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Nowhere (2023) Review – a thrilling situational drama

The Netflix film Nowhere  is directed by Albert Pintó and is a thriller that takes place in the middle of the ocean. Since it is the end of September and we’re heading into horror season for October, this is the perfect turnover for those looking for something suspenseful. Here is our official review, which contains no major spoilers.

The middle of the ocean is a very scary place for anyone because of the dark depths of the sea. No one really knows what’s out there, and no amount of movies will be able to explain it. The film stars Anna Castillo and Tamar Novas as husband and wife. Castillo gives a strong performance and is the beating heart of this film.

Pintó wanted to highlight the experience of those who are fleeing a war-torn country. It is a difficult journey for husband and wife on the cargo ship, and many people can relate to not wanting to be torn away from their family. From the beginning, this film draws you in because of the characters and the emotional ties to both of them.

Nowhere (2023) Review and Plot Summary

Nowhere  is a powerful Spanish thriller with a woman at the forefront. After running from the place she called home for so many years to escape the war, she is now put in a position to survive on her own. She was able to do anything with her husband and knew that she could fight with him against anything.

After fleeing the country in the opening scene, she knows that she is about to experience life in a different way. Mia (Castillo) is pregnant to boot, and she is placed on this cargo ship with her husband and many others who are fleeing the country. It’s a secretive operation, and they had to sneak around a shipping yard for them to escape.

Mia is a force of nature in this film because of what she goes through. When the cargo ship is at sea, the conditions aren’t the greatest. She sees other mothers taking care of their children, and she wonders if she would be a good mother.

READ: Cargo Review

Without much dialogue, Castillo conveys every emotion through her eyes. Even though she is scared for her life, she is resilient enough to escape and keep fighting for her unborn child, which is the driving force in the second half of this film.

It is a situational thriller with a slow-burn setup with the characters on the cargo ship. What unfolds in the cargo ship is bloody and brutal. The more Mia stays on the ship, bad things continue to happen to her, and then she’s stranded out at sea.

All Mia wanted to do was be with her husband, and now she is fighting for her survival. Castillo is alone for the majority of the second half, but her performance is what carries the drama.

Is Nowhere on Netflix worth watching?

Nowhere  is definitely worth watching because of Castillo’s performance and the premise. Even though it takes place in a cargo ship in the middle of the ocean, it’s still engaging at every turn.

The more we stay with Castillo, the better her performance gets. To be alone for the majority of the film without saying much is difficult to connect to, but her emotional range during her journey at sea is enough to lock in viewers.

READ: Movies like Nowhere (2023)

This film also shows that no matter if a woman is pregnant or not, they will get anything done. The lengths that Mia goes to save herself and her unborn baby are inspiring. She thinks on her feet and is quick to fix any situation, even if it doesn’t go her way. Mia realizes that she isn’t the only one out there and that the same thing is happening to many of her people who are fleeing the country.

If you are a fan of thrillers and can only take so many horror elements, then Nowhere  is the film for you. It’s not scary, but the suspense will get you because of Castillo’s performance. The atmosphere that Pintó creates is somewhat claustrophobic and places you on the cargo ship with Mia. Due to her being pregnant, the time slowly passes, and viewers can see the time that she spent in there. It’s interesting to see how Pintó paces the film based on the pregnancy.

What did you think of the 2023 film Nowhere, and what would you review it? Comment below.

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Article by Amanda Guarragi

Amanda Guarragi joined Ready Steady Cut as an Entertainment Writer in June 2022. She is a Toronto-based film critic who has covered TIFF, Sundance Film Festival, Austin Film Festival, and HorrorFest International. Amanda is also a growing YouTuber, with her channel Candid Cinema growing in popularity.

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1997, Drama, 1h 23m

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Nowhere   photos.

In Los Angeles, a colorful assortment of bohemians try to make sense of their intersecting lives. The moody Dark Smith (James Duval), his bisexual girlfriend (Rachel True), her lesbian lover (Kathleen Robertson) and their shy gay friend (Nathan Bexton) plan on attending the wildest party of the year. But they'll only make it if they can survive the drug trips, suicides, trysts, rapes, mutilations and alien abductions that occur as one surreal day unfolds.

Genre: Drama

Original Language: English

Director: Gregg Araki

Producer: Gregg Araki , Andrea Sperling

Writer: Gregg Araki

Release Date (Theaters): May 9, 1997  original

Rerelease Date (Theaters): Nov 3, 2023

Box Office (Gross USA): $172.7K

Runtime: 1h 23m

Distributor: Fine Line Features

Cast & Crew

James Duval

Rachel True

Nathan Bexton

Chiara Mastroianni

Kathleen Robertson

Joshua Gibran Mayweather

Jordan Ladd

Christina Applegate

Sarah Lassez

Guillermo Díaz

Jeremy Jordan

Bart Sighvatssohn

Jaason Simmons

The Teen Idol

Ryan Phillippe

Heather Graham

Thyme Lewis

Mena Suvari

John Ritter

Moses Helper

Gregg Araki

Andrea Sperling

Critic Reviews for Nowhere

Audience reviews for nowhere.

A well-orchestrated mess that revolves entirely around style. Araki's use of imagery and music is masterful. The script doesn't appear to communicate anything of much consequence, but the film is so absorbing and entertaining that it doesn't really matter.

Shallow L.A. teenagers take drugs and have kinky sex all day in preparation for the party of the year, while a rubber alien reptile occasionally stalks and abducts them. Mostly unfunny satire that tries to cover up its lack of ideas and humor with cheap irony and dimestore surrealism; probably should have been titled BILL & TED'S HOMOEROTIC HALLUCINATION.

no plot, no climax or any of that stuff. just a simple, pleasant look at teenagers in suburbia. dont think. just watch.

Watching this movie was like taking a bad acid trip!

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Isabella Endrinal

Plenty of the one-location survival tropes are here, but it’s absolutely foul how they used the hidden wall in this one. Without too many spoilers, the film crew really knew what images to put to evoke previous historical atrocities. It’s a good choice. But we really need a hug.

What it's about

While not its only cause, the increase of conflict and civil wars has spurred a global refugee crisis. Millions of refugees have been displaced from their homes, taking dangerous journeys to a hopefully safer place. Nowhere, now on Netflix, showcases one possible journey. Escaping a future totalitarian Spain, the film is centered on leading lady Anna Castillo, whose excellent performance pulls most of the tears here. With her character Mia’s ingenuity, she maximizes her shipping container’s resources and takes steps to ensure her survival. While some of the backstory can feel thin, after all, for most of the runtime Mia has only herself to talk to, this new one-location survival film is a thrilling addition to the genre. It’s a chilling reminder of what could be happening to the millions of refugees seeking safe haven around the globe.

