By Gene Maddaus (According To The Variety) The president of IATSE told members Saturday that he is hopeful that a deal will be reached “soon” with the studios on a new agreement for 23 local unions around the country. The union has been bargaining for the last three months on two contracts — the Basic Agreement and the Area Standards Agreement — that together cover about 70,000 crew workers nationwide. The last two weeks of talks have been focused on the Area Standards Agreement, which covers about 20,000 workers in 23 locals, including major production centers like Georgia and New Mexico. Those talks wrapped up on Saturday without a tentative agreement — but more negotiation days are expected to be added later in June. “I want to thank the ASA Negotiating Committee f...

By Lisa Kennedy (According To The variety) Just because Celestina, the soon-to-be young wife in the “The Young Wife” told friends and family that while the honor of their presence was requested, they would be attending a party, not a wedding, doesn’t make it so. The weight of family, community and ritual aren’t so easily evaded. Or embraced. So, on the day of her and River’s nuptials, she appears to be wrestling less with the meaning of marriage and more with the weight of the word “wife.” Warm hearts and cooling feet is nothing new for movies, of course, but Kiersey Clemons’ portrayal of Celestina — her head spinning — raises the stakes of love and liberty. Writer-director Tayarisha Poe has populated her sophomore feature with characters of a neo-bohemian, united colors-of-w...

By Owen Gleiberman (According To The variety) In “The Great Lillian Hall,” Jessica Lange plays a veteran theater actress — a legend of the Broadway stage — who is always putting on airs, reciting bits from her favorite roles, and carrying on in the tradition of fabled actresses who get known for playing characters like Blanche DuBois because they’ve actually got a lot of Blanche in them. (They believe their own illusions.) Yet just because Lillian Hall is a flamboyant grand dame doesn’t mean that she’s not showing you who she is. Lange, a beauty at 75, has a face that has only grown more expressive with the years. In “The Great Lillian Hall,” that face is a map of emotion we read. Even when Lillian is being deceptive (even when she’s deceiving herself), the majesty of her...