Latest news with #OnBecomingaGuineaFowl
News18
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- News18
Materialists Trailer: Love Gets Complicated With Chris Evans And Dakota Johnson
Last Updated: Materialists stars Chris Evans, Pedro Pascal and Dakota Johnson in a love triangle balancing stability and chaos between her past and present. Romance takes a modern, complicated turn in Materialists, a new romantic comedy set in the heart of New York City. Starring Chris Evans, Pedro Pascal and Dakota Johnson, the film explores a stylish love triangle under the direction of Celine Song, whose debut feature Past Lives received critical acclaim and an Oscar nomination. In Materialists, Dakota Johnson steps into the role of Lucy, a driven and high-powered matchmaker who has built a thriving career connecting others—but whose own romantic life is far less orderly. Her world begins to spiral when, during a chic Manhattan soiree, she crosses paths with Harry (Pedro Pascal), a charming and wealthy tech billionaire with all the makings of a perfect partner. The same night throws her for an emotional loop when she unexpectedly bumps into her ex-boyfriend John (Chris Evans), a passionate but struggling actor-slash-waiter, whose imperfections and past heartbreaks still linger in her mind. According to the film's official synopsis, Lucy must navigate the emotional tug-of-war between her stable, aspirational present and the messy, unresolved past she thought she left behind. The story cleverly weaves humour, vulnerability and sharp introspection as Lucy contemplates whether true love lies in what looks good on paper or in something far more chaotic and unpredictable. The newly released trailer offers glimpses into this tangled love triangle, filled with biting one-liners, lingering stares and moments of romantic tension. One pivotal scene shows John confronting Lucy about her relationship with Harry, asking whether she truly envisions a life with him, adding layers of doubt to what initially seemed like a fairy tale match. With its sparkling dialogue and stylish visuals, Materialists is shaping up to be one of the most buzzworthy rom-coms of the year. The film also boasts a stellar supporting cast, including Marin Ireland, Louisa Jacobson, Zoe Winters, Sawyer Spielberg and Dasha Nekrasova, each bringing depth to a vibrant ensemble. As her second directorial outing, Materialists sees Celine Song blending the emotional resonance of Past Lives with a lighter, more comedic tone, proving her storytelling versatility while still exploring themes of identity, love and self-worth. Distributed by A24, Materialists joins a slate of exciting new releases from the indie powerhouse. Other anticipated titles on their calendar include On Becoming a Guinea Fowl (released March 7), the surreal drama Opus starring Ayo Edebiri and John Malkovich (March 14), and the fantastical Death of a Unicorn featuring Jenna Ortega and Paul Rudd (March 28). Set to hit theatres on June 13, Materialists is primed to be a summer hit—blending aesthetics, smart storytelling and star power into a must-watch cinematic romance. First Published:
Chicago Tribune
14-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
‘On Becoming a Guinea Fowl' review: A family funeral digs up a history of hidden trauma
Wherever it takes place, whoever's life has ended, a funeral is a kind of collective memory bank. No two memories of the deceased, spoken or unspoken, work the same way. But a person's life, and its ripple effects, have a way of lingering. Delicate but fierce, 'On Becoming a Guinea Fowl' is the second feature from the Zambian-born, Welsh-raised writer-director Rungano Nyoni. As both participant and observer, like its protagonist, the film contends with many shades of anguish, in a story about an extended Zambian family mourning the death of a man known to all as Uncle Fred. In a steady, enveloping rhythm, with disarming slivers of sly humor, Nyoni asks a question without a pat answer: Can a dishonorable corpse be honored by those in attendance, if most of the mourners deny or wave away certain shared memories, like smoke from a dying fire? Driving home alone from a costume party, still in her Missy Elliott mask and headgear from the '90s hit 'The Rain,' Shula sees something at the roadside before we, the audience, see it as well. It is the body of her Uncle Fred. Shula (played by Susan Chardy) responds by not responding. She's either in stoic shock or the throes of something more inward. Along the same stretch of Zambian road stumbles Shula's cousin Nsansa (Elizabeth Chisela), seemingly worlds apart from Shula in her boisterous, presently drunken state. These two women serve as our entryway to the eventual marathon of a ceremonial family gathering. Shula joins the other women (always and only women) in the funeral preparations, the cooking, the serving, the ingrained, subservient nods. There's another cultural factor at work here. As the mourning rituals get underway, and Fred's relatives fill the humble house and yard, Shula and her cousins find themselves receding as adults and reverting, subtly, to their younger, compliant selves in that universal way of grown children re-entering the orbit of family. Clearly Shula has much on her mind. 