True Grift
"Sharper," on Apple TV+, is a twisty con-artist drama with a hellacious Julianne Moore.
After a long-overdue week of beach and birds, Iâm back in wintry New England catching up on some of the new movies I missed while I was away from screens. One of them, the phenomenal âReturn To Seoulâ â the Boston Society of Film Criticsâ choice for best film of 2022 â opened last Friday in New York and Los Angeles but is slowly rolling out and wonât get to Boston until March 3rd. Iâll write more about it then, but I will say that I just watched the trailer on the Sony Classics website and got verklempt all over again. Itâs that powerful a movie. (The New York Times just ran a good interview with director Davy Chou, lead actress Park Ji-Min, and two acquaintances whose experiences served as the basis for the adoption storyline.)
On a less high-minded note, thereâs âSharperâ (âââ) on Apple TV+, a sleek and mostly nifty con-artist drama set in the upper canyons of Manhattan. In any movie about grifters, the suckers getting fleeced include the audience itself â thatâs part of the pleasure of the con; that and the climactic reveal that suddenly transforms us from marks into accomplices. The script by Brian Gatewood and Alessandra Tanaka is built like a puzzle box, telling the story first from the point of view of one character, then backtracking chronologically through the eyes of the other characters one by one, filling in gaps of information and throwing narrative curveballs along the way. I really canât get into details of the plot without spoiling the twists that are what âSharperâ really has going for it, but I will note that this B+ B-movie has an A+ cast, from the lesser-known but appealing Justice Smith and Brianna Middleton to heavyweights like Julianne Moore and John Lithgow. Somewhere in the middle is Sebastian Stan (âI, Tonya,â Bucky Barnes in the âCaptain Americaâ movies) as Max, the pivot of the long con that takes up the narrative of the movie as well as the long con that is the movie. Max is a snake but a seductive one, never not working a grift on someone, anyone, just to keep from being bored. His gift is making people think he has a soul, and Stanâs performance has a delectable reptilian chill to it.
That said, you come away from âSharperâ reminded that Julianne Moore can do just about anything, most of which is in this movie. (Not surprisingly, the actress co-produced along with filmmaker husband Bart Freundlich; she understands that women of a certain age have to make their own opportunities in the American film industry.) Again, Iâm powerless to tell you exactly what it is she does here without giving away the filmâs tricks, but I will say that I was struck, and not for the first time, by the thought that Moore would have flourished in the classic studio era of film noirs, melodramas, and suspense thrillers â indeed, might have given Barbara Stanwyck a run for her money.
Is the movie worth the $6.99 monthly subscription to toggle Apple TV+ on for a month? Just about. Director Benjamin Caron has worked mostly in TV â a lot of episodes of âThe Crownâ â and this is his first proper feature film. You can tell. âSharperâ looks luscious and rolls along with elegant meanness for much if its running time, but it doesnât quite stick the landing: A climactic Double Immelman of plot fake-outs is dramatically satisfying but hardly convincing and the final scene is just limp. Produced by the adventurous indie film company A24 for Apple TV+, the movie went out to theaters for a week before heading to VOD, and that feels right â âSharperâ is more at home at home, a fun watch with friends and family or a solo eveningâs light diversion, the kind you replay the next day in your head to see how it all fits together. Itâs only a minor letdown that the filmmakers are so intent on conning the audience that they end up conning themselves.
You probably already know that âThe Woman Kingâ (âââ1/2) has arrived on Netflix as of last week â itâs the serviceâs No. 1 movie this week. (Itâs available as a rental on other services as well.) But if you havenât seen it yet, treat yourself to a Black African female version of âGladiatorâ and try to comprehend how Viola Davis could ever have been passed over for a Best Actress Oscar nomination. Supporting actresses Thuso Mbedu, Lashana Lynch, and Sheila Atim are pretty ferocious too, and director Gina Prince-Bythewood further demonstrates her mastery of any genre she deigns to tackle. The movieâs not art; itâs the kind of full-blooded historical action epic the men have seemingly forgotten how to make.
Also new to streaming: âArmageddon Timeâ (â 1/2, Peacock), a Very Serious Drama About Race and Responsibility that faithful readers of this newsletter know I found to be a pompous load of hooey. But since I appear to be in the minority on this â the movieâs 75% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, 74% on Metacritic â I am duty-bound to let you know itâs streaming on NBCUniversalâs VOD platform and a $6 rental elsewhere.
Last tip: If you get Turner Classics on your cable system and youâve got nothing going on tonight, one of the greatest of all silent movies, F.W. Murnauâs 1927 âSunriseâ (ââââ), is airing at 8:00 p.m. Subtitled âA Song of Two Humans,â itâs the rare movie that can legitimately be considered poetry, and it stands at a curious juncture in time: A silent film made as the talkies were rushing in, the first Hollywood film for its German filmmaker (âNosferatu,â âThe Last Laughâ), and the only movie to win the Oscar for Best Unique and Artistic Picture, a category that was retired after the first Academy Awards were held in 1929. (If you miss the TCM airing, the filmâs in the public domain and there are copies of it on YouTube as well as on the major streaming services.)
Thoughts? Donât hesitate to weigh in.
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