Flesh fills up the screen in Mona Fastvold’s “The Testament of Ann Lee.”
It dances, convulses, bleeds; gets caressed and assaulted; gives life, creates violence, and succumbs to death. It is a kinetic showcase for the vessels that we touch the world with, a celebration of the joy they bring and a damnation of the pain they cause. But while bodies hold life here, “The Testament of Ann Lee”—like its titular founder of the Shaker movement—has its focus set on how our inner selves can be freed from our physical constraints.
Tracing Lee’s journey from a young girl in England in the 1730s through her rise to religious leadership and eventual pilgrimage to America, Fastvold’s film never wavers from Lee’s conviction. It is a self-assured piece of filmmaking centered around a magnetic performance from Amanda Seyfried as Lee, who commits to the role with astounding intensity. Seyfried’s Ann feels less like Ingrid Bergman’s stern nun in “The Bells of St. Marys” than Al Pacino’s mobster in “Scarface”—an immigrant blazing with confidence, determined to reshape the promise of America.
Her vision for a new world is one without sexual congress of any kind—a philosophy shaped by Lee’s past sexual trauma and the loss of four young children. That belief ultimately proved to be the Shakers’ fatal flaw; by 2026, only three practicing followers remain. But Fastvold’s beautiful film shows how Ann nevertheless built a movement that offered her followers a new way to use their bodies to connect with themselves and each other—and become more alive in the process.
Now Playing
“Hamnet”
From Academy Award-winning writer/director Chloé Zhao, “Hamnet” tells the powerful story of love and loss that inspired the creation of Shakespeare’s timeless masterpiece, “Hamlet.” Featuring emotional tour-de-force performances from stars Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal, “Hamnet” is an award season juggernaut that will break your heart and heal it before the lights come up.
Nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actress!
“The Secret Agent”
Brazil, 1977. Marcelo, a technology expert in his early 40s, is on the run. Hoping to reunite with his son, he travels to Recife during Carnival but soon realizes that the city is not the safe haven he was expecting. Winner of Best Director and Best Actor at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, “The Secret Agent” is a thematically rich and visually arresting political thriller that blends grindhouse stylization with biting social commentary to weave a vividly dangerous yet darkly human tale.
Nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor!
“No Other Choice”
From Park Chan-wook, the director of “Oldboy” and “The Handmaiden,” comes “No Other Choice,” a wickedly clever takedown of the corporate rat race. When a man is abruptly laid off by the paper company where he has worked tirelessly for many years, he grows increasingly desperate in his new job hunt—doing anything to beat out the competition.
“Marty Supreme”
In 1950s New York City, Marty Mauser (Timothée Chalamet) is a young man with a dream no one respects: to become America’s first table tennis superstar. Going to hell and back in pursuit of greatness, Marty risks everything he has to prove the world wrong in this tense, tender, and funny exploration of the American dream from director Josh Safdie.
Nominated for nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor!
Coming Soon
“Wuthering Heights”
From Emerald Fennell, the Oscar-winning writer-director behind “Promising Young Woman” and “Saltburn,” comes a lurid reimagining of one of the greatest novels ever written. Starring Margot Robbie as Catherine and Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff and featuring original songs from Charli XCX, “Wuthering Heights” promises to be a thoroughly modern reimagining of the classic romance.
Starts February 13.
“The Voice of Hind Rajab”
Incorporating real-life elements that are as difficult to hear as they are impossible to forget, “The Voice of Hind Rajab” follows volunteers at the Palestine Red Crescent Society as they stay on the phone with a six-year-old girl who gets trapped in a car in war-torn Gaza. A harrowing docudrama that makes a powerful appeal to humanity, don’t miss “The Voice of Hind Rajab” when it comes to The Triplex on February 13.
Nominated for the Oscar for Best International Film!
“The Choral”
As World War I rages on, the Choral Society in Ramsden, Yorkshire, decides to recruit local young men to replace the men they have lost to war. Under the direction of new chorus master Henry Guthrie (Ralph Fiennes), the group helps the whole community discover that the best response to the chaos laying waste to their lives is to make music together.
Starts January 16.
“GOAT”
Living in an all-animal world, Will, a small goat with big dreams, gets a once-in-a-lifetime shot to join the pros and play roarball—a high-intensity, co-ed, full-contact sport dominated by the fastest, fiercest animals in the world. Will’s new teammates are not thrilled about having a little goat on their roster, but he is determined to revolutionize the sport and prove once and for all that “smalls can ball!” in this latest adventure from the studio behind “KPop Demon Hunters” and “Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse” and executive producer Stephen Curry.
Starts February 13.
