Film review: Big directors, small films in ’Homemade’

Directors, even arthouse directors, live in nice houses. Sebastián Lelio even alludes to it in his “Algoritmo”, actor Amalia Kassai singing: “There’s also the issue/ Of speaking from privilege/ Of thinking of this pandemic/ From this sumptuous place.” Even within their seemingly comfortable worlds, these films offer a multiplicity of techniques and approaches. Sorrentino, even when doing little else but placing tiny figurines of Pope Francis and Queen Elizabeth II around his house, can’t seem to compose an ugly frame or resist a silly joke. Kristen Stewart’s mercurial, sleep-deprived performance in her own “Crickets” is reminiscent of her work on Clouds of Sils Maria and Personal Shopper. There are also departures: Ana Lily Amirpour, maker of the singular genre films A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night and The Bad Bunch, directs and appears in the serene, straightforward "Ride It Out", a bicycle ride through a locked-down Los Angeles narrated by Cate Blanchett.