What stands out

One-location survival films can be great, at a lesser cost, since production is concentrated mostly on one location. However, for the film to stand out, this location has to make sense for the premise and themes of the film. The use of a shipping container is a smart choice made by screenwriter Indiana Lista, who, while working with the writing team, is solely credited for the story. The shipping container is tough enough to withstand some outside elements, while still vulnerable to bullets. As a storytelling tool, the container provides some semblance of safety, which certain scenes easily take away. It’s also interesting how the production design uses the container as a reflection of Mia’s wellbeing, not just relying on the water levels, but also Mia’s use of boxes and other resources. It’s a great playground for Anna Castillo’s excellent performance.

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Violence, intense peril in thriller with woman adrift at sea

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Up against immeasurable odds, humans react to pres

Nico tries to protect his wife and unborn child, b

The film is set in a dystopic Spain before the act

In a dystopic totalitarian future, the elderly, wo

A couple kisses. A woman's naked breasts are seen

"F--k." Other swear words in the original are not

There's mention of drinking beer, and a woman drin

Parents need to know that Nowhere is a thriller from Spain that involves significant violence, peril, and scenarios that could prove too intense for some viewers. For example, people, including kids, are killed on and off-screen. A pregnant woman is on the run, loses her husband, and suffers a range of bodily…

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Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Nowhere is a thriller from Spain that involves significant violence, peril, and scenarios that could prove too intense for some viewers. For example, people, including kids, are killed on and off-screen. A pregnant woman is on the run, loses her husband, and suffers a range of bodily injuries and pain, as well as emotional trauma. "F--k" is used in the English subtitles. There's nonsexual nudity: a woman's naked breasts are seen. There's mention of drinking beer, and a woman drinks alcohol to soothe pain. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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• Parents say (4)
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Based on 4 parent reviews

Unnessasary nudity spoilt the movie

What's the Story?

Is it any good, talk to your kids about ....

What other films have you seen where the action centers on one main character stuck in a single location? How do these films keep your attention?

Movie Details

• On DVD or streaming : September 29, 2023
• Cast : Anna Castillo , Tamar Novas
• Director : Albert Pintó
• Inclusion Information : Female actors, Latino writers, Female writers
• Studio : Netflix
• Genre : Thriller
• Topics : Ocean Creatures
• Run time : 109 minutes
• MPAA rating : NR
• Last updated : October 11, 2023

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Nowhere (II) (2023)

• User Reviews
• Screenplay/storyline: 8
• Development: 8.5
• Entertainment: 8.5
• Acting: 8.5
• Filming/photography/cinematography: 8.5
• Music/score: 8.5
• Drama/thriller: 7

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Nowhere – Netflix Review (3/5)

Posted by Karina "ScreamQueen" Adelgaard | Sep 29, 2023 | 4 minutes

NOWHERE on Netflix is a new thriller from Spain. The story takes place in a dystopian future, but for many it’s reality. This is essentially a refugee story that turns into a desperate fight for survival. While the setting is fictional, many elements aren’t. Read our full Nowhere  movie review here!

NOWHERE is a new Netflix thriller with a story that should hit viewers hard. Not only is it a survival story – something many genre fans enjoy – it’s also a movie that shows a world that is the reality for many. Anyone who watched the news as the US (and its allies) withdrew from Afghanistan, will recognize the pure desperation.

This new Netflix movie is very much a story about being a refugee. This means dealing with human traffickers, taking chances that have very poor odds, and trying your best to stay alive as you escape a world that is killing you. The whole first act is brutal to watch for many reasons, and  then  it turns into a survival story of one woman lost at sea.

Continue reading our Nowhere  movie review below. Find it on Netflix from September 29, 2023.

A dystopian world that isn’t that foreign

In Nowhere , the story begins in Spain where “The Regime” has taken over and is implementing some brutal measures. We’re in a dystopian version of Spain where there’s a scarcity of food and energy, so people are being “removed” if they have no real value. That means old people, children, and pregnant women.

Mia ( Anna Castillo ) is a pregnant woman, which means she is not allowed to exist.

Along with her husband, Nico ( Tamar Novas ), and many other pregnant women – and their families, if they still have any left – they are trying to desperately flee the totalitarian country, they’re trapped in. They do so by hiding in a container, which is heading to a freight ship going to Ireland. Apparently, Ireland is one of the few countries refusing to adhere to these crazy “ culling ” methods.

Of course, trying to escape a country via a freight container is a very real world for many. As is the horror of being a woman in several countries worldwide. In other words, this dystopian world may not be real, but just like The Handmaid’s Tale , it’s based on things that are already happening in the real world now .

For Mia, things go from bad to worse when she and Nico are forcibly separated. After a few more brutal and heartbreaking events, Mia makes it onto the ship, but then a violent storm throws her into the sea. Still inside a container and before long, contractions begin. No longer alone, because she has an infant to care for, she is still adrift in the middle of the ocean.

The ending of  Nowhere  on Netflix

While I did like the ending of the new Netflix movie Nowhere , I feel that it could have been stronger. There are the usual “everything that could possibly go wrong,  will go very wrong”-moments that are just annoying. I know, I know, it’s for the thrill and drama of it all.

However, Mia has been so smart and focused for the longest time that some of the details irked me just a tad more than necessary.

Also, I kept waiting for some refugee stats or some sort of encouragement to help refugees. I mean, making a whole movie showing the horrors of being a refugee and what you need to go through and risk is important. However, when you then seem to completely ignore that this is the real world for  millions worldwide, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

I just don’t get it and I hope maybe they can remedy this by including some key facts about the refugees of the world right now.

Watch Nowhere on Netflix!

This Spanish Netflix survival movie was directed by Albert Pintó, who previously directed the horror movie Malasaña 32 . And yes, at times, Nowhere does feel even scarier than an actual horror movie due to its realism. Albert Pintó also directed episodes of the Netflix series Sky Rojo  and Money Heist , so he’s been working with the streaming giant for some time.

The thriller was written by Ernest Riera, Miguel Ruz, Indiana Lista, Seanne Winslow, and Teresa Rosendo. It’s based on a story by Indiana Lista and one that is so very important. In many ways and for reasons that should be easy to relate to. Especially if you pay just a little bit of attention to what’s going on in the world.

A truly brutal survival story that reminded me of Cast Away if Tom Hanks had been trapped in a freight container. With an infant. Yeah, it is a crazy situation, but Mia fights in ways that remind me of Matt Damon in The Martian . You just have to work with what you have and never give up. Despite an ending that could have been stronger, I highly recommend watching  Nowhere !

Nowhere  is out on Netflix worldwide from September 29, 2023.

Director: Albert Pintó Writers: Ernest Riera, Miguel Ruz, Indiana Lista, Seanne Winslow, Teresa Rosendo Cast: Anna Castillo, Tamar Novas

Pregnant, alone and drifting in the sea, a woman trapped in a shipping container tries to survive after fleeing a devastated totalitarian country.

