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Violet Reviews

Violet is always near-implosion, and “Violet” excels at making us feel the isolation and confusion of her unease.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Sep 8, 2024

In Violet, Justine Bateman gives a voice to the generations who are fighting silent battles with the voices in their head, highlighting the need for empathy and compassion.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 26, 2023

A film that gives us Olivia Munn’s career-best performance and explores gender politics and our inner voices, while offering a subjective experience that allows the viewer to decipher the film’s themes and messages.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Jan 31, 2023

Screenwriting legend Robert McKee said “characters must change… and the change must come from within”. Violet is a rather literal interpretation of this rule but is ultimately an empowering tale of believing in oneself.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 12, 2022

Violet‘s editing is truly inspired, overlying hand-scribbled cursive thoughts across the screen that crowd around Munn, intercutting scenes of shattered glass, a moldering fox corpse, a boxing match as The Voice brutalizes her.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Sep 24, 2022

It all makes for an assured feature film debut that tackles its subject matter from a unique and fresh perspective. It doesn’t always come together as intended, but I love that Bateman took chances.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Aug 16, 2022

Focuses on too many things, letting steam out of the cooker. But its structural experiments are by far more thought-provoking than its stumbles, adding a layer of analysis: Why is the "inner voice" within us always masculine? [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Jun 29, 2022

...at the helm of (the film's) success is Munn in a career-best performance.

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Jun 27, 2022

Violet is a multilayered movie that effectively shows three psychological layers of an insecure person: the conscious mind, the subconscious mind, and how the person acts on any conflicts between the conscious and subconscious minds.

Full Review | Mar 8, 2022

In her taped introduction to Violet, actress-turned-filmmaker Justine Bateman describes it as an immersive experience, tantamount to putting on a coat. I would say it's slightly more akin to having a pillow on your face.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Mar 3, 2022

I can appreciate the innovative premise but not how it gets lost in its gimmickry and never gives us much of a story to get excited about.

Full Review | Original Score: C+ | Jan 22, 2022

Writer/director Justine Bateman's feature debut draws audiences into Violet's insecurities in a manner that is very surreal and vivid.

Full Review | Dec 12, 2021

Justine Bateman has an auspicious directorial debut in this moving movie about mental health.

Full Review | Original Score: 6/10 | Nov 24, 2021

...the effort is appreciated, but the execution is muddled, at best.

Full Review | Original Score: C | Nov 18, 2021

"Munn's relatable and subtle performance gives Violet an anchor ... allowing us to become absorbed in Violet's cautious but fulfilling transformation."

Full Review | Nov 15, 2021

Their efforts have given us a supple and empathetic story of a woman who needs to start listening to herself, if her self is still in there somewhere.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Nov 12, 2021

It can be frustrating to watch, but it's also some of Munn's best work as a performer.

Full Review | Original Score: 6/10 | Nov 12, 2021

Thanks in large part to Munn's elegant, authentic, grounded and moving performance, we're rooting hard for Violet to find some inner peace.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Nov 11, 2021

First-time feature director Justine Bateman and smashing lead Olivia Munn give personal demons and the Hollywood men's club some hell in this creative display of all that is backstage angst.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Nov 11, 2021

Violet is a bold and relatable story that takes us on an evocative journey of one woman who represents us all in varying gradations.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Nov 8, 2021

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‘Violet’ Review: Olivia Munn Wrestles a Woman’s Deafening Self-Doubt in Daring Indie Drama

Justine Bateman imagines the turbulent inner life of a high-functioning Hollywood exec doing battle with her critical inner voices.

By Peter Debruge

Peter Debruge

Chief Film Critic

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It’s awfully crowded in Violet ’s head. First there’s the voice, which sounds like a demeaning male bully, constantly telling Violet she’s worthless. When it speaks, the screen turns red and a loud electronic humming noise causes Violet’s ears to ring. Then there’s a second running commentary, this one silent and less sure of itself, appearing as loopy cursive text across the screen (e.g., “I feel like I don’t know who I am anymore”). Add to that her childhood memories, projected like 16mm film onto random surfaces, and it’s all but overwhelming — not just for Violet but for audiences of writer-director Justine Bateman ’s “Violet” as well.

Violet describes this chorus of distractions as “the committee,” and for better or worse, Bateman has found a subjective way for us to experience them too — as in the confrontational opening montage, a whirlwind of car crashes, smashing glass, exploding appliances and dying animals. Bateman’s approach isn’t funny or cute, the way ’90s sitcom “Herman’s Head” treated its hero’s competing impulses, nor does it suggest a beautiful but neurotic brain, as Charlie Kaufman did when unleashing a stream of similar self-loathing in “Adaptation.” This is something far darker that must be dealt with.

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Collectively, the negging voice, the subliminal images, the desperate dear-diary scrawl constitute an oppressive presence in what looks, from the outside at least, like a well-managed career as head of production for a respected Hollywood shingle. As embodied by Olivia Munn (building on the strength of her easily underestimated “The Newsroom” anchor), Violet projects discipline and success. She picks scripts that make money and win awards, and has no trouble scoring dates with studio execs — which seems to matter to Violet and her interior voice (supplied by Justin Theroux, who, like a good dominatrix, is fully committed to humiliating his host).

Popular on Variety

So why isn’t she happy? Perhaps a psychiatrist could define the condition responsible for these feelings of inadequacy raging inside her. But her situation is just as likely to be the result of how she was raised, the way she is treated by co-workers and partners, and the society that imposes its narrow-minded expectations on her behavior.

Uncomfortable but hardly unwelcome, Bateman’s at-times-suffocating debut feature deals with the gap between how its protagonist (and anyone who identifies) perceives herself and what the rest of the world sees. Like so many perfectionists, Violet is her own worst critic, over-performing in order to be taken seriously at work, where colleagues’ snide remarks seem to echo her insecurities. The fact we can see/hear what Violet is thinking makes this an unusually effective illustration of how microaggressions really land, causing macro damage, despite the poker face she puts on for her peers.

Violet envies those, like free-spirit bestie Lila (Erica Ash) and sexy, independent screenwriter friend Red (Luke Bracey), who don’t wrestle with the same anxieties. Violet’s been crashing at Red’s place lately, and though the voice has convinced her that dating him would be career suicide (he’s beneath her on the Hollywood food chain), the movie makes clear that he’s the Perfect Match. Bateman’s screenplay actually describes him as “handsome in that thrown-under-a-motorcycle kind of way” (we know because the page is flashed on-screen several times).

In his first scene, Red leans against the kitchen counter, triceps flexed, crotch thrust forward. The obliviously cocky character seems to have embraced the philosophy Violet will spend the movie figuring out for herself: that she deserves happiness, and that any haters (like her caustic aunt and brother back home) can hit the road. But it’s rough waiting for Violet to come around. As we attempt to juggle listening to one voice, reading another and making sense of the flood of memories that assail her, it’s hard not to marvel that Violet finds it possible to function at all.

Amid the noisy, high-concept assembly, Bateman hasn’t necessarily made clear what the competing forces in Violet’s head are meant to represent. (The on-screen scribblings read like missives from a drowning soul, while “the voice that tells you you’re a piece of shit,” as Violet calls it, seems to operate out of fear and conflict-avoidance — which isn’t always a bad thing.) To the extent that we all deal with self-doubts, the character serves as both a role model and a freaky, funhouse-mirror version of our own vulnerabilities, and her climactic act of liberation brings considerable uncertainty.

It’s one thing for Violet to stick up for herself, telling off a sexist boss (Dennis Boutsikaris) and unsupportive relatives. But in freeing Violet from the turmoil within, Bateman seems a little too comfortable with burning bridges, fire-bombing old relationships and disrespecting the parents who traumatized Violet in the first place. While catharsis can come at the snap of a finger, recovery is nearly always a far longer process, and this complicated character is anything but cured at the end. There’s bravery in Bateman’s willingness to explore this state of mind, but she rolls credits just as things are getting interesting: when Violet blocks out the voices and finally starts listening to herself.

Reviewed at SXSW Film Festival (online), Los Angeles, March 20, 2021. Running time: 92 MIN.

Production: A Section 5 production, in association with Loose Cannon Pictures. Producers: Justine Bateman, Michael D Jones, Larry Hummel, Matt Paul. Executive producers: Cassian Elwes, Jay Paul, Matt Lituchy, Rob Rubano, Jonathan Schurgin, Anders Liljeblad.
Crew: Director, writer: Justine Bateman. Camera: Mark Williams. Editor: Jay Friedkin. Music: Vum.
With: Olivia Munn, Luke Bracey, Justin Theroux, Bonnie Bedelia, Zach Gordon, Erica Ash, Rob Benedict.

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Review: Director Justine Bateman pulls out all the stylistic stops in anxiety drama ‘Violet’

A woman in a bikini holds a sparkler in the movie “Violet.”

