Provocative Fall Movies
The season’s stunners
Author: The JT LeRoy Story
This documentary by Jeff Feuerzeig explores the phenomenon of “author” JT LeRoy, the androgynous and abused West Virginia teenager who allegedly wrote the cult books Sarah and The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things, and who turned out to be a hoax. LeRoy was the creation (or “avatar”) of an older woman writer, Laura Albert, and the revelation that Albert’s sister-in-law was playing LeRoy at public appearances, at which LeRoy palled around with notable artists and celebrities, caused a major scandal.
Snowden
Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars as the infamous NSA contractor, Edward Snowden, the man who carefully leaked a treasure-trove of secret government files and then went into exile, in this new biographical thriller by controversy-magnet Oliver Stone. Nicolas Cage, Shailene Woodley, Scott Eastwood, Zachary Quinto and Melissa Leo round out the cast.
The Lovers and the Despot
Before there was North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, there was his dad, the equally despotic Kim Jong-il, who also happened to be a movie fanatic. In 1977 daddy Kim kidnapped a South Korean actress and director, who were lovers, and forced them to make Kim’s version of home movies. A fascinating and chilling documentary.
The Queen of Katwe
It’s one thing if a young girl grows up to become an international chess champion, it’s another if that girl comes from a dirt-poor slum in Uganda, having dropped out of school at nine because her family couldn’t afford it. Academy Award winner Lupita Nyong’o stars as the mother of the real-life prodigy, Phiona Mutesi (Madina Nalwanga), who, with the help of a trainer (David Oyelowo, who played Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma) made it all the way to Chess Olympiads. Directed by Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding).
The Accountant
Opening in theaters October 14: Ben Affleck stars as a math savant with some interpersonal disabilities related to autism. In short: he’s a CPA, but of the antihero variety—he cooks books for criminal organizations until he’s hired by a robotics company to help them save the day. It’s such an improbable premise for an action thriller that it inversely seems intriguing and surprising—and a great vehicle for Affleck.
American Pastoral
Opening in theaters October 21: Ewan McGregor stars in and directs this compelling drama, based on Philip Roth’s novel, about a man, Seymour Levov, who watches as his young daughter (Dakota Fanning) becomes violently radicalized during the anti-Vietnam era of the 1960s. With Jennifer Connelly as Seymour’s wife.
Doctor Strange
Opening in theaters November 4: Cumberbitches take heed! The Brit wonder Benedict Cumberbatch is about to take on a mind-bending Marvel superhero role, that of the mystical physician of the title. Strange is a neurosurgeon who is badly injured in a car accident and, no longer able to pursue his medical profession, instead focuses on protecting the world from threats of a mystical an other-dimensional type. With a bald Tilda Swinton as his mentor.
Loving
Opening in theaters November 4: Behind Loving v. Virginia—the landmark 1967 Supreme Court case that struck down all laws forbidding miscegenation (sex between races) or interracial marriage as unconstitutional—was a touching and exceedingly human love story. Aussie actor Joel Edgerton stars as Perry Loving, and Ruth Negga as Mildred Loving, the interracial couple who, in 1958, married in Washington, D.C., and returned to their home state of Virginia to be arrested (while asleep in their bed), jailed and forced to move.
Arrival
Opening in theaters November 11: It’s usually the guys who are obsessed with communicating with aliens (think Richard Dreyfuss in Close Encounters of the Third Kind), but now Amy Adams gets her chance. She plays a linguist who becomes the true link between the human race and an inscrutable alien civilization in this sci-fi spectacular. Jeremy Renner and Forest Whitaker costar; Dennis Villeneuve (Prisoners) directed.
Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk
Opening in theaters November 11: Billy Lynn (newcomer Joe Alwyn) is a 19-year-old Iraq War soldier who survives a horrific battle and gets a hero’s reception back home. The contrast between actual war and the way it is romanticized by civilians is the subject of this intense, absorbing drama from director Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain; Life of Pi). Also starring Kristen Stewart, Vin Diesel, Chris Tucker, Garrett Hedlund and Steve Martin. The film was shot at at 120 frames per second, five times the usual rate, to give the its 3D images unprecedented ultra-HD crispness.
Elle
Opening in theaters November 11: Two veteran provocateurs, director Paul Verhoeven (RoboCop, Basic Instinct, Showgirls) and French actress Isabelle Huppert (Heaven’s Gate, The Piano Teacher) combine their combustible talents in this psychological thriller, about a businesswoman who is raped and seeks to track down the man who did it.