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About The Author

Karina "ScreamQueen" Adelgaard

I write reviews and recaps on Heaven of Horror. And yes, it does happen that I find myself screaming, when watching a good horror movie. I love psychological horror, survival horror and kick-ass women. Also, I have a huge soft spot for a good horror-comedy. Oh yeah, and I absolutely HATE when animals are harmed in movies, so I will immediately think less of any movie, where animals are harmed for entertainment (even if the animals are just really good actors). Fortunately, horror doesn't use this nearly as much as comedy. And people assume horror lovers are the messed up ones. Go figure!

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Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Nowhere’ on Netflix, A Dystopian Tale of Solo Survival at Sea

Where to stream:.

• Nowhere (2023)
• movie reviews

Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Neal Brennan: Crazy Good’ On Netflix, Making The Case For Talented People To Be A Bit Twisted

Stream it or skip it: ‘what jennifer did’ on netflix, a true crime doc about a woman whose life of lies makes her the prime suspect in her mother’s murder, stream it or skip it: ‘kung fu panda 4’ on vod, another round of skadooshing for a franchise in twilight, stream it or skip it: ‘alex edelman: just for us’ on max, have you heard the one about the jewish comedian who walked into a white supremacist meeting.

It’s fairly common to hear pregnant women described as superheroes for enduring the pain necessary to participate in the miracle of life. But few earn the distinction quite like Mia in Nowhere (now streaming on Netflix). Not since Emily Blunt in A Quiet Place has an expectant mother faced so much peril — how many women have to deliver on their own in a shipping container in the middle of open water, after all?

NOWHERE : STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: In a future Europe that has once again fallen prey to the evils of totalitarianism, a married couple plots their escape from Spain as the “Not Enough for All” plan targets pregnant women and children. Nico (Tamar Novas) manages to get out with relatively little resistance, but the same does not apply to his pregnant wife Mia (Anna Castillo). After escaping one massacre of expectant mothers, she must continue to fight her life on the seas after sneaking into a maritime container. After a shipwreck unmoors her from the barge she was tied to, Mia must fight for her life with every bit of resourcefulness she has — especially when her baby arrives early and gives her another body to protect.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: This has a straight-to-streaming Alfonso Cuarón quality about it, starting with the dystopian terror of societal collapse from Children of Men and leading to a woman surviving on her own in the elements like Gravity .

Performance Worth Watching: Anna Castillo absolutely commits as Mia. At best, she has a baby to act opposite in any given scene, so it’s on her to make all the magic happen.

Memorable Dialogue: “I love you more than yesterday” / “but less than tomorrow” is Mia and Nico’s favorite repeated phrase of amorous affirmation. It’ll make you want to cue up The Spiral Starecase !

Sex and Skin: Breastfeeding!

Our Take: This film makes the mistake so many survival tales do, and yet the lesson never seems to take hold. Simply inflicting trauma after trauma upon a lead does not automatically make their struggles interesting! Even if that character has some kind of extraordinary obstacle like being pregnant in a world that targets expectant mothers, the need for doing actual character work does not magically disappear. Nowhere feels like little more than a screenwriting and directing challenge for Albert Pintó: how do you make one person fighting against all odds interesting? Some sequences manage to pack a punch, but there aren’t nearly enough of these to sustain 110 minutes of treading in familiar waters.

Our Call: SKIP IT. You’ll feel like you’ve seen Nowhere somewhere before. It’s a standard-issue survival story that has nothing of note to say about the character forced to fend for herself or the society that abandons her.

Marshall Shaffer is a New York-based freelance film journalist. In addition to Decider, his work has also appeared on Slashfilm, Slant, The Playlist and many other outlets. Some day soon, everyone will realize how right he is about Spring Breakers.

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Netflix’s Nowhere (2023) Movie Review & Summary: Anna Castillo Gives A Breakthrough Performance

Nowhere (2023) is an upcoming survival thriller film directed by Albert Pintó. The screenplay for the movie is by Ernest Riera, Miguel Ruz, Indiana Lista, Seanne Winslow, and Teresa Rosendoy.  It was produced by Miguel Ruz.  The movie will be released on Netflix on 29th September 2023.

Nowhere Movie (2023) Cast

• Anna Castillo as Mia
• Tamar Novas as Nico

Nowhere Movie (2023) Plot & Summary

When basic resources in Spain become scarce, a military regime takes over under the guise of managing resources. Tyranny ensues as they begin to get rid of all the dependent citizens of the country, including the elderly, pregnant women, and children. Under these circumstances, many of the women and children try to make their escape through illegal means. Mia and her husband, Nico, try to escape through waterways by hiding in shipping containers. However, the ensuing chaos soon separates the couple, and the circumstances that follow leave a frantic and heavily pregnant Mia stranded alone in the middle of the ocean inside a shipping container, forced to fight the odds and fend for herself and her unborn child.

Nowhere Movie (2023) Review

While the setting of the movie for the majority of its runtime is the open ocean, it starts in a dystopian and bleak Spain, with dwindling resources and military rule. It opens to the backdrop of a massacre, as pregnant women and children are separated from their families and thrown in literal cages. The aim of the military regime is hinted to be the complete elimination of dependent citizens in order to reduce more mouths to feed. They are shown to be brutal and unforgiving in this endeavor.

In its initial minutes, the movie serves as a subtle commentary on the need for sustainability and conservation of resources, as well as the cruelty of humans when faced with desperate times. It almost leaves you with a feeling of longing when this dystopian appearance of the movie soon transitions to that of a survival thriller. The makers created great potential for a narrative of a darker possible future, all the while having no intention to take it further. The movie leaves you wishing you knew more about the history that led up to these circumstances and hoping for a resolution. When Mia finds herself stranded in the ocean, you realize these questions will remain unanswered as the setting of the movie has shifted for good.

However, even though the regime and its tyranny are not the central focus throughout the movie, the dystopian backdrop is not completely removed from the rest of the story. Rather, it compliments the plotline throughout, sometimes in obvious ways while other times, with just some undertones. For instance, it definitely explains the impeccable survival skills that Mia possesses throughout, using everything she can find inside the shipping container to her advantage. But wait, we’ll get back to Mia in just a bit.

As a survival thriller, Nowhere does not disappoint. Generally speaking, the movie is not the first of its kind. ‘Stranded in the ocean’ is a genre of its own at this point, meaning every new movie with the same concept has to stand out considerably to be remembered, especially with globally recognized movies like Life Of Pi and The Poseidon Adventure coming under the same umbrella. However, looking at it through a more filtered lens, you understand what sets this movie apart.

The first thing that helps its narrative is the dystopian backdrop, about which I’ve already gone into heavy detail, but I guess I’m not done yet.

The struggles that the protagonist, Mia, has already undergone and the sorrow she’s already faced make you want to root for her more and make you want for things to finally turn around for her. Especially considering how the brutality her world faces does not seem far-fetched. Rather, it seems inspired by the past and borrowed from the future, which makes Mia a subject for empathy.

