movie review z

The Criterion Collection

• My Collection

Costa-Gavras

A pulse-pounding political thriller, Greek expatriate director Costa-Gavras’s Z was one of the cinematic sensations of the late sixties, and remains among the most vital dispatches from that hallowed era of filmmaking. This Academy Award winner—loosely based on the 1963 assassination of Greek left-wing activist Gregoris Lambrakis—stars Yves Montand as a prominent politician and doctor whose public murder amid a violent demonstration is covered up by military and government officials; Jean-Louis Trintignant is the tenacious magistrate who’s determined not to let them get away with it. Featuring kinetic, rhythmic editing, Raoul Coutard’s expressive vérité photography, and Mikis Theodorakis’s unforgettable, propulsive score, Z is a technically audacious and emotionally gripping masterpiece.

• Share on Facebook
• Share on Twitter
• Greece, France
• 127 minutes

Special Features

• New, restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised and approved by cinematographer Raoul Coutard
• Audio commentary featuring film historian Peter Cowie
• New interviews with Costa-Gavras and Coutard
• Archival interviews with Costa-Gavras; producer-actor Jacques Perrin; actors Pierre Dux, Yves Montand, Irène Papas, and Jean-Louis Trintignant; and Vassilis Vassilikos, author of the book Z
• Theatrical trailer
• New and improved English subtitle translation
• PLUS: An essay by critic Armond White New cover by Eric Skillman

Purchase Options

Related films.

Costa-Gavras on Political Filmmaking

Z: Sounding the Alarm

By Armond White

Visits with Raoul Coutard

Last week, we were saddened to learn of the passing of Raoul Coutard. Our technical director, Lee Kline, shared some memories of working with the great cinematographer.

By Lee Kline

A. V. Rockwell’s Top 10

The winner of the Grand Jury Prize at this year’s Sundance Film Festival throws the spotlight on filmmakers who have paved the way for the kind of stories she strives to tell.

Kasi Lemmons’s Top 10

The award-winning director of Eve’s Bayou and Harriet talks about finding inspiration in psychologically rich character studies and films that break with reality.

Repertory Picks

Costa-Gavras in the Midwest

The Unforgettable Images of Raoul Coutard

Raoul coutard.

Cinematographer

Perhaps the most famous cinematographer of the nouvelle vague, Raoul Coutard shot more than seventy-five films during his forty-three-year career. A war photographer (in Indochina) turned freelance photojournalist (his images appeared in Paris Match and Look ), Coutard turned to film, hesitantly, only in the late fifties. After fumbling his way through a few film assignments (he was inexperienced with a movie camera), he was hired by producer Georges de Beauregard to shoot the debut film of a young critic named Jean-Luc Godard. His ragged, incisive shooting style on Breathless became iconic in modern cinema, and Godard kept him on board for the rest of the sixties and beyond, while other directors, like François Truffaut, Jacques Demy, Jean Rouch, and Costa-Gavras, also called upon his skills. His exacting images, which vary from rich and luxurious to gritty and documentary-like, can be seen in countless indelible films, including Shoot the Piano Player, Jules and Jim, Contempt, Alphaville, Pierrot le fou, and Z.

More Raoul Coutard View All

You have no items in your shopping cart

26 Feb 1969

127 minutes

As a Greek exile, whose father had been persecuted by the authorities, Costa-Gavras was determined to film Vassili Vassilikos's fictionalised account of the events that followed the assassination of liberal pacifist Gregorios Lambrakis at a demonstration against the installation of Polaris missiles on 22 May 1963. Keen to avoid a scandal, the right-wing Karamanlis government had appointed Judge Christos Sartzetakis to conduct an inquiry and it was soon clear that the Establishment had colluded in the conspiracy to remove Lambrakis before upcoming elections, lest he blocked the flow of bribes and armaments coming into Greece.

       Although the murderers were tried in October 1966, the military coup of 21 April 1967 saw the restoration of officials dismissed in the affair and the torture and disbarrment of Judge Sartzetakis. However, Lambrakis's followers continued to use the letter Z (meaning `he lives') as a symbol of protest and Vassilikos adopted it for the title of his book.

       Unable to raise funds in France, as the subject was deemed too political, Costa-Gavras and producer Jacques Perrin eventually struck a deal with Algerian backers and decided to shoot the film in accordance with its subtitle, `The Anatomy of a Political Assassination'. Ditching supposition surrounding the case, such as the involvement of the CIA, Costa-Gavras stuck to proven facts so that the picture could not be accused of being propagandist.

       However, there were those who denounced Z for lacking nuance, while others claimed that its unprecedented Oscar success was the result of it tapping into the cosy communal outrage that had followed the killings of the Kennedy brothers and Martin Luther King. There's no question that Costa-Gavras used the rapid cross-cutting between zooms, tracking shots and handheld footage to pitch the viewer into the heart of his thesis. But Raoul Coutard's photography and Françoise Bonnot's Oscar-winning editing were outstanding and exerted a considerable influence on the style of the political thrillers that liberal Hollywood produced during the Watergate era.

          Banned by right-wing regimes worldwide, Z was finally released in Greece, to huge acclaim, following the fall of the Generals in 1974.

Screen Rant

127 Minutes

Your changes have been saved

Email is sent

Email has already been sent

Please verify your email address.

You’ve reached your account maximum for followed topics.

Costa-Gavras

Reggane Films Valoria Films

Costa-Gavras

Reggane Films Valoria Films

Cinema V

PG

127 Minutes

Reviews (0)

Have You Watched It?

Be the first to leave your review.

Your Rating

Yves montand, irene papas, jean-louis trintignant, charles denner, georges geret, jacques perrin, françois perier, bernard fresson, julien guiomar, marcel bozzufi, magali noël, renato salvatori, related titles.

eternal sunshine of the spotless mind

BABY REINDEER

Your comment has not been saved

Have you watched it?

Be the first to leave a community review!

Z (Algeria/France, 1969)

When Z ends, it looks like the forces for truth and justice will triumph…until we get to the epilogue, which echoes the historical facts from Greece where a 1967 coup resulted in a military takeover. The criminals indicted by Sartzetakis were “rehabilitated” and those who exposed the conspiracy were killed or jailed (including Sartzetakis). Eventually, Greece recovered and was set back on a path to democracy following the 1974 toppling of the dictatorship. Sartzetakis would eventually be elected President and served from 1985 until 1990. But all those “good” things represent footnotes to the bleak story told in Z .

Z opens with the following caption: “Any similarity to actual persons or events is deliberate.” It then illustrates how right-wing fascism has infected the supposedly democratic government. Liberal/left wing ideology is decried as “mildew.” The Deputy represents everything the government despises and the opportunity to eliminate him is ripe when he speaks at a rally for nuclear disarmament. He is warned beforehand that there might be an attempt on his life but, even following a vicious assault, he soldiers on. Then the fatal attack occurs and his deputies ( Charles Denner, Bernard Fresson) and wife (Irene Papas) are left to cope with the aftermath.

Throughout his career, Costa-Gavras (born Konstantinos Gavras) has been political. Z , his third film, raised him to prominence on the international stage. It was a box office success, especially in many European countries, and won Oscars for Foreign Language Film and Editing. (It was nominated, but did not win, for Director and Picture.) A self-proclaimed communist, Costa-Gavras had no interest in capitulating with motion picture norms (as is evident from Z ’s epilogue). His filmography includes many obscure titles alongside such recognizable ones as 1982’s Missing (with Jack Lemmon and Sissy Spacek), 1988’s Betrayed (written by Joe Eszterhas and starring Tom Berenger), 1989’s Music Box (another Eszterhas-penned script, this one with Jessica Lange), and 1997’s Mad City (with Dustin Hoffman and John Travolta) .

If it was merely a conventional 1969 thriller, Z might seem dated by today’s standards. That’s more a reflection of how the genre has changed over the decades with action scenes becoming increasingly sophisticated. Z is thick with exposition and, although it is well-paced, it expects viewers to pay attention. Flashbacks lean heavily on the “flash” in that many of them are little more than one or two-second cuts designed to recall an earlier scene or reinforce a characteristic.

