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New York Times
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Conjuring the Past and Future of Black Music in ‘Sinners'
In 'Anatomy of a Scene,' we ask directors to reveal the secrets that go into making key scenes in their movies. See new episodes in the series on Fridays. You can also watch our collection of more than 150 videos on YouTube and subscribe to our YouTube channel. Viewers might not expect to see a DJ at a turntable in Ryan Coogler's 1930s-set horror movie 'Sinners,' but in this sequence, the history and future of music collide. This sequence takes place in a juke joint opened by the twins Smoke and Stack (both played by Michael B. Jordan). Playing for the crowd is Sammie Moore (Miles Caton), performing a song that was written by Raphael Saadiq and the film's composer, Ludwig Goransson. 'Rafael is from Oakland, kind of a local legend where I'm from,' Coogler said, narrating the moment. The scene starts with Caton's impressive vocals, while cutting to shots of both Smoke and Stack, as well as other characters in the sequence. 'We wanted to use Michael Shawver's editing skills to establish where everybody is and what their stakes are,' Coogler said. Once all is laid out, the scene flashes back to a conversation between Sammie and another musician, Delta Slim (Delroy Lindo), who explains Sammie's skill for the blues and the responsibility that comes with his talent. 'Blues, it wasn't forced on us like that religion,' Delta says. 'No, son. We brought this with us from home. It's magic, what we do. It's sacred and big.' As the scene returns to the juke joint, we hear a voice-over from Annie (Wunmi Mosaku), a conjure woman. She says that some musicians have the gift to make music so powerful, it can conjure spirits from the past and the future. At this point, in an ambitious tracking shot, various eras of musicians appear in the frame, including an electric guitarist and the D.J. at the turntable. 'We wanted to do it in a fluid, continuous take,' Coogler said. New music elements continue to be introduced along with new forms of dance. 'Aakomon Jones, our choreographer, is changing choreography ever so slightly so that folks still feel like they're in their time, but also outside of it as we get more and more heightened in this moment,' Coogler said. Read the 'Sinners' review. Read an interview with Michael B. Jordan and Coogler. Hear from Buddy Guy, a musician who appears in the post-credits sequence. Find out about the symbolism in 'Sinners.' See how 'Sinners' and other movies multiply one actor. Sign up for the Movies Update newsletter and get a roundup of reviews, news, Critics' Picks and more.
New York Times
25-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Watch Ben Affleck Line Dance in ‘The Accountant 2'
In 'Anatomy of a Scene,' we ask directors to reveal the secrets that go into making key scenes in their movies. See new episodes in the series on Fridays. You can also watch our collection of more than 150 videos on YouTube and subscribe to our YouTube channel. Ben Affleck kicks up his sneakers on the dance floor in this spirited sequence from 'The Accountant 2.' Affleck's character, Christian Wolff, an autistic C.P.A., has gone with his brother, Braxton (Jon Bernthal), to a country western bar. Using calculations, Christian quickly figures out the pattern of a line dance and joins in. Discussing the scene in an interview, the film's director, Gavin O' Connor, explained that the scene was meant to accomplish several things as the film moves deeper into the second act. He added, 'Bill Dubuque, our writer, and I wanted to abandon the plot and just make a hard left turn and go spend time with the brothers in a social environment so we can deepen their relationship while also allowing Christian the opportunity to connect with a woman in a way he's never done before.' This leads to a moment in which Braxton expects his brother might make a fool of himself, but things turn out differently. 'It dramatizes his mathematical brain, because you watch him start to look at the footwork and it all starts to compute very quickly,' O'Connor said in the interview. He also said Affleck attended several rehearsals to get the moves right: 'We had a choreographer named Jennifer Hamilton who was wonderful, and before we got to the rehearsal stage, she was presenting me with a bunch of different ideas, because there are a lot of variations on line dancing, and then we narrowed it down.' They worked out the choreography with the dancers before bringing Affleck in. 'Then Ben just did his thing,' O'Connor said. 'Christian didn't have to be great. He just had to do it. So it was never important that he lit the place on fire.' Read the 'Accountant 2' review. Sign up for the Movies Update newsletter and get a roundup of reviews, news, Critics' Picks and more.
