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With so much turmoil in the world, it’s at least a little comforting that things haven’t changed much in Grover’s Corners, the place that gives Our Town, Thornton Wilder’s beloved 1938 report from Smalltown USA, its name. People there are born, love and die without so much as looking up to savor what they have. That’s life.

And while a check-in from the fictional New Hampshire town circa 1901-1913 is always a moving and welcome addition to anyone’s frazzled day, the new staging by Kenny Leon, opening on Broadway tonight at the Ethel Barymore Theatre with a cast that includes Jim Parsons, Katie Holmes, Richard Thomas, Billy Eugene Jones, Ephraim Sykes and Zoey Deutch, lacks the strong personality that would send it to the top of the many Our Towns that have staked claims on the world’s stages for nearly a century.

Leon, a...

Writer/director Shaun Seneviratne's feature film debut, Ben and Suzanne, A Reunion in 4 Parts, recently hit SXSW and may be heading to a theater or streamer near you soon. The romantic comedy tracks one couple coming to terms with the emotional shifts in their ever-evolving relationship. It’s a touching outing, but in talking to Seneviratne, the filmmaker admits to drawing inspiration for the project from the most curious places. We get how There’s Something About Mary could spark ideas for a romantic comedy. And director Éric Rohmer's wonderful 1986 romp, The Green Ray, too. But The Shining?

“Ben and Suzanne… is not a horror movie,” Seneviratne notes, chuckling, “but I think there's so much tone in The Shining that feels true to this, which is the effects of isolation and how that can make us feel. And how isolation can drive us crazy in many different ways.

Ben And Suzanne: A Reunion In 4 Parts

One of the freshest and sweetest films in this year’s South by Southwest line-up, Ben And Suzanne: A Reunion In 4 Parts follows a US couple who have been apart for many months and reunite in Sri Lanka to find that nothing quite works the way it did between them. It’s actually part of a series of short films, but the others are shorts. Just before the festival I met up with director Shaun Seneviratne, stars Sathya Sridharan and Anastasia Olowin, and producer Doron JePaul Mitchell to discuss the genesis of the project and what was involved in getting it to this stage.

“Let me tell you about those shorts,” said Shaun, reassuring me that it’s not necessary to see them all first. “Every short really was envisioned as a standalone piece. And actually, the shorts always came out...

The SXSW Film & TV Festival said Wednesday that Universal’s The Fall Guy starring Ryan Gosling will serve as the 2024 edition’s Centerpiece film, and Netflix’s 3 Body Problem from David Benioff, D. B. Weiss and Alexander Woo will open the fest’s opening-night TV premiere.

The news comes as the festival, whose 31st edition runs March 8-16 in Austin, unveiled first titles in its Feature and Short Competitions, Midnighters, Global and Xr Experience categories. See the list below, which includes berths for the world premiere of Pamela Adlon’s Babes, the Daisy Ridley-starring Magpie, Prentice Penny’s docuseries Black Twitter, Season 3 of Hacks and the final season of Star Trek: Discovery.

Organizers said today that more titles, including the opening- and closing-night films, will be announced early next month across Headliner, Narrative Feature Competition, Documentary Feature Competition, Narrative Spotlight, Documentary Spotlight, Visions, Midnighter, Global, 24 Beats Per Second,...

The 2024 SXSW Film and TV Festival has announced its lineup, with Netflix’s splashy sci-fi series 3 Body Problem opening the fest and the Ryan Gosling and Emily Bunt action comedy The Fall Guy acting as a centerpiece screening.

David Benioff and Dan Weiss are behind 3 Body Problem, based on the book of the same name. David Leitch directed the Universal feature about a Hollywood stuntman (Gosling) who is tasked with tracking down the star of the latest movie he is working on.

The Pamela Adlon movie Babes will also act as a centerpiece screening. The narrative competition features include Crystal Moselle’s latest, The Black Sea, and Barbie Ferreira starrer Bob Trevino Likes It. Elsewhere in the lineup are a Cheech and Chong doc, Tommy Dorfman’s directorial debut, Lilly Singh comedy Doin’ It, and My Dead Friend Zoe, exec produced by NFL star Travis Kelce.

The film...

The complete cast and creative team have been announced for the first Broadway revival of August Wilson's The Piano Lesson at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. Joining the cast are Nadia Daniel and Jurnee Elizabeth Swan, who will alternate the role of Marthea. Rounding out the company are Shirine Babb, Charles Browning, Peter Jay Fernandez, Sharina Martin, Warner Miller, Doron JePaul Mitchell and Kim Sullivan.