Review by Sean Boelman

Catherine Breillat is a French filmmaker known for her provocative work, which focuses on themes like sexuality. Her latest movie (her first in a decade), Last Summer, seems on paper like it would be incredibly provocative. However, this drama takes such a unique, unexpectedly nuanced approach to its subject matter that it is impossible to ignore.

Last Summer is a remake of the Danish film Queen of Hearts, following a successful woman who finds her life thrown into disarray when she begins an affair with her stepson. Its subject matter seems destined to be incredibly controversial, especially considering the sexuality of many of Breillat’s past movies, but Last Summer is far less salacious than one might fear.

it never feels like Breillat is simply trying to instigate, much less titillate. Although there are sex scenes, they are shot with such coldness and near clinicality that they don’t feel passionate or even carnal. It’s the same type of feeling you would get from watching animals mate on the Discovery Channel — voyeuristic and unsettling — which prompts viewers to question their assumptions. 

However, Breillat is also careful not to give easy answers. She doesn’t simply point the finger at the stepmom as a predator or the teenager as opportunistic. It’s clearly not endorsing or fetishizing this relationship, but it also has empathy for its characters. Breillat understands that this is not just some fantasy. Although the film may be heightened, this type of manipulation can happen in real life, and it is careful not to look down on the victims.

A significant part of the movie’s success is its cast, especially the powerful leading turn by Léa Drucker. The acclaimed actress takes a role that could have easily been overly melodramatic and uses it to make your skin crawl in subtle ways. Young actor Samuel Kircher (who is the brother of equally talented young actor Paul Kircher, of Winter Boy fame) also impresses, showing unexpected vulnerability for someone who is in their first role.

Breillat also effectively utilizes tools like juxtaposition to convey the film’s message. The cinematography and settings are beautiful, contrasting with the upsetting action of the story. In many ways, Breillat uses the grammar typical of the summer romance/coming-of-age movie and spins it on its head in a way that catches the audience off-guard. This type of subversion isn’t exactly new, but it is refreshing in a genre that’s become increasingly prevalent since Call Me By Your Name.

Yet, although the approach does feel mostly rich and fresh, Breillat conveys her point pretty effectively in the first act of the movie. The runtime isn’t even an hour and forty-five minutes, but it struggles with its pacing because it feels like it’s treading narrative water — especially in the third act. The coupling of a film that feels slow and a story that’s very bleak is a difficult duo to work with.

Last Summer isn’t perfect, but it’s much more effective and nuanced than one would expect from a movie with this material. In different hands, this easily could have been a trainwreck, but strong performances and genuinely deep character development allow it to be consistently engaging and effective.

Last Summer is now playing in theaters.

​Rating: 3.5/5

Review by Camden Ferrell

Regardless of one’s opinion of the movie, nobody can deny that Adrien Beau’s debut feature, The Vourdalak, is anything less than an ambitious swing. Adapting a 19th century Aleksei Tolstoy novella, this is a vampire story that even predates Bram Stoker’s Dracula. This visually intriguing tale had its premiere last year at the Venice Film Festival. While the movie’s boasts gorgeous visuals, costumes, and production design, it isn’t always enough to compensate for the meandering pace and less than cohesive vision.
 
Marquis Jacques Antoine is an emissary of the King of France, and he finds himself stranded in the countryside after a robbery. He searches for refuge with a peculiar family who behave oddly as they await the return of the patriarch, Gorcha. What starts out as a simple tale of a man seeking shelter quickly devolves into a tense and puzzling vampire story. This is a rather interesting and culturally rich story that has the promise of exploring multiple genres while also getting a chance to adapt a seminal vampire story.
 
Written by Beau and Hadrien Bouvier, the movie’s writing is more or less passable. Expositional dialogue feels engaging enough, but the lore can sometimes be so intensive that it can stall the momentum of the movie. Even though it follows narrative beats closely, it sometimes feels like a story that might not be the best fit for a feature length film. As a result, scenes feel drawn out and overly long, and this can undermine the eeriness and tension the movie builds throughout.

The performances are decent but nothing remarkable. The movie is led by Kacey Mottet Klein as Jacques Antoine. Despite the meandering pace of the movie, he does a decent job of trying to infuse the movie with energy with his performance. It’s an interesting outsider role, and he’s able to play into this dynamic well. The rest of the ensemble plays well enough into the absurdity and creepiness of the premise. Ariane Labed, Yorgos Lanthimos’ strange actress of choice, has the most interesting role in the film as Sdenka. It’s an enigmatic role, but she also contributes heavily to the overall vibe of the movie. It’s nothing groundbreaking, but it is paramount to the movie’s success.
 
While the writing and overall execution leaves something to be desired, this movie excels in all of its technical departments. Shot on Super 16mm film, this movie feels like an homage to older horror movies from a purely visual standpoint. In addition to this, the costumes and sets are all superb and there’s some puppet work in this movie that is this film’s highlight.
 
The Vourdalak has some impressive craft on display, but it doesn’t always work from a narrative standpoint. It’s an ambitious story to adapt for one’s feature debut, but it felt a little directionless at times. Fans of horror and especially fans of vampires should definitely give this a shot since this seems like a movie where mileage will vary greatly from person to person.
 
