Week Ending 12/5/25

The holiday referenced in the title of Scandar Copti's Happy Holidays—the appearance of which doesn't occur on-screen until the eighty-minute mark—is Purim. It's a day that the majority of the characters don't necessarily celebrate being that they are a Palestinian Arab family living in Israel, but Fifi (Manar Shehab) isn't going to let that stop her from partying with her Israeli classmates from university in Jerusalem. It's there that she gets into the car accident that lands her in the hospital where we meet her.

This is the point from which the film proceeds through varying perspectives and it's her neck brace (or lack thereof) that initially renders Copti's restarting narratives confusing. The next time we see Fifi is during the story of her brother Rami's (Toufic Danial) struggle with having fathered a child out of wedlock with an Israeli woman (Shani Dahari's Shirley) who has changed her mind about an abortion and now wants to keep the child. She's not wearing the brace and is obviously romantically involved with his friend Walid (Raed Burbara).

That's all well and good until the next chapter shows us following around Fifi and Rami's mother, Hanan (Wafaa Aoun). Why? Because we arrive at her house to find Walid with flowers despite Fifi having zero clue why he'd know she was in an accident. It's not until the third chapter that we recognize repetition since there is very little (if any) overlap between the first two. Now, however, we rewind to see Shirley's side of the events followed in Rami's tale. Suddenly things click into place. The accident occurs first. Everything else (mostly) occurs in tandem.

The reason is simple: oppressive situations foster lies. As a Palestinian born in Jaffa, Copti provides an egalitarian approach to the definition "oppressive situation" considering Israel's militarization, propaganda, and Apartheid state as well as the ingrained patriarchal traditions staunchly upheld by many Arab Muslim families where it comes to pride, appearances, and sexuality. He pulls absolutely no punches to reveal just how damaging both cultures are to freedom when it comes to gender, religious, or ethnic equality.

As teased in its subtitle, Rami's thread is intentionally "peculiar." He loves Shirley but knows having a child out of wedlock would destroy his family's reputation (one his father, Imad Hourani's Fouad, has already detonated due to a potentially criminal business deal). Having a child with a Jew might destroy them even more if side-eyes about letting Fifi attend school in Jerusalem are any indication. Rami wants to discuss it, but Shirley refuses due to threats she believes are coming from him. Threats that soon target Rami as well.

The truth behind them is despicably exposed during the third chapter—not by following Shirley, but by following her zealot sister Miri (Meirav Memoresky). It's one thing to see obvious anti-Arab sentiment in media and understand how terrorist groups foment hatred against each other (as one does while Fifi walks to her Purim party), but it's another to hear and see the manipulative and evil ways in which people enact violence on their own families to maintain the purity of their derangement. Miri's lie will make you sick.

Fifi's lie is conversely born from self-preservation. She knows her life choices will actively harm her family's archaic choice to put status above happiness (or, worse, believe the former is the latter), so she lies to protect them. By doing so, however, she unwittingly ensures the truth will be discovered due to her mother's inability to scale back her other daughter's impending nuptials. Despite Fouad's indiscretion ruining their finances, Hanan refuses to compromise. And it's this stubbornness that puts Fifi's past into the public record.

How everyone reacts is par for the course in these types of scenarios wherein a woman must not only be subservient to men, but she must also be "intact." The ways in which this impacts those around Fifi are extreme, but so is a society that forever holds decorum above reality. Because we know Fifi isn't the only one. Look no further than Rami and how his similar circumstances are more easily shielded because he is a man. It's less about the lie than it is being exposed. Hanan is mad at Fifi for what she did, but she's enraged that others know.

You must feel for Fifi, Rami, and Shirley. Here are three young souls trying to do their part to live in a world where religion and race pale in comparison to humanity despite existing in one of the worst places for such lofty idealism to actually succeed. You can even feel for Walid too considering we see the struggle between his heart and mind when it comes to Fifi's truth. Yes, his actions are irredeemable, but they are born from his indoctrination. He was raised believing an unspoken promise and feels betrayed when it's taken away.

What I really like about Happy Holidays, though, is that Copti never forgets where all this animosity stems from. Why are Israelis willing to do what Miri does to stop the spread of Arab genetics? Why do Muslims in Israel hold so tightly to antiquated notions so as not to be corrupted by "modern living"? Because their shared country is built upon ethnic superiority. The film's most disturbing part is witnessing what goes on in an Israeli elementary school classroom. It's truly everything an evangelical MAGA strives for here.

Oh, and no one on-screen is a professional actor. Copti scouted people in the occupations (doctor, student, nurse, etc.) of his characters and cast accordingly so each performance already had that authentic aspect baked in. It's an astounding fact to learn since they're all so good. Raw, emotional, intense. Who better to understand the tragic nuance of a culture than those entrenched within?

