Justin Chang

who before the war was a very accomplished brutalist architect. And the movie is all about how he comes to America and encounters in Pennsylvania a wealthy benefactor played by an absolutely terrific Guy Pearce. It's this hugely ambitious, big swing of a movie from...

who before the war was a very accomplished brutalist architect. And the movie is all about how he comes to America and encounters in Pennsylvania a wealthy benefactor played by an absolutely terrific Guy Pearce. It's this hugely ambitious, big swing of a movie from...

who before the war was a very accomplished brutalist architect. And the movie is all about how he comes to America and encounters in Pennsylvania a wealthy benefactor played by an absolutely terrific Guy Pearce. It's this hugely ambitious, big swing of a movie from...

a 36-year-old director who is aiming for the rafters like a young Orson Welles or Paul Thomas Anderson, making this really big movie about capitalism, about immigration, about Jewish assimilation, and eventually the exploitation of Jewish genius and labor in post-war America. And so there are a lot of really big themes swirling around this movie. It handles them very assuredly.

a 36-year-old director who is aiming for the rafters like a young Orson Welles or Paul Thomas Anderson, making this really big movie about capitalism, about immigration, about Jewish assimilation, and eventually the exploitation of Jewish genius and labor in post-war America. And so there are a lot of really big themes swirling around this movie. It handles them very assuredly.

a 36-year-old director who is aiming for the rafters like a young Orson Welles or Paul Thomas Anderson, making this really big movie about capitalism, about immigration, about Jewish assimilation, and eventually the exploitation of Jewish genius and labor in post-war America. And so there are a lot of really big themes swirling around this movie. It handles them very assuredly.

I should also note, David, for everyone, this movie is three and a half hours long, including a 15-minute intermission. But I hasten to add, it flies by. It's incredibly absorbing. Don't be put off by the running time. Go and see it on the big screen, in 70mm if you can, because it's going to be showing in that format.

I should also note, David, for everyone, this movie is three and a half hours long, including a 15-minute intermission. But I hasten to add, it flies by. It's incredibly absorbing. Don't be put off by the running time. Go and see it on the big screen, in 70mm if you can, because it's going to be showing in that format.

I should also note, David, for everyone, this movie is three and a half hours long, including a 15-minute intermission. But I hasten to add, it flies by. It's incredibly absorbing. Don't be put off by the running time. Go and see it on the big screen, in 70mm if you can, because it's going to be showing in that format.

My third movie is called Hard Truths. And this is the latest picture from the English filmmaker Mike Lee of movies like Topsy Turvy and Vera Drake. And Mike Lee, it's worth noting, he has a very particular style. He works very closely with his actors in a very rigorous and somewhat mysterious workshop process.

My third movie is called Hard Truths. And this is the latest picture from the English filmmaker Mike Lee of movies like Topsy Turvy and Vera Drake. And Mike Lee, it's worth noting, he has a very particular style. He works very closely with his actors in a very rigorous and somewhat mysterious workshop process.

My third movie is called Hard Truths. And this is the latest picture from the English filmmaker Mike Lee of movies like Topsy Turvy and Vera Drake. And Mike Lee, it's worth noting, he has a very particular style. He works very closely with his actors in a very rigorous and somewhat mysterious workshop process.

And from this process emerges a very tightly structured script and some of the best performances you'll ever see in the English language, frankly. And Hard Truths features, I think, the performance of the year from Marianne Jean-Baptiste, who worked with Lee before in Secrets and Lies, received an Oscar nomination for that movie.

And from this process emerges a very tightly structured script and some of the best performances you'll ever see in the English language, frankly. And Hard Truths features, I think, the performance of the year from Marianne Jean-Baptiste, who worked with Lee before in Secrets and Lies, received an Oscar nomination for that movie.

And from this process emerges a very tightly structured script and some of the best performances you'll ever see in the English language, frankly. And Hard Truths features, I think, the performance of the year from Marianne Jean-Baptiste, who worked with Lee before in Secrets and Lies, received an Oscar nomination for that movie.

And here, almost 30 years later, she's back and playing a completely different character, a profoundly, profoundly unhappy person who just spends the movie sort of lashing out at everyone's sight, which doesn't sound like a fun way to spend your movie.

And here, almost 30 years later, she's back and playing a completely different character, a profoundly, profoundly unhappy person who just spends the movie sort of lashing out at everyone's sight, which doesn't sound like a fun way to spend your movie.

And here, almost 30 years later, she's back and playing a completely different character, a profoundly, profoundly unhappy person who just spends the movie sort of lashing out at everyone's sight, which doesn't sound like a fun way to spend your movie.

It is Mike Lee's wheelhouse. I mean, this is his great subject. He really taps into anger, and I think his great theme, or one of them, is the uneven distribution of happiness. And why are some people happy, and why are some people just not? And it sounds like a very simple thing, and from this, though, he gets so much complexity.

It is Mike Lee's wheelhouse. I mean, this is his great subject. He really taps into anger, and I think his great theme, or one of them, is the uneven distribution of happiness. And why are some people happy, and why are some people just not? And it sounds like a very simple thing, and from this, though, he gets so much complexity.