Culture Crash: Catching Up On Recent Releases

As one of the millions of people finding themselves frequenting their local movie theaters less often during COVID, I recently spend my New Year’s Day watching a bunch of recent releases I missed in theaters that are now available to watch right at home.

The first is called The Novice, from writer/director Lauren Hadaway. The simplest way to describe this movie would be to say that it is basically Whiplash, but about rowing instead of drumming. But that’s obviously a bit of an oversimplification. Isabelle Fuhrman stars as a college freshman who joins her school’s novice rowing team and quickly finds herself in a toxic obsession with the sport. The movie really inhabits the mind of a young person on the brink, and shows just how devastating life can be if you refuse to ever cut yourself some slack. The Novice is fast-paced, mysterious and tense with a ton of directorial flair… though, to be honest, sometimes that directorial flair overwhelmed me a bit. Still, if you’re looking for an exciting, fresh voice in the filmmaking world and a deeply engrossing sports thriller, The Novice may just be what you’re looking for.

Another film, called Mass, really blew me away. The film is from actor-turned-writer/director Fran Kranz, and it primarily takes place in a single room in a church, where two sets are parents are pouring over the details of a tragic school shooting: one set of parents’ son was a victim of the shooting and the other parents’ son was the shooter. This one is emotionally draining, but it features star turns from all four of its leads, especially Jason Isaacs and Ann Dowd. Isaacs in particular, most famous for his role as Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter films, stole the show for me, with his gripping performance as a shattered man grieving his son. Like I said, it’s definitely an emotional reckoning of a film, but its subject matter is tragically relevant and its storytelling is incredible compassionate to all four of its main characters. Heavy, but effective.

Finally, if you’re looking for something more fun and escapist, but not without heady themes of its own, I really loved The Matrix Resurrections, from director Lana Wachowski. The fourth in the Matrix franchise, the movie deals nicely with our sequel-heavy movie landscape, while offering the Matrix franchise’s signature blend of cool action and meta-commentary on the nature of reality. I had a blast.

The Novice, Mass and The Matrix Resurrections are all available to be streamed at home right now.