The Vourdalak is in theaters June 28.
 
Rating: 3/5

Review by Adam Donato

Kidman is as solid in the film as she can be. She has decent chemistry with Efron, but her soiled connection with her daughter is not given the dramatic weight to feel like there are any real stakes. Efron's comedic chops are the highlight of the film. His character is very funny as an exaggeratedly rude and out-of-touch celebrity, but his energy drops entirely once his relationship with Kidman starts. It's as if he turned into a whole new person, which makes it harder to feel for King's struggle to cope with their relationship. King is comedic enough, but mostly just annoying to follow. Her conflict is so unreasonable and predictable. Bates is good for some solid scenes of advice. Koshy's skillset is much more suited for the stage as she's so animated and overly expressive. She has social media fans, but some find her content to be cringe and annoying. She has a dramatic scene with King that comes out of nowhere, and she feels like a different person. 

There's definitely an audience for films like A Family Affair. With an endless combination of hot actors and actresses, this formula is a perpetual goldmine. It's got a good sense of humor but fails to connect on an emotional level. Even with the high pedigree of actors at play, this one definitely belongs on a streaming service. Netflix makes some of the best movies of the year on a regular basis, but this is not trying to be one of those. It's the same movie but with different actors in a different setting. Nicole Kidman was nominated for an Oscar two years ago. Don't lose sight of that, despite what this movie may have you believe. ​

A Family Affair streams on Netflix beginning June 28.

Rating: 2/5

Review by Cole Groth

It's nice to see the murder mystery make a comeback in the last few years because there's nothing quite as satisfying as a good reveal of a killer and a crowd of ridiculous personalities with confusing baggage. Reunion doesn't come to the top of modern murder mysteries, but it's still a fun watch deserving of attention, especially for those who already love this genre.​

In this Chris Nelson-directed film, our cast is led by Lil Rel Howery and includes Billy Magnussen, Nina Dobrev, Jamie Chung, Jillian Bell, Chace Crawford, and Michael Hitchcock. The crew makes up a fairly funny group, each saddled with controversy. Most are funny, and all are awful people. That said, most of the cast doesn't stand out quite as much as you would hope. People like Howery and Bell are the same type of character you've seen them play for their last ten films, and the rest of the cast just isn't interesting enough to be noteworthy.
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Reunion has a tone problem. It often feels very cynical and annoying in how most of the characters are rude to each other. We've seen this trope play out — a bunch of assholes get together to collectively trash their experiences as teenagers and explain how much they hate each other. It seems like the film is desperate to achieve this sense of relatability that it never does. I'd like to see a high school reunion film where everybody's awkward but mostly friendly because that's how people actually interact. Although the murder mystery relies on character archetypes, everybody here feels like a mishmash of tired personalities with an overbearing sense of negativity about everything (although, given the circumstances, it's hard to blame everybody for being awful).

The mystery itself is pretty fun to watch unfold, and at a brisk 90-minute runtime, it doesn't feel like it drags very much. Without spoiling the killer, though, a few of the twists and turns and the eventual reveal of who did it will leave viewers disappointed. The film feels like it's leading up to a big conclusion, but instead, it takes a bizarre turn that undermines much of what it had going for it. The most critical part of these films is that the ending sticks the landing, and this one misses it.

Aesthetically, this is a miss. The cinematography is bland, the lighting flat, and the editing basic. Since this script isn't incredible, Chris Nelson should've focused on making it stand out visually because, without any eye-catching shots, the only way for this to leave an impression would've been to make it optically compelling. It's reminiscent of See How They Run ​in the opposite way, which was a fairly decent script elevated by a great crew behind it to make it look more interesting and much better as a result. On the other hand, this film loses any memorability due to an unappealing look.

Although this film has been done time and time again, Reunion is a somewhat comforting watch for fans of murder mysteries. It's easy to enjoy because the writing is simple, and there are a few laughs to be had. The cast is nice, the pacing is good, and overall, it's hard to really hate this. Although with a relatively strong cast, you might be left feeling that this was a film deserving of more than just fine. There's potential for something more interesting here, but the script and visuals don't unlock it fully. What's left is a just-decent installment into a very busy genre.
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Reunion releases on VOD starting June 28.

Rating: 2.5/5

Review by Tatiana Miranda

Because the show is comparable to plenty of other historical dramas available to viewers, it doesn't quite stand out beyond its somewhat out-of-the-blue supernatural element with the Ethians. Still, even that feels like a motive for characters and the plot rather than an actual element of the story that affects the genre. While it is wildly entertaining, with captivating characters and a well-developed romance, it does find itself as just another young adult-oriented period drama adaptation. The cringy covers of classic rock songs mixed with a snarky voiceover make it clear that the series is meant to be more entertaining than enlightening. Still, after similar shows like The Great found a way to mix humor, romance, and emotional beats effectively, My Lady Jane feels a bit lackluster.

Nevertheless, for fans of shows like Reign, Shadow and Bone, and Dickinson, My Lady Jane is sure to be a new favorite. With the series' unfinished business and hints at a continuation, it will likely leave fans excited for another season.

My Lady Jane premiers on Prime Video on June 27. All eight episodes reviewed. ​

Rating: 3.5/5