It’s a cool indie weekend when the new album by André 3000, New Blue Sun, has morphed into a “cinematic listening experience.” Variance Films is putting the experience, directed by Terence Nance, into three theaters in NYC (IFC Center), LA (Cinepolis Inglewood) and Atlanta (Tara).
Right now, it’s just those locations but after this weekend, “We will see what happens, where the wind takes us,” said Variance CEO Dylan Marchetti. “I swear, I wanted to make a ‘visual album’ but this is literally the way the wind blew me this time,” André has said.
Asked what’s is on the screen, Marchetti said, “Vibes.”
New Blue Sun, out today, is André’s debut solo album, his first full-length LP since his group Outkast released its last record 17 years ago. He described it as “an entirely instrumental album centered around woodwinds; a celebratory piece of work in the form of a living, breathing, aural organism.” Released on Sony Music’s Epic Records. There’s no trailer.
A few big festival films hit this weekend led by Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn from Amazon MGM and Tod Haynes’ May December from Netflix. Mubi has Fallen Leaves and two docs look at Shere Hite and The Rolling Stones Brian Jones.
Thriller Saltburn opens at 7 locations total in NYC, LA and Austin. That’s AMC Burbank, AMC Century City, AMC Grove, Alamo Brooklyn, Alamo South Lamar Austin, AMC LSQ and Angelika NYC. Expanding Nov. 22.
Premiered at Telluride, Deadline review here. There’s been no streaming date announced yet.
Barry Keoghan stars as Oxford University student Oliver Quick, struggling to find his way and drawn into the orbit of a charming and aristocratic schoolmate Felix Catton played by Jacob Elordi (doing double duty on screen this fall as Elvis in Priscilla). Felix invites Oliver to Saltburn, his eccentric family’s sprawling estate, for a summer never to be forgotten. Rosamund Pike, Richard E. Grant, Archie Madekwe, Alison Oliver and Carey Mulligan also star.
Written and directed by Fennell (Promising Young Woman) who produced alongside Josey McNamara and Margot Robbie.
(Noting that Saltburn’s Austin location — Alamo Drafthouse’s flagship cinema — will be be included in some high profile limited releases this fall and winter including Neon’s Eileen by William Oldroyd, Searchlight Pictures‘ Poor Things by Yorgos Lanthimos, and Amazon MGM’s American Fiction by Cord Jefferson. It will also be one of only five theaters nationwide to show Apple/Sony’s Napoleon in 70mm.)
As for May December, it opens in about 90 theaters in 45 markets including The Hollywood Theatre, in Haynes’ native Portland. On Netflix Dec 1.
Twenty years after their notorious tabloid romance gripped the nation, a married couple buckles under the pressure when an actress arrives to do research for a film about their past. Starring Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore and Charles Melton. Premiered at Cannes, Deadline review here, and was NYFF’s opening night film. Written by Samy Burch, story by Burch, Alex Mechanik. Producers:Natalie Portman, Sophie Mas, Pamela Koffler, Christine Vachon, Grant S. Johnson, Tyler W. Konney, Jessica Elbaum, Will Ferrell.
Netflix is also opening Adam Sandler’s animated musical comedy Leo, directed byRobert Marianetti, Robert Smigel, David Wachtenheim. Produced byAdam Sandler, Mireille Soria. Written by Robert Smigel, Adam Sandler, Paul Sado. This is the last year of elementary school through the eyes of a class pet, jaded 74-year-old lizard Leo (voiced by Sandler). Leo plans to escape but instead has to rescue his class from a horribly mean substitute teacher. With Bill Burr, Cecily Strong, Jason Alexander, Sadie Sandler, Sunny Sandler, Rob Schneider, Jo Koy, Jackie Sandler, Heidi Gardner, Robert Smigel, Nick Swardson, Stephanie Hsu, Nicholas Turturro. At Regal Union Square in NYC, the Bay in LA and Landmark Opera Plaza in SF. On Netflix Nov. 21.
Docs: IFC Presents Sundance-premiering The Disappearance Of Shere Hite at the IFC Center. Directed by Nicole Newnham. The rediscovery of Shere Hite, a pioneer who has had an unmistakable influence on current conversations about gender, sexuality, and bodily autonomy, as well as a timely, cautionary tale of what too often happens to women who dare speak out.
Magnolia debuts The Stones And Brian Jones by Nick Wingfield day and date in a limited national release including NYC (Quad) and LA (Monica). Featuring revealing interviews with all the main players and unseen archive released for the first time, The Stones and Brian Jones explores the creative musical genius of Jones, key to the success of the band, and uncovers how the founder of what became the greatest rock’n’roll band in the world was left behind in the shadows of history. It played Nov. 7 on 175 screens for special one night only engagements.
Mubi is opening Cannes Jury Prize Winner, the Finnish-German comedy-drama Fallen Leaves written and directed by Aki Kaurismäki — his 20th feature and a continuation of his Proletariat series, which was originally planned as a trilogy and already includes Shadows in Paradise, Ariel, and The Match Factory Girl. Premiered in Cannes, see Deadline review. The story of Ansa, a supermarket shelf-stocker and recyclable plastic sorter, and Holappa, a sandblaster, alcoholic, later an ex-alcoholic, whose paths have accidentally crossed and who, despite adversity and misunderstandings, try to build some kind of relationship on the harsher side of the welfare state
And 3388 Films presents Live (Phát Trực Tiếp) a film that tackles cancel culture in Vietnam through vivid portrayals of the hyper-competitive world of live-streaming “mukbangers” (people who post videos of themselves on social media eating large quantities of food) and online reviewers. Directed by Khương Ngọc. Had its North American as the Vietnamese Spotlight Film of the Newport Beach Film Festival. Trúc, a budding Mukbanger who swiftly catapults to the top of the food chain when she finds a pill on the dark web that makes her appetite insatiable, and Hoàng, a famous reviewer who gets trapped in a death scandal where he learns that online fame and cancel culture are merely a simple click away. Stars Ngọc Phước and Quốc Khánh. Opens select theaters nationwide with AMC, Regal and Cinemark in major DMAs in the top 50, including: Los Angeles-Orange County, New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas-Fort Worth, Atlanta, Houston, Washington, Boston, San Jose, Seattle, Denver, Orlando, Sacramento, Charlotte, Portland, Nashville, San Diego, Columbus, Oklahoma, New Orleans.