The second strong point of this movie is Mia, the protagonist. Though she starts out desolate and defeated and needs to be constantly reassured by her more optimistic husband, she shifts gears when it comes to protecting her unborn child. Mia in survival mode is a thrill to watch. Whether it’s her momma bear instincts or her experience in making do with the bare minimum, it definitely brings out her strongest side. The ‘Phineas and Ferb’ side of hers awakens, and she efficiently and effectively makes every possible object in the shipping container work to her advantage.

The movie is also greatly benefitted by the acting skills displayed by Anna Castillo. Storytelling is often made interesting when the plotline integrates multiple and diverse characters that play off of each other. But when the entire movie rests on a single pair of shoulders, it becomes a lot harder to keep the audience hooked. Castillo, however, makes up for the lack of numbers with her excellent and believable performance. Her portrayal of frustration, hope, dejection, and affection is understated yet impactful. Tamar Novas, though his screen time is limited, is pretty convincing as the loving and optimistic Nico. 

The screenplay is probably one of the weak links for Nowhere. It is unevenly paced and a little jarring. There’s either a lot happening or absolutely nothing. Some moments feel extremely repetitive,  especially as it nears the climax. But where the pacing lacks, the gritty and unfiltered visuals make up for it. The integration of gore and doom is done adequately for the story and, fortunately, not overused for shock value.

The background score of the movie complements it well. For the most part, it is understated and does not interrupt the narrative. This is why, the one time the music is given the central focus in the form of a lullaby, of all things, it impacts you exactly in the way it is meant to. This haunting lullaby surfs the waters between hope and dread. 

The Movie Culture Synopsis

All in all, Nowhere is a captivating and compelling movie that balances the survival thriller elements with social messaging undertones surprisingly well. The movie discards all curtains and drapes and never once sugarcoats anything. So, while it may do a number on your appetite and maybe even make you sob once or twice, it is definitely a must-watch.  Especially for fans of the survival genre, this movie should surely make its way onto their to-watch lists.

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John Lennon wrote the song “Julia” about his mother, and it is a strangely objective love song, as if about a real girlfriend and not a mom. Perhaps that's how he thought of her. When he was very young, he came under the care of his Aunt Mimi, whom he regarded as his mother, and in the telling of “Nowhere Boy,” he didn't see Julia again until the day of his uncle's funeral. The film is co-written by Julia Baird, his half-sister, who must be presumed to have good information.

“Julia” is a song of longing and regret, written some years after Julia's sudden death. Their relationship was close and did not have the time to grow old. There's a video online of Sean Lennon singing it, in front of back-projected photographs of his father and Julia, and also of his mother, Yoko Ono. “This song is for my mother,” he says, and as he sings it, he sounds eerily like his father, in intonation, arrangement, emotion. Perhaps it is for both his parents. He was young when he lost John, and John was young when he lost Julia. Both memories are of interrupted love.

The young Lennon ( Aaron Johnson ) in “Nowhere Boy” is cocky and vulnerable. He was raised in an ordinary lower-working-class home, not far from Strawberry Fields in Liverpool, by an aunt ( Kristin Scott Thomas ) who loved him but was reserved and cool. She and her husband had taken the child in after her younger, prettier sister proved incapable of caring for him; John learns the details of his adoption late in the film. He knew Mimi was not his mother, but had no idea that all during his childhood, Julia lived only a few blocks away.

She must have seen him often, if he had only known it. Did she stay away out of respect for Mimi? He glimpses her at the funeral of his uncle and instinctively knows who she is. When he discovers where she lives, he knocks on her door, and she greets him with instant, embracing love; we get the sense that she was a woman quick to love, impulsive, more spontaneous than the responsible Mimi. Because John and Julia are essentially strangers, their relationship has elements of unrealized romance. There is the tension between joy and sadness we often feel in Lennon's songs, and perhaps we see some of the origins of his place in the flow of British Romanticism.

“Nowhere Boy” is deliberately not about the future John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison, nor about the birth of the Beatles. The cataclysm of their future global fame is nowhere on the horizon. It is about a not remarkable childhood and youth in Liverpool, marred by the sudden death of his Uncle George ( David Threlfall ), also warm and playful, more spontaneous than Mimi. The two males must have formed a club of their own in the Mimi-ordered household.

There are times when I would have liked a little more detail about the gestation of the future musicians. The only actual Beatles note in the film is its opening chord, from the distinctive first sound of “ A Hard Day's Night .” We see John meeting Paul, and through Paul, George, in the ways that teenage boys meet. No heartfelt conversations, no elaborate daydreams; music seems to have been a natural way of expression for them.

The seminal Beatles moment in the film may be when John goes to the cinema and sees Elvis Presley singing in a newsreel. Later generations can hardly comprehend how, or perhaps even why, Elvis represented a moment of decisive social change.

What do we really learn from “Nowhere Boy”? We don't really learn much about the actual early days of the Beatles as a band. Of course there is no Ringo Starr , who may deserve his own film. What we do learn is that it could be said of the teenage John Lennon that he:

Doesn't have a point of view, Knows not where he's going to, Isn't he a bit like you and me?

I think we also learn something more important. We learn that the emotional roller coaster of his formative years probably contributed to the complexity of his lyrics. We learn why there's so often in his music the top level of what seems clear, and then, below, echoes of ... something else. We feel elation and sadness as simultaneous possibilities. We arrive at the possibility that if Julia had always been there for him, he might not have been there for us. We reflect that even if all you need is love, that isn't always all you get.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Nowhere Boy (2010)

Aaron Johnson as John

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Nowhere Parent Guide

Tense and a bit bloody, this is a gripping survival story..

Netflix: A young refugee finds herself adrift in a shipping container in the middle of the ocean.

Release date September 29, 2023

Run Time: 109 minutes

Get Content Details

The guide to our grades, parent movie review by savannah sillito.

Spain has fallen to a totalitarian regime that murders pregnant women and children in order to conserve resources. Desperate to survive, Nico (Tamar Novas) and his pregnant wife, Mia (Anna Castillo), pay a mule to get them into a cargo container bound for Ireland. But when things go wrong, the two are separated and Mia finds herself alone in a shipping container in the middle of the ocean. With no way to know where she is and facing the imminent arrival of her baby, Mia will have to use all her strength and wits to survive.

Movies that spend most of the runtime with one character in isolation have a lot of potential to go very badly very quickly since they rely entirely on one actor to carry the entire production. Luckily for Nowhere , Anna Castillo is more than up to the task. About 90% of the runtime is spent solely with her (and the baby which obviously can’t talk) in one confined space. Castillo is able to portray the depth of emotions that come with her horrible situation and keep the audience engaged. Mia is a character with depth, flaws, and strengths who you want to root for, even when things seem the most hopeless.

