R; 1h 53m
Luke and Emily don’t just live together – they also work together as analysts in the high-stakes and high-pressure world of finance, forced to abide by company policy and keep their relationship secret. When a job opens up above them, Emily is thrilled to hear whispers that it might be going to Luke. But when it ultimately ends up hers, the couple is forced into a difficult situation. With the tables turned, Luke finds it harder to support her success and the pair start to unravel. With a delicacy that more genre films aiming to tackle weightier topics could afford to emulate, Domont cooly constructs a contemporary story about how a gendered disparity in finance and power can wreck a seemingly successful relationship.Back in 1994, the corporate thriller Disclosure posited that the only thing scarier than a woman scorned was a woman scorned who was also your boss, painting a laughably dated portrait of the evils of having women climb the corporate ladder. Fair Play, while recalling many a Michael Douglas thriller from Fatal Attraction to A Perfect Murder, is a smart rebuke to such misogyny. The biggest threat here ends up being a man’s ego.(Benjamin Lee, The Guardian)
Director/Writer: Chloe Domont
Category Archives: 2025 Shortlist
FAIR PLAY (2023)
Foreign Parts (2010)
1h 21m
‘Foreign Parts’ portrays a hidden enclave of automobile shops and junk-yards fated for demolition in the shadow of a new baseball stadium in Queens. The film observes this vibrant community of immigrants – where wrecks, refuse, and recycling form a thriving commerce – as it struggles for daily survival and contests New York City’s development scheme.
Directors Verena Paravel & J.P. Sniadecki
R.M.N. (2022)
Unrated; 2h 5m
Romanian New Wave auteur Cristian Mungiu (“4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days”) returns to masterful form with this drama, set in the filmmaker’s homeland and focusing on Matthias (Marin Grigore), a man who returns to his small village after walking off his slaughterhouse job in Germany, only to find the townspeople roiled by the presence of foreign workers. Ann Hornaday writes: “So much fear and misplaced anger are at play in Matthias’s increasingly hysterical behavior that ‘R.M.N.’ might as well be an X-ray of contemporary America.” (PG-13, 106 minutes.)
- Where to watch: Apple TV Plus, Prime Video
Director - Writer
- Stars
Fallen Leaves (2023)
In modern-day Helsinki, two lonely souls in search of love meet by chance in a karaoke bar. However, their path to happiness is beset by obstacles – from lost phone numbers to mistaken addresses, alcoholism, and a charming stray dog.
- Director
- Writer
- Stars
NYT review: Can a Rom-Com Make Sense in Dark Times? Yes, When It’s From This Master.
Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World (2023)
An overworked and underpaid production assistant drives around Bucharest to shoot the casting for a workplace safety video commissioned by a multinational company.
- Director
- Writer
- Stars
Singing for Justice
Singing for Justice tells the story of Faith Petric, a political radical, community organizer and charismatic performer who united folk music and progressive causes from the 1930s through the early 2000s. Narrated largely by Faith herself, the film weaves her musical and political journeys to showcase the central role of folk music in the transformational social movements of the 20th century.
Co-director: Estelle Freedman
ebf@stanford.edu
info@singingforjustice.com
Working Man (2019)
Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 49 minutes.
Rent or buy on FandangoNOW, iTunes and other streaming platforms and pay TV operators.
Director: Robert Jury
Writer: Robert Jury
Stars: Peter Gerety, Billy Brown, Talia Shire, Michael Brunlieb, Bea Cordelia
Running Time: 1h 49m
Genre: Drama
NYT ‘Working Man’ Review: Evolving on the Assembly Line
Black Legion (1937)
83m; U.S.
Director: Archie Mayo
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Ann Sheridan, Dick Foran
Synopsis: When a hard-working machinist loses a promotion to a Polish-born worker, he is seduced into joining the secretive Black Legion, which intimidates foreigners through violence.
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