Anniversary

“Anniversary,” about a family torn apart by an authoritarian movement within the United States of America, is ripe for nitpicking and perhaps outright rejection, on the basis that it’s too on-the-nose, too opportunistically topical, too muddled in its message, or just too inconsistent. As always, your mileage will vary. Be warned that the first act is a bit of a slog, with exposition that goes down as smoothly as broken glass in a garbage disposal, and that the powerful climax hinges on an event that you have to decide to believe could happen. Nevertheless, it stays with you—and if you take a macro rather than micro view, its ambition is easy to see, and its timing is perfect.