Survival thrillers are not for everyone, and this one has some brutal moments. If you are queasy at all about raw meat, giving birth, or self-surgery, you are going to want to sit this one out. There is also a scene where a group of people, including children, are mercilessly gunned down and their bodies and blood are shown in some detail. If neither of those two sentences deterred you, Nowhere is a fantastic addition to the survival genre, with a mixture of thrilling moments and emotional turmoil sure to keep you engrossed.

About author

Savannah sillito, watch the trailer for nowhere.

Nowhere Rating & Content Info

Why is Nowhere rated TV-MA? Nowhere is rated TV-MA by the MPAA for disturbing images, language, nudity, violence

Violence: A group of people are gunned down; blood and dead bodies are shown. A woman accidentally cuts herself and must stitch herself up, which is seen in some detail. Sexual Content: A woman is seen giving birth naked, her breasts are seen clearly. Profanity: The script contains around six sexual expletives, five mild and moderate expletives, and eight terms of deity. Alcohol / Drug Use: A woman drinks alcohol to numb the pain of an injury.

Page last updated September 29, 2023

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Solo survival movies are a popular genre. Cast Away sees the survivor of a plane crash washed up on a remote tropical island. Divorced and feeling lost, a woman decides to hike a thousand miles of the Pacific Coast Trail in Wild . In All is Lost , Robert Redford stars as an amateur sailor who struggles as his yacht encounters storms and other challenges on the open sea. Kidnapped and kept captive for years, a young woman struggles to do the best for the child she bears and raises in Room .

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Nowhere Movie Review: A Hit or A Miss? – Humans are wired to feel fear. Scientific studies have shown that fear and anxiety, which we feel nowadays, is an evolutionary trait inherited from our ancestors. Fear and anxiety have been the most basic adaptive evolutionary trait of early humans who had to constantly be vigilant of the threats around them. The threat of the wild.

And so, almost every human being is bound to the other with this inheritance. The fear of the unknown. And what could be most unknown, the most feared but nature itself? When something as unpredictable and as powerful as nature is your enemy, how do you survive? With this thought, we bring you the tale of a mother’s sheer will to survive against nature in our Nowhere Netflix Film Review!

Nowhere Movie Trailer

Nowhere Review – Plot

Nowhere narrates the tale of a pregnant woman named Mia, who while trying to flee a totalitarian regime in Spain with her husband, finds herself trapped in a shipping container, floating adrift in the sea towards – nowhere. The film follows Mia’s resourcefulness, her struggle, and her sheer will to keep her and her newborn baby alive while the container threatens to sink with no food, water, or land in sight.

Nowhere Movie Review

Nowhere begins with chaos all around a country overtaken by an authoritative regime. A dystopian world where Spain, due to a shortage of resources, has become the place where guns rule over everything, where those who are vulnerable need to be shot dead to save the scarce resources, and where women, children, and elderly – nobody is spared. More death simply means more food for the living. The fine line between life and death, good or bad, has blurred completely. In such a chaotic scenario, we meet Mia and her husband Nico, trying to flee to Ireland which is presumed to be beyond the influence of the “regime”.

Also Read – Mask Girl Netflix Review: How Too Many Chefs Spoilt The Broth

The plan is to leave the country in a shipping container. However, in a turn of events Mia and Nico are separated. The women in Mia’s container are hidden behind a false end which is promptly discovered by the authorities, where they shoot every single person except Mia, who is hiding on a pile of boxes, out of sight. She soon finds herself drifting alone in the sea after a turbulent storm when her container is thrown overboard.

The film’s crux is loaded and driven by the idea of the unknown, the nature vs human dichotomy. Mia is completely helpless and at the mercy of the sea. The thrill factor is also derived from this very dichotomy – can a mere mortal human survive against a larger force like the sea? When the unsinkable ship, Titanic, could not overcome the whims of the natural world then what can a mere pregnant woman do?

The trope of a pregnant woman in a survival thriller is quite obvious as a choice to heighten the stakes and make the viewer as involved as possible. The filmmakers seem to cash on the common idea of motherhood as the strongest virtue of human beings, where a mother’s sheer will to safeguard her child’s life and interests, transcends any threat of the unknown. We see the transition in Mia’s character from when she thinks she has lost everything to when she gives birth and fights to keep her child alive amidst all odds.

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However, as much as the film tries to keep the audience’s attention in the first half, it soon loses in the second. The coincidences are just way too many to predict the intention of the film. Mia not only finds useful tools to keep the container from sinking but is also able to collect drinking water from the miraculous rain just about when she most needs it.

Moreover, she has suffered one too many injuries where there is a dedicated scene of her sewing her ripped flesh. One wonders how she recovers from a wound without any signs of septic resulting from exposure or how she is able to survive in extreme freezing conditions without developing hypothermia.

Is Nowhere based on a true story?

A simple straightforward answer is nope. Netflix’s Nowhere movie is not based on a true story. But imagine how cool and scary would it be if this was a true story.

Who is the lead in Netflix’s Nowhere movie?

Anna Castillo plays the lead character in Netflix’s movie Nowhere as Mia

What is the plot of Netflix Nowhere 2023?

Nowhere narrates the tale of a pregnant woman named Mia, who while trying to flee a totalitarian regime in Spain with her husband, finds herself trapped in a shipping container, floating adrift in the sea towards – nowhere.

Is Nowhere Netflix movie in Spanish?

Originally a Spanish movie, Netflix’s Nowhere in multiple languages including English, Chinese, Thai, German, Hindi, French, etc.

What is the Netflix movie Nowhere 2023 about?

In a nutshell, Nowhere is a good film for a boring weekend once one suspends all logic and belief and where the need for a happy ending transcends the desire for a good thriller. Watch Nowhere at Netflix and let us know your thoughts in the comments!

Nowhere is a good film for a boring weekend once one suspends all logic and belief and where the need for a happy ending transcends the desire of a good thriller. We give it a 5 out of 10 for overall watch value and engagement.

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'Civil War' review: Kirsten Dunst leads visceral look at consequences of a divided America

We see “Civil War” trending on social media all too commonly in our divided country, for one reason or another, and usually nodding to extreme cultural or ideological differences. With his riveting new action thriller of the same name, writer/director Alex Garland delivers a riveting cautionary tale that forces viewers to confront its terrifying real-life consequences.

“Civil War” (★★★½ out of four; rated R; in theaters Friday) imagines a near-future America that’s dystopian in vision but still realistic enough to be eerily unnerving. It's a grounded, well-acted ode to the power of journalism and a thought-provoking, visceral fireball of an anti-war movie.

Played exceptionally by Kirsten Dunst , Lee is an acclaimed war photographer covering a fractured America: The Western Forces led by California and Texas have seceded from the USA and are days away from a final siege on the federal government. Lee and her reporting partner Joel (Wagner Moura) have been tasked with traveling from New York City to Washington to interview the president (Nick Offerman) before the White House falls.