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Actress Justine Bateman’s directorial debut, the self-reflective inner monologue sketch “Violet,” starring Olivia Munn , could be aptly subtitled: “Portrait of an Anxiety Disorder.”

Bateman uses Hollywood as her setting for this exercise in subjective cinema, an apt playground for exploring the crippling fear of being yourself. Violet (Munn), a film executive, is ruled by her anxiety, even though her outer countenance rarely gives that away. Bateman employs a clever, if a bit heavy-handed, device to illustrate what Violet refers to as “the committee”: the voice in her head that dictates, questions and undermines her every waking moment.

There are three layers of visual and aural storytelling that represent Violet’s existence — first, Munn’s performance as an externally unflappable Hollywood power broker; second, a hand-written white onscreen scrawl of her most tender and vulnerable feelings; and third, the most sinister, the voice inside her head ( Justin Theroux ), a baritone purr that constantly informs Violet that she’s a horrible, out-of-place loser. The voice commands her subservience to an emotionally abusive boss, keeps her from chasing intimate relationships and imprisons her in a toxic family dynamic.

Bateman isn’t exactly subtle when it comes to the psychology of “Violet.” A flashback of Violet riding her bike as a confident and carefree child provides a visual motif that repeats whenever she manages to quiet the voice, but the memory also offers the origin of Violet’s inner critic: her mother. It’s not clear why Bateman cast a male actor as the voice in her head, though Theroux’s rumbling tone provides a chilling resonance to Violet’s self-sabotaging thoughts.

Utilizing such overt stylization of a high-concept approach, “Violet” is a bit of a one-trick pony. But Bateman, as well as Munn, manage to pull it off in a feature-length format, and Violet’s eventual hard-earned redemption is deeply satisfying.

Rated: R, for language throughout and some sexual references Running time: 1 hour, 32 minutes Playing: starts Oct. 29, Cinelounge Sunset, Hollywood

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‘Violet’ Review: Olivia Munn Gets the Best Role of Her Career in Justine Bateman’s Inventive Debut

Kate erbland, editorial director.

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Editor’s note: This review was originally published at the 2021 SXSW Film Festival. Relativity releases the film in limited theaters on Friday, October 29, with theatrical expansion and VOD options to follow.

First-time feature filmmaker Justine Bateman throws down more than a few traps for her eponymous character in the drama “ Violet “: She’s has to embody a character whose biggest problems literally play out in her head, while contending with Bateman’s liberal use of poetic on-screen text that doesn’t always seem necessary, and she’s expected to convince us to feel empathy for a pretty, successful Hollywood executive. These aren’t easy asks, but they’re also part of the artifice that Bateman handily chips away at as “Violet” unspools. They also provide star Olivia Munn with the chance to turn in the best work of her career, one only enlivened by the great potential for missteps that Bateman’s thorny script provides. And Justin Theroux, who provides surreal voiceover for the protagonist’s self-doubts, adds an additional terrifying dimension to her conundrum.

The Hollywood setting is incidental, though Bateman’s status as a former teenage star (“Family Ties”!) and a long-time inhabitant of Tinseltown adds a palpable veracity to even her most mundane details (a particularly bad party experience seems like the sort of thing drawn from real life). But the Hollywood setting and vague avatars of some of the entertainment industry’s elite (studio production heads, avert your eyes from this one, it’s gonna hurt) also offer Bateman and Munn the chance to take some necessary jabs at the entire establishment.

Mostly, though, the jabs remain, quite literally, inside Violet’s head. While she has found success as a film development executive at a well-regarded boutique outfit, everything else in her life is in disarray. Her romantic life is bad, her family is the source of great pain, and every move she makes stems from a low-simmering mania that runs through all her days. The real problem is that Violet’s internal monologue (which Theroux injects with utter dread) has nothing but bad things to say to her. The insults run the gamut, from “you’re fat” to “you majored in the wrong thing in college” and “you don’t remember enough people’s birthdays” and the perennial cry that she’s just “a baby.”

But Violet is starting to realize that her internal voice, which she dubs to a shocked friend as “the committee,” might be wrong. Bateman takes this scenario to obvious ends: Scenes of Violet are overlaid with florid cursive meant to approximate her real inner voice, which wonders “Why can’t I just be happy?” and worries that “I feel like I don’t who I am anymore.” Abrasive interstitial videos of decay and destruction only punctuate Violet’s pain, and while Bateman’s more florid touches sometimes wear, Munn is so devastatingly good at selling Violet’s internal strife that it’s easy to forgive Bateman’s other creative impulses. With a star this well-suited for the role, Bateman has already proven her salt as a keen-eyed filmmaker.

Once Violet realizes that her experience is not universal and that most people don’t have a voice cutting them down at every moment (her baffled best friend Lila, an underused Erica Ash, delivers this news quite handily), she makes tenuous steps toward changing her life. Bateman throws in a few flashbacks to explain away the source of Violet’s inner “committee,” and while some of them only serve to bolster obvious details (we know, for example, that Violet’s family relationships are bad, a flashback to her childhood just makes that more plain), others show how fully Violet’s life has been consumed by what amounts to self-sabotage.

What follows is a delayed coming-of-age tale, and while Bateman sidesteps some bigger issues — Munn, who is half-Chinese, here plays a character who is either white or so white-passing that her race is never mentioned — she probes deeply into others that so rarely get the Hollywood treatment. Violet is someone whose entire existence, from her high-powered career to her terrible love life, has been directed by flawed perceptions and pernicious beliefs about sexist expectations. As Violet pushes forward to what she hopes is a better future, Munn delivers a graceful, cutting performance, as her pain always feels grounded in real, quantifiable challenges.

Bateman may wrap her story in Hollywood gloss (no, not every person subjected to Violet’s brand of shame gets to come home to Luke Bracey as her obviously lovestruck BFF), but there’s a deep universality to the message here. It’s made all the more powerful by Munn’s performance, which cuts through Bateman’s occasionally fussy flourishes to deliver the most substantial work of her career. “Violet” may be Bateman’s vision, but it’s through Munn’s eyes that we see it most clearly.

“Violet” premiered at the 2021 SXSW Film Festival.

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Violet (II) (2021)

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‘violet’: film review | sxsw 2021.

Olivia Munn toplines Justine Bateman's feature directorial debut, the story of a Hollywood executive's struggle to turn off the hostile voice in her head and live a more authentic life.

By Sheri Linden

Sheri Linden

Senior Copy Editor/Film Critic

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In a memorable episode of Seinfeld , George Costanza decides to change his life by doing the opposite of what he usually does in his daily decision-making. That same existential experiment drives Violet , although without the intended laughs. For the title character, played by Olivia Munn, the switch isn’t as easy as it was for George. But after a lifetime of obeying “the committee” in her head, she’s increasingly aware of the disconnect between the life she leads and the life she wants.

That committee is really one guy, a dictatorial meanie voiced by Justin Theroux , as The Voice. His withering put-downs and harsh orders to Violet are woven into and around the film’s dialogue and action. A second voice also reacts to what’s going on, but it’s a silenced one, the voice of Violet’s innermost desires and questions. These thoughts appear onscreen in large handwritten text: “What’s wrong with me?”; “I want you to stay”; “Why have I been afraid to do the things I love?” The ensuing back-and-forth pits Violet’s inner enemy (what practitioners of The Tools know as Part X ) against Violet’s soul.

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Hollywood vet Bateman has a sure eye for the industry scene, from its transactional-sex deals with the devil to the eateries that are about being seen as much as being fed. Her observations of the biz and its various types can be sharp, and the three-minute sequence that puts 45 crewmembers onscreen after the closing credits serves as a cleansing tonic after the parade of egos during the preceding hour and a half.

She draws naturalistic performances from Munn and a large supporting cast. But the story itself finally feels lost beneath the levels of artifice rather than heightened by it. The stakes for Violet certainly matter to her, but they haven’t the dramatic heft to make them matter to us. A Hollywood denizen who has never considered therapy is a little hard to believe, but there are times when Violet’s mental health seems like a problem that calls for more than a shrink. The less said about a flashback incident involving candles, the better.

However constant and extreme Violet’s doubts and self-criticism are, certainly most of us can relate to the general experience, and to Lila’s comment to Violet that “maybe you’ve cast yourself in a role you don’t want to play anymore.” But as age-old and universal as the careerism-vs.-happiness clash at the heart of Violet is, it’s hard to relate to its central character’s bravery. The supposed big leaps that Violet takes — between one executive position and another, and into the arms of the dreamboat standing two feet away — fall short of the mark. I’m curious to see what Bateman does next. Violet, not so much.

