The Woodstock Film Festival is here, and thankfully, showing so many festival flicks we missed out on throughout 2023. Don’t miss our full coverage after the jump!
Films
FAIR PLAY
Full review at the link.
IRENA’S VOW
Full review at the link.
THE KILL ROOM
Full review at the link.
PARACHUTE
Full review at the link.
SLIDE
Full review at the link.
THREE BIRTHDAYS
Three Birthdays feels less like a movie than a series of three distinct vignettes strung together. The concept is actually quite interesting—we follow three different family birthdays in the same year: one from the perspective of daughter Bobby (Nuala Cleary), the next surrounding horny/semi-mysoginistic father Rob (Josh Rador), and the final brings mom Kate (Annie Parisse) her own feminist-led piece of the pie. My favorite was Bobby’s—her nerdy/cute boyfriend (Uly Schlesinger) coaxes her into losing her virginity, which Bobby happily recalls in poems both before and after the act. While the first story captivates and charms in its quirks, subsequent ones are too dull and uneventful by comparison. The 70s time capsule that is the sexual revolution never quite feels sexy enough. A major event thrown into the last ten minutes lands with a dull, melodramatic thud. Writer/director Jane Weinstock gives the couple a surprising open relationship, but does not portray it in any positive light whatsoever. For such a progressive idea, Three Birthdays flounders.
For more information about this year’s Woodstock Film Festival, please head over to the official website.