While the Mad Max franchise began with the wildly successful Mad Max starring Mel Gibson way back in 1979 and it’s had a devoted following ever since, a new generation of fans was born in 2015 with the release of Mad Max: Fury Road, a high octane, exhilarating film that went on to win 6 Oscars, a film with brilliant performances from Charlize Theron (as Furiosa), Tom Hardy, and Nicholas Hoult, stunningly inventive costumes and production design, and a propulsive storyline that kept audiences on the edge of their seats from start to finish. The immense love for Fury Road has made the anticipation for Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga all the more intense, and, while it is virtually impossible to live up to the perfection that is Fury Road,  I do not think fans will be disappointed. 

Furiosa functions as a prequel, revealing to us Furiosa’s origin story, covering a span of 15 years from Furiosa’s girlhood into her adulthood and seamlessly providing a launch into Fury Road, where Furiosa was played so ferociously and brilliantly by Theron. Here, Furiosa is portrayed by two actors, the young and mesmerizing Alyla Browne and the always electrifying Anya Taylor-Joy, and they not only match the energy and intensity Theron brought to the role but they so beautifully play off of one another, the transition from Browne to Taylor-Joy is quietly and gorgeously organic. It is thus the kind of cinematic magic trick that, when done well, is pure delight for film lovers: the trick of making us believe very different actors are the same person. 

 Furiosa’s backstory here thus deepens and expands the experience of Fury Road, offering emotional and thematic depth to who Furiosa is, while also providing a unique story unto itself that will not alienate any viewers new to the films. The action thrills of Furiosa are plentiful and exhilarating, and they begin from almost the very first moment of the film, with gorgeous, high speed action set pieces throughout, set pieces that made me--as I had with Fury Road--gasp in wonderment at how the filmmakers pulled it off.  (And, indeed, Anya Taylor-Joy in her interview with the New York Times, has noted making the film was one of the most intense experiences of her life: “I wanted to be changed,” she said. “I wanted to be put in a situation in extremis where I would have no choice but to grow. And I got it.”) 

We also have three very special events this week, beginning with The Tuba Thieves, the next entry in our ongoing Indie Lens Pop-up series, award-winning documentaries provided free to the public from PBS’s Independent Lens. First premiering at Sundance Film Festival in 2023, The Tuba Thieves is a uniquely experimental film asking the question, “What is the role of sound and what does it mean to listen?”  In the film, “Hard of hearing filmmaker Alison O’Daniel uses a series of tuba thefts in Los Angeles high schools as a jumping-off point to explore these questions. Through several d/Deaf people telling stories in a unique game of telephone, the central mystery of The Tuba Thieves isn’t about theft of instruments; it’s about the nature of sound itself.”  Our screening of the film will be a shortened version of the full film, as provided by PBS, and we’ll be hosting a discussion following the film. 

Join us this Sunday at 10 am!  

Finally, we have the next in our National Theatre Liveseries, Vanya, starring the inimitable Andrew Scott in a one-man show version of the classic Chekhov play Uncle Vanya, where Scott shows off his prodigious acting chops playing multiple characters. Possibly the only thing better than a play starring Andrew Scott in the leading role is a play starring Andrew Scott in every role. As Daniel Lammin notes in his review, “The fact that Scott is skilled enough to pull this off is not a surprise; he's long been quietly one of the finest actors we have. Only Scott though could make it feel so honest, so immediate, so vital, so personal. You can feel every word beating with his heart, and you simply can't take your eyes off him.”

Join us Wednesday at 7:30 for the first of two showings of this fabulous play. 

See you at the movies, friends! 

Melissa