The political element is what crystallizes Z ’s timelessness and gives Costa-Gavras the prescience of Nostradamus. A current viewer could be forgiven thinking this was a new movie made using a ‘70s style to tell an allegorical tale. Z doesn’t merely stand the test of time; it transcends it. Watching it today, as was the case when I first saw it in 2006, it’s an eerie, unsettling experience.

Comments Add Comment

• Rear Window (1954)
• Sleuth (1969)
• Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
• Neon Demon, The (2016)
• Left Behind (2014)
• Jade (1995)
• Jean de Florette (1987)
• Manon des Sources (1987)
• Wages of Fear (1969)
• (There are no more worst movies of Yves Montand)
• (There are no more better movies of Irene Papas)
• (There are no more worst movies of Irene Papas)
• Three Colors: Red (1994)
• Amour (2012)
• (There are no more better movies of Jean-Louis Trintignant)
• (There are no more worst movies of Jean-Louis Trintignant)

Common Sense Media

Movie & TV reviews for parents

• For Parents
• For Educators
• Our Work and Impact

Or browse by category:

• Movie Reviews
• Best Movie Lists
• Best Movies on Netflix, Disney+, and More

Common Sense Selections for Movies

50 Modern Movies All Kids Should Watch Before They're 12

• Best TV Lists
• Best TV Shows on Netflix, Disney+, and More
• Common Sense Selections for TV
• Video Reviews of TV Shows

Best Kids' Shows on Disney+

Best Kids' TV Shows on Netflix

• Book Reviews
• Best Book Lists
• Common Sense Selections for Books

8 Tips for Getting Kids Hooked on Books

50 Books All Kids Should Read Before They're 12

• Game Reviews
• Best Game Lists

Common Sense Selections for Games

• Video Reviews of Games

Nintendo Switch Games for Family Fun

• Podcast Reviews
• Best Podcast Lists

Common Sense Selections for Podcasts

Parents' Guide to Podcasts

• App Reviews
• Best App Lists

Social Networking for Teens

Gun-Free Action Game Apps

Reviews for AI Apps and Tools

• YouTube Channel Reviews
• YouTube Kids Channels by Topic

Parents' Ultimate Guide to YouTube Kids

YouTube Kids Channels for Gamers

• Preschoolers (2-4)
• Little Kids (5-7)
• Big Kids (8-9)
• Pre-Teens (10-12)
• Teens (13+)
• Screen Time
• Social Media
• Online Safety
• Identity and Community

Parents' Ultimate Guide to Generative AI

• Family Tech Planners
• Digital Skills
• All Articles
• Latino Culture
• Black Voices
• Asian Stories
• Native Narratives
• LGBTQ+ Pride
• Best of Diverse Representation List

Multicultural Books

YouTube Channels with Diverse Representations

Podcasts with Diverse Characters and Stories

• Common Sense Says
• Parents Say 1 Review
• Kids Say 3 Reviews

Common Sense Media Review

Flawed but effective, scary "imaginary friend" horror tale.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Z is a horror movie about an 8-year-old boy's imaginary friend gone wrong. A child falls from a high place (briefly seen in the background), and cracking bones can be heard. Another child is in peril. Scenes show dead bodies, and bodies hanging from nooses, as well as some blood…

Why Age 13+?

Child falls from high place (briefly seen in background); sound of bones crackin

A few uses of "s--t." Also exclamatory use of "Jesus" and "Jesus Christ."

A supporting character is drunk in one scene; nearly empty bottle of vodka shown

Young girl references "getting married and having lots of babies."

Any Positive Content?

No notable positive messages here. Bad things happen to good people for no reaso

No clear role models. Characters, including family members, can act somewhat det

Violence & Scariness

Child falls from high place (briefly seen in background); sound of bones cracking. Child in peril. Dead bodies. Bodies hanging from nooses. Some blood. Scary stuff/jump scares. Scary sounds, screaming. Gross vomiting. House on fire.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

A supporting character is drunk in one scene; nearly empty bottle of vodka shown. Another character asks her to "clean yourself up." (Alcohol dependency is implied.) Characters occasionally drink wine at dinner or around the house. Characters share a cigarette. Prescription pills for a child are chopped up and put into milk.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Positive Messages

No notable positive messages here. Bad things happen to good people for no reason. Family members are sometimes not very communicative with each other.

Positive Role Models

No clear role models. Characters, including family members, can act somewhat detached from one another. Supporting characters sometimes try to be helpful in vague ways, but main characters are merely struggling.

Parents need to know that Z is a horror movie about an 8-year-old boy's imaginary friend gone wrong. A child falls from a high place (briefly seen in the background), and cracking bones can be heard. Another child is in peril. Scenes show dead bodies, and bodies hanging from nooses, as well as some blood smears. There are plenty of other scary things, as well as creepy noises and jump scares. Language includes a few uses of "s--t" and exclamations of "Jesus" and "Jesus Christ." A supporting character is very drunk in one scene (a nearly empty bottle of vodka is shown); another character tells her to "clean yourself up." Other casual drinking is shown, two characters share a cigarette, and prescription pills for a child are chopped up and put into milk. Sex isn't an issue. The characters are sometimes frustrating, but the movie is so cleverly constructed that the scares really work. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Parent and Kid Reviews

• Parents say (1)
• Kids say (3)

Based on 1 parent review

What's the Story?

In Z, 8-year-old Josh Parsons (Jett Klyne) is a good kid who's dreamy and shy. One day he starts playing with an imaginary friend he calls "Z." His mother, Beth (Keegan Connor Tracy), is concerned, but his father, Kevin (Sean Rogerson), shrugs it off. Psychologist Dr. Seager ( Stephen McHattie ) says that Josh will outgrow it but seems shocked when the name "Z" is mentioned. Things get worse as "Z" seems to spur Josh on to worse and worse behavior, to the point that he's expelled from school. Then, when Beth's mother dies and she starts going through boxes of old things, she finds something startling. This isn't the first time "Z" has been around ...

Is It Any Good?

Marred by a few gaps in character logic and behavior, this "imaginary friend" horror movie is nonetheless quite spooky thanks to its clever camera setups, sharp sense of timing, and startling music. Directed and co-written by Brandon Christensen, Z immediately comes across as brisk, skillful work, with a touching, soundless scene demonstrating Josh's isolation. As "Z" starts its reign of terror, the movie works largely with sudden shocks, but they're far more skillful and thoughtful than regular old jump scares. Christensen even uses some creaky old genre staples such as a boy staring blankly at an unseen wall, or a woman taking a bath in a tub surrounded by candles to unleash big scares.

One scene involving a staircase will make even the most jaded horror fans shriek. But the characters can be very frustrating. Kevin always seems two steps behind, and the things that he and Beth choose not to say to each other are baffling. Not to mention the strange reaction to Josh's being expelled (they take him to a huge indoor playground?) and the lack of concern over the grandmother's death and other troubling events. Even Dr. Seager, who seems to know what's going on, takes a long time to actually help out, although McHattie is always fun to watch. Moreover, Tracy is sympathetic as Beth, and Z on the whole is so technically shrewd and thrilling that it's definitely worth a look.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about Z 's violence . When is it shocking, and when is it scary? How do the filmmakers show these things? What kind of impact does death have on the characters?

What makes scary movies appealing? Why do people sometimes want to be scared?

How is drinking depicted? Is it glamorized? Are there consequences? Why does that matter?

How is the communication in your family different or similar to this family's?

Movie Details

• On DVD or streaming : September 1, 2020
• Cast : Keegan Connor Tracy , Jett Klyne , Stephen McHattie
• Director : Brandon Christensen
• Inclusion Information : Female actors
• Studios : RLJ Entertainment , Shudder
• Genre : Horror
• Topics : Monsters, Ghosts, and Vampires
• Run time : 83 minutes
• MPAA rating : NR
• Last updated : June 20, 2023

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Suggest an Update

What to watch next.

