Jamie Knox’s Of Late digs into the core of a personal tragedy just as its protagonist moves forward—if with her sight set downward—in the spiralling path out of grief. A heartbreaking account of the death of a dream, the 20-minute film then switches back and forth between the dual time of the before and long… Continue reading Of Late: A Story of Old Acquaintances, and How We Come to Share and Part Ways
Tag: Review
Practice Space: A Part II of Childhood Friendship and Timeless Struggles
Dan Perlman’s Practice Space reunites Alex Chavez and Yan Bo Lin, who last shared screen in Perlman’s excellent 2020 drama Cramming as two eighth graders whose friendship is put to the test. Practice Space finds them a bit more grown up, playing different characters, but it is easy (and enjoyable) to imagine Edwin and Steven… Continue reading Practice Space: A Part II of Childhood Friendship and Timeless Struggles
Impulses: Kleptomania and Other People’s Things is a Love Story for the Ages
Rajendra Thakurathi’s 10-minute comedy Impulses gives a humorous turn to what is otherwise a fairly painful experience: controlling an impulse control disorder. Revolving around a kleptomaniac protagonist and the camera of her interviewer, this neurotic comedy is well worth repeat viewing for Brooklyn McDaris’ performance. Disorder reigns supreme in this story. Project partners do not… Continue reading Impulses: Kleptomania and Other People’s Things is a Love Story for the Ages
Love Beyond Dreams: Rediscovering Old Passions Underneath the Rubble of Chores
Jeremiah Kipp directed and Simin Vaswani written Love Beyond Dreams follows the rare day out of an exhausted woman. Having gone so long without any sources of pleasure or relief in her day-to-day life, the protagonist Simin barely remembers what those look or feel like, until someone brings her to the reminders. Not coincidentally played… Continue reading Love Beyond Dreams: Rediscovering Old Passions Underneath the Rubble of Chores
Mammoth: Chasing the Rainbow: Fun and Freedom in Eighth Episode of Animated Series, Mammoth
The latest episode of Matt Check’s entirely solo project, Mammoth: Chasing the Rainbow—an animated series following the adventures of a captive, ragtag ship crew—finds the group dealing with not just the irascible captain, but also old friends. Things are about to get bloody (and sappy, for some). The characters have no speech (and no names… Continue reading Mammoth: Chasing the Rainbow: Fun and Freedom in Eighth Episode of Animated Series, Mammoth
Father and Son: On the Brutality of Parental Hate
A 7-minute drama of resentment and spite, Mitchell Lazar’s Father and Son features the rivalry between said pair, who also happen to be authors up for the same award. The father, a mask of cool contempt over bitter insecurity, has ensured that his son is also insecure, if robbed of the strength to be equally… Continue reading Father and Son: On the Brutality of Parental Hate
Sasha’s Game: Horror of Disavowing Oneself Amidst Horror of Annihilation in WWII Drama
Lexee Gordoun’s Sasha’s Game gives an account of its child protagonist’s survival through the Holocaust. With the disguise of a girl as the only defence keeping him and his mother from death or worse in Nazi occupied Poland, Sasha has no choice but to play along in a game of someone else’s invention. Adapted from… Continue reading Sasha’s Game: Horror of Disavowing Oneself Amidst Horror of Annihilation in WWII Drama
Poor Tax: A Satire for the Whole Family
As a satire on wealthy white Americans, Alec Bewkes and Oliver Salk’s Poor Tax is a close reproduction of reality, as is often the case. Funny and frustrating, it features an ensemble cast as a family ripping at the seams for a friendly game of Monopoly on Thanksgiving. The father (Circus Szalewski) is, in fact,… Continue reading Poor Tax: A Satire for the Whole Family
The Perfect Hundred: The Psychological Horror of Beauty
Ali Matlock’s The Perfect Hundred isa 20-minute psychological thriller that flirts with the cult of beauty, featuring a protagonist whose delicate balance of insecurity and self-esteem becomes the playground in which malicious figures wreak havoc without breaking a sweat. With its disquieting, wideshot flashforward opening, and its in-your-face wellness claptrap in a relentless closeup (of… Continue reading The Perfect Hundred: The Psychological Horror of Beauty
Won’t Be Long Now: The Psychological Horror of Parenthood
Billy Nawrocki’s Won’t Be Long Now uses a thoroughly indie praxis with VFX teams to create a 22-minute horror about a new father’s love induced paranoia. With the responsibility of a brand new, barely functional human on his hands, the unnamed narrator-protagonist begins to disintegrate completely as terror sets in. Danger and safety can look… Continue reading Won’t Be Long Now: The Psychological Horror of Parenthood