AIR May 2019

Critique
MAY 2019: ISSUE 96
Film
Late Night
Dir: Nisha Gantara
A legendary late-night talk
show host’s world is turned
upside down when she hires
her only female staff writer
AT BEST: “It’s a charming,
intelligent movie with a lot
of heart and, naturally,
some killer jokes”
New York Post
AT WORST: “It’s telling that
The Devil Wears Prada,
the closest thematic
comparison to Kaling’s
scenario, feels more
fearless and timely, even
though it’s 13 years old.”
Time Out
The Third Wife
Dir: Ashleigh Mayfair II
AIR
A young girl in 19 th century rural Vietnam becomes the third wife of a
wealthy landowner, soon learning the reality of her few life choices
AT BEST: “Deals with harrowing subject-matter in a restrained,
tactful and aesthetically entrancing style.” Hollywood Reporter
AT WORST: “Mayfair reveals the consequences of injustice in their
tense brutality, despite never relinquishing her handle on the aesthetic
beauty housing those horrors.” The Film Stage
The Biggest Little Farm
Dir: John Chester
A documentary charting a couple’s development of their sustainable
farm on 200 acres of land outside of Los Angeles
AT BEST: “Has the power to give birth to a new generation of
inspired farmers, determined to invest in the future of the planet.”
Film Journal International
AT WORST: “Audiences won’t watch it and go back to the land. But
they might come back and see it again.” Screen International
Clara
Dir: Akash Sherman
An astronomer meets an artist who shares his fascination for the
wonders of space – leading to a profound astronomical discovery
AT BEST: “...Like Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar, [this film] provides
storytelling that pays so much time to the science, while also providing
a very human narrative.” Much Ado About Cinema
AT WORST: “The well-acted Clara lacks clarity, and there’s nothing worse
than an out-of-focus telescope.” Globe and Mail
Images: Amazon Studios; Serendipity Point Films; NEON; Film Movement
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