‘The Peasants’ doesn’t brim with riches, but it works as an eccentric curiosity

Jeff Mitchell

“The Peasants” (2023) – “Surrounded by strangers I thought were my friends.” – “Against the Wind” (1980) by Bob Seger For Jagna Paczesiowna (Kamila Urzedowska), she is surrounded by enemies.  Kamila, 29, who could be Margot Robbie’s long-lost cousin, plays Jagna, a beautiful 20-something farmhand living in Lipce, a modest Polish village, in the late 19th century.  She’s a peasant, and like so many Lipce residents, Jagna toils on the land but doesn’t own it.  Prospects for wealth, or even simple comfort, are out of reach. Conversely, a widower, Maciej…

‘Problemista’ is an inventive, eccentric comedy, but a couple of problems trip it up

Jeff Mitchell

“Problemista” (2024) – Alejandro (Julio Torres) has a problem.  The 20-something, wide-eyed New York City upstart – with a slight frame and a mop-top haircut with a sometimes-noticeable cow lick – just lost his job at FreezeCorp, a cryogenic stasis outfit that dresses its clients in a tube to sleep for – perhaps – hundreds of years.  Alejandro didn’t calculate differential equations to pinpoint the math behind these science-fiction devices in the here and now.  He handled the Sleeping Beauties’ personal belongings, or for one client, an artist named Bobby…

‘Frida’: Gutierrez’s documentary thoughtfully paints an intimate look at this influential icon

Jeff Mitchell

“Frida” (2024) – Director Carla Gutierrez’s documentary about one of the most memorable 20th-century artists – Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderon (a.k.a. Frida Kahlo), universally known for her self-portraits – should enlighten broad audiences, those who deeply know her work and Frida novices who may have seen “Self-Portrait with Monkey” once on a 2” by 2” magnet at a flea market. The film chronologically markets Ms. Kahlo’s life (1907 – 1954) from her days as a toddler in 1910 to her passing in 1954.  Gutierrez and her team’s conventional…