4/5 stars

Being dead isn’t easy. In Dead Talents Society, a new supernatural comedy from Taiwanese director John Hsu Han-chiang, the afterlife is every bit as competitive and unforgiving as the land of the living.

Spirits must prove themselves worthy of becoming ghosts through a rigorous selection process of auditions and contests, and avoid being condemned to eternal damnation.

For one newly deceased young woman, played by Gingle Wang and known only as The Rookie, this comes as quite a shock and is a far cry from the eternal rest she expected to find on the other side.

Hsu’s film is a supernatural screwball comedy about making a life for yourself in the Great Hereafter. After dying under uncertain circumstances, our heroine finds herself wandering listlessly through the Underworld with her best friend (Bai Bai) when she learns that her place on the ethereal plain is far from secure.

All the other ghosts have worked hard to hone their craft as a spectral menace, developing a nuanced character and terrifying technique while cultivating a formidable urban legend for their manifestation in the land of the living.

Those who fail to establish themselves as a ghost of merit within 30 days are permanently disintegrated.

The Rookie finds herself flung into a punishing audition process, overseen by a formidably unforgiving jury, to secure herself a haunting licence. Laughed off stage, all seems lost, until she is taken in by a compassionate band of misfits who haunt a dilapidated, rarely frequented hotel.

While rarely conjuring any genuine scares, Dead Talents Society is a wildly imaginative, frequently hilarious and shamelessly feel-good tale of teamwork, friendship, self-belief and finding your true purpose, where death is not the be all and end all, but just the first step towards living your best life.

Film

Sing Sing
Director: Greg Kwedar
Black Bear Pictures, Marfa Peach Company and Edith Productions
In Theaters 08.16

There are many reasons why film and the performing arts have been a driving force in my life, one being that art has the power to take us anywhere. In the case of Sing Sing, the audience is transported inside a maximum security prison in New York, while the film’s characters use the stage to transport themselves out.

Inspired by the true story of the Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA) program at the Sing Sing Correctional Facility, the film follows a group of inmates who are use theatre as a way to focus their energy and minds. A wrongfully convicted prisoner, Divine G (Colman Domingo, If Beale Street Could Talk, Rustin), uses his considerable skills as an actor and writer to create a safe space where the inmates can find a shared purpose, working alongside Brent Buell (Paul Raci, Sound of Metal), a playwright, director and activist who volunteers at the prison. As the the RTA closes a successful Shakespearean production,  they hold a meeting to discuss their next production. As a gruff new inmate, Clarence Maclin (who plays himself) joins the group, he suggests shaking things up with a comedy, and soon, the group is developing an original work entitled called Breakin’ The Mummy’s Code. The play will use the premise of time travel to bring cowboys, ancient Egyptians, Robin Hood, Freddy Kruegerand Hamlet together all in one unforgettable performance—if they can all get along and work together. While Maclin’s hardened demeanor and tendency to pick fights with others creates obstacles, both Brent and Divine G see potential for him to be an asset to the program as the program acts as an asset to him. Throughout the collaborative process, the inmates confront the decisions that led them to prison, and through the RTA, they challenge traditional notions of masculinity, reignite their imaginations and rediscover their capacity for joy and resilience. 

Sing Sing is a profound and beautiful film about creating the best of times in the worst of times and places, and director Greg Kweder (Transpecos) invites the audience to share in each cathartic moment with with both the cast of Sing Sing and the cast of Breakin’ The Mummy’s Code—which are made up in large part of the same people, as former inmates and members of the RTA play themselves in the film. While it has some heavy moments and never lets us forget where these men are, Sing Sing is a rare prison film that is more interested in finding joy and beauty than in hammering home the brutal reality of life in the worst place on earth. Kweder and his screenwriters assumed that their audience has a certain cineliteracy, and trusts that we remember the nightmarish moments of The Shawshank Redemption and don’t need to see them again for context. The low-key visual style affords the audiences a taste of being right there in thick of things while affording us the comfort of being able to step back and merely observe if we so choose, though the shared energy, determination and humor of this troupe of committed performers will make you feel swept up in the desire to be a part of something grand and meaningful more often than not. It most certainly doesn’t make you think “I wish I was in prison” for a moment, though it’s hard to watch the film and not think of yourself in these men’s shoes, and regardless of how they got there, there’s an undeniable feeling of love and respect for their unbreakable spirits and the ways in which they support each other.