'Guinea Fowl' is about how she finds the courage to talk about how Uncle Fred sexually abused her when she was a child, and with whom she feels safe in that spilled secret. She was not the only one. How many knew what was happening? Uncle Fred also left behind a much younger widow and several children; Shula's extended clan holds the widow (Norah Mwansa) responsible for her wastrel husband's ignoble death, not far from a brothel he frequented. Much of the film deals with how Fred's modest estate will be settled, and parceled out — and whether his hungry family will get anything, in the end, to make up for what the widow owes Fred's blood relatives in this circumstance. 'On Becoming a Guinea Fowl,' which shrewdly delays its title's meaning until the last possible minute, proceeds from ritualistic detail to detail, as part of the natural flow of things. Some of the mourners enter the house of mourning walking on their knees, singing a song about how death 'comes crawling' and the bereaved should do likewise. As the chicken on the grill outside sizzles away in the evening, there's a scene where Shula, looking for a missing relative, keeps getting interrupted by male mourners placing their dinner orders. The movie's subtle dramatics (too subtle for some, maybe, but whatever) create an ecosystem for our own exploration. Director Nyoni's 2017 debut feature, 'I Am Not a Witch,' announced a significant talent already formed, and driven by what keeps women confined, and by what cultural traditions of repression. Her cinematographer on that film and this one, David Gallego, has a supple eye for both indoor and outdoor shadows and light, and expressively emotional color. 'On Becoming a Guinea Fowl' takes its time and maintains a tight lid on Shula's emotions, not because it's a setup for some sort of explosion (though that comes, in its way) but because it's the authentic choice for a tamped-down psyche in search of a release valve. Nyoni is not into screeds or simple messaging. This is a poetic-realist vision with grace notes of wit and surrealism. It is a calm, visually assured statement of shared rage. And it's a 2025 highlight. 'On Becoming a Guinea Fowl' — 3.5 stars (out of 4) Running time: 1:39 How to watch: Premieres Fri. March 14 at Music Box Theatre, AMC River East and Alamo Drafthouse Wrigleyville
Washington Post
14-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Washington Post
‘On Becoming a Guinea Fowl' is a searing African fable
The guinea fowl is a ubiquitous, henlike bird native to Africa, where it's known for traveling in flocks and raising a noisy alarm when predators are nearby. In Rungano Nyoni's scalding Cannes prizewinner 'On Becoming a Guinea Fowl,' the bird serves as a metaphor for a society that will do anything to avoid listening.
Boston Globe
13-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
‘On Becoming a Guinea Fowl': The past is neither dead nor past in this Zambian parable
Writer-director Rungano Nyoni follows up her superb 2017 satire 'I Am Not a Witch' with another biting parable set in her homeland of Zambia. As in her prior film, Nyoni is unafraid to present surreal moments that highlight a character's state of mind or elevate a plot point. There are dream sequences and occasional blurrings of perception. Dark humor sneaks into dialogue. Advertisement Additionally, there are flashbacks to a 'Sesame Street'-like children's show explaining the guinea fowl, a bird species endemic to Africa. These clips are dropped in at unexpected moments but are important for those unfamiliar with the animal. Elizabeth Chisela in "On Becoming a Guinea Fowl." Chibesa Mulumba/A24 Nyoni's embrace of the absurd, as well as her seamless use of symbolic references and the depiction of traditional rituals, showcase her impressive storytelling talent. Her work here earned her the 'On Becoming a Guinea Fowl' begins on one of those absurdist notes. Shula (Susan Chardy) is driving down a dark highway at night, en route to her family home, when she sees a dead body on the side of the road. After inspecting the corpse, she recognizes the deceased as her Uncle Fred. There are no signs of foul play — he's just dead, perhaps of natural causes. Advertisement This sequence would be odd and mysterious on its own. What makes it so visually arresting and surreal is that Shula is wearing the inflatable black patent-leather suit and sunglasses mask that singer Missy Elliott wore in her iconic music video for 'The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly).' In director Hype Williams's I couldn't help but admire Shula's commitment to Elliott's vision. Shula is coming from a costume party, where I'm sure she won first prize. Though Nyoni doesn't needle drop 'The Rain,' my brain played the song anyway. As Shula calls the cops, I found myself silently mouthing the song's Ann Peebles-sampled chorus, 'I can't stand the rain against my window.' Shula spends the entire first act of the film dressed like Missy, because the cops tell her to remain with the body until morning; they have no officers available to investigate at the time. Meanwhile, Shula informs her family of Uncle Fred's death, and they begin the traditional days-long funeral and period of mourning. In discussions with her cousins Nsansa (Elizabeth Chisela) and Bupe (Esther Singini), Shula realizes they all share the horrible secret of having suffered Uncle Fred's abuse. Fred's much younger widow may have been his latest victim. The young widow gets no support from Shula's family, who all but blame her for Fred's death because she is not mourning him as fervently as they believe she should. Susan Chardy and Elizabeth