Cinema News: Movies Update: ‘Passing,’ ‘Belfast’ and More

November 12, 2021

By Mekado Murphy

Movies Editor

Hey, movie fans!

Are movies more powerful in black and white? A couple of new releases will give you the chance to answer that for yourself. One, the period drama "Passing," starring Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga, is on Netflix. In her review, Manohla Dargis writes that the film's screenwriter and director, Rebecca Hall, "fits an extraordinary amount into her version of this streamlined, deceptively simple story of two women whose lives intersect in ways they don't or can't fully grasp."

"Belfast," Kenneth Branagh's reflection on his childhood in Northern Ireland, is in theaters. In her review, Jeannette Catsoulis writes that Branagh's work is "a charming, rose-tinted thank-you note to the city that sparked his dreams and the parents whose sacrifices helped them come true."

If you're looking for options beyond black-and-white, you can start with the color red. Netflix has the action-adventure film "Red Notice," starring Dwayne Johnson, Ryan Reynolds and Gal Gadot. And Paramount+ has "Clifford the Big Red Dog," about, well, you can probably guess.

And there are plenty more release options this week to choose from below. Check them out and enjoy the movies!

Netflix

Critic's Pick

'Passing' Review: Black Skin, White Masks

Rebecca Hall's piercing drama stars Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga as old friends navigating the color line in 1920s New York.

By Manohla Dargis

Rob Youngson/Focus Features

Critic's Pick

'Belfast' Review: A Boy's Life

In this charming memoir, Kenneth Branagh recalls his childhood in Northern Ireland through a rose-tinted lens.

By Jeannette Catsoulis

Ryan Pfluger for The New York Times

The Projectionist

Lady Gaga and Ridley Scott on 'House of Gucci': When Beauty Turns Ugly

To play a fashionista willing to kill in the director's fact-based drama, his star plunged deeply into character. "How could I possibly turn it off?" she said.

By Kyle Buchanan

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CRITICS' PICKS

Big World Pictures

Critic's Pick

'Uppercase Print' Review: Between the Lines

Radu Jude's rousing, form-bending new feature rails at the power of propaganda to suffocate people's freedoms.

By Devika Girish

MSNBC Films

Critic's Pick

'Paper & Glue' Review: A Sequel of Sorts to 'Faces Places'

JR, plying his art of making and displaying gigantic portraits, carries on, this time without the inimitable Agnès Varda.

By Lisa Kennedy

Aline Arruda/Netflix

Critic's Pick

'7 Prisoners' Review: Survival at Any Cost

Alexandre Moratto plunges into the psychological traumas of human trafficking in this gripping Brazilian drama on Netflix.

By Isabelia Herrera

ANATOMY OF A SCENE

Pablo Larrain/Neon

Anatomy of a Scene

Watch Kristen Stewart Embody Princess Diana in 'Spencer'

The director Pablo Larraín narrates a sequence from his film.

By Mekado Murphy

MOVIE REVIEWS

Marius Land/Mubi

'What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?' Review: But I Digress

Two strangers become near-lovers in a movie that invites you to think more about the perfectly, simply, ordinary life around them.

By Manohla Dargis

Paul Child/Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University/Sony Pictures Classics

'Julia' Review: She Changed Your Life and Your Utensil Drawer

An invigorating new documentary looks back on Julia Child and her influence on how Americans cook and eat.

By Glenn Kenny

Amazon Studios

'Mayor Pete' Review: Politics Is Local

This film, which follows Pete Buttigieg on his campaign for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, rarely captures him in what looks like an unselfconscious moment.

By Ben Kenigsberg

Parker Hill and Isabel Bethencourt/Showtime

'Cusp' Review: Teenage Girls, Stuck With Shrugging Off Harm

What starts as a documentary about three Texan high schoolers becomes a look at the normalization of sexual abuse.

By Beatrice Loayza

Samuel Goldwyn Films

'Night Raiders' Review: A Future That Resembles the Past

A mother joins a group of vigilantes to help free her daughter from a state-run academy in this feature from Danis Goulet.

By Devika Girish

Film Movement

'They Say Nothing Stays the Same' Review: Crossing a Modern River

Two events disturb the placid surfaces of a boatman's world: the building of a nearby bridge, and his discovery of a young woman floating in the water.

By Nicolas Rapold

ABC News

'3212 Un-Redacted' Review: Trying to Solve a Mission's Mysteries

The documentary looks into the complex circumstances involving four American soldiers who were killed in an ambush in Niger in 2017.

By Ben Kenigsberg

Garcia/Blue Fox Entertainment

'Love Is Love Is Love' Review: Aging Too Gracefully

The characters in this idle drama, directed by Eleanor Coppola, seem mostly content. That's the problem.

By Teo Bugbee

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STREAMING RECOMMENDATIONS

Kamikaze Dogfight

Five Horror Movies to Stream Now

This month's picks include mutants in love and mushrooms out for blood.

By Erik Piepenburg

Andrew Schwartz/Paramount Pictures

Stream These 11 Titles Before They Leave Netflix in November

Jack Black, Michael B. Jordan, Matthew McConaughey: A lot of favorites are leaving for U.S. subscribers this month.

By Jason Bailey

NEWS & FEATURES

Tonje Thilesen for The New York Times

'Always Jane' Is Part of a New Generation of Trans Documentaries

For decades, films about transgender people tended to be sensationalistic. A newer crop is more celebratory — and opening doors for its young subjects.

By Robert Ito