Venue: South by Southwest Film Festival (Spotlight) Production companies: Section 5 in association with Loose Cannon Pictures Cast: Olivia Munn, Luke Bracey, Justin Theroux, Bonnie Bedelia, Zachary Gordon, Erica Ash, Simon Quarterman, Rob Benedict, Dennis Boutsikaris, Todd Stashwick, Laura San Giacomo, Jim O’Heir, Peter Jacobson, Keith Powers, Cassandra Cardenas, Al Madrigal, Rain Phoenix, Anne Ramsay, Colleen Camp, Federico Dordei, Jason Dohring, Jordan Belfi Director-screenwriter: Justine Bateman Producers: Justine Bateman, Michael D Jones, Larry Hummel, Matt Paul Executive producers: Cassian Elwes, Jay Paul, Matt Lituchy, Rob Rubano, Jonathan Schurgin, Anders Liljeblad Director of photography: Mark Williams Production designer: Fernanda Guerrero Costume designer: Peggy A. Schnitzer Editor: Jay Friedkin Music: Vum Casting directors: Orly Sitowitz, Stacey Pianko Sales: CAA

92 minutes

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‘Violet’: Olivia Munn shows her vulnerable side as a success convinced she’s a failure

The savvy exec has a lot on her mind, and we see and hear it all in the emotionally impactful drama..

VIOLET_Actor_Olivia_Munn_as_Violet_text_Mark_Williams.jpg

“Violet” reveals the anxious inner thoughts of its title character (Olivia Munn) with writing on the screen and voices led by Justin Theroux.

Relativity Media

Olivia Munn often plays whip-smart, no-nonsense, badass characters who might not give out the warmest vibe and don’t seem particularly vulnerable — which makes her performance in Justine Bateman’s searing and bold and emotionally impactful “Violet” all the more impressive. Munn delivers the finest work of her career playing a woman who on the surface appears to have it all but is in fact struggling with deep-rooted anxiety and insecurity, to the point where she literally hears a voice in her head that keeps pounding home the message that she’s terrible, she’s incompetent, she’s worthless, she’s nobody.

This is a kind of high-octane take on “Adaptation,” with Munn’s titular character looking cool, calm and collected on the surface while a cacophony of voices, thoughts and memories rattle around her head. The dominant voice is a harsh-sounding, demeaning, constantly critical male (Justin Theroux), who is forever telling Violet she’s not worthy of love or happiness or professional success and she shouldn’t take any chances or ruffle any feathers or stand up for herself. (A sample offering from this monstrous alter ego: “You’re a freak, you’re fat, your hair is gross, you’re a baby, you smell, don’t be a bitch, how do you expect people to take you seriously …”)

A second voice comes in the form of cursive writings that scroll across the screen, with Violet speaking in her own voice and saying things like, “Why can’t I just be happy?” and, “I feel like I don’t know who I am anymore” and “I’m OK I’m OK I’m OK.” On top of all THAT, Violet has vivid memories of certain incidents from her childhood that play like old 16mm films, and on top of all THAT, writer-director Bateman (the former “Family Ties” co-star) goes bold and big with stylistic touches including mash-up montages of jarring images of decay and destruction, and the screen sometimes turning a kind of sepia-toned blood red when the ugly inner voice berates her. At times the art-house touches can be overwhelming (and in some cases unnecessary), but “Violet” remains consistently enthralling due to the smart and savvy screenplay and the fine performances from Munn and the supporting cast.

Violet is the head of production at a well-respected boutique studio — the kind of place where they turn out awards contenders and the occasional smash commercial hit as well. She allows her underlings to get away with lazy work habits and borderline insubordinate behavior because her philosophy is not to cause a scene, to go along and get along — and because the voice inside her tells she’s a fraud and shouldn’t even have this job. The brilliant character actor Dennis Boutsikaris plays Violet’s boss, Tom, who has a glad-handing, aging hippie demeanor, but is simmering with sexist resentment for Violet, who is clearly better than him at every facet of the business. (Among other knowing touches, “Violet” is spot-on in its treatment of the motion picture industry, from the scenes at Violet’s studio to a Hollywood party crawling with self-involved artists and odious studio executives.)

VIOLET_Actor_Luke_Bracey_kitchen3_Photo_Mark_Williams.jpg

Violet’s longtime friend Red (Luke Bracey) is clearly in love with her.

Although Violet often feels as if she’s alone in the world — she’s estranged from her family and isn’t even sure she’ll attend her mother’s funeral — she does have a couple of allies. Her best friend Lila (Erica Ash) keeps her somewhat grounded and tells her no, it’s not normal to have “the committee” (as Violet calls the voices in her head) controlling one’s every move. Then there’s the almost too-good-to-be-true Red (a laid-back, handsome and likable Luke Bracey), a screenwriter who has been Violet’s loyal buddy for years and is clearly in love with her. (In a play off an old Hollywood joke, the voice in Violet’s head tells her it would be career suicide for a head of production to date a lowly screenwriter.) I’m not sure what the symbolism is in having a “Violet” and a “Red” potentially embracing each other, but perhaps this melding of personalities and colors will help quell the voices in Violet’s head. Thanks in large part to Munn’s elegant, authentic, grounded and moving performance, we’re rooting hard for Violet to find some inner peace. She deserves it. The voice is all wrong about her.

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Directed by Justine Bateman

What's holding you back?

Violet realizes that her entire life is built on fear-based decisions, and must do everything differently to become her true self.

Olivia Munn Luke Bracey Justin Theroux Dennis Boutsikaris Erica Ash Zachary Gordon Todd Stashwick Bonnie Bedelia Peter Jacobson Jim O'Heir Simon Quarterman Laura San Giacomo Rob Benedict Keith Powers Cassandra Cardenes Al Madrigal Rain Phoenix Steve Agee Anne Ramsay Colleen Camp Jason Dohring Jordan Belfi Federico Dordei James C. Victor Matt Ingebretson Liliana Mijangos Brooklynn MacKinzie Jakari Fraser Mason Wells Show All… Kathleen Wilhoite Annica Liljeblad Joe D'Angerio W. Tré Davis Erin Cantelo Jack Nicholls

Director Director

Justine Bateman

Producers Producers

Justine Bateman Larry Hummel Michael D. Jones Matt Paul

Writer Writer

Casting casting.

Stacey Pianko Orly Sitowitz

Editor Editor

Jay Friedkin

Cinematography Cinematography

Mark Williams

Assistant Directors Asst. Directors

Blake Perkinson John Tagamolila

Executive Producers Exec. Producers

Cassian Elwes Anders Liljeblad Matt Lituchy Rob Rubano Jonathan Schurgin Jay Paul

Production Design Production Design

Fernanda Guerrero

Set Decoration Set Decoration

Mercedes Hachuel

Visual Effects Visual Effects

Ryan Bozajian

Stunts Stunts

Chris Bailey Jessie Fisher

Composer Composer

Sound sound.

Seth Cooper Nathan Efstation Nathan Ruyle

Costume Design Costume Design

Peggy A. Schnitzer

Makeup Makeup

Ashley Cordova Jacqueline Knowlton

Section 5 Relativity Media Loose Cannon Pictures

Releases by Date

18 mar 2021, 09 sep 2021, theatrical limited, 29 oct 2021, 05 nov 2021, 09 nov 2021, 10 nov 2021, releases by country.

Premiere Toronto International Film Festival
Premiere South by Southwest Film Festival
Theatrical limited R NY/LA
Theatrical R

92 mins More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by Amanda the Jedi ★★★★

Absolutely yes to ALL of this holy shit

Review by Austin Burke ★★★★ 4

✅76% SXSW 2021 Ranked - Click HERE

A film development executive realizes that "guiding voice" inside her head has been lying to her about everything.

This film feels as if it is experimenting with what it is trying to convey, and while that may create this messy and anxiety-inducing feel to it, there is something about the attempt that will resonate with me for awhile. I want to start with a slight apology to Olivia Munn. It isn’t that I don’t think she’s talented, but she has yet to hit the mark for me (at least in the projects I have seen). This was her movie. This works and flows through her talented way of conveying anger, regret, and stress to…

Review by claira curtis ★★★★ 1

“ You just told me the last lie and it means nothing. ”

A bombardment of horrific images, aggressive music, and a voice inside her head that’s not her own, hurling hateful statement after hateful statement at her, an echo of past experiences with loved ones who they themselves hurled hateful statement after hateful statement, drowning out the people who are actually in front of her who offer encouragement and support. Her own thoughts diminished to overlaid writing on the screen, her voice taken by this foreign voice who controls her life.

Violet broke me in a way that films surrounding mental health struggles so rarely do. Depicting the issues the film does in a coherent and relatable way is no easy…

Review by diego andaluz ★★★★

SXSW - Film #4

Violet is a strikingly bold & fiery exploration of self-doubt. Aided by Justine Bateman’s stylistic flair and Olivia Munn’s powerhouse performance, its brilliant employment of dynamic storytelling devices results in an unforgettable experience for all!

