Sorry to Bother You,
directed by Boots Riley
(R, 1 hour, 51 minutes)
Here we have a unique, surreal, and affecting apocalyptic corporate comedy, set in a bizarro version of Oakland, Calif. That’s where black telemarketer Cassius “Cash” Green (Lakeith Stanfield) is barely getting by, living in a relative’s garage and struggling to make a living.
Then he gets some game-changing advice from a co-worker (Danny Glover): When making those endless phone calls, use your white voice.
Success — and the status and money that accompany it — falls upon him almost instantly. It helps that he’s selling something more insidious than before, when he was selling encyclopedias. The result: His sense of ethical and moral behavior seemingly vanishes into thin air.
It might go on a bit too long, but the idea of selling one’s soul to achieve one’s dreams has seldom been told with such originality. With Terry Crews, Steven Yeun, Armie Hammer, David Cross, Patton Oswalt, Tessa Thompson.
I Think We’re Alone Now (R, 1 hour, 33 minutes) A frustratingly conventional and uneven dystopian tale in which all humans are eliminated except for Del (Peter Dinklage), who copes by using his orderly librarian skills to make order out of the chaos around him. Then he’s discovered by Grace (Elle Fanning), a less regimented sort who disregards Del’s preference for solitude and shows no signs of moving on. With Charlotte Gainsbourg, Paul Giamatti; directed by Reed Morano.
Claire’s Camera (not rated, 1 hour, 9 minutes) Brief, airy, but somehow complete, this charmer’s terrific cast centers on a fine performance by Isabelle Huppert as music teacher Claire, armed with a Polaroid camera, who accompanies a filmmaker friend to the Cannes Film Festival. That’s where she encounters Manhee (Kim Minhee), recently fired from her job as a film sales agent, and also meets So Wansoo (Jung Jinyoung), a Korean film director whose one-night stand with Manhee is the reason for her firing. That Polaroid plays an important role in figuring out relationships between these players. Directed by Sang-soo Hong. Subtitled.
Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (PG-13, 1 hour, 54 minutes) Fans of the first film (2008’s musical Mamma Mia!) will be happy to get together again with yet more ABBA songs in this sequel, set five years later as Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) prepares for the grand reopening of the Greek villa owned by her mother Donna (Meryl Streep, who makes a cameo despite her character being dead). Time travel takes the audience back to 1979, when young Donna (Lily James) meets those guys who are contenders for the role of dad of Donna’s child. With Andy Garcia, Julie Walters, Christine Baranski, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgard, Cher, Dominic Cooper; written and directed by Ol Parker.
The Devil’s Doorway (not rated, 1 hour, 16 minutes) Here we have an ambitious horror film that makes the most of its found-footage conceit (shot in 16mm) in which a couple of Catholic priests circa 1960 are sent by the Vatican to investigate what’s reported to be a miraculous event in a suitably unpleasant Irish Magdalene Asylum for unmarried pregnant women. That’s not quite what they find when they get there. With Lalor Roddy, Ciaran Flynn, Helen Bereen, Lauren Coe; directed by Aislinn Clarke.