7/10

In the immortal words of Charles Dickens: "Jay Kelly was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more; and to Ron Sukenick's daughter, whose swollen feet finally went back to normal, he was a second father. He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as good old Hollywood knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world."

This was actually quite sweet. Very sentimental. Very inside baseball to the industry and Noah Baumbach's penchant for airing his own regrets through it. Very close to being one of his clunkers wherein his horrible characters demand our pity rather than just amuse us with their horribleness. If I cared one iota for Jay (or Ron before his three-decades-too-late epiphany), I might have really liked this.

Instead I will just admit that it had it's moments. Josh Hamilton crying so Riley Keough wouldn't need to cry was comedic gold. The cheese cake and Giovanni Zeqireya's Silvano always appearing when the words "you're not alone" are spoken were delightful. And Alba Rohrwacher really didn't need to go that hard (she's never not giving a performance 110%).

Maybe the lesson of A Christmas Carol isn't to give bad people the room to be redeemed. Maybe it's to realize you're better off without them.

6/10

Sixteen-year-old Lucia (Jara Sofija Ostan) is a dreamer. When her mind fixates on a sound or image, you're lucky to steal her attention back without screaming in her ear. It's a passion for beauty. Getting caught up in inspiration. Perhaps even Godly if you believe an olive tree, lipstick color, and insect buzz are His creations. To adults hellbent on control, however, it's insolence. Punishable. They designate daydreams as distractions. Disrespectful to their work. Rather than let a child feel free, they force them to atone for daring to live.

As director Urška Djukić and co-writer Maria Bohr eventually reveal, however, we all deserve to enjoy a sweet grape without worrying about its indulgence. It might be the simplest of pleasures compared to what Lucia is ridiculed and humiliated for partaking in on-screen, but it also very clearly drives home this counterpoint to Ana-Maria's (Mina Svajger) grandmother's old-world lesson of eating sour grapes to earn God's forgiveness for a sin. Because Lucia shouldn't apologize for anything she does. She shouldn't suffer for the world's shame.

It's why Lucia gravitates towards Ana-Maria at the start of Little Trouble Girls in the first place. Yes, the initial allure was merely to be in proximity to someone everyone else adores, but it's soon replaced by the feeling of why that fact is true. It's not attractiveness or coolness (although both surely help facilitate it). It's confidence and sincerity. Whereas the other two girls in the friend group want to weaponize the superiority age and experience provides them, Ana-Maria uses hers to lend a hand instead. She reminds Lucia that her time will come.

Her mother doesn't do that. She seeks to keep Lucia sequestered from adulthood (their parallel reactions while eating ice cream on the floor in front of a television whose film quickly moves into a sex scene says all you need). So does the church and its talk of God's touch as opposed to human touch. Or her choirmaster (Sasa Tabakovic) reminding her that they have traveled to a convent to work rather than play. Ana-Maria floats between the weight of responsibility and desire for fun in a way that wakes Lucia up. It might even prove to be too much.

That's the beauty of coming-of-age tales. Their characters need to learn where the hypocrisy of adulthood and immaturity of adolescence intersect. Add the repressive nature of religion to the equation and thoughts and emotions become even more confused. This is a new world for Lucia. She doesn't know when mischief becomes sin or when games become real. And what happens when she decides to do the "right" thing by trusting an adult over her friend? A complete betrayal that proves authority figures too often conflate control with protection.

Because calling something sinful doesn't explain why or give context to what Lucia should or shouldn't do. It merely renders it verboten and, more often than not, alluring. She wants to spy upon the worker bathing naked in the stream. She wants to be included in the popular girls' game of truth or dare. She wants to absorb the life force and excitement radiating off Ana-Maria. She wants to do all these things and yet the whispered voices of repentance scare her into thinking something is wrong.

Ostan authentically portrays the embarrassment, insecurity, and fear that results when her decisions to give into temptation and banish it both leave her in tears. If doing the "right" thing leads to the same outcome, why not at least feel good by doing the "wrong" thing instead? We rebel against oppression. So, why not find answers that make sense through moderation rather than such an all or nothing approach? Lucia doesn't deserve unwanted attention or punishment for making her perpetrators feel bad. After all, God created our earthly pleasures too.

8/10

With all that had happened since he became a viral sensation, you can't blame Lynn Page (Kelsey Pribilski) for still not believing her brother Lucas (William Magnuson) when he tells her the tape was real. One lie generally begets more. If everything he did in that tape's name was a hoax, why would anyone think it wasn't too? It's why Lynn uses Bigfoot and the Loch Ness monsters as historical comparison points. Faith versus proof. We become so stuck in the artifice that we forget most myths are born from of a kernel of truth.