Review by Marianna Neal ★★★★ 1

TIFF 2021 - Film #4

If you know what this feels like - Violet will hit home so hard! I was absolutely on board with the way this was presented, all of the creative decisions that were made, and how it conveyed anxiety, fear, doubt, and self-sabotage. Olivia Munn is amazing in the role! Justine Bateman knocked her feature film directorial debut out of the park!

Review by Steph_h ★★★½ 2

I loved the concept behind this movie I’m just not so sure I was in love with how it was executed. A big part of this film is the voice in her mind thats constantly making her anxious and nervous. That voice in her head was a guy though.. that was just very weird to me, strange choice to put voiceover of a man in the mind of a woman. Aside from that I did like what the voice of saying and how she copes with it. It’s a pretty realistic feeling portrayal of anxiety.. The editing choices were interesting too even though I’m not sure I completely agreed with those either at times they worked wonderfully at other times…

Review by Andrei Girard ★★

The idea is interesting, but it's in the execution where this film falls flat. Everything is presented in a very underwhelming way. It tries too hard to make clear that Violet is going through a lot, but the way they handle this makes it feel like she's actually just having a 2-day confidence crisis.

Having unpleasant inner thoughts that make us feel like we can't do anything right or that people think we are idiots, letting fear keep us away from doing the things we want and staying quiet when people disrespect us to avoid problems. It sounds relatable to some extent.

The problem with this film is that it doesn't go any further than that, so it feels shallow,…

Review by veronica ★★★★

wow they made a movie about the inside of my brain! my therapist will love to hear about this!

Review by Shreesh ★★★★

The concept here is fresh and unique. The idea that all your thoughts you have in your mind can be heard just to the audience is refreshing and funny. The performance by Olivia Munn is really good, her character was extremely well written and she portrayed it perfectly. Her thoughts are common but also really depressing and sometimes it is also absolutely hilarious. Some characters are really sweet and normal and some are just annoying and bad. The writing here is so strong and screenplay was fantastic which helped the movie in a big way.

The only issue I had was I expected a even more powerful climax, but other than that this was a small beautiful film. You can surely give this a try, really different but a well made movie.

A solid 83% for this.

2021 Ranked

Review by Matt Neglia ★★★½

VIOLET is a profound & empowering film with insightful writing & great editing used to convey a mental battle most of us can identify with. Justine Bateman brilliantly uses the cinematic art form to express a unique vision of fear-based decision making that cuts deep. Olivia Munn delivers an empathetic performance that will break then repair your heart. Loses one point for an anti-climatic ending but I loved everything else leading up to it.

Review by Jack ★★

SXSW 2021 - Film #17

Justine Bateman’s Violet is insufferable. It’s a film that so desperately wants to make a grand statement on workplace toxicity and mental health, yet falls flat on its face doing so. Absolutely everything here is so woefully uninteresting and vapid, with Olivia Munn sleepwalking throughout the entire film and so many flashy, irritating filmmaking choices that amount to nothing. I really had high hopes for this one, but it tries to do too much and ends up as a bland frenzy of ideas that didn’t work for me at all.

Review by Evely Pan ★★★

another privileged woman learns to LiveLaughLove™ with the help of a hot guy and a black best friend whose sphere of interests does not include anything outside of the privileged woman's woes... but make it good?

it's quite inventive, with a screenplay that teeters on sheer brilliance in more than one instance, and ideas that testify to a certain authenticity of experience that feels personal and universal at the same time, but I found the main character to be oddly too distant, and I say oddly because I recognize everything about her except for her, whatever that means.

I, too, wish I was hot enough/had a hot roommate to dull the voice of my inner justin theroux when he tells me that I look like a pig

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‘Violet’ Film Review: Olivia Munn Can’t Silence Her Inner Critic in Justine Bateman’s Sensitive Directorial Debut

Justin Theroux provides the self-sabotaging inner voice of Munn’s unhappy studio exec

You know that critical voice in your head? The one you once had, or still have, or dread having? The one that tells you when to feel doubt, or shame, or fear?

“Violet” gives voice to that voice, with so much urgency that it often feels as though writer-director Justine Bateman is reaching out through the screen. Sometimes it appears as though she wants to shake us into waking up; sometimes it seems she wants to comfort us into calming down. But from the start, it’s clear she intends to shock us into listening to Violet’s self-destructive thoughts so that we can recognize our own.

Olivia Munn plays the titular studio executive, a woman who has everything on the outside and feels like nothing within. Her emotional instability is both caused and represented by her Voice (Justin Theroux), an audible internal bully who second-guesses every decision she makes. While we see someone who is impeccably professional, the Voice persistently insists otherwise.

When she wants to date her seemingly perfect roommate Red (Luke Bracey, “American Dream”), the Voice reminds her she’s not good enough for him. She’d like to produce an indie passion project, but the Voice insists she make the movies her philistine boss (Dennis Boutsikaris) prefers. Will she leave a party when she’s ready? Of course not; she needs to network herself into exhaustion. Should she reach out to an old boyfriend after running into him? Come on; he surely hates her. Can she let loose and have fun when she meets her best friend (Erica Ash, “Real Husbands of Hollywood”) for drinks? As if.

The film’s narrative is so simple — slender, even — that it requires a steady hand and strong conviction with which to build sufficient depth. Bateman possesses both.

Though this is Bateman’s feature debut, her prior experiences are evident in a range of ways. Having achieved stardom on “Family Ties” as a teen in the 1980s, she’s seen firsthand the LA snake pits that nearly swallow Violet whole. She’s already analyzed the ugliest facets of her industry in her books “Fame” and “Face,” which share Violet’s stream-of-consciousness sincerity. She’s also a designer and artist, and the movie is built as a pastiche, with one visual or aural layer after another piling on until we can feel the visceral overwhelm of anxiety.

Indeed, although it’s written as an aspirational drama, Bateman structures “Violet” more like an experimental horror film. A simple scene between two characters is likely to be interrupted by the Voice, whose cruelty is accompanied by a quick cut to rotting flesh or a brief flash of a punch to the face. Then Violet’s desperate response is scrawled in white script across the scene: “I’m fine. I don’t feel fine. Everything’s fine. Why can’t I feel fine?”

A defiantly uneasy score from VUM only increases the tension, until the entire screen washes red. Meanwhile, the person Violet is talking to thinks they’re still having a friendly and casual conversation, with no idea of the battleground we’ve just seen raging inside her head.

Because Munn wisely underplays, she’s able to creep across the high-wire Bateman has stretched out, in which Violet perpetually balances deadpan external calm with overwhelming internal detonation. Theroux’s voiceover does feel a little too malevolent at times, and a few of the characters — like Violet’s volatile brother (Todd Stashwick, “Love, Weddings and Other Disasters”) and manipulative aunt (Bonnie Bedelia) — are more broadly sketched than others.

But overall, Bateman has gathered an unusually strong cast for both larger and smaller roles. Ash is lovely and grounded as Violet’s concerned best friend, while Boutsikaris (“Better Call Saul”) is believably odious and pathetic as her boss. And while most directors might pepper the background with unknowns, Bateman has deftly chosen veterans (Laura San Giacomo, Jim O’Heir, Anne Ramsay, Colleen Camp, Jason Dohring) who know how to turn fleeting moments into memorable shading.

The focus, though, remains on Violet. She’d hate that, of course. If only she knew how glad we are to spend this time with her.

“Violet” opens in New York and Los Angeles Oct. 29 and premieres on demand Nov. 9.

Flickering Myth

Geek Culture | Movies, TV, Comic Books & Video Games

Movie Review – Violet (2021)

November 9, 2021 by Robert Kojder

Violet , 2021.

Written and Directed by Justine Bateman. Starring Olivia Munn, Colleen Camp, Justin Theroux, Kathleen Wilhoite, Laura San Giacomo, Jason Dohring, Anne Ramsay, Bonnie Bedelia, Rain Phoenix, Zachary Gordon, Luke Bracey, Todd Stashwick, Dennis Boutsikaris, Peter Jacobson, Jim O’Heir, Simon Quarterman, Rob Benedict, Al Madrigal, Steve Agee, and Erica Ash.

Violet realizes that her entire life is built on fear-based decisions, and must do everything differently to become her true self.

With her feature-length writing and directorial debut, Violet , Justine Bateman has opted to film what, in theory, sounds unfilmable; the inner voice of self-doubt, anxiety, and defeat. It’s also not shy about bombarding viewers with an imaginative and playfully corrupt visual style that utilizes everything from a menacing inside voice known as The Committee (intimidatingly voiced by Justin Theroux), on-screen text crystallizing thoughts and fears, split-second images of a dysfunctional childhood and cruel mother, and the best performance of Olivia Munn’s career portraying this pathetic but empathetic sack of low self-esteem.

