We usually think of movies as an escape from reality, a fun time. But since the earliest days of film, there have been filmmakers who revel in not just holding up a mirror to our reality, but forcing us to sit in a state of heightened discomfort as we engage with things we really do not want to think about.
Michael Haneke and Lars Von Trier force us to linger in moments of despair and cruelty with no way out. The Sadfie brothers trap us into pressure cookers where there can be no happy endings. Go all the way back to 1929, and you will find Luis Bunuel trying to upset bourgeois sensibilities with a severed eyeball in “Un Chien Andalou.”
Two of the films playing at the Triplex this week come from auteurs who each excel in their own micro-genres of cinematic discomfort. Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Poor Things” continues to explore the intersection of power and sex that has fueled his previous movies like “Dogtooth” and “The Favourite.” Jonathan Glazer returns nine years after “Under the Skin” with another bracingly cold look at humanity in “The Zone of Interest.”
These kinds of directors are usually labeled as provocateurs. And their movies raise the question: Are these essential works that force us to confront the worst parts of ourselves? Or are they pieces of sadistic cruelty from authors who resent their audience?
Basically, are these guys—and they are almost always guys—geniuses or jerks?
Unfortunately, the only way to engage in this debate is to watch these movies and play the director’s game, which might leave you upset and angry and ready to trash the movie to anyone who asks what you think. Or, if they do really know what they’re doing, it will leave you angry and upset and inspired by the way humanity still shines through the cracks of the darkest stories.
Which, hopefully, makes the discomfort worth it.
Now Playing
“Poor Things”
Nominated for 11 Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
The latest collaboration between visionary director Yorgos Lanthimos and producer/star Emma Stone, Poor Things tells the story of a young woman finding new life and liberation in Victorian era Europe. Drawing inspiration from works like Black Narcissus and Fellini’s And the Ship Sails On, Poor Things is already racking up awards for its stunning visuals and performances.
“American Fiction”
Nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
The directorial debut from writer Cord Jefferson (“The Good Place,” “Watchmen”), “American Fiction” is a blazing satire that takes on some of the most divisive issues in American culture. Starring Jeffrey Wright, Issa Rae, Sterling K. Brown, Tracee Ellis Ross, and many more, “American Fiction” is the story of a writer embracing the racial stereotypes he has spent a lifetime avoiding and finding unexpected success in return.
“The Zone of Interest”
Nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
From director Jonathan Glazer (“Sexy Beast,” “Under the Skin”), “The Zone of Interest” is a bracing look at the mundanity of evil. Following the daily life of a Nazi family in their home next to Auschwitz, this is a chilling movie that forces the audience to contemplate the ways everyday people become complicit in atrocities.
Coming Soon
“The Taste of Things”
A simmering tale of romance comes to the Triplex on Valentine’s Day. Winner of the Best Director award at Cannes for director Trần Anh Hùng, “The Taste of Things” stars Juliette Binoche and Benoît Magimel as two chefs who learn to use food as their love language.
“Bob Marley: One Love”
From Reinaldo Marcus Green, the director of “Monsters and Men” and “King Richard,” comes an intimate look at one of the most legendary names in music. “Bob Marley: One Love” stars Kingsley Ben-Adir (“One Night in Miami,” “Barbie”) as the musician, activist, and Jamaican icon.
