ReelWorld

• FILMS REVIEWED -
• VIRGINIA WOOLF’S NIGHT & DAY -
• Director: Tina Gharavi -
• Screenplay: Justine Waddell -
• Based on: Virginia Woolf’s 1919 novel -
• Starring: Haley Bennett, Elyas M’Barek, Lily Allen, Jack Whitehall, Jennifer Saunders and Timothy Spall -
• A woman in 1910 London questions whether love, marriage and intellectual independence can coexist in a society determined to define her future for her. -
• Now playing in select theaters in New York. -
• BY ANY MEANS -
• Director: Elegance Bratton -
• Screenwriter: Sascha Penn -
• Starring: Yahya Abdul - Mateen II, Mark Wahlberg, Giancarlo Esposito, Nicole Beharie, Josh Lucas, LisaGay Hamilton, LaChanze and David Strathairn
• A Black FBI agent in 1966 Mississippi joins forces with Mafia enforcer and FBI informant Gregory Scarpa while investigating racially motivated violence and institutional corruption. -
• The film is inspired by real people and events, but fictionalizes significant portions of its central investigation. -
• Now playing in theaters. -
• PARASOMNIA -
• Writer/Director: James Ross II -
• Starring: Jasmine Mathews, RJ Brown, Sally Stewart, Stephen Barrington, Danny Brown and Simon Longnight -
• A young woman suffering from severe night terrors begins to believe that a supernatural presence from her dreams has crossed into waking life after her best friend disappears. -
• Now streaming on Shudder and AMC+. -
• RESENTMENT -
• Writer/Director: Noah Millman -
• Starring: Lawrence Gilliard Jr., Patch Darragh, Jen Ponton, Mitzi Akaha and Sedly Bloomfield -
• Three adults spend one increasingly tense night in a Brooklyn bar as old friendships, professional jealousy, marital tension and years of unresolved anger begin to surface. -
• Available to rent or purchase digitally. -
• THRESHOLD -
• Directors: Lars Brinkema and Torsten Brinkema -
• Writer: Lars Brinkema -
• Featuring: Jessie Diggins -
• A documentary portrait of Olympic cross - country skiing champion Jessie Diggins during a season in which extraordinary athletic success coincides with a private relapse of an eating disorder.
• The film explores the relationship between discipline, perfectionism, vulnerability and the psychological pressure placed on elite athletes. -
• Available on digital platforms. -
• TOPICS DISCUSSED -
• Virginia Woolf’s early novel and its themes of female independence -
• Marriage, education and intellectual ambition in Edwardian society -
• Haley Bennett’s performance as Katharine Hilbery -
• Elegance Bratton’s move from The Inspection to historical crime drama -
• The real history of civil - rights activist Vernon Dahmer
• Gregory Scarpa’s real - life relationship with the FBI
• Fictionalizing civil - rights history for genre entertainment
• Institutional racism and the limits of law enforcement -
• Whether revenge and justice can be separated -
• Sleep, trauma and supernatural horror in Parasomnia -
• James Ross II’s feature - directing debut
• Black characters at the center of contemporary supernatural horror -
• Independent New York filmmaking in Resentment -
• Friendship, marriage, artistic failure and professional jealousy -
• Whether dialogue - heavy cinema can remain visually cinematic
• Jessie Diggins’ career and Olympic legacy -
• The “pain cave” mentality of elite endurance sports -
• Eating disorders, perfectionism and athletic culture -
• The ethical responsibility of documentary filmmakers toward vulnerable subjects -
• The difference between strength, discipline and self - destruction

REELWORLD: VIRGINIA WOOLF’S NIGHT & DAY, BY ANY MEANS, PARASOMNIA, RESENTMENT AND THRESHOLD

On this episode of ReelWorld, Mike Sargent reviews five films connected by a common theme: people struggling against expectations, institutions, identities and pressures that threaten to define them.

The program begins with Virginia Woolf’s Night & Day, an adaptation of Woolf’s 1919 novel starring Haley Bennett as Katharine Hilbery, a woman in Edwardian London whose family and social class expect her to marry and settle into a conventional life while she longs to pursue mathematics, astronomy and intellectual independence.

Next is By Any Means, directed by Elegance Bratton and starring Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Mark Wahlberg. Set in 1966 Mississippi, the film combines real historical figures, fictionalized characters and civil-rights history in a crime thriller about a Black FBI agent who forms an uneasy alliance with Mafia enforcer and FBI informant Gregory Scarpa while investigating racist violence and the murder of civil-rights activists.

Mike then turns to Parasomnia, writer-director James Ross II’s supernatural horror film about a young woman haunted by night terrors and a demonic presence known as The Seer. The film uses sleep, trauma and dreams to explore what happens when the mind itself becomes an unsafe place.

The fourth film is Resentment, Noah Millman’s dialogue-driven independent drama starring Lawrence Gilliard Jr., Patch Darragh and Jen Ponton. Set largely over one night in a Brooklyn bar, the film follows old friends and a married couple as professional jealousy, disappointment and years of unspoken anger gradually surface.

The episode concludes with the documentary Threshold, directed by Lars and Torsten Brinkema. The film follows Olympic cross-country skier Jessie Diggins during the 2023–24 World Cup season and changes direction when Diggins reveals that she is experiencing a relapse of an eating disorder. The documentary examines perfectionism, athletic discipline, vulnerability and the difficult line between pushing beyond limits and causing harm.

• CONNECTIVE THREAD

• Across all five films, the central characters confront an identity or system that has become restrictive.

• In Night & Day, social expectations determine what a woman’s life is supposed to look like.

• In By Any Means, institutional racism corrupts the very systems meant to deliver justice.

• In Parasomnia, trauma and fear trap the protagonist inside her own mind.

• In Resentment, people become imprisoned by the stories they have built about themselves and one another.

• And in Threshold, the identity of “champion” becomes its own kind of pressure, forcing a difficult examination of where extraordinary discipline ends and harm begins.