New York Times
11-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Watch Rami Malek Explode a Pool in ‘The Amateur'
In 'Anatomy of a Scene,' we ask directors to reveal the secrets that go into making key scenes in their movies. See new episodes in the series on Fridays. You can also watch our collection of more than 150 videos on YouTube and subscribe to our YouTube channel. A glass-bottom pool that straddles two buildings can make for quite a luxurious swim, as long as nobody tries to blow it up. The fate of one high-rise swimmer doesn't look good in this scene from the spy thriller 'The Amateur,' in which Rami Malek plays Charlie Heller, a C.I.A. cryptographer out to avenge his wife's death. But more than guns and fists, he's using intelligence and craftiness to get the job done. Here, Charlie encounters one of his targets, Mishka Blazhic (Marc Rissmann), who has been given solo access to a hotel pool for a night swim. Interrogating Mishka, Charlie informs him that he is holding the remote control to a device that is decompressing the air between the sheets of glass at the base of the pool. If he triggers the device, the glass will shatter. Narrating the sequence, the director James Hawes said that there were few locations in the world with pools that sit between two buildings. 'We were lucky enough to find a location in London that gave us that,' he said, 'but they weren't going to let us blow it up.' Hawes said that he and his crew used it to shoot a portion of the scene, but then they built a life-size section of the pool in a studio, which allowed them to fill the pool with water and explode it. They even rigged up a stunt person to be sucked back as the bottom gave way. 'So a lot of the work is done in camera,' he said, 'and only then does VFX start to take over.' Read the 'Amateur' review. Read an interview with Rami Malek. Sign up for the Movies Update newsletter and get a roundup of reviews, news, Critics' Picks and more.
New York Times
21-02-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Watch Austin Butler in Battle in ‘Dune: Part Two'
In 'Anatomy of a Scene,' we ask directors to reveal the secrets that go into making key scenes in their movies. See new episodes in the series on Fridays. You can also watch our collection of more than 150 videos on YouTube and subscribe to our YouTube channel. Denis Villeneuve's 'Dune: Part Two,' much like the first film, is loaded with ambitious sequences. But one of the stark visual standouts is this battle scene in the Harkonnen arena, where Feyd-Rautha (Austin Butler), for his birthday celebration, is pitted against a group of enslaved men. The sequence is rendered in heightened black andwhite. Narrating the scene, Villeneuve said he wanted to create a specific kind of atmosphere for the planet Giedi Prime, in which the Harkonnen have destroyed a lot of their natural resources. He said, 'As my cinematographer, Greig Fraser, and I were brainstorming together how to bring an alien sunlight that would be black and white to the screen, Greig had the idea to test infrared.' The filmmaker said that infrared is usually blocked from cameras because it is considered noise. But in this case, they 'modified the cameras to let only that wavelength come through.' The result is the atmosphere Villeneuve said he was dreaming of, one in which 'we see almost through skin. The eyes become piercing like insects.' Read the 'Dune: Part Two' review. Sign up for the Movies Update newsletter and get a roundup of reviews, news, Critics' Picks and more.
New York Times
10-02-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Watch Demi Moore Transform in ‘The Substance'
In 'Anatomy of a Scene,' we ask directors to reveal the secrets that go into making key scenes in their movies. See new episodes in the series on Fridays. You can also watch our collection of more than 150 videos on YouTube and subscribe to our YouTube channel. A miracle drug starts to create some side effects in this scene from 'The Substance.' Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) has been taking a black-market drug that has created a younger version of herself, Sue (Margaret Qualley). Her time must be divided between the younger and older versions on a strict schedule, but in this sequence, Elisabeth finds out what happens if she doesn't respect the balance of that time. She wakes up after Sue's wild evening to a disheveled apartment and one aged appendage, the result of Sue taking more fluid from Elisabeth's body to buy more time in her young body. Elisabeth notices that one of her fingers now looks dramatically older than the others. As she runs to the sink to try to wash the age away, the pace become faster and closer. Narrating the scene, the director Coralie Fargeat said, 'The idea was all those close-ups that go more and more macro on the finger is to project Elisabeth's fears and Elisabeth's thoughts about what's happening to her.' As Elisabeth calls the Substance company to discuss her 'alteration,' she is taunted by a giant billboard out her window that shows her younger self. Fargeat said that she included a shot from above on Elisabeth to 'film her discomfort, the fact that she's now threatened.' This point of view is almost 'a face-off with her double, and above her as if she was tiny and oppressed by the situation.' Read the 'Substance' review. Sign up for the Movies Update newsletter and get a roundup of reviews, news, Critics' Picks and more.
