Dec 29, 2020
Image via Disney/Pixar
Christmas Day is one of the most popular days for studios to release some of their most significant projects of the year, and this year was no different, despite the ongoing pandemic. WarnerMedia premiered
Wonder Woman 1984 on Friday, Dec. 25, simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max to rousing yet polarizing comments from viewers. While it was one of the most talked-about releases this year, two other films released during the holiday season are equally deserving of that attention–Disney and Pixar’s
Souland Amazon Studios’
Sylvie s Love. They are far different from the superhero film, but they are both full of lessons about how we should live our lives, especially after enduring 2020.
Storyline: Black love, music and all that jazz in the swinging ‘60s
Run time: 114 minutes
Sylvie and Robert fall in love and just as Sylvie is about to tell Robert a life-changing bit of news, he lands a gig in Paris and the lovers part. Five years on, Sylvie is married, has a daughter and is doing well at her dream job at a television studio when she runs into Robert again outside a theatre. Will the lovers get back together? Will life intervene again?
Lovingly photographed by Declan Quinn, the seduction of
Sylvie’s Love is in the lovely clothes, smooth jazz, the shiny cars and that whole aforementioned Shakti Samanta and Gulzar vibe. The cast is gorgeous from Tessa Thompson as Sylvie to NFL’s Nnamdi Asomugha as Robert. Aja Naomi King as Sylvie’s best friend, Mona, has an interesting arc as she grows from party girl to civil rights activist. Eva Longoria shimmies with the best of them as Carmen while Jemima Kirke as the manager of the band, The Countess, gilds the love