Tag: Review

Here is a film that truly justifies a walk down memory lane. No sugar-coating the ugly, no glossing over, the film, like its protagonist, faces the ugliness of the past as it is, along with what was good about it. Kourosh Ahari’s Generations, written by Candice Holdorf, is honest without being brutal, an old man’s… Continue reading Generations: Multi-Generational Wrongs Faced, When It’s No Longer Correctable

If 2015’s Inside Out made literal characters to portray its protagonist’s emotions, Amos Sussigan and Dan Lund’s Coaster sees their protagonist taken for a literal ride by life. John Doe, recently graduated from college, navigates the ups and downs of his life, all while living in a house that is stationed on roller coaster tracks.   … Continue reading Coaster: Insides Laid Out Across A Roller Coaster

Self-worth. Kristian Håskjold’s Oscar-qualifying short A Worthy Man (written by Marianne Lentz) hinges itself on that one word that can damn a mind to crippling anxiety and/or depression with cruel ease. In the film, Erik, played by Troels Lyby, finds himself and his sense of self wobbling under the nagging feeling that perhaps he does… Continue reading A Worthy Man: The Destructive Powers Of Low Self-Worth

Kelly Bergsma’s Behind Closed Doors treats its protagonist, a cop suffering from PTSD like a raging wild animal who is meted out extreme treatment. In both cases, neither is given proper attention. As a result, the film feels half-assed and a mess in its very ideation. Leighton (played by Jason Verner) carries with him the… Continue reading Behind Closed Doors: Keeping (Unreal) Things Real With Camerawork

There is a stillness that pervades Yuchao Feng’s Pearl like a fog. If you look through it, there is great turmoil underneath. And yet, Lin and Wang regularly turn it over its head like child’s play, while their mother looms large over them like the epitome of that chaos-laden still.  Living in a remote fishing… Continue reading Pearl: Looking for Light Beyond A Sea of Grey

Windblown starts off with great promise. Things go badly when a grieving young woman visits her New England cottage after losing her brother. The premise is intriguing, but Katie Vincent as the lead actress is heartbreaking. Vincent has also written the screenplay and co-directed the film with Usher Morgan. Her performance in the first half… Continue reading Windblown: Giving Rein To The Fantasies That Grief Brings After It

Anna Carvalho’s Death Is The Place On Earth (DITPOE) ponders on the nature of humanity through the metaphor of an exiled goddess, cursed to roam the earth as an immortal.  It’s an ambitious project to be sure, and certainly contains some stunning frames, but the film does not ultimately come together cohesively.  Writer-director Carvalho, who… Continue reading Death Is The Place On Earth: A Contemplation On Humanity

A fast, jazzy score and a delightful leading character (among other things from a list of impressive elements), Sam Fichtner’s Thick as Thieves comes with the perfect balance of ingredients that keeps this comedy about a pair of thieves sparklingly fresh. It employs sitcom humour and focuses more on the humorousness of the story than… Continue reading Thick as Thieves: A Romance For The Ages

Thrillers are a tight business. The smallest missteps can make a piece of work fail like a collapsed souffle— not unpalatable but certainly a disappointment. If your antagonist is both oily and stiff, while the unsuspecting potential victims are barely more than ads for their home-for-hire, then we might have a collapsed souffle on our… Continue reading Just Lie Here: Twenty-Three Minutes Of Stolen Identities And Multiple Murders