{"id":209559,"date":"2025-12-25T02:10:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-25T02:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/209559\/"},"modified":"2025-12-25T02:10:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-25T02:10:08","slug":"no-other-choice-the-testament-of-ann-lee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/209559\/","title":{"rendered":"‘No Other Choice’, ‘The Testament Of Ann Lee’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tMarty Supreme<\/a> goes wide with Song Sung Blue<\/a> alongside a handful of notable limited releases from comedy thriller No Other Choice<\/a>, summer camp scare The Plague<\/a> and Venice Golden Lion-winner Father Mother Sister Brother<\/a>, to Ralph Fiennes in The Choral<\/a> and Amanda Seyfried-starring The Testament of Ann Lee<\/a>, all of which will all carry indie film into 2026. New openings this week are clustered on Wednesday and Thursday, Dec. 24 and 25, to open the long Christmas holiday weekend.<\/p>\n

\n\tNew limited releases: Independent Film Company debuts The Plague today at New York\u2019s IFC Center and the Laemmle Royal in Los Angeles ahead of a nationwide expansion to about 500 screens on January 2. The film, which premiered at Cannes, sits at 100% on Rotten Tomatoes (off 29 reviews), see Deadline\u2019s here<\/a>. In the summer of 2003, at an all-boys summer water polo camp with Lord Of The Flies vibes, socially anxious 12-year-old Ben (Everett Blunck) struggles to fit in amidst a ruthless social hierarchy. When he befriends Eli (Kenny Rasmussen) \u2014 a lonely, acne-ridden outcast shunned by the others for carrying a ficticious \u201cplague\u201d \u2014 Ben becomes entangled in an escalating ritual of scapegoating and fear where cruelty masquerades as a game.<\/p>\n

\n\tTaken from writer-director Charlie Polinger\u2019s own summer camp experiences, the cast if full of young newcomers including Rasmussen, Blunck and Kayo Martin as ringleader Jake. Joel Edgerton<\/a>, a producer, plays camp counselor Daddy Wags.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Plague nabbed three Film Independent Spirit Awards nominations for Best Feature, Best Lead Performance (Blunck) and Best Breakthrough Performance (Martin). Blunk was nominated for a Critics Choice Awards \u2013 Best Young Actor. The film took prizes at the Deauville American Film Festival, Sitges, Fantastic Fest and Woodstock Film Festival.<\/p>\n

\n\tMubi debuts Jim Jarmusch<\/a>\u2019s comedy Father Mother Sister Brother Dec. 24 at the Film Forum and Film at Lincoln Center in New York, and Landmark Nuart in Los Angeles. World premiered the Venice Film Festival where it won the top prize, the Golden Lion. See Deadline review<\/a>. Was the Centerpiece of the New York Film Festival. Tom Waits, Adam Driver, Mayim Bialik, Charlotte Rampling, Cate Blanchett, Vicky Krieps, Indya Moore and Luka Sabbat star in the exploration of the universal intricacies of family dynamics told in the form of a triptych set in New Jersey, Dublin and Paris. Each story concerns the relationships between adult children, their somewhat distant parent (or parents), and each other. Expands nationally Jan. 9.<\/p>\n