After visually capturing humanity's worst moments, Lee is as world-weary and jaded as one can be. But after saving aspiring photographer Jessie (Cailee Spaeny) during a Brooklyn suicide bombing, Lee becomes a reluctant mentor as the young woman worms her way into their crew. Also in the press van: senior journalist Sammy (Stephen McKinley Henderson), hitching a ride to the Western Forces military base in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Most of “Civil War” is an episodic odyssey where Lee and company view the mighty toll taken by this conflict: the graveyard of cars on what’s left of I-95, for example, or how an innocent-looking holiday stop turns deadly courtesy of an unseen shooter. Primarily, however, it’s a disturbing internal examination of what happens when we turn on each other, when weekend warriors take up arms against trained soldiers, or armed neighbors are given a way to do bad things to people they just don’t like.

'You get paid a lot of money': Kirsten Dunst says she's open for another superhero movie

Given its polarizing nature, “Civil War" is actually not that "political." Garland doesn’t explain what led to the secession or much of the historical backstory, and even Offerman’s president isn’t onscreen enough to dig into any real-life inspirations, outside of some faux bluster in the face of certain defeat. (He’s apparently in his third term and dismantled the FBI, so probably not a big Constitutionalist.)

Rather than two hours of pointing fingers, Garland is more interested in depicting the effect of a civil war rather than the cause. As one sniper points out in a moment when Lee and Joel are trying not to die, when someone’s shooting a gun at you, it doesn’t matter what side you’re on or who’s good and who's bad.

The director’s intellectual filmography has explored everything from ecological issues ( “Annihilation” ) to AI advancement ( “Ex Machina” ), and there are all sorts of heady themes at play in “Civil War.” “What kind of American are you?” asks a racist soldier played with a steady, ruthless cruelty by Jesse Plemons (Dunst's husband) in a disturbing scene that nods to an even deeper conflict in society than the one torching this fictionalized version. There's also an underlying sense of apathy that the characters face, with hints that much of the country is just willfully ignoring the conflict because they'd rather not think about it. But this hellish road trip also maintains a sense of hopefulness − via the growing relationship between Lee and Jessie – and is pretty exciting even with its multitude of horrors.

“Civil War” is a thoughtful movie with blockbuster ambitions, and while it does embrace more of a straightforward action flick vibe toward its climactic end, Garland still lands a lasting gut punch. He immerses audiences in the unpredictable nature of war, with gunfire and explosions leaving even the calmest sort on edge, and paints a sprawling canvas of an America forever changed. Thankfully, it’s just a warning and not a promise, using the movie theater as a public service announcement rather than an escape from the real world.

Screen Rant

The first omen box office opens with disappointing debut despite positive reviews.

The First Omen has a disappointing domestic box office debut despite positive reviews, earning back just a fraction of its production budget.

• The First Omen had a disappointing box office opening with an estimated $8 million in earnings.
• The prequel needs to make over $60 million to break even due to its $30 million budget.
• The movie received a Certified Fresh score of 78% on Rotten Tomatoes, the highest in the franchise since the original.

The First Omen has suffered a disappointing box office opening weekend. The new horror movie is a prequel to the Oscar-winning 1976 classic, which has already spawned three sequels, a 2006 remake, and a television show. The prequel, which follows the lead-up to the birth of the Antichrist Damien Thorn, received a Certified Fresh score of 78% on Rotten Tomatoes, the first Fresh rating for the entire franchise since the original movie, which itself holds an 85% score.

Per Deadline , the First Omen release is projected to earn a 3-day domestic opening weekend of roughly $8 million . This will place it at No. 3 on the chart behind the holdover Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire and the new Dev Patel actioner Monkey Man . While this is the second-best opening for the franchise (not adjusted for inflation) behind 2006's The Omen ($16 million), it barely makes a dent in the prequel's $30 million budget, which makes it so that it will likely have to earn $60 million or more in order to break even and begin making a profit.

How The First Omen Compares To The Rest Of The Franchise

When adjusted for inflation, the other omen movies rise.

Despite those strong The First Omen reviews , when the entire franchise's grosses are adjusted for inflation, they all rank higher than the new movie's opening weekend . So far, every movie has also made a profit, earning back twice their budgets and then some, though none have matched the box office might of the original hit, which was the seventh highest-grossing movie of 1976. Below, see how the Rotten Tomatoes scores and adjusted box office totals compare for the entire franchise:

It remains to be seen if strong word of mouth can help The First Omen rise up the ranks to at least make a profit. However, it seems unlikely that it could surpass the adjusted grosses of any of the previous Omen movies except perhaps Omen III , which made a profit but showed diminishing returns and ended the theatrical run of the original franchise. However, it will need to stay afloat on the chart, something it may only be able to do if Godzilla x Kong shows a significant slump in its third weekend.

Why The First Omen's Reviews Are So Positive

The First Omen could also be boosted by its international grosses. Its worldwide box office opening has yet to be fully calculated and, as the 2006 remake earned more than half of its overall total in international markets, this could eventually prove to be a boon. The movie could also be well-served by the fact that there aren't any new major horror movies opening in domestic theaters until the release of Abigail on April 19, giving it two weeks to entice any horror-hungry audience members.

Source: Deadline

The First Omen

The First Omen is a horror film from director Arkasha Stevenson that acts as a prequel to the 1976 film The Omen. The film follows a young woman who goes to Rome to become a nun but begins to question her faith after encountering a terrifying darkness that aims to spawn an evil incarnate.

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Movie Review: Should you watch ‘Sasquatch Sunset’ about a family of Bigfoots? Not yeti

This image released by Bleecker Street shows Jesse Eisenberg in a scene from the film “Sasquatch Sunset.” (Bleecker Street via AP)

This image released by Bleecker Street shows Jesse Eisenberg, Riley Keough, and Nathan Zellner in a scene from the film “Sasquatch Sunset.” (Bleecker Street via AP)

This image released by Bleecker Street shows Jesse Eisenberg and Christophe Zajac-Denek in a scene from the film “Sasquatch Sunset.” (Bleecker Street via AP)

Jesse Eisenberg attends the premiere of “Sasquatch Sunset” at Metrograph, Monday, April 1, 2024, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

Jihae Kim attends the premiere of “Sasquatch Sunset” at Metrograph, Monday, April 1, 2024, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

The Octopus Project’s Yvonne Lambert, Josh Lambert and Toto Miranda, from left, arrive for the Texas premiere of “Sasquatch Sunset” at the Paramount Theatre during the South by Southwest Film Festival on Monday, March 11, 2024, in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Jack Plunkett/Invision/AP)

Christophe Zajac-Denek attends the premiere of “Sasquatch Sunset” at Metrograph, Monday, April 1, 2024, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

Christophe Zajac-Denek, David Zellner, Nathan Zellner and Jesse Eisenberg, from front left, arrive for the Texas premiere of “Sasquatch Sunset” at the Paramount Theatre during the South by Southwest Film Festival on Monday, March 11, 2024, in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Jack Plunkett/Invision/AP)

Emily Meade attends the premiere of “Sasquatch Sunset” at Metrograph, Monday, April 1, 2024, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

This image released by Bleecker Street shows Riley Keough in a scene from the film “Sasquatch Sunset.” (Bleecker Street via AP)

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Do you reckon Sasquatches snore? C’mon, you know the answer, deep down. Of course, they do. They snore and eat noisily and pick bugs out of each other’s fur and then eat those bugs, noisily.