Such overwhelming negative thoughts can affect anyone, including moderately successful production agents. The titular Violet is high on her workplace’s totem pole yet also finds herself succumbing to absurd demands from those beneath her who are too lazy to do their work. The Committee orders Violet not to stand up for herself, exclaiming that confrontation will destroy her career. Speaking of that, she is also disillusioned with curating projects she genuinely cares about (and ones her friends encourage her to put into production) under a negative spell that it will be a failure, and no one will care. In a sense, she is simultaneously happy and miserable.

And while Justine Bateman may be a tad over-reliant on assaulting the senses with a front-row seat cinematic envisioning to Violet’s psyche, there’s always the sense that her fears, negative internal energy, and demeaning inner voice are affecting her and believably saying things. Of all things, I kept thinking of the inexplicably successful Venom movies and how the internal dialogues in those movies grate me to the end of the earth, whereas here, even during its overwhelming moments, there’s always a purpose to be served. Justin Bateman is also a clever writer capable of shaking up the formula, whether it be overlaying text differently (usually crowding the screen as Violet’s anxiety amplifies) or having Violet slowly reclaim her life from her trepidation and those that, willingly or unknowingly, keep her silenced.

There are also relationship dynamics at play, with The Committee offering some truly terrible dating advice, planting and reasserting the seed that Violet will be seen as a loser if she is dating her childhood friend and screenwriter Red (a handsomely supportive Luke Bracey), a guy that genuinely seems to care and is always offering an ear. Violet even happens to like Red romantically, but voices and past disastrous experiences (there’s a darkly comedic flashback involving a fire) get in the way. Meanwhile, the only family she has to fall back on for communication has always been neglectful and nasty or shame her for chasing her Hollywood dreams (the production company also seems to have a handle in some video games), accusing her of living a selfish life.

Something’s gotta give, and at a certain point, Violet does begin to gradually muster up confidence (or enter new skin, as her thoughts put it). Naturally, finding her voice is also met with resistance (especially considering she works in a male-dominated field), but there are welcome pleasures and watching her verbally fire back at those that try swatting her like a fly with malicious remarks about her personal and sexual life. Also, as the family connection further rots, a conversation starts about who is and who isn’t essential. It’s cliché stuff that comes down to bloodline not designating family, but given that so much of Violet’s self-loathing stems from a dismissive and unsupportive upbringing, the material comes across as organic.

Admittedly, the relentless style of Violet does occasionally soften the impact of the story itself and take away time from developing characters, but this is also a confidently engaging debut that speaks many truths about anxiety and self-loathing. This could have been an aggressively irritating disaster, but Justine Bateman is too tuned into the themes and emotions she is working with to let the proceedings fall apart. Olivia Munn has also never been better, and it’s a delight seeing the range she does possess in the right hands.

Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★

Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd , or email me at [email protected]

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Violet (2021)

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Violet - What We Know So Far

Life is full of choices, but the motivations behind them are not always good-natured. That's a theme writer-director Justine Bateman explores in her directorial debut "Violet." The film tackles something that many viewers can relate to: a controlling inner voice. For Bateman, it felt like the right time to make the film happen. "I wanted to direct since I was 19, but the timing wasn't right; I had to wait for the timing. The timing finally felt right when I was about 50," she told The Playlist in September. Bateman, notably, is no stranger to life in front of the camera — she famously starred on the hit series "Family Ties."

Understandably, her time spent working in all aspects of the entertainment industry helped the writer-director find an outstanding cast for "Violet." The project features Olivia Munn in the title role, and in an interview with Variety , the actress spoke about how filming "Violet" pleasantly differed from her experiences on past projects. "Justine is one of my favorite, if not my favorite, directors that I've worked with so far," Munn told the outlet.

With all this in mind, here's everything you need to know about "Violet."

What is Violet's release date?

"Violet" is set to hit select theaters on October 29. As of this writing, theaters in New York, Los Angeles, and Maricopa are all set to offer screenings of the film, while on-demand options will become available after November 9 (via Relativity Media ). There is no information as of yet about where the film will be available to rent, or which streaming services may offer it.

Prior to its limited release, the film made its debut at the 2021 South by Southwest Film Festival. That initial showing led to the project's North American rights being picked up by Relativity Media (via Deadline ), with CEO Lex Miron saying the film, "explores deep-rooted motivations and will ignite healthy, spirited conversation between friends, family and colleagues." After its South by Southwest premiere, "Violet" went on to screen at the 2021 edition of the Toronto International Film Festival .

The film has so far received mostly positive reviews from critics (via Rotten Tomatoes ).

Who is in the cast of Violet?

"Violet" splits its focus between its titular character and her inner voice. Olivia Munn stars in the film as Violet Calder, a movie executive dealing with the lasting impact of many of her fear-based decisions. Early reviews have generally praised Munn's turn in the film, with IndieWire noting that the role gives the actress the "chance to turn in the best work of her career."

Meanwhile, Violet's harsh inner critic is voiced by actor Justin Theroux. Viewers may remember Theroux for his recent turn as Allie Fox on the Apple TV+ drama, "The Mosquito Coast," which was renewed for a second season earlier this year. Speaking with The Wrap , "Violet" director Justine Bateman was quick to praise Theroux's talent, calling him "an incredible writer, director, and an actor."

In addition to Theroux and Munn, the film's cast also includes Laura San Giacomo, Luke Bracey, Zachary Gordon, Jason Dohring, Simon Quarterman, and Dennis Boutsikaris.

What is the plot of Violet?

"Violet" focuses on the life of its titular studio executive. While she's working to gain ground in her industry, the film sees Olivia Munn's Violet dealing with a myriad of issues, including the kinds of fears and uncertainties that many viewers likely encounter in their daily lives. The movie follows Violet as her inner voice pushes her to the edge — leading her to discover what really happens when she stops living in constant fear.

To help bring viewers into Violet's inner world, director Justine Bateman utilizes some interesting stylistic choices in the film. For example, cursive writing that illuminates various different thoughts and feelings appears on the screen throughout the film. Bateman created the cursive writing herself in what she has previously described as a "time-consuming" process (via Observer ).

Meanwhile, images of catastrophic events are repeatedly shown as the film follows Violet's struggle to push through her most difficult moments and decisions. Flickering Myth referred to the technique as a "face-melting montage of traumatic images — a fox decaying into the ground and exploding cars, for two — which recur throughout as a visualisation of Violet's panicked mind."

Now, viewers can look forward to seeing the full scope of Bateman's vision when "Violet" hits theaters and VOD in just a few short days.

Violet & Daisy

James Gandolfini will probably always be known as Tony Soprano from “The Sopranos,” but he’s such a versatile and surprising performer that within a few minutes of watching him play a different character, you forget about his most famous role. There’s a gentleness and decency to this actor that comes through even when he’s playing men with very dark shadings. At the same time, though, there’s something mysterious about him, a suggestion of menace, or at least deep hurt and dysfunction, and this prevents his nicer characters from becoming too milquetoast. Even when he’s performing a seemingly straightforward role, he makes it seem as if you’re seeing the tip of the psychological iceberg. Amazing as he was as Tony, very likely the role of his life, he was just as distinctive in “ True Romance ,” “ The Last Castle ,” “In the Loop,” “ Romance and Cigarettes ,” “ Killing Them Softly ,” “Cinema Verite” and “ Zero Dark Thirty ,” and as the voice of the monster in “ Where the Wild Things Are ” who struggled to contain his violent impulses. The only thing predictable about Gandolfini is his excellence. He’s an actor you’re always happy to see.

As Michael, a thief awaiting execution by two assassins in “Violet & Daisy,” Gandolfini adds another indelible portrait to his ever-growing collection. He’s marked for death for daring to steal from a criminal kingpin, but he lives longer than he should simply by being so unpredictable, so odd and sweet. In one scene, the assassins burst into a room where they expect Michael to be seated in a chair and unload dozens of rounds at him, only to discover that he’s moved; when he appears in another part of the room, he’s holding a tray of freshly-baked cookies, and offers some to the would-be killers. Gandolfini’s face is so warm and genuine, yet so mysteriously unsettling, that this seems like plausible behavior.

Gandolfini’s quietly magnificent performance is the only reason to see “Violet & Daisy,” a thriller that might as well have been released in 1996, when everybody and their brother and their sister and their cousin twice-removed was trying to be Quentin Tarantino , writing screenplays about loquacious hit men and gangsters and molls delivering cutesy monologues in wacky, not-quite-real universes. The aforementioned assassins, Violet ( Alexis Bledel ) and Daisy ( Saoirse Ronan ), are young, beautiful women whose blank-faced sweetness is a cover for their incredible and seemingly soulless violence.

