There’s no way Christine Chen’s Ya Albi leaves you without a dent in your heart. Be it in the riveting performances of its lead actors, the music by Steffen Schmidt or in Alex Walker’s cinematography, the film is nothing short of a moving prose. A story unlike the usual on the immigrant and refugee crisis,… Continue reading Ya Albi: A Moving Tale On Resettlement & The Refugee Crisis
Category: Reviews
Colourblind: On The Inability To Distinguish Love From Abuse
CW: Contains discussion on domestic abuse and violence. Natasha Rose Mills has written and stars in Kyle and Liam Bashford’s film on domestic abuse, Colourblind, encompassing both physical and emotional abuse. Shot in a single 7-minute long take, the narrative adopts a theatrical style: the central character, Amber walks the audience, literally, through her life… Continue reading Colourblind: On The Inability To Distinguish Love From Abuse
A Momentary Yearning: Chasing Lost Time In Lieu Of Living The Present
Farhaz Husain Rahman’s A Momentary Yearning is wistful and nostalgic, the premise dwelling on years gone by, and all that was lost with it. By including the element of war into the plot (Francis, the protagonist, is a weary war correspondent), it takes on added expectations of depth, which it does not ultimately deliver on.… Continue reading A Momentary Yearning: Chasing Lost Time In Lieu Of Living The Present
Boris in the Forest: When A Fan Met His Hero
A second viewing of Robert Hackett’s horror-comedy Boris in the Forest brings not only a fuller understanding of the plot, but a complete understanding of just how many jokes were slid into seemingly innocuous lines (screenplay by Mike Goldfarb), impossible to distinguish in a single watch. Its performances complement the writing. Mac McDonald as the… Continue reading Boris in the Forest: When A Fan Met His Hero
A Little Place Off The Edgware Road: Re-vising One Of Graham Greene’s Forgotten Stories
Produced by Alison Herrington, Tim Hewitt’s A Little Place Off The Edgware Road (ALPOTER) is a crime thriller based on a classic from the Graham Greene universe. Based on a short story written by him in 1939, ALPOTER delves deeper into the mystery behind its lead as in the parallel literary world one wonders about… Continue reading A Little Place Off The Edgware Road: Re-vising One Of Graham Greene’s Forgotten Stories
Back Water: Discovering Wilderness Of A New Kind
Produced by Anne Garrett and Jennilyn Merten, Jonathan Cohrs’s Back Water feels like a personal story; an ode to the planet that has been neglected for far too long. Focusing on the wilderness or the loss of it in New Jersey’s Kensack river, the film is a 1:05:49 minute long documentary on ecology, man-made disasters,… Continue reading Back Water: Discovering Wilderness Of A New Kind
Campfire Alpha: A Lesson On Toxic Masculinity
Alex Breaux’s wrathful stare as Case, one of four friends out on a trip with his childhood friends, is terrifying. It is a character we are all familiar with: the male character swinging between passive-aggressive joking and outright, brutal violence, the latter coming just as easily as the former. Campfire Alpha, also written and directed… Continue reading Campfire Alpha: A Lesson On Toxic Masculinity
Last Dance: The Horror Of Suspense
Based on an urban legend, Danny Gibbons and Alex Scott’s Last Dance relies heavily on its audience’s experience with horror films and the expectations that spring from that. Subverting expectations, although it lives in a certain infamy now, works for Last Dance because of its intelligent writing and intuitive grasp on what evokes fear for… Continue reading Last Dance: The Horror Of Suspense
Department 666: Hell Has Been Updated
Adam York’s Department 666 is a black comedy that gives traditional ideas of horror a whole new spin, employing ideas that have been around for some time, but managing to be surprisingly fresh. Hell is a soul-sucking, nay, soulless, desk job. Of course. Why are we even surprised? Perhaps the surprise is that the film… Continue reading Department 666: Hell Has Been Updated
Out Of Place: Sublime Depiction Of Migrant Struggle
Hui (Sarah Lynn Furman) and Chamo (Victor Boneva) are poles apart. Besides being neighbours, they share nothing in common, or so one would think. Peier Tracy Shen’s Out Of Place is elusive and yet guttural in its characters and their storyline. A dual narrative that runs along the themes of loneliness, societal pressure and forgiveness,… Continue reading Out Of Place: Sublime Depiction Of Migrant Struggle