What else do Sasquatches do, you wonder? One of the wildest movies of the year — or the century, for that matter — suggests they mourn, cuddle, bury their dead, enjoy throwing rocks in rivers, make art and wonder if they’re alone in the world.

Even so, “Sasquatch Sunset” from filmmaking brothers David and Nathan Zellner , is a bewildering 90-minute, narrator-less and wordless experiment that’s as audacious as it is infuriating. It’s not clear if everyone was high making it or we should be while watching it.

Nathan Zellner, Jesse Eisenberg, Riley Keough and Christophe Zajac-Denek play a makeshift family of four Sasquatches, lost in hair suits and prosthetics and communicating only in grunts, snorts and howls. They also pee a lot.

Why the filmmakers hired such starry actors instead of paying scale to some unknowns is puzzling. None of the Sasquatches do more than what could be called Method Chimpanzee — jumping up and down, whooping and growling. A group of real chimps would ding the quartet for overacting.

As an exercise in creating empathy for monsters, “Sasquatch Sunset” does an admirable job. In the first frames, when we see a loping Bigfoot in the middle distance — and then three more — it’s clear that they are telling this story, not the folks who usually capture them in shaky camera frames.

There are plenty of Sasquatches-are-just-like-us moments, like when one brings flowers to seduce another or two Bigfoots comfort each other after a death. Perhaps the most poignant moments are when they pound trees with sticks in unison, a rhythmic question that echoes through the valley. It’s a call, waiting for a response — anyone out there like us?

But then there’s a lot of gross-out stuff. We’ve mentioned the peeing, but it turns out that Sasquatches sneeze, procreate loudly and like to touch their genitals and then smell their fingers. They can also poo on demand and throw that poo to scare off predators.

One juvenile Bigfoot makes his hand into a makeshift puppet and talks to it — like a nod to the kid in “The Shining” — and another considers inserting his manhood into a small tree hole, like a prehistoric riff off that famous scene in “American Pie.”

Both things can be true, of course: Bigfoot can be disgusting and deep at the same time. But it’s not always clear what the filmmakers are going for here — satire, metaphor, sympathy, naturalism or gross-out comedy?

The Sasquatches reveal deeply human characteristics and may be stand-ins for our innocent pasts, a lost link in our evolution, showing the unrelenting violence of natural life or just the voiceless among us now. Or the filmmakers might just like the image of tossing poo.

Gorgeous vistas of pristine forests and misty valleys don’t help us figuring out when this all takes place but gradual clues emerge, including evidence of logging and a truly surreal bit at a human camping site, scored by the Erasure song “Love to Hate You.” But if the Zellners had an environmental lesson here, they shanked it.

There’s great music from The Octopus Project, veering from bright electric guitar noodles to sci-fi electronic dread reminiscent of “2001: A Space Odyssey.” Stick through the roll of end credits and see one of the best credits ever in film: Sasquatch Wrangler. You don’t see that every day. You don’t see Sasquatch movies every day, either, but this is one you should probably let lope past you.

“Sasquatch Sunset,” a Bleecker Street release that lands in some theaters on April 12 and goes wider April 19, is rated R for “for some sexual content, full nudity and bloody images.” Running time: 89 minutes. One star out of four.

MPAA definition of R: Restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

Online: https://bleeckerstreetmedia.com/sasquatch-sunset

Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits

Bruce Springsteen Movie, With Jeremy Allen White in Talks to Star, Lands at 20th Century Studios

By Katcy Stephan

Katcy Stephan

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“Deliver Me From Nowhere,” the upcoming film about the making of Bruce Springsteen ‘s landmark 1982 “Nebraska” album, has landed at 20th Century Studios.

“The Bear” star Jeremy Allen White is in talks to star as the legendary rocker. Scott Cooper (“Crazy Heart,” “Hostiles”) will write and direct the film, which is based on Warren Zane’s 2023 book “Deliver Me from Nowhere: The Making of Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska.”

The Gotham Group’s Ellen Goldsmith-Vein (“The Maze Runner” trilogy) and Eric Robinson, Cooper, Zanes and Scott Stuber are producers. Production on the film is expected to begin this fall.

Bruce Springsteen and his longtime manager Jon Landau will be involved with the film. “It is a once-in-a-lifetime honor to be collaborating with Bruce Springsteen, an inspiring and incomparable artist who represents so much to so many,” said Disney Live Action and 20th Century Studios president David Greenbaum. “The deep authenticity of his story is in great hands with my friend Scott Cooper whom I am thrilled to be collaborating with once again.”

“Warren Zanes’ ‘Deliver Me From Nowhere’ is one of the best books ever written about Bruce Springsteen and his music,” said Landau. “Bruce and I are thrilled that Scott Cooper has chosen to write and direct the film based on that book — we think he’s the perfect filmmaker for the job. Scott, with producers Ellen Goldsmith-Vein and Eric Robinson at The Gotham Group, and Scott Stuber are bringing together a superb team to ensure that this project has the vision and soul that have been the hallmark of Bruce’s 55-year career. We’re thrilled to have the wholehearted commitment and support of the entire team at 20th and Disney.” 

“I once read that ‘Nebraska’ is an album that moves you to the marrow of your bones. I couldn’t agree more,” says Cooper. “Bruce Springsteen, and   ‘Nebraska,’ in particular, have had a profound impact on me and my work. Through themes of despair, disillusionment, and the struggles of everyday Americans, Bruce has formed an unparalleled legacy, painting an unflinching portrait of the human condition. Yet, amidst the darkness, a sense of resilience and a sense of hope shines through, reflecting an indomitable spirit. That’s the Bruce I’ve come to know and love and will honor with this film. Warren Zanes’ wonderful telling of this chapter in Bruce’s life is ripe for cinematic adaptation. This film has the potential to be a transformative cinematic experience, offering audiences a window into the soul of Bruce Springsteen and the universal truths that bind us all together.”

Scott Cooper is repped by CAA and attorney Darren Trattner of Jackoway Austen Tyerman Wertheimer Mandelbaum Morris Bernstein Trattner & Klein. The Gotham Group’s Ellen Goldsmith-Vein and Eric Robinson are represented by CAA and attorney George Davis. Bruce Springsteen is repped by Landau, Grubman Shire Meiselas & Sacks; Warren Zanes by CAA. Scott Stuber is repped by attorney Craig Jacobson of Hanson, Jacobson, Teller, Hoberman, Newman, Warren, Richman, Rush, Kaller & Gellman. 