The Babadook

The Orphanage

The Shining

Paranormal Activity 3

Daniel Isn't Real

Best horror movies, movie monsters, related topics.

• Monsters, Ghosts, and Vampires

Want suggestions based on your streaming services? Get personalized recommendations

Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

• Skip to main content
• Keyboard shortcuts for audio player

Movie Reviews

Movie review: 'world war z'.

Kenneth Turan

In World War Z , Bradd Pitt saves the world from a zombie apocalypse. When Pitt's character gets stuck in a Philadelphia traffic jam with his family, that's when the apocalypse begins.

Copyright © 2013 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Find Family Movies, Movie Ratings and Movie Reviews

Z Parent Guide

A coherent, low-budget horror movie that gets its screams from atmosphere and story rather than blood and gore..

When Elizabeth and Kevin Parsons hear about their son Joshua's imaginary friend, they aren't too concerned...until that "friend" starts getting hostile.

Release date December 25, 2019

Run Time: 83 minutes

Get Content Details

The guide to our grades, parent movie review by keith hawkes.

Beth (Keegan Connor Tracey) and Kevin Parsons (Sean Rogerson) are living the suburban dream. Their son Josh (Josh Klyne), however, seems to be struggling. He’s picked up dozens of disciplinary notes from school, he’s spending more time on his own, and he’s invented an imaginary friend who he calls Z. His parents decide it’s a phase and he’ll get over it, until Beth realizes that, not only is Z far more real than she thought, but she’s seen him before…

Anyone else remember a movie that came out earlier this year, called The Prodigy ? With a few minor plot differences, this is basically the same story. The premise and most of the behavior for the first two acts are identical. Then the third act gets a little weird, and it throws the pacing right off. I’m all for the creativity displayed at the end, but I wish it had been better integrated with the rest of the film. As is, it feels like a strangely long addition to the film and makes the 83 minute runtime feel longer than it should.

Parental concerns are fairly limited. I only counted eight profanities, there is little actual violence, and there’s no sex to speak of. That said, the movie is pretty tense and frightening, so I definitely wouldn’t recommend this for children or anxiety-prone viewers. I have some respect for a horror flick that gets its screams by terrorizing the audience with atmosphere and hints rather than just flinging bloody, mangled corpses all over the place. The biggest irritant for me was the film’s insistence on pronouncing the letter “z” as “zee”. This is a Canadian film, and ought to know better; in the Great White North the last letter of the alphabet is pronounced “zed”.

Is this flick going to come up for any big awards? Is it going to become a cult classic? Probably not. Is it a decent way to spend an hour and a half? Sure. It holds its own decently well against larger budget movies - that is, as long as you don’t look directly at the CGI. Then it turns into a comedy.

About author

Keith hawkes, z rating & content info.

Why is Z rated Not Rated? Z is rated Not Rated by the MPAA

Violence: An individual is pushed from the top of a staircase and is seriously wounded, although nothing graphic is seen. A dead body is shown. Another dead body is shown with injuries and blood. Two individuals are shown hanged. Sexual Content: An individual is shown from the shoulders up in a bath. Profanity: Seven uses of scatological profanity and one use of the sexual expletive, as well as several terms of deity. Alcohol / Drug Use: An individual is shown having a glass of wine. Another individual is implied to have been drinking to cope with a loss, although they are not shown drinking. Two individuals are shown smoking cigarettes

Page last updated October 25, 2021

Z Parents' Guide

Beth and Kevin have to make some difficult parenting decisions, although they don’t seem to communicate well with each other. What do you think they should have done? Can you think of anything that would have fewer negative consequences?

The most recent home video release of Z movie is September 1, 2020. Here are some details…

Related home video titles:.

There are several horror movies that get their scares from atmosphere more than from gore. If you’re looking for a PG-13 horror film that doesn’t depend on blood to frighten you, you can try watching The Sixth Sense ,

For R-rated films in this genre, you can watch The Prodigy , Us, or The Possession of Hannah Grace.

Advertisement

Supported by

Critic’s Pick

‘The Substance’ Review: An Indecent Disclosure

Demi Moore stars in an absurdly gory tale of an aging actress who discovers a deadly cure for obscurity.

• Share full article

By Alissa Wilkinson

In Vladimir Nabokov’s 1930 novel “The Eye,” a sad-sack Russian tutor living in Berlin dies by suicide, and then spends the rest of the book skulking around the living — watching, obsessing over their lives. He eventually realizes something bleak: Most of us see ourselves only through the eyes of others, through the stories we think they make up about us from the glimpses they get of our lives. “I do not exist,” the narrator writes near the end of the book. “There exist but the thousands of mirrors that reflect me.”

Something of “The Eye” lurks in “The Substance,” Coralie Fargeat’s mirror-haunted gory fable about fame, self-hatred and the terror that accompanies an identity constructed on the backs of other people’s stares. Elisabeth Sparkle ( Demi Moore ), the aging star at the center of the narrative, is very much alive, but she might as well be dead when the story starts. A career spent in front of cameras — first as a celebrated actress, and then as a celebrity fitness instructor on a show called “Sparkle Your Life with Elisabeth”— abruptly ends when an executive (Dennis Quaid) decides she’s too old to be worthy of being seen. He gets to decide if anyone wants to look at her, and if he turns the cameras away, does she even exist?

That executive is loud and disgusting and named Harvey, which should tell you a little about the subtlety of this movie, which is to say it has none, and doesn’t particularly want any. He, like most of the movie, is deliberately way, way over the top. “After 50, it stops,” he tells her, through mouthfuls of mayonnaise-coated shrimp, by way of explaining why she’s no longer attractive. Then he sputters when she asks what “it” is.

There are mirrors everywhere in Elisabeth’s world: literal mirrors and polished doorknobs, but also pictures of her in the hallways at the studio and a giant portrait at her house, so that her younger body and face are always looking back at her. Everywhere she looks, there she is, or was — lithe, toned, smiling broadly. Elisabeth is still gorgeous by any sane person’s reckoning (and Moore is in her early 60s), but surrounded constantly by a version of herself with a little more collagen, she is being slowly driven mad.

Relatable, really. We all see too much of ourselves. Ancient women had pools of water into which they could peer, but our ancestors didn’t have scads of selfies lurking in their pockets. They weren’t tagged in unflattering photos snapped by friends. They didn’t have to look at their own faces on Zoom all day.

We are having trouble retrieving the article content.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and  log into  your Times account, or  subscribe  for all of The Times.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber?  Log in .

Want all of The Times?  Subscribe .

Things you buy through our links may earn  Vox Media  a commission.

A Different Man Might Be Overthinking Things

Adam Pearson doesn’t show up until maybe two thirds of the way through A Different Man , and while that’s by design, once he did, I really wished he’d been there from the start. Pearson, whose first acting role was as one of the men the Scarlett Johansson alien picks up in Under the Skin , has neurofibromatosis, the same genetic condition responsible for the facial deformity that the film’s protagonist, Edward (Sebastian Stan), has then is cured of. A Different Man , which was written and directed by Aaron Schimberg, is filled with internal rhymes, from the repeat appearance of the Toni Morrison novel The Bluest Eye to mentions of the dog Edward doesn’t actually own (though he does briefly acquire a cat). Pearson’s character, Oswald, is the most significant of these acts of thematic alliteration — an outgoing foil to the sullen Edward who looks a lot like Edward did before his treatment but who’s comfortable in his skin in a way that Edward has never been. But Pearson, as happy-go-lucky charmer, also brings a burst of much-needed vitality to this droll but overly thought-through film. He’s a living, breathing complication to the considerations of representation and authorship that Schimberg explores. But he’s also a full-fledged character shouldering his way into a work that can otherwise feel claustrophobic in its concerns, like listening to someone having an argument with themself.

