Halle Berry’s Fight for the Director’s Chair
The New York Times
In many ways, her new film “Bruised” lets her assert control over how she appears onscreen. But first she had to win the job.
Halle Berry, in some form or another, has been fighting her whole life. Be it for coveted movie roles, on behalf of victims of domestic violence like herself, or against a perception that her physical beauty has insulated her from struggle, she has always seen herself as an underdog. And now, in her first film as a director, she has cast herself as one, too.
In “Bruised” (premiering theatrically Nov. 17 before moving to Netflix a week later), Berry stars as Jackie Justice, a humiliated mixed martial arts fighter desperate to stage a comeback. It is her most physically demanding role: Now 55, she had to train four to six hours a day to learn boxing, Muay Thai, judo and jujitsu, as well as brush up on the capoeira skills she used in “Catwoman.”
Then, she’d spend the rest of the day in director mode: scouting locations in Newark, developing a script initially centered on a 20-something Irish Catholic white woman, blocking elaborate fight scenes, and collaborating with her intergenerational cast of actors. For any first-time filmmaker, that combination alone is a feat.
Since breaking out in “Atlanta,” the actor has become a dependable Hollywood side man. In “Dope Thief,” a new crime drama, he will finally take the lead.
The best-selling bard of female anxiety rakes over some middle school memories while visiting the city where she grew up.
From a low-slung building in Montana, employees process sex abuse complaints against the music mogul that have been drawn to them through advertising and a viral hotline.
A production partly aimed at students that highlights Tampa’s history in the civil rights movement lands at a time when the state is changing what schools teach about race and history.
Minnesota’s high school hockey tournament is a fashion show of mullets, perms and bleach. With his “All Hockey Hair Team,” John King chronicles the lettuce and flow.
Enter the era of the power curve with Alaïa, Schiaparelli and Chloé.
For all the repellent narcissism of its members, the family of HBO’s “The Righteous Gemstones” has been a deeply humanizing example of evangelical Christian faith.
The latest Tom Ford collection makes a strong case for them.
Anne Imhof’s three-hour spectacle of moody youth at the Armory is sweet sorrow, full of moping and muttering. Still, almost despite itself, it points to true art.
In Bong Joon Ho’s latest dystopian romp, Robert Pattinson plays a hapless underdog whose work aboard a spaceship requires him to die, over and over.
But is this really a “Barbie” moment?
Chad Kassem is on a mission — saving listeners “from bad sound” — at the rural factory where he pores over LPs from some of music’s most important artists.
Charisma, positivity and warmth are traits that fans attribute to the color, which has been on the ascent.