American Fiction & Poor Things

HCC film professors Marie Westhaver and Mike Giuliano have a lot to say in this podcast episode, because they're talking about two films that received numerous Academy Award nominations. Cord Jefferson's directorial debut, "American Fiction," strikes an admirable balance between comedy and drama in its story about a Black novelist, Thelonious Ellison (Jeffrey Wright), whose academic novels don't sell nearly as many copies as those of a mass audience-oriented Black novelist, Sintara Golden (Issa Rae). The satirical storyline has serious underpinnings, and that dramatic quality is underscored by Ellison's interaction with family members played by Leslie Uggams, Sterling K. Brown and Tracee Ellis Ross. This is a terrific film. A very different film, director Yorgos Lanthimos' "Poor Things," takes a "Frankenstein"-type premise and soars into wildly surreal territory. Although Mike thinks this film is too long and is often weird for the sake of being weird, he agrees with Marie that it has impressive performances by Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe and the supporting cast, and they also both praise the production design, makeup and costumes. "Poor Things" won't be everybody's favorite, but those who like it are likely to love it.