\n\tNeon opens Park Chan-wook<\/a>\u2019s black comedy No Other Choice on Wednesday at 13 locations in five markets (NY, LA, San Francisco, Chicago, Austin). Based on Donald E. Westlake\u2019s novel The Ax, the story follows Man-su (Lee Byung-hun) on a desperate hunt for a new job after his abrupt layoff from the paper company where he worked for 25 years. Premiered at Venice, see Deadline review<\/a>, and went on to open the Busan International Film Festival, win the International People\u2019s Choice Award at TIFF, and earn Park the Best Director Award at the Sitges Film Festival. At 99% Certified Fresh with critics on Rotten Tomatoes, it\u2019s South Korea\u2019s Oscar-shortlisted entry for International Feature Film and has three Golden Globe nominations, for Motion Picture \u2013 Musical or Comedy; Motion Picture \u2013 Non-English Language; and Best Actor in a Motion Picture \u2013 Musical or Comedy for Lee Byun-hun.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Choral from Sony Pictures Classics opens Thursday in New York (Angelika, New Plaza Cinema) and LA (Laemmle Royal, AMC Burbank). Directed by BAFTA, Olivier and Tony Award winner\u00a0Nicholas Hytner\u00a0and written by BAFTA, Olivier and Tony Award winner\u00a0Alan Bennett, in\u00a0their fourth collaboration (after The Lady in the Van, The History Boys\u00a0and\u00a0The Madness of King George). The\u00a0film follows a\u00a0choral\u00a0society in Yorkshire in 1916 whose male members enlist in World War I, leaving the demanding Dr. Guthrie, played by Ralph Fiennes, to recruit teenagers. Together, they experience\u00a0the\u00a0joy of singing while\u00a0the\u00a0young boys grapple with\u00a0their impending conscription into\u00a0the\u00a0army. With Roger Allam, Amara Okereke, Simon Russell Beale, Thomas Howes. World premiered at TIFF. <\/p>\n

\n\tSearchlight Pictures is out with Mona Fastvold\u2019s biopic The Testament Of Ann Lee today in NYC (Village East by Angelika, AMC Lincoln Square) and LA. Premiered at Venice, Deadline review here<\/a>. At 90% RT Certified Fresh. The story of Ann Lee, founder of the devotional sect known as the Shakers, who preached gender and social equality and was revered by her followers. The film captures Lee\u2019s quest to leave England and build a utopia in the New World and has nabbed star Amanda Seyfried a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Motion Picture \u2013 Musical or Comedy. The film features traditional Shaker hymns reimagined as rapturous movements with choreography by Celia Rowlson-Hall and original songs and score by Academy Award winner Daniel Blumberg (The Brutalist). Screenplay by Mona Fastvold and The Brutalist director Brady Corbet.<\/p>\n

\n\tWide: Focus Features rolls out Craig Brewer\u2019s Song Sung Blue starring Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson in 2,400 theaters. \u00a0The duo play the real-life Mike and Claire Sardina, down-on-their-luck musicians who form a joyous Neil Diamond tribute band. Michael Imperioli, Ella Anderson, King Princess, Mustafa Shakir and Hudson Hensley also star, with Fisher Stevens and Jim Belushi. Song Sung Blue World premiered as the Closing Night Film at AFI Fest, see Deadline review<\/a>. Hudson has a Golden Globe nomination and will be honored with the Icon Award at this year\u2019s Palm Springs International Film Festival.\u00a0She and Jackman were recognized for their performances with the inaugural Musical Tribute Award at the Gotham Film Awards earlier this month.<\/p>\n

\n\tJosh Safdie\u2019s Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet-starring Marty Supreme from A24 put up the best limited opening of the year this past weekend at six theaters, setting the table nicely for a big jump to about 2,600 screens on Christmas Day. Chalamet, whose character is based on a brash New York shoe salesman turned ping pong champion, is up for a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture \u2013 Musical or Comedy. The film \u2013 95% Rotten Tomatoes Certified Fresh \u2014 also has Globe noms for Best Motion Picture \u2013 Musical or Comedy and Best Screenplay for Safdie and Ronald Bronstein. <\/p>\n

\n\tAs per Deadline\u2019s Anthony D\u2019Alessandro, Song Sung Blue,\u00a0Marty Supreme\u00a0(already at $1M) and Angel Studio\u2019s\u00a0David are eyeing\u00a0$12M-mid-teens apiece\u00a0<\/a>over four days.\u00a0Marty Supreme\u00a0could overindex.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Marty Supreme goes wide with Song Sung Blue alongside a handful of notable limited releases from comedy thriller…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":209560,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[93,36946,61,60,5234,60211,270,109374,47608,10429,91234,57939,108659,1997],"class_list":["post-209559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-father-mother-sister-brother","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-jim-jarmusch","tag-marty-supreme","tag-movies","tag-no-other-choice","tag-park-chan-wook","tag-song-sung-blue","tag-specialty-preview","tag-the-choral","tag-the-plague","tag-the-testament-of-ann-lee"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209559"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209559\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}