It Was Just an Accident (2025, PG-13)

Several films are up for Best International Feature as well as other awards this year, which is cool to see. I really liked It Was Just an Accident, an Iranian film about four people confronting their past trauma in a nearly impossible situation.

When a family with car troubles arrives outside an auto shop late at night, a mechanic named Vahid is horrified by what he hears: the squeak of the husband’s prosthetic leg when he walks sounds just like that of the man who tortured Vahid when he was imprisoned by the regime. Acting on trauma and impulse, Vahid abducts the man and plans to kill him in revenge, but he’s quickly paralyzed by doubt when the guy, Eghbal, frantically insists he’s got the wrong man. Vahid turns to several other people who’d been imprisoned around the same time, embroiling all of them in the dilemma as he searches for confirmation.

In addition to Best International Feature, this film is up for Best Original Screenplay, and I can see why. The story is very gripping, and it’s handled in a compelling way. Shiva, a photographer, is brought into the conspiracy when a mutual friend gives Vahid her info. She’s taking wedding photos when Vahid comes to her, and Goli, the bride-to-be, winds up overhearing. Goli has the same history with this man, so she and her fiance Ali join the group. Finally, Shiva enlists the help of Hamid, who’s been unable to get his life on track since his release. Everyone is in a different place in their personal lives, everyone has different feelings about Eghbal, and everyone has their own thoughts over what to do about it. Ali’s perspective as the only person here who wasn’t imprisoned and tortured adds a different wrinkle to the conflict.

The element of doubt is one of the most interesting things here. When the regime interrogates people, they’re blindfolded, so none of the former prisoners have ever seen their tormentor. They’re relying mainly on their sense of hearing, which brings back visceral memories—when Vahid first hears Eghbal’s steps at the auto shop, he’s immediately terrified. For Hamid, his sense of touch is also critical, feeling the scars on Eghbal’s leg as he recalls how their torturer used to show off his injury to brag about his war prowess. But while Hamid is quickly convinced, more than ready to act, the others feel uncertain. Is this really the man? And if it is, what are they prepared to do about it?

For all that the story is deeply personal and emotional, there are also bits of dark comedy threaded into the film as the characters deal with the more mundane reality of trying to enact a revenge fantasy, such as repeatedly having to bribe everyone from security guards to hospital staff and chasing after Vahid’s van when Hamid tries to drive off with Eghbal in the back. More than anything, this is a human story, and the characters who were imprisoned and interrogated are more than just the sum of their trauma. Their experience here is gut-wrenching, confusing, and at times, even funny.

Warnings

Violence (including discussion of rape,) language, smoking, and strong thematic elements.

Song Sung Blue (2025, PG-13)

Time for another movie with a single Oscar nomination for an actress. I understand why Song Sung Blue isn’t part of the larger combination in the grand scheme of things, even though I liked it quite a bit, but I’m also glad it’s being recognized for Kate Hudson’s splendid work here.

Mike, a small-time Milwaukee musician, strikes gold when he meets fellow artist Claire. Together, they create Lightning & Thunder, a Neil Diamond tribute act. The band allows them to do what they love with the person they love, even as they weather a number of heavy personal struggles.

I went into this film expecting Peak Theatre Kid Hugh Jackman, and it’s certainly that. The musical numbers are well performed, equal parts entertaining and a bit (knowingly) cheesy. There’s low-rent glitz galore, and Mike has the casino-and-buffet crowd eating out of the palm of his hand. But there’s a lot that I didn’t expect as well. I didn’t know much of anything about the real-life Lightning & Thunder, so I wasn’t prepared for some of the traumatic turns their story takes. Overall, I think the film does a pretty good job of balancing the cheesy stuff with the sorrowful stuff. Mike and Claire are resilient but not unbreakable, and while they never stop caring for each other, “the power of love” can’t easily erase the bad things in their lives. The movie allows them to deal with things poorly—they get scared and demoralized, they make mistakes, and they let people down, but they also eventually find a way to get back up.

