Cinema News: Movies Update: ‘The Woman King’ and More

September 16, 2022

By Stephanie Goodman

Film Editor

Hi, movie fans!

We're in the thick of what feels like a revitalized fall film season — or maybe it's that the festivals seem like they're back to their prepandemic selves, overflowing with so much interesting work that I can't keep up.

Our co-chief critic Manohla Dargis has just returned from the annual Toronto International Film Festival and reports happily that there was a bounty of projects by women about women, ranging from chamber pieces to spectacles: "For someone who makes a living primarily writing about movies made by men with men and for men, it was especially gratifying," she wrote as part of her look at especially notable work.

Our columnist Kyle Buchanan is also back from the festivals (Toronto as well as a drama-filled Venice) and has this roundup of titles that debuted there and got an awards-season boost. Women-led films figure prominently in this list, including "Everything Everywhere All at Once" (starring Michelle Yeoh), "Tár" (with Cate Blanchett), "Women Talking" (directed by Sarah Polley) and "The Woman King" (directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood and starring Viola Davis).

Prince-Bythewood talks about her choices for "The Woman King" in Mekado Murphy's Anatomy of a Scene series. The 19th-century tale of female warriors, in theaters, is a Critic's Pick, with Dargis calling it "a sweeping entertainment."

Other new releases this week include the David Bowie documentary "Moonage Daydream." The co-chief critic A.O. Scott described it as more of a séance than a biography, and wrote that the director, Brett Morgen, "conjures the singer's presence through an artful collage of concert footage and other archival material."

Whatever you decide to watch, enjoy the movies!

Sony Pictures, via Associated Press

Critic's Pick

'The Woman King' Review: She Slays

Viola Davis leads a strong cast into battle in an epic from Gina Prince-Bythewood, inspired by real women warriors.

By Manohla Dargis

via Nan Goldin and Neon

Critic's Notebook

In Toronto, Films by Women About Women, but That's Where the Similarities End

The Toronto International Film Festival returns to business mostly as usual with throngs of excited attendees and some of the year's most anticipated new movies.

By Manohla Dargis

Clockwise from top left: A24; Michael Gibson/Orion Releasing; A24; Merie Weismiller Wallace/Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment

The Projectionist

The Eight Film Festival Movies That Got the Biggest Awards Boost

"Women Talking," women fighting, a pair of Brendans and more: After Toronto, Venice and Telluride, here are the titles and performances in the conversation.

By Kyle Buchanan

Zoetrope Studios

An Appraisal

Godard Taught Me How to Watch Cinema, Even as He Kept Reinventing It

Jean-Luc Godard was a prophet of film's future as an art form, layering images and sound that the body could sink into and the mind could puzzle through.

By Manohla Dargis

Continue reading the main story

CRITICS' PICKS

Mubi	Critic's Pick 'The African Desperate' Review: Double Speak Martine Syms's whip-smart satire brings the invisible, everyday negotiations of a Black artist to startlingly visual life. By Devika Girish

Magnolia Pictures

Critic's Pick

'Riotsville, USA' Review: A Fake Town to Explore Ongoing Unrest

A documentary delves into the responses to the 1960s protests, revealing uncomfortable truths about that time and ours.

By Glenn Kenny

LightDox

Critic's Pick

'Terra Femme' Review: How Women Have Seen the World

An assemblage of travelogues shot by women from the 1920s through the 1950s, this experimental essay film can be seen with either live or prerecorded narration.

By Ben Kenigsberg

ANATOMY OF A SCENE

.	Anatomy of a Scene Watch Warriors in Training in 'The Woman King' The actors perform their own stunts, including a couple of flips to the dirt, in this scene from the film. The director Gina Prince-Bythewood narrates. By Mekado Murphy

MOVIE REVIEWS

Neon	'Moonage Daydream' Review: David Bowie's Sound and Vision Brett Morgen's new documentary about the singer uses archival material, not talking heads. But the film is more séance than biography. By A.O. Scott

Kim Simms/Netflix

'Do Revenge' Review: Strangers on a Text Chain

Two high school girls with grudges form a bond to get back at those who wronged them.

By Amy Nicholson

IFC Films

'God's Country' Review: A Solitary Woman Isn't Left Alone for Long

In this simmering thriller, Thandiwe Newton plays a professor in rural Montana who confronts two hunters who say they're just passing through.

By Manohla Dargis

Lukasz Bak/Focus Features

'The Silent Twins' Review: Keeping the World at Bay

A beguiling look at the complicated story of the real-life twins June and Jennifer Gibbons, who lived in a mental institution for over a decade.

By Beandrea July

A24	'Pearl' Review: A Farmer's Daughter Moves Up the Food Chain A horror-movie killer gets a surprising origin story in Ti West's prequel to "X." By A.O. Scott

Netflix

'Drifting Home' Review: A Sinking Development

Two friends visit their old apartment building and make haunting discoveries in this animated film from Hiroyasu Ishida.

By Maya Phillips

Parisa Taghizadeh/Searchlight Pictures

'See How They Run' Review: An Agatha Christie Mystery Spoof

Unraveling a murder case backstage at a Christie play in 1950s London.

By Teo Bugbee

David Giesbrecht/Prime Video

'Goodnight Mommy' Review: Behind the Mask

Twin boys worry that their mother might be an impostor in this disappointing remake.

By Jeannette Catsoulis

Continue reading the main story

NEWS & FEATURES

Steve Swisher/Focus Features

Critic's Notebook

God Loves a Show: Religious Satires Reveal the Art of Acting Faithful

In films like "Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul" and shows like "The Righteous Gemstones," pageantry is the top priority.

By Maya Phillips

Mark Blinch/Reuters

To Deal With Film Festival Pressure, Sarah Polley Heads for the Hills

Hiking helped the actress-turned-auteur as she premiered her buzzy drama "Women Talking" in Telluride and Toronto.

By Kyle Buchanan

Elizabeth Weinberg for The New York Times

Will the Spiraling Publicity Harm 'Don't Worry Darling' at the Box Office?

A series of missteps on the promotional trail has raised questions about the film's viability and its director, Olivia Wilde.

By Nicole Sperling

Lukasz Bak/Focus Features

What's So Frightening About Identical Twins?

"The Silent Twins," a new film starring Letitia Wright and Tamara Lawrance, sets out to show the complexity of twinship onscreen.

By Charlie Brinkhurst-Cuff

Matt Licari/Invision, Associated Press

With an Israeli Superhero, Marvel Wades Into an Intractable Conflict

The studio has angered many Palestinians and their supporters by casting the actress Shira Haas to play Sabra, a mutant Mossad agent, in a "Captain America" movie.

By Isabel Kershner

STREAMING RECOMMENDATIONS

Rialto Pictures/StudioCanal

9 Great Godard Films to Stream Now

From the youthful New Wave excitement of "Breathless" to the experimental works of his old age, Godard changed cinema.

By Noel Murray

IFC Midnight

Five Horror Movies to Stream Now

This month's picks include two of the best horror films of the year, two thrillers about online exploitation and one dark fairy tale about a monster named Alli.

By Erik Piepenburg