JANE AUSTEN WRECKED MY LIFE, BRING HER BACK, June 2025 Special Screenings | Film Reviews | Salt Lake City Weekly

JANE AUSTEN WRECKED MY LIFE, BRING HER BACK, June 2025 Special Screenings 

Two new releases, plus SLFS Summer Showdown, Wild & Scenic Festival and more.

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Jane Austen Wrecked My Life - SONY PICTURES CLASSICS
  • Sony Pictures Classics
  • Jane Austen Wrecked My Life
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Jane Austen Wrecked My Life
The catchy title proves to be kind of a fake-out, since writer/director Laura Piani's romantic comedy isn't really about being impeded by the conventions of swoony turn-of-the-19th-century British fiction—and settling on what it is about becomes part of what makes it a bit frustrating. We meet Agathe Robinson (Camille Rutherford) working in a Paris bookstore, struggling both with her dream of being a novelist and her recent lack of a dating history. She gets a nudge on both fronts when her longtime mostly-platonic best friend Félix (Pablo Pauly) submits Agathe's name for a Jane Austen writing fellowship, landing her in England to wrestle with her life direction. A kind of romantic triangle emerges also involving Oliver (Charlie Anson), a many-generations-removed Austen descendent working at the retreat, and Piani plays up the farcical elements of Agathe frequently embarrassing herself around Oliver, with Rutherford finding an appealing Phoebe Waller-Bridge quality in Agathe's mix of intelligence and social awkwardness. Yet there's also a bit of trauma lurking in Agathe's past—which fortunately doesn't remain coyly unspoken until near the end—as the story eventually leans toward the idea that honest art only comes from mining the messy realities of personal experience. That's a perfectly nice idea; it's just one that feels like it bumps into all the daffy rom-com stuff in a way that undercuts its overall seriousness. Available May 30 in theaters. (R)

Bring Her Back - SONY PICTURES CLASSICS
  • Sony Pictures Classics
  • Bring Her Back
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Bring Her Back
It feels like virtually every horror film of the past 15 years—including Talk to Me, the 2022 debut by Australian brothers Danny and Michael Philippou—has attempted to make grief and trauma its subtext. Fortunately, even though the Philippous are visiting similar territory again for their follow-up, they find a bit more focus this time around. They tell the story of step-siblings Andy (Billy Barratt) and Piper (Sora Wong) as they begin a new life with foster mother Laura (Sally Hawkins) after the death of their father, unaware that Laura has plans for using Piper to replace her own deceased daughter. If one thing was clear from Talk to Me, it's that the Philippous have a gift for arrestingly grim imagery, and they manage several corkers here, most of them surrounding Laura's creepy, mute other foster child, Oliver (Jonah Wren Phillips). Mostly, though, they're wise enough now to streamline their mythology, realizing, for example, that it's not necessarily important how Laura came by the VHS tape that inspires her idea for a dark ritual. There's a fair bit of dead space between the showier scenes, and Andy's own backstory never quite lands emotionally. But with Hawkins anchoring the proceedings—displaying her distinctive gift for sliding seamlessly from sweetness to madness—this turns into a rock-solid supernatural chiller, even as it wanders over well-trod ground. Available May 30 in theaters. (R)

JUNE 2025 SPECIAL SCREENINGS
SLFS Summer Showdown: For the fourth year, the Salt Lake Film Society's Broadway Centre Cinemas hosts weekends full of classic movies going head-to-head in competition. The festival kicks off with a special 35th anniversary screening of the "best worst movie," Troll 2 featuring cast and crew members on May 29, followed by the themed weekends and the declaration of a big winner at the end of the season based on most tickets sold. Features include Fight Club and Drive (May 30-31); Fantastic Mr. Fox and Coraline (June 6-7); Friday the 13th Part 3 and The Burning (June 13-14); The Favourite and The Grand Budapest Hotel (June 20-21); Arachnophobia and Starship Troopers (June 27-28). For the full summer lineup and showtimes, visit slfs.org.

Wild & Scenic Film Festival: The touring Wild & Scenic festival offers a program of short films on topics related to environmental activism. The two-hour program for 2025 includes nine films, including Roots—the story of an attempt to combine the Dominican Republic's love of basketball with an initiative to save its local mangroves—by local filmmaker Danny Schmidt. Locally, Utah Film Center brings Wild & Scenic to Tracy Aviary (589 E. 1300 South) on Friday, June 13, doors at 7:30 p.m, screening outdoors at dusk (approximately 9:15). Tickets are $15. utahfilmcenter.org

Brokeback Mountain 20th anniversary: Annie Proulx's award-winning short story about a pair of seasonal sheepherders in Wyoming who become lovers was turned into a 2005 feature that won three Oscars, including Best Director for Ang Lee. The groundbreaking drama returns to theaters for a special 20th anniversary engagement June 22 & June 25; visit the official website for participating theaters and showtimes. focusfeatures.com/brokeback_mountain

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Scott Renshaw

Scott Renshaw

Bio:
Scott Renshaw has been a City Weekly staff member since 1999, including assuming the role of primary film critic in 2001 and Arts & Entertainment Editor in 2003. Scott has covered the Sundance Film Festival for 25 years, and provided coverage of local arts including theater, pop-culture conventions, comedy,... more

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