It’s hard to find a criticism of A Different Man that the film doesn’t articulate itself. In particular, there’s the matter of Edward’s passivity, which Edward complains about when he ends up starring in an Off Broadway play that no one else knows was actually inspired by his life (it’s a long story). Edward is awkward, jumpy, prone to going through life as though anticipating a blow that’s yet to come. He looks like Woody Allen, someone says in passing, an observation that may not be visually true — Stan is at that point wearing prosthetics that create the look of someone with facial tumors — but that’s spiritually dead-on. With his high-waisted pants and rounded shoulders, Edward is impossible to pin down in terms of age or relative hipness, as though he grew up untethered to the normal markers of time. Or to other people — Stan plays the character with a tenderness that doesn’t dilute his prickly desperation, which comes out when an attractive aspiring playwright named Ingrid ( The Worst Person in the World ’s Renate Reinsve) moves into the apartment next door. He yearns with his whole body to be seen as a romantic possibility — but also is so unused to physical contact and so prepared for rejection that he flinches away from her.

It’s hard to imagine how someone who tries so hard to make himself invisible ended up wanting to be an actor, but when Edward auditions for roles he inevitably doesn’t get, we see that he’s good. The one part he does get is in a corporate anti-discrimination video that serenely assures its viewers that strong reactions to atypical faces is natural, just a fight-or-flight reaction from their reptile brains. A Different Man , which was shot in 16-mm film that gives an extra lived-in texture to its world of beat-up New York apartments and cramped Off Broadway venues, has a keen sense of the absurd that leads to scenes in which Edward watches from his apartment as a jingle-blasting ice-cream truck tries to navigate around the ambulance taking away a neighbor’s body. Schimberg, whose last feature was a riff on the 1952 exploitation film Chained for Life that also starred Pearson, has a keen interest in what goes unsaid when it comes to someone who’s going through life with an appearance that sets them apart, and how that desire to be careful and correct can create its own sense of isolation. Edward may not face grade-school cruelty anymore, but being treated with kid gloves by people who won’t actually be upfront about what’s on their mind is its own kind of torment.

It’s torment that leads Edward to undergo an experimental procedure with miraculous results that leave him looking, well, like a movie star. Stan’s gotten a lot of praise for this role, though what makes his work so compelling is his willingness to do very little in his scenes, both in and out of the prosthetics — to withdraw into Edward’s own paralyzed self-consciousness. For someone who frets about connecting with others, Edward isn’t always present himself, prone to retreating into his own head as the sound fades around him, and struggling to connect with the version of himself Ingrid writes for the stage when she believes Edward died, not realizing that the handsome actor she’s chosen for the role is actually her former neighbor. That’s one of the reasons Pearson, when he bursts onscreen as a charismatic Englishman who’d been told about the play by a casting agent, feels like such a relief. Oswald provides an easy solution to the ironic issues about authenticity that Edward finds himself facing when he starts wearing a mask to re-create his past appearance.

But, chatty and confident and funny, Oswald is also a much-needed counterpoint to Edward, who, even when given the opportunity to start over with a new face and name, can’t escape his own insecurities, a character constantly and exasperatingly stuck in one place. The slipperiness and span of time that A Different Man covers make it feel like a junior version of Synecdoche, New York , Charlie Kaufman’s drama about a theater director making his inward-burrowing dream project. But Schimberg’s film is more distant and less personal, and it’s only really when Pearson shows up that it’s clear how much we needed the fresh air he brings with him.

More Movie Reviews

• You’d Think Watching Tilda Swinton in an Apocalypse Movie Musical Would Be Fun
• The Speak No Evil Remake Is Sillier (and Better) Than the Original
• Girls Will Be Girls Sneaks Up on You
• vulture homepage lede
• vulture section lede
• movie review
• a different man
• sebastian stan
• adam pearson

Most Viewed Stories

• Can Ben Affleck Handle Another Jennifer in His Life?
• Cinematrix No. 177: September 19, 2024
• Bob Dylan Throws a Wrench Into ‘Desolation Row’
• Disney Put Inside Out 2 Through Conversion Therapy
• Pommel-Horse Guy Now Ballroom Boy
• A Guide to the Many Lawsuits Against Diddy
• The Golden Bachelorette Series-Premiere Recap: Everything’s Coming Up Joan
• Real Housewives of Salt Lake City Premiere Recap: Time Doesn’t Heal All Wounds

Editor’s Picks

Most Popular

What is your email.

This email will be used to sign into all New York sites. By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive email correspondence from us.

Sign In To Continue Reading

Create your free account.

Password must be at least 8 characters and contain:

• Lower case letters (a-z)
• Upper case letters (A-Z)
• Numbers (0-9)
• Special Characters (!@#$%^&*)

As part of your account, you’ll receive occasional updates and offers from New York , which you can opt out of anytime.

