising to “enshrine” abortion rights into federal law for my entire mortal life, yet seems like they’ve never actually tried? Probably cost this film a star because the Clintons’ names were on it.

Mr. K - 4 / 10

I hate to give absolutely anything Crispin Glover is in a lukewarm review, but today is the day. The movie has a lot of components to it that continually felt like it was about to add up to something profound. A man is trapped in a hotel that becomes increasingly hostile and bizarre. It’s filled with people who don’t seem to realize that they’re also trapped there. At times I felt that it was a criticism of capitalism. Or an unhealthy work ethic. Or some sort of analogy for the arbitrariness of life. The whole thing had a purgatorial feel, which carried it a long way for me, but it just didn’t total up to a story that I understood. Typically, I appreciate a movie that doesn’t spoon feed the audience everything, but this is one that I wouldn’t have minded a couple of those spoons.

American Theater - 5 / 10

Documentary about some Donald Trump fans that claimed to have been “cancelled” (but are incredibly vague as to the circumstances of what led to that and what “cancelled” looks like for them) put together a play riffing on the Salem witch trials that, I guess, are supposed to be a metaphor for being socially ostracized. Personally, I doubt that being “cancelled” has any realistic corollary for being murdered by your neighbors on the baseless claims stemming from their own superstitious imaginations, but - what do I know?

It had its entertaining moments. The production that was eventually done seemed very interesting and creative and something that I’d probably attend. However, doing some external research about some of the principal people in the production made me think that the documentary intentionally omitted information. Perhaps it was part of the deal for the documentary to be made in the first place, but … rubbed me the wrong way.

The Musicians - 6 / 10

Fictional movie about four musicians brought together to play legendary instruments. I liked the music. Some of the characters finally coming together were moving. However, I did have some trouble relating to incredibly rich people struggling to get prima donna musicians to play overvalued stringed instruments for profit.

Anchorage - 7 / 10

Although this one isn’t the highest rated of the Lost Weekend for me, I do think it may be one of my favorites. There was a Q&A with the director Scott Monahan following the screening. Turns out, I had had a brief conversation with him after American Theater in which he mentioned some of the immersive theater that he had seen or been involved in while in New York.

Ron Delsener Presents - 7 / 10

Music documentary about a man whose name I have no recollection of ever hearing, and it turns out that most of the major music groups passing through New York City for decades were likely a result of him. Although the story is certainly focused on him, it is a trip through a big slice of American musical history. I particularly appreciated the part where he dismissed KISS as an act no one would care about and had to be talked into booking them.

The Ice Tower - 5 / 10

French film about an orphan who winds up in a movie, following being metaphorically enchanted by the leading lady. This one turned out to be another Mr. K for me. It had so many pieces that I feel like should have totaled up to movie that very much worked for me, however - maybe it is a lost in translation issue - it didn’t, and I felt bored by the end of it. Beautiful film, but its story grabbed me in the beginning, only to lose me later.