Chisela in "On Becoming a Guinea Fowl." Chibesa Mulumba/A24 Neither is Shula, whose emotions Chardy plays close to the vest. It's a fantastic performance, especially in the scenes with the equally good Chisela and Singini. They all have ways of dealing with their trauma, ways that run counter to the circle of aunties loudly revering Uncle Fred as part of the funeral rituals. They seem to be in a contest to see who can mourn him with the most emotion. Advertisement We spend most of the film with these women, many of whom knew what this predator was up to, yet they swept it under the rug. Now that he's dead, they appear to feel no need to dredge up the past; nor do they seem to consider how the younger generation may still be suffering. As Faulkner once wrote, 'The past is never dead. It's not even past.' This refusal to hold Uncle Fred accountable is infuriating, of course, but it's also complex. The film doesn't dilute that complexity, but it does ask the question of whether anyone will break the cycle. Through that children's program, we learn that one of the traits of the guinea fowl is that it sounds a warning alarm if a predator is near. 'On Becoming a Guinea Fowl' ends with the action described in its title, a striking coda that will send you out of the theater with much to contemplate. This is one of the year's best films, a heartbreaking stunner that's not easily shaken. ★★★★ ON BECOMING A GUINEA FOWL Written and directed by Rungano Nyoni. Starring Susan Chardy, Elizabeth Chisela, Esther Singini. At the Coolidge. 119 minutes. PG-13 (themes of sexual abuse, profanity) Odie Henderson is the Boston Globe's film critic.
Yahoo
08-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Her films put a uniquely surreal Africa on the map. Rungano Nyoni won't be limited by expectations
When A24 came aboard to distribute Rungano Nyoni's latest film, "On Becoming a Guinea Fowl," the director was a little wary. "A24 is such a brand — and brands always frighten me," she says over Zoom from an office space in Zambia where she stationed herself so she could get a good Wi-Fi signal for our interview. "And also Americans really scare me. It's really intense." She was also wondering why the company would want to get on board with a film from her country. "They hadn't done African films," says Nyoni, 42, in her British-inflected accent. "I was like, 'Why do they want to do an African film?' I was just very suspicious all the time. Normal people are happy about these things. But then I start thinking about: What are the consequences? What does this mean? Do they want a kidney? What is their style? I remember I was saying to my team, 'I don't think my film is very cool.'" For what it's worth, Nyoni's film is very cool, even though she constantly peppers her conversation with this kind of playful self-deprecation. Even as an outsider, you can understand why A24 would sign on. Nyoni made a splash in 2017 with her critically acclaimed first feature, "I Am Not a Witch," a blistering comic satire also set in Zambia about a young girl accused of witchcraft. Her second act, "On Becoming a Guinea Fowl," which arrives in theaters Friday, doubles down on her artistic vision, further solidifying Nyoni as one of the preeminent voices of today's African cinema. She is now afforded a global platform few filmmakers from the continent receive. Surreal and at times bracingly funny, the new movie follows Shula (Susan Chardy), who we first encounter driving home from a costume party on a dark and quiet road. (She's wearing the same look Missy Elliott had in her video for "The Rain," sparkly mask included.) There, Shula comes across the corpse of her Uncle Fred, lying in the gutter. After alerting the police and her family to the mysterious death, Shula is roped into the local mourning traditions. Slowly, though, you come to realize just what kind of man Fred was through the distressed faces of Shula and her other younger relatives. He was a serial sexual assaulter, a fact that is glossed over in the performative grieving of others. The movie premiered at last year's Cannes Film Festival, where Nyoni won the directing prize in the Un Certain Regard section. "Being an African film is not easy because you don't have funding from Africa," Nyoni says. "So you have to have dual identities that sometimes it benefits for you to be African cinema, at times it benefits you to be something else. When we were going to Cannes, for example, there was a whole big debate about, 'This film is not Zambian.' I said, 'But it's Zambian.' They were like, 'No, it has to be British.'" Nyoni felt like part of her identity was being denied. (Cannes ended up listing the film as being from Zambia, the United Kingdom and Ireland.) Though she didn't want to take seven years to make a follow-up to "I Am Not a Witch," Nyoni says she needed time to recover from the experience. "It was harrowing," she recalls, a feeling that was related to "having to prove yourself" to financiers. But she adds that her set specifically posed a unique challenge given the "cultural differences" between working with a Zambian crew and a British one. "I think film sets are a mini representation of what can happen in the world, and it can get ugly," she says. "That's the nicest way I can put it. You see how people put themselves in a hierarchy and lower others." She found that the Zambian crew "probably suffered under that also because they are taken less seriously, and that