• Hezbollah leader vows retaliation against Israel for attacks on devices as both sides trade strikes
• The exploding device attacks dealt a major but not crippling blow to Hezbollah, analysts say
• Is Israel preparing for a war with Hezbollah?
• Residents of Springfield, Ohio, hunker down and pray for a political firestorm to blow over
• America's political system is under stress as voters and their leaders navigate unfamiliar terrain
• Refugees in New Hampshire turn to farming for an income and a taste of home
• Harris hopes to turn Ukraine war into winning issue in battle with Trump for Polish American votes
• Teamsters union declines to endorse Trump or Harris for president
• Iranian hackers tried but failed to interest Biden's campaign in stolen Trump info, FBI says
• The FBI says Iran tried to send hacked files to Democrats. It's another sign of foreign meddling
• Voters view Harris more favorably as she settles into role atop Democratic ticket: AP-NORC poll
• Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese change the WNBA's landscape, and its future
• Florian Wirtz nets 2 on his Champions League debut in 4-0 win for Leverkusen
• Arch Manning to get first start for No. 1 Texas as Ewers continues recovery from abdomen strain
• Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs joins list of Hollywood stars charged with sex crimes
• Happy 50th 'SNL!' Here's a look back at the show's very first cast
• Keith Urban says 'High' is about order and chaos, with songs about love, life and his late father
• Wall Street soars to records in a rate-cut rally that swept the world
• At Google antitrust trial, documents say one thing. The tech giant's witnesses say different
• Federal Reserve signals end to inflation fight with a sizable half-point rate cut
• Stonehenge's 'altar stone' originally came from Scotland and not Wales, new research shows
• NASA telescope spots a super Jupiter that takes more than a century to go around its star
• A cave on the moon is confirmed, and scientists suspect hundreds more like it could house future explorers
• False reports of explosives found in a car near a Trump rally spread online
• Russia goes all-out with covert disinformation aimed at Harris, Microsoft report says
• FACT FOCUS: A look at false claims made by Trump in California
• Trump falsely accuses immigrants in Ohio of abducting and eating pets
• FACT FOCUS: A look at false and misleading claims made during Trump and Harris' debate
• FACT FOCUS: Posts falsely claim video shows Harris promising to censor X and owner Elon Musk
• Police say a pair took an NYC subway train on a joyride and crashed it. They have arrested 1 teen
• A bewildered seal found itself in the mouth of a humpback whale
• Grand prize winner removed 20 Burmese pythons from the wild in Florida challenge
• Purple place: Mets unveil the new Grimace seat at Citi Field
• A smelly penguin wins New Zealand's hard-fought bird election
• An 8-year-old Ohio girl drove an SUV on a solo Target run
• Menopause can bring on dental problems, but you can protect your mouth
• Take the lead in making leash time with your dog safer
• Talking about death can be tricky. Here's how to start the conversation
• Allergies can make you miserable. Here's how to track pollen levels near you
• Doing lunges while brushing your teeth, and other ways to stack healthy habits
• How to pick a preschool without becoming overwhelmed
• Newsletters Newsletters The Morning Wire Our flagship newsletter breaks down the biggest headlines of the day. The Afternoon Wire Get caught up on what you may have missed throughout the day. AP Top 25 Poll Alerts Get email alerts for every college football Top 25 Poll release. The World in Pictures Get The AP’s most compelling photographs sent directly to your inbox. The Sports Wire Your home base for in-depth reporting from the world of sports. World of Faith Comprehensive global coverage of how religion shapes our world. See All Newsletters
• Germany springs to life in vivid scenes of nature
• How Churchill embraces its title as polar bear capital of the world
• Sri Lanka's plantation workers live on the margins. But politicians still want their votes
• These South Koreans were adopted as babies. Now they're discovering their past was a lie
• New CIA workplace assault case emerges as spy agency shields extent of sexual misconduct in ranks
• Elite prosecutor misused position by offering Justice Department card in DUI stop, watchdog finds
• Tennessee family's lawsuit says video long kept from them shows police force, not drugs, killed son
• DNA on weapons implicates ex-U.S. Green Beret in attempted Venezuelan coup, federal officials say
• Prisoners fight against working in heat on former slave plantation, raising hope for change in South
• Brazil court drops a suspect in Amazon slayings of a British journalist and an Indigenous advocate
• Hallmarks of climate change seen in floods, fires and drought around the globe
• A new genetic analysis of animals in the Wuhan market in 2019 may help find COVID-19's origin
• Two Georgia deaths are tied to abortion restrictions. Experts say abortion pills they took are safe
• Scientists show how pregnancy changes the brain in innumerable ways
• Florida hospitals ask immigrants about their legal status. Texas will try it next
• Human remains are found inside an SUV that officials say caused pipeline fire in suburban Houston
• Apple releases AI software for a smarter Siri on the iPhone 16
• The Lebanon explosions raise a question: Deep into the smartphone era, who is still using pagers?
• Nearly 138,000 beds are being recalled after reports of them breaking or collapsing during use
• Prada's Eras Tour explores the past to offer infinite options during Milan Fashion Week
• JetBlue will imitate bigger and more successful rivals by opening airport lounges at JFK, Boston
• Kamala Harris steps up outreach to Mormon voters in battleground Arizona
• These evangelicals are voting their values — by backing Kamala Harris
• Malaysian police detain CEO and other leaders of Islamic group as probe into child sex abuse widens
• Líder de Hezbollah dice que detonaciones fueron "golpe severo" que cruzaron una "línea roja"
• Las explosiones de dispositivos asestan duro golpe a Hezbollah, pero no fulminante, dicen analistas
• ¿Se está preparando Israel para una guerra con Hezbollah?
• Claves sobre las letales explosiones de bípers dirigidas contra Hezbollah
• Una pareja encuentra los restos de agresor que perpetró tiroteo en autopista de Kentucky
• El Oktoberfest refuerza seguridad tras apuñalamiento en oeste de Alemania
• AP Buyline Personal Finance
• AP Buyline Shopping
• Press Releases
• Israel-Hamas War
• Russia-Ukraine War
• Global Elections
• Asia Pacific
• Latin America
• Middle East
• Election results
• Google trends
• AP & Elections
• Global elections
• Election 2024
• U.S. Supreme Court
• Auto Racing
• Movie Reviews
• What to Stream
• Book Reviews
• Celebrity Interviews
• Financial Markets
• Financial wellness
• The Ancient World
• Newsletters
• Photo Essays
• Photography
• AP Investigations
• Climate Questions
• Climate Migration
• India Focus In March, journalists from The Associated Press and the Press Trust of India gathered in Kochi, India, for a workshop on climate and environmental coverage that was supported by the Stanley Center for Peace and Security. During the workshop, PTI journalists did reporting on several stories, which are being co-published by the AP.
• Artificial Intelligence
• Social Media
• Back to school
• Food & Recipes

Review: Clooney and Pitt carry the fixer caper ‘Wolfs’

This image released by Apple TV+ shows Brad Pitt, left, and George Clooney in a scene from “Wolfs.” (Scott Garfield/Apple TV+ via AP)

• Copy Link copied

The overriding tension in “Wolfs,” starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt as rival fixers brought in to clean up the same crime, isn’t so much the threat of police arrest or Albanian mob assassination — both of which are concerns. It’s that Clooney and Pitt aren’t pals.

The two start out as strangers to one another. It’s a testament to Clooney and Pitt’s jovial on-and-off screen chemistry, and their bond in shared movie-star charisma, that it’s genuinely discombobulating to hear Pitt tersely call Clooney “sir” as he does in the opening scenes of Jon Watts’ winning, clever caper.

Pitt and Clooney first acted together in 2001’s “Ocean’s Eleven.” And like that remake riff on the Rat Pack original, “Wolfs” is as much, if not more, about its movie stars as it is anything else. The movie’s appeal is mostly in their easy charm and chemistry — the little eye rolls and games of one-upmanship that accrue until, finally, they’re buddies, like we want them to be.

Clooney is 63 and Pitt is 60, and there are few bits about back pain and Advil in Watts’ film. But “Wolfs,” which opens in limited theaters Friday and streams next week on Apple TV+, is designed to show you that they can still, without ever really breaking a sweat, get the job done.

When their characters meet, they are both standing in the penthouse of a luxury New York hotel where a tough-on-crime district attorney (Amy Ryan) is in desperate need of a cover up. A young, nearly naked man is seemingly dead on the floor. She’s frantically searched her phone for a number once given for such emergencies. That brings the first never-named fixer (Clooney) to the door. Not long after, the second, also unnamed fixer (Pitt) knocks. After a moment of confusion, he points to a small camera at the ceiling. He’s been dispatched by the hotel owner (an unseen Frances McDormand) who doesn’t want any bad press.

The two fixers are spiritual descendants, you might say, from Harvey Keitel’s Winston Wolfe, the fast-driving cleaner of “Pulp Fiction.” Each is a specialist, supposedly the only man who can do what they do. “Wolfs” — with an awkwardly spelled title that represents the pained collaboration of these two solo freelancers — is a little bit like the pointing Spider-Men meme brought to life. Fitting, then, that it comes from Watts, director of the three Tom Holland Spider-Man films. He also wrote the script.

There are more movies that “Wolfs” has some kinship with, too, like Tony Gilroy’s “Michael Clayton,” a high point for Clooney in which he played the clean-up man of a malicious law firm. “Wolfs” doesn’t measure up to anything like “Michael Clayton” — what does? — and isn’t trying to, anyway. This is more of an old-school movie-star-driven entertainment featuring two actors with skills as rarified as their characters’, the kind of movie that was once regularly at home in theaters but now has instead been built for the streaming era.

Informed that they have to finish the job together, the two fixers begin to go about the business of getting rid of the body. They eye each warily, disinterested in giving away any tricks of the trade. This mostly falls to Clooney’s character, whose creative way of lifting the body onto a luggage rack begins to earn the respect of Pitt’s character.

They turn out to have much, maybe everything, in common. Slowly, reluctantly, they inch toward a partnership. It’s a credit to Watts’ keen sense of rhythm and his stars’ subtlety that it more or less takes the whole movie to get there. Once outside the hotel, “Wolfs” unspools over the course of one night, shot sleekly in the shadows of downtown Manhattan by cinematographer Larkin Seiple.

Things get a jolt when the body in question turns out to be alive, and kind of a hoot, too. The kid, credited only as “Kid,” is roused from a drug-induced stupor, and quickly, in tighty whities, goes escaping down the street, forcing the two fixers on an extensive chase leading up to the Brooklyn Bridge. The kid is played with a lot of goofy moxie by Austin Abrams (“Euphoria,” “The Walking Dead”), and his account of how he got into this mess, delivered in a cheap motel, may be the film’s best sequence. Along with Sean Baker’s upcoming “Anora,” it’s turned into a surprisingly good season for New York nocturnal odysseys propelled by mop-haired kids who end up in Brighton Beach.

But the kid’s perspective on his two captors also pushes “Wolfs” along. He’s naive enough to think they’re his friends, even though they would seem duty-bound to dispatch him. Regarding Clooney and Pitt, both in leather jackets, from the back seat of the car, he otherwise correctly assesses them, calling them “like the two coolest people I’ve ever met.”