They live in one of those movie worlds that seems to contain underworld types and nothing else, one filled with signifiers and tropes and cliches borrowed from whatever films, TV shows and modern art movements the filmmaker enjoyed. They share a lovely little apartment that’s art-directed, like every other set in the film, to look like the showroom of a vintage furniture and knicknacks emporium. They behave as if they’re two little girls taking part in an endless slumber party, one that just happens to include violent hits carried out with silenced pistols, often with disguises employed. In an early sequence, Violet and Daisy pose as nuns delivering “Righteous Pizza” (the film apparently left out the scene where they create the convincingly monogrammed boxes) then engage in an elaborate, bloody gunbattle with thugs in an apartment building lobby, unloading round after pinpoint-accurate round. In their down time, they bounce on beds and look at fashion magazines and fantasize about saving enough money to buy pretty dresses they’ve had their eyes on. They ride to hits on tricycles. The previously-mentioned cookie scene only works because Violet and Daisy decided to close their eyes before leaping into the room and firing at their target — another acknowledgement that they’re overgrown girls, or emotionally arrested young woman, and that this is all a big game to them, no matter how hardboiled Violet acts. It’s that kind of movie — Tarantino by way of “ Juno ” or “ Son of Rambow “, childlike yet knowing, packed with bright, jumbled production design and mournful atmosphere, and sadly lacking soul.

Daisy, we’re told, is all of eighteen, but has the sexual sophistication of a nine-year old, and Violet isn’t much older. Violet is worried that Daisy can now be tried as an adult, should she ever be prosecuted for her crimes. The young women have an older sister-younger sister dynamic, with Daisy as the innocent/ignorant one — a running gag involving a dirty joke that Daisy is too chaste-minded to get makes her seem as intellectually limited as Lenny from “Of Mice and Men” — but both actresses give such monotonously flat performances that the characters never seem like much more than concepts, or perhaps walking allusions. But to what, exactly? The hit girl character from “ Kick-Ass “, perhaps? Or Sissy Spacek’s morally arrested woman-child character in “ Badlands ,” who enabled her boyfriend’s murder spree? Or something or someone else that, for whatever reason, just isn’t coming across onscreen?

The film’s writer and director, Geoffrey Fletcher , won a screenwriting Oscar for adapting 2009’s “Precious.” He has an eye, a sense of rhythm, and an impressive control of tone. This work doesn’t lack for conviction. Everything about “Violet & Daisy” bespeaks certainty of vision. The filmmaker obviously knows why he’s showing us certain things, and in a certain way. And yet none of gels into an emotionally or philosophically coherent experience, and the tone is so muted that the whole picture seems to have recently recovered from a botched facelift that made it inexpressive, like a mask.

The lead actresses might have been capable of more than they show us here; likewise Danny Trejo , Marianne Jean-Baptiste and other reliably strong supporting players — but they seem to be giving the director what he wants, and unfortunately it’s hard to tell what, exactly, that might be. Only Gandolfini transcends the film’s constricting, dot-the-I’s-and-cross-the-Ts compulsiveness in sticking to its inscrutable agenda. In later scenes in which Michael and Daisy forge a weird yet affecting father and daughter-type relationship, one can glimpse a more direct and powerful film fighting to get out, and failing.

Matt Zoller Seitz

Matt Zoller Seitz is the Editor-at-Large of RogerEbert.com, TV critic for New York Magazine and Vulture.com, and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in criticism.

Cody Horn as Barbie Sunday
Alexis Bledel as Violet
Danny Trejo as Russ
James Gandolfini as Micheal
Tatiana Maslany as April
Saoirse Ronan as Daisy
Geoffrey Fletcher

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Movie review: provocative, genre-bending ‘a different man’ gets under our skin in unexpected ways.

Imagine you could wake up one morning, stand at the mirror, and literally peel off any part of your looks you don’t like - with only movie-star beauty remaining.

How would it change your life? How SHOULD it change your life?

That’s a question – well, a launching point, really - for Edward , protagonist of Aaron Schimberg’s fascinating, genre-bending, undeniably provocative and occasionally frustrating “A Different Man,” featuring a stellar trio of Sebastian Stan, Adam Pearson and Renate Reinsve .

The very title is open to multiple interpretations. Who (and what) is “different”? The original Edward , who has neurofibromatosis, a genetic disorder that causes bulging tumors on his face? Or the man he becomes when he’s able to slip out of that skin? And is he “different” to others, or to himself?

When we meet Edward , a struggling actor in New York (Stan, in elaborate makeup), he’s filming some sort of commercial. We soon learn it’s an instructional video on how to behave around colleagues with deformities. But even there, the director stops him, offering changes. “Wouldn’t want to scare anyone,” he says.

On Edward’s way home on the subway, people stare. Back at his small apartment building, he meets a young woman in the hallway, in the midst of moving to the flat next door. She winces visibly when she first sees him, as virtually everyone does.

PHOTOS: Movie Review: Provocative, genre-bending ‘A Different Man’ gets under our skin in unexpected ways

But later, Ingrid (Reinsve) tries to make it up to him, coming over to chat. She is charming and forthright, and tells Edward she’s a budding playwright.

Edward goes for a medical checkup and learns that one of his tumors is slowly progressing over the eye. But he’s also told of an experimental trial he could join. With the possibility - maybe - of a cure.

So Edward , spurred at least partly by frustration at not being able to get closer to Ingrid , joins the trial. These scenes take on the sudden feel of a sci-fi fantasy film - not awkwardly, but somehow quite smoothly shifting genres for a bit.

As for the medication, it starts working even sooner than anyone had hoped. Soon, Edward’s skin is starting to come off in clumps. It’s terrifying. And then he finds himself at the mirror, disintegrating before his eyes. But suddenly, Edward looks like - well, he looks like Sebastian Stan.

Naturally, life changes, and radically. When he goes back to the same bar in which he’d been stared at and left alone, he becomes everyone’s buddy. A woman even wants to have sex with him in the bathroom. He catches his own eye in the mirror, as if to say: “What’s happening to us?”

Edward now makes a momentous choice. He simply disappears from his former life and becomes a “different” person entirely. Now his name is Guy, and he lives in a nicer place. He also has a job as a real estate agent - the ultimate face-forward career, making use of his silky good looks.

But Guy is not, shall we say, comfortable in his own skin. Then one day, he sees Ingrid walking into a theater. She’s holding auditions for the play she’s written - about a man just like Edward . In fact, it IS about Edward . And he becomes obsessed with playing the role.

In the course of auditions, Edward runs into another actor with deformities who says, poignantly, “I was born to play this.” Guy of course cannot say why he disagrees - which is that HE is Edward . Here Schimberg is tapping into the thorny discussion over casting, and whether disabled roles should only be filled by disabled actors, trans roles by trans actors, and so on. Adding layers of complexity to his film, Schimberg does both, in a way.

Or should we say, Ingrid does both. As playwright - and here, the superb Reinsve acquires an edge that her initial, sweeter incarnation of Ingrid lacked - she seems to understand instinctively that Guy, despite his dashing looks, has a connection to the character. She even lets him try rehearsing with a mask of his earlier self.

Enter Oswald.

It’s shame we can’t say too much about Oswald without veering into spoiler territory, because Oswald (Pearson) is the indispensable part of the last act here. Oswald is (as is Pearson) an actor who has neurofibromatosis, but in all other ways he’s extremely different from Edward . He’s outgoing, engaging, brimming with effortless wit - British, too - and interacts with the world in ways Edward could only have dreamed of.

Obviously, this will throw Edward/Guy for a loop. Early scenes exploring the dynamics of this unlikely trio crackle with possibility, discomfort, sometimes comedy, sometimes tragedy.

What is Schimberg ultimately trying to say? Here’s where it gets tricky. He throws out some tantalizing questions about authenticity in life and art, not to mention how the way we look charts our destiny. Then, he doesn’t so much answer them as shock us with head-spinning developments that feel, even for these wholly unique circumstances, as if they come out of nowhere.

But it’s an absorbing ride, and Schimberg works with confidence and brio. On top of that his cast is so darned good, you want the story to go on and on - how about a trilogy, with everyone returning for sequels based on Oswald and Ingrid ?

“A Different Man,” an A24 release, has been rated R by the Motion Picture Association “for sexual content, graphic nudity, language and some violent content.” Running time: 112 minutes. Three stars out of four.

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Common Sense Media Review

Former child stars discuss fame's effects; language, drugs.

Parents Need to Know

Why Age 14+?

Lovato, the film's star, mentions a past heroin overdose, but she doesn't go int

The film delves into the exploitation of child actors, including discussion of t

Repeated use of "f--k," "s-t," "damn," "hell," "bitch," "whore."

The film is all about individuals who starred in 1990s-era children's television

Subjects describe dating, are seen kissing, and come out as gay.

Any Positive Content?