Domingo is mesmerizing a Divine G, following up his Oscar nominated performance in Rustin with an electrifying portrayal of a man desperately trying to hold on to the things that make him human, and dedicating himself to keeping other from falling even as he walks the edge. Raci is the kind of actor who can communicate volumes with minimal words and even limited dialogue, and his presence as compassionate as it is commanding. Maclin is clearly the breakthrough discovery here, as an actor with no previous experience on camera who brings a smoldering intensity that brings Denzel Washington to mind, and while he’s likely to be relegated mostly to supporting roles on screen, he shows us inSing Sing that he will forever tower as a leading man in life. Sean San Jose (Another Barrio) as Mike Mike, Divine G’s roommate, and Sean Dino Johnson, another RTA member playing himself, provide transcendent moments of humanity and dignity that had me leaving the screening wanting to be a better person and to do more with my life.

After a few weeks of mediocrity and outright misfires, Sing Sing is a much needed injection of art and soul into the bloodstream of cinema, mixing heavy drama with humor and humanity. It’s a heartfelt plea for a society driven by empathy instead of apathy, yet it never surrenders to the urge to be manipulative or didactic. By simply holding the mirror up to nature, Sing Sing makes a powerful case for the importance of creativity and storytelling in all of our lives, and it’s a rejuvenating, hopeful and inspiring work that made me feel grateful to be alive. –Patrick Gibbs

Read more self-exploration film reviews here:
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Film Review: Harold and the Purple Crayon

Grant Ellis’ romantic journey on the current season of “The Bachelorette” did not have a happy ending. But instead of nursing a broken heart, he’s getting a fresh start and a breakthrough role as the next star of “The Bachelor.”

The self-proclaimed mama’s boy and former pro basketball player who now works as a day trader will become only the second Black lead of the series, which launched in 2002. The news followed Monday’s episode of “The Bachelorette,” after Ellis was eliminated from the group of suitors courting star Jenn Tran.

The casting of Ellis for Season 29 comes just over four years after Matt James was named the first Black Bachelor. James’ season, which premiered in 2021, was clouded by controversy and turmoil and has been characterized as a defining chapter in the franchise’s decades-long history of racism and cultural insensitivity.

Ellis’ stint will be a key test of the declaration by executive producers Claire Freeland and Bennett Graebner that they are committed to moving past the toxicity and in a more inclusive direction.

“The core value to this show is that everybody deserves to find love, regardless of race, ethnicity, background, faith,” Freeland said in a recent interview with The Times. “The only way we can do that in a truly fulsome way is to have people on the show that reflect the country we live in.”

Graebner added: “We have a long way to go. But we’re committed to getting there.”

In addition to having predominantly white casts, the lack of Black male leads has been one of the harshest criticisms leveled at “The Bachelor” franchise. Bennett and Graebner said that casting a Black Bachelor was “a priority” but they did not specify at the time of that interview when it would happen.

Graebner said production resources are now in place that were not present during James’ season, “which went wrong on so many levels.”

James’ 2021 quest to find true love went off the rails after photographs surfaced of contestant Rachael Kirkconnell at an antebellum South-themed party. Then-host Chris Harrison defended Kirkconnell in a combative interview with former “Bachelorette” star Rachel Lindsay on “Extra,” where she was a correspondent, which stoked the controversy only further and eventually led to his exit from the franchise after nearly 20 years. (James chose Kirkconnell in the season finale.)

In an interview for his memoir in 2022, James — who is still in a relationship with Kirkconnell — accused the producers of betraying their promise to show him as an accomplished Black man who had overcome many personal and professional challenges. Graebner said in an interview with The Times that they “let Matt down.”

Although producers say that they have taken several steps to correct the wrongs and that the casts have become more culturally diverse, the progress has been bumpy.

Some members of the Bachelor Nation fan base have been aggressive in bullying contestants of color online. And the current season of “The Bachelorette” starring Tran, the franchise’s first Asian lead, has come under fire because of the lack of Asian representation in her dating pool.

In addition, ABC and Warner Bros. Television, which produces “The Bachelor, have declined comment on the status of Jodi Baskerville, who became the franchise’s first Black executive producer in 2021, after James’ season. She has been missing from the closing credits since the season premiere of “The Bachelorette.”