Thankfully, someone has come to the not-hard-to-deduce realization that Clooney and Pitt are good together. A sequel has already been announced. “Wolfs” turns out to be both the beginning and the coda of a beautiful friendship.

“Wolfs,” an Apple Studios release is rated R by the Motion Picture Association for language throughout and some violent content. Running time: 108 minutes. Three stars out of four.

World War Z

“World War Z” plays as if someone watched the similar “ 28 Days Later ” and thought, “That was a good movie, but it would be better if it cost $200 million, there were armies of zombies, and the hero were perfect and played by Brad Pitt .” Which is another way of saying that if you need proof that sometimes more can be less, here you go. Directed by Marc Forster and written by everyone in Hollywood, if rumors are to be believed (though three got credit), this adaptation of Max Brooks’ oral history of a zombie apocalypse…

Hold on. I’m sorry, but before we take this movie apart, let’s take a closer look at that last phrase: “oral history of a zombie apocalypse.” Those six words tell you everything this film gave up by going in a conventional direction. I’ve never read Brooks’ book and don’t have any immediate plans to, but the notion of telling this tale in a roundabout way, by having survivors of the conflagration sit there and talk to an unseen cameraperson—perhaps against a plain black background, with or without cutaways to still photographs or “news video”—is electrifying to consider. Such an approach might have yielded the first fresh contribution to the zombie picture since “Rec”. The latter viewed an undead attack through the eye of a home video camera and treated the result as “found footage” — a great post-“Blair Witch” embellishment, considering how much of horror’s effectiveness lies in what you  don’t see. A faithful transcription of Brooks’ source might have taken fright-film minimalism even further. What better way to amplify the hideousness of the dead attacking the living than by fixing a camera’s unblinking eye on the survivors as they talked about the homes and people and limbs they lost in the struggle? A friend who’s heard the audiobook version of “World War Z” said it reminded her of old time radio drama: “Theater of the mind,” she said.

“World War Z,” in contrast, is just bloody eye and ear candy. I realize it’s problematic to review a film on the basis of what it might have been, but when that same film substitutes a vision that’s vastly less intriguing and original than the one offered by its source, it’s a fair tactic, and what’s onscreen here is just another zombie picture, gigantic but otherwise unremarkable. It’s not that scary until you get to the end. Ironically, what makes the end work is its embrace of old fashioned zombie film values: intimacy, silence, suggestion, and the strategic deployment of boredom to lull viewers into complacency and set them up for the next big scare. “World War Z” is mostly David Lean-on-caffeine panoramas of computer-generated zombies swarming ant-like up walls and over barricades and taking down computer-generated choppers while Forster’s close-up camera swings all over the place to generate unearned “excitement.” The final setpiece watches three people sneak into a lab that’s overrun by a few dozen sleepy and distracted flesh-snackers. It’s slow. It’s quiet. It’s scary. It works. Sometimes when you re-invent the wheel, the result doesn’t get you very far. 

Brad Pitt plays Gerry Lane, a former United Nations field agent who retired to spend time with his wife Karin (Mirelle Enos) and their charming daughters. He’s every other character played by Robert Redford in the 1970s and ’80s: noble, brave, calm in a crisis, endlessly resourceful, kind to his spouse and children, respectful of authority but not slavishly so, independent-minded by not arrogant; a snooze.  Forster and his collaborators deserve credit for plunging us into the thick of things: the Lanes learn that society is collapsing when a seemingly ordinary urban traffic jam is jolted into surreality by an explosion, a stampede of terrified civilians and their vehicles, and a furious attack by people who’ve been infected by a virus that turns them into ravenous ghouls. (The film’s details are fuzzy, but I think they actually are ghouls here, not just rabid and homicidal mortals, as in the “Days” pictures.)  The rest of the picture is a globetrotting medical mystery that just happens to feature zombies, with Lane and various helpers, some military and others scientific, trying to figure out what sparked the disease and counter it before the undead overrun everything. It’s “ Contagion ” or “ The Andromeda Strain ,” but with zombies, and without much panache. 

Although Mirielle Enos’ talents are wasted — she anchors a police procedural on television, but this Hollywood movie is content to cast her as a standard-issue Dutiful Wife — there are some dandy cameos and supporting turns. I like David Morse’s one scene as a twitchy, traumatized CIA agent who knows something about the origin of the disease, and James Badge Dale as a U.S. Special Forces captain whose gung-ho competence is no match for the zombie hordes, and  Daniella Kertesz as Segan, an Israeli soldier whose indefatigable spirit helps the hero save the day even after she’s suffered unimaginable trauma. 

But aside from Segan, none of the characters rise above the level of purely functional placeholder-types, and there are too many scenes that replicate zombie film tropes, minus the passionate invention that other films have brought to the task. When a supporting character is infected and instantly “turns,” I was reminded of that masterful sequence in “28 Days Later” in which Brendan Gleeson’s jovial dad catches a drop of contaminated blood in his eye and battles the virus while his daughter looks on. The poor bastard goes through a whole existential crisis in less than a minute. The sheer terror of losing one’s soul has rarely been communicated so economically. Nothing in “World War Z” comes anywhere near that scene’s power. 

Forster deserves credit, I guess, for finding a way to make a  PG-13 zombie movie without totally softening it. Horrendous violence occurs off-camera or below the frame line but doesn’t lack for impact. There are some shiveringly good moments near the end, particularly when Gerry gets too close to a walker with snicker-snack rat-teeth. But elsewhere, you may feel as though a genre’s essence has been betrayed. Forster has made a zombie movie for people who don’t like zombie movies. That’s not the sort of accomplishment one should brag about.

Matt Zoller Seitz

Matt Zoller Seitz is the Editor-at-Large of RogerEbert.com, TV critic for New York Magazine and Vulture.com, and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in criticism.

• Brad Pitt as Gerry Lane
• Mireille Enos as Karen Lane
• Peter Capaldi as W.H.O. Doctor
• James Badge Dale as Captain Speke
• J. Michael Straczynski
• Marc Forster

Leave a comment

Now playing.

Transformers One

American Crime Story: Aaron Hernandez

Speak No Evil (2024)

Saturday Night

The Killer’s Game

Girls Will Be Girls

The 4:30 Movie

Sweetheart Deal

Latest articles.

Pull the String: Larry Karaszewski Remembers “Ed Wood” at 30

TIFF 2024: A Canadian Perspective on This Year’s Festival of Festivals

“Agatha All Along” Wastes Supernatural Powers of an Excellent Cast

Colin Farrell Turns Gotham Into “The Sopranos” with HBO’s Thrilling “The Penguin”

The best movie reviews, in your inbox.

• Login / Sign Up
• Entertainment

Trapezium has one of the most cunning and manipulative protagonists in anime

It’s a fascinating character study about one girl and the scope of her ambition

by Petrana Radulovic

I went into Trapezium , the new anime movie from CloverWorks ( Spy x Family , Bocchi the Rock! ), expecting what the official summary promised: a slice-of-life anime about a group of friends with big dreams of becoming idols, and a series of conflicts to navigate while they grapple with the rigorous music industry and the perils of fame.

But this movie — the latest anime film playing in American theaters for a one-day-only special engagement — isn’t really about four girls and their big dreams. It’s actually a compelling character study of one of the most manipulative, cunning characters I’ve seen in anime.

[ Ed. note: This post contains significant spoilers for Trapezium .]

Based on a light novel by former Japanese idol group member Kazumi Takayama, Trapezium follows a high school student named Yu Azuma, who has big dreams of becoming an idol. But she’s well aware of her own limitations, so she knows she needs a gimmick to catapult herself to stardom. She decides she needs to meet and befriend three other beautiful, talented girls, one from each of the high schools in her hometown, so their group represents the four cardinal directions.

