Tomris Laffly

Focused on a variety of recent legal cases unfolding in New York, Kopple’s film is both aptly angry and optimistically community-minded in charting the fight of several Big Apple workforce groups: delivery staff, union leaders, Teamsters and others trying to bring about meaningful change to an increasingly corrupt system that leaves these hourly workers behind.

A patient and graceful film that generously laments the pain of an unfulfilled woman.

Shortly after it begins to overstay its welcome, yielding diminishing returns, the film thankfully concludes — reminding us that cinema can afford to make more room for uncompromising visions and kooky little artworks with something to say and some fun to spare.

It’s a trippy, ballsy, and genuinely entertaining package that shouldn’t work at all. But it does, and I can’t believe it exists.

With effective sound design and customary jump scares, “Out of the Further” knows exactly what it wants to be for a while, an atmospheric, vibes-based horror film that will make any nervous sleeper check under their bed before turning the lights off. You know, just in case.

Not unlike 2024’s “Ghostlight,” “Don’t Say Good Luck” tributes the healing properties of art and community in times of despair. It’s a disarmingly sincere family affair, on the screen and off. And that earnestness proves irresistible.

Alongside gorgeous needle drops like “Cookie Road” and “Dreams,” Nahmias maintains her delicate observational style throughout, painting both a melancholic portrait of childhood and several different corners of Americana through young perspectives, infusing our hearts with some hope for the future.

Cavalli does a nice job of balancing the story’s mischievous elements with life’s everyday qualities. It’s almost as if the filmmaker decided to make her own “Paper Moon” by way of a gritty and down-to-earth Jim Jarmusch movie of sorts.

The result is a chapter that splits the difference between something grown-up and playfully youthful, signaling a series thoughtfully maturing alongside its core audience: young viewers who have been looking up to Brown’s Enola since 2020.

In the end, you can’t help but wonder why the emotions of these characters don’t pack as much of a punch.