Director Lulu Wang’s sprawling “Expats” is long and lingering with evocative atmospherics. Complex and observant, mounted on an enormous canvas, the limited series is deeply ambitious and takes on a lot, arguably too much. Exploring ideas of motherhood, womanhood, loneliness, and grief, interrogating privilege, and the alienating experience of life as an immigrant from multiple perspectives, that’s not all. “Expats” also examines how people, specifically women, move past, through, and beyond tragedy, if they can at all.

Continue reading ‘Expats’ Review: Lulu Wang’s Moody, Layered Meditation On Loneliness, Grief, Privilege & Womanhood at The Playlist.

“These are the tales, the freaky tales,” repeatedly intones Oakland rap legend Too $hort over the interstitials of writer and directors Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden’s “Freaky Tales.” This Bay Area anthology film takes its title from the over nine-minute song, which is itself an extended chronicle of prominent personalities the rapper encounters. While the directing duo occasionally approximates something wild in their headrush of 1987 nostalgia, they do not earn the second line of the rap.

Continue reading ‘Freaky Tales’ Review: Pedro Pascal Stars In An Energetic But Overstuffed Bay Area Anthology Loveletter [Sundance] at The Playlist.

Can tragedy provoke a larger discussion? Lulu Wang explores the complex issues surrounding privilege and social conscience in “Expats.” The filmmaker additionally serves as creator, executive producer, and writer on this adaptation of Janice Y. K. Lee’s novel “The Expatriates.” The project features a notable cast, with Nicole Kidman working alongside acclaimed talents Sarayu Blue, Ji-young Yoo, Brian Tee, and Jack Huston; Kidman is also an executive producer.

Continue reading ‘Expats’ Trailer: Nicole Kidman Stars In New Prime Video Limited Series From Director Lulu Wang at The Playlist.

As TIFF gears up for its start tomorrow, there are plenty of new titles premiering to anticipate. On the TV series side, none may be more anticipated than Prime Video’s “Expats.” Based on Janice Y.K. Lee’s 2016 novel “The Expatriates,” the series doesn’t premiere on the streamer until early next year, but its penultimate episode will screen in Toronto, showing off its stellar ensemble cast.

Continue reading ‘Expats’ First Look: Prime Video’s Limited Series With Nicole Kidman & More Premieres At TIFF On September 8 at The Playlist.