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TV and Streaming | ‘Scoop’ review: Prince Andrew in the hot seat

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In 2019, Prince Andrew sat for a one-on-one with the BBC program “Newsnight” to discuss his connections with Jeffrey Epstein, who had been found dead in his jail cell three months earlier. The Netflix movie “Scoop” is the story of how the now-infamous interview came about. The TV appearance would prove to be such a public relations disaster that Andrew stepped down from royal duties shortly thereafter. For many viewers, he failed to give a persuasive refutation of the allegations made against him, or to adequately explain his friendship with Epstein, a convicted sex offender who was being held on sex trafficking charges at the time of his death.

It has been a rocky year for the British monarchy and the comms teams employed to manage its messaging. This is yet one more story that won’t go away, much as the royal family may wish it would. In 2022, Andrew agreed to an estimated £12 million settlement with Virginia Giuffre, who alleged she was forced — via Epstein — to have sex with Andrew when she was a teenager. But it was the “Newsnight” interview that played a key role in forcing the institution’s hand: Andrew had become too much of a liability.

In theory, the behind-the-scenes negotiations led by Sam McAlister, the “Newsnight” producer who landed the interview (and would later write a book about it), should be compelling. But there’s nowhere near enough story to justify a movie-length depiction. It’s as if someone pitched this as the UK version of “She Said,” but none of it feels pressing or as high stakes as it should. Writing for Tatler ahead of the Netflix premiere, McAlister calls Andrew’s interview a “masterclass in how to destroy your life.” If only the movie itself felt as dramatic as that description.

Maybe British audiences will get something meaningful from this exercise — and read something between lines that non-British audiences won’t — but either way, “Scoop” would have benefited from more rigorous introspection about the nation’s strangely deferential relationship to its royal family, and why Andrew’s situation has been so uniquely odd. Consider this past weekend: Despite his supposed ostracization, he was alongside his siblings this Easter, an annual tradition that is photographed and publicized and therefore doubles as palace PR. What are we meant to read into that? Is it a shrug — or worse, a middle finger — to the film? To anyone who takes the allegations seriously?

A movie like “Scoop” raises as many questions as it attempts to answer. Royals rarely agree to be grilled on camera. So why did Andrew — and why did Queen Elizabeth II allow it? Maybe it was hubris. Here was a man who moved through life seemingly without any consequences for his actions, and a powerful parent who enabled that. How dare the media remind people of those times he consorted with Epstein? Surely his powers of persuasion would be enough to put this to rest once and for all. As played by Rufus Sewell, the voice is too pinched and high, but he’s believably sputtering and pompous and foolish. This isn’t a new insight, though.

According to “Scoop,” McAlister gets the interview through some fairly basic tactics: She lays the groundwork with Andrew’s top aide (a scared mouse played by Keeley Hawes), telling her: “You can’t go ‘no comment’ on being friends with a pedophile and expect everyone to love you, no matter who you are.”

As played by Billie Piper, Sam is styled as if she were an extra from “Working Girl” who wandered on set decades after the fact. The subtext is clear: She doesn’t fit in with her posher colleagues at the BBC. But what’s missing are frank observations — debates even — about Britain’s class system and how that affects news coverage. The script is from Peter Moffat and Geoff Bussetil, and Moffat in particular has done sharper work in the past, particularly as the creator of the legal drama “Silk.”

A major sticking point is that none of these characters have been developed into people who are interesting enough to carry what is ultimately an exceedingly thin story, and the lack of intrigue becomes a glaring issue. The actual “Newsnight” interview conducted by a steely Emily Maitlis (played by Gillian Anderson) is available online in full. Recreating it serves no purpose; it’s neither dramatically interesting, nor does it plumb deeper insights into the media or the powerful people it covers.

Less than two months after the interview aired, it was reported that Andrew’s aide had accepted an exit package “worth tens of thousands of pounds” (a detail not included here). And McAlister herself, who has since left her job at the BBC, told a British newspaper last year that she wrote the book, in part, because “if Netflix ever makes a future edition of ‘The Crown’ or a documentary on Prince Andrew, I want my role on the record.” According to that same story, her former colleagues are “quietly seething at what they perceive to be McAlister taking the lion’s share of credit.”

It’s McAlister’s recent piece in Tatler that underscores where the movie goes wrong. “Fifteen feet,” she writes. “That’s how far I was from the back of his chair. I could see the soles of his shoes (hardly scuffed), the back of his head (new haircut), the bottoms of his trousers (tailored to a perfect length), the jacket (ill-fitting, remarkably) and the nervous movement of his left foot as it tap-tap-tapped, over and over, against the ornate carpet on the floor. The chair itself was also ornate, but it seemed very small with Prince Andrew sitting in it, as he moved nervously from side to side, awaiting his fate.”

None of these details add up to anything but a vaguely awe-struck moment and the ability to capture what “Newsnight” audiences already saw with their own eyes.

“Scoop” — 2 stars (out of 4)

Where to watch: Netflix

Nina Metz is a Tribune critic.

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‘It’s Only Life After All’ Review: Indigo Girls Laugh Last

The director Alexandria Bombach benefited from the musician Amy Ray’s archivist instincts in this warm, compelling new documentary.

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By Elisabeth Vincentelli

Indigo Girls have been going strong for over 40 years now, and maybe the key to their resilience is that they never were cool. Often, they got it worse: Even at their commercial peak in the 1980s and ’90s, Amy Ray and Emily Saliers were routinely mocked for being too earnest, too poetic, too folky, too lesbian. Back then, being labeled a female, gay singer-songwriter was an artistic and commercial curse, as Ray recalls in “It’s Only Life After All,” a smart, compelling new documentary.

The director, Alexandria Bombach, greatly benefited from Ray’s archivist instincts: The musician has held on to decades’ worth of artifacts and opened up her vault — 1981 rehearsals, recorded on cassette when Ray and Saliers were in their teens, are startlingly crisp documents of a budding chemistry, for example.

From this clay Bombach has sculpted an affecting portrait of two women who have stuck to their beliefs and, just as important, their loyalty to each other. Existing fans will be mesmerized, but non-fans like me should also get a kick out of “It’s Only Life After All.” The film is especially good about contextualizing the band’s emergence in the midst of condescension (at best) from the mainstream media — their dramatic, and very funny, reading of a withering 1989 review in The New York Times is a highlight — along with their personal struggles and steadfast political engagement for causes, including the Indigenous-led organization Honor the Earth.

Now that the band is experiencing a cultural moment — its hit “Closer to Fine” was prominently featured in “Barbie,” and an indie jukebox musical movie set to their songs, “Glitter & Doom,” came out last month — it is delightful to see them have the last laugh.

It’s Only Life After All Not rated. Running time: 2 hours 3 minutes. In theaters.

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