James Le Gros – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

BIRD IN HAND (Tribeca 2025) – Review by Sherin Nicole

June 16, 2025June 16, 2025 Sherin Nicole Alisha Wainwright, Bird in Hand, Christine Lahti, James Le Gros, Jeffrey Nordling, Melody C. Roscher, Tribeca 2025

Director Melody C. Roscher crafts Bird in Hand as a biting blend of absurdity and insights. The film is as much a farce as it is a deep dive into generational trauma and the quest to understand ourselves through our origins. Alisha Wainwright and Christine Lahti are the tumultuous anchors of this story. Their performances peel back the layers of lifelong resentment with hilarity and heartbreak, while Roscher smartly denies us any illusions about an easy fix. The closest this movie gets to the gold of kintsugi is the mud of Virginia. By the time the credits roll, you’re smiling because broken isn’t an ending, if you can see where the pieces fit together.

Festivals Reviews

GOOD ONE (Melbourne IFF 2024) – Review by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas

August 26, 2024August 27, 2024 Alexandra Heller-Nicholas Danny McCarthy, Good One, India Donaldson, James Le Gros, Lily Collias, Melbourne IFF 2024

Sam (Lily Collias) is an ordinary, sensible seventeen-year-old planning a camping trip with her father, his best friend, and his best friend’s son who is around her same age. A last minute argument sees the latter pull out from the trip, so Sam finds herself alone with the two middle-aged men as they embark on a wilderness adventure in upstate New York. A grounded, down-to-earth young woman on the cusp of adulthood, she patiently accepts what is the predominantly good-natured needling from the older men until, slowly, the dynamics visibly change and the reality of who these men are comes increasingly to the surface.

Reviews

GOOD ONE – Review by Lois Alter Mark

August 1, 2024August 1, 2024 Lois Alter Mark Danny McCarthy, Good One, India Donaldson, James Le Gros, Lily Collias

Reading a few reviews of Good One by male critics gave me an even deeper appreciation for AWFJ. Because, while the men’s overall impressions were unanimously positive – I mean, the movie is brilliant, after all – they couldn’t help missing what makes this quiet powerhouse of a movie so devastating and so important: the fact that Good One may seem to be the story of one teenage girl but it’s really a universal coming of age story for every single one of us. Female viewers will anticipate what’s coming and still gasp in recognition.

Movie of the Week Reviews

AWFJ Movie of the Week, October 10 – October 14: CERTAIN WOMEN

October 9, 2016September 7, 2019 Dorothy Woodend 0 Comments Certain Women, James Le Gros, jared harris, Kelly Reichardt, Kristen Stewart, Laura Dern, Lily Gladstone, michelle williams

Kelly Reichardt’s body of work has established her as a major American cineaste. Her latest film, Certain Women, maintains her masterful, yet quiet trajectory. Opening Oct. 14, AWFJ’s Movie of the Week is Certain Women, Read on…