Which Movies to Watch This Weekend
Fences Brilliantly written (by playwright August Wilson) and directed by Denzel Washington, this is one for the ages, alongside “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf ?” and “A Streetcar Named Desire,” as one of the handful of great movies made from great plays. The ensemble work is flawless, highlighted by Washington and Viola Davis as a working-class couple in the Pittsburgh of the 1950s. Rated PG-13. 138 minutes. — Mick LaSalle Julieta Pedro Almodóvar delivers one of his best films, the story of a woman from age 25 to 56, as played by two actresses who really do seem to be inhabiting the same soul. It’s subtle, brilliantly acted and in touch with essential truths, a great film. Rated R. 99 minutes. In Spanish with English subtitles.
— Mick LaSalle A Monster Calls A gloomy but beautiful collaboration by director J.A. Bayona and screenwriter Patrick Ness, the author of the 2011 novel by the same name. Lewis MacDougall is wonderful as a boy whose mother is dying but has a tree monster giving him therapy. Crowds will be fooled by the more upbeat trailers, but it’s still a satisfying film. Rated PG-13. 96 minutes.
— Peter Hartlaub Neruda A fantasia by the talented Chilean director Pablo Larrain about the 1948 pursuit of poet Pablo Neruda, for political reasons,by a dogged Chilean police officer. The poet is played robustly as a man of many contradictions, a communist and a hedonist, an artist and a propagandist. There’s a nice twist involving the cop, played by Gael García Bernal. Rated R. 117 minutes. In Spanish with English subtitles.
— Walter Addiego