Yu sets off on her quest, first traveling through an affluent academy in the south, where she zeroes in on gorgeous Ranko Katori and challenges her to a tennis match to win her friendship. Then she hits up a vocational school in the west, specifically looking for Kurumi Taiga, the sole female member of the robotics team, who enjoyed a brief stint of viral fame for being a girl in STEM at a prestigious competition. Kurumi is initially uninterested in meeting her, so Yu feigns interest in robotics, then finds a way to help Kurumi meet her goals.

When Yu unintentionally reunites with her old classmate Mika Kamei, Yu is initially reserved — until she learns that Mika is not only beautiful and regularly does charity work (a good look for idols, who must maintain pristine reputations), but she happens to go to school in the north, the cardinal direction Yu is missing. She’s the final piece Yu needs for her master plan.

Yu never lets the other girls know about her grand ambitions, even as she organizes increasingly specific ways to get them into the spotlight. When they’re split up at an event where they volunteer to help kids in wheelchairs up a scenic mountain hiking path, Yu throws a small fit. In her mind, the excursion isn’t worth it if they aren’t seen together for a potential social media picture. But Yu tells the others her bad mood is because she wanted to spend time with them, which they buy wholeheartedly.

That isn’t the first indication of the extent of Yu’s manipulation, but it’s certainly the one that really showcases just how she’ll warp her friends’ affections to further her goals. She constantly pushes her friends to go along with her plans, whether or not they actually want to. She insists each new scheme is just for the sake of doing something fun together, as if she hasn’t been strategically planning her ascent to stardom for years. She’s unapologetically ruthless, in a way that I did not expect from a movie billed as “four teenage girls with big dreams.”

I expected something more like Bocchi the Rock! , where a similar set of girls with musical ambitions forge wholesome bonds as they collectively figure out how to launch their career. But instead, Trapezium unfolds like a tense psychological thriller, focused tightly on Yu, the scope of her ambition, and the lengths she’ll go to in order to make her dreams a reality. She treats her supposed friends like necessary tools in her greater scheme, instead of actual humans. She’s absolutely ruthless as she concocts her plans in her downtime, though to her friends she comes off as someone who’s just very passionate (it helps that she fudges the truth in order to get her friends to go along with her plans). She’s also a bit of a sore loser, pouting when she receives less attention than the other group members, and snapping at her friends once everything begins to spiral.

But at the same time, she’s never outright mean. And she wants to be an idol so badly that it’s hard not to root for her a little bit. She’s a fascinating character, deeply flawed and almost borderline cruel, but her sheer determination is admirable. And even though she starts out seeing the other girls as puzzle pieces, it’s evident that she does begin to actually care for them — even if she doesn’t realize it herself. Throughout the movie, I vacillated on finding her admirable, scary, and even a bit pitiable. What I did solidly know, though, was that she hooked me in, and I couldn’t look away from her story as it unfolded on screen.

A lot about Trapezium ’s story could stand to dig deeper, especially when it comes to really diving into the ramifications of idol life, fame, and the group’s eventual reconciliation. But what the movie does wonderfully is give a tight, tense look at one girl, the sheer scope of her ambition, and what happens when a perfect plan begins to crack.

Crunchyroll will premiere Trapezium in American theaters for a one-day-only special showing on Sept. 18. Polygon will update this post when Crunchyroll announces a streaming date for the movie.

Most Popular

• The new D&D Player’s Handbook is a treasure, and we may never see its equal again
• A new Zelda game is reminding everyone to finish the last one
• The Ark is a perfect throwback to an age when sci-fi didn't have to be so serious
• The overloaded Frostpunk 2 could have been chiller
• UFO 50 was terrible to review but incredible to play

Patch Notes

The best of Polygon in your inbox, every Friday.

This is the title for the native ad

More in Anime

The Latest ⚡️

Log in or sign up for Rotten Tomatoes

Trouble logging in?

By continuing, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes.

Email not verified

Let's keep in touch.

Sign up for the Rotten Tomatoes newsletter to get weekly updates on:

• Upcoming Movies and TV shows
• Rotten Tomatoes Podcast
• Media News + More

By clicking "Sign Me Up," you are agreeing to receive occasional emails and communications from Fandango Media (Fandango, Vudu, and Rotten Tomatoes) and consenting to Fandango's Privacy Policy and Terms and Policies . Please allow 10 business days for your account to reflect your preferences.

OK, got it!

• About Rotten Tomatoes®
• Login/signup

Movies in theaters

• Opening This Week
• Top Box Office
• Coming Soon to Theaters
• Certified Fresh Movies

Movies at Home

• Fandango at Home
• Prime Video
• Most Popular Streaming Movies
• What to Watch New

Certified fresh picks

• 83% Speak No Evil Link to Speak No Evil
• 77% Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Link to Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
• 96% Rebel Ridge Link to Rebel Ridge

New TV Tonight

• 89% The Penguin: Season 1
• 90% High Potential: Season 1
• 86% American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez: Season 1
• 79% Agatha All Along: Season 1
• 73% A Very Royal Scandal: Season 1
• 100% Tulsa King: Season 2
• 50% Frasier: Season 2
• 29% Emmys: Season 76
• -- Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story: Season 2
• 86% Twilight of the Gods: Season 1

Most Popular TV on RT

• 63% The Perfect Couple: Season 1
• 74% Kaos: Season 1
• 100% Slow Horses: Season 4
• 83% The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: Season 2
• 67% The Old Man: Season 2
• 99% Shōgun: Season 1
• Best TV Shows
• Most Popular TV

Certified fresh pick

• 89% The Penguin: Season 1 Link to The Penguin: Season 1
• All-Time Lists
• Binge Guide
• Comics on TV
• Five Favorite Films
• Video Interviews
• Weekend Box Office
• Weekly Ketchup
• What to Watch

All Transformers Movies Ranked by Tomatometer

The 60 Best 1960s Horror Movies

What to Watch: In Theaters and On Streaming

Awards Tour

Renewed and Cancelled TV Shows 2024

‘Seen on the Screen’ Podcast: A Celebration of Universal Stories 

• Trending on RT
• Hispanic Heritage Month
• Spanish-Language Movies
• Re-Release Calendar

Where to Watch

Rent Z on Prime Video, Apple TV, or buy it on Prime Video, Apple TV.

Critics Reviews

Audience reviews, cast & crew.

Brandon Christensen

Keegan Connor Tracy

Elizabeth Parsons

Joshua Parsons

Sean Rogerson

Kevin Parsons

Sara Canning

Jenna Montgomery

Stephen McHattie

More Like This

The Definitive Voice of Entertainment News

Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter

site categories

‘never let go’ review: halle berry stokes the ambiguity but can’t stop alexandre aja’s horror fairy tale from stalling.

A protective mother lives with her two sons in an isolated woodlands house to which they must remain tethered by ropes, in order to protect against an omnipresent evil that only she can see.

By David Rooney

David Rooney

Chief Film Critic

• Share on Facebook
• Share to Flipboard
• Send an Email
• Show additional share options
• Share on LinkedIn
• Share on Pinterest
• Share on Reddit
• Share on Tumblr
• Share on Whats App
• Print the Article
• Post a Comment

Related Stories

Lionsgate inks deal with ai firm to mine its massive film and tv library, cillian murphy wrestles with taking on catholic church in 'small things like these' trailer, never let go.

This amorphous evil apparently has so poisoned humanity that civilization is over, and only the warmth and love of a house built by the boys’ grandfather as a refuge for his fearful wife can keep them safe. We get a dose of this setup from Nolan in voiceover and then a bunch more from Momma in ominous dinnertime stories and warnings both patiently nurturing and enraged. There’s even a rhyming incantation they recite before venturing out and another for once they’re back inside, their hands touching the sacred wood. The premise is encumbered with a lot of convoluted lore that somehow never makes it more coherent.

The evil can take many forms, from the snake that slithers around the forest’s mossy tree roots to the zombified humans lurking in wait for one of them to become untethered. These demons want to destroy the love inside the boys, Momma tells them. It can get inside their heads and divide them, driving them to kill one another.

