Month: January 2021

Interview with the “One Night in Miami” cast and screenwriter

Jeff Mitchell

On Feb. 25, 1964, Cassius Clay (Eli Goree) knocks out Sonny Liston to become the heavyweight champion at age 22.  Afterward, Cassius, Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir), Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge), and Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr.) get together at the Hampton House Hotel for an evening of conversation.  Believe it or not, these four icons truly did meet that night, and screenwriter Kemp Powers (based on his play) imagines their discourse in a mesmerizing, intricate feature that leaves you hanging on every word.  Most of director Regina King’s film transpires…

‘Herself’: You’ll stand with Dunne in this liberating drama

Jeff Mitchell

“Herself” – Sandra (Clare Dunne), a lovely 30-something mom with two little girls, has a happy family. In the opening minutes of director Phyllida Lloyd’s drama, Sandra’s kids – Emma (Ruby Rose O’Hara) and Molly (Molly McCann) – doll their mother up in makeup and immediately proceed to sing and dance in the kitchen.  Flourishing and carefree, this fun-loving triad share no worries, or so it would seem. Sandra’s husband Gary (Ian Lloyd Anderson) enters stage right. He politely sends his daughters out of the room and enacts a brutal,…

‘The Dissident’ sheds light on a pitch-black murder

Jeff Mitchell

“The Dissident” – “The Washington Post” journalist Jamal Khashoggi perished in a Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018, and the details of his murder are brutal. Sick. So sick that this critic won’t delve into the ugly specifics.  Well, director Bryan Fogel’s documentary does explain the man’s end in frank, grisly terms, but he thankfully spares his audience from photos or audio recordings.  Fogel makes a similar choice as director Werner Herzog did in “Grizzly Man” (2005), a film about the late Timothy Treadwell and his demise…