Demi Lovato and other former child stars she interviews demonstrate perseverance

People can overcome childhood trauma and struggles they face as teenagers. Fame

The people interviewed represent different races and ethnicities. One describes

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Lovato, the film's star, mentions a past heroin overdose, but she doesn't go into great detail about it. She and other child actors talk about early exploration of drugs and alcohol and using these to cope with the pressures of being famous and overworked as children. They also discuss feeling thankful for life now, considering past dangerous behavior. People mention their parents taking drugs, being given weed by an adult at age 10, hiding drinks on film/TV sets as teenagers, and going to rehab. Fame is said to have addictive properties, so kids made famous are essentially having their brain chemistry altered from a young age.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Violence & Scariness

The film delves into the exploitation of child actors, including discussion of their branding, commodification, and laws intended to protect them from being overworked or left without any profits from their own labors. Former child actors describe physical exhaustion, parental abuse, difficult home lives, bullying at school (including a "suicide petition" urging a girl to kill herself), eating disorders, body image issues and body-shaming in TV roles, mental health issues, poor behavior (including punching someone), binge drinking, drug abuse, and the negative impact of fame on people's life spans.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

The film is all about individuals who starred in 1990s-era children's television shows (and in some cases went on to extended careers in show business). They discuss being branded, turned into commodities, and used to sell millions in merchandising. A new bill proposed at state levels is trying to protect kids from being exploited online as "properties" by their parents, similar to laws protecting child actors in film and TV. Media brands are seen and discussed. Cars, clothing, food products, the Looking Ahead Program.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Positive Role Models

Demi Lovato and other former child stars she interviews demonstrate perseverance in facing the difficulties of their pasts and discussing them publicly so that others may learn from their experiences. They discuss being exploited by adults and sold as commodities, taught to say yes to everything, and pressured to work exceedingly hard even from very young ages. They also mention other adults who served as positive role models for them on film sets. A young person has come up with a policy initiative to protect kids from online exploitation by adults.

Positive Messages

People can overcome childhood trauma and struggles they face as teenagers. Fame requires mental strength, has addictive properties, and can lead to a shorter life span.

Diverse Representations

The people interviewed represent different races and ethnicities. One describes coming out as gay and being "blackballed" by companies in return. Another, also publicly "out," recognizes she had a unique role as the first Black female teenager with her own TV show.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Parents need to know that Child Star is a documentary do-directed by Demi Lovato that considers the impacts of childhood fame on people's lives. It offers advice and cautions for people considering this path. Former child stars have frank discussions about the pressures they felt, leading to drug and alcohol abuse, eating disorders, body image and self-esteem problems, and mental health struggles. They also discuss suffering backlash for coming out as gay and being exploited as commodities by adults. Experts talk about the history of child labor and related laws, and the impact of celebrity on children. Language includes "f--k," "s-t," "damn," "hell," "bitch," and "whore." To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Parent and Kid Reviews

Parents say (1)
Kids say (1)

Based on 1 parent review

What's the Story?

CHILD STAR tells the story behind Demi Lovato 's rise to fame and very public personal problems. But her story, already addressed in two previous documentaries focused on her substance dependencies and other personal problems , isn't the main focus. Instead, it's used to position Demi as interviewer of other child stars, like Drew Barrymore , Christina Ricci , Raven-Symoné , JoJo Siwa , Kenan Thompson , and Alyson Stoner , allowing her to probe their own recollections of the impact celebrity had on them as children. The documentary also speaks with lawmakers, legal scholars, book authors, and psychologists to consider child fame from other angles. The film is divided into sections, including The Dream, Living the Dream, The Reality, The Crash, and A New Path.

Is It Any Good?

Co-directors Lovato and Nicola Marsh bring a surprising amount of depth to their documentary on child actors. Using Lovato's own life story as a narrative thread, Child Star analyzes the potential impact of fame and success on children's lives, including personal, mental, physical, inter-relational, professional, legal, and more. It places the 1990s generation of Nickelodeon and Disney stars into the historical context of a century of child actors. Lovato has a deft touch as an interviewer, someone who can empathize with other former child stars and share stories but who also asks good questions of lawmakers and experts.

It's fascinating to hear on-the-set and behind-the-scenes insights from actors, parents, and directors, and to consider the implications of kids being branded and monetized. Singer JoJo Siwa's account of being blackballed after coming out as gay is particularly memorable, as is Alyson Stoner's citation of stats suggesting famous people live shorter lives. Siwa represents a younger generation who share their entire lives online, even despite understanding the pitfalls. Still, this film isn't for viewers looking for salacious gossip; that's already out there, in spades ( another recent docu alleges sexual abuse at Nickelodeon, not a topic in this film). Instead, it functions as a cautionary tale for others–-kids or adults–-looking to get kids into show business.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the "Quit Clicking Kids" policy proposal discussed in Child Star . Does this seem like an important proposal? Where can you go to find more information about it and whether it's under consideration in your state?

What are some of your key takeaways from the experiences described by former child actors in this film? What surprised you the most? Do their experiences make you reconsider the idea of child-oriented entertainment and merchandising?

How have the former child actors demonstrated perseverance in overcoming the negative effects of fame?

The Looking Ahead Program offers support to kids and their families navigating the entertainment industry. Why is this important, based on what you learned in this documentary? Where can you go for more details or to get involved?

Movie Details

On DVD or streaming : September 17, 2024
Cast : Demi Lovato , Drew Barrymore , Christina Ricci
Directors : Demi Lovato , Nicola Marsh
Inclusion Information : Female directors, Latino directors, Mexican directors, Non-Binary actors, Pansexual actors, Latino actors, Female actors, Bisexual actors
Studio : Hulu
Genre : Documentary
Topics : Activism , Arts and Dance , Brothers and Sisters , Friendship , High School , History
Character Strengths : Perseverance
Run time : 97 minutes
MPAA rating : NR
Last updated : September 17, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Suggest an Update

What to watch next.

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Critic’s Pick

‘A Different Man’ Review: Face, Off

Sebastian Stan and Adam Pearson star in a marvelously inventive dark comedy about a man who can’t change his insides.

Share full article

A man wearing a brown leather jacket stands in a room with a stunned look on his face.

By Alissa Wilkinson

Cinema obsesses over doppelgängers and doubles. Perhaps that’s only natural since movie cameras let us record ourselves, and then play our images back in front of our own eyes. According to ancient folklore, seeing your doppelgänger was a harbinger of doom. So we get “Vertigo” and “Mulholland Drive” and “Possession” and “Us,” all haunted by some primal psychological dread.

“A Different Man,” written and directed by Aaron Schimberg, taps that apprehension with wryly absurd humor. Deft and clever, “A Different Man” is itself a doppelgänger of sorts for “The Substance,” the horror film starring Demi Moore, which opens on the same day. They both stick their fingers in a festering wound: our deep-down belief that if we could only shed our flaws, we’d unveil the cooler, more svelte, and above all happier selves that dwell within. They are films for our moment: It’s never been easier to alter our own appearances, and never been harder to escape our own faces.

But where “The Substance” is glossy and frantic, “A Different Man” lopes and zags and rubs some gratifying schmutz on the lens. There’s some John Carpenter in this film, and some Woody Allen, and some John Cassavetes, and a healthy dose of Charlie Kaufman-style surreality. The result is shrewd, and fantastic, and something all its own.

The story begins with Edward (Sebastian Stan), an aspiring actor with neurofibromatosis, a genetic condition in which tumors grow beneath the skin. It has mainly affected his face, distorting his features. He has little confidence, and it doesn’t help that his latest gig is in a cheap and patronizing corporate training video aiding viewers in “accepting” and “including” co-workers with facial disfigurement.

Edward lives quietly in a small, old New York apartment populated by the usual New York characters: loudmouths and weirdos and people who pound on the ceiling when you walk too heavily. One day, though, the gorgeous and friendly Ingrid (Renate Reinsve) moves in next door. She is an aspiring playwright, and she and Edward strike up a friendship.

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Screen Rant

How clint eastwood's 18-year-old ww2 movie gets battle of iwo jima "dead on" accurate explained by historian.

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Clint Eastwood's 10 Best Movies, Ranked

Shannen doherty's 10 best movies and tv shows, alien: romulus concept art reveals even creepier design for final offspring (& it has wings).

Clint Eastwood's Flags of Our Fathers earns a glowing review from a historian for its portrayal of the Battle of Iwo Jima. Released in 2006, Flags of Our Fathers explores the American experience of the iconic World War II battle, and serves as a sister film to Eastwood's Letters from Iwo Jima (2006). Flags of Our Fathers , which stars Ryan Phillippe, Barry Pepper, Joseph Cross, and Adam Beach, focuses specifically on the lives of the men who raised the flag on Mount Suribachi, as is captured in an iconic photograph, with early sections of the movie featuring intense beach combat.

