Joey Magidson
Welcome back to my Home Movies! This week, we have two Oscar nominees hitting shelves in Nosferatu and September 5. We also have The Order hitting shelves today, as well as a pair of Criterion Collection releases. What else is available to own? Find out below…
Joey’s Top Pick
September 5
An incredible tense and thrilling yet always entertaining film, September 5 is one of 2024’s highlights, featuring some tremendous work from John Magaro and Peter Sarsgaard. That it never quite took hold like it should, yet still scored an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay, speaks to its power among those who actually caught it. You can find my conversation with co-star Leonie Benesch here, while this here is what I said in my rave review of the flick:
We live in a time where it feels like telling the news fast can often supersede telling it accurately. This goes beyond even the plague that is fake news, too. So, something like September 5, which is a tribute to reporting the correct story, especially when the stakes are high, comes off like a welcome tonic. The fact that the film does it in a thrilling manner as well, within a constricted time period, only makes the accomplishment more noteworthy. This is one of the best movies of the year.
September 5 is as intense a film as there is in 2024. That achievement really stands out when you consider that this is a depiction of history in action, with the end result preordained and well known already. The flick efficiently sets up the story, then is almost unrelenting in making it a white-knuckle thrill ride, all while what we’re watching are newspeople in action, watching history unfold before their eyes.
Recommended Viewing
Nosferatu
People have certainly succumbed to the darkness with Robert Eggers‘ take on Nosferatu. I spoke to Eggers himself here, while I also chatted with star Lily-Rose Depp here and co-star Willem Dafoe here. Everyone is on boars for this bleak yet also beautiful vision. Truly, it does feel one of a kind. In my review of the film here, I said the following:
Succumb to the darkness. That’s been the Focus Features marketing slogan for Nosferatu. It’s an apt one, too, as this Robert Eggers passion project does not shy away from the darkness of the Dracula type story, nor does it avoid the seduction. There’s plenty of gross moments in the film, but it also has an element of longing that really plays. Eggers brings his unique precision and craftsmanship to the vampire tale, making it the sort of feel-bad holiday offering that cinephiles should go nuts over.
Nosferatu is Eggers with no filter. It proves that he’s a good match for the material, befitting his longstanding interest in making this movie, but it also means that this is not quite a mainstream horror flick. Gross and weird, while also being classically haunting is perfect for the arthouse, especially given Eggers’ instincts. The multiplex? Well, that can be a harder sell. At the same time, anyone who gets bored with this one either is unfamiliar with his previous outings, has no patience for a story breathing, or just doesn’t get what he’s putting down. Being on the Eggers wavelength is key here.
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The Order
One of the more underrated and under-seen of the late releases last year, The Order impressed on the fall festival circuit, while never really generating any sustainable buzz. Moreover, it’s wild that I never knew about this true crime tale, which is something I spoke about here with screenwriter Zach Baylin. Riveting yet also supremely enjoyable, it’s rock solid. My Toronto International Film Festival review of the movie here began like so:
How did I not know about this story? When you see what The Order is about, it’s going to be shocking that this isn’t a bit of history we’re well aware of. That it makes for such a compelling movie is only further evidence of that. Playing at the Toronto International Film Festival, this is a police procedural that mixes action and history to strong effect.
The Order is a procedural at its core, to be sure, but the subject matter lends it a bit of additional weight. We’re watching the cops work to catch the bad guys, ultimately, but the details are so unique here. It does a lot to make any of the generic elements feel less so. Moreover, the procedural elements are so well handled, it’s unlikely you’ll mind much in the first place.
Also Available This Week
Directed by David Fincher
Cinematography by Jeff Cronenweth
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim
Panic Room (4K)
The Social Network (4K)
Summer Rental (Blu-ray)
Criterion Corner
Drugstore Cowboy
From The Criterion Collection: “Gus Van Sant’s dreamy, drifty, deadpan second feature—an addiction drama based on James Fogle’s autobiographical novel—captures the zonked-out textures and almost surreal absurdity of a life lived fix to fix. Swinging between dope-fueled disconnection and edgy paranoia, Matt Dillon plays the leader of a ragtag crew (also featuring Kelly Lynch, Heather Graham, and James Le Gros) that robs pharmacies for pills, coasting across the 1970s Pacific Northwest while trying to outrun sobriety and fate. With a brilliant supporting turn from counterculture high priest William S. Burroughs and a lyrical feeling for the streetscapes of Van Sant’s hometown of Portland, Oregon, Drugstore Cowboy cemented the director’s status as a preeminent poet of outsiderhood.”
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Last Summer
From The Criterion Collection: “After a decade-long absence, Catherine Breillat triumphantly returns with an exploration of the themes that have made her one of cinema’s most rousing and controversial directors: the ecstasies and wounds of sexuality, and its power to unsettle. A remarkably inscrutable Léa Drucker plays Anne—an attorney advocating for abused minors—who enjoys an enviable lifestyle with her husband, Pierre (Olivier Rabourdin), a milquetoast businessman and ineffectual father to Théo (newcomer Samuel Kircher), his troubled teenage son from a previous marriage. Compelled by her stepson’s Apollonian beauty, Anne embarks on an affair that threatens the stability of her household, along with her professional integrity, as she faces a choice between accountability and deception. Original music by Kim Gordon and radiantly expressionist cinematography by Jeanne Lapoirie heighten the erotic and ethical tensions of Last Summer, Breillat’s latest foray into the outer limits of desire.”
Stay tuned for more next week…
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