I enjoy the eccentric community of celebrity impersonators in the film. Mike and Claire meet at a “Legends” concert where she’s Patsy Cline and he’s supposed to be Don Ho (he’s not playing by the rules.) And while Lightning & Thunder is conceived as homage rather than mimicry—Claire hits the nail on the head when she tells Mike, “You’re not a Neil Diamond impersonator, you’re a Neil Diamond interpreter”—a lot of their impersonator friends stay present in their lives and are involved in different ways. This is a very different film than Mister Lonely, but I did think of it a little while watching. I also really like that Mike and Claire aren’t trying to become famous. Despite being big-hearted dreamers with enthusiastic imaginations, they’re fairly clear-eyed about their goals. They don’t want to be the next big thing, they just want to be able to quit their day jobs. They want to entertain people, and they want to earn enough as musicians that it can be more than something they squeeze into their free time. It’s a nice perspective to see from a movie about performers/creatives.

Another thing I appreciate is that this film is a love story about two people who are over 40. While I obviously get much bigger feels from Our Flag Means Death, for so many reasons, that’s one aspect the movie shares with My Show. The romance is sweet, endearing, and fun. I love when Claire invites Mike over for the first time, introducing him to her kids and talking a mile a minute as she tells her daughter that she didn’t think she’d get another chance to feel like this. It’s neat to see the chemistry in how they perform together, and even though they’re a Neil Diamond tribute band, 1) Mike never considers himself the main attraction and 2) the thought of doing this without Claire is unthinkable to him.

To that end, I like that Mike and Claire are dual protagonists in the film. I get wary sometimes when the lead actress in an Oscar movie is in the role of “wife of the guy,” but in this film, Kate Hudson truly does give a leading actress performance. She’s wonderful as Claire: she nails the music, she’s funny and rootable, and she handles the more dramatic sequences with complexity. All around, she’s great here. In a less competitive year, Hugh Jackman probably would’ve been nominated as well. Even though it’s not a stretch to see him in a showman role like this, he’s still very good, and it’s terrific to watch him and Hudson onscreen together. The film also features appearances from Fisher Stevens, Jim Belushi, and Mustafa Shakir.

Warnings

Thematic elements, drinking/smoking/drug use, light sexual content, violence, language, and a disabled character played by a nondisabled actor.

Y tu Luna también: Narcos: Mexico: Season 1, Episode 7 – “Jefe de Jefes” (2018)

We’re rounding the second half of the season now, and things are getting intense. I really enjoy the way Félix’s storyline is paced throughout the show, and I think this marks an important turning point for him.

Now that Félix’s deal with the Colombians is fully off the ground, his cartel is running “the fucking Fedex of blow.” But even as they’re making more money than ever, Félix is increasingly beset by interpersonal minefields, both in the business and in his own family. He’s all too aware that any one of these issues could torch everything he’s built. Over at the DEA, Kiki is preparing to pack up shop and move his family back to the States, but he can’t resist one final gambit.

There’s a lot going on here. Don Neto suffers a personal crisis that has him spiraling throughout the episode. Isabella is ready for her cut of the business, and the machismo world of the plazas has that moving too slowly for her. Rafa is feeling neglected as all of the cartel’s resources shift to transporting coke, leaving his marijuana to rot. And Nava from the DFS is as slimy and strongarming as ever. You’d almost have to admire his dedication to dressing down Félix, if it weren’t so stupid and shortsighted. Here he sneers, “Don’t think that by wearing that stupid suit, you suddenly become one of us.”

This episode really highlights a particular similarity between Félix and Kiki, even though they’re drastically different in most respects. Both men have a dog-with-a-bone mindset that won’t allow them to let things rest. As Félix goes all in on cocaine, and as Kiki goes all in on stopping him, they both risk blowing up their own lives in the pursuit of what they want.

This is another strong episode for Diego Luna. It’s not accurate to say that Félix is indifferent to relationships or immune to posturing. Clearly, he’s not. If relationships didn’t matter to him, he’d have cut his losses on Rafa when he started causing trouble. Instead, Félix wracks his brain here trying to figure out where Rafa fits within the new system. And if he was entirely above the bravado and petty squabbling, Nava’s digs wouldn’t get under his skin like they do. Rather, he’s generally good at putting the bravado/squabbling aside for the sake of the business, but he does have his limits. When he gets pushed too far, that seemingly unflappable veneer drops pretty decisively.

Much of Félix’s role on this show has been about managing people: massaging egos, reassuring jittery fears, smoothing out rivalries. He created an ecosystem where everyone works together for the benefit of the whole cartel, but he’s feeling the weight of maintaining all that. Even though he’s mostly willing to put their immense wealth and position above all else, so many of the people working under him are ready to torpedo it all in a fit of pique, and keeping them all in line has him strained. When he realizes that the plates he’s spinning at home are also starting to wobble, he considers how much this cooperation is worth to him.