In a recent video for Insider , historian John McManus analyzes select scenes from Flags of Our Fathers' Battle of Iwo Jima sequences, awarding the film a perfect grade for historical accuracy. According to McManus, the film accurately portrays Iwo Jima's unique volcanic ash soil and the trouble it caused the Marines landing on the beach , but it also gets other details right regarding the use of fighter aircraft against fortifications on Mount Suribachi and how Marines handle and use grenades. Check out McManus' comments below:

“I think this really portrays the sort of deadliness of those initial moments at Iwo Jima and they show how vulnerable they are at the waterline. You see that little gun team there that’s trying to get their gun off the boat, and they just end up in this machine gun position’s kill zone. They way the machine guns are camouflaged, the way they are fortified in there, I think is dead on. “Two Marines trying to push a Jeep, and it just looks miserable, doesn’t it? That is directly taken from a photograph of the Battle of Iwo Jima. Volcanic ash, soil, and all this is really, really thick. So it’s easy for a vehicle to get bogged down there. “The volcanic ash soil of Iwo Jima, I don’t know how they did this so well, but they did. You can imagine trying to dig into that. The soil was so ashy that it was hard to keep it stable enough in order to have a foxhole the way it would if you were digging into clay or mud, or whatever it would be, or dirt. It would just sort of backfill in and you’d just be in this indentation there. “Any aircraft that’s strafing is probably using its main machine guns or sometimes, in some cases, rockets, to come in on some kind of position they’ve identified and just annihilate it with that weaponry the best they can. Those two aircraft you see heading towards Mount Suribachi, they’re not hanging around. “You see the tracer rounds and all this, I mean it’s really well done. The smoke that obscures it for a while. I just think that’s extremely well done. “The guy drops the grenade and he rolls over on the side in the other direction, sort of away from it, and that’s exactly the way you would’ve been taught. Generally, the American grenades had about a three-and-a-half to four-and-a-half second fuse. You would’ve been taught to arm the grenade, count off most of that, probably three seconds, and then toss it in and then get out of the way. “ I’m rating this one a 10 out of 10 because I just really like the feel and look of the position, and what a bloodbath this whole thing is, I think is very well portrayed.”

What Flags Of Our Fathers' Historical Accuracy Means For The Film

How the clint eastwood movie fared with audiences & critics.

A colorized photograph of Marines raising the American flag on Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima as featured in Flags of Our Fathers' marketing

Flags of Our Fathers may feature a great deal of historical accuracy, but that didn't help the film succeed with audiences. Made on an estimated budget of $55 million, Eastwood's movie grossed only $65.9 million worldwide, making it a disappointment . Critically, the movie fared better, with Flags of Our Fathers currently sporting a 76% on Rotten Tomatoes , indicating generally positive reviews. The audience score, however, is more lukewarm at only 69%.

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Clint Eastwood is one of Hollywood's most iconic filmmakers and movie stars. In nearly 70 years of working on films, here are his best.

While Eastwood's movie may fare well on a technical level and in terms of its authenticity to the Battle of Iwo Jima, it's clear that the storytelling may be where the film's faults lie . Much of the movie takes place on Iwo Jima itself, but long stretches also follow key characters after they return home, and it's these sections where the intensity dies down and quiet character work becomes more important. The movie's poor box office also suggests that interest in the Battle of Iwo Jima just may not be particularly high among audiences in general.

Eastwood's acting career in Westerns will be where many audiences first became aware of him, but he is also a prolific director, having made films like Million Dollar Baby (2004), Gran Torino (2008), American Sniper (2014), and Cry Macho (2021).

Our Take On Flags Of Our Fathers' Historical Accuracy

Why letters from iwo jima is better.

Barry Pepper walking through a battlefield with American Marines in Flags of Our Fathers

Between Eastwood's two Iwo Jima-based World War II films , I much prefer Letters From Iwo Jima , as the human story at the center of that one is arguably more intimate, more moving, and weaved more seamlessly into the narrative . That being said, Eastwood's commitment to historical accuracy and getting details right that perhaps only history buffs will notice is certainly commendable.

Historical authenticity alone isn't enough to save a movie with either critics or audiences, but Flags of Our Fathers still remains an interesting and perhaps underrated entry in Eastwood's filmography. Plus, the Battle of Iwo Jima itself hasn't been explored in many recent movies, meaning Eastwood's sister films fill a unique gap in the historical movie landscape.

Source: Insider

Flags of Our Fathers

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Flags of Our Fathers is a war film directed by Clint Eastwood, based on the book by James Bradley and Ron Powers. The movie recounts the Battle of Iwo Jima, focusing on the iconic photograph of the flag raising and the soldiers involved. Through a series of flashbacks, it delves into the personal and collective experiences of the men who became symbolic heroes, examining both their wartime actions and post-war lives.

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Violet - Metacritic. 2017. Amstelfilm. 1 h 25 m. Summary 15-year-old Jesse is the only one who witnessed the stabbing of his friend Jonas. Now he has to face his family and friends from the BMX riders crew and explain the unexplainable - how he feels about it. Action. Drama. Family.
Violet (2021 film)
Violet is a 2021 American drama film written, directed, and co-produced by Justine Bateman in her feature film directorial debut.It stars Olivia Munn, Luke Bracey and Justin Theroux.. Violet follows Violet Morton, a 32-year-old film executive who is living her life listening to her fear ("The Voice"). She has made these fear-based decisions to avoid potential "worst-case scenarios" in ...
Violet Film Review: Olivia Munn Can't Silence Her Inner Critic in
"Violet" opens in New York and Los Angeles Oct. 29 and premieres on demand Nov. 9. Subscribe to Breaking News. Daily updates of the most vital industry news in Hollywood.
Movie Review
Movie Review - Violet (2021) November 9, 2021 by Robert Kojder. Violet, 2021. Written and Directed by Justine Bateman. Starring Olivia Munn, Colleen Camp, Justin Theroux, Kathleen Wilhoite ...
Violet (2021)
Violet realizes that her entire life is built on fear-based decisions, and must do everything differently to become her true self. Justine Bateman Director, Screenplay
Violet (2021)
Visit the movie page for 'Violet' on Moviefone. Discover the movie's synopsis, cast details and release date. Watch trailers, exclusive interviews, and movie review. Your guide to this cinematic ...
Violet
After its South by Southwest premiere, "Violet" went on to screen at the 2021 edition of the Toronto International Film Festival. The film has so far received mostly positive reviews from critics ...
Violet & Daisy movie review (2013)
The film's writer and director, Geoffrey Fletcher, won a screenwriting Oscar for adapting 2009's "Precious.". He has an eye, a sense of rhythm, and an impressive control of tone. This work doesn't lack for conviction. Everything about "Violet & Daisy" bespeaks certainty of vision. The filmmaker obviously knows why he's showing ...
'The Substance' Review: An Indecent Disclosure
The movie is, appropriately enough, a mirror, and our discomfort reveals our own hidden biases and fears about ourselves. Being older, being famous, being seen, being loved, being usurped by ...
His Three Daughters Review: Carrie Coon & Natasha Lyonne Emotionally
His Three Daughters jarred me with its intimate exploration of three sisters as they await their father's death. Many films have explored family dynamics — and their dysfunction — but writer-director Azazel Jacobs gets personal by making his characters uncomfortable in nearly every situation.
Violet
Violet Calder, a 32 year-old film executive, realizes that the voice inside her head has been lying to her. ... Be the first to add a review. Add My Review Details Details View All. Production Company SECTION 5. Release Date Oct 29, 2021. ... Find a schedule of release dates for every movie coming to theaters, VOD, and streaming throughout 2024 ...
Movie Review: Provocative, genre-bending 'A Different Man' gets under
PHOTOS: Movie Review: Provocative, genre-bending 'A Different Man' gets under our skin in unexpected ways But later, Ingrid (Reinsve) tries to make it up to him, coming over to chat.
Pulp Fiction Review: Quentin Tarantino's Crime Saga Is An Exhilarating
With a rare career exclusively full of hits, Quentin Tarantino is undeniably one of the most prolific filmmakers of all-time, and Pulp Fiction is not only an exemplary example of his unique style, but arguably still his best film. The movie was Tarantino's second directorial effort following his debut with Reservoir Dogs, and while it was seen as an independent film like the 1992 crime ...
Child Star Movie Review
Parents need to know that Child Star is a documentary do-directed by Demi Lovato that considers the impacts of childhood fame on people's lives. It offers advice and cautions for people considering this path. Former child stars have frank discussions about the pressures they felt, leading to drug and alcohol…
'A Different Man' Review: Face, Off
Edward lives quietly in a small, old New York apartment populated by the usual New York characters: loudmouths and weirdos and people who pound on the ceiling when you walk too heavily.
How Clint Eastwood's 18-Year-Old WW2 Movie Gets Battle Of Iwo Jima
Clint Eastwood's Flags of Our Fathers earns a glowing review from a historian for its portrayal of the Battle of Iwo Jima. Released in 2006, Flags of Our Fathers explores the American experience of the iconic World War II battle, and serves as a sister film to Eastwood's Letters from Iwo Jima (2006).Flags of Our Fathers, which stars Ryan Phillippe, Barry Pepper, Joseph Cross, and Adam Beach ...