Woman, Talking

On this week’s episode of Someone Else’s Movie, I welcome one of the youngest stars of Sarah Polley’s Women Talking, actor and soprano Shayla Brown, as a way of teeing up the film’s release this Friday. We’ve got it at the Lightbox, and please do come see it; it’s a work of considerable power from a filmmaker who’s only getting better and better.

Shayla wanted to talk about another film that deals with pressing issues through a very personal lens: Chinonye Chukwu’s Clemency, starring Alfre Woodard as a death-row warden cracking under the strain of her job. It’s not an easy film to watch, but that’s the point — and with Chukwu’s Till opening this fall, it feels like the first salvo in a career focused on putting human faces on the racism and cruelty that runs through American history.  So no, not a happy picture. But one that changed Shayla’s life, as she’ll explain.

You know how this works: Subscribe to the podcast on Apple PodcastsGoogle PlayStitcher and/or Spotify, or just grab it directly from the web. I’m cool with whatever.

And then go catch up to the latest editions of Shiny Things! I reviewed a whole whack of stuff last week — Patrick Read Johnson’s 5-25-77 in the free edition, new 4k releases of Silent Running, Coraline, ParaNorman and Smile and Criterion’s Blu-ray boxed set of Michael Haneke’s first three features, just for funsies. Yes, I know it’s the holidays. Something’s in the air just the same.

Also also: If you’re in Toronto on Friday night, come join us at the Lightbox for the 7 pm screening of Women Talking; in addition to seeing one of the year’s best films, as I mentioned above, you’ll also be gifted with a conversation with Sarah, co-star Sheila McCarthy, cinematographer Luc Montpellier and editor Chris MacDonald. Oh, and me, I’ll be there too because I have the best job in the world.

Tickets are available right here. See you there.

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