Film Previews

3/19/2019

“Greta”
R | 98 minutes
A sweet, naïve young woman trying to make it on her own in New York City, Frances (Chloë Grace Moretz), doesn’t think twice about returning the handbag she finds on the subway to its rightful owner. That owner is Greta (Isabelle Huppert), an eccentric French piano teacher with a love for classical music and an aching loneliness. Having recently lost her mother, Frances quickly grows closer to widowed Greta. The two become fast friends — but Greta’s maternal charms begin to dissolve and grow increasingly disturbing as Frances discovers that nothing in Greta’s life is what it seems. What follows is a freaky reminder of why, in this day and age, young people shouldn’t give out their contact info to just anyone. Even though it may be hard to suspend disbelief at times, “Greta” is a wild ride and an example of a modern-day thriller that not only allows its characters to use their cell phones, but also shows how a cell phone can be used as a tool to terrorize someone.

“Saint Judy”
PG-13 | 106 minutes
In a landmark case, one of her first as an immigration lawyer, Judy Wood (Michelle Monaghan) represented an Afghan woman who fled her home country after being persecuted by the Taliban for opening a school for girls. After a tenacious battle both in and out of court, Judy’s efforts culminated in arguments before the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit where she fought to include women as a protected class. By winning the case, Ms. Wood single-handedly changed the law of asylum nationwide, allowing women to be designated a protected class — saving the lives of not only her client, but thousands of other female refugees who would have been sent back to their home countries where they faced certain death.

“Gloria Bell”
R | 102 minutes
Gloria (Julianne Moore) is a free-spirited divorcée who spends her days at a straight-laced office job and her nights on the dance floor, joyfully letting loose at clubs around Los Angeles. After meeting Arnold (John Turturro) on a night out, she finds herself thrust into an unexpected new romance, filled with both the joys of budding love and the complications of dating, identity and family. From Academy Award-winning director Sebastián Lelio comes a sophisticated romantic comedy that shows love can strike at any time, relationships are never simple, and nothing can get you down as long as you keep dancing. ♦