Momma is so furious after a close call caused by the boys’ recklessness that she threatens them at knifepoint while making them repeat the rhyme for the 800th time. She also has a kind of purification ritual where she shuts one of them at a time in the cellar to imagine the darkness taking over their world and then will themselves to come back into the light.

The movie has started to fall apart by that point due to the vagueness and repetitiveness of its plotting, so it’s a welcome shot of craziness when Berry threatens to go full Piper Laurie in Carrie . Sadly, she stops short of that hellfire hysteria (at least for now), sticking to a low-boil witchy intensity and a dread that occupies Momma’s every waking moment. Still, a seed is planted, hinting that her maternal devotion may be more twisted than it seems.

A harsh winter has killed off anything edible in their greenhouse, along with most of the natural vegetation worth foraging, and the woodland animals are slow to return, steadily increasing the family’s risk of starvation. A scrawny squirrel, skinned and fried up by Momma, seems to be their last taste of substantial food before they’re reduced to eating sautéed tree bark.

In his last film, the claustrophobic Netflix sci-fi survival thriller Oxygen , Aja took a setup that could not have been more confined and kept the scenario taut and the suspense humming. He’s working on a larger canvas with Never Let Go , a three-character Southern Gothic chamber piece. But the movie starts slackening almost as soon as we digest all of Momma’s teachings.

The friction between the brothers is well-played by the two terrific young actors — Jenkins has shouldered more than his fair share of evil lately, after Lee Daniels’ inadvertently campy possession freakout, The Deliverance — and the makeup team does excellent work on all three members of the principal cast, hollowing out their eyes and cheeks as malnutrition takes its toll. But there’s only so much mileage the movie can get out of “Is Momma crazy or speaking the truth?” before it becomes monotonous.

A startling development a little over the halfway mark ups the stakes significantly and a passing hiker (Matthew Kevin Anderson) makes Nolan even more convinced that normal life carries on out there, beyond the woodland boundaries of their dark fairy-tale world. By then, however, the movie has become an inevitable “and then there was one” countdown. Even as Aja amps up the closing stretch with lots of fiery action, shifting perspectives, demonic visitations and a touch of body horror, it’s dull and silly and not scary.

Production designer Jeremy Stanbridge makes the house its own kind of entity, full of secrets and lit only with candles and oil lamps. As a treat on new moon nights, Momma winds up the old-timey gramophone and lets the boys sing and dance to the late-1920s country-folk song “The Big Rock Candy Mountain,” which indicates the place’s long history.

Berry, who’s also a producer through her HalleHolly company, gives it her all. De-glammed almost to a feral degree and slipping in and out of a Southern accent, she deftly blurs the lines separating fiercely protective from paranoid and unhinged for much of the duration. But all her conviction can’t breathe substance into a story that’s way more complicated than complex and a movie that takes itself far more seriously than the material merits.

Full credits

Thr newsletters.

Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day

More from The Hollywood Reporter

Queen latifah biopic in the works from producer will smith, george clooney says he wishes ‘wolfs’ “was having a wider release” but “we’re trying to figure these things out as we go”, trans, non-binary cast, crew “at risk” on canadian film sets, study says, freestyle digital media acquires quincy jones and debbie allen-produced doc ‘king of kings: chasing edward jones’, montclair film festival: ‘conclave’ to open, ‘the piano lesson’ to close, ‘unstoppable’ as fiction centerpiece (exclusive), disney animation shake-up: jennifer lee exiting as chief creative officer, jared bush takes over.

Thanks For Rating

Reminder successfully set, select a city.

• Nashik Times
• Aurangabad Times
• Badlapur Times

You can change your city from here. We serve personalized stories based on the selected city

• Edit Profile
• Briefs Movies TV Web Series Lifestyle Trending Visual Stories Music Events Videos Theatre Photos Gaming

Aditi Rao Hydari and Siddharth make first appearance post their wedding; hold hands at Mumbai airport

New grandparents visit Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh's baby daughter at their residence

Mrunal Thakur, Malavika Mohanan, Siddhanth Chaturvedi and other celebs attend the screening of Yudhra in style

Descendants of the Sun, Vincenzo, and more: Celebrate Song Joong Ki's birthday with a binge-worthy marathon of his best K-dramas

Ranveer Singh to begin preparing for 'Don 3' in March 2025: Report

Urvashi Rautela breaks silence about dating rumours with Rishabh Pant: 'Linking me with RP...'

• Movie Reviews

Movie Listings

Kahan Shuru Kahan Khat...

Nasha Jurm aur Gangste...

Metro In Dino

The Buckingham Murders...

Thalapathy Is The G.O....

Pad Gaye Pange

'Devara', 'Pushpa 2' , 'Game Changer' : Most awaited Tollywood releases

Nayanthara and Vignesh Shivan: Cherished moments you’ll want to see

Mrunal Thakur serves the perfect festive-ready look in a dazzling beige saree with a cape

Megha Akash and Saai Vishnu's wedding diary

​Avika Gor radiates timeless elegance​

Madhuri Dixit Nene's Gorgeous Looks

A sneak peek of Hansika Motwani’s camera roll

Esha Kansara looks ethereal in THESE pics

​Priya Bapat exudes elegance in a sarees​

​Exploring the timeless elegance of actress Sonia Agarwal​

The Buckingham Murders

Thalapathy Is The G.O.A...

A Wedding Story

The Diary Of West Benga...

Speak No Evil

Rebel Ridge

Detective Conan vs. Kid...

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

Kinds Of Kindness

The Deliverance

Mathu Vadalara 2

Bhale Unnade

35-Chinna Katha Kaadu

Mr.Bachchan

Purushothamudu

Sarangadhariya

Prabuthwa Junior Kalash...

Onam means kasavu, sadh...

Kishkindha Kaandam

Ajayante Randam Moshana...

Bharathanatyam

Palum Pazhavum

Adios Amigo

Level Cross

Agathokakological

Krishnam Pranaya Sakhi

Roopanthara

Family Drama

Back Bencherz

Manikbabur Megh: The Cl...

Rajnandini Paul and Ama...

Chaalchitra Ekhon

Nayan Rahasya

Ardaas Sarbat De Bhale ...

Teriya Meriya Hera Pher...

Kudi Haryane Val Di

Shinda Shinda No Papa

Sarabha: Cry For Freedo...

Zindagi Zindabaad

Maujaan Hi Maujaan

Chidiyan Da Chamba

White Punjab

Gharat Ganpati

Ek Don Teen Chaar

Danka Hari Namacha

Aamhi Jarange

Vishay Hard

Swargandharva Sudhir Ph...

Naach Ga Ghuma

Juna Furniture

Devra Pe Manva Dole

Dil Ta Pagal Hola

Ittaa Kittaa

Jaishree Krishh

Bushirt T-shirt

Shubh Yatra

Your Rating

Write a review (optional).

• Movie Reviews /

Would you like to review this movie?

Cast & Crew

Nandhan Movie Review : A middling film with occasional moments and underwritten characters

• Times Of India

Nandhan - Official Trailer

Nandhan | Song - Yekki Yekki Paakuraan (Lyric...

Users' Reviews

Refrain from posting comments that are obscene, defamatory or inflammatory, and do not indulge in personal attacks, name calling or inciting hatred against any community. Help us delete comments that do not follow these guidelines by marking them offensive . Let's work together to keep the conversation civil.

Visual Stories

​In pics: Mesmerizing looks of Ammu Abhirami​

10 types of protein-rich tikkis for evening snacks

Entertainment

Keerthy Suresh's mustard yellow suit exudes pure elegance

Rasha Thadani rocks dapper look in tan brown leather dress

Decoding Mouni Roy’s glamorous looks from London and Milan Fashion Week

​8 must-visit dhabas on Delhi-Jaipur Highway

​10 cute pet names for baby boy that mean God​

Body language tips for making a great impression

​Asian paradise flycatcher: known for its long tail and striking plumage​

Popular Movie Reviews

The Greatest Of All Time

Raghu Thatha

Nanban Oruvan Vantha Piragu

Demonte Colony 2

VascoDaGama

Kottukkaali