It's no surprise either that writers/directors Peter S. Hall & Paul Gandersman would center their feature debut Man Finds Tape around religion. What better way to make a point about belief than the concept of God as both a savior and destroyer of worlds. Lean into the zealotry of faith when pivoting over into the supernatural and reveal how the line separating them is almost nonexistent. That desire to give yourself to something so fully that you don't question the motives or results. "His" will above your agency.

Their hook is fantastic: An unknown phenomenon is occurring in Larkin, Texas wherein everyone suddenly goes offline. Their heads simultaneously bow downward, their bodies motionless—those standing remain standing and those sitting remain upward despite having no control of their muscles. When whatever occurs is over, they slowly reanimate with no recollection of having lost time. So, there's no impulse to investigate what "never" happened. And those rare times when tragedy does inevitably strike simply remain unsolved mysteries.

Enter Lucas and his internet stardom as the creator of a web series following his discovery of a microcassette in the basement of his family home. On it is footage of him as a young boy sleeping at night when a man holding the camera enters his room. While viewers debate the veracity of the footage and the resulting events Lucas experiences, Lynn knows the boy is definitely her brother. The mystery, though? The circumstances? He could have doctored it or edited it from a longer source. She presumes he's manipulated its context.

Regardless of whether she's right, however, Lucas' deep-dive into its origins and his leaps of conjecture to stay relevant (like using a grainy still to connect that figure all those years ago to the town's local Reverend, John Gholson's Endicott Carr) do unwittingly uncover those bouts of paralyzed amnesia. A clandestine attempt to find evidence corroborating his story captures one such blackout. Only there's a problem. Residents of Larkin who lost that time on the day also lose it upon playback. Only outsiders like Lynn can see what comes next.

Shot like a documentary directed by Lynn in the aftermath of everything that ultimately transpires, Man Finds Tape eventually reveals an enigmatic stranger (Brian Villalobos) who is either the cause of the phenomenon or at least aware of it to move within its blind spots. Her work looks to shed light on the cause and culprit(s) even if its origins and purpose remain in the dark (cosmic horror is best presented as an experience left to metaphorical interpretation than an exposition dump). After all, evidence sometimes hits a dead end too.

If it feels like Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson's diptych of Resolution and The Endless, you won't be shocked to learn they (and partner David Lawson Jr.) are producers under their Rustic Films banner. Hall and Gandersman are operating with a similar, highly polished lo-fi aesthetic wherein the story is built to its budget to ensure verisimilitude isn't sacrificed for imagination. Because this thing does go to some crazy places with occult symbology and parasitic creature effects. Carr may sermonize about angels, but they unearth a stairwell to Hell.

And for those worried about the lack of answers, know that this choice is a feature rather than a bug. The one obvious question I had that risked being a plot hole is dealt with at the very end to further elucidate this fact with a "sometimes you just never know." But those same sentiments also mean there's ample room for more speculation. Not necessarily via a sequel, but as a train of thought for viewers to contemplate what might have still been missed by characters in a story that weaponizes memory and perception. What might we have lost?

7/10

Don Bluth goes so hard with the Great Owl that his, "Oh, the fields know of Jonathan Brisby." starts to sound more like a damning portent than a hopeful one. But I do love a figure only known through whispers and laments who gets revealed as a legendary, unsung hero to his family and therefore ensures their status as a precious commodity to be guarded at all costs by those he helped save.

This is just a really lovely and gorgeously animated adaptation of Robert C. O'Brien's Newbery-winning novel about a mother's desperation to save her family without needing to sacrifice her youngest son in the process. And through a ton of happenstance, she unwittingly takes up her late husband's mantle as protector of all oppressed animals struggling to survive mankind's penchant for abject cruelty.

I wonder how many Generation X vegans have The Secret of NIMH sitting on their shelves as a formidable text for their life choices. Probably more than a few.

8/10

Works best when believing the tornado has been hunting Jo her entire life, a vampire only satiated by the blood of her father for two decades before craving more. So, when it can't get her on its first two attempts this fateful day, it goes after her aunt for a top off only to fail miserably again.

When you think about it seriously, though, these tornadoes are pretty damn accommodating. Jo's father would still be alive today if he just stayed away from the door (although that would destroy her origin story and thus the entire film). And you know that F5 could have easily ripped Jo and Bill's limbs right from their sockets during the finale. It goes out of its way to show mercy.

A truly insane cast and you must love the practical sets and destruction (if only for that great "Entertainment Tonight" exclusive look with Bill Paxton). The drive-in scene feels like a massive-scale Universal Studios backlot tour ride.

My biggest takeaway, however, is realizing how much of a killjoy I was back in the nineties or early aughts (not sure when I saw it for the first time) since my original IMDb rating was a paltry four out of ten stars. Teenage me apparently did not enjoy stupid fun.

Some would argue I still don't.

7/10