I found really difficult." Having a foot in both African and European worlds, however, is in many ways what has defined Nyoni's life and career. Born in Zambia, her family left for Cardiff in Wales when she was about 9. Attending the University of Birmingham, where she initially studied business, she became entranced with Isabelle Huppert in Michael Haneke's "The Piano Teacher." "I watched this film a million times because I'm thinking: What magic is this, that I can be so involved with this unlikable woman?" Nyoni remembered. "I loved her, someone so different to me — that's power. I thought it was coming from Isabelle Huppert. I was like, she's great, I want to be like her. She did that thing to me. But then, of course, it's Haneke. It's everything. If I could do that for African cinema, people are just not connected to your world and then have them connect, I think that would be, for me, an amazing achievement." While her films can be quite critical of Zambian society, Nyoni herself has a "romantic" conception of the place. Around four months ago she returned to live there with her partner and her 3-year-old daughter; she wanted her kid to grow up in the same place she did. Nyoni also still cares for Maggie Mulubwa, the now-16-year-old actor who starred in "I Am Not a Witch." She jokes that she has relocated after every film. After "I Am Not a Witch" she went to Portugal. Still, it was Zambia — and a personal loss — that served as the inspiration for "Guinea Fowl." About three years ago, her grandmother died and the director came home for the funeral. Her great-uncle had issued a mandate from his village that they would not mourn his sister's death in typical Zambian fashion: No one would sleep over at the house; no one would wail in sorrow. That left Nyoni with downtime since she didn't have to cater to anyone. Still, she was restless. When she finally did sleep a bit, she had a dream that was "basically Shula's story in its very skeletal form." "I woke up and I went to my living room and started writing it out," she says. Nyoni loved her grandmother, just as she loved her uncle who had died not long before. But that love is what provoked her to make a film in which the exact opposite is the case. "When I was mourning my uncle, I remember turning to my partner and saying, 'Imagine if you don't love this person and you still have to do all this stuff.'" In "Guinea Fowl," the funeral rituals are tedious. The women in Shula's family have to both cook and clean for all the guests and are chided when they are not appropriately sad. All the while, the stress is augmented by the fact that the man whose life has ended caused a pain that has rippled through generations. Guinea fowl, small birds that can take down predators while working in groups, become an apt metaphor for the way the women bond together, as well as a haunting visual motif. (The film even includes a sidebar featuring an educational children's TV show, describing the creature.) Despite the seriousness of the subject matter, Nyoni also infuses the film with dark humor, whether it's Shula's drunk cousin twerking on her car or that Missy Elliott outfit. "The tone is really important to me," Nyoni explains. "Sometimes it verges on: Am I trying to provoke people? You're trying to find the right balance. In funerals, a lot of funny, absurd things happen that I've witnessed. Like, people will mourn and then be on their phones." Nyoni understands that her films can give people the wrong impressions about how she feels about Zambia. She heard that people at a festival in Zimbabwe were offended by "Guinea Fowl." "Then I started playing my film in my head, like, oh, yeah, it does look offensive. It looks like I am really laughing at Zambian culture," she says. "I think people were just conflating." Sometimes her intentionally far-fetched embellishments don't register for audiences outside of her own country. "Literally, audience members thought we tie women to trucks, right?' the director remembers of an early reaction to "I Am Not a Witch" at the Toronto International Film Festival. 'And I thought, what have I done? I'm adding to this nonsense of what people think about Africa." She knows she can only be responsible for what she creates but also is still wrestling with how to present her world. "My biggest fight, more than reiterating stereotypes or cliches, is I am more afraid of dumbing down or watering down my culture for people just to make them understand it," she says. "I think I need to find a balance of contextualizing it without thinking like I'm patronizing people." For her future projects, Nyoni hopes to expand her horizons. She has another film in development set in Zambia, but also a movie with "Moonlight" director Barry Jenkins' company Pastel that would shoot in Europe and a sci-fi project set in Botswana. She is intimidated by the sci-fi idea because it would require a lot of visual post work, which she says "scares" her. She almost wishes she could go back to school to learn how to do special effects. "That's what happens after you make your first film or your second," she says. "It ruins the illusion that you can do anything." But anything is exactly what she has achieved. Charmingly, Nyoni adds, "I'm neurotic anyway." Her modesty and nerves feel genuine. Sign up for Indie Focus, a weekly newsletter about movies and what's going on in the wild world of cinema. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
