Nisha Ganatra

  • Late Night (2019)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (In French, On TV, March 2022) Add Late Night to the list of films I somehow missed the first time around. The oversight is all the more curious considering that I’m something of a Mindy Kaling fan—a film in which she plays the newest employee of a late-night show host played by Emma Thompson should have triggered my radar earlier. But that’s what scouring TV listings is for! While the film doesn’t break any new ground in depicting how an out-of-touch celebrity host is gradually brought back to relevance by a plucky junior confidante, it’s a well-executed dramatic comedy that makes good use of both Kaling and Thompson’s abilities. There’s some fun in peeking inside the world of late-night show comedy writers (with Seth Meyers making an appearance as himself), especially at a moment where comedy celebrities aren’t untouchable. The script, penned by Kaling herself, is clever and funny, solidly built and executed rather well by veteran director Nisha Ganatra. It might have slipped underneath the notice of many, but Late Night is a pleasant watch, perhaps a bit too restrained for its own good, but primarily concerned with delivering a nicely wrapped package rather than aiming for the throat.

  • The High Note (2020)

    The High Note (2020)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, January 2021) There isn’t anything particularly new to The High Note—we’ve seen many movies about assistants to superstars, about young musicians trying to succeed in Los Angeles, about demanding divas and about the machine behind successful artists. But it’s always about the execution, and The High Note does have what it takes to make an impression. It starts with the casting: Dakota Johnson can carry a mid-budget production by herself now (playing a young personal assistant with dreams of producing music), but she gets good support from notables such as Tracee Ellis Ross (as a diva), Kelvin Harrison Jr. (as an upstart musician), Bill Pullman (as her dad) and, perhaps most notably, Ice Cube as a cranky manager. Somewhat fluid directing from Nisha Ganatra pulls us into the glitzy Los Angeles music scene and its backstage antics. The somewhat conventional narrative gets a wild third-act revelation, but that’s all in good fun in keeping with the film’s amiable, no-antagonist nature. It can be watched in a relaxed state with its equal blend of wish fulfillment, low-stakes drama, emotional comfort and bright cinematography. In other words—there’s nothing exceptional in The High Note, but it’s sufficiently well executed to be interesting.