By Kip Mooney• On • In NewsNewsComments Off on “Gloria Bell” Comes Home Dancing
Sebastián Lilio has become one of the hottest foreign-born directors in the last few years. He was already a hit filmmaker in his native Chile. In 2017, his trans celebration A Fantastic Woman won an Oscar and his romantic lesbian drama Disobedience — set among London's Orthodox Jewish community — received rave reviews.
His latest is a remake of his own film Gloria. This version stars Julianne Moore, radiant as ever, as the titular woman, a 50-something single woman trying to find love in L.A.'s awesomely lit dance clubs. Her life gets more complicated when she begins a relationship with a surfer (John Turturro) as she has to figure out if he's what she really wants or if she's still looking for something more. The film received excellent reviews, particularly for Moore's performance, but came and went quickly, only earning around $5 million.
But now fans and new viewers can check out the film for themselves. Lionsgate will release the A24 film on Blu-ray and DVD June 4. The discs include commentary from the director and a making of featurette called "An Extraordinary Woman." If you need it sooner, Gloria Bell will be available for digital rental and purchase on May 2.
About Kip Mooney
Like many film critics born during and after the 1980s, my hero is Roger Ebert. The man was already the best critic in the nation when he won the Pulitzer in 1975, but his indomitable spirit during and after his recent battle with cancer keeps me coming back to read not only his reviews but his insightful commentary on the everyday. But enough about a guy you know a lot about.
I knew I was going to be a film critic—some would say a snob—in middle school, when I had to voraciously defend my position that The Royal Tenenbaums was only a million times better than Adam Sandler’s remake of Mr. Deeds. From then on, I would seek out Wes Anderson’s films and avoid Sandler’s like the plague.
Still, I like to think of myself as a populist, and I’ll be just as likely to see the next superhero movie as the next Sundance sensation. The thing I most deplore in a movie is laziness. I’d much rather see movies with big ambitions try and fail than movies with no ambitions succeed at simply existing. I’m also a big advocate of fun-bad movies like The Room and most of Nicolas Cage’s work.
In the past, I’ve written for The Dallas Morning News and the North Texas Daily, which I edited for a semester. I also contributed to Dallas-based Pegasus News, which in the circle of life, is now part of The Dallas Morning News, where I got my big break in 2007. Eventually, I’d love to write and talk about film full-time, but until that’s a viable career option, I work as an auditor for Wells Fargo.
I hope to one day meet my hero, go to the Toronto International Film Festival, and compete on Jeopardy. Until then, I’m excited to share my love of film with you.
