‘Past Lives’; ‘Anonymous Sister’, ‘Rise’ At Specialty Box Office – Deadline

Nora and Hae Sung, two deeply connected childhood friends, are parted after Nora’s family emigrates from South Korea. Two decades later, they are reunited in New York for one fateful week, confronting notions of destiny, love, and the choices that make a life. Playwright Song, in her first feature, explores ‘in-yun,’ a Korean belief in fate that connects two people who knew each other in a past life.

This is a weekend sandwiched between Cannes and the Tribeca Festival, which will see the indie film community descend on Manhattan starting next week.

Meanwhile, the distributor’s Julia Louis-Dreyfus-starrer You Hurt My Feelings continues on 900+ screens in week two. It’s grossed $2.23 million as of Thursday. Both films skew older than the typical A24 audience.

Other noteworthy openings: Blue Fox Entertainment presents comedy-drama Rise by Cedric Klapisch at two locations, Quad Cinemas in NYC and Laemmle’s Royal LA. Starring With Hofesh Shechter, Marion Barbeau, Pio Marmai. A dancer, whose life crumbles after finding her boyfriend cheating and suffering a career-threatening injury, finds solace in friends, a new love and a new contemporary dance troupe. Released initially in France in March of 2022, it’s made close to $11.2 million at the international office.

Documentary Anonymous Sister from Jamie Boyle opens at the IFC Center opens at NYC’s IFC Center. At Laemmle Monica June 16. When a young woman (Boyle) turns to the camera for refuge, she ends up with a firsthand account of what will become the deadliest man-made epidemic in United States history. Thirty years in the making, the film is Boyle’s chronicle of her family’s collision with the opioid epidemic as she chronicles her sister and mother’s simultaneous descent into addiction while battling chronic pain. She picks their story up 13 years later when both are sober but facing new hurdles. Distributed by Long Shot Factory, presented by Big Mouth Productions.

Greenwich Entertainment presents dark comic fable Concerned Citizen at the IFC Center in NYC and Royal in LA. With Ariel Wolf and Shlomi Bertonov as a young gay couple discovering how dense, gentrifying urban environments affect their relationship, values and mental health. Premiered in Berlin.

Gravitas Ventures presents Abel Ferarra’s Italian historic drama Padre Pio, with Shia LaBeouf in the title role. On 40 screens, day-and-date. World War I has ended and Italian soldiers, broken but victorious, are returning to an impoverished village ruled by wealthy landowners. As events surrounding the first free election in Italy threaten to tear the village apart, Padre Pio struggles with his own personal demons, ultimately emerging from his spiritual anguish to become one of Catholicism’s most venerated figures. Premiered at Venice 2022.

Events: Fathom Events presents a re-release of Raiders of the Lost Ark on Sunday (and next Wed., June 7) on 700+ screens.